teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Another weekend, another washout... Saturday was supposed to be mostly dry but ended up being incredibly wet. I just could not summon up enough enthusiasm to paddle about in a wet tent so I didn't. Sunday dawned much the same but wonder of wonders it stopped raining mid morning so I went out to fill my sand bags and build a miniature Hoover Dam. I might call it the Henry Dam or something like that, I don't know. Anyway, I had done the first three bags before the monsoon recommenced and I ended up completely soaked. I got this far before I ran out of sand.  I think I'm going to get some more to go a bit further round the sides of the tent otherwise the water could come around like what happened at the Maginot line... I swept out as much water as I could, we'll see what happens because it is still raining now. After that I had to go inside to dry out in front of a roaring candle. My enthusiasm is very low at the moment, not because I don't want to do it, I do, but I don't want to do it whilst having to wear a snorkel and flippers. Cold and dry I can cope with, cold and wet is not for me. Cheers. |
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philsford
Part of things
Posts: 733
Club RR Member Number: 100
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I know what you mean when the weather is dragging your enthusiasm down. Were you not building a workshop for this type of activity?
Is it possible to do a bit on the porsche to dodge the bad weather of outside and return to this once the weather is more favorable?
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Last Edit: Dec 4, 2022 19:44:55 GMT by philsford
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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I know what you mean when the weather is dragging your enthusiasm down. Were you not building a workshop for this type of activity? Is it possible to do a bit on the porsche to dodge the bad weather of outside and return to this once the weather is more favorable? Not even sure there is a Porsche any more - suspect it’s been cashed in to fund a massive cake habit … James |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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I know what you mean when the weather is dragging your enthusiasm down. Were you not building a workshop for this type of activity? Is it possible to do a bit on the porsche to dodge the bad weather of outside and return to this once the weather is more favorable? Not building a workshop excuses are firstly, I can't get the mini digger up the drive because some plonker has built a tent in the middle of it and... well, that will do for now, I might need my other excuses for later... Not even sure there is a Porsche any more - suspect it’s been cashed in to fund a massive cake habit … James Porsche, what Porsche? Are you saying that I have a Porsche? Wow, I'd love to have a Porsche! Hold on I've missed something, what was it? Ahhhh cakes, I like cakes. I've ordered another professionally made Victoria cake from Lil's Cakes for next Saturday. One of these mmmmmmmmmm.  Now, when I got home it was, of course, raining. I checked the tent and it has flooded again. I've ordered some more sand bags to extend the Henry dam. The good news for today is that the price of heating oil seems to have come down from total P*** take to downright diabolical. To celebrate this I have serviced and lit the Rayburn, which would normally have happened some time ago.  The benefit to this is that I only need to wear one cardigan at a time now and I don't need to wear my tights under my trousers, in the house at least. This has the added benefit of sparing the Lovely Doctor from seeing me first thing in a morning prancing around looking like Rudolf Nureyev... Right, I'm off to cover myself in deep heat and get up against the Rayburn to try to survive the night. Cin cin. |
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,975
Club RR Member Number: 71
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The good news for today is that the price of heating oil seems to have come down from total P*** take to downright diabolical. To celebrate this I have serviced and lit the Rayburn, which would normally have happened some time ago. The benefit to this is that I only need to wear one cardigan at a time now and I don't need to wear my tights under my trousers, in the house at least. This has the added benefit of sparing the Lovely Doctor from seeing me first thing in a morning prancing around looking like Rudolf Nureyev...Right, I'm off to cover myself in deep heat and get up against the Rayburn to try to survive the night. Cin cin. This image I cannot get out of my head - and not having met you in person it's missing context - Damn you teaboy - damn you to hell!!! |
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,309
Club RR Member Number: 170
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It's been a while since I've read this thread, mainly as I've not been on the forum quite as much as I have wanted, and then generally updating threads which are months out of date.
I need to look into the cake adventures though!
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,888
Club RR Member Number: 15
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The good news for today is that the price of heating oil seems to have come down from total P*** take to downright diabolical. To celebrate this I have serviced and lit the Rayburn, which would normally have happened some time ago. Get yourself a wood-burning Rayburn. They don't gulp dinosaur juice and the days spent logging, sawing and splitting are very warm Our ancestors had the answer, not nancy-boy tights but flannel longjohns with button-up flaps optional I recommend a good curry followed by a couple of tots of rum. You won't care about the cold then  |
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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This has the added benefit of sparing the Lovely Doctor from seeing me first thing in a morning prancing around looking like Rudolf Nureyev... This image I cannot get out of my head - and not having met you in person it's missing context - Damn you teaboy - damn you to hell!!! I can only apologise, Bstardo. Have I awakened your hitherto suppressed yearnings for handsome chaps in tights? It's been a while since I've read this thread, mainly as I've not been on the forum quite as much as I have wanted, and then generally updating threads which are months out of date. I need to look into the cake adventures though! Nice to have you back aboard, Chas. Be careful with the cakes, they can ruin your figure if you are not careful... Get yourself a wood-burning Rayburn. They don't gulp dinosaur juice and the days spent logging, sawing and splitting are very warm The last time I chopped up firewood I chopped myself up too and ended up in hospital, I can't be trusted with sharp things. Do you think the Lovely Doctor would prefer those to the Nureyevs? I like a good ruby, not bothered about rum. As my Henry Dam was not up to the job I got some more soft sand and had ordered some more sand bags from those Amazonian bag makers. The sand was there but the bags were not so I filled up the remaining ones from the first batch and extended the barrier around the side of the tent.  Obviously it started raining on me whilst I was doing it so once my stock of bags was exhausted I packed up and went inside. After a quick cuppa I went to the shop and to fuel up for tomorrow and upon my return the new stock of bags had arrived so I set to and filled those.  I think the majority of the water was running off that concrete slope and in through the side so hopefully it is now shored up enough to keep it out. I also put a few down the other side, just in case.  Now I have run out of sand again and my back was telling me I'd had enough. It was time to lean up against my nice warm Rayburn with a lovely cuppa. Let's see if this is enough to keep the water out. Cheers. |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Have my flood defences worked? I have no idea because it has now stopped raining. The pluviality is probably saving itself for the weekend I expect. The precipitation has been replaced by subzero temperatures. It was showing a degree and a half below when I backed up the drive this evening. Not that long ago I said that I can handle the cold as long as it was dry, so here was my opportunity to live up to my bravado. The next bit on the list was this at the back of the rear footwell.  This was how I'd left it in the antediluvian times. I wanted to have a go with the modern welding set that I have borrowed. It is nothing fancy at all, just a basic Sealey thing, and now is the time when I should have taken a picture of it. My old welder is still working as well as ever but I have been struggling a bit with the very thin BMW floor panels. When I bought it many years ago it was a very expensive set but technology has moved the game on. Another thing to consider is that I wouldn't be able to wheel it into the tent because someone has covered the entrance with a wall of sandbags... The Sealey is very light and I can just carry it in, I brought the gas bottle down from the shed with a sack barrow to save my poor back. The first problem, actually it is more of an inconvenience really, is that the Sealey has a short 2 metre fixed harness whereas my old Erfi has a 4 metre Binzel harness and torch. This meant that I was tripping over the set every time I had to get down the side of the car due to having to have it so close. Anyway, I did a test to get the settings how I wanted them. Again, I could have taken a picture but didn't. I was going to get a picture of the piece tacked in, but got a bit carried away.  It was much easier to get the welder set how I wanted it because of the stepless controls. I have to say that because of the area that I am welding and the fact that I can't fully open the door meant that I was bent over and twisting to my left. This was really uncomfortable for my dodgy back and I had to not stay in that position for too long or the Lovely Doctor would probably have had to come and crowbar me out. I am using the pain and discomfort as an excuse for the shabby welding.  I have to say that I was very pleased with how the Sealey performed, it's a thumbs up from me. I gave the repair a quick tidy up.  As usual I had made it oversized so I was just going to get my stuff to mark it out and trim it down when the Doc asked me if I would go to the shop for her so it was pack up time. To be honest I didn't mind, there was ice on the inside of the tent and my toes were starting to feel cold. Next job is trim it up and get some weld through primer on it and start cutting in these new bits that join on to there.  Sorry for the verbosity and lack of pictures, I'll try to do better next time. Cheers. |
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Excellent,
Sorry but have to say that the welding looks great to me, as long as it's strong with good penetration etc. I'd be happy with it and it's certainly cleaned up well,
Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport
BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Excellent, Sorry but have to say that the welding looks great to me, as long as it's strong with good penetration etc. I'd be happy with it and it's certainly cleaned up well, Nigel Cheers Nigel. I know I said that I was ok with the cold but last night was minus four degrees and I was in two minds about going in the tent. Whilst I had a cup of tea to psych myself up for it it started snowing so the towel went in. Tonight is just as cold but no snow, well falling snow at least, so I had no excuse. This is the view out of the tent.  First thing was to look underneath to see if we have reasonable penetration and to tidy it up a bit. It looks ok from below.  It needs trimming to size so I used another bit of that window shutter thing as a guide for cutting.  I moved the clamps about to suit whilst I chopped it down to just slightly oversize then finished it off with a file.  I did expose a single pinhole which I have marked out for filling in but that will have to be another time because whilst the filing kept me quite warm it didn't prevent me losing all feeling in my fingers and toes. Even Fat Al was feeling the cold.  Cheers. |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Dec 10, 2022 18:13:56 GMT
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Had to do 'things' this morning, usual Saturday routine. I got a couple of hours this afternoon so I started to cut in the heel panel ready for fitting. When I offered it in I could see that the two flutes didn't quite line up.  I had purposely left the top part of the old ones in to give me the correct location for them. Their positioning though not critical does have to be reasonably precise because the tank strap bracket fits between them and that needs to be somewhere near the right place. The reason that the flutes were out of place was because I had bent the end flange slightly too far away so I marked that out for repositioning.  I also decided to cut the whole thing down to closer the final size to make it a bit more wieldy.   The lower flange needed to be trimmed to the final size.  it now fits reasonably well.  This is just rested in position.  This was the point when the lovely Doctor needed me to retrieve plastic trees, tinsel and various other items of festive paraphernalia from the loft. Once retrieved it was time for a lovely cup of tea and victoria cake.  Cheers. |
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Dec 10, 2022 19:21:08 GMT
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That fits a treat. I now fancy a bit of Victoria sponge.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Dec 11, 2022 19:37:39 GMT
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That fits a treat. I now fancy a bit of Victoria sponge. Cheers. When she was a small child my youngest daughter used to call it cake with victoria in it. Whatever you call it it was nice. Today was really unproductive. I needed to weld up the pin hole in the back end of the floor first. This would take a few seconds, except when I did it the weld fizzed and oxidised, like there was no gas getting to it. There was no gas getting to it because the supply hose from the bottle to the set had got a kink in it. I had to drill it out so now I had a hole bigger than a pin hole to fill. With the pipe straightened I went to start again, the welder now issued gas but the wire feed had stopped working! After quite a bit of faffing around I got the wire feed working again, I have no idea how but I didn't care. Right, now I can weld up the hole. Except the weld fizzed and oxidised because I had turned the gas off whilst trying to fix the wire feed and had forgotten to turn it back on again... This meant I had to drill it out again... By the time it was finally sorted I was so thoroughly teed off that I packed up all my stuff. I did force myself to get some weld through primer on there so that it is ready to weld when my enthusiasm returns.   Hopefully the welder will work properly next time. Cheers. |
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Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,883
Club RR Member Number: 39
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Dec 11, 2022 20:52:19 GMT
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Bravo for the perseverance - Mine is still frozen solid and I am not attempting any sort of thawing it out until the Celsius bods are pushing double figures.
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Dec 11, 2022 21:00:22 GMT
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Bravo for the perseverance - Mine is still frozen solid and I am not attempting any sort of thawing it out until the Celsius bods are pushing double figures. I've just ordered a small space heater, when I get that going the inside of the tent will be like Barbados! I will soon be prancing around in there in my budgie smugglers. |
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,975
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Dec 11, 2022 21:53:52 GMT
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Bravo for the perseverance - Mine is still frozen solid and I am not attempting any sort of thawing it out until the Celsius bods are pushing double figures. I've just ordered a small space heater, when I get that going the inside of the tent will be like Barbados! I will soon be prancing around in there in my budgie smugglers. Thanks for that image - goes very well with the previous one............... |
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,360
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Dec 12, 2022 10:49:57 GMT
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I’m in admiration of your tin bashing skills. I simply don’t have the patience for that and have really never ventured beyond “MoT standard” bodgery. Glad my ramblings helped pass the time recovering from the tooth issue. Maybe there’s a connection between teeth and cake consumption? 😆
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,556
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Dec 12, 2022 15:35:13 GMT
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That fits a treat. I now fancy a bit of Victoria sponge. Cheers. When she was a small child my youngest daughter used to call it cake with victoria in it. Whatever you call it it was nice. Today was really unproductive. I needed to weld up the pin hole in the back end of the floor first. This would take a few seconds, except when I did it the weld fizzed and oxidised, like there was no gas getting to it. There was no gas getting to it because the supply hose from the bottle to the set had got a kink in it. I had to drill it out so now I had a hole bigger than a pin hole to fill. With the pipe straightened I went to start again, the welder now issued gas but the wire feed had stopped working! After quite a bit of faffing around I got the wire feed working again, I have no idea how but I didn't care. Right, now I can weld up the hole. Except the weld fizzed and oxidised because I had turned the gas off whilst trying to fix the wire feed and had forgotten to turn it back on again... This meant I had to drill it out again... By the time it was finally sorted I was so thoroughly teed off that I packed up all my stuff. I did force myself to get some weld through primer on there so that it is ready to weld when my enthusiasm returns. Hopefully the welder will work properly next time. Cheers. This reads like me at work on my loom, lol... |
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teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,126
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Dec 12, 2022 23:29:59 GMT
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I will soon be prancing around in there in my budgie smugglers. Thanks for that image - goes very well with the previous one............... Don't look baby, it'll drive you crazy! I’m in admiration of your tin bashing skills. I simply don’t have the patience for that and have really never ventured beyond “MoT standard” bodgery. Glad my ramblings helped pass the time recovering from the tooth issue. Maybe there’s a connection between teeth and cake consumption? 😆 I'm pretty sure that you could do it just as well as I can, if you ever had the urge. I follow your big van lunacy because it is, well, the work of a lunatic and I like that. I hadn't seen your L-R thread before for some reason and I really enjoyed catching up on that too, even though it is much more sensible than the van. I try not to make cake-tooth correlations, what is far more concerning is the developing cake-fat belly relationship. Hopefully the welder will work properly next time. This reads like me at work on my loom, lol... Now you mention it I realise how small my problems actually are. I only had one wire feed to worry about I really don't envy your wire problems but I am incredibly impressed with what you have done to solve them. Tonight the lovely Doctor is out on a secret mission so I went straight into the tent, well, after I had fed Fat Al of course. First thing was to drill the flange on the heel panel for plug welding, then get it set up into position.  I painted it with weld through primer yesterday before I drilled it because I want clean metal on the holes. If you look here..  You can see that I have scraped the weld through primer off in the area that I want to weld. This is because, and I have tried numerous different brands, trying to weld through weld through primer is just horrible. The arc doesn't want to start then when it does it spits and doesn't go nicely so I just use it for the bits next to where I'm welding. I got a couple of plugs in to stabilise where the piece was at the bottom.  Then I could start tacking the perimeter. It was very thin and flexible so I had to file down the tacks on both sides as I went along so I could use a hammer and dollie to keep everything as lined up as I can I decided to plug weld the remains of the outer section back on, this involved rooting through my shed (which seems to have exploded again) to find some long welding clamps.  I'm really glad that I left that hole in the floor open for now, it is really handy. So plug weld that back on.  Then do a bit more tacking of the top edge. What with having to keep filing back and hammering it to shape this took far longer than I anticipated. This is what it is like now.  I haven't done all the plug welds on the lower flange because the floor is sagging a bit and needs to be jacked up to meet it. That is how I left it tonight because I was out there over three hours and my torch and lamp batteries were beginning to fade and due to the incredible cold, so was I. My fingers and toes went numb then I think my toes just fell off because I can't feel them at all now. I am sitting here typing this with a hot water bottle on my lap and a hot wheaty bag thing round my back trying to thaw out. I do have a lovely cup of tea and some victoria cake. I'm lucky the Doctor is out or I suspect I would only have a cup of tea... Cheers. |
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