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Post by terryrob on Apr 29, 2014 20:43:20 GMT
Mot's, a pain in the arse but you seem to have a fairly sensible mot place. Some "mainstream " places look down on us. I use a place that does a lot of classic cars and off roaders, they are thourough but fair.
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Post by scooby on May 1, 2014 13:33:56 GMT
Yes, I have no arguments with this garage at all.
And I chose them because they are of the 'old school' - proper mechanics. They have an assortment of weird and wonderful cars they push out of the garage first thing each morning to make room for their 'proper day jobs'! There's a Lotus Europa, a kit I recognise but forget the name of - but one primarily designed for racing, an old Ford Pop around the back getting some serious extra bracing added, and a number of other projects scattered about. On the walls are photos and posters of '7'-type cars they race - you get this idea.
I like.
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Post by Peter on May 1, 2014 15:00:20 GMT
I like 'old school everything, mechanics,(like me), cars,(like mine), houses, garages,(like mine) and women,(like mine) well, 4 outa 5 ain't bad. Cannot stand modern 'fitters' who would be lost without their laptops. " mate, alternators gone needs a new one at 100 quid plus labour,", oh no it doesn't it needs a new regulator for 15 quid. In order. (and strictly IMHO and for fun ) 1, Old school mechanic, (def; one who works on machines, any machine) but can use hi-tech 2. old school mechanic who can use hi-tech but won't. 3. old school mechanic who cannot use hi-tech, 4, hi-teck mechanic who can work without his laptop but won't 5, hi-tech mechanic, lost without his gadgets. " mate it's not under ten years old and a Mercedes". 6, fitters, who are told to swap a part out and that's it, 7. quick fit fitters. 8, people who THINK they are mechanics 9, floor sweeper who one day wants to a fitter. 10. Over qualified, highly skilled, retired, unemployable, grumpy ol' fart of an old school mechanic. (ME)
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Post by scooby on May 15, 2014 23:22:49 GMT
Tackling saggy windscreen frame...
Been driving sans screen for the last few days - taking ma wee girl to skool. Thankfully the weather is wonderful, but it's still a real blast. And I don't mean that in a good way.
Exhilarating in it's own way, tho'. Above 20 mph all you hear is wind roar and - strangely - the induction hiss from the carbs. Very pleasant - you really lose yourself in being submerged in the environment. Sadly, there are other cars on the road, so maintaining 20mph just ain't an option. At 30mph it's just, well, windy. At 40mph+, you begin to gag, and your sunglasses are being pressed into your face.
And the spitting out of flies afterwards is a poor start to a school day, says ma girl. (Wide awake for the SATs, tho'...)
Saggy problem turned out to have two causes; one was the sagging scuttle - which is no real surprise at the whole of the original fibreglass dashboard panel had been completely removed, which must have contributed a great deal to the strength of the dash top. I fitted a wood panel across the transmission tunnel, and there are two temporary braces coming up for there to support the larger-profile box-steel section which is bolted to the underside of the scuttle. All nicely raised now, and will be replaced with permanent struts when the final scuttle height is arrived at.
However, the removed windscreen frame still had a very sizeable downwards bow in the bottom section, and no amount of clamping, pressing or persuading could tempt the windscreen rubber to fit further on to the 'lip' so's the bottom rail could be raised up to a level level. It just wouldn't go. So, annoyingly, the windscreen had to come out to see what the problem was (phew - it came out real easy). Jeepers, the reason was clear; the windscreen aperture had been cut real neat all the way around to leave an approximately 10mm fibreglass lip for the rubber to sit neatly on to - apart from along the bottom section, which for some bizarre reason was at least 8mm wider. What the...?
A trim with an angle grinder, and hopefully tomorrow will see the screen back in, the rubber sitting neatly all the way around, and a nice flat bottom to the frame...
I'm using a really nice, recently-discovered adhesive product for these jobs, and will also be using it to bed the frame down on the scuttle. It's called 'StixAll' by Everbuild and comes in typical 300ml (?) cartridges. Comes out like silicone, and is as easy to use. But - bluggerme - does it adhere well! And really tough too - cures like rubber.
Gonna use it to bed the frame down on the scuttle - I reckon that'll be the end of leaks and saggy bottoms.
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Post by biggles1 on May 16, 2014 7:28:28 GMT
Sounds like you're getting it sorted. The RV windscreen is always a bit of a concern for me. When you say, "It came out real easy", that's my worry. Not sure if you're aware, but a former member on here had a windscreen blow in on him while driving. It was very nasty. To me, it always looks like there's not enough meat in the rubber seal and surround to hold it in under pressure. I think with mine, I'm going to incorporate a removable vertical support brace in the centre of the screen. Still trying to decide if I want to make my frame hinged (like a CJ7), or just angle it back a bit and fix it.
John
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Post by scooby on May 16, 2014 10:54:48 GMT
Blimey - I hadn't heard that story at all. A flying sheet of glass, inside the car I'm confident it'll be secure once redone - the aperture looks as tho' it was cut neatly (apart from the extra bit which served to push the bottom rail downwards), and so the hefty rubber moulding should grip the glass and the fibreglass with very little slackness. The rubber insert bead really stiffens the whole caboodle up - once that's removed, you can peel the rubber lip over the glass relatively easily, but with that bead in place it's very firm. Also, I had the whole frame removed from the car, so that allowed a lot of extra flexibility in the bottom rail which helped a lot. And I'd left it out in the sun so the rubber was more flexible! But I was still pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to remove - I'd been dreading it. I held the frame standing upright on its two angle-irons, and tried to edge the glass pane towards a bottom corner as much as possible (tho' that was only a mm or so). I then pressed the opposite top corner of the glass inwards (as if to the inside of the vehicle) and found the rubber to be moving quite freely. Gripping the frame there with my palms, with my finger-tips acting on the glass, I pressed more firmly until the glass moved right in away from the frame (at no stage was the glass in danger of breaking - I wasn't using 'brute force' by any means). I then pushed further along the top edge and slightly down that side, and the glass kept coming free. Once I reached the middle where the rubber seal has a break, I just pulled the rubber seal right off towards both tops corners and down both sides - grabbed the glass, and pulled/lifted it out of the bottom frame section. I will be sealing the glass when it's replaced; by using this StixAll, it'll effectively be 'bonded' in as well. Even without that, I am confident it would be secure - the rubber seal is a hefty section, and both the glass and the fibreglass frame lip go in pretty much the full depth. Once that centre bead is fitted, it is really firm and sturdy.
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Post by scooby on May 2, 2020 19:20:19 GMT
Och well... Looking at my last posting date, it's shockingly clear my RV's been off the road for a shameful amount of time due to, well, no excuse really. All my plans for it were slowly shelved as other boring things like doing up the house took precedence. But... LOCKDOWN! Surely one of the few 'good' things about this vicious virus is the enforced home time most of us have had to endure? Which means I now have zero excuse not to finish this project. I did do a few things over this time like taking off the petrol tank and pressure-washing it out. That was quite amusing as it revealed it was holed like a sieve. Found a nice plastic fuel tank on eBay complete with sender which should be possible to fit. The rusting state of the old petrol tank explains the blocked fuel lines and carb... New 17" alloy wheels (another eBay bargain) repainted black and shod with decent second-hand rubber has given the car a nice lift and was meant to act as an incentive to get going on it - but that was at least 4 years ago. It's shameful how I've neglected the poor thing. It largely needs only cosmetic work, but I am frankly bludy lazy. My main reason for this update is to prompt me to pull ma finger out.
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Post by Peter on May 3, 2020 12:01:43 GMT
Duly noted, so finger out and get some motivation going, so near and yet so far away. Looking good so far in a 'stealth' sort of way.
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Post by scooby on May 4, 2020 13:53:52 GMT
'Plop!'
As soon as I finish scraping the paint of the old cast-iron guttering... :-(
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