Comment Time October 2022

 

October 2022 Comment.

 

I avoid being political on the blog because I do not want to labelled with being one party or another but I have seen many dubious acts by our politicians that defies belief and only confirms how corrupt they are, but our current Prime Minister has endeared no one with a reduction in tax that pretends to be beneficial to the country’s economy. Inflation that is running close to twenty percent for our food bill and energy at how many percent means that most low income people will be cold and hungry this winter. I was appalled at the budget with the decrease in higher rate of tax. It was obvious it was a reward for her mates and everyone knows if the rich get money they keep it and whinge like hell if they can’t even if they have so much money it doesn’t make any difference. Why not be benevolent if you take some off the bottom add some at the top. That is levelling up. One percent tax for the people who have nothing is still nothing. One percent added to the top is dramatic. The masses need money to survive if they have nothing the economy shrinks. This inflation we see is the result of printing money to pay for Covid. All of Europe gave people support in that time and is now being paid for. It will take years to sort out and we will all be poorer at the end of it.

I worked in the NHS for forty years doing my bit. In 2008 there was the banking crisis. Generate by unregulated greed. There is no sympathy from me but the real sufferers were the NHS and public services.  The money had to come from somewhere and since 2008 there have been successive cuts to budgets and changes in services which have come to a head now. Pay has never been good in the NHS but now the work force has been beaten into submission and can no longer cope with the expectations of receiving a very good standard of care. There are not enough people to do the work and Covid along with the government has driven them away. Those courageous people who still keep things running are martyrs but I’m not sure they can keep going much longer. There is still no money to pay for anything. I guess that borrowing more money will be the only solution because heaven knows why people who have billions need so much dosh. It is obscene. The people from our history who had that much money did something with it. All those statues of people you did not know of built schools, universities, hospitals and invested in public works that benefited the community. I see none of that coming forth from our current batch of business men.

I could go on but that could be boring and a bit more down to earth Hackney council motorcycle parking charges. I have had one rant about this along with Genghis Khan’s ULEZ and it was time for action. Organised by the Motorcycle Action Group, MAG, a protest ride around Hackney town centre took place on Saturday 8th October. About one hundred bikes gathered to make our voices heard and added to the traffic congestion in the centre of town.  It was an experience for us in promoting camaraderie but I’m not sure it had much effect other than being visible for over an hour repeatedly going by the council offices several times. The traffic was so dense it took ages to circumnavigate Hackney but when engines were too hot and clutch fingers frayed were retired to the Dark Arts cafe for refreshments and a well earned rest along with rallying speeches about what to do next. If you want to have a say email the council offices directly on their web site. Hackney is not the only council wanting to do this. If Hackney wins then we will have lost London to the unimaginative and blinkered who cannot seem to see that two wheeled transport is a solution to a problem. A little insight into Hackney is there are so many not so legal e-scooters and electric bicycles why are they so hell bent on getting rid of motorcycles? WE pay more road tax than most cars and are insured which all the bicycles, e-scooters and e-bicycles are not AND we obey the Highway Code.

September 2022

 

September 2022

 

Life has been going at a pace with interruptions from colds and infections. I’m sure I’m not right yet. In Hackney on Colvestone road is the Rebellion Blue plaque for Dorothy Levitt “Fastest Girl in the World” learning to drive in 1902 was trained as a mechanic and chauffer she got the speed bug and was winning races from the start. Not satisfied with racing cars she turned to boats and held the water speed world record in 1903. She held a number of world records up to the First World War. She wrote books on motoring and even invented the rear view mirror using her make-up mirror from her compact strategically placed in the car. Who would have thought someone so ‘dare devil’ lived just a short distance from a Primary School? A notice for Girl Power if there ever was one but I’m sure few people take much notice of the Blue plaque and its significance.

Giving the El Cid a rest and wanting to put some miles on the Burton I had a number things planned, like the 2CV Club night, the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists trade faire and the model railway exhibition at Whitewebbs Museum. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday of that week all of which I missed. Sunday I was on my way to the Norfolk Broads for some quality time with my Brothers. I popped into the Museum on the way and saw four of the model engines I had built running. Number five had been working but had expired by the time I arrived. I had built them in the early eighties when working away from home. It was a real treat to see them performing again on the tracks at the museum.Arriving at the museum it turned out to be Morris Minor day and to my surprise  I was invited to display the Burton while I was there. 

The Norfolk Broads, specifically Martham, has a very good DIY store where you can get everything from tow ball covers to household fittings, rope, tools galore and paint for any job. It was a must visit place for me as I was able to replace the tow ball cover lost in Spain and another one for the Burton. It was a good escape to some fresh air with some sailing and trips out using a new lightweight outboard devised by Adrian using a 50cc two stroke strimmer engine. It worked well with a centrifugal clutch that had lighter springs that allowed the drive to disengage just above tickover instead of half way up the rev range. There was some fettling to be done to get the most out of the engine that probably needs a less aggressive propeller to make the most of the revs and power from the engine.

Back home and the fuel economy from the Burton returned 54mpg. Not bad from a thirty-five year old engine. Home a couple of days and Gita and I were off to Barnsley for an eightieth birthday party. The Burton returning 49mpg for that trip. Not quite so good but it is up hill going north.

Le Petite Van Gris Part 8

 

Le Petite Van Gris Part 8

 It has taken some time to get things made. All the engineering firms are very busy and not many want to take on small jobs. I have found just a few. What I thought I needed was a cross member for the van in front of the rear suspension. There is support beyond that with the chassis and side rigger plates. I mentioned in the July missive and was far too brief in what was being done at the time.

My brother Adrian came to visit for a few days to help me. The mission was to lift the van body and cab to fit the cross member and remove the under floor pan that needs to be fitted under the chassis after the fitting of the longitudinal drive shaft. The floor pan slid out easily but the cross member did present with a few problems. One was where to place the securing bolts on the chassis and be able to tighten them up. The first idea was to have the beam with the legs facing rearward but there was not enough room to get a spanner on the head of the bolt the s pension unit was in the way, so the beam was reversed and this made enough room for spanners. Now that it was secure the van body could be replaced and the cross member could be checked for fit. The right side and centre were perfect but the left side was proud because of a previous repair. To maintain the integrity of the repair the cross member needed to be modified to suit. This required the upper part to be reshaped and the bend in the section to be moved to fit the body. This was done by cutting the top edge about every 3 centimetres straightening out the bend and redoing it a few millimetres lower. Once it was checked for fit the cuts were welded to retain the strength and the area repainted.  I will have to remove the body again for spraying and when I do this I will secure the body to the cross member 8mm button head bolts, penny washers and use rib nuts in the cross member.

    

I had already fitted the stainless steel joining strip that goes between the cab and the van body floor. Each bit you add to the glassfibre only makes it stronger. Having done this job quite quickly there was another job that needed two people. I had bought a tool to attach to the hub that acts as a counter lever against the spanner for undoing drive shaft nuts which are torqued to 180 ftpds with Adrian’s help we did all four on the van. As we had all the tools around the rear hubs were removed from the redundant rear suspension arms. I need one for the El Cid.

August 2022

 

August 2022

 

I did a lot of bits and pieces in July and I forgot to mention after taking the engine on the El Cid I found the air horns were not working. I replaced them and did a bit of rewiring of the relay so it was no longer wired into the ignition. After replacing everything I checked the compressor and it still worked. What did not work was the relay for some reason the secondary contact was not making a connection. After giving it a clean it now does. I have retained the bits for future use.

August is MOT time for the Kawasaki with an advisory of a worn upper rear suspension bush from the last MOT. I have received a number of these and I thought it was time to do something about.  I ordered the part the Traxden Motorcycles who also fitted it within minutes. Nice to have the proper tools for the job and I was on my way within an hour. The old bush had some play in it but also there was movement in the bolt that secured it to the frame. The play was magnified by the presence of a rubber seal on the bolt and the shaft of the bolt to be able to assemble it. There would always be some movement so I had achieved the best fit from what I had got.  I booked the MOT with Jack Lilleys now West London Triumph and after fighting my way through heavy traffic making me late but they still did the MOT. It passed with a couple of new advisories. Rear chain adjustment and cracked number plate.  Both of which are easily fixed.

The El Cid required other work from doing so many miles. One of the rear drums was making a groaning sound on light braking. The brakes worked but the sound was annoying. I had two spare drums attached to the old suspension from the van. I removed these with the enormous tool I bought from ECAS at the National 2CV rally over Easter. The state of them was not good and needed machining to rejuvenate the friction surface. The machining was done at my friend Bob’s place. One hub came up nicely the other would not stay on the lathe and on close examination proved to have a fatal crack in it and was scrap. On this trip to Bob’s I used the Burton and had a few problems on the journey. To begin with the drivers door opened nicely for me to adjust the mirror but on closing the retaining plate jettisoned itself onto the ground. I would not be able to secure it for the drive. I have since used the one from the van until I can get this one repaired. The engine started fine but within a few miles would not tick over. I diagnosed a blocked pilot jet and removed, cleaned and replaced at Bob’s. Fine going home but the next time I tried to start the Burton it did not want to know. There was no fuel getting to the carb, not even down the fuel line. I have to remove the fuel tank to get to the connector pipe that links the fuel tank outlet to the main nylon fuel line that runs the length of the car to see what the problem is. Too much of a job to do quickly and as I had to do it outside the weather was a factor.  On a fine day I removed the fuel tank shield, dropped the tank to get to the offending pipe that had been rubbing on the body work and had a hole in it. Pipe replaced and repositioned, tank refitted but the filler neck connector had cracks in it and needed replacing.

 I had to wait a couple of days to get a replacement part from ECAS who said they were closed as the whole team was off to Snetterton for the 2CV 24 hour race with their competition cars. Good fun, I was there last year. I must have caught them before they left as the part unexpectedly arrived on the Thursday before the Bank Holiday. Now it has been fitted and the car starts and runs much better ready for a long trip.

 

July 2022

 

July 2022

I have missed a few months of recording things and I am doing a catch up with this posting. It is not because I have not been busy but time and energy to record it all has escaped me. The Spanish Adventure and whinging about the service from the RAC abroad now time to get up to date. The end of June I was due to do a Charity Run with the Rotary of Chipping Sodbury but a bout of Covid meant I nor Gita could attend so a trip out in the Burton did not happen. I had even made the rally plate.

 I was very disappointed about it. I also suffered some lethargy during recovery but did do something on the van. This was to fit a stainless strip over the joint on the floor between the steel floor and the glassfibre van body. Looks much tidier now. 

I have had made a cross member to support the front floor section in front of the rear suspension pivot point. To do this required the cab and the van part separated and the van part moved back a little and elevated to put the beam in position. My brother Adrian came to visit for a few days to help me with this job at the end of July. After his visit I ordered two long drills so I could drill through the holes in the chassis through the glassfibre floor to secure the van body in place. I now have the drills but have yet to do the drilling.

While away in Spain our neighbour’s fence, which had a very over grown ivy tree, bush, big thing that became so heavy it fell off the fence taking a number of panels with it. I was accused of sabotaging it. Needless to say I was not the engineer of this however I did have to remove everything that I had attached to the fence posts. Of course with so many plants around I had to create a plant stand to put them on. Basically I constructed a heavy duty Chelsea planter. This had a bonus that I used up quite a bit of my stock of wood. This meant I could store more of the garden furniture under cover.

Also early in July I had a trip to see a new friend Coops in Whitchurch, Hampshire. He had acquired an industrial sewing machine and had made a cover for his Mehari and offered me the opportunity to borrow said machine to make a replacement cover for my El Cid or he could do it as he had more expertise in making covers than I did. We hatched a plan for me to buy the materials in and he do the sewing during the winter months. A project worth waiting for.

I did a little more fettling o the Valiant with messing about with the ignition and carburetion and got it running a bit better but there is more to be done. My problem is test riding. There is the A 312 the main artery that links the M4 to the A40. It is a 24 hour dual carriageway and no forgiving motorists so do any sort of riding I must go up it or down it or across it so I choose my time usually between ten and eleven in the morning or face huge queues  that require filtering to get anywhere. So after a test ride I need to wait until the next day to try things again. As a result adjustment and test sometimes have quite a long time in between.

Lastly I had a trip to Whitewebbs Museum to a model railway show and I’ll go to the next one at the end of September

Spanish Adventure Part 7

 

Spanish Adventure

Part Seven.

Homeward bound heading for Zaragoza over two hundred miles (210m) and no RAC cover from now on. No pressure. A delightful trip making steady progress to this ancient town. Once again I had difficulty finding the entrance to the hotel. Staying at the Ibis Centrum was great and so close to the main plaza just across the bridge but another excursion down a one way street got me there. Relief of the first day of travel and no oil used.  The evening meal was at a tapas bar just down from the hotel where the use of the Google translator got us a very nice meal. We have a whole day to relax with. Wandering around the town being tourists was great. Finding the market was a bonus and a brief visit to the Roman ruins just added to the atmosphere. I enjoyed it.

Our last hotel on the trip was in Burgos. I knew that it would be a little awkward to find but with some instructions of how to get in to the pedestrian area it was easier than I thought. Another day and another two hundred mile plus (205m) travelled the faith in the car was being restored with an easy drive. We were staying in the Notre Y Londres. A quaint hotel with period quirkiness just added to visiting Burgos. 

After unloading the car we had to park it in the nearest underground car park about ten minutes walk away. Being a regional City it had the old fort that was quite a hike from the hotel and a Cathedral with the notoriety of being the resting place of El Cid and his wife and enough shops to satiate my shopaholic. Having a day off from travelling but doing greater distances seemed to be working for us. Burgos is a centre for gastronomy. There were so many restaurants to choose from every meal was a difficult decision.

Our last day in Spain and the run to Santander and the ferry (118m). We followed the sign posts and not Tom stopping at a services on the edge of Santander to fill up with food and fuel. At the check-in it was simple and easy. Just a stamp in the passport and pick up the tickets. We arrived a little early and had comments from fellow passengers about the car. Time passed quickly and we were soon loaded and in the cabin. This time one with a porthole so we could watch the sea and the setting sun. Gita had already taken her sea sickness pills and was set for the journey.

 

I find travel on a ferry a bit boring not being interested in what they have on sale and the on-board entertainment was better when sat in the company of a beer. I did try walking the decks and managed to circumnavigate the ship but was unable to do it a second time to show Gita as I had got confused with which deck you had to be on to do it.  Soon we were docked and ready to embark. It did not seen to be that long a wait and then we were off joining the queue for passports and customs. We missed Sainsbury’s and were on the motorway before we knew it. We called in to Chipping Sodbury on our way to pick up the cooking stuff left behind got some fish and chips in Yate and had a breeze of a drive home doing 250 miles for the day and 2605 miles for the trip.

Spanish Adventure Part 6

 

Spanish Adventure

Part Six.

I did not think for one minute I could get the car fixed in one day. I needed to book another day where I was. This was possible by only having one day in Zaragoza. I had to book another night in Mataro quickly. They had only one room left. I could change other bookings over the next few days as needed. The next move first thing Monday morning was to initiate calling the RAC and starting breakdown process. It was an interesting discussion about what was possible. Repatriating the car was one option but not if the recovery was more than the value of the car. Getting it repaired at a registered garage was another but what was one. Repairing it myself was not permitted as the remainder of the journey would not be covered.

This was a dilemma as very few places have the expertise to carry out the repair. The representative would try to find suitable people but a breakdown van would be sent to make an assessment and possibly affect a repair.  I had to move the car from the underground car park to the main road outside the hotel. He turned up with within the hour and told me that he had been told it was a water leak. I have had that before in that on the patrol do not get passed on the information about the problem but agreed with me it was an oil leak and he could not fix it.  In the mean time Gita packed stuff to go on the ferry as foot passengers. We might not have a car to go home with.

A little time later I received a call from the RAC. It was not good news; they could find no one to pick up the car or a garage that was open. It was a Bank Holiday in Catalunya and nothing could be actioned today. It would have to wait until tomorrow. It was good that I had booked another night at the hotel. I was going nowhere today. It was suggested I try to find a local garage to make the repair and would be contacted tomorrow about my situation. I spent some time buying clothes to do the repair in and tools I had not brought with me.

Tuesday was all action starting with the Citroen garage at 9:30 in the morning about a kilometre away. They were quite helpful but could not look at the car until the end of June. Too long to wait. We must find another garage. Working our way through the back streets of Mataro we found one garage but were not able to do anything for another week. Around the corner yet another one again the same situation no slot available until next week because of the Bank Holiday. It looked more likely I would have to do the work myself and in the hotel car park but practically the light was not good enough there to work well. I was losing hope of finding any facilities and by chance I asked a tyre fitting shop if there were any local places he had one which was about three streets away he gave us directions to Isaac’s garage. He spoke very good English but he was also busy but he had a friend who may be able to help. He gave us directions and it was about a ten minute walk. Isaac met us there and helped to explain the situation and also the conditions for hiring the facilities. I would be doing the work but had full garage facilities at my disposal, tools, jacks, lifts more than I needed. I definitely would be doing the job with my able assistant Gita. We had to come back after lunch and be able to start and that would be 3pm.

It took half an hour to get back to the hotel and rest up. It was about 1pm during that time a further call from them to appraise me of the situation which was very little they could do and left me to find somewhere to get the repair done. I said that I was meeting someone later that day and that was it.

While waiting I rescheduled the ferry for the next sailing which was the following Monday and then the accommodation in between. It would take me two days to do the job so I needed to book two more nights in Mataro and an extra night in Burgos to fill in. All done on line with the minimum of fuss and not too much extra cash to make it all work.

At 2:30 we set off in the El Cid for the garage facilities and arrived promptly for 3. Some paperwork needed to be done and with the help of a Google translator I soon started stripping off the front of the car. By 5:00 I had got the engine out and on the floor with Gita’s help. Within half an hour the clutch and flywheel were removed, oil seal replaced. Flywheel and clutch were refitted and the engine was ready to go back. It was 6:00 and time to finish for the day.

An early start and back at the garage services at 9:00. It was a struggle the engine went back easily but something was not right and had to come out again. The exhaust did not fit so well and I had problems with the disc brake coolers. The petrol pipe leaked and had to be shortened to remove a split. It seemed at every turn things that fitted did not go back as easily.I was hoping to finish by 1:00 but was still too much to reassemble. I would need the afternoon as well. 

 After a much needed rest things went better but Gita insisted on giving the car a clean. No don’t do that it’ll rain. By 5:00 all was sorted the car was running but with a bit of a blowing exhaust. It was running and good enough to get us home. When we returned to the hotel it rained. Sometime during the day I received a message that a hire car was now available, but I didn’t need it any more. It was something of a challenge to undertake such a monumental job with little assistance one thousand miles from home. The RAC did respond but after that I had to do and pay for everything else. 

It does make me question what is the point of having European cover?