Ask a Shiter

[Chas4545]

Checked pressures tonight and both front tyres were 5psi under what they should be... 

Back up to the correct pressure and it was much lighter again but I'll do the belt at the weekend anyway. Oh, and check the tyre pressures more often 

I learnt the hard way to check tyres when cold at home. Many peeps run around on low pressures cos they checked them at the fuel place when they were hot. Bad news for bikers especially. BTW  I miss my  740 very much.

[oman5]

This may seem like a stupid question. When you drive backwards, is the mileometer supposed to wind backwards, ie count down towards 0?

I only ask as I've just changed the non working speedo head in the allegro for a working one and it does exactly this. Front end jacked up, engine running with wheels trundling away in mid air in reverse, and it's counting down "Christine" style. The car isn't magically healing itself though, and mrs Oman hasn't choked on a hamburger in it. My jack Russell was sick in the back, mind.

[andy18s]

Not quite a California 250 GT but an interesting image non the less

[explosive-cabbage]

Need help and advice ASAP! Posted this once but no replies etc etc.

 

Need to know weather I am upping my Gixen bids on compressors or not.

 

Please watch the video and all is explained.

 

Contains shite content!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomOhGKRR1g

 

 

Please help!

 

Should I just purchase another compressor off eBay?

[sheffcortinacentre]

yes mechanical speedos work backwards when in reverse, duno if electrickery ones do?

[Alan_Green]

yes mechanical speedos work backwards when in reverse, duno if electrickery ones do?

 

My mate Ferris says it doesn't work with all cars: 

 

[dave21478]

Need help and advice ASAP! Posted this once but no replies etc etc.

 

Need to know weather I am upping my Gixen bids on compressors or not.

 

Please watch the video and all is explained.

 

Contains shite content!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomOhGKRR1g

 

 

Please help!

 

Should I just purchase another compressor off eBay?

 

 

No idea re the motor, but in my experience a motor that will start if flicked by hand generally has a problem with the capacitor.

 

However - isnt welding on the tank more than a little bit dangerous? Especially if you ran out of gas....if those welds have made weak or brittle points in the metal, well....these things run at about 8 bar normally? If a weld fails while you are standing near it, it will quite possibly kill you.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGZxmIBkaU

 

 

I would bin that one pronto and buy another, and if you have to weld something onto it, weld to the wheel supports, handle etc and not the tank.

These things are inspected at manufacture and tested to much higher than their working PSI to verify the integrity of the tank, but all bets are off once you have prodded it with a MIG. The video I posted shows what can happen - ok thats a tyre, but its what happens when something under large pressure suddenly fails. That flicked a lorry wheel, which is much heavier than your wee compressor, 10 feet in the air and sent the guy flying too.

The garage I used to work at had mandated inspections every year where a dude would inspect the compressors with a bore-scope, check tank wall thickness etc to be sure that they were not likely to pop.

[Inspector Morose]

That guy in the vid was lucky. All that happened there was. That the tyre had not seated properly on the rim and blew off. If the tyre carcass had failed then there wouldn't be much left of, at least his leg or lower half of his body. That's why

a) tyre cages are too be used when inflating tyres after disturbing the bead (best practice) and

 

b ) split rim wheels were outlawed as they were notorious for the locking ring to blow off under tyre re inflation, usually killing or mameing the person involved.

 

Going back to air tanks. If you have welded onto the tank, what has happened is that you have introduced extra stresses into the metal. When the tank inflates and deflates it does expand and contract a small amount. The extra stress areas you have introduced, eventually, will not be able to cope with this movement and a failure of the metal will occur and due to the pressure inside the vessel will cause catastrophic failure of the tank. If you're lucky, the tank will just burst and 120-150 psi will come rushing out. This could potentially damage your hearing and if you are nearby damage flesh, depending on your clothing.

If the tank fails explosively, which is likely due to the metal being made brittle around the welded area you have yourself a shrapnel bomb. All bets are off on the chances of survival with low injury.

 

Compressed air is stuff that can be really dangerous and can kill in the right circumstances yetnearly all of us overlook its danger. All I am saying is just be careful.

[Lacquer Peel]

Are old car batteries worth weighing in?

[andy18s]

Are old car batteries worth weighing in?

Hope so, I've been hoarding them all year as well as.all my old brake discs and stuff!

[Asimo]

I got 50p / kg a few years ago. Easier way to get lead than nicking it from roofs.

[sheffcortinacentre]

£5-10 each at mo.

[HillmanImp]

I am looking at getting some new tyres. I see they cost the same delivered as they do fitted on Blackcircles. 

 

I assume that you will then have to pay for balancing so its worth ringing up the place first to check how much that is?

 

However as its Meg the Visa I am looking at getting tyres for it doesn't really matter as nowhere can balance old Citroen wheels can they?

[spike60]

I found the tyres through blackcircles then dealt direct with the fitting place, cutting out the middle mans commission.

[doobietoo]

How do you use a picture as a link  ....... for an ebay or gumtree advert.... I see it done on Ebay tat all the time but cannot work out how to do it.....

TIA

[Sloth in a bowl]

1. Add the picture to the post as normal

2. Click on the picture in your incomplete post so it shows blue

3. Click on the link chain icon and drop the link details into the pop-up box

 

The picture becomes the display for the link details, as below.

You can probably highlight any part of a post and use the same trick to turn it into a link

 

 

[phil_lihp]

I have a fairly major problem, the 940 is currently marooned on my driveway and is urgently needed tonight.  I went out to it this morning and pressed the fob button, realising as I did that it was already unlocked (oops) so I'd just locked it.  I pressed the button again to unlock it and nothing happened - in fact, the fob made the '3 clicks' locking sound instead of the 5 clicks it normally makes when unlocking.

 

I unlocked it using the key and this set the alarm off.  Nothing I did with the key or fob would stop the alarm.  It won't start as the immobiliser has kicked in and won't deactivate.  As the alarm is unstoppable I had no choice but to leave it to time out.  After 20 minutes, setting the alarm off about 10 times and a LOT of swearing I gave in, got a lift to work and left it sulking on the driveway.  I really, really need it working this evening so am quite worried now.

 

I've tried reseating the fob battery, reprogramming the fob (turn key in ignition 4 times then leave on II the 5th time, press fob button repeatedly) - nothing.  It would only ever click 3 times, suggesting it was locking the car and now it doesn't do anything at all.

 

I will get a new battery for the fob at lunch time and hope it sorts it although it was new a couple of months ago and the range was quite decent so it didn't seem to be a battery problem.

 

Anything else I can try, either to bypass the alarm/immobiliser or get the fob working again?  Alas, I don't have a spare fob which is of course my own fault.

 

All fixed, it was the key fob battery.  Hard to believe such a tiny little battery could stop a car working but there you go.  

[Richard]

Does the new Transit come in a medium roof, medium wheelbase RWD version?

[DSdriver]

Key fob works when it feels like it in the XM despite new battery. My SQ is why does the tailgate need the key turned anti-clockwise to unlock and the drivers door need the key turning clockwise?

[sheffcortinacentre]

because its French, why do's our local morrisons petrol station have a left handed door??

[steve_earwig]

Doesn't handedness of a door depend on which side you're standing?

[Cavcraft]

Do normal dogs see police dogs and think 'shit, it's the rozzers?'

[Noel Tidybeard]

Does the new Transit come in a medium roof, medium wheelbase RWD version?

 

Transit Van

Wheelbase: L2 (Medium), L3 (Long), L4 (Long Extended)

Roof Height: H2 (Medium Roof) and H3 (High Roof)

GVM: 2900-4700kg

Seats: 2-3

taken from ford website

 

http://www.ford.co.uk/cs/BlobServer?blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobcol=urldata&blobheadervalue1=attachment%3Bfilename%3D%22All-New+Transit+Van.pdf%22&blobheadervalue2=abinary%3Bcharset%3DUTF-8&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=MDT-Type&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobwhere=1214471628932&blobkey=id

[twosmoke300]

Do normal dogs see police dogs and think 'shit, it's the rozzers?'

Brilliant . that even made the missis laugh , which is an achievement.

[barefoot]

In another thread, I asked if Breadvan's twin cam Lancia had 16 valves.

SFQ - what is achieved by having twin cams if they are only opening 8 valves?

[spike60]

Presumably it leaves the inlet and exhaust valve angles independent without the need for rockers if they're not sharing a cam shaft. Better gas flow.

[CreepingJesus]

Better optimised valve timing, especially if it's a maker who fit a variety of different cam profiles. That and it's easier from a production engineering point of view, when you've got 2- and 4-valve setups.

[steve_earwig]

Isn't SFQ some sort of barbecue sauce?

 

I've got a question, possibly stupid, possibly even mad: I'm sure I remember reading a long, long time ago, in a manual (possibly Renault) of an exhaust assembly grease that contained tiny beads of glass, the idea being that the grease burned off but left the glass behind in order to ease disassembly. Nobody else seems to have heard of it so I'm beginning to suspect I dreamt it.

 

Did anybody else ever hear of such a thing? Would it even work? Maybe the reason why nobody else ever heard if it is that it didn't...

[mat_the_cat]

what is achieved by having twin cams if they are only opening 8 valves?

 

You can (more easily) get a better angle of inlet and exhausts valves - i.e. the cylinder fills more efficiently if the valves are set at an angle (better gas flow). This points the opposite ends of the valves away from each other, so a single cam would need large rockers (=more moving mass) than individual cams for each set of valves.

[nacho man]

The engine light came upon my st170, what's the best way to read it?? a cheap bluetooth thingy off ebay or a cheap code reader?

 

Any body got any recommendations.