Bush Mechanic

Thank you Sir, it all makes sense, now. And I already have a large supply of panti-hose on hand, for straining the must of homemade wine. Kinky? Who, me?

Mr. Grimy, Sir. The stocking filters certainly have much appeal. Unfortunately, the return hose on my beast (and most others) heads in an uphill direction. Wondering how the debris gets collected there without falling back to the head on shut-down. This why the cone 'fishtrap' element of Ed's unit caught my eye. I am probably missing something, here, or perhaps over-thinking it. Thoughts on this,please?

Ed, have you had a chance to check the coolant filter you put in the return hose? I would be interested in your verdict on it, if you do. I've been hanging off getting one sent out, waiting for the 'Ed' tick of approval.

Wayne, thanks for that explanation. How silly do I feel? Interestingly the Cresent brand wrench I have here dosn't have the arrow, either. I've never seen an arrow on one. Or seen one break, (although stretched jaws are not uncommon). Now I'll have to over-ride my instincts if using one. Old dogs and new tricks, eh.

Thanks for that, Frank. I stand corrected and learn something new every day. The link didn't explain why they are used that way around. My logic and experience has always been that the point of least leverage on the moving jaw is at the base. And down under, we don't have arrows on our 'shifters'. Incidently, they have become antique curios around here since I discovered Nippex 'parallel jaws'.

The worst part of this is having the crescent wrench on the wrong way round for an 'undo'. If nothing else, the moving jaw will be stretched. Apologies for pointing out the bleeding onvious.

'and my starter sticks sometimes.' So they just sell him a new starter. That says it all, to me. Ok,Ok, they were demonstrating the depth of their parts inventory. But some of us still live with the concept of repairing what is there, if possible.

Probably an electric skateboard under there, but who cares? I just like his style.

Last time that I saw this, on my brothers' new/secon-hand Landcruiser, one of the crown wheel and pinion assemblies had been changed, and the replacement ratio was different. Ok in mud, but run in four wheel drive on bitumen it caused a lot of stress, and the tyres went away very rapidly. Apparently felt as though the hand brake was applied. It is just possible that this could be the cause here.

At an iron ore mine workshop that I was visiting in Western Australia, there were three crushed Toyota Landcruisers in the rubbish tip. The foreman told us that once one mechanic had reversed out of a service bay over a Landcruiser, they all wanted to try it. The boss came down and put a stop to it after three vehicles were crushed. 'Accidents happen, boss'. OK, OK, you've had your fun, no more squashing of vehicles! Incidentally, there was a brand new Lancruiser deisel engine in that tip, as well. They had needed an injector pump, so took it off the spare engine in the store, and dumped the rest of the engine. Apparently that sort of waste is not uncommon in the mining industry here.

An air flow metre, (carb balancer) under the seat of an MG that I bought in the US. It was accompanied by a good quality set of drill bits. The 'Dykes' had me wondering as well. Called side-cutters in Aus. (And all of my 'Dykes' have blue covers).

My .032" thumb-nail gets a fair work-out around here. Points are set by eye, then a dwell metre, aren't they?

Yes, me also. It is surprising who has a Minerva tucked away.

The people running this site should be able to help. Many good photos under ' Minerva Owners'. The site is in Dutch, but I'm sure that there was an English option before it was upgraded. Perhaps I cannot see the button. Also caters for other Belgian makes. http://minervisten.simplesite.com/440624113

Dang-blast it, Mum, I forgot the rabbit traps.

Excellent! Thank you Jeff, for that in depth reply. You have put my mind at rest. I am not familiar with SPI products, but I'm very happy with the Wattyl epoxy primer that I have used on several cars in the past. No doubt a similar product. I will go with a sanding sealer first on the door shut faces. (It's a tourer body, and no doubt will be subjected to rain at times). Then carry on as for the sheet-metal. As you mentioned, the complete wood structure will get the sealer/primer before the sheet-metal goes on. It's interesting that you mention glue. So many people have told me that glue is not used in car bodies, in order to allow for flexing. But as I dismantled the remains of this body, I found that the builder, Vandenplas in Belgium, had glued almost every (and possibly every) joint. And many of them were still holding fast, after 97 years. A mixture of nails, screws and dowels were added, as the joint dictated. So I have rebuilt it in the same manner, as faithful to the original structure as I can make it. Possibly the 'no glue' dictum applied to closed car bodies, which have different twisting stresses to those of tourers. Thanks again, Mick.

Jeff, you are a bit ahead of me, and may be able to help. I am new to painting wooden framed cars. It looks like some of the wood frame is exposed and visible? I was wondering how you prepped the timber before applying the primer. The body that I am re-wooding at the moment has the wooden door pillars visible when finished. Originally they were hand painted in the top-coat colour. As it is raw wood, I'm thinking I need to seal it before the primer goes on. I have some water based primer/sealer ready to go on, but am a bit concerned that the grey etch primer may not get along with the water based sealer. Any thoughts on this? I will be painting it in what we call Acrylic Laquer over here. Very nice job, by the way. But that was to be expected, after observing your mechanical work.

I confess that this happened to me in my youth. Fitted new press type ball joints in the street, with a hammer. This distorted them enough to make them tight. Exactly the same driving symptoms. The car passed it's roadworthiness check, but I had to fit another set of ball joints, as it was dangerous to drive. That is where I would look first.

As stated in my post above. 'To lengthen a spanner, standard practice would be to use a ring/open-ender, with another ring spanner hooked into the open ender. Which is, no doubt, what you guys said, but the terminology left me behind'. It seems my terminology also left you behind, Mr. Padgett. I'm well aware that us Aussies speak differently, and that our humour and irony is often completely missed on the US forums, but the cultural differences help to keep it interesting.

This American spanner talk has left me a little confused, Guys. 'Box End' is possibly an Aussie 'ring spanner', closed circle at each end. Open ender is of course the one you use to round off nuts. 'Flare nut wrench'? Could it be an injector spanner, a ring spanner with a cut-out to slip over the injector pipe? And what do you call your sockets? Umm, those individual short round tube spanners with a square shaft drive. The back-bone of the tool-box. To lengthen a spanner, standard practice would be to use a ring/open-ender, with another ring spanner hooked into the open ender. Which is, no doubt, what you guys said, but the terminology left me behind. And thank you for your patience with us Aliens.

That's interesting. I had not heard of them getting a VW engine. I imagine they had to beef up the frame a little to handle all that horsepower.

As Ernest Hemmingway said, 'Always use enough gun'.

The Trabant seems to have died a fitting death in the former Eastern Soviet states, but I see a few on the road in the poorer rural areas of Latvia/Lithuania/Estonia region. More so ten years ago, and fast becoming an odd-ball machine there too. (As if they weren't already!) Many finished up in the UK, where they became a trendy accessory in the 80's. I was rather tempted by a well kept example in an Estonian car yard, at a ridiculously low price. But when you get it home, what do you do with it? They are funny little things, made from cardboard and plastic, and a smoky twin cylinder motor-bike engine. And the poor old Ruskies had to pay in advance, and wait up to three years for delivery! They are turning up in Soviet museums, now.

Travelling through Armenia shortly before the covid, and we were struck by the very large concentration of Ladas. Probably above 50% of all cars in the countryside, and 25% in Yerevan, the capital. They appeared to mostly be early models, with a predominance of sedans, but also a good number of the NIva 4x4s. While most were in rough shape, a few had oviously been completely restored. We would be travelling carefully over rough unsealed roads in our motor-home, and the little Ladas would pass us at speed, with the suspension banging away on the potholes. In the villages there would be a workshop or two with Ladas being repaired, and parts cars out the back. The Armenians regard them as reliable little cars, so I guess that depends on view point and experience. The bodies fare better in the dryer Armenian environment than they do in Russia. Armenia appeared to be the poorest of the former Soviet states that we have visited, so I came to the conclusion that it has become a graveyard for Soviet cars, the Lada in particular. Something akin to the Mexican fleet of US cars. While there are many Ladas in daily use in the Russian countryside, the relative numbers are nothing like those in Armenia.

My son is rather proud of the extensive repairs he has just completed on his Golf. So someone sent me this.