simonr

That's why there is one in the sitting room too. Not stupid - me! Si

I can do better (simpler) than that! Drill the thread out of a nut of the same size as the riv-nut. Stick bolt through drilled nut separated by a couple of washers and screw in to riv-nut. Hold nut in a spanner in one hand and drive bolt with a socket in the other. Any hay presto, you have a tool which does not need three hands to operate! My Riv-nut tool in action

Why not just use a deep hole saw? The jug for holding the tube & drill is pretty easy to fabricate. If you wanted to spend a bit more money - use a broaching cutter. Both are MUCH cheaper than a slot-drill for a mill. Here is the kind of thing I mean: http://www.blindchickenracing.com/Tools/tools.htm

Thanks Mark - I've winched the 90 in to the garage (using my mill as a ground anchor!) so the drive is clear. Could you stick it beside the garage on the rubber matting next to the Air Con pack? Cheers, Si

These are the Mk2 bracket design - thought I'd go & do measuring & figured the sandwuch idea was rubbish. These will probably be laser cut with the rebate machined in. They take RR rear calipers or 110 fronts and just bolt on to 3 of the M10 bolts which hold the stub axle on. This gives a stronger mounting to the axle than to the caliper - and the caliper mounts are clearly up to the job. Any of you know the thread size of the bolts used to hold calipers in place? The RR ones are different to the 110's. Although I have calipers, I don't have any bolts and my thread gauge will not fit down the hole!

I need to borrow a series transfer box to complete the design! I was planning on buying one at Sodbury and trying to have full scale manufacture before Billing! If you happen to have one you could stick in an envelope..... Si

I'm assured I'll get the piston seals and valve tomorrow - so shouldn't be long before the first live test! I'm looking at the moment (amongst other things) at making a bolt-on adaptor for fiddle brakes with a thin (3mm) plate bolted between the stub axle and axle case and another 8mm thick bracket which locates on two extended stub axle bolts behind the flange on the axle tube forming a sandwich at the caliper mounting bolts, drilled to accept RR rear or 110 front calipers. For hand operated levers, 110 calipers are better as they give twice the mechanical advantage of RR Rears. It seems to be the fabrication and welding of the brackets which floors most people! It would be nice to produce a complete bolt-on kit which can be used with the milner levers or air over hydraulic as suits. Si

BusShed - you listening to this? Si

Quality. I wonder if it includes the radio (in one of the pix) - that would at least double the value! Si

If it is sailing rope - I would have one small reservation! Most sailing rope has a high friction outer layer making it good for capstan winches, friction cleats, pulling in by hand etc. 4x4 winch line has a low friction outer so it will slide over itself on a drum and suffer less damage sliding over something else. It may be that this difference is just spin by sellers of winch line - so it's worth a punt to find out. It would be marvelous if it turns out to be good. At that price, you could use it as bailer twine! Si

One option I've contemplated is to divert the flow of oil vapour from the rocker covers, through a separator (tdi style) and a flame trap (v8 style) through the distributor and then on to the inlet manifold. This way you get a continuous flow of hot distilled oil vapour & air passing through the dizzy. A lot of the problem is due to water condensing out on the inside of the cap if it is suddenly cooled by water outside. If the internals are both heated and supplied with oil - this should be less of a problem. I had figured on drilling a hole in the side of the cap for the oil/air to go in via a plastic, snap-in fitting and another either in the other side of the cap or in the body of the distributor with a slightly smaller bore for the return to the inlet. The difference in bore should be able to give a slight positive pressure inside the cap to encourage water or steam to stay outside. Si

Andy - that looks fab! I'd looked at these in the past but ruled them out as too expensive - but yours looks promising! I've experimented a little, stick welding with my jump leads. The reason most people go for 24v isn't so much for the higher current delivery, it is that it is less effected by rust & carp on the surface. If you are welding clean metal, 12v works fine. I reckon it was delivering about 80-100A on 12v with 2.5mm rods. Mig would be wonderful by comparison! Si

Not quite as strong though. My rattle gun will snap a 3/8 extension wobble bar - so I doubt a 1/4 one will last long. I have to say that this tool is one of the most useful I've bought and they represent such good value. Si

I have a split pack (one box outside with the compressor etc and another blower inside) 18000 btu air conditioning set. It provides heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. It is about the most efficient way of heating as it is extracting heat from the cold air outside & dumping it inside. It produces almost 5kw of heat for 2kw of electricity. It has made the workshop habitable come summer or winter - totally fantastic. Bought the AC packs from 'Just Lamps ltd' via eBay. Pre gassed, no special tools, easy DIY install and all for a couple of hundred quid. I have one in the workshop and another in the sitting room in the house. Si

I wondered where this thread had vanished to! It is correct that it is illegal on the road, but only if it changes the balance of the service brakes. If it is an entirely separate system with separate master cylinder(s) and slaves / calipers it's ok. Where this becomes important is skid steer vehicles such as tanks, argocats etc. They must not use the service brakes for steering - but separate is fine even on the road if road registered. I don't think I'll be using them much on the road however - not being too keen on dying! Si

On the way back I was thinking about something which takes blank 6 bore cartridges to crank it a coupe of times Decided a new starter motor would probably result in less death and broken crank shafts! Si

Cool weekend - sadly my starter motor let the smoke out this morning (a bit terminal for an auto) so I came home on a yellow taxi! The driver was a nice chap who is rebuilding a series 2 - I invited him to come & say hello here! Si

It is a tacho feed! But it is not pulsed as you might expect. Have you ever wondered why the tacho reads right regardless of the size of the pulley? It still reads right if you change the pulley or alternator? This is dead clever! The wire is a feed from the unregulated power output of the alternator. When the engine is running, when each cylinder fires, the engine accelerates a tiny bit and then slows down before the next one fires. This gives a tiny ripple in the unregulated alternator output. The rev counter just counts the ripples. The output usually sits at about 6v - but you will need a sillyscope to see the ripples. Si

The said trader is Oliver from Capel - I've got his number somewhere. Si

I may have just the thing you are looking for! They will go on the web on monday. 4.5m 35mm ultra flexible welding cable terminated in 175A Anderson connectors on one end and 10mm ring terminals on the other. The long bit has a pair of 400A welding clamps (you just cant get croc clips man enough!). The 175A connector is easily enough as it is continuously rated at 175A. I have stuck 1200A through the 50A connectors and although they get hot, they are not damaged even with 5 min duration. You can short out an optima for over a minute with the 175A without it getting noticably warm! 350A is way over the top. My leads will cold crank a Tdi immediatly or run an 8274 (6Hp) on another vehicle quite happily. I'mdoing a complete kit for £60 retail with a bit of a discount for forum - if you are interested! You'll struggle to get all the bits for that assuming you use cable which is up to the job. I wouldn't go anywhere without mine! Si

Order somethig else, tell us you are a forum member and we'll knock off the discount on both! Can't say fairer than that! Si

It was nice to meet some more you forum people outside those who normally come on trips & comps. The whole thing was very friendly - although if I'd not been trading, I'd have feld they'd had my trousers down wit the entry fee. £9 was very steep, particularly considering how much they charged traders! Must go and unpack my trailer now! If any of you happen across a cheap, reasonable condition exhibition trailer - drop me a line! That would make so much difference! Cheers, Si

I'm still going! Too much to do here, but still the previous trips were amongst the best off-road trips I've been on, so wouldn't miss it for the world! I have a room in the hotel - camping seemed a bit hostile at this time of year. Si

Mmmmmm......I was going to suggest Chris! It's him I usually ask if I need to know the date of something! (and like I'm short of suff to do?!) Si

You can drive about 10Hp through a single V belt (7.5 Kw) although it will try to catch fire at this (how do I know that? ) Polyvee can take about 25Hp depending on width and will handle 10Hp without getting too warm at all. Anything higher needs a chain or toothed belt. Split charge units fall in to three categories. 1. A relay which connects the two bateries together when the alternator is charging. These are the simplest, cheapest and most reliable. They will however allow you to discharge both batteries at the same time, however, because of the resistance in the contacts and extra connections, it will draw out of your main vehicle battery a lot slower than the winch battery. If your engine is not running, the winch will only draw from the winch battery giving a good chance of starting from the main battery. 2. Diodes. A diode is like a one way valve which lets power flow through it one way, but not the other. They are generally connected between the alternator and each of the batteries individually so power can flow from the alternator to each battery, but no power can flow between the batteries. These have two (and a half) issues. Firstly, there is a voltage drop (about 0.7v) across each diode. This means that you are loosing some of the current that your alternator is trying to push into the battery. It's not a lot, but could be up to 10% lower. Secondly, diodes are sometimes killed by voltage spikes generated by things like starting, running motors, welding. Thirdly, getting a diode rated at a high enough current is expensive. 100A ones are about £40 each (for something decent). Most of the diode based split charges available will be fried by big alternators dumping big currents for long durations (like you get when winching) 3. MOSFET. These work in a similar way to diodes, but do not have as big a voltage drop (0.05v or less). They are the best solution, but they are expensive and tend to have circuitry built in to limit the current flow (so as not to be damaged by the high currents). Most of them do not go above about 85A - so you are still loosing a potential 15% of your max charging current. They are usually quite well protected from voltage spikes (but not all) and some are vulnerable to water ingress. Many come with charge management circuitry and displays of battery voltage and charge current - but at a price! Si