Ask a Shiter

[meshking]

I should think so, the heads will be (i think) alu and so will have hardened inserts already. This is certainly true for the 2cv engine.

[catsinthewelder]

I need to mend Ms C's beloved electro accustic guitar. The top two tuning pegs have loose screws (they will pull out the holes without turning) where the pegs get knocked from the guitar getting knocked over off its stand. I was wondering about filling the screw holes with araldite then putting the screws in or is there a better way?

 

I'd usually just experiment but if I cock it up I'll be sleeping in the shed for a week

[scaryoldcortina]

I usually fix loose screws on guitars by forcing a match into the hole to give the screw something to bite on. Araldite might not be the best idea if you ever want to dismantle it again......

[Partridge]

Why on earth is there a dead spier INSIDE one of my rear lights? How did the bloody thing get in there? There’s never any water or condensation in them, so I’ve always assumed they’re pretty much air tight.

[Spiny Norman]

I need to mend Ms C's beloved electro accustic guitar. .... where the pegs get knocked from the guitar getting knocked over off its stand.

 

What, getting knocked off its stand is a common occurrence for this 'beloved' instrument?

If it's in any a way valuable guitar I'd be tempted to get it done professionally unless what you really know what you're doing, but I'd second the slivers of matchstick method (with wood glue rather than araldite) if you want to DIY.

[dollywobbler]

Just wondering, what happened to Betaboy?, He hosted Shitefestâ„¢ and then vanished in thin air again, did we really upset him that much with the mess?

 

He was at the NEC. Had a pleasant catch-up. We could do with planning Shitefest '13 I guess. Wonder if he's happy to host again?

 

And I can see the Quote and Edit buttons just fine.

[Cheggers]

I usually fix loose screws on guitars by forcing a match into the hole to give the screw something to bite on. Araldite might not be the best idea if you ever want to dismantle it again......

 

The match trick works well, as does soaking wet cotton wool which grips well as it dries out (sort of a tampon Rawlplug...). Maybe you need a safer way of storing the guitar

[Cavcraft]

Why on earth is there a dead spier INSIDE one of my rear lights? How did the bloody thing get in there? There’s never any water or condensation in them, so I’ve always assumed they’re pretty much air tight.

 

It climbed in there when it was small. Then everytime you indicated right the party started and all the moths joined it. Spider ate moths, spider grew so fat he plugged the hole. That's where he was fucked as he couldn't let food in so fried to death lonely and hungry just outside Cromer by that little campsite on the left.

[whitevanman]

PMSL......

[cort16]

I once had a bottle of booze that was created like that. They put a little lizard in a bottle and feed it up and it shits and pisses in there until it's so big it'd be impossible for it to get out the bottle. They then swirl it all out, fill it with booze (killing the lizard) and slit it up the middle. The booze sits and absorbs the lizard juice until it's deemed tasty enough. My sister brought me that back from some far flung place and even I was horrified by it and she's a fuggin vegatablearian.

 

I had it for years until I came home one Sunday night and found my stary eyed house mates had drank the booze and eat the lizard. Dirty bastards. Thankfully it gave them the enormo shits . I'm still not 100% sure that that "booze" wasn't enbalming fluid. Ach well.

[daveb47]

Escort 1998 1.8 tdi,how the hell do you change the fanbelt,are there more than 1,it has p/s & aircon.

Cheers

[catsinthewelder]

Thanks for the guitar tips chaps, unglued slivers of matchstick seems to be doing the job nicely, I've tried to get her to find a proper home for the blooming thing for ages but apparently it won't get played if it's away somewhere

 

Billys spider explanation is off to the quote thread

[meshking]

My volvo has scrapes on both rear doors and rear wheel arches done by the previous owner. Do I :

 

A) pay a body shop/smart repair to fix it (been quoted about £300)

get some aerosol cans matched to the paint and have a go myself (I sprayed my 2cv in my garage, so I know all the theory but the practice is a bit harder!)

C) just drive it with dents and scrapes cos its really not worth fixing the pain

D) Matt black/NATO green it with a roller

 

Ta, Ben

[trigger]

Depends how much you like the car, how long you plan on keeping it and how much it owes you really, Personal if it's a nice car and paying the £300 to fix it is the difference between it being a shiter and or a nice respectable daily then it's a no brainer.

[meshking]

Yeah, with the 300 it is into negative equity, maybe I will getting sorted in the new year.

 

Cheers chaps!

[Partridge]

Why on earth is there a dead spier INSIDE one of my rear lights? How did the bloody thing get in there? There’s never any water or condensation in them, so I’ve always assumed they’re pretty much air tight.

 

It climbed in there when it was small. Then everytime you indicated right the party started and all the moths joined it. Spider ate moths, spider grew so fat he plugged the hole. That's where he was fucked as he couldn't let food in so fried to death lonely and hungry just outside Cromer by that little campsite on the left.

 

Now I know!

[phil_lihp]

I think I may be barking up the wrong tree with this oil leak malarky so maybe someone can help clear up my confusion. There's a small leak from the base of the distributor which has been annoying me slightly as, unusually, there are no other leaks whatsoever. It only started when I changed the oil and starting using the car again after its long hibernation - the car runs fine and last time I checked there was no oil in the cap itself.

 

My limited understanding of distributors led me to believe that there should not be any oil anywhere near the unit itself, hence my assumption that a seal had gone. I bought a secondhand one which I was assured was low mileage - however, it looks dreadful and was covered in oil in the same place mine is leaking from:

 

 

Is this actually OK or should the base be oil-free? And it's normal to have oil here, I'm guessing I just need an O-ring seal or similar to prevent it from leaking?

[skattrd]

Retread tyres - yay or nay?

 

I've never used em before but looking at winter tyres retreads are significantly cheaper ...

[Des]

There's a big skinny 'O' ring on that dizzy in the pic that kind of looks past it, but do check the breathers on your engine are not all blocked with black sploodgepoop causing crankcase pressure.

 

Retreads are supposedly ok thanks to advances in inspections of carcasses, got to be a safer bet than buying partworns. I wouldn't personally but that's my problem and my tyre snobbery might just give me a warm fuzzy feeling as I gaze into my empty wallet.

[Station]

 

It climbed in there when it was small. Then everytime you indicated right the party started and all the moths joined it. Spider ate moths, spider grew so fat he plugged the hole. That's where he was fucked as he couldn't let food in so fried to death lonely and hungry just outside Cromer by that little campsite on the left.

 

OMG IZ DIS TRU??!! ? ? ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

[phil_lihp]

Thanks Station, I will check for sploogepoop forthwith. I guess this area should be oil free then?

 

Retreads seem like a very dangerous idea, surely a set of part worns are a safer bet?

[phil_lihp]

Oops Des not Station!

[Des]

Inside the round bit will get oily, but outside there should be dry, clean it up and pop a bit of grease on the new 'O' ring when it goes together and it should be fine.

I think remoulds have to comply with some kind of regulated inspection these days, British Standards or suchlike, whereas a partworn is probably only inspected as far as whether or not it has enough thread left to punt.

[Cavcraft]

Thanks Station, I will check for sploogepoop forthwith. I guess this area should be oil free then?

 

Retreads seem like a very dangerous idea, surely a set of part worns are a safer bet?

 

Remoulds used to be very hit and miss, but they did start improving. Kingpin made some damned good M&S type ones and they will only use quality carcasses which are thoroughly checked over first.

[Cavcraft]

I don't know, you look at M&S tyres that grass trackers and the like use and they're mostly remoulded, or certainly used to be. I'm sure some form if rallying favoured them too so they must be pretty tough.

[Cavcraft]

I have to confess I didn't know there'd be a difference in the compounds. Would they even make retreads in the correct width for your car by the way?

 

I recall one manafacturer telling me the industry was a bit fucked as people would buy new mingebag tyres rather than remoulds. Then when the shit tyres wore out they were no use for retreading as they only wanted premium brands.

[M'coli]

Colway's remoulds used to be excellent, I used them all the time: apparenly, they'd individually check each carcass out by removing all the outer rubber before re-moulding it in whatever rubber they deemed necessary for the job, and had remoulds that were HR VR speed-rated which I believe was an industry first, but I could be wrong! When my dad used to buy cheap remoulds in the 80s, they were only rated to 70.

For the RAC Rally in 1993, Colway had studied the longer-term weather forcast which predicted snow and cold, and moulded tyres in an ice-tolerant compound rather than the usual summer compounds available the rest of the year; they were in a fairly high demand, that year!

I have no doubt that Kingpin will do the same for their current remoulds. Also, IIRC the remould trade was killed off largely because of the influx of cheap far-eastern tyres.

[Cavcraft]

Funny how there could be a big difference in makes. I always found Motorway remoulds to be fucking awful yet Kingpin and Colway were great.

Truck tyres were the same, used to fit a lot of Vacu-Vulk ( I think that's what they were called) which were brilliant, ditto Michelin Remixes, but Bandvulc and some others were crap. Iirc Bandvulc just shoved tread on the top and didn't bother re-skinning the sides so I saw a few that had tread lifted.

[willswitchengage]

Roughly, anyone know how much a three camera domestic CCTV system would cost?

 

Context: got a letter through our postbox the other day from a chap down the road saying he's fed up of thieves nicking his van's spare wheel, and I just wondered if his proposed solution (the cctv) was overkill. Even though he states explicitly that it will only run at night and all cameras will be directed down at the road, one of my retarded housesharers says she will object as she "may one day walk past before 7am"

[phil_lihp]

How about http://www.cctvdirect.co.uk/products/Gold-Defender-2-Camera-Professional-CCTV-Kit.html - I spent a while sourcing one for a client, they never bothered with it but this one seemed to tick all the boxes. That said I am an IT engineer, not a security expert!