Visiting Célestine

We went to see Célestine yesterday - Jean-Louis said that while he had the engine out it would be a good opportunity to clean. We assumed he meant clean the engine, but what he was getting at was that the engine bay itself was greasy and could do with a going over. Part of the problem was that I had overfilled the bidon I put in the oil can clip, so that a small amount of oil spilled every time I used the brakes.

This is the sight that greeted us
at Jean-Louis' garage when we arrived.

Simon cleaning her engine bay.
Luckily it was a nice sunny day.

While we cleaned the oil off using a little white spirit and a compressed air blower, Jean-Louis was working on the gears, dismantling and checking every piece. A number of cogs were missing teeth, and it was this that caused the gearbox to split: a loose tooth getting jammed between two rotating cogs and "clac!". (Clac! is a word always accompanied by actions: make fists of both hands and hold them together in front of your chest, then jerk them apart and say clac!. It will make you look more French.)

Jean-Louis doing something fastidieux
with the gearbox innards.

Fastidieux is a false friend. It does not mean fastidious, although in this case the English sense also applies. He was putting half a dozen pieces together, testing them, taking them apart, adjusting and repeating as necessary until perfect. He described it as fastidieux, meaning it was tiresome or tedious.

He is going to start putting Célestine back together on Tuesday and she should be ready by the end of the week. It amazes us : not only is the engine and gearbox out (and the gearbox in a billion pieces), most of the electrics are disconnected and body panels have been removed. And yet all this will all come together in the next 7 days . Incroyable!

Susan & Simon