12000 Mile report

[Chris Cussen]

Well that is 12000 miles clocked up since October 2009 when the Cabrio first hit the road.

Things that have happened:
1. Engine re-build. Fully documented elsewhere on MAKC but in essence I had worn valve guides and had the head re-furbished, and fitted to a block supplied by Cabrioman.
2. Total failure to start. The crankshaft position sensor failed. No Sparks!
3. Front disks. These developed a wobble under braking and were replaced.
4. Front ARB bushes replaced with polybushes. The original Sierra (c 1986) bushes had perished.
5. Two new rear tyres. Enough said. I had the rear end tracking checked and it was within the limits of a standard Sierra.
6. Manifold to exhaust system come loose (twice). Second time was despite having spring washers under the nuts.
7. Tax disk blew away when doing 70ish on the M4.I didn’t stop and go back for it. A replacement cost £7.
8. I had to revise the cooling system slightly. I had a filler neck and standard 14lb cap in the top hose and a Metro expansion tank mounted higher up. The filler vented before the expansion tank so I would gradually lose water. I blocked the over-flow in the filler neck and used a cap that did not vent. Not used any water since then.

Average MPG has been just over 32mpg.
0-60 is about 8 seconds.
I’m still smiling.

[peterux]

Good report, Chris. You've done well to clock up so many miles since 2009 and with only a few problems.

My tax disc also fell off the windscreen but luckily it dropped into the passenger foot well!! (It was after I replaced my cracked windscreen and I didn't use the right sticky pads.)

For issue number 6 , you could try Aerotight nuts?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M8-STAINLE...ht_2204wt_1163

...peter

[Chris Cussen]

With the crap weather its taken a while but I can report that We just clocked 15000 miles on the trip in to work.

Worst thing that has happened was on a trip home a few weeks ago. Some farmer had covered the road with mud from a field, then was attempting a clear up mess. There were two tractors in convoy,which I joined. The first was spraying the road with water from a bowser and the second had a big brush attachment. The result was an inch of sloppy mud over the whole road.
Then a lorry went past in the opposite direction and a sheet of muddy water went all over the car and me.
Weeks later I'm still getting mud out of all the nooks and crannies of both the Marlin and me.

[davecymru]

Ahh the joys of living in Somerset! I had something similar happen to me in my old Sammio last year when coming back from the Bath & West show.

It was all very ..... Rural!