Post Script for the technically minded.
The following is a list of items of minor irritation which were not mentioned in the text:
At Jim’s we found the nuts loose that support the pinion bearing casing to the differential, obviously the cause of the axle oil leak. The front left tyre was badly damaged on the inside wall, no doubt the result of that pothole in Colombia. The brake linings were nearly worn out, the result of heavy braking in the Andes. The front telescopic shock absorbers were now totally useless, as much caused by the dirt roads as by hitting those potholes and topes. The exhaust hanging bracket fractured causing the exhaust system to produce an irritating rattle which was wired up very effectively and gave no trouble thereafter. The SU petrol pumps both ceased to operate though only required a little lubrication. We also flushed out the cooling system again and reintroduced some new anti-freeze. The power steering leak continues and is as bad or worse than ever. All the dashboard lights had failed, as had a parking bulb on the front left wing. Nuts and bolts had rained down from the dashboard and no doubt from all parts of the chassis, but where they came from we never did find out. It was difficult to keep a true record of the miles per gallon but we certainly averaged more than 15 and our oil consumption, running on Mobil 1 fully synthetic, seemed to be better than 1,000 miles per pint.
Not a bad list, most of which can be put right before we pick up the car for the Carrera.
