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The Car Thread


MadManMike

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9 minutes ago, MadManMike said:

I'm definitely up for a Welsh smash, let me know when you're next planning something mate!

"Planning something" suggests a level of preparation and scheduling that isn't compatible with my day-to-day life :P  I'm up for heading down there whenever really, got family around there so it's a pretty much whenevz/wherevz deal for me.  If you've got a free day/weekend just let me know and I'll head down :)

For Curborough I think I should be able to come as well as Adam by the sounds of things, so that's +1 for that...

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6 minutes ago, dann2707 said:

 

We've only got 5 people for one date so far :( 

 

Maybe we could turn it into a welsh driving meet instead?!

Yeah but you put preferred date, so surely we go with the most preferred date, then see who can go?

I don't think it's only 5 people that can do that date, it's just 5 people would prefer that date...

I can get a guy with an MX-5 to join us too, so we can definitely fill the spaces.

 

Mark - I'll let you know, once my inner rods / dodgy steering are sorted. I'm happy to rag the car as it is, with the clutch and broken engine. Worst case is a tow home :D

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You can get 'em, but swapping them seems to be the hard bit (and subsequently it doesn't seem to be a very common thing anyone changes). There's a few places that'll do it, but all have months-long waiting lists and charge a fair few quid. Trying to twist the arm of one of the local builders to jump the queue a bit so we'll see what happens - was just really hoping this had had them seen to beforehand!

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Yep, about as standard as you can get, diameter just steps down across the 4. I can't believe something that should be so straight forward is such a headache - from what I can gather the sticking point is that you can only get replacements from one supplier and they always demand a fair bit of time in dressing to fit the cam. Times like these I wish the old man was still about, we'd do that exact 6-stage plan in an afternoon :rolleyes:

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What are they made from? Are they machined after fitting? If so then some thought on the maching process might be required.  At the end of the day it's a pressure fed journal bearing, the only things to get right are the clearance and alignment from one end of the cam to the other.

When the supermoto broke it's crankcases (95ron and 12.5:1 CR aren't compatible!) I was faced with the problem of rebuilding the motor from the ground up.  There are very few people who will work on a rotax unit because of the large amount of specialist tools required to do so.  I designed and made (or got made) all of the ones I needed to replace the cases (case splitter/alternator flywheel puller/2x cambelt pulley puller/drive gear puller/balance gear puller) and have since used them to rebuild engines for a couple of other people.

Do it, wing it if need be, when it fails, work out what went wrong and make it better :)

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Cheers bud, You make a very good case for just getting stuck in... I'm actually not too sure what the material is, but general consensus does seem to be that they need machining to fit so it's not such a shed job. 

Just been out with the two engines side by side (good point about having a spare JD, still got all the parts to rebuild the original alongside this one so i'll have that as a learning project). I think I might just be able to get away with it - I wondered why it looked so odd for a worn bearing and then took a step back and wondered why it was the same shade of grey that the block's been primed with... It comes off. Nothing to lose so just gonna be super gentle and as least aggressive as possible when I'm in a better frame of mind!

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image.thumb.jpeg.cddeca429f4e41e8196b259

Well, my engines in. 

Started first time, idled lovely, revved cleanly. And then stopped. 

Runs like shite now, and the spark doesn't look the best so I'm guessing on a duff distributor. No one has one! 

Got another older dizzy it ran well on that I'm going to re-wire tomorrow so it's compatable with my engine loom and fingers crossed it does the trick. 

Edited by SamKidney
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18 hours ago, Tony Harrison said:

Doesn't half sound good too... I always think the same when the classic GP bikes get an outing, but then again some of the collectors are very good about making it clear that they want them to be ridden, just like they were built for. However the cost of maintaining/running them is insane...

One of my observations I've made as walked around and stayed in road race paddocks over the years and gleaned some inside knowledge is that the last bit all kind of depends on whether having the "right look" is important or not - for those where it is, they will have the 3-500K+ race home, 8 bike awning with a mechanic and toolbox stack to each rider, team leathers, petrol starter motor, front and rear paddock stands, a £500 cart/pull along wagon thing to carry the fuel and tyres up to the holding area etc etc.

Then you get those, even in the posh end of the paddock, who do it the way it used to (in my eyes, should) be done - A merc 508D van with a fiamma or an old Iveco horsebox or similar, the paddock stand = 3bits of box section welded to accept a rear set, the starter motor is a bloke called big Dave and the bit of grass outside the awning, and the stupid cart thing... Just don't bother and carry it!

Basically what i'm saying is once you cut the bs, and realise that poncy paddock bling doesn't buy pistons and avgas, these things are... well, still crippling to be honest - but, as i'm sure you're aware, you don't have to be a gazzilionare to run an old race bike. no matter what it's pedigree. That Porsche on the other hand...

 

Edited by CC12345678910
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I really should stop car shopping in countries I'm not even in :lol:

Took our car to a guy for him to look at it, wanted $1000 off the price because "it's in pretty rough shape" (the laquer is peeling and it has its fair share of dings, right after he remarked how mechanically sorted it is), I'm not sure what he was expecting from a 1992 4x4 that's spent most of its life in Aussie sun, owned by backpackers. Prat :P

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Id crossed over a vac line with a coolant line and mixed them up.. so my valves have had a good old steam clean haha 

Had I noticed it last night it would have been running and done. Thankfully the hole on the inside of the throttle body was so small it was only misting through but it was enough to obviously throw out the combustion process, but no hydrolocking. Lucky in a big sense! Stupid of me. 

Its running incredibly well, so smooth and no smoke! Ive been up and down the bypass a few times this evening putting it under load, but not screaming it, to get the rings seated in. Starts first crack everytime, no misfiring. The other distributor was delivering a weak spark, so swapping it out for the other one has also helped. 

Dropped the oil after it had warmed up and it looked good with no miscolouring or nasty grey colours which would indicate metal floating about. 

All the levels have settled nicely and theres no leaks, so again its looking good. 

Going to get 500 miles under its belt and change it out again, this time with a new filter. Feels very punchy for an engine thats nowhere near run in yet. 

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