CitroJim wrote: 10 Feb 2021, 06:44
Zelandeth wrote: 10 Feb 2021, 02:47
Jim, I'm just finishing putting together the webpage for the Prinztronic Mini 7 here. Of course I'm mentioning your one as I'd never heard of the existence of this family of calculators before then, and am also indicating that once we're safely able to that we'll absolutely have to get some decent photos of the two together (which should look especially good I reckon as they're such complimentary colours). Do you have any objection to me including the photo above in the footnotes of the page?
Zel, that's absolute magic
I will be delighted and honoured to have mine included on your site
However you wish to do it is absolutely fine by me...
And yes, a few photos of them both together will be great!
Excellent, I'll get that added to the page at some point in the next couple of days.
-- -- --
Noted today that the handlebars in TPA are sitting correctly on the brake stop now. I'll need to investigate tomorrow to see what's moved or settled. There's still more travel in the brakes than I'd like - though I think I need to clear the drive so I can actually test it under engine power as the feel is completely different. There used to be a certain amount of dead travel then a very firm point where all the braking effort was done in virtually no actual travel - whereas it feels far more progressive now. Proper testing needed.
Another parcel arrived for TPA this morning which contained this.
Probably paid a bit over the odds for it as they're sought after by the air-cooled VW crowd, but to be honest I was willing to pay a few quid extra for a halfway decent instrument that doesn't look totally out of place anyway. This is a thermocouple type which saves me a bit of wiring and came with the sender too, whereas most of the modern automotive ones use a conventional thermistor and require a 12V feed.
The sender was looking a little sorry for itself though.
Nothing a few minutes and some heat shrink tubing couldn't sort though.
A quick bench test showed that both the sender and the gauge itself both seem to work just fine. A bit of a relief given how sensitive the gauge movement must be...sure far too many of these have been zapped over the years by being connected to 12V.
Fitting the sender is a dead easy procedure here as the ring terminal simply clamps down under the spark plug. It seemed the obvious choice to me to put it on the nearside cylinder as that's the one which is shaded by the oil cooler so in theory should always run the warmest (same reason that cylinder number 3 is always the most likely one to overheat on air cooled VWs). With it in place I ran the engine for a few minutes to make sure I was getting a reading. All seems good.
I *know* how thermocouples work...but there's still something somewhat magical about seeing something electrical working purely because you're making something hot.
Unfortunately I can't fully wire it in just now as I don't have enough wire in stock. Have got some on order. The gauge has been loosely fitted where it will live though. Doesn't it look so much better than the mid 2000s Cheap 'n' Nasty (TM) gauges that it's currently sitting next to?
The matte finish to the glass is an immediately obvious advantage...the others generally have done a great job of reflecting the sky from above my right shoulder. I'll be replacing the other two with something a bit more period appropriate shortly.
I think it's fair to say that TPA does have a bit of an issue with leaky valve stem oil seals. She's absolutely fine if used regularly, but the first startup after sitting for more than a few days usually results in quite an impressive smoke screen.
Honestly not worried about it though as I've never noticed anything while driving and she doesn't use a drop of engine oil between services going by the dipstick. Just filed under "note and monitor" for the foreseeable future unless it gets massively worse.
Having satisfied myself that the rear brake circuit is fluid-tight I buttoned back up the service hatch - finally got around to swapping out the 8mm nuts for wing nuts so I don't need tools to open it up any more.
Yes, where possible I did go back and line them up with the edge of the hatch outline to satisfy my OCD.
It's a tiny thing, but should save me a couple of minute every time I start or finish a CVT servicing session.
Last job was to try to change one of the ball joints. Decided to go for the one on the handlebars as it's by far the easiest to get to, despite it being one that didn't have any obvious issues.
Getting the locknut free did require a good belt from the big hammer but somewhat to my surprise everything came apart without much fuss at all. One good whack on the spindle and it was free. Didn't even need to break out the ball joint splitter.
Comparing the new and old ones shows the newer one to have a far longer tapered section...though I'm not sure if this might be to some extent the manufacturer trying to get away with using one part for a few different applications. Shouldn't be a problem at all in this case, will just mean that the body of the joint will sit a little lower. The actual size and profile of the taper at the narrow end is exactly the same as on the old joint.
The only headache was the seemingly inevitable moment when the spindle started to rotate while trying to tighten up the nyloc nut. Pair of pliers were able to provide enough friction though to get things tightened up. Job done!
Here are the markings from the original one in case they're useful to anyone.
To be honest with a new clip for the boot and some fresh grease this one could probably do further service. I originally thought the rubber was perished, though that turns out to just be the paint and gunk stuck to the outside of it - though when they're so cheap you do have to wonder if it's worth servicing one rather than just replacing it! It can go into the box of serviceable spares though in case I have one that disintegrates at short notice or something.
Not too bad for an hour and a bit. Also gave the interior a hoover out and cleared out the plethora of tools which had built up in the cabin.
This evening I had a bit of a reorganise - which involved removing basically every single thing from the shelf above my workstation. The reason was simple...I'm sick of not being able to listen to music properly! The room where the best audio setup in the house lives is currently being occupied by someone working from home...so I've been unable to use it since this time last year. My little Bose Wave does a cracking job at filling the room at normal listening levels...but it has its limits. Sometimes I like to just lose myself in music a bit, and for me at least part of that is feeling a fair amount of the music as well as hearing it when you've cranked it up a bit...and the little Bose just can't cut it there.
These can though...
These are the smaller brothers to the big suckers downstairs which can just about knock the wind out of your lungs when Spotify helpfully decides to kick the volume up to 100% the moment you click play (a bug which they *seem* to have finally fixed).
The brackets holding that shelf up by the way are screwed directly into the wall studs aside from the first from the left - so there's no worry about load capacity there. Think I've actually taken more weight OFF than I added this evening.
Driving the show is the world's most scruffy Sony LBT-LX5.
I have no idea *what* the previous owner did to this poor stereo system, but it is absolutely ruined from a cosmetic perspective - to the extent that I have actually considered dismantling it to repaint the facia. However I know that I have the big brother of this system (the LBT-LX9 AV - which is what the speakers downstairs came from) in absolutely immaculate condition waiting for collection next time I'm up in Aberdeenshire...so it seems a bit pointless as this will probably get retired to the garage then. Just a shame it's visually such a state as it's absolutely fine from a functional perspective...and it works very, very well. My ability to rattle the windows has been restored.
Given the amount of things in this room that are precariously stacked this may prove to be a bad thing!
