Unkel Kunkel

Can we finally bury this nonsense about car batteries on concrete? I goes back to the 1920’s - before even Bakelite. Battery casings were made form Vulcanite - hard pressed and treated rubber.. There may have been a theoretical argument about earth leakage via dirty vulcanite casings. Batteries are little chemical plants and the rate of reactions are very much influenced by temperature.- reduces substantially by by each 0.5C drop. Ie ..keep 'em cool..but not too cool .. There was a. legitimate concern about the effects of the battery acid on the concrete during storage or charging i.e.Sulphuric acid, H2SO4 “ dissolves” concrete, fizzing off CO2.

Have 2 x CTEK 5.0. I think if you are going to plug something in like this, and then just leave it on for months and months on end, you have to have a high degree of confidence in what you have chosen. They aren’t cheap, ( and I did have one fail, years back, which was annoying) but considering they are on all the time, the daily cost isn’t going to be high. And ..batteries are quite expensive.

This is a bit late, but if you still have your old bits of vinyl covering, hesitate before throwing them out - carefully removed, not only useful as templates but in the case of the bits that attach to the over the wheel arches, I found it to be so much a challenge to replicate the compound curve despite heat and stretching, and swearing etc. that I ended up cleaning up the original bits ( which now suddenly appeared fine) and re- fitted them.

Assuming she was much older older, then perhaps it would have been quite reasonable for her to add, “If If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself”

I haven’t come across that for quite a while. I offer my admiration and respect for wrestling with that stuff! Or are you referring to squeaking in the summer months ? That could be joint related..

The top hat or Jesuit hat shape should stop them sliding out though the 2 lower outer ones need to be positioned carefully before weight is on the spring or they can come out of place whilst the spring is “hanging”. The bump seems to be of different diameters.The “hat” brim is the width of the spring. Some “”replacement” springs don’t seem to have them at all. Loads of things tried with laminated springs over a century : A hollow central bolt with a grease nipple to squeeze grease between the leaves on ancient Fords, grease - filled gaiters enclosing the spring the spring, people greasing the spring then spending a long and messy time winding “ Denso”tape round them. They used to squeak in the summer otherwise

No, it might be absolutely fine but there are quite a few ingredients in there and probably some variation with different manufacturers - several solvents such as naptha, turpentine etc might be a bit much for aged rubber -it would be those rather than the waxy stuff ingredients like guar gum, gum arabic etc.. I would tend to stay with propriety products of which there are many. listening to other people’s experiences can be very useful - someone, somewhere will swear by Kiwi or something

Up until Charnley, it was generally held that the “ oil” in the joint, the synovial fluid.. (the EP 90 continuing the analogy! ) was the most significant limiting factor to consider in joint replacement and this would present such a major problems for any possible joint replacement as to make it unworkable. He was the first to look at the problem in a very different way - forgetting trying to provide some sort of system for synovial fluid, oil/ EP90 whatever and focus first on the coefficient of friction of the respective wearing surfaces and then work from there. Charnley’s “trunnions” would presumably be of some sort of self- lubricating polymer construction presumably oil-less.That’s not an entirely absurd idea.

Forget rubber - within little time they will be squeezed flat, torn , or squashed so as not properly in their locating holes.It is just not a suitable material to use in this situation. Using another material also has the bonus that it can compensate for a degree of spring “sag”. ( They can also made too thick, though). A tangent, but of some relevance - Prof John Charnley’s first artificial hips at Wrightington were “Teflon” ie PTFE . Welcomed as miraculous, they did have one very significant problem - they wore out rather quickly, sometimes in as little as a year as patients enjoyed their new mobility and freedom from pain. A rep from Hoescht had been visiting nearby textile factories in the area with UHMPE samples ( promoting its use in bearings and gear trains in looms etc) and persuaded Charnley’s chief technical advisor to wear test a sample in their lab. Charnley, who was becoming quite despondent over the hip failure rate at this time, agreed. Both were surprised that in the severe wear test in which the PTFE was finished in less than a day, the UHMWPE just kept going, hardly worn well after a week. Hence UHMWPE. A very talented orthopaedic surgeon, a lot of the original work on the stainless steel femoral “ball” that joins the spikey bit ( that fits into the femur - thigh bone part of the “ball and socket” joint) was done on a lathe in his garage. The lathe was financed from royalties from several previous successful inventions. (After the prototypes, manufacturing was undertaken by Thackrays in Leeds )

If there was a rule that talking required qualifications, I would be rendered mute. I’ll ignore it..Here is my (totally unqualified) explanation: Many polymers have a weakness, they degenerate in UV B light - sun light. = photo-oxidative generation. There are various ways of protecting against this -adding a pigment is one to act as an UV absorber and screener. I agree - at first sight it does seem counterintuitive to have an absorber of UV light such as a black pigment but it means that UV light is restricted to the very outermost very thin layer where it’s energy is effectively “used up” and dissipated resulting in the the inner structure screened. This characteristic will be there no matter if the polymer is cut, turned or moulded i.e you don’t have to coat it or paint some sort of UV protection onto it. Carbon black is cheap.It also contains other compounds such ethers and other organic groups , hydroxyls, quinones, ethers which help by combining with some of the destructive oxidative products - “free radicals” effectively “ mopping them -up” and stabilising. ( Titanium dioxide - the “white of the “whitest” of practically all “white paint” everywhere made is used sometimes in polymers where the natural white colour is required.)

I have used acetal, polyoxymethylene, POM, for anther purpose. On the lathe, it proved to be a pleasant surprise, turning very nicely in contrast to my experiences with UHMWPE. Apparently acetal can deteriorate in UV light, so available in black for outside use ( though can’t think much daylight gets between the leaves of a spring under a car) There are so many polymers around -it looks like we will be seeing more of PEEK - poly ether ether ketone everywhere from orthopaedic implants and fracture plates to light weight car components.

There was a lot of conversation on here re this subject in February under “Rear Leaf Spring Refurbishment” I didn't know Superflex did them …otherwise I might not have struggled to make some! If do you want to make your own, probably the best material for this is UHMWPE- “ultra high molecular weight polyethylene” Cheap. available in bar form It will last longer than Teflon and polyurethane, rubber etc.Very tough, “ slippy - self-lubricating” It is very frustrating to turn on a lathe - I made quite a pile of failures to get a few accetable ones. It seems to be a material that shrugs off pretty much anything ( except high temperatures)

Like everyone else, I found door fitting both long and …frustrating. Now I am not saying this will work for you, - don’t rush out and buy them, I already had two in.. - but I resorted to two “ Winbags” * Used completely flat and then with very small amounts of air puffed in- one under the door between door and sill and one between the door and the B post, this allows positioning and holds things whilst the hinge bolts are fiddled with. This id certainly no magic answer - It still needed moving them about and much inflating /deflating, -but it seemed to help, suited for the “sole” operator,and it avoided paint damage. * “Winbags” - ( there are other makes..I have no interest in the company! ) - simple, useful things for all manner of “single-handed” jobs -fitting house doors and windows, shelves , cupboards etc Bit like a “blood pressure cuff” sort of thing - but much more robust.

The original manual information deserves looking at: This worked. However,I had already ordered a Filter King -So I used it too. I think they are a good choice. - they, also have a filter in a visible, easily changed, “period” fitting.

That video is excellent… That’s funny -after all we all know he was pretending to drink brake fluid ! - like everyone knows as little as 100ml has proved fatal…

Coincidentally, I’ve just done a brake fluid change late this afternoon on my Freelander 2. I often use the basic “two man system”..( “two person”,I should hastily correct my self). (I did try a vacuum system many years ago. Disappointed.Can’t recommend). Today though,I used a Gunson Eezibleed- I do this when my very experienced pedal pusher/ assistant is unavailable doing far more important things. I find a slightly modified Eezibleed very easy to use. - I use a compressor rather than a spare tyre, with a regulator to adjust it down to around 25-28 psi - about 2 bar, with scrap pressure gauge from an old inflator , some 8mm micro bore fittings and an 8mm B&Q LPG type gas valve. To avoid those really messy sprays of brake fluid, It is essential to turn up the pressure.. slowly - whilst all the while carefully checking for leaks at the master cylinder’s eezibleed temporary “top”. Also, after each “bleed” - it is important to first turn the lever valve “off “ then slowly release the pressure above the brake fluid in the master cylinder by very slowly releaing the top of the Eezibleed container.

I have always taken it to be an anti- vibration damper.

Something to consider: The rubber seals on the complex VW Eos hood respond well to an unusual sort of grease -“ Krytox” -.It works really very well. It does revitalise and “plump up” flattened, tired, dull- looking seals - it is not needed very often. - Which is just as well as it isn’t cheap, - shop around the “official” VW product is very expensive.

Not sure about sunscreen, but I understand there can be an issue with some interior controls of the soft rubbery plastic type - radio knobs etc on certain VW’s if handled just after someone had applied the sort of softening hand cream that some (avoiding gender bias here )tend to use almost habitually.

For house interiors, grey in its many shades, still seems to be “ In” (to use a very out- of- date expression) One of the most popular is, to my unsophisticated eye, a sort of beige/ grey that goes by the name of “Elephant’s breath” That doesn’t convey a colour to me. More an image of being engulfed in an enormous cloud of hot splattery halitosis. PS .. Returning to the topic ( and I must say a very reasonable question to ask in my opinion!) Definitely.. Red. taxis - black Buses, post boxes, Royal mail vans ..red. Sports cars .. Red

I don’t have a steam cleaner but do have an ancient Bosch steam wall paper stripper which seems very versatile at doing other jobs after the end attachment is removed.

Thanks, Clive - I’ll make an alteration re loop as you advise I have a natural aptitude for things “loopy”

Thank you Colin, - luckily I managed to get the metal retaining ring part but appreciate the EBay refernce. I was wondering if there was a rubber/plastic gaiter specific for the overdrive wiring -May be with a piercing of some sort for the wires to go through. What I have done, is using the gaiter I have, is route the wires between gaiter and the extension housing, keeping the connectors topside of the gaiter with a fairly loose loop, thinking might flex less and ease access for any future wire replacements.

Nearing completion changing from a 3 rail non- overdrive to a single rail with overdrive in a ‘73 Spitfire.( mainly because a single rail was available with overdrive). Re the gear lever gaiter.. I haven’t been able to find much about these and they don’t seem to be stocked by the usual suppliers. They seem quite rare - I please can you advise re one I have acquired? I am puzzled by the parts listing. For part 82 ( Moss) It gives two : an overdrive one = YKC 1481, and a non- overdrive type = YKC 1482 I don’t know how they differ - Different internal diameters ? Am I correct in thinking the one I have is the “YKC 1482 , “ overdrive Models “one ? And, when fitted do the overdrive wires just tuck inside the gaiter? Thanks.

Reluctant to lend tools. don’t like - 1.The feeling of disappointment and frustration when someone fails to return them, and the embarrassment and annoyance that it can also be felt having to ask. 2.The concern that such an “occasional user” might: - a.harm themselves - b. fail to do the job right resulting in harm to themselves and/ or others which might, somehow ,implicate me - or result in me trying to sort the mess out. 3.Return the tools clearly damaged claiming, “They don’t work” 4.Not least..the thought that a tool/s might be hard to get returned when I need them myself.