More of November 2021.

 

It is cold and showery out there, I’ve been trying to connect my Honor 7 phone to the PC and it won’t connect. Hi-Suit has gone so far beyond my phone software it will no longer connect because my phone is too old. If I ignore Hi-Suit I can get in. Advancements that don’t include legacy software are a retrograde step especially when I’ve had it for only 4years. I’m not a consumer sort of person.

Sadly Valentino Rossi has had his time in MotoGP and I have followed MotoGP and later him for much of his career. When I received a book “Never say Never” by Nick Harris for my Birthday in September it took me some time to work my way through it. Only because I need to set time aside to read it. I have numerous magazines and journals to get through each month having a lengthy read needs to be planned as I am on permanent holiday  and busier than ever in retirement. I did manage to read it and it was not so much a biography by Nick but a history of events that I had seen through his commentary. Events that reminded me that I had seen most of them in real time and could repaint the picture in my mind as I read his words and bringing back the emotions I felt at the time. In his words it felt like it was my words he was using to describe what was going on. I’m not sure everyone would enjoy it but I thought it was well written and conveyed the tragedies and success over the years.

When I finished the book I had completed other projects one was interesting and that was how to construct a replacement plastic nut on the Kiddo tricycle that spares were no longer available for. I thought about machining something but how do you make the right thread that fits?  The answer came from my friend Bob in that don’t do it; in his experience he suggested casting it with araldite. That might be difficult in that the epoxy resin will stick to things that you don’t want it to.  I ended up with using glassfibre resin, a little matting and filler to cast a new nut in a plaster mould. It wasn’t tidy but did the job and now I have made two so I have the original as a pattern.

While I had the glassfibre handy I did a few bits of repair and filling on the van body and well as wiring in the fuel tank sender unit completing the wiring for the back half of the van and joining up the cab to the rear. My compliments to Westgate composites who did the repairs to the van body for me and Cotswold Classics for the renovation of the cab with many modifications because the two halves became a perfect union when they came together. So close a fit there is no daylight between the joint.

Having got bigger tyres the wheel cover did not fit so well and needed a bit of modification which was done over an afternoon with Gita’s sewing expertise and I learned a bit about a sewing machines mechanics when it jammed up. On more sewing I have been trying to get a cover made for the trailer without much success so in the depths of my garage I had an old cover which I recovered the elastic from and material from a gazebo. We now have a made to measure cover.  

It may not seem a big deal but our folding camping table needed a repair. It is one of those that has an elasticated cord running through it. It had broken and I made a quick repair by tying the broken ends together losing some of the spacers in the process. It was a bit loose and sloppy so I found some replacement bungee cord on the internet and replaced it. Sounds simple but threading 3mm cord through a 3mm hole has its challenges when it has to pass through a narrow box section. Job completed with the aid of some garden wire. Now it snaps open like Arkwrights till. My next project is to make a larger wooden table top for it in ply so it is long enough to get your legs properly under the table. While I was searching for the bungee cord I bought a double length table which was on offer for when we have family gatherings and a catering sized double burner cooker that I will need a transit box for. I have also had a hair cut and no longer feel like an aging rock star. I did get to a Classic Moped AGM with its traditional ride out and it was great to see some very good examples of what people went to work on in the fifties. Included with the Mopeds at Peace Haven Farm near Oxford were a Honda  Benly, Velocette LE, BSA Bantam, a James  and a Corgi.

November Update

 

November Update.

 

I was hoping there would be more interesting things to write about but there have been a number of little jobs I have done in between news of more van parts. Highlight was last weekend when Louis Barbour sent me a short video of the transmission working in his test vehicle. 

I got on with fitting a new rocker box gasket to the Toyota so that the plugs were no longer drowning in oil. It had to be taxed and not sold as planned as there is little choice in my price range as ULEZ to the North Circular has been introduced and made second hand cars more expensive. If I have to go into that area I’ll do it the bike for which I do not pay. Another gripe to add to my list is E10 fuel. I don’t agree with the action or the philosophy of replacing one hydrocarbon for another that has inferior combustion power. Petrol has a combustion power that ethanol does not have. Have you tried the flaming Christmas pudding spectacle? You have to warm up the brandy quite a bit before it will ignite and burn with a nice blue flame and you can eat it afterwards. I would recommend not to cremate your Christmas pud with petrol, especially in a confined space. This lack of oomph from the ethanol side of fuel does not do well in your engine. Older ones suffer because your octane level is lower, pinking, poor tickover, lack of power and so many miles to the gallon less and you are paying for it! More fuel used at even higher prices. I have now stopped using E10 in the Toyota because it doesn’t tick over smoothly anymore. We don’t know anymore what you are filling your tank with. How are the suppliers allowed to give you this rubbish? Even a loaf of bread has its’ standards. I, being an anorak with some things, record fuel usage on everything, except the Toyota (Gita’s car), and can tell you the difference in the fuels use between fill ups even on E5 petrol versus premium there is a difference. On the Buell it is 3mpg which works out at 6%. The government information says 1 to 3% so when E10 came along what do you think will happen to your fuel consumption? Going to be 10% less miles to the tank full. Makes a complete mockery of manufacturers figures.

November is a good month for MOT’s, the Toyota and a bit later the El Cid. Last year I had the advisory of king pins and front tyres needing to be replaced. For this year I greased the king pins and moved the tyres to the back of the car. Still the kingpins had too much wear and now the rear tyres are an advisory. No fooling these guys. I have been using the Chinese tyres, the cheapest I could get as the tracking on the El Cid tends to wear the outside of the front tyres and repeated tracking adjustments resolved this problem and the tyres have worn evenly for the first time since 1997. I have to get new tyres so I took an offer of  a set of 5 new Toyo tyres from ECAS. Those who know they are 135 against normal 2CV of 125 a slightly bigger tyre and will replace the Chinese ones after I have used every ounce of legal tread. Having got the new tyres I went to get two fitted, the spare and a new rim for when I need to use them. The big problem is balancing. The place I used to use has changed their machine and are no longer able to balance three stud disc wheels. Disaster. Does anyone know where I can get them balanced?

I have signed up the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club for the Kempton Park Off Road bike show on December 4^th. I will be taking my LE. Normally I would be riding it, but as it will be December and it gets dark before the show ends it will be trailered. Checking the trailer over the wheel bearings were a bit rough. After nearly 40 years on the same abused bearing it was time to give them some tlc. I finally obtained some of the correct size after returning the first lot ordered. The problem that one company had different widths for the same bearing number.  Being Imperial taper rollers some were measuring the outer race width and some the inner race width. I could only measure the inner race on my trailer and the outer race on the replace bearings without damaging the packaging. It was not until I removed the outer race from the hub could I compare like for like. Trailer Tek were very helpful in resolving this issue. 

While waiting for the post and we had some fine weather I set about making the trailer more versatile. For a bike trailer it is Harley sized 500kg and very long. Held together by one big bolt and a plate I could easily re-drill holes for new positions. I now have the potential to shorten the trailer to 4ft by 3ft box length, or a small bike length or full size. It took about a week to measure, check, clean and paint before a final assembly and back into storage until December.

October 2021

 

October 2021

 

Another month gone and heading for winter with doom and gloom on the horizon and reading the attest issue of Road magazine I feel the British government is totally against motorcycles and motorcyclists even the great Khan doesn’t want us around the streets of London. I have not been able to buy a newer car and still have the ULEZ non-compliant 2005 Toyota that refuses to die and so will have to pay the toll until there is a suitable car that I want to buy. I refuse to buy a new car. One that is already made will do. I want to do my bit for the environment. A new car just adds to the misery, in fact new anything. I am not a consumer but a recycler and keep things going as long as I can. That doesn’t help the economy but it does help me. September through to October has been plagued will ill health for me and for Gita. We could do with feeling well again. Even so things are filling the time, with MOT’s for the Toyota and the Burton. Both got through OK.

I have discovered small cracks in part of the hard top that I have filled with paint for the time being to keep the weather out but will need a full repair at some point. I went to a glassfibre specialist for a repair in the gel coat to find out what could be done but the out-come was not as expected. The repair would need reinforcing the structure before sorting out the gel coat with the potential of having a difference in the pigment so the best course of action at this time was to do nothing until it gets worse. A cosmetic approach would be temporary, papering over the cracks as it were.  After removing the rear of the hard top I had to refit it unrepaired.

There were more successful jobs completed during the month like building a transport box for my catering size gas three ring burner. I had most of the bits in my garage and only needed to buy a bit more plywood and a piano hinge. It is almost entirely glued together as you can see it required allot of clamping. I am now on a project to provide a catering set up when camping and now have bought a double burner to cook properly, camping stoves are not man enough for my “Master Chef”, I am working on a transport box for that one too. All this was brought about by a leak in the forty year old camping stove that still gives good service once I fitted a new pipe.

 

Catering aside I have fired up the LE and the Valiant so I know they still run. The Valiant had not been run since the beginning of the first lockdown so I had a look inside the carbs to discover the horrors of modern fuel. It was a bit furry inside and the gaskets of the float chamber had gone to powder and now I have to get some new gaskets for the Amal carbs. 

I managed to reassemble the carbs and now you can hear it running. I have fitted a newer top to the carb if the El Cid as I could smell petrol. It seeped form the choke butterfly spindle bearing and left a residue on the top of the carburettor, not much but noticeable. 

 I had been out on the Buell to the LE bike club night and when putting the bike in the garage the rear brake gave a squeal of protest. This meant a disassembly and replacement of all the rubbers and calliper piston to cure it. The piston, although not stuck, was not operating as it should and not fully releasing the brake pads and rubbed a little. Hence the sound. Last on the list of things was my bike trailer. It has done no miles since mid 2019, not turned a wheel. I thought I should at least check it. It was a mucky disassembly but nothing wrong that I could see although one bearing is a bit rough they had plenty of grease in them only needing some fresh grease before being put back together. I think I shall need it for the Off Road Bike Show on 4th December at Kempton Park.