Second study in brown

[snaarman]

OK. Here's the second set of six images on the car fettling theme. Stir any memories?

I've got 12, so enough to make a calendar :-)



Pete

[David M]

Re: Second study in brown

Wow, a Gunsen's Colortune, I'd forgotten all about those.

Oh and we've got the weather you need for your Subaru Pete. We got 3 inches of wet snow overnight on top of the 6 inches already on the ground. This morning we got a mix of rain and more wet snow which is now freezing.

[alfbranch]

Re: Second study in brown

Nice work they should go together well.

Wow, a Gunsen's Colortune, I'd forgotten all about those.

I have owned or have all but a colortune

[shirley]

Re: Second study in brown

Hi Pete,
I think this is a brilliant idea for a calendar. I do think the first set were better than the second set, they seemed more striking, but they are all good and I am sure your friend will enjoy the gift.
Shirley

[peak4]

Re: Second study in brown

Good idea for a calendar; I could probably do one with bits that have either broken or dropped off the Landrover over the years, oh and I've still got a Colourtune myself.

[Zuiko]

Re: Second study in brown

Ah, feeler gauges for adjusting the tappets, no workshop should be without them. Next you'll be showing pictures of grinding paste for seating new valves into the block after a decoke.

Maybe we should start a "Show Us Your Tools" thread?

[Seonnaidh]

Re: Second study in brown

Tappets? De-Coke. You'll be talking about replacing a fan belt with a stocking next!
I can remember using a Gunson's Colour Tune on my Mk3 Triumph Spitfire and struggling to get both carbs balanced. Then along came my father and did it in no time at all and by ear!
He was a fashion designer by profession but restored Aston Martins and Jaguars as a hobby. I could lap in valves and make replacement gaskets from corn flake packets before I passed the 11 +.

[snaarman]

Re: Second study in brown

Hands up those of us who got bored after 15 minutes with the wooden stick hand lapping valves and reached for the Black and Decker

[DerekC]

Re: Second study in brown

Hands up those of us who got bored after 15 minutes with the wooden stick hand lapping valves and reached for the Black and Decker

I wish! I definately wasn't allowed to do that. I served my time in a motor cycle dealership, when engines still had points and tappets or shims. As an apprentice it soon became your job to do the boring valve lapping.

[jdal]

Re: Second study in brown

These are great Pete, looks like they were taken in my dad's shed.

I've only once worked on an engine - a Villiers 250cc twin 2 stroke. I ground the head down using grinding paste on a mirror in a futile attempt to make my Franny Barnett go faster. For some reason I still have a set of feeler gauges in the telephone table. Why? I've never ever needed them.

[Seonnaidh]

Re: Second study in brown

Pete I really like your images so nostalgic.
John you've made me smile with fond memories of my friend Kevin and his Franny Barnett.
My parents wouldn't help me financially to get a motorbike but my father brought home a 250cc Royal Enfield Continental GT which some kid had wrecked the engine by thrashing it to death. The deal was "If you can fix it you can have it".
Oh happy days.
As for using the Black & Decker to lap valves?
Shh, only when my father wasn't looking.

[Zuiko]

Re: Second study in brown

I wish! I definately wasn't allowed to do that. I served my time in a motor cycle dealership, when engines still had points and tappets or shims. As an apprentice it soon became your job to do the boring valve lapping.

No chance, my Dad made sure I did all the valve lapping, said it was the best way to learn. Mind you, I always was cack-handed with a spanner and haven't worked on an engine for years. Dad was brilliant, he could do anything with cars.

[al_kaholik]

Re: Second study in brown

Hermatite

Some of my favourite garage tools are those which are home made/adapted.

Tappets, shims, points are all familiar territory. As is a timing gun - when was the last time you saw someone break one of those out?!

Presumably imperial feelers?

And I like the irony of the hammer and screwdriver together. As if one is ever used without the other!

[Swordfish]

Re: Second study in brown

Good to see an abused screwdriver and a Birmingham screwdriver (aka a hammer) in the same pic.

Martin

[snaarman]

Re: Second study in brown

Hermatite

And I like the irony of the hammer and screwdriver together. As if one is ever used without the other!

Me? Hammer. Screwdriver? With my reputation??

Oh I've changed brake shoes, plugs, points, oil filters (oil runs up your arm..).. I once changed the rear subframe on an Austin 1100. However the most ambition job I ever did was changing the clutch in a Porsche 911. Even now I can't believe I did that single handed.

Meanwhile I discover crawling under the Subaru to fit anti roll bar bushes turns out to be painful and surprisingly difficult. Were bolts always done up this tight, or am I getting weak in my old age?

Pete