£1000 Challenge Mitsubishi Galant
Lost keys and rare parts make routine work a pain as we prepare our Galant for its biggest trip yet
1991 MITSUBISHI GALANT GLSi
THE STORY SO FAR
Miles driven 16
Total mileage 231,564
What’s gone wrong Charlie’s lost the keys and our new fuel filler neck is hundreds of miles away
CHARLIE CALDERWOOD Two weeks ago I promised that the Galant was going to take a well-earned break; it needed an oil change, its fuel filler pipe was leaking and the exhaust was blowing badly. What’s more, editor David Simister alerted me that he had big plans for the Galant the coming weekend, that would see it on its largest single drive yet, so I knew I had to get the car up to scratch for some major mile-munching.
I decided to tackle the fuel filler pipe first and therefore found myself under the car’s fuel tank once again, having failed to repair the pipe in-situ a month ago. Ancient rubber and rusted hose clips made removing the pipe thoroughly unpleasant, but the thing finally came off after an hour of wrangling, swearing and ruined neck muscles. It was clear that my sealant repair hadn’t gone far enough around the pipe’s existing weld repair, which was where the leak was coming from. With just nine other Galant GLSis in the country, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to find a replacement filler pipe, much as the car is crying out for one, but at exactly that moment, CCW reader Paul Hiles threw the Galant a life-line. Paul recounted that ClassicCarz2 (carz2.co.uk) had been able to supply a Klokkerholm fuel filler pipe for his 1985 Toyota Carina, much to his surprise, and that the company might be able to do the same for our Mitsubishi. After a quick phone call, Classiccarz2 told me that a pipe for our Galant could indeed be sourced, but that it would be a special order and take three weeks to arrive – I put the order in, but I’d have to make a temporary repair on the existing pipe in the meantime.
Running out of time to do the work myself, I booked the car in at Southgate Autos to help speed up the work, but there was one big problem as I went to drop the car around – I couldn’t find the Galant’s keys.
The car only came with one set, so I had absolutely no way of getting in the car as it was. I searched the office, my own car, my house and the area around the Galant itself, but for the life of me couldn’t find them. Not only did I have to postpone the car’s appointment at Southgate Autos, but David’s weekend plans for it were also in jeopardy unless I could sort the problem quickly.
I braced myself for an expensive call-out for an auto locksmith, having had to do the same with my old 205 last year, but I thought it was worth putting in a quick call to my local Mitsubishi dealer to see Charlie’s earlier repair can be seen on the right of the pipe, and hasn’t covered all of the older repair patch. Over to the pros, now, then… whether – unlike Peugeot – they still had the keycodes for a car as old as the Galant. Much to my surprise, Close Mitsubishi Peterborough said that they could in fact give me the key code if I brought the V5 along, which would allow me to get the key cut – if I could find the correct blank.
I went straight from Close Mitsubishi to Peterborough locksmith, City Locks, which, again to my incredulity, had the correct blank for the Galant. In fact, bar the Mitsubishi branding, the key was identical to the old one and was in my hands within a matter of minutes.
Problem one solved, then, but David was still planning to take the car on a huge drive just two days later, so I quickly dropped the car around to Southgate Autos with instructions to clean up the filler pipe for a temporary repair, change the car’s oil, decide whether the exhaust is even vaguely repairable and investigate the worrying thudding wheel bearing noise I’ve been hearing of late.
Mechanic Matt has his work cut out to get the car ready in time for David’s bank-holiday weekend adventure and since David will likely be taking the Robin if the Mitsi isn’t finished, I’d suggest David’s sanity, or at least the integrity of his ear drums, is currently hanging in the balance.
Oh, and the original set of keys? A colleague found them in the car park the day after I got the new set made.
Obviously…