A tale of two engine sheds. (longish)

Hi all.

As I expect you have all noticed, the weather has been turning for the worse lately. I decided that it was probably time for the Lister B to move from the garden to the engine shed. To understand how I made the stupid mistake that I did, lets backtrack a bit.

The Lister B, my first engine was brought home it bits and put into my shed. The shed was then cleared of old motorbikes and other unwanted bits and became the "Workshop". A bench, pillar drill, tool shelves and other niceties were installed along with a power, lighting and a bar heater to keep the frost and condensation at bay in the winter.

Last summer bits kept coming out to be painted and then dry in the warm sun. Flywheel, crankcase, base casting and all manner of bits went in and out all summer.

Early this summer I decided to build a modest but nice "Engine shed" in readiness for the completed project. This was actually a shed to put the engine in, hence the term.

Late summer and the big day arrived. The engine was rebuilt in the garden, checked and tested. It started first time. After four weeks of finishing and checking (Well just having fun with it really!) I decided to put it away for the winter. Now remember that it has spent over a year coming in and out of the workshop in bits and pieces. Guess what? The assembled engine was too wide for the doorway of the engine shed. It was also 1" too wide for the workshop entrance.

The existing engine shed has now become the "Garden tool shed" as I have spent today building the new engine shed! What with the summerhouse as well, my garden is beginning to look like a shanty town and I am thinking of naming the paths between the various buildings in the manner of Workshop Way, Summerhouse Saunter and Lister Avenue.

Now I am wondering whether I have just been working too hard today or have I completely lost the plot????

Simon Taylor ( The resultant size of your thumb is proportional to the velocity of the striking hammer.)

Reply to
Simon Taylor
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Good story Simon, just the kind of thing that happens to me, although I'd have flung a cover over it so it could join the "outside engines" as we call them here.

B&Q do a very good line of reasonably priced garden furniture re-enforced green plastic covers complete with draw strings. The one to cover a round table is voluminous for most engines and the "bench" model is good for a trolley mounted engine-and-driven-device.

They seem to be able to "breath" as I've never found condensation inside, nor does the exposed iron go rusty. With the usual disclaimers, I recommend them to you.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
J K Siddorn

Amen!

We have a large milling machine that also has negative clearance through the street door into the workshop, but only at a point 6" above the ground so we are machining slots in the door frame....

Where there's a will....

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Engine pages for preservation info:

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Reply to
Peter A Forbes

Thanks, I will bear them in mind for the Atco mower that is outside for the moment.

Simon Taylor

Reply to
Simon Taylor

it means a door lintel fell on someone.... ttfn Roland

Reply to
Roland and Celia Craven

Hi Simon, about 15 years ago I bought an old telephone repeater station from BT. This was to house the 20 engines I owned at that time. I had to cut the door frame either side with a crankshaft size slot on both sides. (At the right height for several engines) I can't remember the engines make but I had to sell one engine as the crankshaft was wider than the hole in the bricks! Oh Happy days!

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

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Reply to
Dave Croft

Friend of mine, The Cursing Chemist, has three fume cupboards in his garden - as well as a garage (full of ancient lathe) and a side shedlet.

-- Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Guess

I thought this only happened when one built the engine inside the shed and couldn't get it out. Some years ago, Candid Camera did a plot where they asked 2 removal men to carry a box into a room. The box was an exact cube and just fitted. The crew then "adjusted" the door frame 1" smaller. They told the removal men that they had changed their minds about the room. Would they kindly move it next door. Of course said the nice removal men. The resultant scratching of heads was hilarious.

You have to ASK?

John

Reply to
John Manders

A friend of mine built a Black Shadow upstairs and found it would not go around the half landing on the way down. Weighing some 360lbs and assisted by gravity, it decided of its own volition that it would not go back up, either.

We took it to bits on that dark half landing, eventually having to remove both oil tank, forks and rear subframe. It was near on midnight by the time we got it back together on a bitter January night, but we woke up a satisfactory number of neighbours when we started it up!

We then left it in the street overnight - betcha no-one would do that now ...........

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

Reply to
J K Siddorn

A lovely bike Kim. My problem is that I'm allergic to nice cars & bikes. I go green and dribble when I get near them. It's most embarrassing. We did once take a very well loaded trailer to a council tip and unloaded it under their height restrictor. As the load decreased, the suspension went up and jammed the ladder rack quite solidly.

John

Reply to
John Manders

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