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JohnD

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  1. Back to refills. The supermarket chain Booths offers a refill station for "ECOVER" products. Take your empty bottle of detergent, fill it, tack a label on for the till, done. John
  2. Around here, we had a company called "Pink Skips", and they were. So were their lorries. Very PINK! They did well, saw a lot of them about. But it turned out that while they collected rubbish, they didn't dispose of it Instead they tipped it into the old Lancaster Power Station building that was their HQ. Imagine, a whole building stuffed with rubbish to the rafters. It wasn't a good business model and they went bust. Shortly after, the rubbish caught fire! It didn't exactly flare, but caused a great deal of nasty smoke and dust, which as there was no idea of what was burning caused great concern. The Firefighters had to break down walls of the old building and dig into the rubbish to get to the fires, there were several by now, to get control. But that was before last Christmas, small outbreaks still continue, and the event has cost the Council 3/4 of a MILLION pounds, with estimates that it will cost 1.5 MILLION to altogether. They are appealing to the Gov for more funding- Hah! So no more PINK tippers, please.
  3. A domestic "Bollocks!" We all use those spray bottles of cleaner around the house, but it seems a shame, especially when we should re-use and recycle, to throw a working spray bottle away just because its empty Many are made by Unilever, including the one I favour, 'Cif'. Unilever marketed small refill bottles of the concentrated cleaning solution, each about a tenth the size of the spray bottle without any spray, that easily emptied into the original bottle and was topped up with tap water. The refill bottles were recyclable. Were, because they disappeared from my supermarket, and when I asked Unilever, they said they had stopped making refills! No explanation, although previously the supermarket told me they didn't sell well. Anyway, Boo! to Unilever! Bring back refills! A small gesture towards recycling, but they add up. John
  4. Thanks, Colin! When I've had the pedestals skimmed, and I fit that adjustable rod, I'll need to set that so that the rocker has the valve end up at rest and equally down when the valve is open. Thinking aloud, I can adjust it for length in position, until with the rocker adjuster screw in mid range, the gap between rocker and valve stem is correct. I can then adjust rod length and adjuster screw until the rod is an available length, or else I find that it has to be bespoke! Is that the way to go? Or is there a formal, 'classroom' method as detailed by Revington? John
  5. OK, progress. To supplement the above good advice, I find that the Revington TR website includes a way to calculate if the rocker shaft is the correct height above the valves for good geometry, as explained by m'learned friends above. See: https://www.revingtontr.com/information-sheets/is0066-rocker-geometry I've sent most of today trying to follow it. I think that it aims to find that the central axis of the rocker shaft is halfway between the closed and open heights of the valves - would m'learned friends agree? - and every iteration of my measurements shows that it is in fact above that level. By how much? I've done the measurements half a dozen times, and never got the same result twice, but about 2.5mm. Certainly, a spirit level on a rocker shows that at rest, closed valve, the rocker top is level (I know that's not level with the pivot points at either end, but anyway) so that the arc of its travel is all below the horizontal, when (I think, M'learneds?) it should be horizontal halfway through that arc. Lower pedestals would go towards correcting that, so first task would be to have 2.5mm removed from their bases. This then brings us to the length of the push rods, but I can't see how I can check that with my adjustable rod (below) until the shaft is that much lower. M'learneds? Please? JOhn
  6. Richard, Phosphoric acid has the unusual property that the Iron phosphate that it reacts to with rust is almost insoluble! For cleaning rust off, almost any other 'weak' acid would be better, vinegar (acetic) or Citric acids would be fine and are non-toxic, except that you must wear PPE! They can be quite horrible in the eyes! Oxalic acid, Ade may be mildly toxic, that's why we don't eat rhubarb leaves! Once rinsed in clean water, the result will be a rust free object that will promptly flash rust, so then dip into phosphoric, rinse and allow to dry.
  7. Indeed! "Right to buy" was ever a vote catcher, rather than a measured policy as much as is "Stop the Boats". If it had included a time interval and that councils could use the proceeds to buiId more it could have been different. But when Thatcher's policies like the Poll Tax, when looked at through a less-blue lens and without an false and egalitarian bias, are just as loopy. John
  8. What a pity, RR, my firewall lights up with a security warning "Privacy error" when I follow your link. Hamish, good idea, but I'll wait and see what the length calculations lead to. JOhn
  9. Absolutely, Pete! Like in NHS "Multidisciplinary Team Meetings" bring all the specialists concerned with a patient together, or the Common Room of a University or School all the subjects, there are people here who know things that you don't and which you need! It's possible that more things have been learnt over a coffee or a glass than ever in the lab, library or lecture theatre! As to progress, this afternoon I made an adjustable length pushrod, as suggested by RR, mainly because I could without much new learning. Back to the books and paper tonight! Thanks to all who have educated me! John
  10. Egret, Colin, Thank you! I've actually printed your responses out, as I'm old fashioned about learning from a screen! I'll give it a try! John
  11. Thank you, RR! Could do that. But "adjust length to suit engine"? You mean to achieve the correct rocker/valve geometry?
  12. Here are the usual suspects in an ID parade. The guilty party is not difficult to pick out. No.3 was still engaged in its rocker! As suggested, it must have knocked its fellow out, and the effect of that by bouncing around is clear. on its shaft and on the inside of the rocker cover!. No.4 is straight to the rolling test as are all the others, but I'm not using this set again! All the cam followers are moving normally, and the rockers themselves are not damaged. The valve springs do not not bind at full compression. I'm inclined to source a set of new tubular rods, fit those and carry on. Colin suggests that with high lift, the path of the rocker end on the valve stem may not be ideal. I think I know what that means but I've never done it! Engineers blue on the stem end, turn the engine over ad observe where they have touched, looking for that to be central? Then adjust if necessary by shimming the rocker plinths. Would the push rod length also adjust this? These rods are 206mm long, end to end (not considering the ball or cup on either end), which I think is correct for the thicker 2.5L engine. My cylinder head has been skimmed - can't recall how much as it's so long ago, but I was aiming at a CR of 10.5:1, and at 87mm thick it is 3.8mm thinner . I note that Neil Revington offers a range of rods lengths in this situation, ranging over 11.5mm! And even some that may be cut to length! I'll be grateful for some advice on this rich choice! John
  13. An unfortunate effect of the anatomy of the male! Discuss with your surgeon if a 'laparoscopic' repair is possible, as that means less down time as it avoids a large groin incision. Meanwhile, as m'learned colleague above suggests. John PS Shouldn't this be in the "Today I, Bollocks!" thread?
  14. Bent is inlet, No.2 cylinder, the one that has come right off is Exhaust same bore. I drove it off the track, and then into the garage like that! John
  15. Thanks, Nick, and RR. The one in the middle of the frame is as bent as .. well, a Tory PPE supplier. I think it means valve gear off and examine, check for seized valves. The last will mean head off, unless bopping each valve with a soft hammer will do, and checking the followers will need that anyway. Hey, ho, that's racing.
  16. Found it! Not difficult, although the solution may be not so easy. The 'knock' was the sound of a loose push rod or rocker hitting the rocker cover. Two of them have gone walkabout: That's more than enough to explain noise and power loss. Are the push rods bending under strain? I have a high lift cam shaft and 1:1.6 rockers for max lift, and I'm using standard rods - is that foolish? Are the "uprated" or tubular rods advertised any good? John
  17. Thank you mp, but his was another weekend I'd rather forget. Qualy went OK, not my best time but 15 secs more than my best, not unreasonable as it was a wet, cold track. But the race went badly. Someone, not me and well ahead on the grid, went off at the first corner (!!) And ROLLED their car. Race slowed by Safety Car for a lap, then Red Flagged. We stop for ten minutes, while people are rescued and debris cleared. Meanwhile during Safety lap,my engine loses power, develops a 'knock', not big end, and starts to over heat. I retire after two laps in fifteen minutes! There are words for this which I won't use! Proper investigation tomorrow - its gin time now! John
  18. For anyone interested who can't be here, the event is being "Live Stramed" on YouTube! Go there, find Classic Sports Car Club and the Donington Derby. Enjoy! Hope I do! John
  19. Not my day, but that of John Crace, journalist and political sketch writer for the Guardian. ‘Is this how I die?’ John Crace on his terrifying heart attack | Heart attack | The Guardian Anyone afraid of a heart attack, and that the NHS in its present state could not cope, might like to read his account. It made me feel proud, that my country has this institution, as well as having been part of it. John
  20. But last weekend was the best! Daughter and Son-in-law are both sportspeople, past Internationals in Rugby and Hockey. He still plays at County level at local Hockey club and No.1 Grandson is in their under twelves team (He's ten, nearly eleven). And yesterday at the County Championships his team won! The final went to a nil-all draw, five minutes of extra time and then a penalty shoot out! Nails bitten to the elbow! Both their team and the team they bat will go on the Regional Championships in April, so more excitement to come! John
  21. Thanks to all! See you in the paddock, Steve! John
  22. Weekend before last, I was back on the Malcolm Wilson Rally. I used to be CMO, but on retiring handed that role on to an excellent successor, whose practice is (as mine was) to set off in advance of the rally cars, and drive through the stages to greet the Rescue and Recovery crews and ensure all was well with them. Sort of walking the floor. But the FIA didn't like that, they wanted the CMO to be in Rally HQ to interpret medical reports and liaise with Ambulance Control and hospitals, so I was invited back to be that Medical Liaison, AKA Deputy CMO. Colin's post above about electronics at the Glasgow velodrome reminded me of Mission Control at the MWR! There were a total of ten operators, plus a Mission Controller, using "SportTraxx" a system that uses responders in each competing car. That logs their position on GPS, then send that data to Rally HQ via the mobile network! This shows the position of each car on the screen, located on a stage map that may be outline, or Google Earth. Most importantly, each responder has two buttons, "OK" or "HELP!" to be pressed as asap if the car comes a halt. What a change from the not-so-old days? Then we would learn that a car, number so-and-so, had not emerged at stage finish, radio messages would be sent to ask where it had last been seen and marshals despatched from the last seen post as runners to find them. Well, almost what a change! GPS is pretty good, but mobile reception patchy and cars would appear to stop - and then travel at light speed to the next point where reception was re-established. John
  23. First race of the season will be Donington, Saturday March 23rd. I'm entered in the Swinging '60s Race 2, practice at 1055, Race at 1540, the gods willing. The meeting has an enormous entry list, over 400 cars in all classes, 42 in just my race alone! Apart from me there are two other Triumphs, TR6/250s with Graham Wilson and Roy Chamberlain, with Steve Adams in his Spitfire in Race 1. The weather forecast looks good, cold but dry, light winds. I have a three spare tickets, please PM me if you would like one. John
  24. Returning to the original question from m'learned friend. First of all, 'complete' may be verb, noun or adjective, while 'finished' may be the past tense of the verb 'finish' or an adjective, and in the latter use or noun form may refer to the surface detail of an object. This reflects the extreme flexibility and extraordinary richness of English, that confounds many who seek to learn it, but delights those lucky to be born into it. To seek a definitive discrimination between those words, one must first define your terms! Richness? French is a lovely, fluid language that I know a little of, but the OED contains six hundred thousand definitions of words in English usage, while the Dictionnaire de l’Académie Française, the official, state-sponsored guardian of French, contains sixty thousand words. John
  25. " a parade of chip shops and cafes there." So not enshittified, then? Just not very classy? John
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