3 of Diamonds: The Beast is Back!

Thursday, 12 May 2016

The Beast is Back!

I have finally got the GTO back, and she runs! That GTO shaped hole in my garage is gone, snuggly filled with my baby. I'm a happy boy.

Always love a fat arse!

I missed the call to pick her up yesterday whilst driving home. I got back with 5 minutes to spare before the garage closed so called them and arranged to pick her up today instead. So last night I couldn't sleep for thinking about her. And I thought of her whilst I was getting ready this morning. And I rather struggled to concentrate at work today, watching the clock ticking down till I could leave and pick her up.

Back home where she belongs.

Mrs 3oD was kind enough to drop me at the garage to pick it up, but as we set off and headed the 15 miles or so home I decided I couldn't stop. I live up in the hills, with many a fine B road to blast down and having not driven her for 4 months the temptation to go for a little hoon was too high.... I just wanted to drive, and drive, and drive....

After a short while, I pulled over, and just had to take some photos of her as the sun was setting. (I even used the big boy camera, not just my phone! Oh so grown up...)

Not the first I took, but by far my favourite!

In truth, blasting through the countryside made me realise how far I have to go with this car. It highlighted a few issues I had forgotten about from before she was taken off the road in February.

Under heavy braking the steering wheel was shaking uncontrollably in my hand, I have experienced this same feeling before in my Hawkeye when the brake rotas needed replacing through slight warping. This is the reason my next big purchase is planned to be a big brake kit, and I will probably be taking her easy until I get that installed, she still stops fine but I don't want to take any chances. Thankfully she's not a daily so doesn't need to see many miles in that time.

Another issue is third gear had always been a little hard to find, and with changing the clutch this was much improved, but still not ideal. When I get round to ordering a short shifter I wonna have a look at the selector mechanism because it feels more like that than the box itself, but in all honesty I can see 2017 bringing a gearbox refurbishment. I think I would be kidding myself if I thought anything else, this is a 90's Mitsubishi after all!

The winding mountain roads also made me realise that I should have probably gone for a stage 2 clutch. I warned warned by the manager of the garage how heavy it was before I got in the car, but was still shocked at how much force it took to depress the stage 3. My left leg is gonna be ripped! That is something I will get used to, and the extra torque it can take will hopefully one day be a necessity for the 3 of diamonds!

Find some more of my pics below, I need a bit more practice, but hopefully I'll get there with using that camera soon.