Kickstart

It just sits on a taper. But had probably sat there too long, or had been tightened way too tight. However, does appear to be a fairly common issue on the XT500. All the best Katy

The old flywheel is now nomore! Think some fiddling with the carb is probably in order. The timing is now within a few degrees, but hard to see exactly (need to do the final tweaks in a darker environment!). It does have a decompressor, and when I have started it it has been keep that pulled, get the white line in the cam timing window, then take a full swing - it hasn't launched me yet and only one bruise on the back of my calf. It has been suggested that it is kicked over a few times with the decompressor pulled to get a bit of fuel in before trying to start it. All the best Katy

Wondered why these were all out of service, then notice that today the airline has gone into bankruptcy, seemingly due to a lot of engine problems:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65465542 All the best Katy

The pullers were the type that screw into the flywheel, then a bolt screws into this and pushes on the end of the crank. The flywheel was on so tightly that is even heat, etc, it stripped the thread on the bolt of the puller. This is a Rex's Speed Shop unit as well. We have rewired it with a loom, using 4 fuses, and swapped the headlight to an LED unit (and LED indicators). Owner bought it to do some distance classic trials , hence seeing where she is going is rather important! I have got it running, but it is a pig to start (some of which is no doubt my lack of technique). I have had it running and the timing is close, but can't get it running consistently enough to fine tune the timing. The bike has no airbox and a K&N type filter, so possible that jetting needs a tweak. All the best Katy

I have a friends XT500 in the garage at the moment as we have done a 12v conversion, made a new loom and fitted electronic ignition. And timing it up is a nightmare! Not helped by the original flywheel being a pain to get off (2 broken flywheel pullers - then the extreme measure of cutting the flywheel off!) Any advice on getting the timing right gladly received! All the best Katy

Remember it is the law that if there is another MX5 you must park beside it! As an aside, there is a Youtube channel called "rusty beauties", which is mainly old Triumph cars. But he and his some are doing some major work on a mk1 MX5 bought for his son to learn to drive in (in Canada). All the best Katy

Hiya I bought a Dapol O gauge flying banana at Kettering. I have finally had a chance to give it a run. Running on DC, it runs very smoothly. However it runs quite slowly (might be quicker without the lighting), taking roughly 2 seconds to travel the length of a coach - think that works out at very roughly a scale speed of 20~25mph. Fine for most layouts. Happy with it, and at some point it will get a DCC chip fitted. I have uploaded a video on Youtube of it running:- All the best Katy

They do rust badly. The NB like that seems worse than the older NA. On Youtube have a look at Yorkshire Car Restorations, which will show you the areas they rust in. That one does look in good condition. Engines are tough, and are safe if and when the cam belt snaps. My brother killed one of his when the alternator belt snapped - the charging light came on and he ignored it thinking he could drive a bit longer not realising that the water pump was also not working! Frankly, at £600 it is worth the money even if it is a rust bucket! All the best Katy

Hiya FZR now MOTed. Headlight dip beam and sidelight then decided not to work. Sidelight turned out to be aging terminals in the connector to the bulb (replaced the terminals). Bulb was an odd one - bulb looked fine but no circuit in it for the low beam filament. New bulb instantly fixed it. All the best Katy

I used to like PB, but at some point in the mid 1990s it seemed to become more proud of how many bikes they could crash. It did improve again, but never really to the same level. PSB took up a lot of what it missed. Unfortunately we now seem to be left with a few classic bike magazines, Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, Bike (which seems to have become "adventure bikes are us") and Ride (basically reviews). Classic Motorcycke Mechanics is the best of what it left. Not surprised younger riders are pushed away. Current test system is a nightmare, and too many of the available learner bikes are either hideously expensive (a YZFR125 is £5300), or quick rot cheapies. Further, bike theft seems to have become regular again. One friends bike had about a dozen attempts made on it, and only a few weeks back a friends bike was stolen from a supposedly secure car park in Nottingham (only news on it after that was them getting a ticket when the theives rode it down a bus lane). All the best Katy

Hasn't been in Bike magazine for quite a few years. Unfortunately Practical Sports Bikes, one of the few magazines left that covered actual spannering, has just stopped publication. All the best Katy

The FZR600 is now mostly together. Rear caliper fitted and bled through. Replaced the speedo cable as it snapped when I touched it changing the speedo bulbs. Changed the rear brake light switch as it decided to stick. It is being recalcitrant about starting. Almost started but battery had not enough charge left. All the best Katy

It was 8 years ago, but from other reports it was hardly hidden away as he was known to drive it around locally. All the best Katy

Especially on bikes like this where the plug holes are buried between the cams, and you need to unbolt the radiator to get to them! aLL THE BEST kATY

Hiya Still slow progress on the FZR600. Mostly done. Rear caliper is currently soaking in acetone to degrease it prior to cerakoting it. Then it can be reassembled and put on the bike. However the engine is being a big of a pig. I have had to take the plugs out, get them clean and hot with a blow torch and put them back in to get it running, and even then once running I would strugle to keep it running. I think I have found the major issue. When I rebuilt the carbs I replaced the pilot jets with those from the rebuild kit (the originals are a pain to get out, and easily damaged when doing so). I took the float bowls off on Saturday to check the jets, and took out the new pilot jets. On inspection they appear to be significantly larger than the original ones. Which probably explains why it was running horendously rich at idle. Swapped them out for some from a spark bank of carbs and had it idling OK, and balanced the carbs. I briefly started it on Sunday morning without a problem. But think I have flooded it again (as I couldn't get it to start later yesterday). Either way, it is getting there All the best Katy

Taking a different approach to the answer, I expect it would have resulted in a lot of conspiracy theories still being generated to this day. Depending on how the position of the sinking could be identified, not sure how many bodies or how much wreckage would have been found and identified. All the best Katy

Possibly true, but an extra ship to get out of the Baltic. And flying operations would probably have drawn attention to their location. All the best Katy

I am not sure on Graf Zeppelin. In theory yes it could have been a major thorn, but it would also have had the problem all the large German surface fleet had, getting out to the Atlantic. Added to that a single aircraft carrier without a group to protect it would likely not survive long Further, given the BF109s rather pilot unfriendly behavior on take off and landing, not sure it would have been a good choice for an aircraft carrier. One extra issue is that Germany had pretty much zero experience of operating an aircraft carrier. It would likely have taken them time to build up the experience to use it effectively. All the best Katy

I had to look up free surface effect (as not a term that was particularly self explanatory to me). But seems to reflect what could also happen for tank locos. Don't think it was that uncommon on WW1 trench supply railways where the trackwork could be very rough. Not unknown for a loco to stop listing to one side, and then given a bit of time the high tank drained into the tank on the lower side, and the loco toppled over All the best Katy

Hiya Suspect it might be related to not understanding the phrase. Maybe "Repeat For" something? Was it 100% "T" or could it have been "C" for Confirmation? Very much guessing though. All the best Katy

Sometimes the idea that "politicians are like nappies, and should be changed often for the same reason" has a lot of merit. All the best Katy

Leopard is a very different concept of tank to the Challanger 2. Comparatively lightly armoured and meant to at least partly rely on speed for protection. Hence managing about 45mph vs the 37mph of the Challenger 2. How good is difficult to know. When designed the Challenger 2 armour was massively better than the Leopard 2 (and the earlier variants used by Turkey have done very badly - even if much of that is poor deployment), but exact figures are still fairly secret. The Leopard 2 armour has been upgraded, but again, by how much is another question. Challanger 2 has been hit by and shrugged off fire from MBT main guns (possibly embarrasingly, from another Challenger 2). However whether this carries over to hits from above from modern anti tank guided weapons I have no idea. Main gun wise, it will depend on your target. For tank vs tank engagements either are easily able to knock out a T72 or older. Challenger 2 possibly better with high explosive against fortifications, but in an offensive operation you would hope most of that would have been targetted any neutralised by artillary. As an aside, UK had ~400 Challenger 2 tanks, and has already reduced to ~250 in service, with plans to further reduce that to ~150. This suggests that there are already ~150 in store / being used as a spare parts source. All the best Katy

Not sure relates to the Hunter going under a bridge. As to the tanks, the UK is withdrawing ~1/3 of its Challanger 2 fleet. The remainder are getting a major upgrade, including switching to the smoothbore gun used by the Leopard 2, etc. Not sure when the UK last produced any ammunition for the current refled barreled guns. Suspect we are effectively intending to break the 1/3 for spare parts Personally don't think we should be reducing our forces even more. But we are far from alone in doing so. All the best Katy

For defence you need forces able to do the job in case of war, which is pretty much always going to be way more than the rest of the time. No different to an insurance policy All the best Katy

Yes the D520 wasn't available in sufficient numbers. The Mk1 Hurricane was capable of 324mph, but that was using the later propeller rather than the early 2 blade Watts propeller, and 12lbs of boost, so Battle Of Britain performance (lower octane fuel allowing only 6lbs of boost dropped it by ~7mph). Presume ~300mph top speed would be with the 2 blade fixed pitch propeller. For comparison the BF109D which had been in production until 1939 and was still in use during the invasion of Poland was managed around 300mph (roughly the same as a Bolton Paul Defiant Mk1) Both possibly show how critical the timing was on the start and progress of hostilities All the best Katy