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Hope the eye heals quick Robert, id prolly stick with bins, although lenses harder to misplace poss Great result for both of you re the drive i would think, v nice, an good shout on the guttering. Take it easy buddy PS Wheres your partner in crime this week ? thanks oto , the gabster is probably sleeping off her latest baby rabbit , or wobbling around looking like a rugby ball .. EG ..
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Mar 21, 2024 20:37:16 GMT
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it's lawnflite time . dragged out the poor old girl .. a 1986 machine i have used and abused since 1997 , i decided it was time for a fettle . bit of a wash .. into the barn .. deck off .. scrubby scrub chisel scrape .. bit cleaner .. bit holier .. i was going to replace the bearings in the idler and the tiny little front blade , but now I'm wondrring , do i really need that little blade at all ? looking at the later 40 " mowers .. they appear to have done away with the micro blade in the middle ...what gives !? as you can see my big blades almost meet in the middle .. Also bearings are not easy to find , especially with a part number tag like this .. regards robert
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Last Edit: Mar 21, 2024 20:40:10 GMT by ivanhoew
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Mar 21, 2024 18:07:02 GMT
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Hope the eye gets better soon Rob. thanks Mark , the emerg optician was going to rush me off to hospital , then decided to try the chloramphenicol , and that seems to have worked , wearing my glasses for a while though , before i go back to lenses .
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Mar 21, 2024 18:04:59 GMT
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working in that little gap between the chalet and the barn was fun , and claustrophobic, every now and then i had to crawl out and measure the gap to make sure it wasn't actually gradually getting smaller ,indiana jones stylee. regards robert Looks like plenty of progress to me! Is there a danger that the volume ofwater gathered in the long run of gutter will overwhelm the lower gutter at this corner and simply cascade over the side? good q John ,definitely , also a chance the force of water will push the elbow right off the diagonal . i have a way to fix that if it happens ,so i'll see how it goes .
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Last Edit: Mar 25, 2024 8:51:50 GMT by ivanhoew
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Mar 21, 2024 13:17:22 GMT
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Excellent. Take care of yourself though. thanks Glen , i do try to be carefull , however it's a contest between caution and the drive to get stuff done lol.
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MMMMM ...SHREDDED WHEAT .my fave . guten morgen lieblings , i thought i might explain little about the new drive ,cos there ain't no way i could afford that! what happened was, the new house build next door had a 100 tons of earth to remove , and the v nice chap asked if he could smooth it over my lower field , you know the water pump hs field of slopeyness and black thorn , and in return he'd put in a drive for me . i was expecting a narrow car width gravel track to the barn , with an offshoot to the side for the other barn . i was not expecting Heathrow terminal 6 ! they just kept on bringing up a dumper full of ballast one after the other , then the scalpings , then the roller .then they scraped back the bridle path , and dug out drain too , best..chaps..ever.. it may be ,just possible , that i have had some good luck ...what with the eco 4 stuff , and now this drive . its so neat and tidy , i am having trouble adjusting to the fact its still my house/garden . ! one slight drawback is i got a bit run down ,and got an ulcer on my eyeball , hence the glasses , so i have been trying to take it a bit easier , let's have a look at the photo album and see what's been happening .. oh yes , when i dug out this area for the slates to live , i found this buried , any ideas ? giant gate hinge ? here is the drain the chaps uncovered .. you can see an old drain it was probably connected to once upon a time .. it was very very blocked with hard packed mud . i am pondering trying to dig a big 15x15x6ft hole there and sticking is giant pond liner membrane , and creating a ghetto pool for hot days to jump in ...the water off the lane comes through crystal clear . I got three coats of white gloss on the window of grandnesss.. i also painted the curtain rail in flat white , so it would sink in and not break up the frame too much . bought myself a toy .. so i can test all my batteries , and also must make a note , the front brake braided hose kit off ebay comes with the wrong threaded fittings .. my old one on the left, new incorrect thread one on the right . brakes on the astra are now 'starship enterprise traction beam' level of retardation .Last time i was so retarded was when seven of nine asked me for my number and i refused . On sunday , i had a fit of cutting back , and from a 12 ft high , and 12ft straggling across the ground pair of bushes i created this , i may have got a bit enthusiastic , but v tells me the rhodo will prob come back .. then this week i had a delivery of 18 metres of gutter bits , having realised my new drive would be eaten away by the water running off the playbarn ,i set too , making a bit of guttering . nearly fell off the step ladder a few times , at one point actually hanging on the steel roofing as my legs did the well known kung fu position ..."scissors in the wind" frantically trying to grab onto the step ladder, that was now resting on the wooden wall ,but all ended well apart from a slight groin strain and higher voice than normal. i did the long bit first , carried it round and down the diagonal .. then along the home straight .. working in that little gap between the chalet and the barn was fun , and claustrophobic, every now and then i had to crawl out and measure the gap to make sure it wasn't actually gradually getting smaller ,indiana jones stylee. so not a huge amount done , bit little bits here and there . today i may drag out the lawn mower and take off the deck , and fix the little middle cutter which needs new bearings . its too wet to attack the digger ,which i think may be a grim process trying to get that hose off . oh also yesterday monsieur cryo popped by for a bolt , and helped me carry the unbelievably heavy 6ft tall standing cupboard , you know , the one that was in the pantry i removed for the buffer tank , from the chapel by the house up to the playbarn , so that was a big relief , i realised , i actually now have pretty much a whole set of kitchen cabinets up there . and thats all for now chaps , have a spectacular day . regards robert
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its all fascinating john .
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Well , where were we . oh yes , more Astra fun . i decided to do another trip to oxonfordshoire , now i had the car mot'd and brakes done.. ...or..so..i..thought... yup , got 7 miles away , stopped at a T junction , and a cloud of burning brake smoke seeped guiltily from the drivers side front brake . POX. carried on to the lpg stn , put in 35 quids worth, oh joy ,loving my big tank , and spent a little while dribbling a whole watering can of water on the incandescent brake . off i went again , thinking, maybe it'll free up now ... stopped 5 miles further ,and er , that'll be a no then . I turn around and head for home , stopping every now and then by a puddle to scoop water over the brake with an old mcdonalds carton i found in the hedge . whip it all apart again , and i can see the newer calipers have had water in them . order a new piston , and pads , and some braided hoses , since they're only 15 quid more than normal rubber ones , and give a firmer pedal. the piston didn't look all that bad , but obviously bad enough .. a great source of joy was , while waiting for the partsto arrive , i found that these little lovelies.. both came undone , with no pipe breaking... PHEW. yesterday i put it all back together , and will try it on a local trip to the shops today , just to check. in other news , i started the digger ,for the first time in 4 months , an she fired right up , i got a little confused when i raised the bucket , and the boom , to move a bit , and then had no hydraulic action , just a sucking sound , i got out to see 18 gazillion gallons of hydraulic oil under the machine , and it squirting out of the hose from the oil pump beside the engine . POX. i got the grill off and cleaned the fittings to get the cooler off, so i can get in there and take off the hose . in other other news , i decided to start planning the dyno installation , and part of this was to find out if i could run a drain from the dyno pit, to the drain i think runs down the side of the long barn ,therefore , i had to move the 7 trillion slates heaped up on the side of the barn , like so ... i cleared this space of mega brambles beside the swiss chalet , and using the wheelbarrow ,got half of them done yesterday , before i did the astra brakes , so will finish the other half when my back feels like it . LARRRSTLY ,i have been intending to get on with the drive to the barns , which , as you know , are a bit unusable due to ww1 trench mud everywhere . i decide it was now firm enough to use the digger , but as you know, it failed me . So i had a little bit of a go with the wheelbarrow and pick axe and shovel , thinking well , every little bit i do is a step forwards , it does seem a lot of digging ,24 metres on one side and 45 metres on the other , for little old me , so please don't be too judgemental at how little i have got done.... here's a 'before' to help spot the difference , if you look closely you can see a bit of dirt dug up in the corner .. ........ ........... i know , i know ... its slow going , but i'll get there . regards robert
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Last Edit: Mar 12, 2024 10:14:27 GMT by ivanhoew
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Yes, the world needs more Roberts ! there's an obvious problem to that concept james ... there would be nobody to do the proper work !
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Last Edit: Mar 7, 2024 12:30:13 GMT by ivanhoew
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Remember you are dealing with a madman with a turbo fetish. James Aye don't know WHAT you mean !
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1.4? Very impressive. Any idea what it does on the 13psi? Quietly lurking and enjoying this whole saga. i think it's around 7 bhp per psi , so another 28 bhp = 190 bhp . it may be a bit more , since the turbo is in a more efficient range at 13psi . it feels a big step in performance from 9 to 13 psi . Spec is, 1.3s cam , mpi head , slightly ported ,10.1:1 cr ,t25 garret turbo off a navarro 2 , water to air chargecooler .2.5" exhaust . lpg on a megasquirt2.
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You are driving a 1,4 8v on LPG in an Astra Estate? Must be a real burnout wonder? Thom it trundles along ok thom . That was 9 psi boost i normally run at 13 psi boost . regards robert
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The stately pile is starting to look cosy now! If your swapping your legs remember there is 3 sizes of wheel bearing nope those legs have the 2 litre driveshaft flanges in them so too big for my car . I'm swapping the discs pads calipers , even then i got caught out on the disc id ,the new ones are vectra i think , so need a thin spacer ring , the ones i took off were fiat or alfa romeo i think , and needed a thicker ally spacer ,so i had to get those thin rings off the hubs , was a pain .
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Was the astra emissions on LPG? if so they seem very high my range rover was .13% CO and 79ppm HC on LPG thats with a old high mileage rover V8. yes kevin , on lpg , a longer duration cam , and being sat for the winter doesn't help , however i think this particular 1.4 8 valve has done about 150 k miles now .
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morning chaps , this week i have mostly been eating a bloomer ,thick toast is such a luxury... i thought i would treat myself , to the detriment of my waistline however . in other less vital news , i have hung a picture .. its definately looking a bit more homey .. once it warms up a bit i will put the final white gloss on the window surround, and then the 2nd curtain and tie backs . Astra NEWS : i have an mot ! huge relief . slight disco tail light prob was sorted with a wire wiggle on site , and the emissions were awful compared to normal , co was fine at around 1% but the hc was 1100 ! drawback of a engine left unused with v hard plugs in ... a good blatt around should clear that up , however limit is 1200 , so all fine .....normal co is about 2-300 . one problem was a dragging front disc , so when i got home i took off the wheel and caliper to investigate .. i had to put the caliper back on to push the piston out , but , as you can see, the piston may have shuffled off its mortal coil and is not really good enough . i thought " i wonder what i have in the spares department ?" off up the hill to look .. ooooo... whats that peeking through .. yurrrp.. i had no memory of calipers as well , so this was a great surprise , also my discs are not good , and pads down , this whole lot can go on the car .both sides ! it looks like new discs and pads and calipers that have not done a lot , the rubber dust seals are much better than mine . bonus all the bleed nipples came free . lastly , heres a graphic to look at . the red is the power used from the grid per day , and the stage one gangrene colour is the power used by the house each day .the difference between the two is the power created from the sun by the panels of purest Aztec black obsidian . it turns out i have had to join the local Aztec church , to get maximum power from the panels of purest Aztec Black obsidian , but it's been well worth it , the P.O.P.B.O have doubled thier output provided i perform the necessary rites each morning , these involve a pint of goats blood , a small bowl , and a flute . I have to lean forward on one foot , put the flute into the pint of goats blod , in the little bowl of ivory , and play an AZtec melody entitled, "Dawn Rising gleams the vital fountain " that's the rough translation from the Aztec , the original was vfdsgrdgfasb eeverg bythgfb. q. apparently the tune bubling through the liquid creates a frequency that activated the obsidian SHARDS embedded in the panels , and causes thier alien inteligence facets to follow the sun more closely , enhancing performance . gets me out of bed too . Having lately been accepted to the Aztec church inner circle , i now know there is another high level of efficiency attainable , however this would involve building a 67 ft tall ziggurat , and the blood of 12 and a half willing virgins , and , as mr Cryo , the tvr man who lives in the coldest house in the northern hemisphere pointed out , finding a virgin in this area may be a problem .Of course , bearing in mind my sex appeal , ans general gywatemalyness , the willing part would not be an issue . regards robert
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Feb 28, 2024 20:51:27 GMT
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Following the whole heating thing with interest as most will be forced into this type of "eco friendly save the planet system" is it working out or do you think it was perhaps oversold? its a little difficult to make a definite decision , much more data to gather . i don't feel i was really sold anything per se , i asked to be called, they called , they came round and did the survey , i specified i would deff have to have panels to offset the pump costs , they came round to my way of thinking and fitted the panels . i think that it may well be that , although now if cold , windy, and overcast ,i could use 15 units in a day , that's 10 units more than before ,but also i'm not using 4.5 litres of oil , which at 72ppl is 3.24 pounds , and at .29 ppu is 11.2 units of leccy. also if its sunny i make so much leccy ,on two days i only used 3 units a day . now i have effectively disabled the immersion heaters in the buffer tank box , and gradually brought the heat of the rad water down , and done a bucket load of reading about the whole subject , i am using less and less power . i have gone onto octopus agile so my unit cost will be much lower too , apart from 4 pm to 7 pm . so its all evolving and hard to be absolute about it , i will say that if you have no panels , and want 20c in the hs , i can imagine some shocking bills . my house is very different now re heat retention , whereas before if you turned the heating off , you would be cold in 10 munutes , now its a hour before you get much colder . regards robert
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very neat phil , yup anti freeze finds gaps like nobodies business .
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Are you going to re plaster the wall around the fireplace? It would look really smart if it were smooth & white like the walls. I'm sorry Mark , connecting the words 'smart' with 'Roberts House' created a warp in the space time continuumniumnum . it's staying brick and unsmart
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Feb 25, 2024 17:06:56 GMT
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You almost lost me at beans as I have an allergy that gives me a trout pout Lesley Ash would be proud of if I consume them 😂. However, as usual top work turning a fail into a win 😎 Thank you SK , appreciatedamundo . last week was restore the period cupboard week . goes in here .. and was removed in a hurry so the insulators could do that wall , if you remember , i also knocked off 2" depth of lime plaster too , so the insulation would not venture into the room so much . first thing to do was make the uprights out of old scrap wood .. then the shelf battens .. then the shelves trimmed to fit plank by plank . I then offered up the facade , and marked out where to hack away the brick edge .. i found a old diamond disc left here by the previous ,so used that to cut a 1" deep slot down the wall , then a hammer and chisel for the side cut ,those blue bricks did not cut well ,the rest did.. this made a lot of dust ,but now i could fit the facade and screw it to the shelves which i adjusted forward to suit ,then screwed them to the battens . also drilled into the bricks an screwed into them . gabby did the inspection for me ,, i then cleaned the insides and outsides of the doors.. and , hoping they would still fit , screwed them all on .. voyay ! it all fits . such a relief to have the room back to how it should be after the tsunami of ECO4 work.. next i initiated hi fi protocol 57 , i cleared the other cupboard , and removed enough shelving to get the speaker in like so .. and then did the same on the other side ,along with the old hi fi too .. stealthy ! a couple of interesting things are , i wonder if this , directly under the rayburn chimney , was the top of a bread oven .. and i found a coin from 1942.. just think , when that was minted ,the british isles didn't even know if they were going to win the war . what else ,, oh yes , i found a lovely original sapphire workshop manual for a tenner .. which i was thrilled with cos i thought i was buying a reprint ,,this is soooo much better . also i solved the curtain rail problem in the drawing room , where i wanted it to sit close to the glass not out in the room . i bent a bit of copper pipe , and exntended it to fit .. bought a lo ad of metal rings and bobs your thingy .. really happy to have curtains again so i can use that room at night with no audience, it's much cheaper to heat than the sitting room . i'll finish on a picture of Gabby the multiverse travelling cat , as she re-materializes from Huonnn-Battat , the parallel world where cats are in charge, and humans catch mice for them . regards robert
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Last Edit: Feb 25, 2024 17:10:29 GMT by ivanhoew
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brilliant inventiveness and initiative , well done chap .
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