Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - Progress with the Mini Mayfair, if a little slow.

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I happen to have two Peek Elite heads: one for road traffic, one for pedestrians. I also have an ex-German head, but that's in a shed in Southend....

Quite some long distance signalling

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, Fumbler said:

Quite some long distance signalling

Still better than virtue-signalling. 

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

It would help even more if you could could provide a helicopter! 

Roflcopter?

[hairnet]

is the RR nearest the door cos its broke and wont block the others in

 

[Six-cylinder]

3 minutes ago, hairnet said:

is the RR nearest the door cos its broke and wont block the others in

Its not been used since FoD 22 Aug, needs diesel, emptying out and a wash. Has a parts collection mission on Sunday to do, also has to reposition the boat this weekend. 

Will it Start?

[hairnet]

its BL no it wont

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

19 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I think the Traffic Light would be the more cost effective option mind!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274954809655

the Seller even has 4 for sale so you could set up proper junctions either side of your property  

(and yes I have known of these for some time, and no I have not bought one!......

There's been a lot of decommissioned Peek Elite and Siemens Helios heads - all carrying halogen bulbs - offered for sale; some of them aren't very old either. The main reason seems to be that they were replaced by brand-new Siemens low-voltage LED heads, particularly in the TfL area. A bit wasteful to replace the whole head, given that the only changes necessary are the internal transformers and LED modules.

Peek Elite heads are quite compact, and were responsible for introducing the European style to British roads round about 1997. Siemens Helios less so. A lot less cumbersome than the terrible inflexible Mellor head that was previously the design standard.

[Six-cylinder]

22 hours ago, hairnet said:

its BL no it wont

 

You were Wrong!

Started with just a second or two turning on the starter.

I managed to buy diesel for it today in Tesco, but several of the diesel pumps were still capped off. It says my range is now 506 miles so with an 89 Ltr tank that works out at 25.8 mpg. Low but its last use was back and forth to the FoD and around in the field, usually it does 33 mpg, that would be 646 mile range.

[hairnet]

make it point at 4 o clock

 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

make it point at 4 o clock

 

Best moment driving my x1/9 is to get the dials cross-eyed. About 7,000rpm and 110mph.

[hairnet]

did have the visa pointed at 7 o clock

[Six-cylinder]

Mrs6C noticed some condensation inside the Mercedes E320 Coupe, I put the dehumidifier in it last night. I collected about 600 ml of water in 6 hours at cheap rate electricity I ran it for.

[hairnet]

filter that and put it in ya laphroaig

 

[Six-cylinder]

Winter is coming, todays project was to move the boat out of the grass onto hard standing.

This is the first time this Range Rover has pulled the boat, the boat on its trailer had sank into the ground and was too low to connect on, the jockey wheel winding handle was partly seized so Mrs6C said can you lower the car. What a struggle I couldn't work the technology and Mrs6C got a scissor jack out and lifted the nose of the trailer to get the ball under it. While she was packing stuff away I read the manual more carefully and now I know how to raise and lower the RR!

[chaseracer]

As the Owd Giffer has always advised: if all else fails, RTFM!

[hairnet]

chris needs to buy stronger glasses

or buy cars with less buttons

 

[AnthonyG]

On 10/8/2021 at 5:58 PM, hairnet said:

you have a jag in that colour..........

The Jag is much closer to Nightfire Red.

Amaranth is a wacky purple if memory serves….

[Six-cylinder]

Autumn leaves are falling.

Add to that 6:17 pm and it was getting dark.

[sutty2006]

Keep seeing small narrow boats like that on the canal near me. Interesting little things they are! 

[Six-cylinder]

29 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

Keep seeing small narrow boats like that on the canal near me. Interesting little things they are! 

Ours is unusual as it is called a trail boat and is made of GRP in the style of British canal boats. Most canal boats even the short ones are made of steel, they are too heavy to tow with a large SUV and require a boat crane to pop them in a canal. Ours only needs a slipway where you reverse the trailer into the canal and the boat floats off.

Alternatively to a slipway you can launch it down a few scaffold boards into a canal under restoration!

It looks so normal when it is in the water.

[richardmorris]

On 10/17/2021 at 3:42 PM, Six-cylinder said:

Mrs6C noticed some condensation inside the Mercedes E320 Coupe, I put the dehumidifier in it last night. I collected about 600 ml of water in 6 hours at cheap rate electricity I ran it for.

I’ve told you it leaks. For the last few years I’ve had the front passenger carpet out of the car as that side collected the water.

[Six-cylinder]

2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

I’ve told you it leaks.

Another 400ml this morning.

[Mrs6C]

1 minute ago, richardmorris said:

I’ve told you it leaks.

You did! We had some heavy rain, followed by a warm day and I remembered what you said, so kept an eye on it...

[richardmorris]

Like the cx DTR I had this is the only one very annoying issue I had with the car in nearly 10 years. I think it’s the heater fan assembly on the bulkhead.

[richardmorris]

Seats look good for 130,000 miles though don’t they!

[Mrs6C]

On 17/10/2021 at 18:53, Six-cylinder said:

Teal has a lot in common with her FoD companion, Dolly the Model 70...

Both:

1. Have GRP bodies when most other models of their general types had steel bodies

2. Are, equally unusually, steered via a steering wheel, which was a rare option for their respective models

3. Are models that also had tiller steering options!

4. Were available new in 1978 - the last year of manufacture for one and the first year of manufacture for the other

5. Have twin cylinder engines

6. Have one forward and one reverse gear

7. Do not require any kind of driving licence to operate them legally on their usual transport network

8. Have a single seat for the driver and no passenger seat

9. Get blown about by high winds!

10. Have a 'niche' following!

11. Used to be painted blue. over their original GRP colour... Teal has been repainted since...

12. Arrived at the FoD on the back of another wheeled conveyance

I dare say both bob about in the water quite well, although only one of them is supposed to be there!

There are probably other similarities too...

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 10/17/2021 at 3:42 PM, Six-cylinder said:

Mrs6C noticed some condensation inside the Mercedes E320 Coupe, I put the dehumidifier in it last night. I collected about 600 ml of water in 6 hours at cheap rate electricity I ran it for.

Almost as bad as my bedroom wardrobe. I use the condensate to water the houseplants....

[sutty2006]

Interesting info about the shorty barges. Next time I see one I’ll snap a photo of it

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Teal has a lot in common with her FoD companion, Dolly the Model 70...

Both:

1. Have GRP bodies when most other models of their general types had steel bodies

2. Are, equally unusually, steered via a steering wheel, which was a rare option for their respective models

3. Are models that also had tiller steering options!

4. Were available new in 1978 - the last year of manufacture for one and the first year of manufacture for the other

5. Have twin cylinder engines

6. Have one forward and one reverse gear

7. Do not require any kind of driving licence to operate them legally on their usual transport network

8. Have a single seat for the driver and no passenger seat

9. Get blown about by high winds!

10. Have a 'niche' following!

11. Used to be painted blue. over their original GRP colour... Teal has been repainted since...

12. Arrived at the FoD on the back of another wheeled conveyance

I dare say both bob about in the water quite well, although only one of them is supposed to be there!

There are probably other similarities too...

 

thats impressive  although I will say on point 7, you did need and did get a licence to drive a Model 70, or any sort of invalid vehicle/carriage, back in the in the day

you could/did even run around on L plates for a while with a provisional licence and got driving lessons with an instructor crammed inside with you

(at least by the time of the Model 70 thats how it worked, I dont see how you could have an instructor with you on a Stanley Argson! but I think back in the Argson days you just had to show you could drive round the hospital car park and they would give you a licence! although I do have period pictures of Stanley Argsons on L plates so perhaps it was a bit more involved then that even back in the 50s!)

I sadly have never been able to quite figure what exactly that licence was however, I know there was the Category J invalid carriage licence but I dont know what definition of invalid carriage that applied to, did it apply to all invalid vehicles, or did  it apply only to literal invalid carriages (ie an invalid vehicle bellow 254Kg) or did was it only to Mobility scooters (bellow 150Kg)

https://www.gov.uk/old-driving-licence-categories

its listed here as just for mobility scooters, but given the time period it was issued 1976 to 1986 I suspect its true meaning may have been lost to time as I could see someone reading "invalid carriage" and just assuming that means Mobility scooter, but it is worth noting the legal definition of a Mobility scooter (which where and still are called an Invalid carriage confusingly!) Came into act in 1970 so perhaps they did have their own licence category before they where allowed to be driven with no licence as they are today

but its modern definition of "B1 Invalid carriages only" fits in much more with an actual 254Kg Invalid carriage or 255Kg+ Invalid vehicle, because B1 is for small cars/goods vehicles bellow 450Kg/550Kg

 

 

and on the last bit, although I hope I never actually find out, from what I have read of period user accounts, Model 70's do not bob on water sadly! (that Model 70 did survive but was scrapped and replaced in the mid 1980's due to Chassis corrosion issues, no surprises as to what may  have been the cause of that!)

although to be fair that was more a stream/shallow river he was trying to cross, so perhaps they need a deeper body of water before they start to float, but again one of those things im not planning on finding out! LOL

 

and here all I was just going to post this picture and suggest it may be why @Six-cylinder does not RTFM!

 

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Autumn leaves are falling.

Add to that 6:17 pm and it was getting dark.

Gatwick car?