Ask a Shiter

[dollywobbler]

Vauxhall did export cars to various places - not sure when that ended.

 

As for the brakes Tim, might just be paranoia. I got into the habit of checking the Rangie's brakes after every journey. Kind of forgot that there's no such thing as flat around here, so I'm always having to brake heavily coming into the village! Rather than the hub, check the wheel nuts. If it's just one braking effort, the hub will get hot. If there's constant binding, you'll find that the wheelnuts get hot.

[Lankytim]

I recon it is 99% paranoia. It's an old car thing.. whats that noise? are my wheels wobbling? is that exhaust fumes entering the cabin? did the engine just start misfiring? are my brakes binding? e.t.c, e.t.c. I need to just enjoy the 240 for what it i-. A 20 year old barge with 170k on the clock thats still motoring along pretty well.

 

The wheel itself deffo isnt getting hot at all, its just the disc/drum. It rolls lovely so i'm just going to ignore it. Its had "new" calipers, brand new pads, a handbrake service plus a brake fluid flush. What else does the ungrateful Vol want???

[cobblers]

I've bought a cheap old timing light to try and help diagnose why my van is a lot slower and thirstier than it should really be. It's a gunsons job, of what looks to be late 70s/early 80s vintage (that said, even new gunsons stuff looks like that)

 

Every one I've used before has had a pickup that clamps round the #1 HT lead. However, this timing light itself has what looks like the end of a HT lead on a wire, that would almost nearly clip on a dizzy cap (not quite on mine). It doesn't look quite like it should be on there, either.

 

Surely I don't need to remove a HT lead to use this bugger?

[Richard]

Is it a sort of conical spring? I think you put it over No1 spark plug and plug the HT lead on the other end.

[cobblers]

Is it a sort of conical spring? I think you put it over No1 spark plug and plug the HT lead on the other end.

 

Just looks like a normal "DIY" HT lead end - it's attached to the wire coming off the gun by literally screwing up the end of it. The wire has "mega thick" insulation, so it looks as though it's designed to take HT up it.

 

You might be onto something though, I reckon it probably did have one of them spring things on, but it's been lost at some point and this thing fitted.

 

I'll probably bodge something up out of an old HT lead end and loads of electrical tape.

[Negative Creep]

Nothing to do with cars but:

 

I have a bookshelf made of that wood with the white coating stuff over it. Any idea of the best paint to use?

[catsinthewelder]

We've bought special 'melamine paint' for it before now

 

Alright here's another;

 

I'm sure I can remember a TV show, probably Sat/Sun night, late 80s where a rectangle was marked on the ground and the contestants had to park a variety of different cars and vans really close together in it as a puzzle. Am I imagining it or does anybody else know?

[TimothyClaypole]

Nothing to do with cars but:

 

I have a bookshelf made of that wood with the white coating stuff over it. Any idea of the best paint to use?

 

Key it with some "abrasive" paper then use what you like.

 

Or get on your local Freecycle and ask for a pine one instead.

[TimothyClaypole]

I've a little LCD and two cameras from Ebay and would like to dabble indoors with them to see how they are as I have two different cameras.

 

Is it possible to lash something up to power them with?

 

The screen says it's 12V DC /2W consumption, the cameras the same 12V but lower consumption obviously.

 

I have assorted external hdd/laptop psu's and one of those switchable ones too, computer base power supply etc to hack up at will.

[barefoot]

Is it possible to lash something up to power them with?

 

Yes,

 

But I don't understand anything else that you've written.

[retrogeezer]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LLOYTRON-300m ... 519c1480d6

 

 

Or surely just batteries for the cameras?

[ashmicro]

Laptop external power supplies will be 15v or (more likely) 19.2v so not suitable. As far as a PSU from a desktop PC goes, you should be alright even with a small single-rail* supply. Bear in mind that if it's an ATX form factor PSU, you'll need a microswitch to turn it on, or you could power it up the Autoshite way - momentarily bridge 1 green and 1 black on the master connector to get it to power up.

 

 

Edit: if you'd like a microswitch, I'm sure there are some in my Bumper Box of Computer Shite and Parts.

 

 

 

 

 

*single-rail in this instance has nothong to do with Triumph gearboxes.

[Craig the Princess]

This may have been asked before but I couldn't find where, what does the word chod come from?

[John F]

This may have been asked before but I couldn't find where, what does the word chod come from?

 

I've been wondering about that too.

 

Surely it can't be the Urban Dictionary's definition ("a penis that is wider than it is long")? Other than that, perhaps it comes from the Polish word "samochód" (= car)?

 

Also, can anyone shed a little light onto the occasionally-used autoshite word "rammel / rammle"? In German, "rammeln" is a verb meaning "to shag / hump"...!

[morris_ital_lover]

Possibly these from these internet definitions:

"Chod" a slang word originating from Birmingham, UK describing a young person unable to perform simple tasks no matter how many times they are shown. Can be applied to both sexes. (source wiki) Thats definitely a random one and the closest that I could find to old shite.

 

"Rammel"  n dialect ( Northern English ) discarded or waste matter (source dictionary.com)

[M'coli]

I'd always assumed it was from "Chod bin", as in lavatory.

[barefoot]

I don't understand chod & asked the same question a while back,

but Rammel...

here in the east midlands, it's just a selection of crap / oddments / etc.

 

I spent a while thinking about how to define it, quit safari & there it was on my desktop...

a file called 'December Rammel" where everything goes until the end of the month when it gets

re-filed into 2001 & archived.

 

that's it, just rammel.

[ChinaTom]

In Lisbon for the day and there seems to be a fair bit of chod and rammel biffing about the back streets - will take camera next time. Just seen an early (i.e. mark 1 and pre-facelift) Renault Megane estate and can't recall ever seeing one before. Can't even find one on the googleimage (but I'm not trying too hard). Did UK ever get these?

[Pete-M]

 

No, I don't believe we were blighted with those.

[RoadworkUK]

Has anybody asked Fiatdaft why the Tipo in his signature has its hazard warning lights on?

 

(and they're flashing out of phase...)

[M'coli]

Doh! Edited for fuckwittery.

[Mr Lobster]

Has anybody asked Fiatdaft why the Tipo in his signature has its hazard warning lights on?

 

Electrics probably faulty.

[Cheggers]

Following a busted alternator belt/ limp home incident last night, how much current does a small modern engine draw??

[barefoot]

Why are rear side windows on some modern cars Astra / Avensis as examples big pieces of glass

but all blacked out around the outside leaving only a tiny peephole of clear in the middle?

[Guest]

I think cos if it wasn't there you'd see the plastics lining the pillar on the inside? i.e. hides the fact the inside of the vehicle incroaches(sic?) on the window space?

Have a look from inside, does the plastic come down/ intrude on the window space?

[CIH]

Why are rear side windows on some modern cars Astra / Avensis as examples big pieces of glass

but all blacked out around the outside leaving only a tiny peephole of clear in the middle?

 

To dusguise just how fat the pillars are. That's all 99% of car design is nowadays - subterfuge. Making small look big and big look small.

[dieselnutjob]

How the hell do you use a grease gun?

I filled mine up a few years ago. Unscrewed end, put in a tub of grease, pull handle, screw end back on, shove handle back in, use

 

Then it stopped working. I assumed that the grease had run out

Unscrewed the end and yes the rubber plunger thingy was right there so no grease left?

 

Bought a cartridge of grease in Halfords because a cartridge is supposed to be easier right?

 

So I guess I have to pull the handle all the way back to make room for the cartridge. As I did grease started ousing out of lever that I think is supposed to hold the handle in the out position. As I kept pulling about half a tub of grease came through there. why?

 

In the end there was enough room for the cartridge, except the last 1/4 inch. I could get it all the way in buy pressing on the floor but the pull handle thing seems to have a spring in side that I'm fighting (maybe that's how it works) but the lock lever doesn't hold that last 1/4 inch.

 

In the end I had to put the end bit in a vice so that I can press the body on hard enough to make the cartridge go in enough to get the threads to catch so I can do it up.

 

No grease comes out.

 

So I press the handle release and the handle goes back in (not sure where the piston thing has gone, inside the cartridge? how did it get through the grease)

 

seems to work now anyway

 

so what's the correct way to use / refill a grease gun? and why did it stop working when there was still a load in there? and why was it on the wrong side of the plunger piston thing?

[Cavcraft]

Will a new aftermarket cat be good enough to satisy MOT emissions? Sort of thinking I'll get what I pay for and it'll be shit which so it would be pointless buying it, but does anyone know better?

[ashmicro]

I've an aftermarket cat on the Rover. It's been on the car since before it was old enough to need an MOT (4 years in NI) and passed 6 MOT's no bother.

[DSdriver]

so what's the correct way to use / refill a grease gun? and why did it stop working when there was still a load in there? and why was it on the wrong side of the plunger piston thing?

 

I have a grease gun hanging nozzle down in the workshop and it seems that the grease oozes out of the nozzle then mysteriously converts itself to a film all over everything within about a metre range so the fact that the grease in your's is the wrong side of the plunger may be due to the way up it was stored. The locking up may be due to the grease solidifying or causing hydraulic lock. Give it a good clean out with petrol (or something similar but cheaper).