seth

Via RR, quite possibly as a result of posts by Spotted Laurel and/or Pogweasel (RIP). Wuvvum, remember those good old days when there were only a handful of posts a day but all of them were of value? #notlikeitusedtobe

Exceedingly happy to have driven my friend's Commer, possibly its first motion under its own power for nearly 40 years. Very mixed emotions though as it is very sad that he didn't survive to see this day. MOT soon.

I made a small guillotine blade out of silver earlier. Snagged my finger on something as I was filing the edge resulting in bloodstains all over it. Mrs_Seth thought this a bit too 'authentic' for a decorative item.

That looks like 2 days really well spent. Neatly done

I bought a book via the Internet last week and began reading it at the weekend. It was printed in 1970 but consists of parts of a Cyclopedia written in 1819/20. It seems to be an actual copy of the original text and as a result the letter 's' is often written using a character that looks like an 'f' This is somewhat lightening up what might otherwise be quite dry reading especially as I am managing to get Mrs and Ickle_Seth in hysterics by reading certain sections aloud. For example.... "The defcriptions of a machine of this kind is given in Dr Defaguliers Experimental Philofophy, and Dr Hutton fays he has feen one, that profeffes to meafure fo fmall a portion as the fortieth part of a fecond, but that it cannot be ftopped with certainty within the tenth part of the propofed degree of accuracy." Inidividual words that work out quite nicely are 'paffage', fuppofe, 'fubject' and 'fpiral fpring' comes up a lot too.

Yow! Panhard spotted in the wild! I'd be well chuffed with that.

I think that new design does improve the situation of a couple of the issues mentioned so far. One of the problems with the old rotor tips was keeping them cool. By effectively moving the sharp rotor tips to three sharp points of the housing their temperature can be much more easily managed and so failure would be much less likely. Also someone mentioned the heat loss due to the combustion chamber area. Similarly that new rotor is so hollow and spindly perhaps that can also be effectively cooled? The application mentioned in the article about these being used as single speed generators in a hybrid vehicle makes a lot of sense.

I desperately want to put a set of the four stub wobbly webs on the Herald... These are not my favourite but are propably the most odd set of wheels I've owned. These Tru-spokes are probably my favourites though.

More than likely. Stainless exhaust systems are usually made with different spec metals for the pipes and the silencers. I think its to do with the need for the pipes to have to put up with more vibration and twisting without fatigue cracknig. The pipework can often take on a rusty looking appearance after some time. If you're the sort to park your car at a show with mirrors underneath it to show how perfect it is then you can always spend every other day uder there polishing it to keep it looking fresh but otherwise its probably best to drive it and not worrry about it for a decade or so.

Excellent . Once you get the rear brakes working as they should you'll probably still find they offer nothing new to the experience of pressing the middle pedal.

I was lucky enough to work for him on and off for a while as a way of having some stable income when I was starting my own business. Learnt a huge amount while I was there. His current major project is building up a DB4 GT Zagato body from scratch which is a quite incredible thing to see.

I went to see a friend earlier today who I'd not seen in ages. While I was there a customer dropped by to have him repair a wheel, bringing it round in his 1914 Cadillac Model 50. 6 litres 4 cylinder.

It is probably true to say that no car competing at Goodwood that is competetive (ie. within some chance of winning) bears much similarity in the way of tuning and set up to cars that raced in the '50s or '60s. Just look at the ride heights for a start.

Sorry to hear your trip was a bit miserable at times Trig (and others). The rain does its best to ruin the day there I reckon. Your first and fourth famous people are Tiff Needel and Derek Bell. DUnno the other two. More recent touring car drivers probably. Nice to see you took a photo fo the white Elan ARD1C. Belongs to a family friend who has had it since 1968.

I've been three times too. First one was on a journo ticket and was an amazing sunny day out for myself and Mrs_Seth even if we were stood only feet away from where Jochen Mass nearly killed himself by landing upside down in a Lancia D50 grand prix car . Second time a freind offered me a spare Friday ticket on the Wednesday before and that was amazing weather too though I had to leave by about 2pm so spent a mad few hours running round trying to see what I could. The third time we went as a paying family for the Sunday and it bucketed down all afternoon so that I ended up getting drenched as Mrs_and Ickle_Seth went and sat in the car in the car park. Not really the enjoyable day I had been looking forward too particularly when the cost is considered.

I've been in and whizzed around a couple of times in recent years on Autojumble days. My feeling about Beaulieuaueaeu is that it suffers from having been bang up to date and modern in the mid 1970s. As museums have moved on I think it has struggled to modernise. I remember the fuss made over that steel structure the Le-mans cars were/are (?) attached to when it really doesn't add much to the experience. The cars are all crammed in with little space between them, especially upstairs. I'm looking forward to my next trip to Gaydon (next year perhaps?) to see how the new wing ties in. Save up the money and go to the Louwmann in The Hague. That is a truly amazing place.

A coupe of thoughts that I hope might be helpful Not sure why you were chasing the metal around the floor in your first attempt. There shouldn't be any force going in to the welded area. The wire should melt into the base metal without pushing back at all. Have you watched someone welding or looked up YouTube vids or anything? Just, it is very helpful to know what is supposed to be happening. Does the helmet have adjustable levels of darkness? If you can't see what you are doing try turning it down a bit. I would be surprised that that machine would need to be up as far as '5' to weld 1.1mm sheet. I know when I first started welding I had a tendency to be all excited about it and move too fast with too much power. It can actually be a relatively slow process with quite fine movements involved. I'd suggest turning the power right down to 1 or 2 and trying again. If the wire is pushing back then the wire speed it too fast. While you're pracising it is probably best to get a feel for the amount of metal that is melting and then worry about the benefits of full penetration once you feel you have some more control.

I've no idea how it disappeared and, as said restorer, have shot myself repeatedly ever since. I'll probably use the remaining original one (currently screwed to the shed wall with other souveniers) as a towing number plate once the second restoration is done.

Its been nearly six and a half years (gulp!) since I put a Japanese engine in our Herald and I've barely touched it since - not even the SU carbs I fitted it with. In the 4 years leading up to that I'd got through three 1500 Triumph engines.

The original owner of my May '70 built Oxford must not have been in their right minds then. But then they did buy a Morris Oxford in 1970 so were probably quite traditional in outlook. Annoyingly one of the original plates went missing during its first restoration.

Now trying to think of an appropriate 'something'...

Re-engineering the top mounts on my Hillman's front struts to give me about 3/4" more suspension travel was a great success.

Can someone who has alternative means of contacting Hirst send him my best and that I hope to see him somewhere again in the future. Ta!