Author Topic: 2 out of 5  (Read 4329 times)

Big Al

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2 out of 5
« on: October 12, 2015, 10:21:58 AM »
Ian Hellings left 5 of his recent purchases at my gaff for a while. Since it was a nice sunny day Andrew and I decided to see if we could get them going. Sadly there was only one workable ignition switch between the two Lely. A bit of fault finding and a flush out of the fuel saw the Sachsonette burst into life. Having the builders squatting on my new kitchen roof we did a few circuits of the rear lawn area before going round the further side of the house and squeezing out of a cluttered drive. Circuit and bumps with some tweaks got the performance to good. The two speed auto worked very well, as did the manual changer. No reverse on this one. I think it was managing a healthy 30 miles an hour.
Next we had a go at the older bike derived bath chair, hand pedaled on a tiller. This had an unknown cycle engine on the front driving a friction wheel dropped onto the tyre. I got this going on some blocks and again a bit of a clean up. There was a problem here of over fueling. Not sure how the mech worked and there might be a plunger missing on the float end. Ultimately the tap had to be part open to prevent flooding, but balanced against demand in use. So it took a lot of pedalling up and down to get the unit working. Quite demanding to as on slowing the engine had to be throttled, or lifted to prevent a stall.
Eventually we found that the unit was loosing power on an open throttle so the carb was cleaned. A plug of muck was removed and things became more predictable but the fueling imbalance remains for Ian to resolve. I wonder if the float was in the right way round?
Looking at the others. The other Lely needed to ignition switch from the running one. Not sensible. Another was missing its carb! Ooo eck. The third had duffed tyres. We opted for more circuits with the runners and quite a few villagers were interested enough to stop and chat. I good gentle day messing around.
Messerschmitt set, Goggo Darts, Heinkel 175, Fiat Jolly, Autobianchi, Fairthorpe Electron Minor, Borgward, Isuzu Trooper
Citroen BX 17TZD & GTI 16v
Held - MG Magnette ZB & 4/44
For sale - Vellam Isetta, Bamby, AC Type 70, Velorex, Church Pod, Reliant Mk5, KR200,  Saab 96, Bellemy Trials, Citroen BXs

DaveMiller

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Re: 2 out of 5
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2015, 11:11:08 AM »
We've probably all done naughty things, but it seems odd to publicise, even if only here, that you've driven motor vehicles illegally, and in circumstances which - presumably - would mean no insurance cover if indeed you did hurt someone.


richard

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Re: 2 out of 5
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2015, 12:38:30 PM »
All sounds like private land to me Dave , Al is landowning gentry you know !
outside of a dog a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read .Groucho Marx 1895-1977

Big Al

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Re: 2 out of 5
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2015, 06:04:45 PM »
Un-like folk at microcar rallies country wide, I risked life and limb in the emptiness of my curtalidge in the countryside. But yes, soon doing anything will be to great a risk, like the butterfly that stamped.
I would love my own Island. The Micro TT and all. Eventually there should be a possible figure of 8 laid out using the boundaries of the plot and yard. I will settle for that. OK for smaller chaps.
Messerschmitt set, Goggo Darts, Heinkel 175, Fiat Jolly, Autobianchi, Fairthorpe Electron Minor, Borgward, Isuzu Trooper
Citroen BX 17TZD & GTI 16v
Held - MG Magnette ZB & 4/44
For sale - Vellam Isetta, Bamby, AC Type 70, Velorex, Church Pod, Reliant Mk5, KR200,  Saab 96, Bellemy Trials, Citroen BXs

steven mandell

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Re: 2 out of 5
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2015, 02:31:32 PM »
I am hoping to buy and resurrect a 1950's skip loader with a front scoop and rear drag box that I noticed in a wooded shaded area past the end of a long dirt road.  I saw it while on a walk about 7 years ago, was interested, but could conceive of no use or storage space for it at the time.
Now that I own the 3.7 acres that came with my barn, I have both a use and space for it.  I found out that the owner had the whole thing rebuilt 9 years ago, but inexplicably had it delivered with a new flat rear tire.
This combined with his subsequent discovering that if he ever used it to improve the very bumpy dirt road that he lives off the end of, that he would be legally responsible for maintaining the whole road forever, persuaded him to let it sit where it is, never used in all these years.
I  know that the engine will spin over with a new battery, so feel confident that I can get it running, and expect a good deal on it.

I bring all this up because in addition to it proving invaluable at saving me many hours per season on weed control, and becoming handy at reconfiguring the overall fairly level lot, I would like to use it for the purpose for which it was originally intended - creating and maintaining a dirt road.   In this case, a one way micro car road.  This will allow myself as well as visitors to become enabled to drive my smaterring of micros, as well as the 8 Sans permis vehicles that are likely the better part of the way to the Panama Canal by now.

I live but a 1/4 mile away on a very low trafficked 60' wide residential street, and admit to tearing around my neighborhood in my other often unlicenced  micro vehicles from time to time, risking limb more than life at worst due to the  lower speeds attainable by these vehicles.   But it is my health at risk, not any body else's.
With the wide low trafficked streets, you'd really have to work at it to engineer a collision, and no children playing in the streets, as the lots are fairly large.  The only thing I worry about is making too much noise,  being stopped by the Police, or breaking down further away from my drive than I feel like pushing the car home.  So far no neighbor complaints or Police pull overs, as everyone seems so overwhelmed by the unusual spectacle as to be thrust into a state of near hypnotic wonderment that prevents their entering complaint mode.
However I agree that if I were to make this a more routine occurance, as I am planning, and having non residents join in on the fun, from at least the stand points of maintaining neighborly relations and legal liabilities, I would be better off with my own private circuit, and having prospective pilots sign waivers before heading out into my long abandoned lemon grove.

Which brings me to the point of this post.  The area where I am considering putting in a micro car course is about 150' wide by 750 feet long.  However if I utilize more than about 75 feet of the width of the course, one would be driving on a featureless open, and unshaded straight, as the full length of the abandoned orchard got dug up to place an underground drainage structure, so the trees were lost there.
Becoming a one way road course is necessary to avoid the possibility of collisions.  But other than that consideration, I haven't a clue as to how to configure the course, or how to groom the dirt road surface yet.
A perimeter route, as was so nicely present at the old B W Ranch would have a very boring, hot, and somewhat useless straight in it, considering the vehicles low top speeds.  So we must be more creative here.

Suggestions?