The Vusky. Clutch , Bumped up the buttock

[moose]

I really wouldn't even let the comments register in your head Dave. It would be like me commenting that I do not like your dining room carpet it is non of my business and it was chosen by you as you like it and that is all that matters. I have told this tale on here before, but when I took FFG to Gaydon for the HRCR open day the first person who talked to me about the car looked it all over for 20 mins asking me what was what and why I had done certain things and his his comment of it was not a proper works car was met with "it was never meant to be, just I liked the works colour of Oxford blue and the car was all my own work and period legal for historic rallying" He replied it is the wrong shade of blue!!! I walked away as it annoyed me and was taking the edge off the day. Not one comment came from him about any of it being neat, smart, tidy well done etc. I drained down on my mate who just said get a grip do not let it ruin the day, guy is obviously a ........... and I though yep why did I let that get to me and dismissed it. The car also received loads of good attention and went on to prove itself by winning its class on every event and one event outright and the North of England Historic Championship that year without a spanner touching it, so who gives f$%k if the colour is shade off works Oxford blue certainly not me. You just have to feel sorry for these people that their lives are so sad and empty that that is the best their day off is going to get by walking round and looking at other peoples efforts and being negative. Negativity is infectious and bad for you, so surround yourself with positive people and appreciate what you have and look at what you have achieved with your vehicles over the years. I personally think they are perfect examples of what imp ownership is about, you use them and tinker to make yourself happy, yes they sometimes test our patience but every hobby does that you cannot appreciate the good times with anything until you have experienced less good times. They are not bad times but opportunities to learn, improve skills and develop things.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Yet more abject bodgery .
This time the three way bleed valve is still playing up on Barnaby .
So its not leaking past the main thread anymore , the valve itself is instead ---- and I aint got another one
Still lateral thing cap on I remembered ive got a few brass adaptor doodahs .
One has the perfect tapered thread that screws into the three way valve doodab and the internal thread on tother end is the exact same as a brake bleed valve .
So this is the result - thus far zero leakage and it does bleed exactly as before .
Time will tell if its a leak free bodge up but thus far its more gooder
PS expansion overflow is in fact a drinks bottle

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Pratting about yet again .
For a good while Ive wanted a way of opening Barnabys tailgate from the inside , used to sleep in it ages ago so getting out without opening the tailgate was shall we say tricky .
Plus would be handy in case of an emergency .
Anyhoo the 5/16 bar on the lock is way too short to add an internal handle - talking of which said handle would need to be slimline and almost out of the way in case i shoved a large load in it .
Well after much faffing ive done it
Replaced the factory bar with some brass 5/16 - on one end it was turned down to 6.35mm meaning I could cut a 1/4 UNF thread on one end . Bar was fitted to the existing lock the same way as factory - that is a 2.5mm hole and a roll pin .
Bit of a stepped spacer was made for said handle . A tiny bit of end float was required for this so the lock doesnt go stiff when the nuts tightened . Handle is a brake adjuster cut down .

[bazzateer]

Neat and tidy ☺

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Added a 12V supply in the back of Barnaby , its just an old Cigarette lighter socket .
Its fused of course as the supply is off the brake light fuse .
Not wanting to bore holes in the steel I fitted it to my home made side trim panels .
Chrome surround is an old door handle escutcheon just to space it slightly forward as a total failsafe for the live in wire .

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

So there was a few comments on facebook re. my cig lighter socket being a problem re. blowing fuses / not wiring it off the brake light circuit etc.
Anyhoo its never the socket that causes the issue but the utterly crap accessory plugs you get . Often with tricky solder on connections and an end cap which holds it altother that eventually works loose and blows stuff up.
Well I got two of these today , designed in Germany ( although still made in China ) these , by design wil never fall apart unless the do it yourself , they are fused ( at 16A ) although thats changeable and are really well made .
So if you are plugging random stuff in your cig lighter I recommend these .
Top stuff .
Available from Amazon at around £8 a pop

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Insurance renewal done .
Upped the agreed valuation on both .
Barnaby is now 10K , Singers is 12K .
Guess thats about right for a replacement valuation

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Well thats not great - Barnabys feeling deflated
And - No tyre fitters available til Monday

[bazzateer]

Classic symptom of rabies there Dave!

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Sorted the top steering column bush .
First step was to adjust the columns so the inner sat central in the outer without the bush fitted , so often ive seen these all out of whack .
Used a phosfer bronze bush that I turned down on one side with a step . this was interference fit in the outer column and needed tapping in , this was soaked in oil all day .
To stop it moving or coming out i fitted a tapered sleeve , this was tapped over the outer until the taper jams on the outer bush totally preventing it from coming out . A simple self tapper stops this moving although again its interference fit on the outer .
All Topped off with a felt pad for adding oil when needed , theres slight play but only to allow for the column just in case the inners slightly out of true .
After fitting it I removed it again to test if it comes apart easy which it does
And the end result after a test drive.
Feels like ive fitted power steering , hyper light , responsive , almost zero play , in fact its feeking brilliant

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Feek me im getting carried away wiv maintenance on Barnaby .
Greased the kingpins ( fitted a pair of NOS complete stub axle assemblies last August ) .
Adjusted the brakes .
Greased and cleaned the gearlinkage bushes .
Poked stuff ive chosen to ignore for now .
Even checked the oil
Recon i need help ?? , Oh hang on im fine as ive not resorted to washing or polishing it - sanity is still present

[Uncle Henry]

You're wicked to that there Vusky. I'm surprised he doesn't play up !

UH

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

In more shock news worthy of CNN Ive done yet more maintenance on Barnaby .
I recon ive actually given it a service ( except an oil change which is coming ) .
Anyhoo first off I got the OSR valve stem changed , very cracked and " deflation imminent " looking
Secondly ive actually cleaned and re-oiled the K & N filters on it , not been done eva since i fitted em , maybe 8 years ago - ish ( il try and check this ) .
So ive stopped air getting oot and helped air get in
EDIT - Fitted March 2013 so 10 years

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Final part of Barnabys service achieved .
Changed the oil and filter this morning ( Valvoline 20/50 VR1 )
Then a 45 mile blat to Forde Abbey and back .
Ambient temp 25˚C
Max engine temp 74˚C
Oil pieces - 53 PSI at anything above 3000RPM ( at said 74˚C )
Tick over pressure 28 PSI
Hes a happy bunny

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Forgot to mention i changed the brake and clutch fluid as well as the oil on Barnaby yesterday .
YES , Synthetic is possibly better however theres no way in a Monkeys wonderland that im replacing a complete working system so i can put in synthetic to get - well exactly what ive not now - ie. working brakes .
Sod that --- dont even go there

[The Nun]

You need a "Only use genuine Girling brake fluid" sticker putting on now too

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Oofdah , no break from doing brakes.
When i bled the rears on Barnaby i did notice the adjusters a long way in in a " no thread showing kind of long way "
Anyhoo as its probably a decade since i peered in there thought it best to scan my peepers over em.
Shoes were low but not rivet low however i decided to change em anyways - and seeing as the rear cylinders are a decade old I hoofed them muppets oot and change them as well .
Usual issue of twisting hard lines , Passenger side flair looked like it was making a bid for freedom so im glad i did have a look see .
Was going to change the flexis but they seem foine , no cracks and no " one way valve restriction " issue . Besides no doubt id be twisting more hard lines into a double bow knot so thought best to pretend i changed em instead
Im sure il get comments saying ive fitted the shoes inside out , upside down , put the fronts on the rears or generally just fecked up - well tough , its in and it works
All bled and a test drive proves I still have good brakes
PS I enjoyed doing the brakes on Barnaby and hated doing the Singers - weird and sad

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Back to faffing / improvements
The tabs that hold the wiring loom in place !!!!.
Pretty crap idea although I can see why the factory did it , mega cheap and easy .
However 60 years later a few of Barnabys have vanished - mostly busted by me after the rewire , plus after adding wires hither and tither they were too short to go around the new loom anyhoo.
Some have to stay as theres no other way i can see of doing it ( all of the ones under the tailgate lock end ) , however the rest could be replaced and got shot off with P clips so thats what ive done .
Moved the main battery feed and the loom with it lower so its away from the load area tongue hole doofer . I used M3 rivnuts ( nutserts ) as fixings .
So much safer than a jagged bit of bent metal " holding " it in place .

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Been bumped up the buttock , other driver did stop and paid me off with hard cash .
Anyhoo il try and beat it one so both rear lights face in the same direction then call it done

[The Nun]

Bumps often go a lot further than you think when you start to look into it closely, bet the creases gone right through to the headlight.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Oh cock.
Anyone got any bright ideas as to how to fix this mess .
Anyone want to give me a hand.
Anyone got an H bracket for sale .
Ironically the sides of said H bracket are solid so not keen on changing the whole thing .
Anyone got any enthusiasm coz i havent

[The Nun]

Probably easiest to now make it accessible from inside the boot, cut the arch and close it off from the underside, and plate from above inside i think the original is double skin there ? at least you will be welding where you can see what you're doing and in a downwards manner instead of upside down from beneath in the dark, tank has to come out anyway to be safe.

[John A Ross]

Dave

Its actually made in two halves but is honestly not worth changing just one bit. The rest will be stressed to bit s

Its a lot easier to cut out and change as one assembly

.