Stuff you have fixed today

[Robotstar5]

Death by powerdercoating..

On with a F800 GS.

Customer came in and said they'd had their F800 at a "Specialist Restorer!" and weren't happy it was safe (fork oil everywhere and he avoided their calls and wouldn't fix that problem).

Well...

Any time you have 2 mating surfaces together (brake disk against wheel, brake Caliper carrier against fork leg etc) it's not a good idea to have a massive sandwich of soft powdercoat between the two..

Had to go all through it removing powder coating from various mating surfaces.

I had similar years ago, put a GS850 frame in for coating, as the swingarm outer races were in blind holes I carefully plugged them to stop them getting blasted/coated, when I picked up the frame they had removed the plugs and coated the bearing races
I pointed it out to get "it'll be OK mate, the powder coat is that hard the bearings will run on it", I had to take the frame into work and split the races with a die grinder to get them out.
Upside was I asked my foremen if the company in Birmingham who supplied our bearings would have any, he said just call in and ask for xxxx which I did, they had got the bearings but when I asked how much xxxx said "you work for Rover so we'll put them on their account"

 

[Migmac]

My Husqvarna 357 decided to play up. So ordered a carb kit and got at it yesterday. Stripped the carb, didn’t look to dirty so decided just to clean it with carb spray. Rebuilt it, wouldn’t run, clean and rebuild again. Would run briefly then die. Cleaned it a further 5 times in the ultra sonic before it would run well enough to tune. They are known to be fussy carbs. Straight in the ultra sonic next time, no short cuts.

 

[MattF]

They are known to be fussy carbs.

That seems an understatement, reading your post.

 

[Migmac]

That seems an understatement, reading your post.

Yep, fully agree. I’ll put the carb off a 350 on to it at some point

 

[JOEPRO]

My Husqvarna 357 decided to play up. So ordered a carb kit and got at it yesterday. Stripped the carb, didn’t look to dirty so decided just to clean it with carb spray. Rebuilt it, wouldn’t run, clean and rebuild again. Would run briefly then die. Cleaned it a further 5 times in the ultra sonic before it would run well enough to tune. They are known to be fussy carbs. Straight in the ultra sonic next time, no short cuts.

What solution did you use to clean the carb in the ultrasonic cleaner?

 

[Migmac]

What solution did you use to clean the carb in the ultrasonic cleaner?

Allendale carb cleaner, usually works with one session in the cleaner. I’m guesing a particle of something got trapped and wouldnt budge the first few times. It might have gotten in when I was putting the carb back together the first time and then forced further in with the carb cleaner.

 

[Gragson]

usually works with one session in the cleaner. I’m guesing a particle of something got trapped and wouldnt budge the first few times.

Like you, been doing all sorts of carbs in US cleaners for years, have found that air lining in between baths is a good dislodger of crap, regardless of how good the juice, heat or US cleaner they are not a panacea for every nook and cranny

 

[Arc Tourist]

Simple fix, but it hardly seems worth mentioning; unless you've bought one.

After watching a motorcycle related video by a guy in Australia who machined a bracket to hold a refrigerator thermometer for his nc750x motorcycle, I decided it might be a fun project for a rainy evening in the garage. So as I was looking on the bay of evil, I spotted a chrome thermometer made to attach to a bike's handlebars. Nice looking, and cheap enough, it would free up my time for another needless project, lol.

Although well made for the price, like most things nowadays it wasn't perfectly put together. The function of the temperature gage is spot on when compared to others we have, so no issue there; but as put together, it was out of alignment for mounting level with either the horizontal handle or accessory bar on my nc750x bike. Obviously made in two parts, a thermometer and a metal base, I tried to separate by first twisting to unthread it (?), and then pulling up the lip on the thermometer with my fingernail, which moved it slightly. Ok, so I found a suitable support for the rim of the holder, which turned out to be a plastic coupler for a 30mm pipe, and turned down a bolt in the lathe to the right diameter as a drift punch.

I set everything up in the drill press and used it to push the thermometer out of its holder. The thermometer was held in place by what looks like a silicone band, and was easy to remove. I then lined it up properly and simply pushed it back in the holder with steady thumb pressure. Here are several photos. Its a nice unit, and fits both 1" & also 7/8" handle bars using the supplied liner.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I bought a 10mm air power file to do a particular job, £30 or so. The bearing holder was as wide as the 13mm Milwaukee that wouldn't fit. What's the point again?

So, I adjusted the bearing holder. It fits now....

 

[GRW]

Sort of fixed my rear brakes on the Master Campervan today.
Handbrake was poor, & these are I'm told known for failing rear calipers and generally iffy handbrake operation.

Had a big fight getting the caliper carriers off (they looked like they'd not been disturbed in some time). Map gas attack, a BFH, whacking some rust off then whacking a 17mm socket on... & got there. Otherwise the rear brakes aren't a bad job at all really.

Sliders freed and greased, worn discs cleaned up (for now), nearside pads unstuck from rust & gack in the carrier, & the offside caliper handbrake actuator unseized.

It's a temp measure & a learning exercise really - I'll need to fit new bits and have a good clean up before MoT in November.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This came my way the other day.

It was complete but in need off some attention.

The issue.
The Lmp style twin wick holder was seized in place, the wick gears were jammed and the smell from the tank was of a heavy fuel oil.

The tank was washed out and it was a 'orrible task.
Then some gentle heat onto the boss holder, light oil was applied. You know when it is hot enough when small bubbles form.

The wicks were rotten and swollen with rust remains. remove as much as the rust as you can, soak the wicks in lamp oil and work the gears until they are free.

Salvaged wicks, from another dead heater.

Fresh fuel. In this case lamp oil with a bug repellant additive. When they wicks are burning nicely trim to suit.

The heat will turn the red oxide to black oxide in use.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This was a nice educational restoration.
Well not a full one but more of a rescue.

A nice example, complete, but in need of tlc.

This one was needing seals, cup washers and a tidy. It has a mantle, but that was going mafe trouble later.

A new cup washer allowed it to be pressurised. The mantle is warming up here. But it was clear the low quality of it was allowing hot gas to escape. That will blow the glass.

A new decent Mantle was fitted, all the parts were cleaned up, new seals were needed.

Away we go.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Nice 120mm German camera was a nice find. I knew the shutter did not work. But that made a good haggling point.

Complete. But what was better was the manufacture had spares and they sent me instructions on how to fix the issues.
Best of all, the parts were FREEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
If I returned the parts, in the SAE.

Spot the ne parts.

It works, I tried it with a new film, but it is a bit of a pain to use.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Sometimes a gentle and tactile approach is needed.
This was a case of not rushing in. Working out how to do something what will not damage the item.

This limited collection of 1971 Land Rovers was dusty dirty and looking scanky.



But when we got it onto the bench, we found out the packaging was still sealed.



So, a wee think and we made adapters and fixed a few items to clean the inside with out breaking the seals.
More on them soon.

The odd computer cleaning tools we adapted to clean the Land rovers.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Some times a full restoration of an item will render it priceless, as in diddly.
This is one item, witch we had to work hard not to have it de-rusted and re-painted.

This is one of those items.

The saving points are, still has all its stickers and the plastic parts are not broken.

Rust was treated with rust converter. The plastic cleaned with a car grade plastic cleaner and the paint buffed with silver polish.

I could not find the missing hub cap, oh hum.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

A nice set of Avery Scales. There should be a case to go with it. But that was long scraped. A terrible shame.

you can just see, top right hand corner, the difference between before and after in cleaning the metal.

Neat Bees wax and a bit oh white spirit to clean the wood. The rest came up a lot better.

There was history with it as well.

This was cleaned up.

There was a motley collection a weights, some very old, some modern.

Finished.

 

[zx9]

Free trial of Lightroom and Negative Lab Pro has convinced me they're worth paying for, the results are worlds apart from what I could do in Darktable, GIMP or DxO. It'll convert a whole roll of negatives in one click too, where Darktable would take me ten minutes per image and they'd still look a bit naff.

View attachment 461202

I do hear good things about NLP and have seen some good images made using it, both B&W and colour. I have the PS / Bridge / Light Room suite and have the trial of NLP but I do wish it had a stand alone version as I can never get on with the LR work flow. I really must have another go with NLP & LR, I suppose having used PS since PS3, thirty years is a long habit to break yes the ACR aspect is practically the same but it just seems wrong.
As an aside, which C41 kit have you been using? I had a sudden developer death incident with three rolls or 35mm in a CineStills kit which has put me off a bit. I think that my next kit will be the Bellini 1L one but I have not decided.

 

[GRW]

Sort of fixed my rear brakes on the Master Campervan today.
Handbrake was poor, & these are I'm told known for failing rear calipers and generally iffy handbrake operation.

Had a big fight getting the caliper carriers off (they looked like they'd not been disturbed in some time). Map gas attack, a BFH, whacking some rust off then whacking a 17mm socket on... & got there. Otherwise the rear brakes aren't a bad job at all really.

Sliders freed and greased, worn discs cleaned up (for now), nearside pads unstuck from rust & gack in the carrier, & the offside caliper handbrake actuator unseized.

It's a temp measure & a learning exercise really - I'll need to fit new bits and have a good clean up before MoT in November.

Update: Scoured online today, & managed to find a new pair of rear calipers with a discount code, and a set of rear discs & pads. Total outlay £106.09 (both off eBay UK Sellers).

Seeing as OEM aren't typically thought to last more than 2 years on these vans, I've taken a punt on cheapest pattern stuff - we shall see next week when the bits come!

 

[Bobupndown]

Also did a bit of brake fettling myself today, didn't think to take any pictures. Son's Polo had a sticky front caliper a few months back. Id taken it off and freed it up at the time but in reality it needed cleaning up properly and new seals. Duly took calipers off and fitted these. The same caliper piston was virtually seized again and took a bit of persuasion to remove. Well cleaned with 400 grit paper and rebuilt. That's the fronts done. Have a set of seals ready for the rears as well which is a job for another day.

 

[indy4x]

Update: Scoured online today, & managed to find a new pair of rear calipers with a discount code, and a set of rear discs & pads. Total outlay £106.09 (both off eBay UK Sellers).

Seeing as OEM aren't typically thought to last more than 2 years on these vans, I've taken a punt on cheapest pattern stuff - we shall see next week when the bits come!

I purchased a new rear caliper from my local factors 3yrs ago, still working fine and handbrake is good, other caliper is what the van came with which was 4 yrs ago

It doesn't get much use through the winter which may explain why they have lasted