Today I mostly .....

Zelandeth · Post by **Zelandeth** » Wed May 12, 2010 10:17 pm

Spent most of the day at work wishing that there were three of me, then I might manage to get half the work done.

Then went out and did some shopping.

...Which involved taking the longest possible route across town, with the roof down in the Cappuccino, taking advantage of the fact that it was sunny.

...Bloody cold, but sunny.

I enjoyed that bit of the day.

Also gave it a coat of wax when I got back too.

Zelandeth · Post by **Zelandeth** » Sat May 15, 2010 9:22 pm

Tried (and failed) to give the Cappuccino an oil change.

I've come to the conclusion that changing the oil filter is physically impossible without the car on ramps...From directly underneath seems to be the only way to get to it...or there's an engine mount, alternator, starter motor or crossmember in the way. Will see if I can borrow a set tomorrow. Can't even touch it with the car on the ground, much less see it or get it off...Or get a new one on!

...So my efforts to change the oil twarted...I went out for a drive instead.

Also found out why it was refusing to pull water through from the expansion bottle...previously was a stuffed radiator cap, but changing that resulted in a vacuum in the system when it cooled. The hole where the pipe connects to the neck of the radiator cap was clogged (looks like with bits of old cap seal). Couple of minutes with an improvised pipe-cleaner (an old cable-tie offcut) sorted that. Do wonder how long that's been clogged for!

Neil Chowney · Post by **Neil Chowney** » Sun May 16, 2010 5:06 pm

...finished re-flowing and polishing my new Lancia cylinder head.....

Alejoint · Post by **Alejoint** » Sun May 16, 2010 5:30 pm

Nice port work, Neil... Two thumbs up.

Today I mostly:

Woke up early to watch the Monaco GP (and what a bloody good race it was), drilled a couple through holes for running cable TV to the bedrooms, installed said cables, and now I'm frying some potatoes and chicken nuggets to feed the two lil' earthquakes...

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Sun May 16, 2010 5:41 pm

Yesterday, i went to the Plains rally to provide radio cover.
End of the event came and started to proceed to the exit of the stage.
We get a few juctions down the stage and there is a queue of traffic.

So, we hop out to see whats going on, recovery and rescue are looking down the bank and pondering the upturned Corsa wedged between two trees. The crew are out and OK.

The un-needed vehicles are sent on the way to clear the track so recovery can start. With the car where it was, it could be a hard one to recover with one vehicle. So me and mate offer our services.
I got down the back with one of the recovery crew, walk across the floor of the car and attach the chains to the front wishbone, and the other recovery guy attached a chain around the rear suspension/axle beam and attach a strop so the winch wire can be hooked up.

We then attached my winch to the rear wheel via a pulley block back to the recovery eye on my bumper this is to stop the car sliding once it gets returned to its wheels.

So with the winch wires attached, the recovery can be started.
The car is returned to its wheels. This is where the hard work starts.
While winching up the bank, my 2t house brick starts to move forward due to the forces being applied and this is with my foot pressed on the brake pedal.. The rescue crew spot me sliding and attach their ambulance(about 3.5t) via a strop to the rear of mine to act as an anchor. This stops me sliding.

After about 2 hours of work the Corsa is finally returned to the track

All in all a good day.Pictures will follow once i get them

Neil Chowney · Post by **Neil Chowney** » Tue May 18, 2010 5:16 pm

TheRealNivaman wrote:
Neil Chowney wrote:...finished re-flowing and polishing my new Lancia cylinder head.....
You do realize that once the engine is running all the shiny will get covered in soot?.
What degree back cut did you do on the inlet valves?

WHAT?? it's going to get all mucky? Sod that, i'm going to keep it in the kitchen in that case!

I can't claim to have to have done the porting work, i've basically repolished it all and relapped the seats as well as tided up a few corners. The angles are the standard ones according to the chap who did it.

I must say though, the ports all look lovely and even which is very tricky to do.

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Tue May 18, 2010 8:11 pm

Went to give blood again...But this time didnt faint, still felt funny...

Neil Chowney · Post by **Neil Chowney** » Tue May 18, 2010 8:33 pm

...thats because he'll be dead!

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Tue May 18, 2010 8:35 pm

This time I drank 6 pints of water during the day...
I will give it another go and see what happens.

Neil Chowney · Post by **Neil Chowney** » Thu May 20, 2010 6:57 pm

It looks like a proper job and for £31 I thought it well worth the risk. The gaskets from Guy were a bit more though.....

Should be on this weekend.....

Neil Chowney · Post by **Neil Chowney** » Sun May 23, 2010 2:05 pm

It's been completely strippped, so reshimming is done as a matter of course anyway.

I've just discovered that as the valves have been re-cut I have issues with the shimming. Basically the valve is sitting deeper in the head. I need to get the valve stems reground or use two cam box gaskets.... this is not ideal as it will alter the valve timing.

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Sun May 23, 2010 6:36 pm

Today I welded three patches onto the underside of the sills on a mates disco. First time welding on my back...was fun and just missed a hot blob of weld.

vlad · Post by **vlad** » Sun May 23, 2010 6:39 pm

today i mostly discovered 2 bobbins missing from the front disk on my Husqvarna...

(10 of them usually hold the front disc on)

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Sun May 23, 2010 8:15 pm

Whats the Fiat engine from? motorbike? maybe lawn mower?

so, we may see a wheel chair doing sub 10 seconds down Santa Pod?

excossack · Post by **excossack** » Sun May 23, 2010 8:26 pm

Its been a while since i used a ride on lawn mower.
I thought Webb used B n S engines?