Early Risers.

[Barry O]

A nice walk today followed by a quick flight to Scouse Land. One of the young passengers borrowed a fellow passengers bag from the overhead lockers in the plane. We landed 15 minutes early..he cost us 20 minutes and thought it was a great joke.... I think his mates were discussing his future with him as we left..

 

With the hydrostatic steering on Challenger 1 and 2 tanks ..if you want to get them to stop you can easily take out the steering while using the brakes...65T plus of tank can do a bit of damage...

 

Early to bed tonight as I have had a busy day.....

Goodnight all!

Baz

 

 

[laurenceb]

Welcome to the madhouse Brian. No need to worry about being early,-we are open all hours

Night awl

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, pH said:

 

Which is exactly why I started using engine braking on an automatic car. I was coming down a forest road in Washington State - a very long, steep hill with many tight corners, so lots of heavy braking. I thought the brakes were getting slighty 'spongy' and that I should give them a chance to cool off, so pulled over and stopped. After maybe 5 minutes, I tried the brake pedal, and it went straight to the floor. Without air flowing over the brakes, the fluid had boiled. I never want to experience that feeling again.

 

Had a similar experience a while ago heading down to Grasse in a '65 VW Variant with four people, roof rack and a lot of camping gear. Scared me stiff.

[Coombe Barton]

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/03/28/sandys-chemo-day-93-of-147/

[AndyID]

Personalized number plates are not expensive here and I think the Fiat deserves one. I've found a combination that seems to be available although I can't apply for it until I hear that the Dept. of Motor Vehicles has received the stuff from the dealer in Utah.

 

If you want to play along you can try combinations here. Maximum of seven characters. It will be the "Scenic Idaho" plate (upper left corner).

Edited March 28, 2019 by AndyID
more info

[pH]

6 minutes ago, AndyID said:

If you want to play along you can try combinations here. Maximum of seven characters. It will be the "Scenic Idaho" plate (upper left corner).

 

"BUDDY" appears to be available!

[AndyID]

25 minutes ago, pH said:

 

"BUDDY" appears to be available!

 

Nice one, but it probably wouldn't mean anything to the locals. Technically as I was born in Renfrew I'm not a Buddy.

 

I see "DUMP 45" is available although I doubt if it would be allowed and if it were I'd probably develop lead poisoning.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

My visit to the big orange DIY shed was uneventful, but  did manage to get the paint I wanted. Then it was back home for muggertea No2 before starting work in the cellar, where more progress has been made. I’ve now done about 80% of the walls and I’ve even made a start on pulling down part of the ceiling. As the house is over 100 years old, that had the potential to be a very dirty and dusty job, so to keep the dust to a minimum I used a steam wallpaper stripper to make the air damp, which worked very well, although it did make for a very warm environment, but thankfully all the mess was kept in the cellar. During this process, I found evidence of the old servant bell system that was installed when the house was built. I’d found some of the old wiring on a number of occasions, I didn’t know what they were for, but I knew they weren’t big enough for any sort of power or lighting. However, Shiela knows someone who lived next door when she was a child and she remembers the bell system quite clearly. We actually remember her mum, as she still lived next door when we moved in here, 39 years ago. During the ceiling work, a few old items were revealed, an empty a 5 pack of Players Navy  Cut and an old newspaper. The Daily Herald dated 1 July 1935, I suspect that was when the house was wired up first time round, as when originally built it had gas lighting throughout the house. I found most of the old pipework still in place when I retired the house some time ago. 

 

After tea tonight, I raised a glass and made a toast to Mal. 

 

Goodnight all 

[newbryford]

34 minutes ago, pH said:

 

"BUDDY" appears to be available!

 

As does RMWEB, RMWEBER and RMWEBUS....

[newbryford]

1 minute ago, BSW01 said:

During this process, I found evidence of the old servant bell system that was installed when the house was built. I’d found some of the old wiring on a number of occasions, I didn’t know what they were for, but I knew they weren’t big enough for any sort of power or lighting. However, Shiela knows someone who lived next door when she was a child and she remembers the bell system quite clearly.

 

 

I bet you daren't reinstall the servant bell to inform Sheila that you want a muggertea.......

[BSW01]

1 minute ago, newbryford said:

 

I bet you daren't reinstall the servant bell to inform Sheila that you want a muggertea.......

Damned right, I ain’t that stupid!

[AndyID]

3 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

As does RMWEB, RMWEBER and RMWEBUS....

 

Thanks!

 

I suppose I could go with "ED4ZHLS" again. I had that in California, but the Fiat isn't exactly ideal for getting to the ski slopes. Actually it's practically useless for carrying anything. The boot can manage one carry-on size bag.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[TheQ]

As a former Tesco maintenance man In a very busy store, I noted at least once a month, some one of ancient years or occasionally a harrassed mother would take out a several cars... 

 

One thing about engine braking is that many modern cars with fuel injection fuel is cut off totally till engine speed matches throttle demand. So using engine braking saves fuel... However on ancient engines like my landrover it uses more fuel.

So I use two totally different deceleration techniques depending on vehicle I'm driving.  Coasting to a stop in the landrover,  engine breaking in the car. 

 

 

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

33 minutes ago, TheQ said:

 

So I use two totally different deceleration techniques depending on vehicle I'm driving.  Coasting to a stop in the landrover,  engine breaking in the car. 

 

I 'm sure you don't  really coast in the Landrover, as the meaning of coasting is to either depress the clutch or select neutral at speed and free wheel.  Braking and road holding can be seriously effected.

 

I would like to see you engine breaking in the car!  Mallet or lump hammer?

 

As an aside,  my presence here  is not Early rising, it is middle of the night rising.

 

A civilised start to the day only begins when the hour hand reaches double figures.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

For several reasons, yesterday was fraught.  It began with the discovery of a note on my windscreen from Mrs Electric-Chair, left because I had parked across her gateway.  Later she apologised for not having recognised the car.  By then I had discovered the bulge in the wall of the driver's side front tyre.  This called for immediate action, principally unloading the toolkit and makings of lunch before phoning the dealership.  Yes, they had a suitable tyre, at a price of course.  There followed a cautious journey across town, an unproductive time in the customer waiting area and the discovery that I didn't know how to answer my mobile phone when it rang - or, for that matter, how to switch it off when I didn't want it pinging at me.  By 10 am the dodgy tyre had been replaced, my credit card charged and the car washed to remove the grime - weathering, camouflage, call it what you will.  I wonder whether Mrs E-C will recognise it now? 

 

I got to Poorly Pal's place a creditable 30 minutes late.  He has a rotten cold and my sympathy.  I didn't do a lot of m*d*ll*ng bcause I could not get the top  off the bottle of superglue.  The contents are still liquid and can be heard sloshing around inside.  How tantalising.  I wonder if the ironmonger where I bought it has a suitable tool for removing lids from superglue bottles?  Only one way to find out ...

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a nice bright morning in this part of the world.

 

Now, it's time for coffee!  Have a good one everybody...

[AndyID]

42 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I 'm sure you don't  really coast in the Landrover, as the meaning of coasting is to either depress the clutch or select neutral at speed and free wheel.  Braking and road holding can be seriously effected.

 

 

I suspect by "coasting" he means he's in no hurry to change down.

 

Older automatics with a torque converter put you in "free-wheel" mode as soon as you took your foot off the accelerator. If engine revs drop to idle speed, you are in free-wheel. Torque converters are a bit unidirectional, but these days a lot of transmissions do have a bypass clutch that locks the torque converter's inputs and outputs together to prevent slip and improve fuel economy.

[TheQ]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I 'm sure you don't  really coast in the Landrover, as the meaning of coasting is to either depress the clutch or select neutral at speed and free wheel.  Braking and road holding can be seriously effected.

 

Actually I do, If I see a set of lights change to red ahead while at 30MPH , I'll push in the clutch and coast under braking only to a halt. Pushing in the clutch at 30MPH in a 1.5 ton Landrover in no way will affect the handling and the braking is improved as the engine is not fighting the braking.. 

I'm never near the handling limits in any car, let alone a 35 + year old landrover 1.5 ton 110  on tarmac.. driving on Ice/snow/mud/ gravel or extremely wet conditions is of course different..

There was a manual SAAB many years ago with a free wheel clutch on a manual gearbox, this and the above mentioned fact of the older Autoboxes going into free wheel always contradicted the old advice never not to be in a gear.

 

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

A better nights sleep in three pieces, initially helped by a touch of Amber liquid..

 

Ben was happy this morning charging around in the frost.

It's extremely sunny this morning, and the wildlife must have been up early as there wasn't much around on the way in.

 

As for the Chinese system, it looks lke one of the bits of test equipment developed a strange fault just before I left. The boss was left analysing the results.

I finally got the new product system on the first part of it's cross check, because it's new we are having to run the cross check twice, once brfore the correction file change and once after to compare and see if there are any significant changes..

Meanwhile I have 7 Current Shunts from the USA to measure, just the highest 2 left to do 20A and 100A, that Will keep me going until the boss comes in and says what his opinion is on the above..

 

Time too.. check for company spam..

 

Oh according to the spam I was supposed to attend a meeting at 21:00 last night...  at where those shunts came from..

 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by TheQ

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Off to moreasons after a mugatea.

Had a great few days in Jersey with friends. 

I hope all went well for Gabe yesterday.

 

I have a busy day in front of me so TTFN

Baz

[tigerburnie]

Morning, earlier start, cars in for it's annual service, it's first trip to my proper mechanic as the warranty has now ended 63000 miles in 4 years, don't have to use the distinctly dodgy dealership who sold me the car any more(they couldn't fit the tow bar for me, no one knew how would you believe), wish my bank balance luck lol.

[jamie92208]

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone 

 

My visit to the big orange DIY shed was uneventful, but  did manage to get the paint I wanted. Then it was back home for muggertea No2 before starting work in the cellar, where more progress has been made. I’ve now done about 80% of the walls and I’ve even made a start on pulling down part of the ceiling. As the house is over 100 years old, that had the potential to be a very dirty and dusty job, so to keep the dust to a minimum I used a steam wallpaper stripper to make the air damp, which worked very well, although it did make for a very warm environment, but thankfully all the mess was kept in the cellar. During this process, I found evidence of the old servant bell system that was installed when the house was built. I’d found some of the old wiring on a number of occasions, I didn’t know what they were for, but I knew they weren’t big enough for any sort of power or lighting. However, Shiela knows someone who lived next door when she was a child and she remembers the bell system quite clearly. We actually remember her mum, as she still lived next door when we moved in here, 39 years ago. During the ceiling work, a few old items were revealed, an empty a 5 pack of Players Navy  Cut and an old newspaper. The Daily Herald dated 1 July 1935, I suspect that was when the house was wired up first time round, as when originally built it had gas lighting throughout the house. I found most of the old pipework still in place when I retired the house some time ago. 

 

After tea tonight, I raised a glass and made a toast to Mal. 

 

Goodnight all 

The house we moved into near Settle in the late 50's had been built sometime in the mid 30's.   It had blanked off gas outlets next to each electric ceiling rose as well as a mix of 5 amp and 15 amp round pin sockets.  IIt was a constant source of frustration when you had a 5 amp plug on something and only a 15 amp socket .    When we end up with the wrong combination of French and English sockets it reminds me of those times.

 

 When we had an extension built some years later the house was re-wired with 13 amp sockets and the sparky's discovered that the whole gas distribution system was still live.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the Charente.   A good day was had yesterday.   In the morning various stacks of wood were reduced to burnable lengths.  As the weather warms up hopefully we won't need any more till the late autumn.   I then restarted work on my new workbench.  By the end of the day a complete Mortice had been done, only 4 more to cut, then 6 tenons.   I enjoyed the work and the result.

 

Today I have to wait I for a delivery of I know not what, but it isn't due till after lunch.   I will therefore head to the shed and pick up the mallet and chisel again. 

 

I raised a glass of some amber nectar in memory of Mal last night.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

Bits of old posts in this box again.

 

My High-and-dry i30 has a 6 speed torque converter auto that does clever things in engine braking, it doesn't just release into freewheel mode.  I presume its all computer controlled, you can feel it change down as you slow, and then release when speed is very low.  It also locks up in top at 50 unless you're accelerating, which gives pretty good economy for a diseasel auto - 47 mpg.  Mrs NHN has a manual 1.6 Diesel Picasso C3 in which she is training to do the IAM test (big day next month) so driving to 'system' now.  This has reduced economy by 5mpg, from 60 to 55 due to barrelling up to speed signs then braking harder and changing down two rather than allowing speed to decay without braking hard etc.