kevin s's blog

[kstrutt1]

I have used WM steel before, it appears to even be e-coated the problem with this one is the sides have form pressed into them (I assume to keep the noise down) so they are of very limited potential for anything except small patches, given a 6 x 3 sheet as only £20, not really woth the hasstle of cuttting them out.

[tractorman]

+1 with WM metal, though I use boiler panels (I have a secret source!).

I hate to disillusion you - our neighbour has just bought a new washing machine for similar reasons (bearings and sealed stuff). The old one wasn't a Hoover - I fear you can now guess what it was! He was a bit more optimistic - reckons that he won't have to poke his nose inside a washing machine for a few years, so something good came out of it!

Enjoy the weldathon - though I realise it isn't anything new. I reckon that the Moggy stuff should inspire many owners - and perhaps make some pay more attention to theirs! I suspect many would have looked at ones like yours and walked away (or scrapped them). Saving one is so much more noble!!

[JPB]

I bought a Samsung washer to replace the Zanussi-Electrolux one that failed for the want of a bearing under similar circumstances, the Samsung, in spite of how shockingly badly they build some stuff, has a removeable spider, replaceable bearings and even manages a sort of cool, retro look like my much-missed ( ) 1968 Jackson one, which was built out of very decent 20swg steel that was painted, rather than stove enamelled which brings me to the point:
Some washer bodywork with those pressed in creases is useful in floor pan repairs where the pressed bits can be used to replicate car makers' original stiffening measures.

[TerryG]

Hotpoint do fixed priced repairs. http://www.hotpointservice.co.uk
They offer a 3 month warranty on the entire machine after they fix it so if they replace a pump and 2 months later the drum bearings go, they replace the drum FOC.

[kstrutt1]

Been busy re-doing the garden so not much on the cars, the patio is now finished, but I still have to build a greenhouse, traditional style, rendered block and timber frames. One by product of this is the old brick chimney we used to use as a bbq has now been bricked up and the other side knocked into the garage, plan is to make a log burner from an old gas bottle and have garage heating.

I have bought a complete set of struts for the mx5 (standard mk2 parts which I am told are interchangeable with the mk1), the front Bilstein one which was leaking is now knocking as well so these will have to be done soon.

All the garden work has highlighted how much easier it would be if the landie seats folded out the way, exmoor trim do a superb set but at £700 they are way out of my price range, plan is to try to make something similar, first thing will be to find a pair of seats which fold flat and fairly slim, the plethora of 7 seat cars now around seems to help with this.

In one of the rainstorms yesterday I did manage a little on the minor, I cut the lower sill and floor edge away for the rear half of the passenger side floor. Most of it was supprisingly solid but there were a few patches it is one of those cases where it is easier to cut the lot out and start again, the inner sill and boxing plate a very good and just need a few local repairs to the lower flanges.

[kstrutt1]

There were the usual bodges though,

BILD1530.JPG (109.26 KiB) Viewed 1775 times

This is the end of the x member, there are only supossed to be 2 metal thicknesess not the 5 here!

The floor was also 4 layers thick in one place.

I also managed my own cock up, I have used all 50 of the thin cutting discs so I resorted to my 9" disc cutter which chomps through morris minor rather easily, unfortunatelly I did not even notice as I chopped the end off the torsion bar reaction arm!

[kstrutt1]

Busy on the garden at the moment, basically the plan is to end up with a off road parking place for the mx5, this means:

1.Demolishing a pergola and raised flower bed, paving this area.

2. Building a new greenhouse (from scratch)

3. Demolish old grenhouse, and part of fence gravel over.

Phase 1 is complete and I am just laying the foundations for phase 2, there is one benefit from phase 1, the old chimney on the garage wall we used as a BBQ is redundant so I hae bricked up the outside and cut a hole on the inside, i can then have a log burner in the garage for the winter, I also have an old gas cylinder which will be used to make the burner out of, just need a length of flue liner and I will have all the materials I need.

BILD1541.JPG (97.96 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

BILD1544.JPG (72.96 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

[kstrutt1]

On the car front progress has been slow but there has been some, I have serviced the Lotus ready for It's MOT, fixing one of the oil leaks in the process (leaking out of sump plug!), appart from some trim needing tidying up and a couple of small star cracks this car is in very good condition so there is nothing much else to do.


For the MX5 I have re-fitted the standard air cleaner which makes it far more civilised and improves the low sped driveability ( a few minor stumbles when cold with the K&N) I have also bought new suspension which needs fitting before it's MOT in July as one of the front Bilsteins leaks.

On the landie I fitted a new teflon lined throttle cable (bicycle gear cable) which has made a huge difference to the low speed throttle control, the old one used to stick then snap open, I have also been modifying the rear seats so the fold up out of the way. I looked at buying some seats which alrady fold flat but decided I was too tight to spend money on these, so I decided to modify the MR2 ones already fitted. Firstly I modified the recliner so the seat back folded flat , this involved cutting the upright off and re- welding it back on approx 40 degrees rotated towads the rear. Then I modified the outer mount to be a hinge using tube and threaded rod, to allowing it to rotate the seat also needs to slide further forward, so the outer mount was mounted on a old seat runner. This alows the centre fixing to be undone(one nut) , the seat slid forward, reclined then folded up. At so me point I will also make the centre leg fold down out of the way as well, I also need to fit a strap to hold it up instead of the bungee strap in the photos.

BILD1540.JPG (95.93 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

BILD1538.JPG (101.06 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

BILD1537.JPG (99.29 KiB) Viewed 1754 times

next step is to do the same on the drivers side.

[VFK44]

Just finished reading the whole blog - very good!

I'm a little concerned about the plan for a log-burning heater.
The formula for combustion is: hydrocarbon (logs) + oxygen → water + carbon dioxide
This means that presumably the garage will end up with lots of damp in it?

[Luxobarge]

I'm a little concerned about the plan for a log-burning heater.
The formula for combustion is: hydrocarbon (logs) + oxygen → water + carbon dioxide
This means that presumably the garage will end up with lots of damp in it?

That's true, but in practice the humid air goes up the flue, while drawing ambient air into the room (garage) from any source it can, usually cracks around doors, windows, floorboards etc. unless you have a dedicated air supply (which is required to comply with building regulations for stoves over 5Kw). The required cross-sectional area of any air feed is specified in the bulding regs.

The ambient air drawn in is then heated by the radiation from the stove and ends up with fairly low relative humidity (i.e. it's quite dry), so the net result is that the room (garage) actually ends up drier than without the stove running.

See building regs part J for the full regulations for installing such a stove. I suspect you'll be a fair way off meeting them, ultimately it's your call, but you might get some awkward questions should you ever decide to sell the property. Sorry to be a bore, but we have 3 x sood burning stoves in this house and I'm currently installing the 3rd one, so I've had to get into all this stuff fairly deeply. When considering building regs, just remember they are there to protect you, not just to make life difficult/expensive.