Plain bearing example

And a failed bearing of that type is a "runny babbit". :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

Then there were the 2 liter and 3500 Rovers --_

>

1292 cc XPAG

That's cool. What's the weight on them?

This was some place which specialized in tuning Ferraris and the like, and probably did not see too many MGAs. The carbs and air cleaners on it were from the 1622 CC MGA engine to make them fit. IIRC the coolant pump was also from the MGA engine, so it looked pretty similar. The rear mounting plate was also from the MGA. So all told, it looked pretty much like an MGA engine. Perhaps tweaking the needles in the carbs would have made a difference.

[ ... ]

The molly grease, or the long-string bearing grease? I was talking about the Molly grease, and I needed it for re-lubing a boring/facing head made by Gamet after having to use a lot of heat to release some loctite holding the spindle adaptor on. (NTMB-30, FWIW).

Enjoy, DoN.

[ ... ]

I could individually operate all the pedals, but I also took advantage of the closeness to trade off brake and accelerator by using the sides of a single foot. Useful while sitting at a light with a steep uphill, so I could zap the engine as I was coming off the clutch and let the brake off at the same time. :-) (Already, there were so many driving automatic transmissions that had no idea that it would be polite to leave a little room for the uphill person to roll back as he got a manual transmission car started after a light change.

BTW -- In the MGA (at least the one in the US) the passenger could operate the accelerator. There was a crank over the trans tunnel conveying the pedal operation to the right side where the accelerator linkage cable to the carbs was attached. You could, as a passenger, hook a toe under the crank and lift to goose the engine and surprise the driver. :-)

And the clutch and brake were moved to the left side for the USA by simply unbolting the dual hydraulic cylinder and re-bolting it on the new driver's side.

Enjoy, DoN.

Aha! Yes, I remember that some writer, writing about the MGA, called it "to e-and-toe." I don't think that my toes would easily adapt to multitasking. d8-) Drag braking was just becoming accepted as a racing technique (late '6

0s), and there was already a hell of a lot going on when you engaged in tha t.

And, with the close-ratio racing crashbox I put in my Midget, I had to heel

-and-toe double-clutch to get down into second gear when coming into a tigh t turn at speed. That would give the two sides of your foot a workout...

The Brits'idea of a practical joke, no doubt.

4564

toe-and-toe." I don't think that my toes would easily adapt to multitasking . d8-) Drag braking was just becoming accepted as a racing technique (late '60s), and there was already a hell of a lot going on when you engaged in t hat.

For "drag braking" read "trail braking." My memory is getting a little blun t on the edges...

It's damned tough, especially with a hot engine, but doable. The most successful mod was a 2" hole in the fender well, right between the 2 center plugs. A single hole didn't compromise the structural integrity nearly as badly, and usually wouldn't void the insurance.

There must have been some room in there. Kudos, Sunbeam.

And an air nozzle. Yank the wires and blow the crap out before unscrewing the plugs. I saw some pretty large pebbles in those deep wells, not to mention pine needles, twigs, sand, and other things that mice liked to pack in.

But were the plugs, points, and condenser the same? I wutna thunk so.

Long grain parboiled, Don. Tubs of moly grease are a dime a dozen.

They are under a lift platform that I use in the back yard. There wasn't enough space to make them large enough to roll on dirt with a load so they are stationary when lifting my snowblower etc. It's SO much easier to work on small engines while standing up.

The other useful auction find for working on engines is a rolling cart like this:

I use it for removed parts and hardware, to keep them close enough to pick up the retaining screws while holding a part in place. The tool box is on a folding table placed back out of the way.

-jsw

Well, if it was pre '74 it used the same points as the A. The plugs on the A were generally a bit colder than the B - Stock1962 A used a Champion N5C. The 1862 B used RN9YC - Close enough not to tip off the tuner if he looked at what was there and how it burned - and replaced the plugs accordingly. A st if N4 or N% plugs in a tuned B might be just about perfect - - -

So, the answer is yes, the tuneup parts were pretty much the same (on the pre-emission control engines, anyways)

Trimmed

Oh? I thought you said it was under your solar array.

I have a HF 2-shelf metal style, similar to those. Works a treat.

[ ... ]

Pretty much identical as far as I remember. The distributor may even have been from the MGA, depending on whether it got bashed in being removed from the wreck which donated it. Since it went into my friend's car first, I'm not sure of all that he did to it to make it work.

Not when I got my first (tiny bottle of) Moly grease. This was back in the mid 1960s IIRC.

Enjoy, DoN.

It's the exact opposite today. Moly plentiful, long-fiber scarce.

The ball thrust bearing is for adding tracking to an HF 45W panel set. It's the same size as 1-1/4" pipe, with clearance for 1" pipe to pass through. The stainless needle bearings are on wheels of equipment stored under cover on ground that may flood.

I bought the HF kit to experiment with, knowing it isn't large enough to run more than a laptop. Over 5 years its output has degraded to about 1.6A and the parallel undersized blocking diodes on the input shorted and had to be replaced with one larger Schottky. Without the diode the battery can feed back to the panel, creating a short-circuit hazard. The digital power meter on my larger roof array also failed so now the panels are on the list of connections I unplug before thunderstorms.

I mainly use it to keep vehicle batteries topped up, for which it works well. The battery in my truck is 14 years old and my tractor has had a series of cheap U1R batteries others had discarded. They need frequent top-off charges to ward off sulfation, or whatever else causes capacity to drop and automatic chargers to stop charging the battery. My chargers are manual, home-made, and allow me to increase the voltage until the "dead" battery accepts charge current again. I decided not to make and sell them because they can easily destroy a battery if misused or left unattended too long.

I keep track of starting battery condition with an HF carbon pile tester by reading the current when the voltage needle is at the 10V pass/fail step. Autozone measured the starting current the (warm) truck actually draws with their hand-held tester. Although it needs more current when cold it would be in the driveway where I can plug in a charger.

--jsw

These lithium batteries caught my eye last spring:

I've had pretty good luck with the lawn tractor battery but the motorcycle battery has always been troublesome. Real lucky to get 5 years from one, usually less. Stored inside, water topped off with distilled, regularly charged with a smart desulphating charger... If one of those lithium replacements would last around 10 years it would be worth it.

You tried any of the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries yet?

The price is very interesting, compared to >$1000 for some of the others on that page. How do you keep your regulator output from exceeding 10A, or limit the under-hood temperature to 140F?

I was the battery tech at Segway and Zoll Medical, and once a chemist who experienced a Lithium Aluminum Hydride fire in a fume hood.

Lithiums are great while they work, as long as you observe the many restrictions on them. When they deteriorate there's no way I know to salvage them. The ones I tested had a supposedly guaranteed lifetime of at least 3 years but my experience has been that it varied from less than one year to possibly as much as 15.

Commercial Lithium packs have built-in supervisory circuits like this to limit their charge and discharge voltages, balance the individual cells and hopefully protect them from igniting:

It's possible to use the batteries without a control circuit but you need to watch them carefully. At Segway we charged individual evaluation samples with either a model airplane charger or a voltage and current controlled lab power supply. One battery isn't as bad as a string of them since unlike other battery types they have no good inherent way to divert excess current once fully charged, so without an external balancing circuit an unequal cell may allow others to overcharge before the pack reaches its "full" voltage.

The "Gas Gauge" circuit integrates and records charge and discharge currents on the assumption that charging is 100% efficient. It needs an initial calibration to determine the actual Coulomb capacity of the pack, and recalibration as the pack ages. That's why a laptop may shut off at 40% indicated remaining capacity.

Which "smart, desulfating charger" did you use? Opinions vary on their effectiveness. Pulsing makes sense from the circuit designer's perspective because it cheaply forces current with higher voltage while limiting current and heating, but I'm not so sure it does what they claim inside the battery. The DC overvoltage desulfation method I use can run away if the current isn't limited by either circuitry or using a small solar panel as the source.

--jsw

I wondered how they were overcoming some of the inherent troubles of lithium batteries. The proper one for my motorcycle would be this one:

I don't know what they are up to, it is suppose to be a direct drop in replacement for my bike. Motorcycles in general don't have very strong alternators. I have the specs, could look it up if you want...

I know you have a lot of battery knowledge, that's why I asked if you had any experience with these :)

The CTEK MUS 4.3, nothing special. There are several very similar units.

What I really like is that I have a cable attached to the bike so it is easy to hook-up. The battery and connections are buried in the middle of the bike. I can set it to charging and if I forget to remove it in an hour or two it switches off more or less when complete. My other trickle chargers just keep cooking until you remove them. I'm too much of cheapskate to just leave it going all the time but that is one of its supposed features.

I've seen it in its desulphating mode at times while charging the motorcycle battery. Those batteries never last very long no matter how I treat them...