Eunos Chump

I had to visit BRUX-ELLES (this is how is must be pronounced) on Monday.  It wasn't without trials - airport security confiscated my network cable tool ('cos it had a tiny blade), and the Ibis hotel I stayed in was rubbish (bathroom stunk of drains, room was tiny and cold, and not only had they watered down the orange juice they'd done the same to the MILK).  Plus everything seemed much more expensive because of worthless British currency. I was planning to take some photos of the charming old buildings just before leaving, but got called back to the office because the bit of kit I'd installed had broken the phone system, so here's a shot of Heathow terminal 5 instead:

This did not go well.  Team Lard failed to get the RS50 running in time (the engine had been rebuilt but has a serious water leak, and the fuel tank is buggered), so we decided yesterday to buy another bike, which we'd then sell on again.  Cue a trip to Hereford to buy a running Tomos moped. With no time to test it, we turned up at the track completely unprepared and found it was pissing out fuel.  Changing various washers didn't help, but eventually we realised the float valve was sticking. In the process of fixing this, the fuel tap snapped off... we borrowed some fuel pipe and lashed up a new feed.  The killswitch didn't work either, so we made do with a cable-tie around the HT lead. But the problems didn't end there... turns out the Tomos has a hydraulic gearbox (rather than centrifugal clutch), and it kept dropping out of gear.  And it was so slow it was actually dangerous - I did 30 mins of marshaling and saw our bike almost get rear ended a number o...

The Rover 75 has a cheerful little temperature gauge with a sunny, optimistic attitude.  He'll tell you everything is fine and dandy in engine land, right up to the point where it reaches critical mass and does a China Syndrome.  However, you can display the real temperature direct from the sensor by careful tapping of the trip reset button: With the engine running, press and hold the button After a few seconds, the number 1 will appear - tap the button to advance the number to 19 After a second or so, Test will appear - press the button again Now tap the button until 7 appears After a couple of seconds, the true engine temperature will be displayed To remember this, I think of Star Wars - 1977.

You are looking at a FULLY OPERATIONAL Rover 75.  Insurance, tax, £240 of new tyres, £5 worth of car wash and it was good to go.  It is so lovely and smooth... multi-cylinder petrol engines will be extinct before long and it's going to be a shame.

The thermostat housing on a Rover KV6 motor is made of plastic; it's then plopped (along with a couple of associated pipes) right in the centre of the engine vee where it can get nicely toasted. These parts appear quite acceptable for the overflow plumbing of a toilet cistern, but certainly do not seem suitable as critical components in the cooling circuit of a complex engine.  I'm sure there's a good reason this material was chosen... I'm guessing it's because chocolate wouldn't last out the warranty period. Predictably, after a while the housing starts to leak.  For the past couple of weeks I've been attempting to replace those parts, WITHOUT dismantling half the engine to reach them.  After much grief, swearing, cut fingers and the use of BBQ tongs, it's fixed.  There was a point where I was ready to raffle it off on Autoshite (£1 a go), but persistence paid off.  The super Pela fluid extractor pump I got for my birthday really earned it's kee...

The cast came off today, I'm free!  Managed 21 miles (including hitting 70K on the VFR), but the last 5 miles was pretty painful on my wrist.  Went out again in the evening and managed 30 miles before it needed a rest.  Feeling very 'blunt' though. I cannot begin to describe the wondrous sensation of scrubbing my freshly-released arm with a pan-scourer and some detergent... it was almost worth breaking a bone for.  The doc said it will need 2 to 3 weeks before it was back to normal, and I should avoid heavy manual work.

I've been on my holidays in exotic NORTH YORKSHIRE.  It was bloody lovely and I'd like to have spent the entire Summer there, but alas have had to return to the penal colony of Hampshire. Sherpa van serving ice cream - is the beginning of gentrification for the humble Sherpa?  I first came to York museum in a Sherpa minibus in 1979, which delivered me to this very spot.   Sinister spark-plug man at Beamish open air museum. Deltic at NYMR.  I'm not a train geek or 'owt but I admire the engineering of these. The view from our cottage, Roseberry Topping in the background.  On one very still day the turbines stopped, and it was slightly disturbing - they reminded me of dead Tripods.