Grump of the day

[88v8]

Yesterday I broke the front H frame of my alloy Workmate. It's the very early all-alloy model, not the later one with some alloy framing on a steel base. Hens' teeth now.
Inherited in 2001 from father-in-law who used it very little. Since then it's had pretty intensive use, and the set-screws that hold it together have started unwinding and had to be regularly tightened. What I should have done - shoulda coulda - is to put some thread locker on them, instead I just kept doing them up, until one stripped its thread completely and I 'repaired' it by drilling and tapping straight through and putting in a (stainless) c/s bolt and two locknuts. Which was OK for a while but then the H frame broke, and I saw that each time I collapsed the bench the bolt had been tightening in the thread on a ratchet basis, until it became totally jammed and the H frame snapped off near the end.
On fleabay I see only the later alloy/steel models. Perhaps the alloy H is the same... so I guess I have to wait for one to be available near enough to go and get it and find out.

And my 18V Ryobi cordless drill is cooking itself.
And the period Landy is playing silly Bs with its carbs and won't run properly.
And the roadside hedge that I have to cut by balancing the ladder on a steep grassy slope above the narrow lane and leaning the ladder against the hedge, needs cutting. Since I broke my leg last year I've been fighting shy of cutting it, don't know why that particular job bothers me but I realise it does. Anyway it needs cutting.

Sometimes one begins to see the attractions of sitting in a modern bungalow with a modern car and just getting fat in front of the telly. If we had a telly.

Ivor

Ha ha!!! Just found a spare H. At least I hope it is cos I've bought it. Ought to have gone down and checked the part no. Much too sensible.
We'll see,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Black-Decker-Workmate-Aluminium-H-Frame-Section-Spare-Part-No-994459-/151743305008?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item23549b1530

 

[Penners]

Ivor - if you carry on like this we'll have to institute a "one grump per day" rule!!

Meanwhile, have a look at this website. You may find something that will give you the courage to tackle your hedge!

http://www.laddersafetysupplies.co.uk/stabilising_devices.shtml

Alternatively, do what I now do - pay someone else to cut the hedge. The cost takes a bit of swallowing, but once you accept its necessity it isn't quite so painful. Not quite... No, not much....

 

[kreyszig]

Have you considered a pole hedge trimmer? I just purchased a petrol one from screwfix - £150 means I can now do the whole hedge without a ladder, and it's also a mini chainsaw, brush cutter and strimmer. With the motor at the base it's pretty well balanced, and the reach with the extension must be about 3m. Sounds cheap and nasty but it's actually pretty nice.

 

[88v8]

Pole trimmer.... arrgh another bit of kit to store and go wrong. I already have a petrol strimmer that doesn't want to run and an electric strimmer that won't feed out its line, plus three hedge trimmers that do work. How on earth did the Victorians manage.
Hmmm.

Today.... tap dripping. Get it apart with an entirely disproportionate collection of tools, the washer is fritzed.
In my plumbing box I have a washer. A standard as has ever been half-inch tap washer.
But what's this? Around the washer is a brass rim. With difficulty, lever the old washer out.
The new washer doesn't fit inside the b***y rim. The pointless blooming rim!!!!!!!!!!!
I suppose I'm meant to buy some foreign slightly smaller tap washer. Well I bad word won't. After lunch I shall take it all apart again and file off the pointless idiot rim.
The taps are Ideal Standard, a legacy of PO. A double untruth, neither ideal nor standard.

Ivor

 

[Keithj]

Tap washers that fit inside rims. Sigh. I chickened out, and bought a job lot of metricated washers. They fit inside the rims (hooray) but they last a year max before giving up (boo). When the bagful runs out, it'll either be the file-the-rim-off treatment, or I'll get a proper tap. I used to talk to a nice lady at Bristan who would give me the ordering code for what I wanted. Probably modern, but they look right.

Our super-hard water doesn't help. Faffing with proprietary limescale removers doesn't help. Hydrochloric acid does a fine job (but needs to be kept well away from the lime on the walls).

 

[88v8]

Previous house, very hard water, one of these, water turbine, super
http://www.kinetico.co.uk/water-softener/kinetico-water-softeners.aspx?kinawcamp=Product%20Category%3eExact%3eWater%20Softeners%3eCore&gclid=CMfo9pCf5MYCFeXLtAodCnYNSA
It was a lotta dosh, but still going strong after 30 years. I have one the same in the attic here that I bought before we moved in, but the water isn't hard enough to warrant installing it. Hardly hard at all, really.

Ivor

PS
I filed off the rim. Order is restored.
I eBayed another 18V drill.
And bought another Workmate in an eBay auction, 6 miles away went and collected it. Nasty steel thing with plastic bits and mdf jaws, but it will do the job fttb.
And I seemed to have done for one of the waspssss nests.
Now to take off the o/s carb, perhaps an air leak.
On a roll.

 

[Me!]

Now to take off the o/s carb, perhaps an air leak.

If you've got just one bank of the V8 running lean, also check the inlet manifold to cylinder head join for air leaks. I had one leak there many years ago, and eventually found it by squirting soapy water over various joins (with the engine off) whilst pumping air from a compressor into the carbs and then watching for bubbles.

Sorry, I know helpful advice is frowned upon in the grumps thread, so I will add that it took me months to find that particular leak and I was extremely grumpy for most of those months :evil:

PS. If you've got waxstat jets, get rid of them, they're rubbish!

 

[88v8]

It fluctuates. When I bought it the CO was c10%. I reset it to about 4%. A week later it was below 1%.
Sometimes it will hold a tune for a few weeks, over 2011 we did 6,000 miles with little problem, but the latest tune & balance I did last week had gone out of tune between morning and evening. It's currently so rich I can start it without the choke. It runs OK but won't idle, which is a right pain with an auto.
This has gone on for 6 years.
Carbs rebuilt (SUs) with bits from Southern Carbs, fuel pump, Filter King with gauge, fuel filter, new pipe new tank, new floats again new needle valves again (neither effective). I did find a leak between the n/s carb and the heat block, I'd used Hylomar Blue which I think is unsuitable for vacuum or pressure joints. I fitted new gaskets using Hylomar Red (used to be Red Hermetite) and I intend to do the same for the o/s.
It's the fluctuation gets me. If it were constantly bad I might have a chance of tracking it down.

Ivor

Overnight a new wasps nest in the veg field. Seems to have been dug up by a badger. I heartlessly powdered the survivors.

 

[Me!]

Hylomar blue was developed by Rolls Royce for sticking jet engines together, as far as I'm aware it is absolutely fine for any gasket joint of a Rover V8 induction system.

The gasket I was referring to is a bit of a strange one on an old Rover V8. It is a bit of pressed tin-plate not a modern composite gasket, see item 4 in this picture. I fixed the one that I found leaking, ... with Hylomar blue

I think that perhaps if the manifold isn't tightened up properly, it moves around as the different bits of the engine expand and contract at different rates with temperature changes. Giving you more of an air leak on some days and less on others.

 

[88v8]

Ahhh the valley gasket.
I doubt that has been off since 1992 when the engine had new lifters.
Could be the culprit.
I have both steel and composite gaskets in the stores, but never yet summoned up the courage to try undoing the doubtless corroded set-bolts.
If fiddling with the o/s carb doesn't do it, I may have to.

Ivor

 

[a twig]

Bin the whole engine and stick this in

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ8-XK8-4-0-v8-complete-engine-/171833136389

 

[MatthewC]

Hylomar blue was developed by Rolls Royce for sticking jet engines together, as far as I'm aware it is absolutely fine for any gasket joint of a Rover V8 induction system.

I remember blue Hylomar. It also makes a one time metal to metal seal: Shorts used it to make the Tucano trainer waterproof, sprayed water on the aircraft, and then opened the panels to check that there was indeed no water getting in. It took me some time to persuade them that it was now no longer a good watertight seal... :roll: :roll:

 

[88v8]

Shorts used it to make the Tucano trainer waterproof.......

I had to read that sentence twice to realise you weren't referring to a plimsoll

Ivor

 

[88v8]

Bin the whole engine and stick this in
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAGUAR-XJ8-XK8-4-0-v8-complete-engine-/171833136389

Arrrgh. Electronics. And it has to mate up with the obsolete transmission.

Somewhat tempted by this Overfinch Rangie atm
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221828392618?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

But it's too wide really. I designed my not yet completed garage for a couple of five footers.
And I already have a 17' car in the garage which I designed for a car 12' long. Was ogling some American behemoth the other day then the description mentioned it was 20' long and over 6' wide. Heyho.
Where was my crystal ball three years ago when I did the design? Hmmm, that would be grump of the year before the year before last.

Ivor

 

[Penners]

'Scuse me! This thread appears to be displaying a rapidly diminishing number of genuine grumps!

Added to that, I really wish I hadn't been told that the engines of the jet airliners that I fly in, from time to time, are held together with glue! :shock:

 

[Me!]

Added to that, I really wish I hadn't been told that the engines of the jet airliners that I fly in, from time to time, are held together with glue! :shock:

You probably don't want to know about the Duct Tape then either -

 

[Penners]

Oh, good grief!

Actually, I don't think it's even the duct tape that gives me the most cause for concern. It's the apparent pile of scrunched up kitchen foil in the bottom of the engine nacelle. Did someone pop inside there to eat his sandwiches?

 

[LadyArowana]

I shall take some small crumb of comfort from the fact that it's painted orange.

 

[MatthewC]

That's not duct tape, it's what we in the RAF called "speed tape". It is basically very strong aluminium foil with some amazing powerful adhesive, and was often used for "get you home" repairs when some panel was loose or not seating properly, or there was a small hole or dents from, for instance, a bird strike. Of course, you had to fit in correctly (press down the edges extra well) and carefully think of "what might happen if it did come unstuck?" NB A lot of holes caused by birds were too big for this, and in one case I know, a black headed gull (275gm) brought down a Harrier aircraft.

Matthew

 

[Penners]

That's not duct tape, it's what we in the RAF called "speed tape". It is basically very strong aluminium foil with some amazing powerful adhesive, and was often used for "get you home" repairs when some panel was loose or not seating properly, or there was a small hole or dents from, for instance, a bird strike. Of course, you had to fit in correctly (press down the edges extra well) and carefully think of "what might happen if it did come unstuck?" NB A lot of holes caused by birds were too big for this, and in one case I know, a black headed gull (275gm) brought down a Harrier aircraft.

Matthew

May I add that not one single word of that reassures me!