Makesy
Club Member
The thing about these 'little' faults is that they provide a great opportunity for us to get into our garage and tinker. By doing that we learn all about the piece of kit we have a problem with, sort it or replace it and get a great deal of satisfaction. Then we go back in the house after the wife has finished watching the 'soaps'.
There was an issue with the driver's door lock/latch on my Sam. I had it all to bits (not easy getting it out, so window frame out too) , cleaned it, oiled it and was happy it was all working well. Bought a new lock with key too because the old one had been forced to try to get it to work. Re-installed it, no joy - after further investigation it was something that is mentioned in that pdf above - one of the screws that hold the latching mech to the door was too long. But at least it all works fine now and I learnt a bit more about Zs.
You don't get that opportunity with modern cars that just keep working until the ECU packs up.
I couldn't agree more. A lot of my resto is about getting to know the car (and maintenance in general, rather than just getting it back on the road.
I am not particularly mechanical, but would would love to be moreso, and this build thread hopefully gives a bit more insight into how to go about it for someone who is thinking about giving it a try.
It's also a good guide for me to look back as I forget all the lost hours I've put into (and will put into) this car!