Unkel Kunkel

Can you send a picture, Ian?

Rule No 1.= Rust always turns out to be more extensive than it first appears. I have tried a few things over the years: Hydrochloric acid ( still called muriatic acid by some) Cheapest source - brick cleaner. Effective. Cheap but nasty .Unpleasant to use.If you use it indoors its toxic and aggressive acid vapour will rust any of your tools within a 2 metre radius within a few hours - and make you cough and your eyes stream.Quickly flash rusts after use. Oxalic acid. Poisonous. Effective . Not easily available. Citric acid. Works both as acid and chelating agent. The cheapest way is to buy food grade citric acid in I kg bags via Ebay. Relatively non-toxic. Basis of Turtle Wax immersion rust remover. Disappointing. BUT... if it is kept warm- around 36-40 C.(a brewing immersion heater is good esp. if tweaked to run a bit hotter) The results can then be very impressive indeed. Every few hours, wire brush off the debris and reimurse The used solution is relatively non-toxic and can be poured away into drain or garden.. The iron citrate mixture is an effective moss killer on asphalt ( it stains concrete) After use coat with the metal with phosphoric acid to prevent flash rusting. Phosphoric acid Can be expensive ( ie Jenolite). Milk stone remover cheap but check as not always straight phosphoric acid these days. Machine Mart Rust Remover is Phosphoric acid.It seems to work as well as Jenolite at a fraction of the cost. Some lasting protection from the phosphate - use after other treatments to avoid flash rusting. Coca-Cola contains a tiny amount of phosphoric acid, but don’t waste your time- it will disappoint as a serious rust remover. Evaporust - Effective for immersion -but expensive. Probably a chelating agent such as EDTA.Advantages =Easy to use as probably the least toxic after citric acid.and can re-use for a few times. Molasses - a chelating agent -effective but takes many weeks by which time it smells and looks foul. Various vinegars -acetic acid.Can be effective - Depends on concentration. Coatings - Those ones that turn blue are tannic acid which forms a hard coating of tannate on iron.Can work very well - but only on superficial rust .The coating has to be well applied. Rule No. 2 = If in doubt, cut it out.

I suspect the choice of Al Zn alloys for the carb. body is more for ease of die casting rather than a choice based on its bearing characteristics. Considering the minimal lubrication, the lack of any seals, and the reciprocating half turn action, It is surprising these “bearings” function as long as they do.

Exactly as Graham C says.. Like the idea of a “Wagner” gun - stride into the garage brandishing the grease gun to the “Flight of the Valkyries” blasting forth ! Good greasings..

Paraffin and water was the method of cleaning bodywork in the earliest days of motoring when it was called “coachwork” (No, I am not that old.. ) and neat paraffin always seems to have been the thing for removing tar as it was cheap and not aggressive to the paint and gave a bit of a shine. Remember that thick wax that covered all new cars delivered to dealers? They used to remove it with paraffin. A very expensive “Tar remover “ I came across some years ago smelt suspiciously like paraffin to me.

Can you have too many vices? The best vices seem to be old, cheap and came from Sheffield. I have just given in to a another vice. I couldn’t refuse a free Record No 34. I already have a Record No 23 .It was my father’s and he got it second hand in the 1940s. It works just fine. It’s just like this one in a 1936 catalogue: They still make one (well it looks the same ) 49/- (shillings to you youngsters ) wasn’t cheap in 1936, but now ...... £370 - and more in some places! No wonder people buy the Chinese ones made out of cheese for a few quid..

The other year I separated “body from chassis” on a MkIV 1973 Spitfire. I know it had not been off before, so what was found was original: The whole of the underside was in body colour apart from attached components which where in black. It would seem that the chassis was sprayed black before being united with the body in primer and then both sprayed in body colour. The evidence for this is that parts of the chassis had had escaped the body colour spray (because it was up against body ) were found to be still in black; the corresponding part of the body covered by parts of the chassis were still in primer.

The filling process of most grease guns is primitive , fiddly, time consuming and extremely messy. Wanner has a floating plunger device that allows filling by pressing the body of the gun down over the hole in the plastic cover that sits on top of the grease in standard grease tub(1) Fills it in about a second -no mess(2) (1) (2)

If you like fascinating odd patents and inventions - (and If you have’t heard of him) I suggest looking up the inventions of Granville Bradshaw. The (flawed ) genius of aero engine, ABC cars and motorbikes. toroidal engines designs also 3 D television and security devices andeven lots of patents for slot machines.

Yes, they do seem to be around sometimes on EBay as you noted ,Steve. Useful yesterday recovering a 1/4” BSF bolt on something very old. They aren’t as ancient as I thought. Lawrence Edward Lamude got his patent in 1953. -Younger than me.

I can’t remember when I got this device - and it was ancient then. Just used it successfully and mention it here as a curio It does work surprisingly well I wish I had one in other than BSF which I don’t encounter too much these days. Can you get them in UNF / Metric or is it from a by- gone age ?

Agree re Wanner 315.Bought my original in late 60’s ,I think. More recently, got 2 others on Ebay (for different jobs ) for about 12 quid each. They are easy to fill and work perfectly; they don’t leak everywhere - even with oil.

I really am not knowledgable enough about mask specifications - or bold enough to say that a certain mask would provide adequate safety ,Mr Badwolf. Fresh air, outdoors is best.

Your right about the atomic number. Sorry to disappoint, but is nothing remotely clever, subtle or imaginative in my choice of the element. It has nothing to do with the colourful compounds of this transition metal or links to the Scadanavium goddess Vanadis aka Freyja and any Manx norse connections. Rather boring, really .My limited brain capacity was fully saturated at the time reading about early motor cars and car metallurgy relating to the French use of Vanadium , Delage cars and others, and the subsequent use of Vanadium steel by Henry Ford in his cars.It left no room for anything else to “spring “ to mind. Further reading went on to the other elements used in steel production and the mysterious cloak and dagger WW1 story of how element Mo atomic No 42 came into use in steel alloys in the Great War. (I could have used that -but it is more difficult to spell) Best Wishes, - I also answer to Andrew

Brake fluid only works well as a paint remover where you don’t want it to! The “ Good Old” Nitromors used to contain methylene dichloride aka dichloromethane - which is a brilliant paint stripper. Its availability has been restricted for some years now. The risk to people with some basic awareness of how to use it is probably close to zilch. But.. it can be really nasty stuff. Gloves certainly as it burns and you can absorb it through the skin.. The big risk is from inhaling it. It doesn’t smell much or that bad -it is very rapidly and easily absorbed. and affects the nervous system with both short term and long term effects but the immediate danger can be from carbon monoxide poisoning. The readily absorbed dicholoromethane is metabolised to carbon monoxide which as everyone knows is highly toxic as it competes for and displaces oxygen carraige in your blood -which is not a good thing.This is especially so if your arteries are a bit narrowed. Really good ventilation is essential. Not just a mask (depending on type it may be quite useless in this situation) - a really good flow of fresh air is what is required I happily use dichloromethane - outdoors.

Sadly , probably not. Lives are lost and tragically ruined in accidents. But in so many areas of life ,bureaucratic nonsense insinuates itself into our lives so that much time and effort is sacrificed on the pious alter of “Better Safe than Sorry” , MOT is one. Road safety would be just as well, if better served if a driver was prevented from driving after an emotional conflict where there is dangerous distraction caused by marital ,financial or work worries. Very loud aggressive rock music, or even having certain meals can apparently be risky. It would be impracticable -as would sifting out those with a personality trait tending towards reflex and mindless aggression that results in them driving with self rightous and murderous vengefulness, but it would yield better results than triumphantly detecting an extra thou.of play in a wheel bearing, a scratch on a windcreen or a wobbly sun visor. Very few accidents are related to a mechanical problems (unless you include the oft-quoted problem with the nut that holds the steering wheel).

I had forgotten that the “New Pence” coinage was introduced so much in advance of the actual ”Decimilisation Day “, if that is how it was spelt. Some folk were quite put out by it. There was a lady interviewed in the street ( probably Fife Robinson on the “Tonight” programme) who thought it would be better “To delay it - at least until all the old people had died”.

Well it’s lasted OK! - if the date is 1968 then you also have something a bit special. My vague memory recalls all the fuss when decimalisation came in. I am pretty sure it was sometime in 1971.

Snow, what snow? Just a little icing sugar sprinkled on the tops of the hills in IOM - Quite sunny really and 7.5C

The slight vibration puzzled me and had made me just slow off immediately, so when it “went” I wasn’t going very fast at all.The car, Freelander 2, was remarkably stable and controllable.

I had travelled about 30 miles on the M6 when a slight vibration set up from the rear of the car- barely noticeable. The day before ,and about forty miles earlier , I had had 2 new front tyres fitted and the rear ones checked and deemed to be in good order. I just slowed off, and as I did so the vibration became suddenly much worse. As I headed towards the hard shoulder I was “ undertaken “ by the entire outer circumference of the nearside rear tyre which continued on its way before veering right and finally bouncing off the central reservation barrier. Little of the tyre remained on the wheel, which surprisingly was undamaged. I had a spare wheel -a tyre inflation kit would have been of little use! I have no idea what caused the incident , though on reflection I vaguely recalled a tinkling sound as I ran over something in the nearside lane, a bit like a bit of a drinks can or something, about 15 mins earlier. I now have a tyre monitoring system...

I replaced a 3 rail with a single rail simply because a good one with an overdrive became available at a price I really could not refuse . I had called in when driving through Cheshire to a placed called ‘Triumph Nuts” ( this was a few years ago, he may not be still in business) He supplied me with the gearbox with bell housing , the rear gearbox mounting and a correct length propshaft and a 1500 flywheel and some very useful advice - all in for around £65 or thereabouts , I think. I had to buy a 1500 clutch plate and some spacers from Rimmers for the flywheel bolts and apart from a remote gear change bush overhaul kit, that was about it- and a 90 degree speedo drive. The flywheel is quite different ,as others have descibed -I don’t recall it being any heavier though,and there were no issues re ring gear/ starter - and it ran smoothly.

Just a suggestion. And certainly not a very sophisticated one - but it sort of worked. I went down a similar path thinking about garage-rebuilding(walls were thin) added beams, wood or steel, extra buttressing , block and tackle etc., drawings .. etc. On reflection though, the essential requirements were to lift the body off chassis (SpitfireMk1V) after sills floors etc. had been done, and then “do” the chassis and attend to the finishing of the underneath body repairs. The cheapest, quickest and most practical solution for this was to buy a fairly basic engine crane to lift the body off.(Door apertures weld- braced).The body was placed on a Heath Robinson(OK ,a very H R) frame largely made of scrap - bits of joists etc. on wheels -a dolley.The chassis bits then could live on its road wheels under the body for storage.and each could be pushed out of the garage independently to work on when required. Suitably supported and balanced, ,the chassis with all its running gear could be lifted,tilted and positioned with the crane with strops and supports for welding, painting etc.No need for rotisserie and the body on its stilts on wheels had enough height to scramble under.

I think this is a dichloromethane aka methylene dichoride based paint stripper -the ingredient that is so effective but no longer to be found in of the paint stripers in the DIY places like B&Q.(Nitromors and others are pretty ineffective these days as they boast they are now dichloromethane -free ). However, I reiterate your very sensible advice to be careful, Paul. -and feel I must add : - Only ever use this in a really WELL-VENTILATED place - ie outdoors. Apart from being very readily absorbed through skin contact , it is easily breathed in. It really can cause short term (drowsiness ,dizziness, headache) for hours or days and longer term neurological problem with peripheral nerve problems in addition to liver dysfunction . Also - (and this may at first seem bizarre) but it can cause carbon monoxide poisoning as it is metabolised to CO. = Cover up - and use it outdoors.

Some folk have resurrected their polythene and mineral wool insulation and many will have opted for covering at least the inner aspect of the tunnel with one of those adhesive backed insulation and foil type materials (eg Rimmers catalogue Ref No.1473 which is the stuff in the picture ) .This is really good tough material than needs cutting with tin snips - not to be confused with that stuff you get in B&Q to put behind radiators. Also -It’s worth looking at Frosts and also in “Car Builders Solutions” -they do lots of it - and pretty much everything else imaginable for cars.Their catalogue is amazing.