Stuff you have fixed today

[Onoff]

The washing machine! Nasty new Hotpoint thing. She'd put in about 10 reusable make up pads. F05 fault and it wasn't happy. Full of water and heavy as. Two pads were jamming the pump. Much easier with it raised up on some handy pfc. Easy to slip an old washing up bowl under and drain it with virtually no mess:

 

[Bobupndown]

Serviced my wife's mates car today. Unmistakable clunk from the front suspension driving it into the garage. Sure enough lower control arm bush hanging out of it. Luckily it was only 1130 and the local motor factors had the arm in stock. Could have bought the bush but for £50 so much easier to just throw a complete arm into it.

 

[Pete.]

The washing machine! Nasty new Hotpoint thing. She'd put in about 10 reusable make up pads. F05 fault and it wasn't happy. Full of water and heavy as. Two pads were jamming the pump. Much easier with it raised up on some handy pfc. Easy to slip an old washing up bowl under and drain it with virtually no mess:

View attachment 437337

View attachment 437338

We just threw out our 10kg Hotpoint inverter drive one, and switched over to Bosch. Been using Hotpoint for many years but this last one was the final straw. First the frame started cracking around the shock absorber mounts causing an annoying click each time the drum went round. I repaired that with some home-made doublers. Then it started messing about with the wash programs, timers all over the place. This was the second Hotpoint that had gone wrong at only a few years old whilst the older one in the outside shed I use for my work/bike gear is still going strong and must be 10-12 years old at least.

So yeah, Hortpoint have gone down hill of recent. Shame becaus eI like to stick with brands but this 10kg one was not cheap.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This Charcoal Silk Iron looked good.

The handle was glued on, a good glue.

The issue was the original threaded bars had broken. So I removed the remains and fitted new ones.

The finish on the handle was degrading

It was also badly stained.

All done. I have tried it out, it is not a bad thing.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This soot lamp was nice.
I have not been able to do a full restoration.
As the glass top is seized on.

The lean is clear here.
A new wick was fitted.

Before sooting.

After.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This was acquired, as a teaching aid.
The issues it had.
Loos head, shaft loos in the handle and a poor finish on the handle.

Make shift Vapor tank. This will remove any polish, wax, oil and dirt.

The handle was refitted to the handle and the blade was riveted over.

Fresh polish.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This razor is nice item.

WW1 Red Cross Issue.

Rust had sneaked in.
That was soon removed.

The box was saved, the blade was stropped up by a local Barbour.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Record 40 Plough plane.
Used and in need of some attention.

The paint was failing, so we removed it.

In bits.

Hot caustic soda will remove most paints.

Flash rust is quick to appear.

New paint.

 

[T5 TDI]

I had a mate with the 500cc version of that. It went like stink once you wound it up.
I have been toying with the idea of finding an old Yamaha AS3 125 twin to restore (like I had when I was 17) . I loved that little thing. Getting thin on the ground now and parts even more so.

 

[Robotstar5]

I had a mate with the 500cc version of that. It went like stink once you wound it up.
I have been toying with the idea of finding an old Yamaha AS3 125 twin to restore (like I had when I was 17) . I loved that little thing. Getting thin on the ground now and parts even more so.

My cousin had an AS or maybe YAS?, not sure which model, I took in the pic in the late 70's.

 

[Dcal]

Today I fixed the wipers on my Alfa 159.
The driver's side was juddering and on closer inspection I noticed the arm was hitting the bonnet.

I suspected the spindle was worn so I took the motor and linkage off for a look.
The bulkhead drains were blocked so there was a bit of a pond ecosystem going on.

Anyway the spindles and ball joints were pretty much perfect, however the plastic spindles are crimped into the linkage tubes and the drivers side had worked itself loose.
No problem though I, I'll just tighten the crimp but on the first squeeze I heard a crack and the plastic insert let go completely.

Oh bother said I, what to do.
New wiper linkages are almost £400 from Alfa, pattern parts and secondhand linkages are available, but I thought I'd have a go at repairing it (as you do)

I had a look in the scrap bin and found suitable material.
First job was to measure everything up then turn off the broken stub on the spindle.

Then turn some pipe to fit over the reduced spindle, a steel stub and replacement section of pipe for the linkage frame.
I then welded them together.

I cut off the damage section of the linkage frame and welded in a short section of pipe.

Tacked it up and had a trial fit.
It looked ok and I was doing to weld the stub into the pipe, but then I thought it might be useful to have some adjustment so made a clamp to hold the stub inside the tube.

After another trial fit I used Araldite to glue the spindle into the steel sleeve.

With the glue dry I was able to reinstall the linkage.
Slackening the clamp allows the spindle (and so the wiper arm and blade) to be rotated so that the wiper blade sits perpendicular to the screen.
Normally the wiper is just twisted to set the blade angle but with this I can make sure the wiper arm clears the bonnet as well.

With a bit of adjusting I've got the driver's side working perfectly, plenty of clearance and a good quiet wipe.
The passenger's side was always good so I'll call this a fix.
I still needs to paint the wiper arms and the linkage repairs but that can wait for a day or two.

A lot for work fixing a part that's available, however I do like fixing stuff and I'd say this is possibly an improvement.

 

[Dcal]

Another wee job over the weekend.
Mates transit was up for the test and needed some welding to the Passengers side sill.

I welded the driver's side last year and he said if he got another year out of it he would scrap it, but same story this year.

Not to worry, far less work required this time and I can see the same conversation happening again next year.

Inner sill was solid for a change.

I ground the worst of the rust off and gave it a lick of Galvafroid.

Then made up sill repair sections and welded them on.

The rear, side door corner was a bit more involved.

So just made up repair sections as required

Then just grind the lumpy bits off and gave it a couple of coats of off white epoxy primer with a brush.

It's not pretty but it will do the job and he did get another years MOT with no other faults.

No doubt this one will run and run. Expect another update this time next year.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

No doubt this one will run and run. Expect another update this time next year.

Present him with a bill, that'll nip that in the bud.....

 

[Dcal]

Present him with a bill, that'll nip that in the bud.....

Wouldn't dream of it.
He's an excellent mate and has done me far more favours than I will ever be able to return.

 

[qwakers]

racecar A/C stuff....



ive discovered i had a issue with the ac activation logic that i caused when i wired in my cars factory A/C in to be commanded on or off by my Link G4X Xtreme ecu. i had a relay swapping the ecu output from +ve switch to ground switch to match the logic on the car side to the switch logic in the link ecu (if you switch ground on the ecu then it reverts to ground when the ignition is off which would then turn the fans and A/C ON.) that relay fed both the ac clutch car side relay and the low speed relay for the fans. the unexpected issue is if the fans come on, it back feeds the A/C clutch and turns the A/C on. not good. so i now have two relays. both of them fed from the A/C on command from the ecu, but one goes to the low speed fan and the other to the A/C clutch. this way they have effective isolation and still are switched from their own sources.

that'll work.

the orange wire is A/C command on, the black (switches to brown halfway as i ran out of black wire, doh) is the ground feed and the green is the switched output.

and yes, that last paragraph was as much for me if i need to come back to it in the future as for you guys

 

[Keith 66]

Today i fixed my Arboga Mill/drill Its a U2508 & in good nick, Lately noticed that there is a bit too much play on the traverse & with a bit of milling to do it was time for adjustment. As ever everything covered in crud & filth so the table was lifted off & slideways stripped & cleaned.
Started lunchtime & got it mostly done & back together by this evening. Its a well built little machine but its achilles heel is little lubrication to the slideways.
Table back on tomorrow, I lifted it off ok but it was surprisingly heavy & im not chancing putting it back the same way, block & tackle it is to be on the safe side.

 

[Dozzer]

Most of yesterday afternoon and a bit of this morning repairing some of Henry Fords finest, very rusty 55 plate KA.
some one had already replace the sill but not left any drain holes!!!
Not my finest work, but will now pass an MOT.
@zx9 the welder is all yours when ever your ready.

 

[Migmac]

Today I have learnt how to splice ballistic nylon rope, it’s a doddle. It’s the old rope off my quad winch. I can join a break and make an eye. I can do wire ropes too, learnt that years ago whilst working forestry winches. It’s a bit more involved though

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

The Golf filler cap has been playing up recently. Buzzing when the car is unlocked. Time to change before it fails just at the wrong time.

It's accessed from the outside but the connector is only accessable from the inside behind all the trim and liners.

Rather than strip out all the trim in the boot, I just spliced in the new actuator. Job done in 10 mins as opposed to an hour.

 

[Gragson]

Garden stained glass ornament, mrs bought me it 15 years ago or more, done very well to hang in a steel frame through all the high winds we've had over the years - the last storm saw to it tho

Bit sentimental so a crack at fixing it.
The hanging wires had torn through the lead



Cleaned it up, not a lot of meat left, inserted some 3mm ID brass


Bloody fiddly, some good flux, built up thick leaded solder, linished off.
Hopefully live for another fair while.