[Spridgets] Second cool drive

[WeslakeMonza1330 at aol.com]

My breakdowns and running repairs have been:
 
Ran out of petrol once (used spare petrol can)
 
Exhaust bracket broke once (used wire coat hanger as temporary repair - for  
months)
 
Fuel pump stopped - frequent stops to hit it and get it going again till I  
arrived home (50 mile round trip).
 
Dynamo failed - continued journey in the day time. Parked on top of a hill  
for a rolling bump start and drove home on side lights (20+ miles).
 
Weslake-Monza 1330
 
n a message dated 24/11/2008 14:52:31 GMT Standard Time,  
guy.weller at tiscali.co.uk writes:

I am  sure Frank, and others, will have their favourite lists of what spares
they  think should be carried.

But the real truth would come from analysis of  what breakdowns have actually
occurred in normal travel that were, or could  have been fixed "if only I had
XXX in on-board my spares"

i.e.. In  the last 45,000 miles I have had problems with:
Flat battery (twice) -  solved with jump leads.
Leaking hose to radiator connection - solved with  epoxy resin (JB weld) at
least sufficient to get home.
Broken throttle  cable - solved by shortening outer cable and refitting.
Faulty voltage  regulator - swapped batteries with a Spridget friend to get
home. Then  replaced system with an alternator.
Faulty fuel pump - "fixed" by thumping  it (26 times in 75 mile journey
home!)

On the basis of the above  faults, I should only carry: Jump leads, JB Weld,
water bottle, spare  throttle cable, spare fuel pump.

So the long list of "useful" sounding  stuff including wire, duck tape, spare
bulbs, condenser, brake fluid, oil,  fuel, distributor, rotor arm .....etc
etc, that I do carry is actually just  a waste of space.

Alternatively, there is also the "black magic list"  approach. If I carry a
spare distributor then the one fitted to the car  will never fail. If I leave
it behind just one time then that is when the  thing will disintegrate into
1000 little  pieces!

Guy