Today I mostly .....

[excossack]

Today I am another year older

Order a made to fit cover for the boat

Went back to work after a week off

[excossack]

Thanks Mary.
Just noticed at the bottom of the main page it shows I'm 36 today

[Janko]

Happy birthday friend, and don't worry.. age is just a number. And 36 is not a big number. :>

[Zelandeth]

Continued the resurrection of the bike.

[] Two new tyres on. Will be sweeping up bits of the old ones for weeks I reckon...
[] New rim tape also applied and rims cleaned as best as possible. Definitely not pretty in there though...Not much I can really do though that I can think of.
[] Adjusted front and rear brakes.
[] New gear change mech.
[] New chain (had forgotten how annoyingly fiddly making/breaking chain links was).
[] New front mudguard (there's one for the back too...but nothing wrong with the one on there, so it will stay. Front one needs the supports cut down by an inch or so to make it fit the wheel properly).
[] Tape re-applied to the handlebars.
[] Cycle computer installed.

Need to go back to the shop tomorrow for a new cable for the gear change as the new one needs a slightly longer cable due to the entry being on the rear rather than the top like the old one. It's working fine and has adjusted properly, but the cable is very stretched as you can see in the photo. Also I need to get a new inner tube for the rear wheel as it let go when being pumped up. To be fair, it's already been repaired goodness knows how many times in the past - so I'm not going to begrudge it a new tube! Hopefully a test run can take place tomorrow. Shame the rear tube let go as I'd hoped to have that test this evening!



Still, starting to look slightly less knackered...Real change will be when I get the paint out though!

[nitro_warrior]

Continued the resurrection of the bike.

[] Two new tyres on. Will be sweeping up bits of the old ones for weeks I reckon...
[] New rim tape also applied and rims cleaned as best as possible. Definitely not pretty in there though...Not much I can really do though that I can think of.
[] Adjusted front and rear brakes.
[] New gear change mech.
[] New chain (had forgotten how annoyingly fiddly making/breaking chain links was).
[] New front mudguard (there's one for the back too...but nothing wrong with the one on there, so it will stay. Front one needs the supports cut down by an inch or so to make it fit the wheel properly).
[] Tape re-applied to the handlebars.
[] Cycle computer installed.

Need to go back to the shop tomorrow for a new cable for the gear change as the new one needs a slightly longer cable due to the entry being on the rear rather than the top like the old one. It's working fine and has adjusted properly, but the cable is very stretched as you can see in the photo. Also I need to get a new inner tube for the rear wheel as it let go when being pumped up. To be fair, it's already been repaired goodness knows how many times in the past - so I'm not going to begrudge it a new tube! Hopefully a test run can take place tomorrow. Shame the rear tube let go as I'd hoped to have that test this evening!



Still, starting to look slightly less knackered...Real change will be when I get the paint out though!

Can I see rust on the braking surface of those rims (or even worse are they those rims with a patterned breaking surface)? Because you will wear out your brake pads within the week.

[Zelandeth]

There is some rust on the rims, but there has been ever since I got it and it never seems to have too horrendous an appetite for brake pads. Granted, I didn't tend to use the brakes a massive amount when I used to ride it as I was in the middle of nowhere! Will just have to see how it goes on that front. If a new rear wheel has to be sourced, then so be it. Not the end of the world. Shame that a disc brake conversion isn't really a viable option without a lot of work, expense and in the case of such an old bike as this, probably fabrication of bits, as they do seem to work rather better than cantilevers. Done enough research there to figure out that it's not a road worth travelling though.

New tube in the rear tyre this evening and they're both more or less up to pressure now (I really need to get a decent pump with a pressure gauge to be honest...), fingers crossed they stay that way. Test run had to be postponed as I ran out of daylight though...maybe tomorrow.

[nitro_warrior]

There is some rust on the rims, but there has been ever since I got it and it never seems to have too horrendous an appetite for brake pads. Granted, I didn't tend to use the brakes a massive amount when I used to ride it as I was in the middle of nowhere! Will just have to see how it goes on that front. If a new rear wheel has to be sourced, then so be it. Not the end of the world. Shame that a disc brake conversion isn't really a viable option without a lot of work, expense and in the case of such an old bike as this, probably fabrication of bits, as they do seem to work rather better than cantilevers. Done enough research there to figure out that it's not a road worth travelling though.

New tube in the rear tyre this evening and they're both more or less up to pressure now (I really need to get a decent pump with a pressure gauge to be honest...), fingers crossed they stay that way. Test run had to be postponed as I ran out of daylight though...maybe tomorrow.

It's nice to see another old bike resurrected, my daily commuter is off a similar age I got through pads at a rate of knots before I changed the wheels but the problem is they are 27" wheels and you can't get good quality 27" wheels so if the rims are ok probably best to keep them. New 700 wheels fit but the brakes probably won't have the reach as 27" and 700s are subtly different diameters. I started modifying mine to take disc brakes and yes it's not straight forward, I've only half done the front so far. Disc hubs (actually all new/good hubs) are slightly wider - though the forks and frame can bend to accommodate, you need to weld on your own brackets, and then if you use a cable disc the calliper brake levers don't pull enough cable through so they need a leverage enhanceriser (-technical term)

[Zelandeth]

To be honest, so long as they're round and not buckled, I doubt I'd have any complaints about new wheels. I'm not that demanding or competitive a cyclist. Nor am I using it as a major mode of transportation, just figuring that getting out on it now and then might go at least some way to helping me keep in shape, and gives me an excuse to get out and about sometimes.

Whether 700C wheels would work looks to be a bit hit or miss...Depending on how wide the brake rim was anyway, assuming about 10mm as on the current one, the "inner" diameter of the wheel would need to be 620mm minimum. 700C diameter looks to be listed as 622mm. Still, hopefully these will keep working okay for a while. We'll just have to see how things go, I know that the wheels aren't in good shape so if I find myself suffering from frequent punctures, we'll need to see what can be done.

Certainly seems to be riding well enough though. Need to tweak the adjustment of the gear stop at the 1st gear end as it's skipping now and then at that end - but otherwise not bad at all. Only have a 1.5 mile run around the block so far mind you - but it's a start! Might track down a cycle path at the weekend and go for a bit of a longer run to see what gremlins appear.

[excossack]

You are only correct!

[Zelandeth]

Spent an hour or so fighting with the air cleaner housing on the Saab, muttering dire and unrepeatable things about stripped screw heads. For anyone unfamiliar with the air cleaner on the old 8 valve injected Saab 900s, the air cleaner lid is held on by six large, philips headed self tapping screws into the plastic body. Two of these are rather awkward to get to because the fuel distributor and air metering unit is in the way, and being buried in the nearside front of the engine bay, they tend to rust. As a result the heads of the screws generally get pretty mangled. With the exception of one, mine were all knackered. Eventually after swearing at it for about an hour I managed to get it out.

Then took it for another 45 minute driving around in circles locally run attempting to replicate its misfire fault which has apparently vanished for no readily explicable reason...Almost wondering whether the injector cleaner has actually managed to do its thing...

Think tomorrow I just need to cross my fingers and try actually driving somewhere and seeing what happens...To a car wash seems like a good idea given that it's barely left the carpark for a month and a half and the gulls have been using it for target practice...

Also discovered that some muppet had managed to catch the bootlid seal underneath the rear light lenses while changing a bulb in the past, which probably explained why they both leaked like there was no tomorrow. Removed them, cleaned the inside of the lens and the seals and re-assembled. Hopefully they'll be weather-tight now.

[Zelandeth]

Misfire actually disappeared yesterday - air filter had been diagnosed as "okay but probably due for changing" but had been proving hard to get (I'd had three the wrong size in a row from three different sources) hence not having been changed yet. Still haven't got one the right size, but have put together a lashup which will do for the time being.

It vanished yesterday following a change of the coil - though it didn't tie in directly with that, and was still doing it afterwards until I glared at it, swore at it and twiddled the CO setting screw for the three millionth time and either A: the bit of crud in the fuel distributor has escaped or moved so it's not doing whatever it was doing before, or B: I've found some sweet spot where it works better.

Idle speed is still all to hell, it smells ridiculously rich at idle...but provided that it stays like this is driveable to at least see if the fault re-occurs...

No MAF sensor on this one.
The only sensors I'm aware of are:
Temperature sensor to tell cold start injector it's needed.
Vacuum switch (on/off)...not sure what it's for...but it's switching OK, and of course the mechanical air metering flap. Warmup regulator I guess also counts as a sensor as it senses the coolant temperature.

[Janko]

[excossack]

Replaced the pull cord/switch in my mums bathroom
Replaced the extractor fan in the our bathroom
Removed the brackets that hold the rear mud flaps on, on the Landy and cleaned them up, treated the rust and sprayed Satin black.
Purchased some Tomato plants. (Money Maker, Italian Plum & Alicante)
Went hunting for fitted bedroom furniture

[excossack]

Tried watching two episodes of the Big Bang Theory............

Not sure.........


Yep I am....Its pants.

[nitro_warrior]

Finished 4 day stag/wedding marathon in NI by blagging our way into the resort's 5 star spa, this was the ideal recovery, but was helped further when Miss Northern Ireland appeared for a swimwear photo shoot. Good things to good people.