What Else Has Happened?

 Well, since you asked, I'm recently home from one of my lovely girlfriend & I's "little holidays", she'd booked a night time photography event at the "Navy Wings" hangar at Yeovilton, so we found a hotel - The Poachers in the amusingly named Piddletrenthide, which actually does sit astride the river Piddle & visited the Fleet Air Arm Museum on day one, the night shoot followed on from that, then Athelhampton House on day two & The Tank Museum on day three.

I've mentioned before on this organ that the FAA museum is very good indeed & it still is. As we'd been before we were able to spend a little more time looking at things we may have passed by on previous visits. Should you go there search out the Skua display,

The Blackburn Skua was an early attempt at a "multi role" aircraft, they were popular in the mid thirties, but the roles were usually mis-matched, so the Skua was a carrier borne fighter / dive bomber & pretty lousy at both. The display centres around an aircraft that was found in a lake in Norway. In spite of being slower than the German bombers, the aircraft in question did manage to shoot down an He111, but was then itself shot down by an He111 & landed on a frozen lake, not far from its' victim. As sometimes happens at the extremes, the two crews were forced to co-operate to survive. Spring came, the ice melted, the Skua sank.

The display in the museum shows its'  recovery. A room with the floor area of a house has been given over to the display with the ceiling painted white as if it's the floating ice & a dummy diver attaching floatation bags onto the bits of wreckage, the photo just shows a corner of the room, there's a lot more

If you find the Fairey Fulmar, it's just beyond that, up some stairs under a large sign saying DON'T MISS THE SKUA!

Shortly after that my girlfriend was accosted by an elderly volunteer, who began with "have you been here before? Where have you come from today?" type questions & very quickly realised that my girlfriend was not just along for the ride & bored, but was an proper enthusiast in her own right. He turned out to be an ex test pilot instructor & kept her entertained for some time, while I took pictures of the Centaurus engine & it's mass of exhaust pipes. That's two 2"(ish) pipes from each cylinder, two rows of cylinders & nine cylinders in each row. it's a work of art.

The following day we went to Athelhampton house, which again was very good for a number of reasons, it has some properly old things inside, a chest from the 1400s still with some original paint for example, but the outstanding thing was the attitude of the owner. It's very old but is currently heated by 15 ground & air source heat pumps & a great many solar panels, all of which are hidden from view. The lady who showed us round ("Kelly" I think) was well into her later years, but as bright a button & sharp as a tack, very witty & entertaining & made it quite clear that things were there to be touched & felt which is so refreshing after being used to the National Trust's "don't touch that dear, it's terribly old". If something's survived from the 1400s with some of it's paint, I'm unlikely to do it much harm without resorting to an axe, Kelly was standing her water bottle on it.

Another wonderful thing was the Priest hole. You often see in a certain type of film, someone lightly touches something, there's a barely audible "click" & part of the panelling swings open to reveal a staircase. I've always thought "yeah right - with middle ages tools?". But Kelly did walk up to the fireplace in one room, she did touch the fire surround lightly in a certain place & a previously invisible part of the panelling did swing open to reveal stairs!

Day three & on to The Tank Museum. What can I tell you? I last visited in the mid '90s & it's got quite a lot bigger, they have 300 tanks - 300! Granted quite a lot are in the restoration centre, which you can see from a balcony, but not get close to, but it's really very impressive, though it's very much an army tank museum, so it's mostly about the use of the tanks rather than the engineering behind the tanks. The first hall starts with the first tank known as "Little Willy" & has examples of all sorts, ending with modern tanks. this one hall took us most of the day to get round, but we did get into the WW2 hall which houses some of the more impressive / specialist / weird stuff.

An Italian tank - racy paint scheme, in fact quite a lot of the weird stuff was Italian, they certainly ploughed their own furrow.

Sd Kfz186 Jagdtiger. It's the size of a house & at 75tonnes, it's the weight of one too. Armour so thick it was invulnerable to any allied gun that wasn't mounted on a battleship, but it's gun could take out any allied tank even if it was a mile away. Trouble was, it was just too heavy for it's engine & transmission to move, so they broke down & were set fire to by their own crews much more often than they were destroyed by the allies. But that's probably a good thing.

There were also floating tanks (duplex drive Sherman) bridge laying tanks, flail tanks flame-throwing tanks & even a tiny "tankette" (yes - really).

We liked The Tank Museum & there was a fair bit we didn't get around to, but as our tickets last for a year, we will be returning.

... But Maybe

 It's time for an update:-

Car 1 - the Quantum Extreme that needed new front wishbone bushings.

Good News:-

The off side wishbone is in my garage with new bushes & lower steering joint ready to go back on.

Bad News:-

The near side one isn't. That's because the forward bolt won't come out as it's corroded into the bush. It has been soaked with WD40 & left under pressure from a G-clamp trying to push the head into a deep socket, but no luck so far & it's enclosed within a thin sheet box section.

Car 2 - the Tiger Avon that needed a new alternator. The nice man at the Burghfield Starter & Alternator Centre tested the old one & said the brushes were worn RIGHT down & also one of three internal bolts was rattling about inside. I have today picked up a shiny new one from the nice man for a good price & that will be fitted & tested next time I go to my Girlfriend's house.

Car 3 - my Sylva Stylus. I bought some 0.5mm stainless sheet & cut out a shim washer to fit behind the bearing, fitted a new O-ring also behind the bearing, slapped some more blue goo (sealant) round it & also some Loctite 641 bearing lock before bolting it back together & confirming that there is a little compression there.

Then I noticed the oil dripping from the other side.

I stripped the dripping side & found the O-ring was "crinkled", so replaced that with more blue goo & another O-ring. I used the Stylus to collect the Tiger's alternator (14 miles each way) & there's no drippage upon my return, but I'll need to watch this carefully (sigh).

So, one out of three fixed so far (OK, might be fixed - is probably fixed). Wish me luck.

Maybe Not

While the Stylus HAS been on the road & APPEARED to be OK, I've been worrying about the bearing spinning in the housing, so I dismantled it all again &while I can see the clamping plate touches the bearing, I can't prove it clamps the bearing & after the old one span in the housing, the new one is looser than I'd like. When I get home I'll be doing a little work on that. Also getting some work is my Girlfriend's Tiger. The alternator is in my tin-top with the intention of getting it tested & repaired / replaced.

But first, on my way home I have to call into another Rogue's garage & take the wishbone's off his Quantum because they need new rubber bushes.

Fingers crossed

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

 The Stylus has been out on the road & I can confirm the oil stayed in the axle. There were no untoward noises & it all seems fine.

I have also put together a video of the RRD26 Day 3 when it all started going horribly wrong & the bearing can be heard clonking some miles before I noticed it - the rear camera is bolted down to the chassis to will pick up transmitted sound better than I can hear it. As to what cased the catastrophic failure of an eleven month old rear wheel bearing from a reputable manufacturer I have no clue, but I'm REALLY hoping it doesn't happen again.

These are bits that came out of the bearing:-

Looks like bits of the dirt shield to me, they're not thin items & they are very bent up.

So now that's sorted (hopefully), the next job is my lovely girlfriend's car - the alternator is under suspicion at the moment, but investigations will begin at the weekend.

Then there's another SKCC member who needs new lower wishbone bushes, so I'll be calling in to bring the wishbones back to my garage.

It's Back

The 1/2 shaft is back from Hardings Auto Services & back in the axle, which has been re-filled & the car's back on its' wheels. I've not had a test drive yet, but my fingers will be firmly crossed when I do.

Once again fitting the 1/2 shaft cut the SKF fitted O-ring, which is 2.0mm dia in cross section, but I still had several of the 1.78mm dia ones, so fitted one of them & the bearing slid in nicely, hopefully it won't leak or I might just cry.

RogueRunners Devon 26 - Epilogue

Well, I've been back over a week, what's my feeling about the whole thing now?

It's odd isn't it - I had Day 1, Day two & a fair bit of Day three, so I pretty much had the same amount of tour as I have on the previous Devon trips, and yet I still feel cheated. The new routes - as far as I saw them - worked reasonably well, on Day two, some of the roads were like that scene in StarWars where they're going through channels in the Death Star the sides were sheer & very high, so I think I've taken them out of the route.

But as usual, the camaraderie & the fun was the thing, the Rogues are a brilliant bunch of people, but special thanks have to go to Ken, who stood with me for three hours waiting for a lorry, then waited for nine hours with my girlfriend the very next day. Also to Mark who also waited with her.

So what's happened since?

I ordered another wheel bearing from Burton Power & delivered it & the drive shaft to Harding Auto Services to have it fitted, then went to see my lovely girlfriend for a few days. She had been contacted by the recovery people at Highfield Garage in Exeter who had kindly moved things around so that the Tiger could be kept indoors, then delivered it to Peterborough the day I was leaving with great care & attention to detail, so it was unloaded, pushed into the garage & put on charge so the investigations can begin.

Then today (Thursday) Harding Auto Services called to say the new bearing had been fitted, so I've collected the half-shaft & fitted it back in the car, so as soon as I've wrestled some oil into the axle (it's not easy with the fuel tank where it is), the wheel can go back on & it can get tested.

After that it may get SORNed, though that would be a sad thing. I ought to keep it going until the end of October & then there are some winter mods I'd like to do.

AND, the DJI camera that malfunctioned on the road trip has been away to DJI & both it & the remote were replaced under warranty, even though there was nothing wrong with the remote, astonishingly I managed to get through the rather long winded set-up process without recourse to Tech support (my girlfriend) & so that's all up & running again. Pity there's no more trips really.

So the blatting season draws to a close on a bit of a low note, but the technical difficulties with both cars are reasonably easy to diagnose & while neither is actually fixed yet, they should both be a simple matter of swapping out parts.

We shall see.

RogeRunners Devon - Day 4 - When It All Went Wronger

 

Day 4? But you’re at home you cry. Well yes, read on.

I went out to the garage first thing & took out the ½ shaft. As suspected the bearing was a mess, with balls hanging out of the side & the cage all crumpled up. I ordered a new one from Burton’s & started cleaning the oiled up parts. 

Then there was a message, my girlfriend’s car had broken down.

This was the nightmare scenario.

Fortunately she was in a safe place with two of the other Rogues (Ken again - not getting much driving in on his driving holiday). The alternator light had been moody the previous day & then when she was somewhere south of Ilfracombe the engine coughed & died because the alternator seems to have failed.

There was a lot of tooing & froing on whatsapp but in the end she elected to be relayed home, which was the best idea in the circumstances, but all our luggage - & she has a lot of luggage - was at the hotel, so it was all going to have to be moved by the other Rogues.

But that’s not the worst of it. They were sat at the roadside for over NINE HOURS waiting to be picked up. It had taken so long to organise a truck that in the end they offered her a courtesy car & the Tiger would be delivered in a day or two.

BUT

They wouldn't bring the courtesy car to her, oh no. The truck would take her & the Tiger to Exeter & then she would have to drive 1 1/2 hours back to Ilfracombe, or 5 hours home in a strange car in the dark, when she'd been hanging around for 9 1/2 hours already. Is that considered safe?

Between them the three Rogues decided that she would go back to the hotel (I'd cancelled it, then called again & said NO! we still need it!) & then today Ken has driven her home - which is beyond his house & Mark has bought mine & her belongings back to my house & I'll sort it all out & take hers next time I go. (sigh).