Delta's Twentea-Twentea Break

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Shttttt "They" are everywhere. I think Grant's Toy has been kidnapped and abused by Them… May be several times! Easy to spot, the steering wheel is on the right!

Wearing a muzzle for too long can addle your brain, you know.

[Gerard C]

Addle my what?

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Addle my what?

Exactly!

[Gerard C]

I'm an ol'rider ya no…*

[Gerard C]

Andy, had a spare thought for you last night watching this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXMx7RcZ5I
Hope you're sorted out with the wiring loom, if not build one with bricks!

[S griffin]

That is quite a cleverly done advert

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Andy, had a spare thought for you last night watching this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXMx7RcZ5I
Hope you're sorted out with the wiring loom, if not build one with bricks!

I do think that there are some strange minds in this world! And whilst Caterhams are very capable I hope I don’t ever make one fly!
The car is getting there Gerard; wiring looms no longer available for a K Series but a local chap built me a new one based on an MGZR one.
Engine “hunting” (not rabbit) cause found to be a crack in the inlet manifold.
I have taken the opportunity to upgrade with Jenvey ITBs and an Emerald ECU.
Rolling road booked for a couple of weeks time, but no racing this year for me.

I had hope to enter a circuit rally this weekend at 3 Sisters Kart circuit near Wigan, in a hired MX5 but cancelled due to Covid. This was supposed to be a pre-cursor to trying to enter a few of the MSVR circuit rally championship events but the Oulton Park on (if it goes ahead) has a full entry plus 50, yes 50, reserves!!!

[Gerard C]

I remember the manifold of our 1600 and 1800 were made of plastic, right? Only issue we had with the 1800 was a constant overheating, fixed by Minister people.
100 entries in total, sounds fantastic! Dont regret the MX5 tour, nice car but in no way comparable to a Seven unless it's turbocharged.
Next year will be great for sure!

[andy97]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

I remember the manifold of our 1600 and 1800 were made of plastic, right? Only issue we had with the 1800 was a constant overheating, fixed by Minister people.
100 entries in total, sounds fantastic! Dont regret the MX5 tour, nice car but in no way comparable to a Seven unless it's turbocharged.
Next year will be great for sure!

The inlet manifold on my 1600 K was steel but still cracked but it only opened up when warm, letting in too much air with the original ecu trying to cope and compensating with fuel and then the hunting as it tried to correct.

The rally entry at Oulton Park is 100 with an additional 50 reserves!!

[GORDON STREETER]

The other day someone bought a car into my workshop with expensive alloy wheels that they had tried to remove a sodded up locking wheel nut from. They had butchered it up quite bad and as it was very hard it was difficult to drill, plus the fact that the head of it was actually inside the outer surface of the wheel and almost the same diameter of the internal bore. I had a think about it and found a cold chisel that was slightly bigger than what was left of the original "key" hole. I thrashed that in and using a spanner on the hexagon shaft it came undone quite easy. No doubt "jarring" the thread when clouting the chisel in helped as well. I know that there are various kits that you can buy that "claim" to remove locking wheel nuts but most of them are useless and can only fit over the outside of the nut.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

The other day someone bought a car into my workshop with expensive alloy wheels that they had tried to remove a sodded up locking wheel nut from. They had butchered it up quite bad and as it was very hard it was difficult to drill, plus the fact that the head of it was actually inside the outer surface of the wheel and almost the same diameter of the internal bore. I had a think about it and found a cold chisel that was slightly bigger than what was left of the original "key" hole. I thrashed that in and using a spanner on the hexagon shaft it came undone quite easy. No doubt "jarring" the thread when clouting the chisel in helped as well. I know that there are various kits that you can buy that "claim" to remove locking wheel nuts but most of them are useless and can only fit over the outside of the nut.
Attachment 64592

Well done Gordon. Removing sodded up locking wheel nuts, or ones where the customer has 'mislaid' the key/socket is a constant nightmare for us at work. We have a bucket full of obscure sized sockets (including Whitworth & A/F that we have sometimes been able to hammer onto them and get them undone, but nowadays a lot of them have a free spinning sleeve on the outside which makes this method useless. What we generally have to revert to is to TIG weld a hexagonal nut onto the end and un-do them using a normal socket, but this isn't always a 100% success!

[Gerard C]

I dont understand why you, professionals, can't do better. If you want to remove any part of a car, I know areas where it takes few minutes to remove four wheels and more. For free!

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Well done Gordon. Removing sodded up locking wheel nuts, or ones where the customer has 'mislaid' the key/socket is a constant nightmare for us at work. We have a bucket full of obscure sized sockets (including Whitworth & A/F that we have sometimes been able to hammer onto them and get them undone, but nowadays a lot of them have a free spinning sleeve on the outside which makes this method useless. What we generally have to revert to is to TIG weld a hexagonal nut onto the end and un-do them using a normal socket, but this isn't always a 100% success!

Yes I have used the old tig method, but it depends on just how tight the bolt was done up in the first place. Especially if it's been to one of the big "Mr Zorst n Tyre" fitting places that employ morons with hammer guns !! Obviously the fact that the tig will heat it up helps as well. I also have a box of "clutter" sockets and old locking nut keys that I can "thrash on" .
I think that a lot of garages state that if the locking wheel nut key is not on the front seat when it's in for a service then they won't work on it.
I'd like a quid for all the times I've had to phone customers asking where the key is, I have had answers from "I don't know what you mean" to "It's in my handbag for safe keeping" !
I was in the pit at Brands Hatch a couple of years ago and a bloke was trying to drill a locking nut off of his race car, WTF was that all about ?, maybe he leaves it parked outside his house in the road or on the trailer, however it wasn't a road registered car
One thing I have found in the past are firms on the internet that can supply some locking nut keys, you send them a decent full sized picture of the nut detent shape and if they have one they send it in the post.

[grantp]

Update on the Toyota remote locking story.

The spare key is the same as the one in use and so does not fit far into either of the visible locks.

And its battery is totally dead so it doesn't work anyway. Thought about it for a while and decided that it was worth investing in a new battery. £1.24 for a pair of them, delivered, via an Amazon seller.

As for the remote interference. No problem at all when we went over to the problem location this afternoon. I noted that the builder's vehicles seemed to be absent.

[grantp]

Many years ago my Saab had an unyielding locking wheel nut. Main dealer servicing. Attempting to remove the offending nut trashes the locking socket and their master socket.

It took them about 4 hours they told me. Had to try and drill it out in the end resulting in a small amount of damage on the wheel and the cost of a new set of locking nuts.

I was fairly certain that the wheel was last removed and refitted by them but it would have been several months previously.

The wheel was patched up to an invisible repair quality when I had them refurbished 2 or 3 years later. Refurbishment was required mainly due to 3 of them turning porous somehow rather than due to the wheel nut extraction damage.

Not a type of problem I had ever experienced previously.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by grantp

Many years ago my Saab had an unyielding locking wheel nut. Main dealer servicing. Attempting to remove the offending nut trashes the locking socket and their master socket. .

The last locking nut key that I had to get was funnily enough for a Saab, but this was for one of the later "Vauxhall" type and I got one off of eBay in a couple of days after sending a picture.
So if you want a decent set of wheels n tyres for your car just look around your neighbourhood and find some you like, take a picture of the locking nut go onto eBay and bingo ! That's how easy it is unfortunately !

[Gerard C]

Now you say it Gordon… You can also buy sophisticated devices to scan the electronic key code while standing within meters when the owner locks or unlocks his car. There's a company making and testing those in Grant's area I've been told…

[zefarelly]

Does anyone bother nicking wheels these days ?

I had a tyre done by quik-sh*t when I was about 19, old rusty Cortina (Obviously) and it was half flat by the time I got home. I really struggled to get it off as they'd put it on with a gorrila grade windy gun.

[Gerard C]

Last week I had to ask to a truck recovery specialist to undo the half shaft nut of my Miata. We had already destroyed two tools and lost our nerves when he came smiling and did the job in ten seconds. More air pressure and a big air gun helps.

[GORDON STREETER]

Had a good one this morning, a woman customer of mine phoned me up and said that she had a problem with 3 eastern European "blokes" yesterday that had come to look at her Honda CRV that she has for sale. It's a ten year old diesel in good condition that I have serviced for the last 8 years.
They asked to have a look at it and one had the bonnet up while the another one told her to look at a slight dent on the tailgate, they then said that they want to drive it and so her husband said that he would sit in with them. He told me that the bloke absolutely threshed it in low gears and said "I think the head gaskets gone" when they returned they picked the bonnet up and the engine was smoking and one of these "blokes" (for want of a better word) took the rad header tank cap off and said "look there's engine oil in there so the head gasket has definitely gone and oil dripping out underneath", he then said "I'll give you X amount for it as it'll cost me two thousand to fix it"
She told them no and her husband told them to "go away" !! I popped up to take a look and noticed that the plastic engine cover had been snatched off breaking the fittings and old engine oil had been poured over the cam cover and injectors also in the header tank. I took it away and power washed the engine and took the header tank off and cleaned it out. I took it for a good run and not a sign of any oil leak or any contamination in the cooling system.
This is quite a common thing in this day and age so I've heard, but the first that I had happen to one of my customers.

[Lancsbreaker]

I got a replacement locknut for one of my cars (that I'd bought from salvage auction) by the photo method as described above - under £20 IIRC ordered online. Did make me think that they were basically a waste of time.......

[John Elwin]

My garage man removed all the locking wheel nuts off my newly-acquired Alfa GT & put them all away in their box in the spare wheel well "out of harm's way"!

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

My garage man removed all the locking wheel nuts off my newly-acquired Alfa GT & put them all away in their box in the spare wheel well "out of harm's way"!

[grantp]

Can you get lock nuts for catalytic converters?


Would is make any difference anyway?

Of course the crime would not exist if cats were not compulsory ...

E-scooters seem to be primed to be the next major logic disconnect and fixed penalty notice cash cow.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by grantp

Can you get lock nuts for catalytic converters?

Same model for the spare wheels…*