I would just like to say

kevstar said:

I got it to put in centre of my wooden ships wheel.... so Mr Water vapor.. yes I can look out the window & see its raining
but I want a working one...

BWT ive got a FREE DIESEL GENERATOR TO PICK UP....from the Chimney sweep n eye paid 60 quid for my sweep cause I know her.

Click to expand...

DanClarke said:

Morning All.
Oh Gosh Monday again!
Bad news on the Mini front. It seems she's got a 40-a-day habit.
People following behind me yesterday reported that when giving it some beans and then coming off the throttle there were clouds of smoke. I cannot see them from inside the car at all, so I need to investigate rings and valve stem seals.
We are having to redouble our efforts to repel boarders get ready for three permanent house-guests.
The boy has a buyer for his house and it looks like it will be a pretty short exchange-to-completion cycle.
While we love them all dearly, this is going to be a hard time for us 'old-uns, but needs must.
Have a great day!

Click to expand...

Stanleysteamer said:

We buy barometers every now and then in mixed lots from auctions and sometimes because we like the look of them.
Of all the ones we have, about 5, only one works. And we took one that we really like to a specialist to fix, he charged us £100 and still didn't fix it!! Grrrr!
You can buy cheap ones that work and take the guts out of them to put into your one, but they are a bit fiddly though.
I have yet to do this with the one I mentioned.

Lucky you yet again with the genny. Diesel? Big is it? Noisy it it? working is it?

Click to expand...

Hippo said:

Worrappens if the ferrys around scotland breakdown whilst at sea. If they can't fix themselfs do they gerra tow home?

Click to expand...

Stanleysteamer said:

Just to be sure that it is blue smoke, and nowt else like white smoke?
I bought a special tool to change the valve stem oil seals without being forced to take the head off or risk springs, collets etc flying around.
I'll have a search for a pic of one for you.

As for the lodgers, hope things go as smootly as poss for you all.

Click to expand...

DanClarke said:

A compression tester will arrive today, courtesy of amazon, and I have one of those top down compressor tools to remove the collets so you can take the spring off. It's the "Rope through the plug hole" trick to stop the valves falling down.
It is this one:
View attachment 347415

Click to expand...

Stanleysteamer said:

That should do it, similar to the one I have been trying to find a pic of for the past, how long?
If you turn the engine so the piston is at the top you won't need to worry about the valve falling down into the cylinder!!
It'll drop, but not by far!!

Click to expand...

Brown said:

It's worth checking the Caledonian MacBrayne website updates for service disruptions. This seems to be the company that covers most of the major routes. There's usually something wrong with them.

They may be doing better now, but a few years ago they had a habit of running their ships aground on particularly sharp and pointy rocks, which didn't do much for service reliability. I've no idea if this is true, but an acquaintance in Aberdeen opined in a broad Scots accent that they employed skippers who couldn't get jobs elsewhere on account of their poor accident record.

Click to expand...