Only 6.5 days left... and still so much to do! (Ook Nederlands)

---Voor Nederlands naar onder scrollen a.u.b.---

The Mongol Rally launch is closing in fast now! We are at less than a week from driving on the legendary Goodwood circuit, followed by heading east. 15,000 kilometers east!

As this is always the case, we are not just waiting around watching time pass. At this moment we are sorting official things like insurances and making sure we get appropriate press publicity. But besides that, we still have some work on the cars that we really need to do. Plus don't forget preparing camping gear, installing photo and video cameras and consolidating all our music playlists!

It's all coming together now, all those months of meeting, researching and working. We started with Rally ideas in October-2010, but it feels like it was last week. Time flew really fast.

It's already a good sign that both teams made their charity minimum of 1000GBP! A big thank you to all who donated already. If you didn't yet? Why not do it now!

Wednesday all Tools will be present in Sheffield and on Friday we hit Goodwood circuit camp ground!

Don't forget to check in regularly now, we will update almost daily!

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Nederlands

De Mongol Rally launch komt nu snel dichterbij! We zijn minder dan een week verwijderd van het rondje rijden op het legendarische Goodwood circuit, gevolgd een ritje naar het oosten. 15.000 kilometer richting het oosten!

(vertaling: "Slechts 6,5 dagen tot de MongolRally ...en nog zoveel dingen nog te doen!")

Zoals dat altijd gaat, we zijn niet gewoon aan het wachten tot de tijd voorbij gaat. Op dit moment zijn we druk bezig met officiële zaken te regelen zoals verzekeringen en het krijgen van de juiste publiciteit. Daarnaast hebben we ook nog wat werk aan de auto's wat echt gedaan moet worden. Plus, niet te vergeten, het voorbereiden van kampeerspullen, het installeren van photo en video camera's en het samenvoegen van onze muziek playlisten!

Het komt allemaal samen nu, al die maanden van vergaderen, onderzoeken en werken. We startten met Rally ideeën in oktober 2010, maar het voelt alsof het vorige week was. De tijd is snel voorbij gevlogen!

Het is al een goed teken dat beide team hun minimum goede doelen geld van 1000 Engelse pond hebben opgehaald. Iedereen die gedoneerd heeft, enorm bedankt! Als je nog niet gedoneerd heb, doe het dan nu! Waarom niet?

Woensdag zijn alle Tools compleet present in Sheffield en op vrijdag laten we ons horen op de camping van het Goodwood circuit!

Vergeet niet dagelijk te kijken he! We zullen namelijk vrijwel dagelijks updates hebben nu!

Safe from the rivers and the dust.

Things are so very close now.  We leave in just 12 days and there is so much more yet to do.  Today we were working on the car a bit more,  the brakes are nearly sorted now- we just need a new nipple (oooh!) . The roof rack is now painted and complete.   We fitted a snorkel to the air intake on the car and raised it up to roof level.  Its not so much for crossing raging rivers but simply to try and get a bit less dust in there.  The previous air intake was around the wheel arch.  
On the to do list,   tyres,  sump guard, plugs and belts!

More car work pictures!

What have we been working on recently?

Roof rack - from some old renault bars and some hollow steel bars.
Rear brakes - stripped down,  new shoes,  one seized cylinder replaced.
Fuel filter - replaced :)
4 new cigar-lighter power sockets wired in.
1 powered cooler, wired in :)
1 cheapo, but new radio put it. 

Been busy!!!  Rumour has it Rich has dismantled an old fridge and is currently building his in-car drink-cooler!

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY ROCK INTO MONGOLIA ... Success!

Against all odds the charity gig was a total success, we collected £134.75 in our bucket alone.  Since we were not charging for entry and relying solely on the generosity of our audience I think this is a great number. Even those of you that chucked copper in there, it all adds up in the end! 

A big thank you to the musicians that played in the bands, the rest of the guys & gals from the Outsiders and Red Hot White.  Surviving Savannah who played an awesome set and David Malelamb for throwing down the gauntlet with this impressive acoustic work.  Also a big thanks to David Malelamb, Sheena Savage, Clare Davenport and Lesley for filling in on vocals for the Outsiders.  And get well soon to Gareth who wasn't able to sing.   Here are a few pics from the night!

Also fixed this weekend.

As you may have gathered from the previous post our cloggie 2cars4tools team member was over this weekend and getting stuck in to the work on the car. Eventually we managed to get the hole in the floor fixed by welding in a piece of angle-iron (cunningly bent into shape by yours truly) and part of what was formally the cover from some sort of boiler. It might not be a work of art but we won't be falling down into the road any more! We managed to fit a couple of unsuitable Renault roof rails onto our roof with the help of a drill, some big washers, some sealant and bolts and then lovingly transplanted our spare wheel from its home in the boot onto the top of the bonnet.

As you may have gathered from the previous post our cloggie 2cars4tools team member was over this weekend and getting stuck in to the work on the car. Eventually we managed to get the hole in the floor fixed by welding in a piece of angle-iron (cunningly bent into shape by yours truly) and part of what was formally the cover from some sort of boiler. It might not be a work of art but we won't be falling down into the road any more! We managed to fit a couple of unsuitable Renault roof rails onto our roof with the help of a drill, some big washers, some sealant and bolts and then lovingly transplanted our spare wheel from its home in the boot onto the top of the bonnet.

Just to prove we did some work...

We didn't just drink tea.   Here is a great photo Ralph took of some of the action.

Weld weld weld...

A few days ago we brought the car into the local suzuki dealer who gave our car a free check over.    They found a few bits and pieces that needed sorting with the car,  in particular it turned out that the floor under the drivers seat was so corroded it needed some welding work... otherwise we might find ourselves dropping out of the bottom. 

 Obviously that is a bit of a problem so we got the car up on ramps and Tim set to work with his mig welder, some chunks of metal and a hot cup of tea while Ralph and I discovered that the reason that the electric window didn't work was because the plug to the motor was disconnected.  We replugged it, and it worked.  I felt very clever!

 So we drank more tea!

Cheerio!