Bfg

I have Clarke 151TE (which is not hard-wired, indeed my garage's electric supply is just an extension lead ), but then I only use one power hungry device at a time. (ie., I do not have the fan heater on at the same time as I weld). I used to have a Clarke 100 gas/no gas. One of the advantages of Clarke tools for me is that Ipswich, my nearest town, has a Machine Mart ..with an informed salesman (he restores American classics) and they sell and stock the parts for these machines. The 131EN from them is listed at £288 inc VAT., and a welding mask headset is £60. My experience is that the no gas flux-covered wire tends to splatter a great deal and also the welding tip overheats and then the wire sticks (..very frustrating). Argon shield gas flows passed and cools the welding tip a little and its weld is cleaner ..which for a novice like me helps get the thing set up to work half decently. On the 100, after the first (and very short) reel of no-gas welding wire I switched to using gas from a bottle. I then switched to Argon-shield with gas regulator gauges. That machine would weld to 3mm thick plate, so was fine for body panels and even for chassis thickness steel. I did a lot of 16swg box section tube welding with that machine - very handy to make things with. IMO the fluxed wire is handy for mobile use where you don't want to transport a bottle and regulator, but otherwise isn't worth the extra effort in cleaning up. The very small gas bottles with a simple screw valve are again hardly worth it. Their gas (per cc) is expensive and a regulator gauge also helps your setting it up to weld nicely. However bigger bottle do cost in their deposit and then rental ..even when they are not used for months on end. Regulators are not cheap to buy, so if you're going to need them anyway - perhaps its best to buy a machine already equipped, and don't bother with the no-gas experimental stage. Welding masks which often come with 'starter machines' are hand-held - which again makes life difficult. A decent welding mask (head-set) with auto dipping, that straps to your head (so both hands are then free) is a necessity ..when you need to hold a repair patch in place and tack weld it at the same time. There is a broad selection of clamps for holding your work in place, but I'd suggest you try and do some welding first before you spend out on a set of tools you'll barely use. Most don't reach further than 30-50mm from the panel's edge or large hole, so often a drill and rivet or self tapper screw (into a spire-clip) does a better job. Personally I most often use an old pair of pliers or long-nose grips (vice grip, mole grips, whatever) to save burning my fingers, and an old screwdriver to hold repair panels down. Steel 'grips' are also useful to clamp onto the narrow edge of a panels or perhaps onto a bolt ..then the earthing clamp can be clipped onto that. There's also magnets being sold to clip onto as a welding earth. I like the idea but not their price so I've not yet tried it. Still the metal would have to be bright under it. I have an old speaker magnet which I'll try sometime to see how well it works. Metal g-clamps and even sash-clamps of various sizes are similarly useful for holding bits in place and pulling things square. Likewise 'tarp-clamps' (the big and strong clips for holding tarp covers on a market-stall stand) can be useful along a flange or panel edge ..like the door surround and the sills.. After all these years I still don't own any purpose designed welding grips. If I'd ever needed such a tool - I'd probably adapt an old pair of mole grips, but I haven't yet needed to. I suspect all brands of home-garage machines are made with crappy power and earth leads. Their earth leads always seem to be a meter too short and of too small a cross section, and their earthing clamps have very small contact edges for the task. I've not used the 151 very much except to make a tiny wood burning stove for my boat, but I'll be replacing its power lead so I won't need to plug into an extension lead when the welder is used anywhere within the garage. Similarly I've recently bought a new earthing clamp and will be swapping out the earth lead for a longer and substantially heavier gauge wire (..wire thickness of good quality battery jump-leads is needed). These cables need to be good otherwise electrical resistance lessens the effectiveness of your welder, which again makes your task unnecessarily difficult. Tip : Often the first thing a professional welder does is to temporarily tack an old bolt onto a panel &/or rusty frame tube ..as a convenient earthing point. And then once any other panel or tube is even tacked into place - the whole welded assembly is similarly earthed ..this being very much quicker than constantly trying to find a convenient and clean / bright-metal place to earth onto. One of the keys to achieving a decent weld is to have a decent earth. ...And one route to instant frustration is through a crappy earth lead, when you're all poised to tack a piece in place ! The other key to achieving a good weld is to have clean metal to weld to. That means where you're welding needs to be stripped back of rust and all coatings, both electroplated and painted. ie., it's best linished to bright steel. So you might want to invest in a small abrasive disc sander for steel &/or a powered file. A wire or abrasive-fibre wheel on a decent cordless drill is useful to get in the corners of panel overlaps, but they don't cut the mustard quickly enough on flat surfaces. The power file is surprisingly useful because it gets along edges and into corners where a disc grinder is less effective ..and it doesn't tend to splatter everything else with red hot grit. So you might want to budget for these tools and also grinding goggles. Also cheap (disposable) spectacles are a worthwhile economy. With respect to both grinding and welding - their splatter burns into glass, ruins chrome and aluminium trim, melts through the car's soft trim, and burns into window rubber and seals, wooden dashboards, hair and skin. Skin is mostly easy enough to avoid nasty ones, for example ; think not to cup your hands where a splatter of weld can land ..and wear an old hat.! You'll learn soon enough ! Personally I don't get on with gloves so I'm just careful.. Grinding splatter is a sneaky sod., working at the bench the other week I was wearing a body warmer. It now has a hole melted though it by the pocket. The last classic car I had "professionally" welded had grinding bits of steel burnt into most every door glass, the inside and outside of the windscreen and rear window. If I ever meet that guy again I should want to chop his tanglies off.! So.., fireproof sheets, screens or covers for everything else in the car ..and in the garage.! Oh, by the way, the car's battery also needs to be disconnected, perhaps also the wires off your alternator and anything else that might be sensitive to spikes of high voltage. Youtube guides to setting up you welder, like < this > ought to give you an insight to the procedures, &/or otherwise you might sign on for a session of night-school classes. Take your own welder along at some time ..so the lecturer can show you how best to set it up. All the above must seem quite daunting but, and in short ; mig welding is dead easy ..if the metal is bright and your gear is set up correctly. And like so many things - these come down to preparation. Note. I perpetually live on a tight budget so what I have is mostly second hand. My welder for example was bought locally but off e-bay for about £130, complete with regulators and spare welding tips and a couple of reels of wire. Hope that has been helpful. Pete. And yes, the mig welder will weld stainless too, although on the flue pipe and doors of this stove its just mild-steel welding wire I've used.

poor little frogs

> I was just on the TR forum saying that I would like to find a cheap (used ?) tool to make stiffening ribs and the anti-drum insets in flat sheet panels, for example ribs in the floor panels and the odd shaped insets in the inner wing panels. 20 minutes later I received the following (and I think brilliant) suggestion .. .. " this video regarding dual-sided dieless forming (hammer and block to you and me) Maybe an air hammer and a slotted lump of steel or hardwood would work.? " Well I'm already quite handy with a hammer and dolly but never thought to power the process. I'll have to play with this.., I have a big reciprocating cut-off saw and also a number of reciprocating hacksaws either of which might be adapted. ..I might need to invest in new ear defenders though ! Pete

. Someone from near Cardiff rang me yesterday regarding a Norton Commando I have for sale. In the course of conversation I explained that I was all but giving up more powerful motorcycles and am looking to buy a Triumph TR4A.. With the mention of Triumph he then asked if I would be interested in a green with white Vitesse 1600 convertible that he's recently inherited from a cousin. I have my heart set on a TR4 so I'm not in the market for a Vitesse but I said I'd ask you guys if you might help with a current range of values for this model. He describes that car as being quite tidy but unused for the past three years. I looked in the classified section but there appears to be just one 2ltr Vitesse for sale at the moment, which of course doesn't help with his being a 1600.. Many thanks, Pete.

. I had a smoking regulator on my Citroen, and the fault was a tiny metallic flake had become dislodge from wherever and found itself in the open contacts of the regulator. (see photo). The result was a direct short. Once this tiny speck was removed all was fine. I have no idea where that particle came from, as inside its closed and sealed case - the regulator was pretty clean and seemingly previously unopened. But I had unbolted it from the bulkhead and moved it aside when I was refinishing the engine bay, so I guess it might have been from original manufacture and have tumbled, and perhaps magnetically found this inconvenient new lodgings. As a flake no thicker than a finest feeler-gauge - one had to see it from the right angle even to spot it. Hope that helps, Pete.

. As Martyn's query has been answered.. might I go just a little off topic and ask if anyone has fitted the equivalent of a Panhard rod to their steering rack - to prevent sideways movement, without loosing all of the shock absorbancy and dampening of vibration through the steering - which rubber is so good at providing. ? .

^ looks familiar . . .

^ One great mind perhaps, I'm just cheap !

. Here's a few storage solutions put to good use in the garage. . 1. Old laundry bin now used in the garage to keep discarded cloth, bed sheets, etc for use as rags. 2. The top, just loosely siting on the 'rag bin' is the top off a discarded washing machine. Having a 'table top' just inside the garage door has proved handy. 3. The ex-office waste paper bin is dedicated to wire wool, scouring pads, etc. That is often hung off the floor, on a nail into the wall. If wire wool or scouring pad is wet it dries out in that wire basket. Btw. The piece of 4"x 2" timber is an off-cut from a piece I needed the taper. However that taper is a convenient handle to use the block as a soft hammer, and at other times is used as a lever, and again at other times is simply used as a wooden block. Here's another simple storage solution for awkward stuff . . The lengths of 1" square tubes were, I think, formerly legs for lightweight shelf racking. I'm not sure because I simply 'reclaimed' them from a skip down at the marina. One end of these just rests on the wooden lintel / ledge over the garage door, and the other end is a 4" nail driven into the side of the roof beam, which the tube simply pushes over. It really couldn't be simpler or cheaper. But as you can see on one tube ; there's a couple of spare vintage motorcycle tanks up there, out of harms way. On two others, there's spare bits off my old Citroen. This includes a pair of rear wings, and exhaust pipe, door trim pads, a rear seat, pieces of bumper, and other things like hood irons. That car has just sold so these things will be going soon but the two tubes will remain ready for the next assortment of dismantled car parts. And finally for today, another very simple, cheap, but oh so useful storage solution to blinking awkward things. . This is a length of 1" round tube which again came from the skip. One end of that rests on the top brick of the this sloping garage's wall. And just above the blue lab coat and chamois leather you'll see a piece of cord going vertically upwards. This is simply tied around a nail in the wooden roof beam ..and holds what is in effect just like a wardrobe's clothes rail at the right height to be level. Again it couldn't be simpler nor cheaper. And being in the back corner of the garage - it's out of the way and high enough to park a motorcycle under. As you can see - I'm using it to hang all sorts of awkward things on, like ; a roll of oversized emery paper, different width rolls of self-adhesive neoprene (seals), rolls of velcro, electrical shink wrap tubing, plastic tubes, loops of spare cord, and plastic bags (hung on wire S shaped hooks) with more off-cuts of rope, another with offcuts of rubber and plastics, and another with short offcuts of small diameter tube, and again one with wiring. There's even a broom hanging there and a mop. That lot, if on shelves, would just end up a huge pile of knotted mess. As it is - each is readily accessible to individually unhook. Hope these ideas / solutions help trigger your own. Pete.

Thanks John. The Mini lift looks incredibly simple and aside from width and length is not that different from my bike lift, save the orientation of the jack. Certainly two of the bike lifts would be capable to lift a Triumph sports car whose curb weight is under a tonne. However the upright (actually about 45degree) orientation of the 3-ton jack under mine wouldn't work so well. I might be better off buying a couple of low profile trolley jacks and using those with appropriately sized parallelogram frames. By coincidence I had seen the Howei video and dismissed it as being a massive amount of work ..even though they already have a beautiful workshop, a steel off-cut saw, a lathe ..and a steel-holder's stockpile. Even then they bought in (or begged for free) what looks to be an expensive hydraulic ram + parts from jack stands and under wheel rollers. And even then.. the boys didn't seem that impressive with the finished article. Lessons to be learnt though, so thanks.

^ But how did you drill that big hole through what I assume to be a tool-steel socket ? Wouldn't welding a tube on be easier ?

. Here's a 1100lb (500kg) motorcycle lift. Unfortunately with a motorcycle's centre stand and other bits n' bobs protruding underneath - it never fitted the frame on either my BMW, my Norton, nor my Sunbeams. ie. it was useless. In any case it would have been dangerously unstable and impossible to do basic tasks like changing the oil. So I modified it with a 3/4" plywood crate so that it would lift under the motorcycle's tyres. I include it here only because I'm thinking it might be adapted yet again to be a car lift ..but I'm not sure how it might best be used / useful - Any suggestions ? This is not exactly the same model, as mine is Clark branded, but aside from it's castors - it's very similar . . And this is it modified and in use. The crate I had from when I returned from living abroad, for scale it's 48" L x 20" W x 14" H. The forward extension with uprights to clamp the front wheel is 25" long. I use a six foot long wooden ramp to push the bikes onto it. It's really not as hard work as it sounds as long as the bike steers, has air in the tyres, and the front brake works. How might I adapt this for when restoring an old car ? Suggestions with a sketch would be useful.. Thanks. Pete p.s. Garage Tip, seen in the background of this photo - The inside walls (and also most the ceiling) of my garage are lined with aluminium faced bubble wrap, which is of course a useful insulator, a waterproof membrane, and a clean finish and excellent reflector of light.

um ? .. car polishing wax ? or do you use it as a budget version of wax oil ?

Are you happy now ! ?

Just looked but can't see a thread to share home made or modified tools, so I thought "well as I'm interested to see what others have done or got.. then why not".. so to kick off here's a simply but actually quite useful modification ..and then if you look carefully an adaption of something else which I find invaluable in the garage. My apologies if this thread is somewhere else that didn't come up in the obvious listings or in a search. ^ aside from removing wheels or working on suspension parts I rarely now use the 1/2" drive socket set. And because I'm largely working on motorcycles or engines I use 3/8" drive sockets more than 1/4" drive. But there are occasions when a little more leverage offers better control. Spark plugs for example can sometimes take a little more effort to break the seal, but are then finger tight. However if I just use the 3/8" drive on its own then it can twist and break the plug's insulation. So a little more leverage undoes that plug's seal without effort ..and with lots of control. I modified an old trolley-jack handle to use with the 1/2" drive ratchet, but here I modified my (already longer ratchet) by grinding the end of the handle to take the 1/2" square drive extension bar. . ^ suitably smoothed off so it doesn't dig into my hand ..when not using the 1/2" extension bar. Plugged in and ready to go. Dead easy mod to make, and cost nothing but a few minutes with the angle grinder, and a couple more minutes with the power-file to smooth it off. Of course the 1/2" ratchet handle could similarly be modified so it can be used with the extension. That would be handy when carried in the tool roll and then is needed to release the wheel nuts. NB. my other 3/8" drive is a stubby rubber handled one (.. £5.99 from B&Q 5 years back) which is just 5" long, and that is very handy for quick turning. . . . so did you spot the other invaluable adaption in the background ? ? Pete. Come on now - Let's hear about and see photos of tools you've made, adapted, modified, or seen. From ingenious storage ideas, or car rotisseries, to parts cleaners and grit blasters, to the humble spanner which has been suitably ground to fit in a tight corner &/or its handle bent . . . Oh yeah , useful vintage tools too !

sorry is the poppyman or poopyman have the same problem around here, what with living on a farm an all. re. lifespan of car covers.. the most common problems, if tied down securely, are hard points on the car which try to poke through the cover, and UV breakdown of the very thin waterproof outer membrane of the cheaper covers. The solution to the first is pretty obvious in-so-much as as padding can be used under the cover to soften those edges. I also use insulating pipe wrap tubes under my cover just to lift it off the roof to provide an air gap for ventilation. And the issue of UV degradation might be solved with covers which are just £9.99 by fitting two ..the outer one being sacrificial but providing shade protection for the one underneath. .. Just a thought

Is the only difference the noise, or is a belt drive also better in other ways ? Thanks.

. ^ Down at the marina / boat yard there's a grit-blasting bay, which is used to get anti-fouling off the bottom of boats. I'm sure I'd be welcome to take some (+/- 100kg !) of only once-used blasting grit for use at home ..for free, as the marina scoop it up into a skip and pay to have it taken away. Most likely it won't be too abrasive as it would have been spec'd to used on fibreglass hulls, but it's worth experimenting with. All I need to do then is to dry and sift it. I also happen to know the friendly chap doing the work (an outside contractor) when he finishes a job often has a part of an open 25kg bag left over. He never takes it home, so my having those would be a matter of being there at that time. I went out to the shed this evening and tried the old compressor I have. After a few slaps and a squirt or three of penetrating oil it worked to a fashion - but kept cutting out again. There's a reset button on the top which clearly has a bad contact, so bridging a wire across its contacts sorted that out ..at least enough to try it. The pressure built up to almost 30psi but wouldn't go any more. I took the crown of the pump off and it has simple flap valve in stainless steel - but the casting it seats on is die-cast aluminium, and that has corroded so the valve cannot possibly seal very well on the piston's downward stroke. It's too badly gone to re-face, so I guess I'll be shopping for another compressor. Mind you., after 10 years of not having been used and sitting out in the garden shed it was gratifying to even get it going. I'm sorry to have to scrap it but with the cost of new ones, it's simply not worth struggling with this small domestic type.

Thanks guys for the recommendation and where to buy & when. I bought the sandblasting gun today. I now need to see if I can fix my old upright compressor, whose pressure valve was leaking. Question now is ; what's the best grit and where-to-buy for best value medium for blasting 1. a chassis and heavier brackets, 2. body panels. ? Thanks. Bfg.

I was down at Machine Mart, Ipswich who sell Clark tools, last Friday ..to get a replacement head and shroud for my little mig welder. While there I noticed they had a line up of possibly eight or ten different compressors. The lad in there was helpful and used a compressor himself for restoring yank cars ..so I'm guessing he has more noddle re. their capabilities than most employees of Lidl or Aldi, or even the computer jockeys who write advertising specs for such tools.! He advised that the big air-capacity users were the DA and the sand blaster. And even the biggest compressor they had in store @ £570 and rated at 3hp and 14cfm wouldn't cope with their continuous use - as those tools require 10-12 cfm free flow. As I understand it ; free flow is different to compressed air flow (ie., with back pressure through the tool). He suggested a paint spray gun, metal shears or disc cutter might use 6 - 8 cfm. He also warned that although 230v., the big ones need a 40amp power supply. That's much the same as a wired-in cooker. 40A powered supply doesn't work for me because my garage power is via an extension lead from a household socket. It will cope with the welder, pedestal drill, big angle grinder, lights, battery charger, fan heater, dehumidifier, etc., each when used selectively ..but I wouldn't have the heater or dehumidifier on at the same time as I'm welding. In short ; because I'm not going to wire in a hefty power cable, nor can I accommodate something the size of a two seater couch in my garage, I'll have to stick to a smaller, and upright, model of compressor. And even then I'll be able to use the air tools (such as the spray gun) intermittently ..letting the compressor top up the cylinder inbetween times. Thanks Pete - much appreciated. I was fortunate and timely to have bought the spray gun, the shears and the cut-off disc cutter for a very kindly price. Later in the afternoon, when 'gifting' for another much needed cuppa tea and a bite of something tasty someone found the accompanying paperwork ..and as it was unsold - I was given the sand-blast gun. As explained the latter may not be much use to me, but who knows it might work long enough for very localised spot cleaning. Bfg.

. Mine cost about £60 a few years back and is fleeced. It seemed a decent weight and it does stay put, but its waterproofing stated to fail within the first year (I think UV caused its outer surface to crack). However I'm presently still using it, as this car (a small Citroen) is for sale ..and so it's as much to keep dust and morning dew off the car. It also means I can leave a side window open (without flies, leaves and dust going inside) ..so the inside of the car is not closed up when the weather is good for drying. It can of course be closed up when the weather forecast predicts damp. I live in a farm house so security is less an issue here, but if I were in town then I'd be happier to keep any sports car under wraps. Personally I use polystyrene-like plumbing pipe lagging tubes under it. The cover is put one and then they're pushed under to lay along the roof. They sort of look like a banana shaped ridge pole. This is to give a little air gap between the cover and the metal roof which a.) increases the drainage angle, b.) gives a gap so morning dew / condensation doesn't go straight through into the car, and c.) so there's a little air flow inbetween the cover and the car to help dry it out. I have laid paying bricks on a tarp under the car which although it catches and slightly rain puddles under the car - it also soon dries out. Conversely, when there's soil under the car - it is devoid of sunlight ..so takes positively ages to dry out. Although it cannot be seen in the photo below, there are no bricks for a 2-foot wide strip along the centre line under the car (but there is still the tarp), so that level is a couple of inches lower than the bricks the tyres are sitting upon. This extra 2" in clear depth of passage is to encourage air flow under the car. I then have 6ft high fence panels, approximately 6ft to one side and likewise behind the car (the direction of prevailing wind) and so this helps prevent driving rain from going under the car, but they are not so tight as to stop all air movement. And yes the tree will need cutting back a little more before the winter. I'm selling this car (..hoping the deposit will be paid today) to buy a TR. I'll then be parking that in the same place, but the plan is to erect a simple ridge pole the whole length of the car + four to six foot at either end. Then I'll drape a tarp over this. As a ridged car-port (on the cheap).. rainwater and snow will run off easily, and the wind will not catch under it so easily. But the tarp will not be rubbing against the car, and its bottom will be 18" off the ground, so again driving rain will not so easily get under the car but air movement will be free. I can use this same (now not waterproof) car cover under that, just to keep the flies, dust and leaves out. This is of course the very same as a camping tent with flysheet and inner. I like Dave's suggestion of having two covers, one mainly used for winter weather and the old one for summer. Perhaps my flysheet will help protect the car cover longer.. And who knows possibly one of those tent / jacket waterproofing compounds might work to improve this cover ? Anyway, I hope the above might give you some ideas. p.s. There's a TR6 hardtop on ebay which is cheap. If you don't have one then it might be worth spending £50 just to place on the car while it is parked up, and/or through winter months.

you can't see the irony in this sentence ? oh sorry, did I misinterpret this . . Doug, My intent was not to upset you or anyone, and I apologise if it came across in any way as a negative slant. My point was simply.. Is this not a positive suggestion rather than a negative critique.? I feel both this and the original topic of Shaun's are worthwhile to discuss further as a separate issues. However, if my reply came across as offensive, then as a new member I would feel obliged to leave you to it and not say anything at all.

Chairman .. chairman ?? .. Learned friends - might I suggest this discussion, regarding the website as a resource and how it might become more active - is very worthwhile but a separate and quite probably a huge topic in its own right. This thread, and Shaun's original post, is with regard to the " joint Triumph meeting and the way forward ". If someone wishes to start a new topic along the line of ; the role of this forum & website - how to make it more successful ..and integral to club activities, then go ahead. I and I'm sure a lot of others will contribute and join in. But unless everyone here thinks we've exhausted every possibility regarding improvements to the Joint Triumph meeting and possibly other regional events too - then please let's get back to it. I'm sure that even if just one organising member drops in, even if only occasionally - then the feelings ..and suggestions, of members will filter back to the committee. Perhaps someone in Admin might copy each 'website' and 'forum' associated comment from this page across to a new topic ..that it might kick start the topic and provide continuity to that conversation. ? Thank you.

^ indeed PU foam is heavier both in its own right per sq.ft. for the same thickness and yes again it does use more resin to bond. However for what I needed (ie., strong enough for my 110kg to jump down onto) it's also tougher. I'd think honeycomb is lightest for a roof and if you have problems with adhesion then switch to epoxy resin. Btw a paint finish is much thinner and therefore lighter than gelcoat, but if you do without then first apply a single layer of surfacing tissue before applying your laminate, otherwise you'll have a rash of surface pinholes to deal with. If you do have another try and find you're not happy with it - then I'll have one of your seconds. I'll be chopping it up anyway for use on another car but it will give me a lightweight starting point to build upon. p.s. I understand from local members that estate tailgates are hard to come by. Have to go now before the off-topic police arrive. Pete

Hi John yes perhaps the single-most great disadvantage with bonded joints is holding them still, and in shape, while they individually fully cure. And again yes.. cored composites are brilliant and imo not yet used nearly as much as they might be. I replaced the (sodden) end-grain balsa core with foam core for the whole length of the bridgedeck on my aged (classic !) 30ft sailing catamaran. It was not difficult to work with ..but the many benefits over solid GRP laminates are tremendous. I don't suppose you have a spare estate roof in grp ..going for a song, do you ? Pete