Stuff you have fixed today

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Gorilla glue is handy stuff....did an internal one recently in a similar way but I had to dowel it as it was a modern door so basically as thick as a tooth pick

They're all held together with Gorilla Glue as it is, no point using PVA in an exposed exterior door, although the wedged M&T joints probably didn't need it... So it seemed like the obvious choice for a repair.

If I have a weekend to get at it I think taking that door off and routing out the damage and gluing in a new section of wood would be best.

Kinda took the shine off finally managing to move the compressor though.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

If I have a weekend to get at it I think taking that door off and routing out the damage and gluing in a new section of wood would be best.

Gorrilla glue is a good choice for this type of fix....reckon you could just deep drill and dowel the main hinge screws and it would be totally fine.

 

[Migmac]

Fixed, maybe not but made them a bit better. I find the writing on black sockets hard to see at times

 

[droopsnoot]

Fixed, maybe not but made them a bit better. I find the writing on black sockets hard to see at times

I find the writing on pretty much all sockets is all but invisible in the lighting I've got in my shed. Some of it is the fault of the lighting, and some of it is because my near vision isn't as good as it used to be, but I've marked some of mine with a white marker that I bought and has come it quite useful, more useful than my white paint pen.

 

[Migmac]

I find the writing on pretty much all sockets is all but invisible in the lighting I've got in my shed. Some of it is the fault of the lighting, and some of it is because my near vision isn't as good as it used to be, but I've marked some of mine with a white marker that I bought and has come it quite useful, more useful than my white paint pen.

Chrome sockets I can read fairly easily, it’s these black ones I struggle with. I used a paint pen and quick wipe over with a paper towel with a squirt of carb cleaner on it wipe of the excess paint

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Thermostat in a a friend of a friend's Fiesta MK7.5 Tdci.

She had noticed the heaters were getting progressively worse whenever it was cold out or she drove at speed over the last week then driving down to meet my mate for the weekend, checked her coolant and noticed it was slowly going down at a rate of about ¼ of max-min per 100 miles.

My mate took a look this morning pointed out a slow weep from the thermostat housing and gave me a ring to ask if they could bring it over and try to sort it.

The Thermostat housing appears to have been cracked for a while (before she bought it as a "reliable car" to replace her Morris Minor).

When that happened it's been bodged with what looks like Tiger Seal or RTV in place of the rubber seal.

Doing a post mortem of why it went now, we found a plastic fragment has come off and left the thermostat stuck open, as well as letting it flex enough to start weeping coolant.

We were able to match up the one fragment recovered with the broken casing, which is reassuring as it probably means there's not more floating around in the system.

It took what felt like an age to get it up to temperature so we could ensure the radiator was fully bled, but otherwise a pretty painless job.

The two of them then helped me clear some snow damaged branches from the trees in the garden, which I am 99% sure was more effort than I made fixing the car.

 

[DAPPH]

Finally got all the bits in one place to fix a dead 2004 MachineMart compressor I.d been sold for a fiver . .
Air filter clogged with gunge & dust .. washed in WD40 then after 10 min soak washed in very hot soapy water and rolled in kitchen towel roll to dry it off in the airing cupboard ( 36 days ago ) re-oiled a few min before firing it up with new compressor oil to lube the cylinder & get an oil misting in the air tank .

Top picture
Got rid of the silly air release brass screw valve that was under the machine ..I'm too wrecked to try and bend to the floor to find it , then fiddle with numb fingers to open the well rounded smooth ex -knurled tube .. plus it was leaking any way. Did this by buying five suitable BSP elbows a month ago , 3 mtrs of 8mm copper gas pipe plus a gas tap an nut and five olives for the pipe and a roll of PTFE tape for sealing crap threads . First task was to bend two foot of copper tube into a gentle curve and using the blow lamp gently trickled melted scrap lead sheet ( almost five ounces ) in the heated pipe . A quick annealing plunge into cold water then slipped the pipe into a bit of old hose pipe to give it some protection , bent the hose and pipe to get a quality fit to the elbow and bent it to anchor to the information plate . Used a heat gun & a heavy washing up liquid lubricant to warm the hose pipe to take it off the now perfectly bent tube , it came off like a wet dream

Adjusted the length to suit the locations allowing for the gas tap then cut the hosepipe four inches shorter to allow a bit of free pipe . Putting the hose back on was a done once the pipe was secured to the union under the tank and like taking it off the hose putting it back it was well warmed and lubed , put on from the free ( where the tap was to go ) end , gently twisting and pushing it as I warmed it up , it went on like the previous dream . fitted the tap and tail exhaust tube then cable tied it securely to the data plate bridge adding a bit of split heated hose around the tap to reduce vibration damage in times future .

Ha ha all done ....I thought . till I started it up air coming out the air pressure safety valve , and doing so at 30 psi on the gauge . Found an air leak some where under the cover of the electric switch .
ordered a new PRV and charging head switch .
A month earlier I ordered a new replacement heavy duty rubber airline or the missing one , some euro connectors and an air pistol/cleaning jet gun . Got the bits fitted fired it up 120 psi before the switch cut out . dropped 24psi by letting air out the gun an d it kicked in a gain .

Whoopee ! I did four full fills and dischargers to try and get the tank reasonably dry and a lot cleaner the much that blew out of the drain tap was amazing far more than I thought would have been discharged as I'd left it a fortnight without the drain in place .

First job with it was to lay a rain sodden m gungey rubber & fluffy door / garage mat on an outside bench and blow all the water & crud out of the fibres .. It took three full tank refills before it was sorted .
Power off , drain left open , mancupboard closed up for the night.

Tomorrow I hope to tackle the gunged up dehumidifier cooling matrix & filter now I've got the compressor , then give the clothes drying machine filters a thorough bottle brushing & blow job as they don't always lose enough fluff & fibres when washing them in hot water alone .

 

[DennisCA]

I fixed the parking brake line. Well temporarily anyway. I hope it lasts a while. The tire had worn through the lining on the cable and the metal was exposed. There should be a clamp that holds the cable away from the tires, but it had broken off.

I cleaned it up using rags, WD40 and compressed air. Then I wiped down the cable with acetone, put grease over the exposed metal.

Then I wound it with electrical tape very tightly. Then I wound the electrical tape with vulcanizing tape to prevent it from unwrapping itself.

Then I fitted a piece of garden hose that I cut up over that fix and wound the hose with electrical tape and vulcanizing tape around the ends. Then finally a bunch of zip ties around it. I had to use zip ties to also pull it inwards or it contacted the tire. I hope this holds until summer.

Zip ties and electrical tape are keeping this car going at the moment. Over the weekend I replaced most of the ignition components (rotor, cap, plugs) except the leads, but I will have to replace them too because they are cracked. 4 out of 5 of them had cracks on the plastic tube that extends into the motor. That means the spark might sometimes go to the engine block instead of to the electrode. Fixed it by wrapping the tubes with the same combo of tape and vulcanizing tape.

 

[DAPPH]

There used to be aerosol ignition sealer sprays available that did similar to stop HT sparks tracking along damp surfaces, especially inside the old distributor caps and plug lead shrouds . My old ancient Triumph Herald 1250 (??) was given a spray every fortnight for two harsh winters when I lived in Germany .


I like the hand brake cable solution , my Citroen BX19GTI ate hand brake cables at £ 60 ish a pop each in a garage for some unknow reason ( Back in 1989 when I was only able to use one arm for a few years )

 

[bricol]

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Top picture
Got rid of the silly air release brass screw valve that was under the machine ..I'm too wrecked to try and bend to the floor to find it , then fiddle with numb fingers to open the well rounded smooth ex -knurled tube .. plus it was leaking any way. Did this by buying five suitable BSP elbows a month ago , 3 mtrs of 8mm copper gas pipe plus a gas tap an nut and five olives for the pipe and a roll of PTFE tape for sealing crap threads . First task was to bend two foot of copper tube into a gentle curve and using the blow lamp gently trickled melted scrap lead sheet ( almost five ounces ) in the heated pipe . A quick annealing plunge into cold water then slipped the pipe into a bit of old hose pipe to give it some protection , bent the hose and pipe to get a quality fit to the elbow and bent it to anchor to the information plate . Used a heat gun & a heavy washing up liquid lubricant to warm the hose pipe to take it off the now perfectly bent tube , it came off like a wet dream

Adjusted the length to suit the locations allowing for the gas tap then cut the hosepipe four inches shorter to allow a bit of free pipe . Putting the hose back on was a done once the pipe was secured to the union under the tank and like taking it off the hose putting it back it was well warmed and lubed , put on from the free ( where the tap was to go ) end , gently twisting and pushing it as I warmed it up , it went on like the previous dream . fitted the tap and tail exhaust tube then cable tied it securely to the data plate bridge adding a bit of split heated hose around the tap to reduce vibration damage in times future .

Unless you have got another drain somewhere, I am a bit bemused why you have taken the drain to a point nearly as high as the top of the tank?

 

[MattF]

Unless you have got another drain somewhere, I am a bit bemused why you have taken the drain to a point nearly as high as the top of the tank?

Mobility issues? The air in the tank should theoretically force the water out regardless of the hoses outlet end height.

 

[bricol]

Mobility issues? The air in the tank should theoretically force the water out regardless of the hoses outlet end height.

It won't fully drain it though. I leave mine open when not in use. Various auto drain kits available to over-come issues with access - I have a couple, but so far not managed to remember to fit them

 

[indykid]

It won't fully drain it though. I leave mine open when not in use. Various auto drain kits available to over-come issues with access - I have a couple, but so far not managed to remember to fit them

If you crack the valve with half a bar of air in the receiver and let it purge until it blows air, it's cleared as much water as it ever would under gravity.

I'm intrigued by how Dapph intends to catch said water though unless you plan to just blow it at the wall.

 

[DAPPH]

Unless you have got another drain somewhere, I am a bit bemused why you have taken the drain to a point nearly as high as the top of the tank?

Water gets pushed into the lower tube via the union , opening the tap sees it pushed out by the tanks 5cuft 120 psi air pressure . Even tipping the cylinder back and fort gently to bring any remaining moisture to the elbow does not appear to bring in any more water once the initial drain down has taken place to 21 psi after that nothing comes out . Recharging straight away letting it stand for 5 min then draining gives up no noticeable water.

 

[DAPPH]

If you crack the valve with half a bar of air in the receiver and let it purge until it blows air, it's cleared as much water as it ever would under gravity.

I'm intrigued by how Dapph intends to catch said water though unless you plan to just blow it at the wall.

If it's in place under the welding bench I'll be using a 1,2 mtr length of hose pipe over the vent tube to send it oputside . If it's been taken out from under the bench I'll let it go where ever the compressor is standing. I put a five long heavy duty yellow soft artic power cable on the compressor specifically for this event .

 

[DAPPH]

The

Unless you have got another drain somewhere, I am a bit bemused why you have taken the drain to a point nearly as high as the top of the tank?

The gap under the compressor tank is about 50 mm high . I didn't think an auto drain vent would fit without being continually & easily smacked on rough floor undulations etc. , so went the way I know would work easily every time .

 

[Barking Mat]

Another work in progress.

Old and new.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Well progressing anyway. It is a Marconi RC690 transceiver as fitted to Granada Mk2 Police cars of the 70s. First time playing with one, but I have got it transmitting and possibly receiving, although I need to wait for a signal generator to appear tomorrow, before I can prove that. 146.450 @ 20W and receive should be somewhere in the 153MHz area.

Already covering 142-156, it will be ideal to convert to 2m FM if I can only find any information. Unlike Pye equivalents, there appears to be little in the way of deep technical stuff around.

 

[indy4x]

Daughter has a 2012 Mazda 3 Sport

Phone call yesterday 'Dad, why is my EML on' Determined that the car was running fine so told her I'dhave a look when she gets home

Fast forward to yesterdayevening, loads of randomish faults logged but nothing to shout about so cleared codes and EML stayed off

Then this morning, phone call to say the car won't turn over after stopping at the local petrol station

By the time I'd got there it was running again.

Swapped vehicles and I took her car home and it was 50:50 whether it would turn over when pressing the start button

Checked the voltages on both batteries and all looked healthy, did the same when trying to crank it over and still looked healthy

Starting to think maybe starter motor but just in case, cleaned all the battery terminals and major earth's even though they looked OK

Did several journeys with it today and all working as it should. As a bonus, the stop start not available warning thays been there for 12 months has has also gone away