Wednesday, absent of Pineapple

pinno

Morning Colocynths

Bit dull here. Will try and arrange some activity for the girls - christ they need it.
Will gym it later.
Need to order new flea collar with extra bells for Beans who is on bird killing spree. Might be time to keep him in at night.

seanoconn

Bike washing didn’t go quite to plan yesterday as I managed to dislodge/break the rear derailleur pulley arm tension spring. Lots of annoying fettling on the menu 😕

tlw1

Chilling in the hotel whilst waiting for breakfast.

More shopping 🙄 probably lunch and then head home for a run and pick up the hounds.

Unsure what later will bring, but assume it will be ale

sungod

'ning

about time, waited ages for someone to post

gloomygrey and soggy

cafe stroll, sat among the plants of the cafe sipping coffee and nibbling toast

sungod

'twas some nights after christmas
and all through the house
not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse
because beans got them all

orraloon

I have a pair of Oxos doing things electrical up, in, out and around. Power to the People garage.

And the rain has restarted after a temporary refresher pause, due on for the rest of the day. Paging springtime, paging springtime.

Wheelspinner

After yesterday's scorchio, today was a bit more of the same to start but with added wind.

Shopped for tools.

pblakeney

sungod said:

'twas some nights after christmas
and all through the house
not a creature was stirring
Except The Four A******* Coming In The Rear.

An alternate version. 😉

seanoconn

Sat in a bike shop cafe for the past hour, my rear derailleur isn’t salvageable. Less than a year old and it corroded beyond repair apparently! How the flip did I manage that? Could degreaser cause that kind of damage? Bike is cleaned regularly and kept inside.

They are fitting an ultegra rear mech as I write.

veronese68

Afternoon folks,
Slowish start has been enjoyed, going dishwasher shopping soon, oh joy. At least it's significantly older than Seano's rear mech. Good thing I don't clean my bike too often, the build up of chain lube on bits of drivetrain must be helping. Degreaser will only cause problems if you don't put grease back where it should be. On the rare occasions I give my bike a proper clean I use spray grease on the mechs then wipe off the excess before putting a drop of oil on the pivots.

Stevo_666

So much for a bike ride, it's 'orrible out there. Need a new part for the garage door after the cable snapped, so getting in and out till next week should be fun.

Time for leftovers from yesterday's visit by the in-laws.

homers_double

Still functioning here, manage to do a bit of work which was needed. Out for dinner tonight, again...
When will it all end?
Wood burner is going full tilt.
On a plus it is one calander month until skiing!

homers_double

Off to Italy, La Thuile which is on the French border but the opposite side. The Pyrenees are the most affected and those regions tend to be lower in altitude than the Alps.

MattFalle

veronese68 said:

Afternoon folks,
Slowish start has been enjoyed, going dishwasher shopping soon, oh joy. At least it's significantly older than Seano's rear mech. Good thing I don't clean my bike too often, the build up of chain lube on bits of drivetrain must be helping. Degreaser will only cause problems if you don't put grease back where it should be. On the rare occasions I give my bike a proper clean I use spray grease on the mechs then wipe off the excess before putting a drop of oil on the pivots.

as V says re degreaser.

tbh, i slop it everywhere, hose off, dry then give all shiny metal bits - bolts, screws, springs a quick squirt of GT or duck oil just because I thinkit'll help stop corrosion/seizing but probably won't in real life

orraloon

Let There Be Light. And there was light. And power sockets, in the garage (my plus brother's wiring passed the tests) and in the outside boiler house. And, would you believe, I now have an extractor fan in the bathroom. Yes, radical.

Tick some boxes off The List.

pinno

You don't need a de-greaser if you use wax lube.

homers_double

Elastictrickery is pretty simple if you think about it. Its just flow and screwing some wirses together in the right holes. They're even colour coordinated.
I've done loads over the years.
Plumbing on the other hand is a fucking bastard cunt of a twat to do...

orraloon

That is true. Highly logical Captain, put the correct colours in the correct places and secure.

But needed connections of existing cables into the live world (reman impressed 😳 by how much sparkies do with things live) plus wanted a proper test done of whole house, as expected prev owner who is an electrician had done a sound job, but paperwork is paperwork and no such had appeared post purchase.

Edit: bumped by Mr Pro Sparks 😉

pinno

Plumbing: easy peasy. I can even do Yorkshire fittings.
Domestic electrical work: straight forward. I can do it but I am not certificated and to keep my insurance legal...
Car electrics: Some bits are okay, some bits take some amount of figuring out, wiring diagrams across marques are inconsistent in clarity, the rest of the time you have to plead with the Gremlins or smack the ECU with a hammer.
The can baling machinery: Hydraulics and sparks, hell. Absolute hell.

sungod

orraloon said:

That is true. Highly logical Captain, put the correct colours in the correct places and secure.

But needed connections of existing cables into the live world (reman impressed 😳 by how much sparkies do with things live) plus wanted a proper test done of whole house, as expected prev owner who is an electrician had done a sound job, but paperwork is paperwork and no such had appeared post purchase.

Edit: bumped by Mr Pro Sparks 😉

live, mmm, used to float equipment to live to measure low level signals, just had to be careful not to accidentally earth oneself

couldn't do that with my infamous 40kv thing, but if one poured a, now-banned, cfc on it the result was a pretty purple plasma at the edges, which ate whatever it was in contact with

kids today can't even wire a plug, they're doomed

pinno

oxoman said:

Learnt to lead wipe vehicle bodywork as well.

Now that's an art and something I have never done. They still do it on classics like E-types etc.
Being slightly younger than you Oxo, I learnt to mix epoxy resin at quite a young age*.

*Kerbside Motors Ltd. (I was only limited by weather).

pinno

oxoman said:

I had minis so got very good with fillers of all sorts and found that welding and lead loading was the way to go, especially for the seamless look without cracks. Couldnt stand fibre glass, used that for making canoes instead. I did see polyfilla and concrete used on a mates Mk1 escort strut tops, but only after the struts broke through. Peugeot still did it at Ryton into the early 90s for remedial bodywork to 405 and 306 models.

Concrete and Pollyfilla?! I used PVA and Pollyfilla to repair the floorboards in PPP and it's good 4 years later. No creaks.

I had 4 mini's. My first car was a mini van: BAP 484T.
I think I could still change the tie bar bushes in the dark. We used to get the old solid Nylon cotton reels and lathe them to fit. More vibration through the bulkhead but you could shred the rubber one's in 1 evening of spirited driving.
I suppose now, you'd have Polyflex, hang on...

Ta da:

pinno

Mini Van 1000cc bog standard, blue.
Mini saloon 1000 with 1275 engine fitted.
Mini Clubman 1100s, 70's sh*t brown colour with light sh*t brown interior and sh*t brown tinted windows.
Mini pick up with 1300 Metro engine and Metro black leather seats in metallic British racing green with Cooper stripes, Radyot fireballs, High output alternator, Mahogany dash with extra dials* (you just had to), oil cooler, Lucas gold coil and performance HT leads, upgraded shocks, 13" Minilite's (big discs at the front) etc etc - drove it to Le Mans. It got so much attention.

pinno

I do love the woody. My mate had one (in red) and was on the verge of selling it to me but changed his mind at the last minute.
The pick up came way after the first 3 so by that time, I had a bit more cash to splash.
That Nova engined mini sounds like a good idea.

pblakeney

My mini history - first car was a 1000cc ROK952M* which had been heavily modified by the previous owner(s). I don't know what they were (MOT and insurance didn't know either) other than a heavy duty clutch but it went way faster than spec.
Guys in the next town fitted Rover V8s in MK1 escorts, honed their skills on the tracks and embarrassed Porsche owners on the local twisty roads.

*Funny how I can still remember that.

pinno

pblakeney said:

Guys in the next town fitted Rover V8s in MK1 escorts, honed their skills on the tracks and embarrassed Porsche owners on the local twisty roads.

*Funny how I can still remember that.

You've mentioned this before and I debunked it then.
Take an Escort and put a V8 in it and it goes quite fast. Little surprise there.
Whereas if you took a standard 1300gt, 1600, MK1/MK2 Escort, the Porsche would leave it for dead.
...and it depends on the Porsche and it depends on the driver..
The Porsche 964 on tarmac, in the right hands, in the 80's would leave almost everything for dead. Ferrari's struggled to keep up with them. They're still quick today.
The 928 was extremely quick. The 944 and 944 Turbo has fantastic balance and was the best selling sports car in the world for a period of time.
All ^ of these standard and against a standard, unmodified Escort of whichever standard guise would leave them behind (on tarmac).

There's a guy on Youtube who fixed up a VW Golf Gti and labelled it a 'Porsche eater' and filmed it going around the Nürburgring. He passed all these other cars including Porsches (who were all dawdling).
My pretty bog standard (un-modified, un-molested) 997 would eat that Golf for breakfast with the right person behind the wheel round the ring. (I looked closely at the speeds he was doing).
The Gti has had innumerable upgrades and modifications and god knows what money to make it go quick.

The Mk 1 & 2 Escorts needed 3.0 or 3.5 Rover V8's (and probably a shed load of brake and suspension upgrades) to make them go quicker than Porsche's (not driven by seasoned racers). Well, that means that they're pretty sh*t really.

Don't get me wrong: I like the MK1 Mexico and the RS 2000. I would bite your hand off for one. I had a 911, I have a 944, I had a Rover SD1 3.5 (it was sh*t). Damn quick in a straight line but couldn't corner or stop for toffee.
My Mate had a Harrier Escort 1600. Lovely car but it was not very quick really. You have to get over the sentimental value of an Escort and see it for what it really is.
So this is all like comparing frankenbikes with CX bikes with Mtb's with Pinarello dogma's with hybrid commuters. It's all a nonsense. Sorry.

The Porsche is a 'luxury sports car'.
The mini was an economical car built for the city.
The Fords were the mass produced cars available to the masses inexpensively. They rallied them to great success but the works rally version was so far removed from the original factory vehicle.
The Porsche 924 Turbo won it's class at Le Mans in 1980. I have never seen a Ford Escort at Le Mans. I never saw a 964 going through Kielder forest.

I think this having a laugh in this way is a British thing.
John Lennon said it "A working class hero is something to be...".

pblakeney

pinno said:

...and it depends on the Porsche and it depends on the driver..
.

Is all you needed to say.

veronese68

pblakeney said:

pinno said:

...and it depends on the Porsche and it depends on the driver..
.

Is all you needed to say.

Indeed, I did a track day at Theuxton in a Lancia Delta GTie, not a fast car. It was slightly damp I grant you. I passed 3 TVRs including a race Tuscan. I don't think it was the car, hearing their excuses was even funnier than passing them.

Stevo_666

TVRs weren't great track cars - remember harassing and passing a few of them in my old 205GTI on a track day up at Elvington a good few years back.

veronese68

Indeed, powerful rear wheel drive cars without traction control need to be handled with care. Being in a cheap old hot hatch we could thrash it round without a care.

pinno

Just a straight6 or v8 lump in a tubular chassis with fibreglass panels plus a Lucas engine management system!
A bit crude.