Will-Haggle

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

In 2015 I bought a Little Giant from The Showman, I think it had belonged to John, ho had a large collection in Sussex. I cleaned it up and have had it on show a few times but I've now fitted a new lead. I gave it a try tonight and it runs!

Got a bit more done today.
  Getting the lift right was a bit of a problem. When down, the downward curve of the lift arm fouled the guard and top pulley. Eventually I decided to disconnect the lift chain and cable tie the arm up as far as I could. I could have cut the downward curve off, but I don't want to alter things if I can help it. With the arm up I fastened the lift chain to the guard/frame.
 
  
 
   Next I had to have someway of holding the cutter bar in the vertical position. Had a root round and came up with this.
 

 

 
 Finally a couple of shots of it down and up.
 

 

 
  Next thing to do is make a handle to lift the cutter bar. Again I don't want to alter the original handle. Get that done and I can work out a belt length.

Picked up most of another seeder today at Hassocks, its shaft drive not chain, the hopper is different and at the price I could not say no !
 
 

I remember going out as an RAC patrolman to an HC one evening in the late 70's on the A1, burning oil, running like a pig on three cylinders. Two elderly ladies in the car heading home somewhere up north, RAC rescue, not recovery membership. Engine had a holed piston, I pulled the rocker cover, rockers and pushrods on the duff cylinder, topped the oil up and away they went, on three cylinders, no smoke, running as sweet as a nut, try that on a modern engine!
I seem to remember they also used to burn through the "hot spot" between the manifolds, resulting in an early example of E.G.R. 

I was going to say the clutch might be stuck but yours is out, so easy to check. The Vivas we had seemed to suffer from this, I was dragged a few miles round the lanes with my foot holding the clutch pedal down and the engine turning till eventually it let go. 

I'd like to see your wife's face when you say, "here's your new hoover darling"

You should have seen it when I said I'd got a Billy Goat.

Have spent quite a few hours this week re commissioning the Pilot after its 8 year lay up, the fitted 6 volt battery was under powered and dry so a new one with higher cranking amps was purchased and fitted. The engine now turns over smoothly on the crank handle with the plugs out after a week of WD40 down the plug holes. The original fuel pump was for an earlier car and did not have the hand priming lever, no petrol was coming through after a few dozen crank turns so I suspected the fuel pump might be dried out and stuck, took it to pieces and it was dry but quite clean and functioning as it should. I refitted it and hand filled it with petrol still no good. Fortunately I found an original NOS with correct primer which I bought and fitted this morning, half an hour of priming and still no fuel and yet if I sucked on the fuel pipe I could bring petrol through. I blew air down the pipe thinking there may be an in tank filter, good healthy bubbling. Crawled underneath to check the pipework around the tank thinking there may be a split or loose pipe. Completely hidden behind the fuel tank I discovered that a non standard electric pump had been installed at some point, switched on the ignition and returned to the electric pump, silent, remembering the old SU fuel pumps I gave the pump a few smart taps and tick tick off it went and voila! petrol at the carburetor. Next step is to refit the plugs and see what happens.

Just knocked this sign up today for a friend who i have done a lot of work for over the past 18 months .
The building was built in 1927 as a garage , The sign is over the old entrance which once was 2 wooden doors then blocked up in the 70's as 3 fuel pumps were installed in the alcove it created , then it has ended up following 18 months of work as a bungalow in the rear workshop area and tea rooms ( shop ) in the front .
The sign is not the best as the new occupier wanted me to just paint the burgundy and cream onto the old plywood ! .
But the vinyls have made it stand out along an otherwise plain , long road .
Diverging slightly - When digging out for the foundations i had to remove the origonal 1927 floor , it was simply 1" to 3" limestone embedded in bitumen ( tar ) with around 3/4" of cement covering it , No need for the breaker on this one it just dug up ...But nice to see how it used to be done .
The blue fencing , i cut down and welded from 10 foot high to 4 foot to give the new bungalow a more residential feel , taking away the industrial look of the high fence .
My old 1976 Villiers powerd mixer can just be seen peeking around the corner of the building ( wheel and yellow painted frame )
 
The sign it's self was set out by using chalk to mark the center line on the sign boards and chalk on the lifting tape of the stickers to indicate the center length of the writing / graphics.
The required heights marked with chalk on the frame and masking tape run between them to make a removable line to sit the lower edge of the words etc on to get them level .
The top of the paper backing material was folded back to the top of the vinyl and folded under to expose the top of the lifting paper .The folded under paper keeps the lifting paper away from the sign allowing for easy positioning before sticking the exposed lifting tape down .
The backing paper can then be removed , holding the sticker away from the sign whilst doing this .
As the top edge of the lifting paper is stuck down , as the rest is lowered and swiped to remove air , the lifting tape positions the wording / graphics as you go due to it's stiffness .
The sign is 2.5m x 2.5m in size , so the writing isnt small by any means , but the above method allowed for easy and precise placing , even in the drizzling windy conditions i had .
Though due to the 5deg temp i had to leave the lifting tape over the vinyl for around 20 mins to allow the vinyl's glue to get a hold as otherwise the stickers just wouldnt have stuck to the painted sign boards and could have lifted / ripped .
( yellow bags on the floor have the removed backing paper in , a good idea on windy days ) .

I personally place the sticker in position and apply a couple of strips of low tack masking tape over the sticker and onto the suface to afix to .
( i do this with anything from a 3" sticker to a 10" sign as i have a Chinese 600mm plotter  as on occassion i make signs for people )
Then apply a light spray of 1 drop of washing up liquid in 500ml of water .
Turn the sticker over ( use the masking tape as a hinge ) and peel back the backing away from the masking tape hinge to half way across the sticker .
Fold the sticker back over slowly working down from the masking tape hinge laying the vinyl down and removing air bubbles as i go with a propriatory plastic squeegy , thpough a credit card etc can be used but are not as solid as the correct tool .Then once the backing is reached , peel it off as you work down using thy squeegy .
If no masking tape is at hand just peel a little of the backing paper back and turn it over to make a buffer to keep the sticker from touching the surface till you have it positioned and gently press a little down to hold it before going the whole hog with the squeegy .
Air bubbles are removed by use of a needle point and circular movement of a finger around the bubble working inwards .
If you have corregated surfaces then warm the sticker with a hair dryer to get it soft so it will mould easier into the undulations .
A " Stippler " ( Hard bristled brush ) aids this moulding process .
The same goes for rounded edges etc , where the slight heating from a hairdryer allows for a much better adheasion over time ( no lifting along the curve line ) .
For a better quality approach buy some low tack lifting paper and cover the whole sticker with it and use the top as masking tape and proceed from there .
The extra covering of the low tack lifting tape eleviates any damage to printed stickers whilst squeegying them down .
There are many companies who sell the lifting tape but i use MDP at - http://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/
Check out their vehicle wrap and pimp up your Bolens   They dont all have to be red ! .
Their digital paper is also amazing as you can design and print your own stickers just how you want them using a std inkjet printer , i still see some i did around 6 years ago for advertising on shop doors .
Though these need a lifting paper as a barrier when applying them , Print a sheet out and cover in lifting paper then cut out with scissors or knife .Peel off the backing paper and apply , once happy remove the top covering of lifting paper .
I prefer the paper tapes for application work and the opaque plastic tapes for building up layers when prepping a sign using multiple colours as it is more easily viewable through.
Hope this helps .

Morning Norman, to stop the engine you close the choke flap completely shutting off all air. When you start it make sure you have it well gripped in a vice or workmate as it will want to jump about and might snip some bits off you !!!!

Last week I called in at Expeatfarmers. While there I had a look at a hedge trimmer he had. Bit of a monster with a small two stroke engine. Decided it was a little big for me and what use would it be? Don't say trimming hedges. 
  This morning, up his way again, called in, a deal was struck and the hedge trimmer found it's way into the back of the Disco. Just!
 Back home and had a go to get it running. Without success. Good spark but no petrol getting through. Petrol tap filter bunged up with what I assume to be, emulsified fuel. Several dunkings in boiling water and it looks nice and clean.
 The fuel tank had had a bang on top of the cap, pushing the tank top in a bit. This was blown out carefully with compressed air. The tank also had slight weep at an end seam. This I've re-soldered. Hopefully successfully.
 Tomorrow if time permits, I'll reassemble and try it. And find out how you stop it. Can't see a cut out.
 
 After a bit of research, I've found it is a Teagle Jet Cut Hedge Trimmer. Produced by W.T.Teagle of Truro. I've dated it as mid '50's. The first ones were produced in 1953. The cutter bar being chain driven through he tubular frame. Later ones were shaft drive. The engine is a Teagle designed one of 50cc. Only numbers I can find are engine number. G21110 and PE4 on the crankcase side cover.
 I will contact Teagles sometime in the future and hopefully they will be able to give an accurate date of manufacture.
 I apologize for no photo's. I will post some as soon as I get my computer back.

Hi All here is my early Christmas Present from that big man who appears at Xmas time hope you like it    

Is it one of these ??
 
Seen at the South Downs Heritage Centre today.
 
 
 

Got a bit of an overflow at the moment, I've put green sheets over them so Pam dosnt notice them on her lawn

Somehow I think she will.

Newbury tractor world turned out to be a very good show with lots of interesting machines. 9 Ransomes crawlers were on display including a non runner MG2 belonging to Stuart, we spent a good few hours on Saturday getting it running Neil valiantly changed points and condensor in situ , we stripped and cleaned the carb and eventually it ran. We started it again on the Sunday but it was very reluctant to keep running without choke indicating that for some reason it was not getting enough fuel, I suspect it may be down to valves or piston causing insufficient suck. Stuart came to collect it on Monday morning and I spent another hour struggling to get it running again, eventually it ran but not long enough for us to load it on to the trailer. The show was very well organised with loads of trade stands and in a very good location, i think it will be a very good show to attend in the future. Thanks to everyone who brought along machines and helped with setting up the display. As usual many visitors came along with stories about machines they had owned or still owned, I was particularly pleased to meet the new owner of the Ransomes front loading crawler that is featured in a video on U tube pushing up a compost heap. A good weekend.

What Gareth forgot to mention was his 1st Prize for his superbly restored very early, 1941 Rotary Hoes Ltd, RotehO. Otherwise known as a Series 1 Gem. This particular G206 machine is the oldest found to date and was 105th machine off the production line. Side by side with my later Series 1, G1384 machine which was 'runner-up' they showed the evolution of early models of this well known rotavator. Here they are, wearing their rosettes!
 

A BIG Thank you to all who travelled to Newbury for this show! As Gareth said its the 1st year so hopefully it will be repeated and continue to grow...........
Here are my pictures.........

Heres a few shots from Tractor World Newbury. A little low on exhibits but its only the first year. The weather today was great for
October, but yesterday was a bit rainy on and off. Overall a very enjoyable show. Darmic1 should receive a special thankyou as he
over half filled the section with different exhibits, and Paul Mackellow also took a good selection of O&R machines. I would also like to thank Titch for the decals he supplied that finished my machine off.