Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[Six-cylinder]

Yesterday morning I took the Rolls Royce to a local breakfast meet and loved the variety of cars visiting. Car of the day for me was the Vauxhall Victor 101 estate.

[Six-cylinder]

Last night I went to see the film “The Italian Job” for the first time in many years and had forgotten lots of the details. The best bit for me was the Turin Traffic jam, the roads full of 1960’s Fiats and other Italian cars had me desiring a 600D, 850 Coupe, 124 saloon and 124 Coupe.

The Milton Keynes Mini club gathered 19 classic Minis for the showing at Buckingham University Film Club.  Unfortunately, the radiator is still out of my Mini because it needed a new speedo cable. Then the cowling had a broken captive nut that needed fixing and we did not get it back together in time.

[Snake Charmer]

5 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Last night I went to see the film “The Italian Job” for the first time in many years

25 years ago l complained Christmas wasn't the same without The Italian Job so my other half bought me a copy on VHS. We had it on during Christmas dinner and when l rewound the tape l was a bit confused as to how l could hear the high speed rewind but the film was playing,  guess what was on TV? 🤣

[Six-cylinder]

This morning I had to run an errand and usually that would mean the Seicento for ease of parking and economy. The Range Rover has been sat unstarted for over a month and to avoid it getting a flat battery I decided to give it a run.

I set off then the air-con kicked in and and I changed the afternoon arrangements so I could keep using it!

[hairnet]

lmfao

homemade tart

 

[Six-cylinder]

Tonight was the Auto Culture gathering at Preston Bissett Nurseries.

One other shiter was also there, his car is in a photo?

[Six-cylinder]

A bit of work on the Mini this week, the new speedo cable fitted, radiator cleaned and re-fitted with new hoses. Thomas a friend of @Slowsilver and member of the Milton Keynes Mini club has been helping.

My drum brake Mini still needs the brakes adjusting as the back brakes come on first!

The hand brake quadrants need cleaning and lubricating as the handbrake does not release properly.

O-S headlight  needs replacing as it smoked inside the sealed beam unit! 

Steering column cowl has been repaired, but needs refitting

Front grill needs refitting

New fuel gauge sender needs fitting

Rear sound deadening, rear carpets and back seat need refitting

[Six-cylinder]

Friday evening was Milton Keynes Classic cars meeting, the weather was great so the Rolls got another run out. Again a great variety of cars, just l how I like it.

[Six-cylinder]

Saturday morning was MK Modern classics breakfast meeting. Lower numbers than in the past, but still worth the effort and not just because of the breakfast roll with sausage, bacon and egg with a coffee for £6!

The car I most wanted to take home was this Alfa.

[Six-cylinder]

Saturday evening my friend Duncan from the Triumph club came over because my Citroen DS headlights had flopped forward and dip beam was pointing 6 feet in front of the car, making night driving very difficult.

How to waste money! Fit self levelling headlight to a car fitted with self levelling suspension. I don't understand why Citroen did it. 

Adaptive headlight the old way, with levers and cables. We looked for broken bits but nothing was obvious apart from the plastic bushes that support the bar that links the two headlights are missing their retaining clips. There are bowden cables from the rear suspension that set the level and bouncing the car does not cause any wriggling from the cable so I suspect it has become disconnected from the rear suspension. The car is going to have to go on a lift for further investigation. As a quick fix we have used a cable tie to lift the headlights a little, fixed around the levelling damper and lever.

Don't get confused, the headlight levelling is separate from the rods that turn the inner main beam lights that turn with the steering.

[Six-cylinder]

This morning was Milton Keynes Mini Club, breakfast meeting at a local farm shop. It was pouring with rain, only 2 classic Minis and 2 Binies turned out. I didn't help with my Fiat along with others discovery, van etc!

There was a Rover 800 Coupe in the car park but I couldn't identify the driver.

[hairnet]

saturday breakfast lol

all about the bacon

[richardmorris]

6 minutes ago, hairnet said:

saturday breakfast lol

all about the bacon

Pick your own pig by the look of it. 

[Six-cylinder]

5 minutes ago, hairnet said:

saturday breakfast lol

all about the bacon

Sunday was Full English!

[Six-cylinder]

FoD hay has been cut today.

[Six-cylinder]

Today my friend Geoff who did all the welding and other jobs to get my Mini back on the road after its 25 years resting came to adjust the front brakes. While the wheel cylinders, hoses, adjusters etc had all be renewed a bit of use caused there to be to much pedal travel. Geoff also lubricated the handbrake quadrants which had been renewed, but the cable had not been returning freely when the hand brake was released.

Geoff identified the oil leak it had been suffering from as the pipe from the block to the oil filter. We got a nip on the union bolt but it still leaks so it needs new copper washers.

The picture of Geoff pushing the Mini is not as bad as it looks, it was simply the car had a low battery and it was easier to push it to flat ground for jacking than jump starting it.

We found the missing bolt for the thermostat housing and Geoff took it for a test drive. The good news is there are no coolant leaks after refitting the radiator. The bad news is the speedo is still not working after taking the radiator out to fit a new speedo cable.

They is further bad news in the driver's window glass has come out of its channel.

YES it needs a wash!

 

[GoGently]

Hi Chris ,

Test drive in the baby Citroen and 

My first breakdown.

accelerator pedal fell out of its channel and the gear linkage rubber joint disintegrated. 

Road side fixing then Enjoyed the ride.

[hairnet]

dribble

and you care it broke ❤️

 

[Six-cylinder]

1 hour ago, GoGently said:

Hi Chris ,

Test drive in the baby Citroen and 

My first breakdown.

accelerator pedal fell out of its channel and the gear linkage rubber joint disintegrated. 

Road side fixing then Enjoyed the ride.

Fantastic!

[Six-cylinder]

FoD hay was bailed today, square bales this year. Not a great crop, but a chance for a second crop as done quite early if conditions are right. 

[Six-cylinder]

Back on the Mini today, was part successful.

Driver's door glass refitted.

New copper washers on the oil transfer pipe seemed to have stopped the leak.

Thomas gave the car a more vigorous test drive, he thinks the brakes are still a bit weak. The only things that were not replaced when the car went back on the road were the brake shoes that looked brand new so maybe they have glazed over.

Air filter refitted.

Grill refitted.

The speedo cable is turning at the head end when the cable is disconnected but the speedo is not registering when connected.

The O-S headlight dip is not working and today the front side lights stopped working.

We still need to fit the new fuel gauge sender, too much petrol in the tank today.

The rest of the interior needs refitting.

 

[richardmorris]

On 08/07/2025 at 18:03, Six-cylinder said:

Today my friend Geoff who did all the welding and other jobs to get my Mini back on the road after its 25 years resting came to adjust the front brakes. While the wheel cylinders, hoses, adjusters etc had all be renewed a bit of use caused there to be to much pedal travel. Geoff also lubricated the handbrake quadrants which had been renewed, but the cable had not been returning freely when the hand brake was released.

Geoff identified the oil leak it had been suffering from as the pipe from the block to the oil filter. We got a nip on the union bolt but it still leaks so it needs new copper washers.

The picture of Geoff pushing the Mini is not as bad as it looks, it was simply the car had a low battery and it was easier to push it to flat ground for jacking than jump starting it.

We found the missing bolt for the thermostat housing and Geoff took it for a test drive. The good news is there are no coolant leaks after refitting the radiator. The bad news is the speedo is still not working after taking the radiator out to fit a new speedo cable.

They is further bad news in the driver's window glass has come out of its channel.

YES it needs a wash!

 

You have a blue headlamp melord.

[LightBulbFun]

10 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

You have a blue headlamp melord.

Tis Tungsten Pentoxide (W2O5) formed when there is a slow airleak see @SiC's reversing bulb for another example

On 23/02/2022 at 18:29, SiC said:

What on earth has happened to my reversing light bulb?

if there is a fast air leak or all the air has already leaked in then you form Tungsten Trioxide (WO3) which is a milky-white colour instead, here is a video I took recently where I had a 300W incandecent lightbulb which I had suspected had gone to air, so I turned it up slowly on the Variac and recorded its last moments

 

you get some interesting patterns and swirls due to convention currents within the bulb which are visualised quite nicely by turning it up slowly  

the end result can be better seen in this picture of another failed large GLS lamp photographed by a friend of mine  

[richardmorris]

7 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Tis Tungsten Pentoxide (W2O5) formed when there is a slow airleak see @SiC's reversing bulb for another example

if there is a fast air leak or all the air has already leaked in then you form Tungsten Trioxide (WO3) which is a milky-white colour instead, here is a video I took recently where I had a 300W incandecent lightbulb which I had suspected had gone to air, so I turned it up slowly on the Variac and recorded its last moments

 

you get some interesting patterns and swirls due to convention currents within the bulb which are visualised quite nicely by turning it up slowly  

the end result can be better seen in this picture of another failed large GLS lamp photographed by a friend of mine  

Weirdly, I have tungsten trioxide on my lab bench as a combustion aid for the elemental microanalysis we do. It is orange. We also use vanadium pentoxide which is yellow. My final year project at university was on the thermal desorption of tungsten oxides. I am now running a small analytical lab and my lab partner is a professor at Connecticut university. 

[Six-cylinder]

12 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Weirdly, I have tungsten trioxide on my lab bench as a combustion aid for the elemental microanalysis we do. It is orange. We also use vanadium pentoxide which is yellow. My final year project at university was on the thermal desorption of tungsten oxides. I am now running a small analytical lab and my lab partner is a professor at Connecticut university. 

So can you fix my Lucas Headlight!

[richardmorris]

2 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

So can you fix my Lucas Headlight!

No, but I can tell you how thick the tungsten layer on the headlamp reflector is.

[mintwth]

On 10/07/2025 at 20:58, richardmorris said:

No, but I can tell you how thick the tungsten layer on the headlamp reflector is.

By giving it an IQ test? 

[richardmorris]

6 hours ago, mintwth said:

By giving it an IQ test? 

That only works on the nut behind the wheel. 

[Six-cylinder]

Today a viscous gang of Mini fixers turned up and tried to overwhelm my Mini in to submission!

Once again some tasks were achieved, but not the big one, the brakes still have a poor performance. The shoes always had plenty of meat on them but are 25+ years old so after two goes at adjusting them and emery cloth glaze busting did not improve matters I will order some new ones. It has had all new wheel cylinders, master cylinder, hoses, pipes etc and the adjusters work fine. 

[Six-cylinder]

Tonight I took the DS to a small local Citroen meeting.