Stuff you have made today

[Munkul]

I love that statement "it doesn't measure anything - it just goes to a reassuring position when the engine is running"

I'm sure that most modern coolant temperature gauges do something like this... the needle never moves but you can see the temp fluctuating quite a bit with diagnostics.

 

[Misterg]

If you replace the MX5 switch with an oil pressure sender off a Eunos, the gauge will work. The gauges are the same, just the switches are different. It is on the mk1’s

No, the gauges are different too - the swap needs both the gauge and the sender from a pre'94(?) MK1. I did look at modifying the later gauge to work with a pressure sender, but it gets quite messy - the gauge is full of very heavy damping oil and takes several seconds to move. I quite fancy the option of being able to display other things there too. ([cough] Boost [/cough] )

That just seems to be a claim waiting to happen, to me. "Well, of course I was monitoring the oil pressure gauge, but my engine still exploded". I'm even more surprised a Japanese manufacturer would be doing something like that.

The MK3s are even worse:

"The oil pressure gauge display is based on an algorithm in the PCU and is based on engine revs and coolant temperature. It does not represent the actual oil pressure in the engine unless there is no pressure at all but by then it’s probably too late anyway."

I'm sure that most modern coolant temperature gauges do something like this... the needle never moves but you can see the temp fluctuating quite a bit with diagnostics

The temperature gauge on the MX5 certainly does that - it's got a 'dead spot' in the middle, so that the needle rises up quickly, and then doesn't move much until it's about to boil. (There's a fairly simple mod to change this though). The gauge on my Relay van does the same thing, but I think that's under ECU control.

 

[dobbslc]

My Surf is like this, the dash gauge will quickly go to just under the middle and just sit there, meanwhile my digital temp gauge is reading much lower for the first few minutes when warming up then rises to about 84° untill you hit a long uphill section and it'll go up to about 99° , the dash gauge never moves.

 

[droopsnoot]

^ Same on my TT - 90 degrees on the display equates to anywhere between about 82 and 98 when shown on the diagnostic. So if it does start to go up, the gauges does nothing until it alarmingly races for the top.

But when my seventies Vauxhall goes to the centre and stays there, I think there's something wrong with it and don't trust it.

 

[bricol]

MY old shape Renault 5 avoided all this guage trouble by not having one . . . when the fan belt fell off in central London back when I working there in 1991 ish, I couldn't work out what all the funning noises coming from the front were, or the sudden random shaking of the car in traffic . . .

I hadn't noticed the little red light come on in the dash . . . the coolant was boiling merrily. Parked it, walked into the shopping areas for a time, wandered back, drove it back to digs in Peckham. Strong engine!

 

[dobbslc]

Mine did the same. 1.1 engine?
I tried fitting a temporary adjustable belt but it kept falling off so I drove it home slowly without any trouble!
Rust and a slipping clutch killed that car in the end

 

[Kram]

Started on two more spliced cambium savers, length of 2.5m and 1m but adjustable with the prusik ring I previously made. Using 1/2" climbing rope. I left the CE serial number ID tag on it, may see if I can get it past loler. My opinion is that splicing should be considered the same as tying a knot!

 

[Seadog]

Today I made someone unhappy
Yesterday he brought round his father's BT test meter so that I could show him how to use it.
It's a Robin SA9083 line tester, but still has other useful functions. In really mint condition, with a perfect case.

The first thing was to take back of. Surprise, surprise a grotty Everready PP3 that was rusted to buggery. The battery connector was broken, but not enough to stop a replacement battery going in. Things looked good, the LED lit up as it should, but impossible to get a deflection.
Today I took it apart. Oh dear, that doesn't look good

Blackened tracks and, when tested, a burnt out movement.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Mostly , the central drum adaptor for the sand muller, which was cast in LM.4 aluminium alloy today.
Will probably machine it up tomorrow even though it is slightly defective as a casting , but should serve perfectly well enough for what it has to do.....

 

[Memmeddu]

Today should have been a day off but once I went in my little lab and discovered the freshly blued parte completely covered in rust.
So cleaned and blued them back...
Time to go to the kitchen for a water glass came back and they were rusted out again.
Lost the motivation I've left everything where it was, turned off the lights and just delayed the assembly for tomorrow.
I think I'll just paint the parts

 

[Memmeddu]

Not even paint would stick on the thing.
I'm seriously furious

 

[nickk]

Not actually today,finished in march,first opportunity to go back and photograph,galvanised,then etched before a satin finish. Customer plans on fitting wood capping to the handrails.

 

[Munkul]

New-to-me lorch micorstick, and as usual no one stumped up for the carry handle when they bought it new. I've bought the proper ones in the past but it gets old paying near 30 quid inc postage each time. So i made my own... Mk1 which was ok, then mk2 which is much snugger and takes a carry strap which is very useful.
One for me, and one for the micortig at work.

 

[Hitch]

To go with all the cones I've been doing the last week...
Formed up a load of these conical door stiffener frames and cover plates.
Tapered and different rads top and bottom. Door 6mm, frames 8mm.

 

[Red'n'Black]

MY old shape Renault 5 avoided all this guage trouble by not having one . . . when the fan belt fell off in central London back when I working there in 1991 ish, I couldn't work out what all the funning noises coming from the front were, or the sudden random shaking of the car in traffic . . .

I hadn't noticed the little red light come on in the dash . . . the coolant was boiling merrily. Parked it, walked into the shopping areas for a time, wandered back, drove it back to digs in Peckham. Strong engine!

I had two of those, a 1.1 and later a 1.7. That was a hoot, 90 BHP and weighed not much more than a Mini.

My last proper 'analogue' car, that one had a proper temperature gauge. Boot it up a steep hill in 3rd and the gauge would climb a bit, back off and it would come back down. I found it reassuring, it told me the various bits of the cooling system were doing their job. Why you would want a gauge to tell you porkies, I can't fathom. But software makes these 'features' almost free, so they're in everything nowadays. The boost gauge in my SAAB 9-3 was the same, it was there to look pretty rather than tell you anything useful.

 

[bricol]

Boost gauge in my 91 Lancia works well - when the passenger asks what's it for - left foot brake, right foot down, wait for the gauge to rise to max, take left foot off brake . . . passenger stops asking silly questions.

Petrol gauge used to visibly go down at such moments . . . and over bumps, around corners Rather under-damped.

20 yrs ago it used to go from full to light on in less than a week . . . either I drive slower , petrol is better, or the gauge is stiffer as it now takes two weeks of commuting instead

 

[Hitch]

Installed these shelves today, just before they get new carpets.

This is the third shelving project for this couple now.

Nothing fancy, just something that looks reasonable but won't break the bank as its only a guest room.

 

[Kram]

One missing

 

[Kram]

View attachment 471711

Filled up two green bins, so most of it is gone. A stump grinder would bebuseful but instead I have a few sacrificial chainsaw chains and a pickaxe.
View attachment 471712

Chainsaw, circ saw and sharpened pickaxe, I have been attacking the bayleaf stump today. Pic was a while ago and its now below the soil level, but took far too much effort!

There was a steel wire amongst it. Blunted one cheap chain and possibly the circ saw disc but its only a cheap one.

 

[Turbo]

View attachment 472060

Chainsaw, circ saw and sharpened pickaxe, I have been attacking the bayleaf stump today. Pic was a while ago and its now below the soil level, but took far too much effort!

There was a steel wire amongst it. Blunted one cheap chain and possibly the circ saw disc but its only a cheap one.

Cordless reciprocating saw is great for hacking out stumps.