Bell's Banter 2021

[grantp]

A quick comment on the vaccine trip.

Letter arrived on Friday and I discovered I could book almost any time slot I wanted at Derby Arena for any of the next 5 or 6 days. Some other locations were available, one I know neighbours had used, one that was active on Wednesday but not offered on Friday.

We decided to book in Mrs. Grantp as well and chose exactly the same time to make a single trip. We arrived 15 mins ahead of the appointment slot, parked up as clearly guided and directed. Walked to the entrance. Had a couple of minutes of queuing as some wheelchair users were ushered in just ahead of us.

Then an initial check to confirm we had booked and had no symptoms (asked that one multiple times) another 2-minute wait for the next level check point. The straight to the vaccination stations. Slickly processed, coats back on and out through the other side and a different exit door back to the car park.

The appointment was for 11:15 and I noted that we left the exit door at 11:20.

I have to say that it was probably the slickest medical processes I can ever remember. Kudos to the team that has set it up and is running it.

Now we just have to wait for the second round at the beginning of May. And then a few weeks more before ... the wait for the 2021/2022 version of the vaccine becomes available.

At one point Ithought it was about to turn into a potential disaster of a day.

The car battery failing started things.

A large chunk of the A50 was reported as closed. (Turned out to be as the result of a lorry fire (full of fertilizer!) so I got some stick for taking the safer but slower route.

Then more stick for not going the way management would go to get to the destination. 'cos obviously my route would be horribly busy and jammed solid on a Saturday.

Fortunately a cold Saturday in lockdown, on a road heading for the centre of a city with almost no retail activity left, proved to be the quietest I had ever seen it in 40 odd years of living in the area.

Management remained unusually tight-lipped during that part of the journey.

[GORDON STREETER]

I can remember it just like it was yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpSi8WpHvqI

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by grantp

A quick comment on the vaccine trip.

Letter arrived on Friday and I discovered I could book almost any time slot I wanted at Derby Arena for any of the next 5 or 6 days. Some other locations were available, one I know neighbours had used, one that was active on Wednesday but not offered on Friday.

We decided to book in Mrs. Grantp as well and chose exactly the same time to make a single trip. We arrived 15 mins ahead of the appointment slot, parked up as clearly guided and directed. Walked to the entrance. Had a couple of minutes of queuing as some wheelchair users were ushered in just ahead of us.

Then an initial check to confirm we had booked and had no symptoms (asked that one multiple times) another 2-minute wait for the next level check point. The straight to the vaccination stations. Slickly processed, coats back on and out through the other side and a different exit door back to the car park.

The appointment was for 11:15 and I noted that we left the exit door at 11:20.

I have to say that it was probably the slickest medical processes I can ever remember. Kudos to the team that has set it up and is running it.

Now we just have to wait for the second round at the beginning of May. And then a few weeks more before ... the wait for the 2021/2022 version of the vaccine becomes available.

At one point Ithought it was about to turn into a potential disaster of a day.

The car battery failing started things.

A large chunk of the A50 was reported as closed. (Turned out to be as the result of a lorry fire (full of fertilizer!) so I got some stick for taking the safer but slower route.

Then more stick for not going the way management would go to get to the destination. 'cos obviously my route would be horribly busy and jammed solid on a Saturday.

Fortunately a cold Saturday in lockdown, on a road heading for the centre of a city with almost no retail activity left, proved to be the quietest I had ever seen it in 40 odd years of living in the area.

Management remained unusually tight-lipped during that part of the journey.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Always good to get the info on what happens when you are offered the vaccine

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by grantp

Testing today?



Didn't hear anything. I would have though snow and ice may still be laying around up there - it is here.



The battery on the Saab has died. Was OK on Wednesday and Thursday but only clicks and then died this AM - just as we were about to take it for the the vaccine run. Had to resort to the Corolla and forego heated seats. The battery was so flat I could not lock the doors but there was still something under the bonnet. So I quickly disconnected the battery just in case.



I was outside for about an hour on and off when we returned but didn't notice any track noises. Wind was in the wrong direction to enhance it if there was any.



I checked the date for the last battery change. 12/02/2017. So 7 years almost to the day. I find that to be a little too coincidental, frankly.



Interestingly both bonnet struts seem to have failed at the same time.



It's amazing the effects that a few cold days can have.

Presumably he was posting old images then. Thanks.

In no maths genius but I make your battery four years old not seven. I've had battery woes recently, four gone across the fleet, and have been unimpressed with the Euro Car Parts offering. Will bite the bullet and buy a better quality one in future, they seem to be false economy.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by grantp

I checked the date for the last battery change. 12/02/2017. So 7 years almost to the day. I find that to be a little too coincidental, frankly.Interestingly both bonnet struts seem to have failed at the same time

You know there's no coincidence, Grant. "They" are here. In you battery, door-locks, Saab gearbox and rack/pinion, everywhere… Because they crossed the pond, dont talk about bonnet struts but rather hood struts… They can read you……

[bauble]

From personal experience, and from other sources, I have discovered that if you only use your car for short journeys over a length of time, as in lockdown, the battery never has a chance to charge to any extent. Twice I found myself stuck in car parks with a flat battery while listening to the radio, as 'er indoors was shopping.. My shame is let it happen twice before the penny (old currency) dropped, since then I drove to a super market a good half hour away to ensure a full charge. As i am sure all her know for a family saloon, 30 mins steady driving is sufficient to fully charge a battery.

It takes unusual circumstances to remind one of the basics of car ownership.

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Presumably he was posting old images then. Thanks.

In no maths genius but I make your battery four years old not seven. I've had battery woes recently, four gone across the fleet, and have been unimpressed with the Euro Car Parts offering. Will bite the bullet and buy a better quality one in future, they seem to be false economy.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

Buy online from Tayna, next day delivery, good choice of brands and qualities. I've used them for the old Iveco van and the Volvo, happy to recommend them.

[Peter Mallett]

Yup me too, I used them for my road MGB.

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by MGDavid

Buy online from Tayna, next day delivery, good choice of brands and qualities. I've used them for the old Iveco van and the Volvo, happy to recommend them.

Well I never put one on that Iveco while I had it so that's a positive. I bought one on fleabay for my V70 and it lasted a year. It'll be interesting to see how long the cheap one I've just bought the Sprinter lasts, but it was reluctant to start in the cold last week after being laid up for a week

MiniMM had to put a battery on his 320D recently, in a delicious twist it appears that only BMW batteries will register with the Start/Stop system so he continues polluting the planet even when in a traffic jam. Hey ho.

The generator is a bit reluctant to fire up in this cold weather but as that uses the same battery as the karts I expect we can find something to replace that with

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[GORDON STREETER]

Freezing temperature makes any type of battery lose charge much quicker, also with all the electronics on modern cars a battery can easily go flat in 2/3 weeks as many have found out in the airport carparks after returning from holiday.
Antarctic expedition clockwork movie cameras were still being used up to the 70s until better cameras and batteries were available.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Well I never put one on that Iveco while I had it so that's a positive. I bought one on fleabay for my V70 and it lasted a year. It'll be interesting to see how long the cheap one I've just bought the Sprinter lasts, but it was reluctant to start in the cold last week after being laid up for a week

MiniMM had to put a battery on his 320D recently, in a delicious twist it appears that only BMW batteries will register with the Start/Stop system so he continues polluting the planet even when in a traffic jam. Hey ho.

The generator is a bit reluctant to fire up in this cold weather but as that uses the same battery as the karts I expect we can find something to replace that with

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

I think you'll find that any make of battery should be OK with the stop/start system Max, as long as it is the correct type, it just has to be programmed in.
(If you PM me the BMW registration number I'll check this out & let you know if you want).

[midgetman]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

I think you'll find that any make of battery should be OK with the stop/start system Max, as long as it is the correct type, it just has to be programmed in.
(If you PM me the BMW registration number I'll check this out & let you know if you want).

Ah I may have got that wrong then. Certainly the "cheap" battery we bought doesn't allow it to. It's all new to me, as far as I'm concerned the nearest I get to Start/Stop is when I stall in heavy traffic

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I can remember it just like it was yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpSi8WpHvqI

Brought back some memories for me, too. When I had the scrapyard I was for several years the designated operator for clearing abandoned vehicles for two of my local councils.....at the time when scrap metal was virtually worthless (around £8/tonne for the car stripped of wheels and tyres and de-polluted) we could be collecting upto 50 cars a month.....and my scrap buyer used to send his mobile crusher in to my yard, crush the shells and we built a wall about 12' high, 150' long and 4 bales deep, waiting for the price to increase enough to make it worth selling.........


Picture shows the final stages of clearance of my yard when I closed it down, 16 years ago.....

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by midgetman

Ah I may have got that wrong then. Certainly the "cheap" battery we bought doesn't allow it to. It's all new to me, as far as I'm concerned the nearest I get to Start/Stop is when I stall in heavy traffic

There's quite a lot of guidance here - https://batteryworld.varta-automotive.com/en-be/start-stop-does-not-work

[Tel 911S]

As you do , I was looking through some old photo,s of hometown for " her Indoors ", and I came across this lot .https://www.flickr.com/photos/ipsoc/...57717916218297
Rudolph Diesel , credited with the invention of the Diesel engine , mysteriously disappeared on the way to open a new engine factory in Ipswich in 1913 .
Never been solved , but with 1st war coming up , and the engines being used for submarines & other warships , there is some thought that he might have been got rid of to stop the UK developing this technology .
Anyway , with him gone , Vickers / Petter bought up the factory & continued there until the late 1920s .

So , lots of interesting , [ to me ], photo,s of diesel engine factory from 100 years ago .

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Brought back some memories for me, too. When I had the scrapyard I was for several years the designated operator for clearing abandoned vehicles for two of my local councils.....at the time when scrap metal was virtually worthless (around £8/tonne for the car stripped of wheels and tyres and de-polluted) we could be collecting upto 50 cars a month.....and my scrap buyer used to send his mobile crusher in to my yard, crush the shells and we built a wall about 12' high, 150' long and 4 bales deep, waiting for the price to increase enough to make it worth selling.........


Picture shows the final stages of clearance of my yard when I closed it down, 16 years ago.....

A 164! Sacrilege!

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

A 164! Sacrilege!

That one had actually been my (or technically milady's) first 164 - a V6 that I bought as an accident-damaged car - bumped front and rear. Milady had a 33 1.7 Sportwagon, and came home one day asking "What's a big Alfa?". I asked why, and was told that she'd been coming over the dual carriageway over the hils behind us, doung about 80 or so, and this "big Alfa" came past her like she was standing still.....


A little more digging pinned it down to be a 164, probably with a "V6" motif on the rear. "I suppose you want one" I said. "Yes" was the emphatic reply......


So I kept my eye out, found the green one and sourced the parts needed and persuaded one of my workshop customers to fix it at "mates' rates". We then ran it for quite a while until the gearbox developed a fault, and I couldn't find a suitable replacement - until I came across another salvage 164 V6 - a stolen recovered which has had the interior vandalised - the Alfa logos having been cut out of the leather seats. But it drove really well, so that became our regular driver, and the green one became a donor.....


With all the Alfas I got into the yard, I always kept them until there was nothing more salvageable - by the time I closed the yard about 10% of the 700 or so cars in stock were Alfas - and I kept them right to the death, so this was one of the last to go into the crusher......I kept as many as I could, but the unit I moved to could only hold 10 or so, so I had to keep the most mobile and complete ones. This was how most of the rest remained (and the odd Rover )

[Alfaholic]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

That one had actually been my (or technically milady's) first 164 - a V6 that I bought as an accident-damaged car - bumped front and rear. Milady had a 33 1.7 Sportwagon, and came home one day asking "What's a big Alfa?". I asked why, and was told that she'd been coming over the dual carriageway over the hils behind us, doung about 80 or so, and this "big Alfa" came past her like she was standing still.....


A little more digging pinned it down to be a 164, probably with a "V6" motif on the rear. "I suppose you want one" I said. "Yes" was the emphatic reply......


So I kept my eye out, found the green one and sourced the parts needed and persuaded one of my workshop customers to fix it at "mates' rates". We then ran it for quite a while until the gearbox developed a fault, and I couldn't find a suitable replacement - until I came across another salvage 164 V6 - a stolen recovered which has had the interior vandalised - the Alfa logos having been cut out of the leather seats. But it drove really well, so that became our regular driver, and the green one became a donor.....


With all the Alfas I got into the yard, I always kept them until there was nothing more salvageable - by the time I closed the yard about 10% of the 700 or so cars in stock were Alfas - and I kept them right to the death, so this was one of the last to go into the crusher......I kept as many as I could, but the unit I moved to could only hold 10 or so, so I had to keep the most mobile and complete ones. This was how most of the rest remained (and the odd Rover )

A 164 V6 auto in silver was my first (of 3) Alfas. A sorry end for the one in your picture, but one I fear most suffered.

[John Elwin]

I've never owned, or even driven, a 164 as it is simply a bigger car than I need, but I will admit to having eyed-up a 166 or two. There are a couple of nice ones around here.

I'm reaching that difficult time with my 156 Sportwagon, with CT (MoT) time looming up, whether or not I spend money on the Turbo etc. I suspect heart will rule head!

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

As you do , I was looking through some old photo,s of hometown for " her Indoors ", and I came across this lot .https://www.flickr.com/photos/ipsoc/...57717916218297
Rudolph Diesel , credited with the invention of the Diesel engine , mysteriously disappeared on the way to open a new engine factory in Ipswich in 1913 .
Never been solved , but with 1st war coming up , and the engines being used for submarines & other warships , there is some thought that he might have been got rid of to stop the UK developing this technology .
Anyway , with him gone , Vickers / Petter bought up the factory & continued there until the late 1920s .

So , lots of interesting , [ to me ], photo,s of diesel engine factory from 100 years ago .

Wow! They're either some very small people or some very large components!

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Wow! They're either some very small people or some very large components!

Yes , they are large warship sized engines .
If you look at picture no 9, [ click on it to zoom in ] you can see dustbin sized pistons near a cylinder .
And no 23 has big end shells which probably need 2 hands to lift .

But an interesting view into how some engines have come about .

[GORDON STREETER]

Looking at big cylinders, this is a picture of one of Allen Millyard's barrels on his V twin 5 litre motorcycle !

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Alfaholic

A 164 V6 auto in silver was my first (of 3) Alfas. A sorry end for the one in your picture, but one I fear most suffered.

I hope this one wasn't yours........

[S griffin]

What a shame for those cars to be scrapped like that, some of them could be very valuable, although sometimes there is no choice

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

So , lots of interesting , [ to me ], photo,s of diesel engine factory from 100 years ago .

Blimey, where was the "Elf n Safety" man