Welding up the wings on a fairway taxi.

The wings on my old fairway taxi bounced up and down on every bump in the road. It seems a fairly common complaint,the inner and outer wings are held together and to the rest of the bodywork with coarse threaded screws and plastic spacers. They rust badly and quickly
I welded the inner and outer wings together with a steel strip replacing the plastic.

After welding the join was ground down and covered with a skim of filler. The wings are much stronger after being welded together. Temporarily the repairs were covered with some black gloss. At a later date the taxi will be resprayed.

Two stroke oil .Is it the new snake oil?.

For a long time now I've been running an old London taxi as a runabout.

 Not long after buying it I first heard of using two stroke oil as an additive in diesels to combat the lack of lubrication in the new 'eco' diesel fuels.

I started using it a few years ago and over a time I tried different brands,mixtures and permutations to see what difference it makes if any.
There is the chance of 'placebo effect' when you convince yourself that something has to be better because you want it to be so I used different drivers and studied reports on other web sites and forums.
The engine especially cold,is quieter,the diesel 'knock' reduced (again mainly from cold). Starting is if anything better and the engine seems smoother. MPG is slightly improved but to be strict the figures are close enough before and after that the difference is not really worth much.
I found any low ash two stroke fuel works fine. I use whatever I can find cheaply (normally Wilko or Asda) and a mixture ratio of 75 to 1 or thereabouts seems to work fine.When stopping the addition of the two stroke oil it seems to take some time and a few refills of the tank for the rattle to return fully,so maybe there is a residual effect of the oil.
The life of filters is unaffected.
The cost is pretty negligible and the positive benefits are worth it. I have now used the oil for many thousands of miles and have noticed no negative results from its use in any way.
Snake oil? Others have reported similar benefits,so probably no.
You can read about the taxi etc here.

Rover P5b,Transit Mk1 and Fairway taxi spares wanted.

If anyone has any unwanted spares or parts for any of the above vehicles I'm always interested in buying,swapping etc. Even parts that are worn can be repaired or restored.

I've been carrying out a rolling restoration on my Rover P5b  for a long time and even a wing like this rotten  one can be repaired or a section cut out to rebuild another one.

My old taxi has clocked up a huge mileage but still keeps going but these days needs a fair bit of attention on a regular basis.Now obsolete so its a good time to start collecting parts for it.

BT get their act together.

Fair play to BT we had a call from them and the line has now been sorted.
One lesson I've learnt is that if you dont get anywhere the first time you try again and again if you have to.
Persistance pays off in the end.

BT do they care?.

For over three weeks my home phone line has been dead and my broadband slow to the point of being useless. BT have lied again and again about fixing it and they deliberately have kept me on hold time and time again on an expensive mobile. Asking them to cancel the contract or give a MAC code means they cut the line or pass me on to someone who is incapable of understanding english.
I thought I'd either accept this or rant and rave or try and sort it.
Trawling through the net you can find alternative numbers and e-mail addresses for managers and directors of BT. I tried contacting some of these. I'm not going to post them on here as if they are bombarded with complaints it is counterproductive but already a rep from BT has phoned and the problem is being attended to.
I'll post as soon as I know what happens.

Black and Decker multi tool. Usefull or what?

I went to a small car boot sale on sunday. In a school playing field near the James Pagett hospital it was a fund raiser for the school. Not a huge turn out but I sold a few bits and bobs and bought one of those muti tools. Looking a bit like the Dremel everyone is familiar with,this was the Black and Decker version.
When I got home I carried on with draining the radiator of the P5b Rover The bottom hose clip was rusted solid and just wouldn't undo. So,I thought (more out of desperation than conviction) that I'd try the new toy and one of its little cutting discs. Small enough to get in place it worked a treat and cut the clip without cutting the hose. The discs are quite fragile and break easily but used correctly they did the job in a few seconds. Five quid well spent.

New Fairway taxi owners forum

If there is anyone else has daft as me,driving about in an old fairway taxi,(although to be honest they make great run abouts and clock up mind blowing mileages without falling to bits)
Ther is a new forum to talk to other owners,swap bits and pick up advice.
The link to it is here.

I'm now listing a lot of the tools I've decided to clear on on the baconsdozen web site.
I've moved and decided to pretty much wind down the business so if you want any imperial or other tools for your classic give us a call.

Elora socket sets,compressors and other bargains.

As it becomes more expensive to buy or sell on ebay I've spent more time at the car boots.
I bought a couple of Elora sockets sets for £10 each. Both were the older Whitworth/AF and metric versions in 1/2 drive. I kept one for a spare in the workshop and sold the other the following week for a small profit and ended up with a £2 socket set that cost £250 or more new!
Last week I bought a small compressor,resoldered a broken connection but then decided I didn't really need a second one so resold it and bought a almost new compression tester with the profit so it was free.
Ebay is dying on its feet as far as I can see but there are tool bargains to be had at car boots and more to be found on places like Gumtree or even in the small ads in the local paper.
I tried ebid but it isn't free as they claim and buyers are few and far between,there is life away from ebay though.

The scammers are at it again.

I've had a few e-mails from people who have received invitations to cash cheques from 'Baconsdozen Industrial' and keep a percentage.
I've directed these people to this page
Worryingly some of these have sent their bank account details and one sent a driving licence. Are people really that stupid?.

Bargains from the car boot.

I did a stall at the car boot (Burgh castle in Norfolk). The weather was poor (this has been a pretty awfull summer) and things were quiet.
I went for a wander round not really convinced that I'd find anything worthwhile.I spotted a huge Record vice laying on the floor at one stall.It was seized but the rust looked reasonably light and the oil and grease was dirty but still should have offered some protection and for £10 it was a potential bargain.It was heavy enough not to want to lug it too many times round the field and when I got it home a half hour with releasing fluid and a blow torch it was soon in a usuable condition.
The next bargains were a couple of compression testers,one in a box with all the adaptors and the other looking little used £3.50p bought the two. A vacuum gauge was 50p and a huge engine starter and charger was another £10.
The starter/charger needed some soldering but seems to work fine.
I didn't sell much but with my purchases considered the day was a good one.

Is that really the time?

I can't believe it,times gone so fast.
We are now doing a few car boots,we normally go to Julies car boot at Burgh Castle,only down the road from us now we've moved.
We started taking a load of second hand bits and pieces but are now taking some tools.We managed to get hold of a few in a cheaper range that the whitworth and AF tools stuff that we sell on the net.These are mainly metric.
We've also bought a load of hardware for the house,DIY etc .Time will tell if this is a seller or
 not.
Meanwhile I've done little real work on my P5b Rover. I repaired a water leak on the back screen and had a breakdown on the way to a car show.

I've spent a long while welding rust holes in the transit and taxi.

Patti free to run about

Patti,an Italian mastiff was taken as a puppy to a rescue centre.
After eighteen months of being kept on a lead or in a kennel she finally gets to run free for the first time.
Here is a you tube video of her enjoying her freedom..
Pattis first free run

.

The rescue centre Patti came from has lots of other dogs all needing a home.
Have a look at the dogs here.

Settling in.

Patti continues to amuse and baffle us both at the same time.
She's suddenly decided squirrel chasing might be fun,she barks and strains to get up a tree everytime she sees one.
She demolished part of the fence the other day chasing a cat (I notice more birds are coming to the table outside the window they probably thing with Patti chasing the cats away they're safe,trouble is Patti will probably chase them if she gets bored).
Some turd left some broken glass on Gorleston beach the other day and Patti got a bad cut on her front pad from it.It didn't bleed much and we've kept it clean,it has healed well and she shows no sign of being in any discomfort.

There are lots of dogs at Meadow Green a rescue centre near us.All of them deserve to have a better Christmas in a family home.I always want to take them all home with me when I go there,some have been very badly treated in the past. I doubt Patti would tolerate another dog in the house. Shame really.

How much is that doggy in the window?

Patty is settling in and wearing us both out in the process.She is very headstrong (apparently a Cane Corso) characteristic,incredibly strong and boisterous.
This is her sitting in the shop window as we clear out all the stock as the place is now up for sale. We've shifted a lot of stuff at the car boot and on ebay but there is still a hell of a lot to move.
I still miss old George,the tree planted over him is doing well and it somehow provides a link to him or rather his memory,if Patty becomes half the dog he was she'll be doing well.
In lots of ways I prefer the company of dogs to humans.In all the years I had George and his mate Jack they never lied to me or cheated,they didn't want money or ask for anything other than a place to live and food.In return I got a couple of super companions and true friends.
Some people could learn a lot from them (but they wont).

Patty

Georges passing left a big hole and I doubt any dog could fill it.
However a dog called Patty is having a ruddy good try of establishing a place for herself.
A rescue dog who had been in kennels for a long time she arrived a week ago to a chorus of never again from the wife and me..
She's been helping rearrange the house by removing things she finds and leaving them strewn about the place and pulls like a train on a lead.She is the most affectionate dog I've ever known and is full of mischief and investigates everything and anything she sees.George was one of the randiest dogs I've had and he'd have been in his element with her even though she's been spayed.She wont replace him and in her own way she's not trying to,I think we are going to get along fine.

My mate George is with us no more

My best mate George had to go to the vets for the last time.His legs started giving way and he was getting more pain.His life quality was poor.
I took him to be put down and the poor old boy suffered badly,it wasn't the quiet death he deserved.
I'll really miss my best mate,I do hope he's somehow reunited with his mate Jack,George seemed to lose a lot of his previous vitality after Jack died in his sleep.I managed to take George for one last swim and he was able to have all sorts of treats in his past few days.I buried him in the garden under a tree with a fancy name and blue flowers that I bought at a garden centre.
Rest in peace George you really were one in a million.

George and the car boots.

Ive been busy organising the move and some of the stuff I no longer need has been taken to the car boot (Julies at Burgh Castle) to sell.As usual my old mate George has come along for the ride but now its possible he's been to his last one.
George has suddenly developed a really bad limp and is hardly using one leg at all.The vet has agreed that at his advanced age (he's nearly fifteen) the only real hope is that strong pain killers might give nature a chance to heal what ever is wrong with hi,it seems risky to knock him out for x rays etc and at that age the chances of surgery of any kind performing a miracle seem limited.
With the tablets he is wobbling about reasonably well and doesn't seem in distress or pain.
We'll have to see,here he is in happier times.

Rusty doors

Looks to me like there's the odd spot of rust in this door bottom off the transit.

Typically the rust you can see on this Mk1 transit door is just the tip of an iceberg,the hole will get much bigger with a bit of prodding and poking.The vehicle spent the past few years parked up on Lowestofts dockside where it was wetted by sea spray every time the wind blew.

Time flies when you're having fun

Has it really been this long? I'm sure there are builders who've built houses in less time than I've taken so far to sort this one out.

I've now had the doors stripped and am making a stair rail after managing to fall down the stairs.

The floor boards are all back down after sorting out the plumbing and wiring and the fireplace that had been covered with tiles (badly) has been opened up.

The taxi and the P5b got through the MOTs just the motorhome and newest Rover to do.

I fitted some wing mirrors on the P5b so I could reverse it easier,a very stiff neck (getting old) was making it harder to judge and I dont really want to wuipe the door handles off on a wall.

I picked up a load of new oil filler caps for the older BMC vehicles at a car boot,I'll try them on Ebay and see how they go.

Still working on the house

I really need Melinda Messenger and that little bald geezer or one of those other DIY rescue shows.The guy who used to own my place must have done the vast majority of his DIY when under the influence of something ,I've seen some pretty rubbish stuff over the years but not for instance tiling over four layers of wall paper or concreting over stopcocks.
We live and learn.