Seven Preperation

Basically its damage limitation, I need to try to check there is nothing ready to fail, and decide what spares to carry. Its going to be very hot, with lots of poor quality roads and brisk driving. This is going to place additional strain on the cooling system, and suspension.

First I dropped the suspension and looked for cracks, bends, or anything that was likely to fail en-route. I've had suspension units snap on this car, so I took all shocks off, cleaned them up and looked for cracks, thankfully I didnt find any.

The cooling system was flushed and refilled with water and water wetter. I then went around the car, tightening up anything, and using threadlock on anything that I felt was likely to come off. The exhaust was loose, it was twisting and slowly moving backwards, it needed to be tightened up, so i removed the ring that holds it together, threadlocked it, marked it and reassembled so I can see if it is moving again.



I have limited space for spares, therefore it makes sense to take things that I can fix myself, and that I can't get readily on the move. I took a full gasket kit, as a head gasket failure is a likely possibility, various sealants and instant gaskets, thread lock, a selection of bolts, hose clips, hoses in the two sizes I use on the car, zip ties and velcro hoop and loop, spare fuses, heat shrink, wire, cable joiners and spade connectors, both male and female.



I packed them into zip lock bags and put them in the car. I'm taking one spare jerry can, which at 20 litres, doubles my range. For tools I have one spanner of every size used on the car, an additional 13, and 10mm spanner as these are the most common size used and often require two spanners, where this is the case for other sizes I will use the gripping pliers I have. I have two flat and two phillips screwdrivers (big and little.) a small hammer, pliers, wire strippers, circuit tester, lighter and a pen.