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Jan 29, 2022 19:22:45 GMT
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Wire is in and it does improve the starts on cold mornings. Most of my time has been taken on DIY, stripped one shed and tidied it up as a garden store, then striped the other out to begin fitting it out as a workshop for my daughters candle/reed diffusser business. In the meantime the boiler started playing up so I had to fit a new control board and thermostat, it's getting on a bit now (one of the last of the non condensing ones), if the gas goes up as they are predicting it might even be worth getting a newer one (costs me about £80 a year over the best of what is available now). Did do some car work though, fitted new front door speakers to the mazda. Pulled out these which even to my ear sound rubbish   And fitted these which sound great.  |
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Last Edit: Jan 29, 2022 19:26:03 GMT by kevins
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Jan 30, 2022 16:15:41 GMT
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As part of the re-organiastion i needed to build a mezzanine type shelf in the lock up the TR lives in, gave me an excuse to start it up pump the tyres up and take it for a spin round the block, started easily and drives fine, hood has fallen appart even more (had a new one for xmas which I will fit when it gets warmer) otherwise it all seemed fine, only issue is a 6" long crack which has appeared from the bottom of the windscreen on the passenger side, won't stop me using it but I'll dig out the insurance docs to see how much the excess is anyway.
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used the TR for work one last Wednesday, apart from it pouring and water running in everywhere (load of seams on the hood coming undone) and the wire coming off the headlamp motor thermal fuse it worked a treat, it's the first time I have used it for any distance since removing the LPG system, it does seem a bit rich at idle now though so some tweaking may be needed. On the others not much work because the DIY has taken priority, the micro factory for my daughters candle business is now finished and we have the conservatory back so aside from some work around the in-laws (stripping out a kitchen and running in the back boxes and conduit etc ready for the new one) I have some time to spend on cars. First simple task was fix the instrument cluster light on the street ka, had to take all the facia panels off to get to it, getting the radio out proved a bit of a pig but once that was done it was just half a dozen screws.  but in the end no nasties, a new bulb and making sure all the contacts were making a firm connection. on the minor my son seems to have got a lot more enthusiasm, he's bee studying Vizards book and picked up a cheap secondhand mini LCB exhaust manifold which we intend to modify, we have twin SU's etc as well so that will go on along with the correct alternator and some thicker oil in the dampers, hope is to get somewhere close to 70hp out of it. (standard is 46). |
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Last Edit: Feb 9, 2022 14:58:05 GMT by kevins
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It's also already got a fast road cam, flowed head 9:1 compression ratio, and a megajolt ignition system. 70 is an optomistic target, I hope it will at least be 60 something though.
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I'd be interested to hear your results on it; I still have my (standard) 1098cc engine from my Traveller for a spare which I rebuilt with new crank and big end bearings in case the Midget one packs up.
I think mine may need a new head gasket, as compression was very low on the middle two cylinders the last time I test-ran it back in October 2017...
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Range rover is playing up again, started running on 7 cylinders, it's done this occasionally on start up since I change the spark plugs (new ones were Bosch), found out which cylinder it was and put one of the old plugs in and it now runs fine, spark was a bit yellow though so I've splashed out £40 on some 10mm powerspark leads to replace what looks like the Britpart ones on there. I'll have a closer look at the plug later I think it might have some sort of crack, you could hear it ticking away but couldn't see any stray sparks see, surprising thing was how rough it was on 7 cylinders felt more like 5 or 6 had me thinking of head gaskets or similar at first!
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Feb 13, 2022 19:44:50 GMT
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Today and yesterday was mostly spent sorting out wiring round my wife's sister's, she's having a new kitchen and the current sockets are only a couple of inches above the work top, this should have sent some alarm bells, the whole thing was a mass of chock blocks, dodgey spurs and all the wires plastered into the wall, also the ring isn't a ring, it's a long string with no return path. So ended up ripping it all out, laying in conduit and starting again, still got to re-render / plaster most of one wall as well as the plaster was blown and fell off in sheets. End result what was meant to take a couple of hours has taken all weekend and no car time.
Have been using the range rover as a van and no more misfires so perhaps it was a dodgey plug.
In other news Andrew has bought a 1275 maestro engine for his minor, these are probably the most advanced A series but the rear end has a revised metric crank flange to fit to the VW back to front clutch used with the meastro's VW gearbox and an alloy rear plate which carries a proper oil seal. Good news is we intend to use it with a mx5 gearbox so will need an adaptor plate anyway and even better a 1.6 mx5 flywheel appears to fit on the metric crank with only some minor machining which we should be able to do on our lathe, hopefully we will even be able to squeeze a mx5 starter in too.
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75swb
Beta Tester
Posts: 1,052
Club RR Member Number: 181
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Feb 13, 2022 19:55:27 GMT
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I went to change 1 switch for a friend yesterday and was abhorred by the state of the wiring behind. Not wishing to spend all afternoon rewiring and all night plastering I bravely added some heat shrink and cable wrap to the unsafe bits, fitted the switch and walked away. You're a better man than I.
Ah the old Britpart debacle. Glad they exist as they make a whole heap of stuff that would be NLA, but do occasionally wish they'd double their prices and double the quality of the product. Good to hear the range rover's getting used though
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Feb 13, 2022 20:04:43 GMT
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I look forward to hearing how you get on with the Minor's engine/gearbox conversion...
I read a tale from a mechanic in the USA who had to 'tune' a customer's Ford 302 V8, which had a misfire.
They did all the usual checks including with an oscilloscope, but it still misfired until they eventually whipped off the intake manifolds and discovered one tract to a cylinder was completely blocked with casting material still left in, thus the engine had only ever run on 7 cylinders from new!
Another tale was that of an MGB, which regularly oiled up one spark plug, despite the car being in otherwise excellent condition. They discovered one piston was missing its oil control ring, presumably an oversight at the factory.
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Feb 14, 2022 14:34:23 GMT
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I do wonder if that injector might be leaking, the misfire happens after it has been repeatadly started and moved a few feet to get the other cars out, hopefully I will get round to taking them all out and flow checking them and replacing the hoses this year. The new plug leads arrived today.  Fitted them.  Did need to use the silicone grease they supplied to get the caps on the plugs, but they seem fine now and it does seem a bit smoother. Also carried on fiddling with my old bike, it needs a new rear sprocket and the tool to get the old one off is around £40,  A couple of tacks with the mig and a pair of stiltsons got me this.  Only problem was I then dropped the pot with all the ball bearings in, couldn't find them all so waiting for somd new 1/4" ones to arrive now. |
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Feb 14, 2022 20:55:49 GMT
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One of those times the Like button is wrong……
Losing ball bearings.
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Feb 21, 2022 20:50:29 GMT
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bike went back together fine, been spending most of the time on the sister in-laws kitchen, pretty much all done now this but a new problem today, she rings up this morning saying the heating has packed up, go round there and no power to the boiler, that's brings me to one of the remaining thing i was going to do something about....  that believe not or not is the power for the boiler over which the plumber had fitted the cold water feed pipe trapping it in the socket. In the end I smashed the plug to pieces (with the mains off!) and fitted a new one, plugged it in and bang the fuse blew, quick look around revealed the inlet tap (basically looks like a washing machine tap with unique threads so 20 times the price!) was dripping on the wireless thermostat base unit which had shorted out, plan was to bridge that as a temporary fix out so I opened the lower door to check the wiring connections only to find whoever had been in there before had kinked the capillary tube to the pressure gauge which had now snapped when I opened the door, so we now had 2 leaks. Good news is with the thermostat bridged out it seems to power up ok, just need to change the leaking bits now ! On the car front the range rover has stated making a rather unpleasant noise, it's wheel speed and seems to come from the right rear, sounds like a wheel bearing but strangely comes and goes, if I get a chance I will take a look tomorrow, it had new rear brake discs when I bought it 5 years ago so hopefully it will come apart easily enough, only thing that looks rough is the brake dust shields, If they are beyond use I will probably just bin them, I'm in the camp that they are more trouble than they are worth. |
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Last Edit: Feb 21, 2022 20:54:29 GMT by kevins
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Feb 21, 2022 20:55:51 GMT
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bike went back together fine, been spending most of the time on the sister in-laws kitchen, pretty much all done now this but a new problem today, she rings up this morning saying the heating has packed up, go round there and no power to the boiler, that's brings me to one of the remaining thing i was going to do something about.... that believe not or not is the power for the boiler over which the plumber had fitted the cold water feed pipe trapping it in the socket. In the end I smashed the plug to pieces (with the mains off!) and fitted a new one, plugged it in and ban the fuse blew, quick look around revealed the inlet tap (basically looks like a washing machine tap with unique threads so 20 times the price!) was dripping on the wireless thermostat base unit which had shorted out, plan was to bridge that out so I opened the lower door to check the wiring connections only to find whoever had been in there before had kinked the capillary tube to the pressure gauge which had now snapped when I opened the door, so we now had 2 leaks. Good news is with the thermostat bridged out it seems to power up ok, just need to change the broken bits now. On the car front the range rover has stated making a rather unpleasant noise, it's wheel speed and seems to come from the right rear, sounds like a wheel bearing but strangely comes and goes, if I get a chance I will take a look tomorrow, it had new rear brake discs when I bought it 5 years ago so hopefully it will come apart easily enough, only thing that looks rough is the brake dust shields, If they are beyond use I will probably just bin them, I'm in the camp that they are more trouble than they are worth. wow ! just when you think you have seen it all that takes some beating |
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75swb
Beta Tester
Posts: 1,052
Club RR Member Number: 181
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Feb 21, 2022 21:37:26 GMT
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Surely you can't be serious? Ffs. I lose more and more faith in humanity the more I see! |
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Feb 22, 2022 13:03:27 GMT
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Yes I couldn't believe it, I will put a new spur in to one side before we finish. Had a quick look at the range rover, looks like the issue is the the dust shield, A lump has come off and is dragging on the inside of the wheel, hopefully a few minutes with this Christmas present will enable me to remove it completely without the need to disassemble the whole wheel end, if it goes OK will probably do the other side too as that's not much better.  |
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Last Edit: Feb 22, 2022 19:16:18 GMT by kevins
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Feb 23, 2022 20:23:24 GMT
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Looked at the Range Rover, turned out it was just the disc sheild, the large part had come off completely and was sitting inside the wheel. It all pulled off with a couple of tugs and nothing else is damaged, so got off lightly.  The other side looks a lot better, perhaps it's been replaced, when I have more time I'll cut it off as well to be sure. Also washed the mazda and street ka, both need a good polish, but an improvement.  Finally put my new toy on the bench.  What an amazing toy, seems all wrong but it chops through steel pipe like it's butter. Old one which has done me well but the lack of a gaurd means it's really scrap now.  |
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Feb 28, 2022 21:44:59 GMT
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We've just spent a couple of days touring around North Kent,  Weather was great, took the mazda which was fine until we were almost home, driving up a hill on the M25 at around 70mph it started spitting coolant out of the overflow tank which was pulled up around the popped up headlight and over the windscreen, no signs of overheating and still runs perfectly, the overflow tank is on the max mark 2 or 3 inches down from the cap, stopped at Brentwood and appart from a small amount of coolant around the tank all looked fine, no grest pressure in the hoses, and it had stopped leaking I'll have a look at the level in the radiator in the morning, hopefully it was just overfilled or the cap has had it. Only other thing is the coolant that came out was a foamy froth (have I mistakenly put blue washer fluid in it?) it's about time it was changed anyway so that will be job for the next week or 2. |
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Feb 28, 2022 21:53:25 GMT
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Looks like Herne Bay seafront; I live about 0.5km from there...
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Feb 28, 2022 22:31:12 GMT
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Yes spot on, about the nicest spot we found, stayed in Margate, old town is OK but the rest very run down, whitstable was OK but very crowded on Sunday.
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