Stuff you have fixed today

[badabec]

Stop counting after it is fitted.

 

[MattF]

Tidied the edges of this stainless hotplate up today.



They'd left the edges as cut by the plasma. The ends had nastily sharp edges. Used a file to get the front edge something like, then finished off with the 12V die grinder jobbie on the rest.

Some crap photo's of the edges. A before, (the ends were much more raggy):



& an after:



Not perfect, by any stretch, but I didn't want to remove any more metal than necessary. Put a minute bevel on the corners with this:



At least now the edges don't look dog rough & aren't sharp.

Thanks to @Hood for checking whether a file would work. That prompted me to finally get round to whipping it off & sorting it.

 

[Keithmac]

R1150GS all back together, quick ride on Saturday and it was picked up same day.

RD250 came in with excessive smoke from exhaust.

Drained oil out of geabox and took exhausts off. Ran it for 10 minutes and smoke cleared up..

Found the smoking gun but technically it is a crankcase split to fit a new seal, a lot of labour.

Said I would try and work a way out to press a modified seal in but no guarantee it will work (got 3 seals on the way).

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This came my way yesterday.

it was complete, but the mantle was in a poor state.



Even the pump cup washer was good.

I had a look and it looks like some one recently had used new seals. But the mantle was fitted wrong.

Washed the tank out and did the water leak in a bucket of water, no leaks on the air pressure side.


So new mantle, fresh lamp oil.

Ignore the one on the right, it was the other donated one, but has a air leak.

 

[Bobupndown]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier.

 

[RWD3M]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438View attachment 464439

I recently did a Mk7 Fiesta and whilst I was expecting similar I was surprised to find that Ford had provided a bolt hole for a lifting etye in exactly the right place. That and the engine crane made the job almost pleasurable!

 

[Turbo]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438View attachment 464439

I've a very heavy 6 speed box to swap in my van. No lift so jacks and axle stands only, not looking forward to it.

 

[GRW]

I recently did a Mk7 Fiesta and whilst I was expecting similar I was surprised to find that Ford had provided a bolt hole for a lifting etye in exactly the right place. That and the engine crane made the job almost pleasurable!

Think the last clutch I did was years ago on a 1985 Fiat Panda. IIRC I was able to lift the gearbox out by hand, out of the top of the engine bay by grabbing hold of the cable clutch actuator arm.
It wasn't as heavy as I was expecting (just as well cos I had no lifting gear)

 

[Smouser]

The bottom 'cap' or impeller casing of my Semco mill's coolant pump is cracked.

To prevent it from breaking apart completely, I decided to make a cap fitting over the original part.
I had some material in my stock cabinet which looked like it could be suitable for a simple fix.

I got to use my biggest drill bit, a 2" monster.

I then used a boring bar to get the correct inside diameter.

Test fit.

I then parted the cap off.

Installed back onto the pump.

I have not tested the pump yet, but, I am sure it will work just fine.

As a bonus, I used the remaining part of the stock that was still in the lathe to make a replacement cover or 'lid' for another coolant pump which had a damaged cover.

 

[dobbslc]

R1150GS all back together, quick ride on Saturday and it was picked up same day.

RD250 came in with excessive smoke from exhaust.

Drained oil out of geabox and took exhausts off. Ran it for 10 minutes and smoke cleared up..

Found the smoking gun but technically it is a crankcase split to fit a new seal, a lot of labour.

Said I would try and work a way out to press a modified seal in but no guarantee it will work (got 3 seals on the way).

View attachment 464398View attachment 464399View attachment 464400View attachment 464401

I thought the Rd's had a ridge on the outside diameter of the seals that prevented them being pulled out without a split???
Edit: am I thinking of the air cooled ones?

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438

It'll be interesting to know if the biting point is any lower with the new clutch as I thought it was normal on these cars (Peugeot 108, Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo) to have a very high biting point.

View attachment 464439

 

[Keithmac]

@dobbslc the seal has a centre raised lip, so technically it is a crankcase split to remove and refit.

I did managed to press similar style seal onto an old CB900F by taking half the lip off and making a press, plus chamfering the cases to guide it in. That would have been an uneconomical repair otherwise.

Looking at the RD it was never fitted right from the off.

Will see what happens on Tuesday!.

 

[Melvyn Best]

A bit like the rear main oil seal on the old Vauxhall Chevette, held in by a raised lip on the block and the main bearing housing turning what should have been a five minute job into the engine out, sump off and crank lifted to replace the seal

 

[dobbslc]

Looking at the RD it was never fitted right from the off.

AHH I thought that was you with it half way out!

 

[Bobupndown]

Clutch change on my son's Peugeot 108. Release bearing was getting a bit grumbly and the pedal bite point was very high.
Although this is a small car with a relatively light gearbox it's still an awkward brute to wrestle back up into place on your back on the floor.
I really do need to get a twin post ramp, that and a transmission jack would have made this job so much easier. View attachment 464438View attachment 464439

It was all going too well. Took it on a test drive on Sunday, all good. Today it's making a rattling / clunking noise in the gearbox area. Had a quick look this morning, nothing obviously amiss or loose that I've had apart externally, guess I'll be taking the gearbox out again Grrrr!

 

[Keithmac]

AHH I thought that was you with it half way out!

No, that's what I found when I'd stripped it all down.

 

[Keithmac]

A bit like the rear main oil seal on the old Vauxhall Chevette, held in by a raised lip on the block and the main bearing housing turning what should have been a five minute job into the engine out, sump off and crank lifted to replace the seal

There is no real reason why they designed it like that, the vast majority of 2 strokes have a simple pressed in seal and no issues..

Will see what happens this morning, hopefully not an engine strip!

 

[droopsnoot]

A bit like the rear main oil seal on the old Vauxhall Chevette, held in by a raised lip on the block and the main bearing housing turning what should have been a five minute job into the engine out, sump off and crank lifted to replace the seal

Same in the Vauxhall OHC engine fitted to my cars. There was an article on the engine in one of the classic car magazines, and a chap from Vauxhall said that he'd no idea why it was produced like that, as GM group had already produced other engines with a single piece seal. Not only is it a pain because of how much needs to be stripped, it's also a rope seal that has to be somehow cut exactly the correct height above the block and bearing cap so it all fits together when bolted down. And you don't find out it's still leaking until it's all back together and in the car. Fortunately for the OHC there's a two-piece rubber replacement that works quite well - still a pain to swap, but more likely to seal when you do. But no conversion to a single-piece like you get on other stuff.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Same in the Vauxhall OHC engine fitted to my cars. There was an article on the engine in one of the classic car magazines, and a chap from Vauxhall said that he'd no idea why it was produced like that, as GM group had already produced other engines with a single piece seal. Not only is it a pain because of how much needs to be stripped, it's also a rope seal that has to be somehow cut exactly the correct height above the block and bearing cap so it all fits together when bolted down. And you don't find out it's still leaking until it's all back together and in the car. Fortunately for the OHC there's a two-piece rubber replacement that works quite well - still a pain to swap, but more likely to seal when you do. But no conversion to a single-piece like you get on other stuff.

The old 1256cc engine had another bad design fault on the timing cover which had a circular section at the bottom where it connected with the sump, unfortunately it wasn’t deep enough to all the crank sprocket and timing chain to clear the sump when they were replaced. There was also a ridge on the flywheel that meant the ring gear had to be heated more than necessary when fitting, I’m sure that was the cause of premature ring gear wear!

 

[Keithmac]

Made a makeshift seal press out of the original crank nose gear and a decent thick washer.

Chamfered the case.

Modified the seal and went in first attempt, nice snug fit.

But it back up and ran it for 15 minutes, no more gearbox oil smoke so that's a result.

Then the rev counter shat itself, never a dull moment..

 

[minimutly]

The old 1256cc engine had another bad design fault on the timing cover which had a circular section at the bottom where it connected with the sump, unfortunately it wasn’t deep enough to all the crank sprocket and timing chain to clear the sump when they were replaced. There was also a ridge on the flywheel that meant the ring gear had to be heated more than necessary when fitting, I’m sure that was the cause of premature ring gear wear!

The old 1256 engine was a design fault itself.