Thanks for the comments people - the car certainly got lots of comments on the road too.
The north island is much more populated than the south - with a faster pace, so very few older vehicles in evidence. Only saw one Marina the whole trip - a blue Mk3 estate - whose owner did not seem to register that we were related...
Doubt the respray Jim - not for this car anyway - was really only checking the possibilities. The purist in me finds it hard to picture other than the original shades. Either they got it right, or we have just come to identify with the colours the factory chose..!
Frank - thankyou for the consideration - I would be loath to let those rubbers elude me...
I'm also happy about the look of the car - in fact I notice that having the car level - as opposed to the usual (over here anyway..) drooping at the front, makes them look much perkier. Funny how the nose-low attitude tends to suggest tiredness..
Yes - the scenery was fabulous - despite the rather drab weather - and the only boring bits were the motorways - which over here only extend about 50k from the major cities - the rest of the highways are a joy.
Did notice though, that despite the 100k speed limit, you had to be doing 110 to keep up with the flow.
I felt that the cut-and-thrust style of driving in Auckland would very soon take its toll on a car such as the marina - on and off gas and brakes all the time - easy to see why many drivers have cars they don't care about..
Managed to ground the auto sump quite a few times on speed humps and irregular surfaces. Ouch.
The day before we left home, I retightened the head. There had been a slight oil leak somewhere around the back of the motor, and I figured it might be seepage from the head gasket. On the morning of the day we left, I washed the car, and took it for a blow-dry down the tunnel road.
Looking in the mirror, I was aghast to see clouds of smoke out the back..!
Quietly returned home, and found that the leak had greatly increased, and the oil had dribbled down the side of the auto onto the exhaust. Visions of preparing another car for the trip flashed through my mind.
Then I recalled how the final head stud had felt strange when I tightened the head. A close inspection revealed that the oil was indeed coming from the rear corner of the head gasket - where the oil feed goes to the cam.
After backing all the studs off, I removed the rear (RH) stud to find that the hole was full of oil. I cleaned it out using a small rubber hose, then torqued again - this time it tightened smoothly.
I thoroughly cleaned the whole area, then went for a drive over the hill and back. Checked with tissue paper - not a drop..!
Disaster narrowly averted. It would seem that the hydraulic action of the oil in the hole prevented the stud from tightening properly.
I kept a very careful eye on the gasket for the trip, but not another drop has appeared in the 5000k since. Yay!
Presumably I should have retightened the head a bit sooner and then the oil would not have made its way to the stud in the first place.
Apart from that - smooth sailing - except for the heater hose. Sue always manages one photo of me under the bonnet on every trip.. :roll:
Cheers,
Kilroy
are you still going to respray ?? 8)
