Mk3 MR2 drain vents cleaned

a few days ago I get called out to view a very internally wet and swooshy MR2....
the water just wasnt draining away and had also managed to fill the passengers footwell..
mmmmm not good. Time to do some www surfing, which showed I may have to consider unblocking the vents hidden behind the side vents !

from this link ...

Gently pry the vent off with a screwdriver. Remove the strangle shaped funnel with the small rubber flap. You will find a lot of leaves and debris in the hole. You can use a combination of the following to clear out the drainage pipe: turkey baster/water, vacuum, compressed air, or a coat hanger. Be advised that there is a drain on both side pockets where the top retracts. If it is not easily cleared, try forcing water through the drain and meeting it at the other end w/ a wet/dry vacuum. The side engine vents can be reinstalled by removing the white pins and gently snapping them into place. This applies to the MR2 mk3.

yep, they were blocked full of crud , all cleaned up , vent replaced and voila its fixed.
shame the carpets dont dry as quickly lol

Freeview Loft Aerial install / Variable signal quality Why?

Its time to start considering that the old analogue tv signals are now being turned off across the country.
I live near to Winter Hill which will be turned off Nov/Dec 2009 ! leaving only the digital signal
Check out the link below for your local transmitter dates.
http://tx.mb21.co.uk/dso/

the reason I checked this all out is because I wanted to fit a tv in the bedroom with a built in freeview tuner. I either had to splice into our current aerial downlead OR utilise a loft aerial.
So I thought Id give the loft aerial a try , just using a very old one up there (its a horrible generic one with brown bad quality cable eek) , move it to match the positioning of the external aerial and screw it to a rafter!
Needless to say to my surprise it works! full signal quality , and around 75% signal strength! wow
what a result ....

then I drilled some holes and cleaned up ..... now the signal quality is jumping all over the shop on Channel 4 (Mux2 ?) which I suspected was maybe down to a change in weather conditions or a moving tree ???
Anyway left it for a few days and it didnt get any better , but the TV seemed to lock on better once left on for 10 minutes on the channel wtf???

Anyway long story but it turns out its the aerial coming in close contact to the tv power socket and lead. The minute I seperated them by > 5 inches the quality went up to 100% again and stayed solid woohooh. The poor brown quality cable really is pants....

so if you get signal quality issues, check for interference

Remember that post switch off the digital signal is getting boosted so if its marginal now itll probably be alright later :-)

thoroughly recommend this site Aerials and TV site , I did buy an external splitter/ black high quality cable but havent used it yet....

25k miles/ Edition 30 mpg updates / Grand Slam Tennis Wii

few more golf gti edition 30 apr stage 1 mpg updates.
Note that for these I didnt run the tank empty ;-)

30.7 mpg / 341 miles
28.5 mpg / 316 miles
29.7 mpg / 350 miles

pic of GTI beside a HUGE off road adventure land rover!

the last pic of the PS2's on the front just before them came off! somewhat smooth in the middle eek

then a few in game shots of my Wii Grand Slam Tennis character (now 3.5 stars , 2 full grand slams completed)
A fantastic 5 star game that Ive been addicted to over the last month........


Wii Sports Resort out on friday too :-)

GAIT analysis for new running shoes at UpAndRunning Manchester

with training for Tatton Park progressing well, one of my work colleagues suggested that I may wish to pursue some new shoes....
Introducing me to the world of GAIT analysis, basically you run for short periods on a treadmill with different types of shoes whilst being videoed!
From that they determine how you are running and if you need levels of support type shoe.

I chose to go to UpAndRunning Manchester @ The Triangle
£20 if you dont buy shoes , free if you do.
Guy who looked after me was top notch , no pressure sells , full set of questions and a review of my 2yr old Nike Air trainers...

long and short I was pronating (apparently!) pushing out the inside of my shoe. So I tried several levels of support shoe and ran again , voila sorted.
In the end I chose to buy a pair of Brookes GTS shoes which feel vastly different to my old pair.
Top service from UpAndRunning , highly recommended.

Ran for the first time tonight in them, and its like night and day (or a huge placebo effect lol).

24,500 miles : new front tyres fitted / The Conduit arrives

I have reviewed the tyres in a previous blog post , and updated my opinions of Event Tyres. Great job and its all done now. I can now relax when it rains lol

Also 'The Conduit' for the Wii arrived from Amazon :-)
I have resisted playing it until I have completed more in Grand Slam Tennis
(currently 2 Grand Slams won and 3 1/2 stars ability (out of 5))

10k run page updated , first donation added ...

my page is now updated, Amy has added the first donation , and Im currently up to just under 3 miles ;-)

my 10k sponsorship page

If you can please sponsor me...

thanks
John

(guess Im gonna have to do it now lol)