Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

just realised this needs a massive update ..... but for now ......

Phone goes off and I'm thinking .... bloody hell is it seven already ?... ... don't seem to have been in bed an hour??
then realise the sound isn't my alarm's Tubthumping tune, but the ringtone ...

(guaranteed to wake me up)

light's already on and I'm stood there looking at the clock thinking WTF is ringing me at 2:15 ????

Look at it and it's Josh ......................... ........ can only mean one thing

Granny has a new grandchild ....

9 lbs 8.5 oz at 01:45 this morning ....
OMG !!! .... he's a lumper ...... his mum is a very petite size six ....... pix of the new arrival to follow ....
I'm one of the few people who guessed right with 'a boy'

I am now completely wrecked ..... gone half three, 'fore granny stopped bouncing off the walls and then back up at seven for Clara's arrival ....
now delivered to school and might just have a few hours for a catch up ..... once me drug delivery has arrived and that could be anytime 'tween now and 11:30

[v8druid]

had a hard afternoon Saturday .... doing battle with my 80 litre fuel tank.





I miss my 4 poster ..... that tank's a lump ....





have had a suspicion of a leak for quite a while .... can smell fuel regularly and had an even stronger suspicion of where from after some ****ing cowboy spanner monkey had the tank off some time ago, one MOT time.
usually only take it to 'known' (and trusted) places ... but these ppl had taken over one of my 'trusted' places, unknownst to me


anyway ... long and short of it was ....





said tw*t had snapped the breather off the top of the pump unit .... and instead of owning up .... bodged it - in the worst possible style -





the white elbow was lying behind the sender ring nut, when I got it down ...

presumably it'd once been here ...





no bond .. nothing ... and like a d**k in a bucket .... God knows how much crap is in the tank
it will be my mission to see he loses his ticket ... the cretin is not fit to be working on, let alone MOT-ing people's vehicles absolute cowboy !!!!


that open to atmosphere breather port is a foot from a very hot exhaust and the other end of it is in the filler neck, which is able to have fuel fed down it as you fill up ......
I count myself lucky not to have had the old girl catch fire ... lucky it doesn't do a lot of miles these days


I am absolutely ****ing steaming
either gonna have to get creative tomorrow ........ or buy a new in tank, pump unit ...
either way it's gonna have to come out, to see just how much crud has accumulated in the tank, for starters


the inevitable occurred trying to remove the fuel lines Sunday morning ... had to come off to get the ring nut undone ...
and no way were those pipes going back up under the ol' girl ... way too past their sell buy dates for my liking
.... be waiting for one to go pop with 3.5 bar coursing through 'em





an' before anyone comments on the scabby state of those Visegrips .... they're probably older than a lot of members and seen a LOT of action ...
I do have shinier ones too ...... so.......


cost me 223 quid and an evening's searching for the fuel lines, filler neck rubber and a pump .... Britpart from Island 4x 4 in Kent ..
best deal I can find and the only ones who listed everything I want




1 x Fuel Filler Rubber Neck To Tank P38 (Britpart) ESR3219 £16.00
1 x Fuel Pipe (Pump To Connector) V8 94-98 WJP106160 £70.00
1 x Fuel Pipe (Pump To Filter) V8 94-98 WJP106150 £69.99
1 x Fuel Pump Fittings (2 Nuts & 2 Olives) £1.67
1 x Fuel Pump V8 94-98 (Britpart) STC4344 ESR1073 ESR3931 £28.33


all plus the Vodka & Tonic of course


if these last another 22 years .... and they're going to, with the amount of Waxoil that'll be adorning them when it goes back in,
.. I'll be 84 before I have to get under there again .......
and past caring !!!


Sussed WTF the tank was so bloody heavy, coming off yesterday ... when I emptied 50 litres of motion lotion out of the damned thing this morning into jerry cans .... gauge claimed a couple of gallons at most ... so tha's fooked too BTLs


Dry as a chip under there ATM, so blew as much crap as I could, out from under there, with 150psi, this afters .... I'm now wearing most of it .. can't wait to dive in the shower in a minute or two


would've Waxoil-ed under there too, but couldn't find me Wagner airless sprayer .. which is always full of the stuff and sealed in an airtight bag .. saves a lot of cleaning up
..... still haven't remembered WTF I've put it though
... so might have to be a Schultz gun jobbie, but better throttle it down a bit with a smaller nozzle and some pressure reduction
............ 'tain't gonna be this dry again for a few months
... and'll fill the waiting time for the bits to arrive
.... plus I don't plan on seeing the bits hidden by that tank again, in a loooooong time :D


email back from another outfit I enquired with Sunday ..... these are also Britpart suppliers/prices ... in fairness to them .. at least they responded, which is more than can be said of the other three


"Hi Graham
Thank you for your enquiry.
Please see quote attached, we have the pump in stock but the other parts we can get these in to us tomorrow and can ship them the same day and get them to you for Wednesday.
We can take payment over the phone or via a Paypal request which ever works best for you.
Regards Dan


WJP106160 1 PIPE ASSY-FUEL £118.88
WJP106150 1 PIPE ASSY-FUEL £108.97
ESR3219 1 HOSE FUEL FILLE £23.77
STC4344 1 PUMP-FUEL TANK ASSEMBLY £38.40 ....... this is more than the price they listed on ebay - inc VAT and postage
SUB TOTAL Ex Vat: £241.68
POSTAGE/SHIPPING Ex Vat: £0.00
TOTAL VAT: £ 48.34
TOTAL ........ £ 290.20 "


Looks like I chose the right people to deal with ... dispatched Monday morning ... spoke to the guy doing it ... might be here tuesday, Wed.s latest

[v8druid]

Chris and Ellie came to drive the rest of Houdinis' team mates back home across the fields this morning .. and collect #2 & #3 off the lawn


..... defiant lil' bar stewards they were too .. drove 'em up onto the drive where the open gate that'd re-unite 'em with their mates was waiting ... along with Ellie and her 6 year old .......
and despite our best efforts, went tearing past us all and away
... eventually cornered one and got her back into the field, but t'other was a right performance ... 30 minutes later Ellie is on the phone to Chris ...
she was sat on it down on Billy no mates front drive .. come and help


having wrestled the damned thing onto the quad .... LOL.... it was unceremoniously brought back to a gate .








and slung into the field ....... where it shot off in the wrong direction and had to be pursued yet again
who'd have the bloody things


Loaded the kids back on and off they went with a couple of hundred sheep in front of 'em


been 'storing' these damned things since Vicki closed her dress shop .... some time ago now ...





manikin stands her dad had knocked together for her .....
never gonna be used again, as far as I could see so they were getting flat packed ...
having removed all the screws I found they were all glued as well .... so out came the saw, set the fence to take 22 mm off and proceeded round the perimeters ......





after a conversation with Josh, re. a use for a pile of MDF boards, for his tranny camper conversion, they all went into storage for his next visit ...


I hope he brings his van next time ..... getting quite a collection of stuff that'd be better off living in Plymouth than taking up space here





now to sort out when LOL


Wonder if he'd like a piano ??


had to do demolish my Mother's very old Challen and Challen .... was her grand mother's ... weighed a bloody ton ....
couldn't give it away
.... that one is Pam's granny's .... I play a little and so does Pam, but have a full size keyboard for the odd times we feel like knocking out a tune. Been stuck in there long enough now ....
either Josh's turn to inherit it, or it's gonna have to meet the wood shed


been finishing off the major sort out in't boxes today ... peeing down outside !!


found the results of a very industrious mouse in me 'stores' box ...





that's a 500mm broom head !!


re-located me S50 hitch, along with a load of other stuff that'd just got 'parked' where-ever





and it's 70mm boss set, I acquired for it





then found yet more mouse activity !!!!!!





must've taken him months to stash that lot !


looking a lot tidier and organised now .....





and accessible .....
t'other one now also has some serious floor space available for me next acquisition





think I found me perfect lathe last week ... now to get it sorted

[v8druid]

....... Those 'little motors ain't so little when yer's wrestling the damned things ' .....
the two Z1000 engines beat me ... they'll have to stay put for now

but not for long





seriously heavy, but managed to get at 'em with some juggling ...... they'll be getting 'air lifted' into a new home later .... 'tween the Esab 200 MIG and the breaker pack





left the last one at full sheet width, for now, for some light weight furniture storage and 'cos I'd run out of 25 x 3 flat to lip the roller bed frame


was some bit hot here yesterday ... foggy as **** here this morning ...... got two Houdinis on the lawn this morning .... waiting for the owner to arrive and collect 'em !!!!


pretty PO-ed with this sheet yesterday .... brand new WBP sheathing GOS and delaminating before it'd even been handled .... could not be arsed to take it back ... never likely to see the weather, but annoying .. all the same





then to get Delbouy 's (mate from a.n.other forum) placcy pig chassis out o' the trailer and go collect said furniture from Pam's daughter's place.
Cane conservatory suite ... new conservatory getting started Tuesday, as the current one's over 15 years old and showing serious signs of not lasting much longer .... 'least it's a damned sight cooler this morning .... must've gotten through 4 litres of squash yesterday and didn't have a pee all day ...... was running off me, but the boxes were like saunas !!


Bank Holiday Monday


meet Houdini #2 & #3 - 2019





buggers were here all day ...... could've been a mistake when I said to Ellie (the owner) that I wasn't worried - no panic!! .....
bet 'er next door has been having an eppy all day .... so fine by me ... been LMAO all day


Who said pigs can't fly ..... this plastic one ... or at least what's left of it, did a fair impression of a 'low pass' Monday morning





been sat in here since I picked it up for Del several weeks ago ....





but got 'evicted' in the morning .... needed the trailer ...


took the head trees out to give 'em a fresh lick of shiny shite for half an hour and copper slipped all the pinch bolts ....
anyone recognise the tin I keep me copper slip in ...





can not remember how long ago I filled that, from a big bucket of the stuff ..... but it's a looooooooooooong time ago ... still a quarter full ...
dunno how long it is since Finefare disappeared off the main street in town. !!


those two Kwaka lumps got a leg up after that ....








and wriggled 'em into spot where I wanted 'em , along with three bloody big Record vices, I keep tripping over on the floor.





Then it was off down the village to Vicki's to collect the cause of all this effort over the last few days .....


got there just in time to witness their little leccy mower go poooooof !!!
... so had to sort that 'fore I could do anything else ... wire busted as it went into the switch .... made her hubby Chris jump ...


hadn't seen Clara for over a week, so a bit of grand dad-ing first, spot of re-wiring and some trailer loading ... bit more grand dad-ing and away back home ... to unload this ....





and a car load of cushions to fit ....
took some persuading into their home for the next few weeks, whilst the new conservatory gets sorted ...
Was not flavour of the month with Chris.....had taken him two days to get the floor tiles up
... I laid 'em - properly - maybe 15 years ago didn't put 'em down to come back up again LOL


these took a bit of wrangling in, to find the optimum orientation .....








was bloody hot in there again today ..... 34.6C at lunch time in the 'toolbox' next door to it and could not touch the roof in there
.... as I found out when I put my back against it, juggling the Kawi motors earlier. Cheese cloth shirts are not much of an insulator.


Sat having a coffee after all this lot, chilling in the shade .... and Pam says.... ."right treatment next then " ..... had forgotten it was Monday ....... " ]no peace for the ...... " Druid

[v8druid]

catch up time again guys .......


hauled this out of the middle box friday evening ..... there's a bit of a story attached to this ... more anon





and relocated it to some freshly created space in't mower shed, for now ......





I wanted to get me remaining three sliding racks out the box to finish 'em off and fit the decks to them, so's I can use them and create some more floor space in the one, by getting stuff up off the floor ....


Petter AV 2 IIRC ... some of me small engine 'collection' ...





AV1





and an old Villiers I have had sat for a serious number of years ... have quite a few smaller stationary Villiers motors,





including a not so small single diesel D270 ... quite a rare animal by all accounts .... like this one

so .... got them out and up on a slider ....





after I'd gotten the three out to finish off ....
Number one on't bench ...





and all the deck support lips installed ..... shot that one back in out the way on't forks ... and grabbed the next one ...





had taken a good few hours to get that lot sorted .... and some serious humping ....
some of it had been tucked into corners and took some juggling out on me own !! Those 'little motors ain't so little when yer's wrestling the damned things ' .....
the two Z1000 engines beat me ... they'll have to stay put for now


Was just about dark ... at 8.30 that evening, when I'd finished the second one and it stayed put for tonight ..
Load number one tomorrow with a few other bits and bobs I want up out the way .... after I've cut the deck for it and dropped it in ...
Sunday or not ..... they'm in for a noisy day tomorrow .....
between sawing the boards to size and lifting it all in/out/in ..
it's all gonna need forks ...
might have to put the VA-r on too .... can't get square on and it's been a faff at an angle today ...
can load the decks on the floor then and just lift 'em in complete onto the tracks .. as it's intended to be used


25C in the shade at 11Sunday morning ..... opened up the tool box and 39.8C in there after the sun'd been on it since sun up ... like a bloody sauna in there


looked everywhere for Sparty that night, after I'd shifted said go kart and locked up. Was about to start opening everything up again, when I spotted him sat on one of the stone pallets ...





totally engrossed .... he'd ignored me calling him ...







touched him and he turned and gave me a 'sod off' look ..." I'm mousing " LOL ......... sat there an hour or more

[v8druid]

OK Guys ...... usual story ... big catch up starting roughly where i left off .... so 8th Aug......


been a looong day at Ken's today, clearing scrap ... again. Plus 80 years accumulation of tish


got this lot in the post to HMRC and Probate office yesterday afternoon ...... lot of work gone into that lot ... well worth the damn near nine quid for registered post to make sure it gets there




WP_20190807_11_39_00_Pro redacted.jpg


Was some bit wet here last night ... if the buckets, etc. are to be believed, must've been 50+mm of the wet stuff ...... with more forecast, 'til late tomorrow

six month MOT day today (9th) in The Heath in Cardiff .... proper lashing down here when I left .... Blue skies in Cardiff.


Got called in, hour and a half early, 'cos they had a cancellation .... shot down there........and was still waiting to be seen at my original appointment time of quarter to three
New specialist nurse in my consultant's clinic..remembered me from my visits to The Royal Free, in Hampstead, London, in 2011 .... said "you're the chap who Professor Mehta examined, with 30 students gathered round, with the three plus kilo spleen .. you were a rarity "


Amazingly small world


Took a mauling that day .... from some very pretty student doctors ....... an' that was just the blokes


they got a new treatment if I want to try it ..... tablets ... apparently seems OK so far, with them that's given it a go ... will have a ponder ... be a damned sight more convenient than getting stabbed by Pam once a week ..... and doesn't need to be kept refrigerated, so very mobile ....... as usual there're side effects, so need to have a good read, as I do pretty well on what I'm on ATM ... but could always go back to it if I can't handle it -- or it doesn't like me Hmmmmm?


got the little Mountfield back together one evening this week ...





just in time to get rained on ... been a so so week here for weather


day up at Ken's Thursday, sorting scrap/rubbish/etc. and 'dealing' with this, after it'd been emptied ....





me on the rivet heads out side with a sharp cold chisel/hammer and the two BILs giving it some inside ... rolled up a treat .. there wasn't a barn above it when it went in there ... and beyond moving (in one piece) anyway ... even if we could've gotten at it.


not seen so much of Clara these last couple of weeks ... school holidays, so mummy is about, but she's not lost her fascination with rock ...





or diggers





when she does appear for the odd few hours


it's 'apple' time again ...





pity the wasps had beaten us to it on a lot of 'em .... never seen 'em eat whole apples from the inside out ..... just leaving the skins hanging on the trees
What was left'll do Pam a few litres of her fave fresh apple juice though





having got well pee-ed off with grating 'em all last year she thought she'd try chopping 'em up .... I squashed em as hard as i dared, for fear of breaking her press, ........ and got sod all, not even a trickle ... so they came back out for a grating LOL .... and hey presto ... a good litre and a half out the first batch, so far. Give it a turn every time I go near it, but reckon it's about done .... next load for grating time


been waiting for some new fuel line and a tap/filter for the Mountfield ... it has a habit of dropping it's fuel tankful, when parked ... float needle obviously can't cope with the head of fuel in the tank .... it turned up Friday so had a sesh sorting that and then, as per usual, when it ain't been used for any length of time, it was flywheel off time .... bloody spiders like occupying the points dept. and it rarely goes without a sort out.


anyway ... got in there and the casing's full of what can only be condensation ... no way for rain to get in there .


Got most of it out, but had to lift the points out to get it all ..... and discovered ...





an acute shortage of connections from the coils to the points, which was not going to be helpful to the cause .. God knows where the missing inch plus had gone ??


so out came my trusty Weller ..... this is 50 years old .... had it for my 12th birthday ... (was into 'electronics', as it was known then)





and extended me missing wire





nice bit of rubber tube sleeving to cover the joint and the job was a good un


re-assembled it all ....





and gap-ed the points (anyone old enough to remember what they are?) .. dropped the flywheel back on, keyed it up and dogged it down for a try for a spark .. YAY!! first spin up ...
stuck it all back together, litre of motion lotion in't tank and it went first flick .... which is pretty miraculous for a Briggs an' Scrap 'em .... no idea how old this little Mountfield is, but it must be catching the Weller up pretty quick ... I'd say it's early 70's if not older !!


Anyway ... let it warm up, gave it a bit of a tune and it sat on the bench happily ticking over ..... put, put, put, put .... was going to get it down off there in the morning .. 'til Pam reminded me, I got to go back to The Heath first thing, for some more blood tests ..... has to be early as they're flying them to Switzerland as soon as they get 'em packed .... did offer to go over and they could have 'em 'fresh out the arm', if they'd like, but the answer was NO!


Some 'real specialist' lab out there's gonna analyze my metabolic rate from 'em to decide whether I can try their new treatment regime ... Eliglustat TABLETS !!
.... cross yer fingers


shot down there this morning .... they extracted 10cc of red gold ....and I flew back ..... 90 mile round trip ...... and wait several weeks apparently, to see if I can try the new drug . Traffic on the way down was great ... and made it in 50 min.s ..... 90 on the way back ... I bloody hate Cardiff traffic !!!!


Might get summat done for myself tomorrow

[v8druid]

Question ???
Do you have For Sale sign thieves , to mount it up the pole that high .

You'd be surprised what they'll nick around here Ian, but main reason was visibility .... could be seen from well off coming up the road, even wearing blinkers, as most seem to do driving that road and it's well above the hedges, which're at full growth, this time of year.
has produced seven enquiries so far, so well worth the twenty quid for it ... only needs one, or better still two, with the where with all

[ianoz]

Question ???
Do you have For Sale sign thieves , to mount it up the pole that high .

[v8druid]

band saw saw a bit of action yesterday .....first job was 68 mm of seamless





suds refused to pump ... and could not be arsed to pull the pipes off to prime it


opened the bore out to 18 .5 mm ....





then reamed it out to 3/4" .....I know i took a pic ... but weren't on't phone this evening when I down loaded em all
neither was the 7/8" cutter counter-boring it out to take the hardened 'top hat' boss, that was left in one piece in the pix yesterday, holding the oil seal in the output casing ??


trimmed it down to 67.5 mm ... as per requirement ...





and got a pic of the finished article .......... which has also disappeared ?????? FFS


Pressed the top hat boss into the new bush ..





and pressed them into the stub carrier ....








sweet fit and went together real nice ...





sussed a location for a grease nipple and stuck it back in the Ajax ...





centre drilled it, 4.5 mm for a grease port and then 10.4 mm for a 3/8" x 28 tap (BSG / 1/8" BSP) for a nipple











that ought to extend its life a bit





would've put it all back together, but waiting for some brake pads for it ... what's in the caliper is way beyond serviceable ... and explains the shortage of brakes, last time I used it .. much easier to do on the bench than grovelling under the back frame. It'll wait, 'til they arrive









thought I'd chop a few more of these .......





got eight sat and needed another eight for all the various things that need boss-ing up


need to find me a bigger 3 jaw chuck .... as per usual - used to have a couple of suitable candidates ... which went in the workshop clear out .... couldn't keep it all -- wasn't allowed
can bore them out to the required 70.2 mm then
need summat that'll take a 100 mm comfortably .... 'least they'm sat with t'others now, ready


Genny has been good to me ...





all displays as they should be and did a vid for people's acoustic delight .. to show just how quiet a 'silent-pak' can be


<a href="https://youtu.be/GlnRHX5LtOM" target="_blank">

genny behaved all day with one exception .... kick off !!!! ... did not wanna play ... so ..... earths off the starter - post filed back to bare, shiny stuff, as were the copper terminals and all dogged up ... went first flick and behaved for the rest of the day ... must remember to vaseline it all .... keep the old verdigris at bay, 'til next time ..... and beyond




and today ..... yet more paperwork for HMRC .. IHT forms - again and prepping sales blurb ...
sod giving an agent 2% for sweet **** all ...
we'd have to supply it all anyway ...
managed to sell me workshop site without their help to a 'national' .... think we can manage this one too .....


the Turpins in the bank wanted 2.5% of the entire estate to do the Probate paperwork -- for which we would have to supply ALL the info. anyway.
might make this a bit of a side line .... not rocket science

[v8druid]

so my day'd been completely shot ... again .... by the time we got back ... had some nibbles for a late lunch .... I stripped and cleaned Ken and Doug's Dyson, which kept shutting down and overheating, when Pam was trying to use it last week up there, clearing up ... never seen such a blocked Dyson .... sucking bloody well now though .... my lil' projects got left


Did manage to haul out a machine vice from its hiding place in a box after tea, gave that a strip and clean ...







then lugged it onto the Ajax, ready for a bit of action ....








gut muscles were complaining that night though ..... 'twas bloody heavier than I remember it being .. or i'm just getting old(er)


was gonna see if I can get that bush made for the Mountfield, in the morning ... and get it back together


so was time for bed - yet again ..... Sparts had me up at 04.00 the previous night .... howling down stairs .... thought he was hurt, the noise he was making, but nope ... he just wanted a cuddle ... poor lil bugger is losing/has lost the plot ..


forgot to say earlier in that original post .... the house has a huge stone barn attached to it ... bigger than the house with massive potential to extend it into the house ... all one building - hence Welsh long house ... the animals provided heat for the house .. with the barn incorporated it'd be a hell of a house .... there is a door into it upstairs in the house - sealed up as the upper floor in the barn has long since been removed, but a huge fireplace still exists in the end wall at the first floor level ..... If only I were forty again














and the views are just fab ..





can see the wonky church across the valley, where we buried Ken, under that tump

[v8druid]

so got the remnant out ....








and sussed a resolution to the problem .....


got a lovely bit of thick wall 1" seamless ... with a 1/2" bore





couple of inches of that was gonna get the treatment tomorrow .... with the Ajax .. bore it out to 18.5 and cleaned up a 3/4" reamer this evening, for the finishing touch .... going to make it 2" long and replace that damaged bush with it as a one piece .... it may even have been that way originally


's gotta be better than it is ATM .. and doesn't get a lot of use, or do any real speed ..... might introduce a grease nipple into the carrier though .. 's gotta help


now to search ebay for some brake pads for it .... what's in there are 'beyond tolerance' IMHDO ...


Keep forgetting to say ..... there're always lots more pix available than I put up ... for anyone wanting more piccy porn ... I still load all my stuff on 'Bucket ... for anyone interested ..... https://s1275.photobucket.com/user/v...?sort=3&page=1 ....
https://s1275.photobucket.com/user/v8druid/library/my bucket 2?page=1


all the folders are open/unlocked


we had one last delivery that day .... Hermes ... the guy is excellent, knows his patch and is always on time ..... and if anyone wants any signs making up .... thoroughly recommend this bloke ... so obliging .. and quick


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303155234155?ul_noapp=true


Llanthony & district show on Saturday .... ALL traffic has to go past Ken's place and there's a nicely positioned telegraph pole at the bottom of his drive ..... this was getting nailed to it tomorrow .... 'bout 12 ft in the air





after weeeeeeks of form filling and collating info. we are just about ready to submit all the IHT paperwork for probate ... the printer is still cooling down .. what a bloody job

so if any of you might wanna buy it
It's one of the last traditional Welsh long houses left in the valley, untouched ...LLanthony valley is a bit of a time warp .. there are no 'new builds' and never likely to be ... what's here is it .. and now't stays on the market long











£600k buys you that ... kitchen, bathroom, living room and three bedrooms .... with a n other house/building behind it which ain't been used for much more than storage in decades








Plus a newish steel frame circa 45' x 30' ,





another steel/timber barn





and several outbuildings. The potential is immense ... were I twenty years younger, I'd have already bought it


another £120k gets you a further 15 acres of pasture and woodland, the other side of the road, with/including the river along its lower boundary





it's a stunningly pretty parcel ... and if it doesn't sell for at least the asking, I WILL be buying it.


so £720k gets you the whole caboodle.
as always, it's "location, location, location" .... places up the valley just DO NOT come up


for anyone interested ... there are a load of images here ..... https://s1275.photobucket.com/user/v...?sort=3&page=1


wants/needs a lot of work, but'd be worth a serious bundle, done


most places up the valley go to 'incomers' ... the most recent 'incomer' has spent a couple of million so far .... but it's gonna be amazing, when he's finished it ...
Monty Don lives a couple of miles further up the valley - bought Pam's son in law's grand-dad's place .... and poured many at it


and a couple of miles down the valley is the Landmark Trust's latest project, just completed - was on the box a few weeks ago.


Llwyn Celyn ... https://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/sea...51563#Overview ....
they should have been shot for lowering the floors a foot - ruined the place ........... wouldn't surprise me if they had a sniff about TBH . Ken's is circa early 1600,s
not surprisingly its grade two listed

[v8druid]

been to Newport Weds morning, to St Joseph's hospital ... for Pam this time, for a change .... has a large mole type thing on the side of her face, by her ear, which she caught with a comb a few weeks back and has been giving her serious jip since .. GP referred her to a skin specialist ... appointment in several months, ..... so rang St Josephs and paid for a private consultation ... in less than two weeks ... gonna get sorted in the next couple of weeks, before the end of the month ... sorted .... and then shot back 'cos......


the bloody post office have done it again!!! .... text and email that morning saying - be in between 15.50 and 17.50 to take a delivery ....but ..... no show .. again
getting PO-ed with this caper ... .... if it's got an Abercarn label on it, when it eventually arrives, we will be having words


what is the point of paying for a service that just doesn't happen, when it could be got elsewhere


so whilst I'm waiting, the green stuff got a caning this afters ... should be good for a few more days .... nearly lost the countax into the drain sump in the shed pulling it out .... would appear the supports have succumbed to a spot of wet rot .... so after I'd finished i thought i'd better have a shufty, to see how bad it was .


'Course now't's ever simple .... the bloody mountfield was also sat on it ... and lo and behold it had a flat ... and i mean F L A T


So ... remove one back wheel after the air refused to stay in it .. tyre burgered ..... the two that came off the Dane were close enough, so one of them was gonna have to have it ...
wrestled the old one off





pity, cos it's not exactly slick ... might work with a tube ... only gets 15 PSI in 'em ... but no tube to hand, so wrestled the Dane's old one back on ... and stuck said wheel back on ... in the process of this i discovered an outer carrier bearing knackered in the trans-axle, so that's now sat by me bench awaiting attention, when I pick it up on there ...





but at least I could now get at the sump lid ..... once I'd supported the front wheel of the Wing





the sump is a collection point for four pipes and feeds the next chamber down the line, which also collects another four together as well








that too could do with a 'refresher' on a couple of the lid timbers


in fairness .... the one in the shed was out in the elements for six years and the other one's been out in all weathers, going on nine years ... not done too bad ... time for some repairs ...... and some new boots for the lil' traccy .... after i've sussed the trans axle issue
It's very handy with a trailer behind it, 'round the place and beats walking with a pile of gear


was surprised how little silt had accumulated in the shed sump .... again nine years old and gets a lot of water down it cleaned it out after tea ... and is now ready for attention.


So first job in the morning is lift the Mountfield onto the bench, lift Delbouy 's plastic pig chassis out of me trailer and go get some 50 x 50 x 6 angle for some new (and more permanent) supports for the sump lid and get them installed after a good coat of bituminous, then rip the trans axle off the little un and strip it to see what's required in the way of a new bearing.


there's always summat to keep me occupied ..... and that's just the tip of the proverbial ice berg


T'was time for bed .... I was knackered ..... this tyre changing mallarchy's hard work








well the day didn't go quite as planned .... me mate Pete wasn't there Friday, so the angle iron'd have to wait for another day .... replaced the bearers with some CLS ... after it'd had a liberal coating of bituminous ... then had to remake the deck cover as the bearers tying the boards together wasn't looking the best ..... can't believe how long all that took








but it's all safe and usable again now


me suds pump belts arrived ....








and one went on after I'd cleared up in the shed








I'd run it up tomorrow and give it a try ...


the Mountfield got a ride onto the bench before the tea bell got rung ...





and the trans axle fell out of it a little while later








sussed the problem with the outer carrier bearing ...





'tweren't there ..... 'least 90% of it wasn't

[v8druid]

Also been trying to suss out, for a while, why the speed indicator/limiter on said band saw has been so far out .... having found a pic of one the other night, I could see that some numpty had had it off and straightened it out .. God knows why?? so it had to have a bit of treatment the other day ..







to try to return it to its proper shape ...





and position ..... split it doing it .. some pretty tight bends required, to get the twists and angle changes required ..... but sod all the welder won't cure, the next time it's out though




was gonna mow the bloody green stuff this evening ..... 'til it pissed down for 20 minutes, half an hour ago ... bit slick now


this bit is in special need LOL





and's in even more dire need since I took that last week .... growing like hell ATM

Yodel's van came Friday and left more than a parcel ......








dunno what it was, but smelt like DOT4 to me ... LOL ... wonder how far he got?? .... TFR shifted it .. eventually ..... he was only parked there maybe 2-3 minutes ... hell of a leak for that short space of time .. wonder how big his brake master cylinder reservoir was ???






and on the subject of parcels ... 'they' get worse ...





posty told me, when he saw the label that there's a guy in the sorting office who doesn't seem able to distinguish between his Aber,s (there're a lot round here LOL ..... it got so bad at one time, they had a van running between Abercarn, Aberbeeg, Abertillery, Abersychan and Abergavenny ... swapping deliveries around FFS !!
posty thought the guy'd been sacked .... seems he's back :
so much for paying for tracked next day mail --- another 4+ day delivery

[v8druid]

been trying to find a new suds pump belt for me band saw for a while ...
eventually have tracked down some outfit doing Startrite Meba spares
but .....
they want 52 quid plus VAT for this and 15 quid to post it out FFS !!








it's 555mm long/circumference ... been trying to find a sewing machine belt or similar to no avail


was on the verge of biting the bullet, when i thought I'd have a.n.other go at Google for it and came up with another seller doing 'generic' belts for 38 quid ...... better !!


theeeeen found an outfit that makes 'em


just paid for two at £7.50 each plus £2.95 shipping plus the usual Vodka & Tonic


HTF do the first two sellers sleep at night/justify their exorbitant prices ???

[v8druid]

usual pilgrimage to Welland steam rally on Saturday ... started to pee down, half way up the M50 on the way there .... but'd reached a tolerable wetness, by our arrival ... told it'd lashed it down the previous night - we'd had sod all

IMHDO was a bit of a subdued event, compared to the usual 'carnival' atmosphere ... sadly.

Disappointing day TBH and was heading for the car, to catch up with the rest of 'em, to leave, when my eye was caught by a bit of kit i'd seen being dragged about earlier in the day, which'd looked at first glance like a big water pump ..... anyway

Turned out on closer inspection, to be a water brake dynamometer and they were just hooking up a gert Traction engine to it ..... departure was delayed
not often you get the chance to see one of these beasts flat out, under full load .... so for your delectation

takes a while to 'get going', but worth the wait ..... no idea on the eventual figures as it'd started to pee down and seemed to take 'em forever calculating the outputs
oh and watch the steam start to appear out of the brake's water reservoir tank