- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,733
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
I haven't wielded a spanner in anger since a few weeks before Christmas. This weekend I decided to hit the garage harder than ever before to make up for some lost time. I'm going to be losing my flat and garage in a few months so I need both cars running, spares reduced to a minimum and a slim down on tools.
Saturday morning I bolted the alternator back on the Pop and fired it up after standing for nearly a month now. Started up after a little cranking and ran as normal and the alternator appeared to be working, so we loaded it up with the dead spare engine, a gearbox, a couple of clutches, starter motor, dead dynamo, some old cardboard boxes, some scrap metal and a load of old tins of paint. Ideally this should have gone to the scrap man because I probably could have got a few quid for the metal but time was slim so it was down the tip with it. My mate chucked the gearbox from above his head straight through the front of a nice glass fronted microwave oven and then the two of us threw the engine on top of a lawnmower that made a satisfying crunch. Then the other bits were all aimed at some empty metal drums and we generally made a nuisance of ourselves between people trying to tell us nice old car etc. Bizarrely old paint just goes in 'general waste' despite being 2K and in my opinion it's a bit toxic to be just throwing about so we put that upright and in view in case anyone thought otherwise.
Then it was shoot back to have a look at the brakes on my mate's 2003 S Type Jag. It's got aftermarket brakes which have some badly designed clips on the pads that turn in and rub on the disc. This makes them squeal and they just start to wear away, so you'd eventually have no retaining clip and the pad would end up rattling around. So we modified them and problem solved, but not before I managed to stab myself in the eyebrow with my needle nose pliers pulling them off with all my strength. Hey they're a big target on my face, don't ask.
Next it was head over to another mate with starting problems with his MG Midget. It was last run in 1998 but was all rebuilt etc ready to go. So he got sparks and it turns over but no fuel coming up and he can't suck it up the pipe. I took the pump off and the two valves were stuck shut so a prod and suck later and it was working again, back on and pumping like a pornstar. Now we just couldn't get any fuel to go through the carbs so I reckon the jets must be blocked up. I squirted some fuel down the pots and it fired so I then aimed the fuel line in one carb and it ran but revved right up to the top where the throttle cable had hooked itself up and yanked the throttle wide open. Opps. It also sprayed me down with petrol in a gush not unlike one of those squirting porn sites even with my thumb over the end as hard as I could. Look it up if you haven't seen it, kinda strange. So that was mate number 2 happy too.
Sunday I'd promised a local RR member I'd show him the basics of welding so loaded the Pop up with my MIG welder, grinder and some tools and popped round the corner. Had an eyeball at his '69 Mini which looked to be in pretty good shape despite him thinking it was knackered. It's been quite heavily restored at some point but it all looked like it had been done to a high standard. The front footwells had been stick welded in and I think that was what was putting him off because the welds are very proud and thick compared to MIG but they looked fine to me. I just recommended he stripped the paint back so he could have a better look at them. So out with some scrap metal and the pointy zappy sparky sticky metal together machine and we got on with a bit of practice welding and I showed him how to do some basic repairs by welding a small crack which had propogated in one of my front wings. Not from driving the car so hard it twists honest officer. He did quite well with it so I think when his Snap On machine turns up he's going to have fun there.
So I'm satisfied mechanically which means I don't need to get angry and beat the missus or any of that stuff that happens when you're frustrated because you can't get out to the garage
Anyone else do any spannering this week?
Saturday morning I bolted the alternator back on the Pop and fired it up after standing for nearly a month now. Started up after a little cranking and ran as normal and the alternator appeared to be working, so we loaded it up with the dead spare engine, a gearbox, a couple of clutches, starter motor, dead dynamo, some old cardboard boxes, some scrap metal and a load of old tins of paint. Ideally this should have gone to the scrap man because I probably could have got a few quid for the metal but time was slim so it was down the tip with it. My mate chucked the gearbox from above his head straight through the front of a nice glass fronted microwave oven and then the two of us threw the engine on top of a lawnmower that made a satisfying crunch. Then the other bits were all aimed at some empty metal drums and we generally made a nuisance of ourselves between people trying to tell us nice old car etc. Bizarrely old paint just goes in 'general waste' despite being 2K and in my opinion it's a bit toxic to be just throwing about so we put that upright and in view in case anyone thought otherwise.
Then it was shoot back to have a look at the brakes on my mate's 2003 S Type Jag. It's got aftermarket brakes which have some badly designed clips on the pads that turn in and rub on the disc. This makes them squeal and they just start to wear away, so you'd eventually have no retaining clip and the pad would end up rattling around. So we modified them and problem solved, but not before I managed to stab myself in the eyebrow with my needle nose pliers pulling them off with all my strength. Hey they're a big target on my face, don't ask.
Next it was head over to another mate with starting problems with his MG Midget. It was last run in 1998 but was all rebuilt etc ready to go. So he got sparks and it turns over but no fuel coming up and he can't suck it up the pipe. I took the pump off and the two valves were stuck shut so a prod and suck later and it was working again, back on and pumping like a pornstar. Now we just couldn't get any fuel to go through the carbs so I reckon the jets must be blocked up. I squirted some fuel down the pots and it fired so I then aimed the fuel line in one carb and it ran but revved right up to the top where the throttle cable had hooked itself up and yanked the throttle wide open. Opps. It also sprayed me down with petrol in a gush not unlike one of those squirting porn sites even with my thumb over the end as hard as I could. Look it up if you haven't seen it, kinda strange. So that was mate number 2 happy too.
Sunday I'd promised a local RR member I'd show him the basics of welding so loaded the Pop up with my MIG welder, grinder and some tools and popped round the corner. Had an eyeball at his '69 Mini which looked to be in pretty good shape despite him thinking it was knackered. It's been quite heavily restored at some point but it all looked like it had been done to a high standard. The front footwells had been stick welded in and I think that was what was putting him off because the welds are very proud and thick compared to MIG but they looked fine to me. I just recommended he stripped the paint back so he could have a better look at them. So out with some scrap metal and the pointy zappy sparky sticky metal together machine and we got on with a bit of practice welding and I showed him how to do some basic repairs by welding a small crack which had propogated in one of my front wings. Not from driving the car so hard it twists honest officer. He did quite well with it so I think when his Snap On machine turns up he's going to have fun there.
So I'm satisfied mechanically which means I don't need to get angry and beat the missus or any of that stuff that happens when you're frustrated because you can't get out to the garage
Anyone else do any spannering this week?
The front bumper is very very slightly out of line but to do this properly it will need to come off etc. which we didn't have time for, and it'll need to come off in the future anyway to be sprayed 
