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An image not put forward for the Calendar, as I did not take it. Profile page now adorned with this slightly different image. Hope you like as much as I do. 809AE6A7-BF90-4CA2-B11D-5A64C440C4A7.jpeg

We left sunny Manchester this morning to meet up with our Westy friends. We met at a Misty and drizzly Tagg Lane dairy, then off we went via Bakewell, Matlock, and Hathersage before stopping for lunch at the Ladybower hotel, then Margaret and I headed back over the Snake pass back to sunny Manchester 😎

North Wales Lakes great run out today and followed the advice to click on select images in the upload and resize

The morning started nice and early and the weather was actually quite mild and dry (didn't last!). Ash and I met up enroute near Burton and we fun drive (roads were quiet 😇) up through Ashbourne to Tagg Lane to find Andrew and Glynn waiting for us..... but no Julie and Glen (hope you are feeling better soon @Julie Hall - Joint Peak District AO!). Very soon Paul and Margaret arrived (all the way from from sunny Oldham) and then Lee drove in to show off his new Intatrim heated seats (very jealous!). Ash also showed off his new Samsung Fold phone mount.... it gives him a mahoosive satnav screwn and allows him to film using the phone through through windscreen 👌 We now had 6 cars and 7 people with nowhere to go...... I think sometimes we all take for granted the hard work AO's like Julie put into planning our days out, but not us, not today! We were all scratching our heads on what to do next without our illustrious squadron leader! 😂 Thankfully Lee knows the area well, and after a customary cake and a brew, we headed off following him cross country through some lovely scenery. The roads were very damp and slippery but we arrived safe and sound for a nice lunch at the Ladybower Inn. A word of warning if anyone decides to go there, please be careful of the potholes in the carpark, they are that deep you can see kangaroos at the bottom!!! A huge thanks to @Lee Bennett for stepping up and taking us on a great route (despite loads of closed roads due to Remembrance Sunday events).

Plastic mesh is cheap and plentiful on ebay, cuts very easily with safe edges not the razor cuts of metal mesh. Did some rough calculations and air space is over 50% better than metal mesh: my fitments has slashed temperature build up with this summers trials keeping engine temperatures well below low 90 degrees even when spirited driving. Last proof will be track day performance🤞

Meanwhile the engine is away for a partial rebuild. The engine was overall in good condition and had been checked and serviced prior to me buying it at the start of this year but to run it in the Costin requires a few mods to be made. In the Hillman imp the engine is laid flat but for the Costin it runs at 20degrees past vertical so it needs a few extra oil drains to be drilled in the head. After speaking to one of the specialists they advised that this is something I could do myself but the risk of hitting one of the coolant galleries didn’t fill me with confidence so we made the decision to send the head off to the specialist for them to carry out the work.

A trip across the country this weekend to collect the gearbox fresh from its rebuild. To recap, when I first got got the box it looked like this, caked in oil and dirt and in parts rusted right through from neglect. after a lot of graft from @windy it’s been transformed and totally unrecognisable from before. Blasted clean, new bearings, seals and pretty much a brand new box. Now looking even better than the day it left the factory over 50 years ago.

Yup, me too. (Proper nose back on for tomorrows sad duty.)

Autumn pictures today at Lake Vyrnwy. Colours match the car. 160 mile trip taking in some of north Wales great B roads

The other plus, is that the plastic grill is much more open than the stock metal one, so can knock a degree or two off your running temperatures, sometimes.

That’s what I did.

And the fairly inexpensive Audi style plastic mesh is very popular, too. Has the added bonus of not rusting, either!

I'm definitely coming along, I'll be in convoy with Ash 👍

Anyone up for this? weather dependant of course. We would have to leave at about 8.45am from Oldham area.

What a shame for you @Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO, you are less than 1 hour from the beautiful Peak District and nobody in the whole of the Manchester area wants to join you on what is a perfect weather day for November. Let's hope people appreciate what you do and put some effort into joining you soon, you deserve more support than this. Plus, they will have to be quick or you will be off on another holiday soon😄

Sunday 14th November @9:00am Frasers Events Battlesbridge Antiques centre Muggeridge farm Maltings Road SS11 7RF

Hi All, This Sunday is the second of the month so who's going to WSCC will be meeting at the Bird in Hand, Knowl Hill, RG10 9UP from twelve noon? It's also remembrance Sunday so I understand if you already have plans.

Probably it was last trackday this season on last sunday... Two seasons and every one trackday finished with no isssues...exept one - snapped wishbone bracket, always somewhere on podium . Only disappointment is that I cant take this car on the roads , drive with sons etc. just for a trip.. but working on that Edit : and almost forgot - the "sequence of snapshots" If someone is considering a straight cut gearbox for road better hear this