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I am ashamed.......

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02 Mar 2014 13:14 #1 by Paul Scherek
Paul Scherek created the topic: I am ashamed.......
Okay, I will start the ball rolling with a guilt trip. I still feel guilty about something I did 45 years ago. But at least it wasn't on an Oka!

I love vehicles, and I hate to see them abused and ruined. However, in my youth passing through Albury my Austin A40 threw a rod through the side of the block. I had tools, so I removed the sump and hacksawed off the remains of the rod so that the big end would still hold oil pressure, but the rod would not bang against the crankcase. I put it all back together, begged a lot of used sump oil from a servo and drove it back to Melbourne on three cylinders.

It vibrated so badly that it cracked the chassis, and the poor thing ended up in the tip. Shame really, those A40's were not bad cars, very comfortable, leather seats and a sun roof, all in a very inexpensive car.

Next please........

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02 Mar 2014 13:34 #2 by dandjcr
dandjcr replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Paul I think you deserve a medal for a) having the foresight to have a hacksaw in an A40 in the 60's and b) being able to use it to cut through a con rod.

I've occasionally thought of this problem and in my dreams, I put a hose clip around the bearing shells to keep the oil pressure up.

Also in the 60's the fan belt broke on my Vauxhaul Cresta, and I can confirm that pyjama cords and ladies hosiery DO NOT work.

More recently (70's), I demonstrated that pieces of shredded rubber from disintegrated truck tyres CAN BE successfully Araldited on to worn areas of 4WD tyres where the cords show through, and work for 10,000km.

David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
Oka148 profile here.
Visit our technical and travel blogs: here.

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02 Mar 2014 13:41 #3 by Paul Scherek
Paul Scherek replied the topic: I am ashamed.......

dandjcr wrote:
I've occasionally thought of this problem and in my dreams, I put a hose clip around the bearing shells to keep the oil pressure up.


Now I really AM ashamed! I didn't think of the hose clip, I was just near a servo and it took a LONG time to chop that rod. In future I will always carry a big-end sized hose clip!

Your tyre patch fix is a ripper - there have been lean financial times when I would like to have thought of that.

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02 Mar 2014 20:34 #4 by Ewart and Vivian Halford
Ewart and Vivian Halford replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
I used the lackey out of my jocks to replace the fan belt on my HT Holden, I only had it driving the water pump and it got me some 50 k into Kalgoorlie.
My brother and I were some 40 k from the homestead in the Austin Champ and the spokes in the steering wheel broke so we had no steering. We used two 24 inch stillsons on the steering shaft to steer, some times it was a two man job and it was a bit scary when one stillsons would fall off. Not far from the homestead a mob of sheep ran in front of us and it was too hard to swerve, sadly the Champ tore one apart.

Ewart oka 365
0428911147

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02 Mar 2014 20:51 - 02 Mar 2014 21:01 #5 by PeteFox
PeteFox replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
On a couple of occasions I had to repair a flat tubeless tyre but couldn't get the bead reseated because I couldn't get the air in quick enough.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO TRY THIS, DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK
So I got a can of butane the ones that are disposable for use on stoves, pinched the nozzle off the WD40, fitted it to the butane and gave a good squirt into the tyre. Lit a match and dropped it in there. Reseats the bead all right, and with a lot of noise.
Next time I lit some paper and tossed it in there, saves the eyebrows.

Pete Fox OKA266 MultiCab
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.byles.net/www.oka4wd.com/forum/membe...oka-266?limitstart=0
Last Edit: 02 Mar 2014 21:01 by PeteFox.
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03 Mar 2014 06:23 #6 by Chalkie
Chalkie replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Pete, That is in a class of its own.

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03 Mar 2014 08:04 #7 by Peter_n_Margaret
Peter_n_Margaret replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
That really does work and you can use almost any pressure pack as most are flammable.
I have used 'Start ya bastard'.
Sometimes harder to get ignition that you would expect.
There are video clips around of it.

Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214

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03 Mar 2014 16:23 #8 by Peter and Sandra OKA 374
Peter and Sandra OKA 374 replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Cheap hairspray works the best if no butane available.

OKA 374 LT Van, converted to camper/motorhome,
400ah Lithiums, 1100w solar, diesel cooking heating and HWS,
Cummins 6BT, Allison 6 speed auto, Nissan transfer.

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03 Mar 2014 16:58 #9 by Joseph Baz
Joseph Baz replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
A ratchet strap over the center of the tread and a tube of grease to seal the bead to the rim is a much safer option when you are in the middle of nowhere,remember the further that you are from home the safer you need to be.
Cheers,Joe
The following user(s) said Thank You: James and Usha, Dean and Kaye Howells

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03 Mar 2014 17:26 - 03 Mar 2014 17:26 #10 by rohbertk
rohbertk replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
I always carry Aerostart. Works a treat.

#290
Last Edit: 03 Mar 2014 17:26 by rohbertk.

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03 Mar 2014 23:44 #11 by Hal Harvey
Hal Harvey replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
A friend rebuilt the motor in his Hillman Imp in our teenage years. He didn't have a piston ring compressor so he just filed them down until he could get them in the cylinders. It worked for long enough - a year or two until he sold it.

Principal advisor to the Minister for Tourism, Liza Harvey MLA
... OKA 260 ... "I'm not leaving any sooner than I have to!"
www.byles.net/OLDportal/members-vehicles-public/5-oka-260

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04 Mar 2014 08:47 #12 by Ewart and Vivian Halford
Ewart and Vivian Halford replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Joe, I tried the ratchet strap once but it did not work on that occasion.

Ewart oka 365
0428911147

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04 Mar 2014 09:18 - 04 Mar 2014 09:19 #13 by Peter_n_Margaret
Peter_n_Margaret replied the topic: I am ashamed.......

Ewart and Vivian Halford wrote: Joe, I tried the ratchet strap once but it did not work on that occasion.

A combination works sometimes.
Put the rim and loose tyre back on the vehicle.
Put the strap in place and tighten.
Use liberal 'tyre slip' (the stuff the tyre fitters use really works better than the alternatives).
Spin the tyre back and forward 20 degrees on the rim as the air is applied.

Carry a tube.

I once fixed a tyre for a 'tourist' on the side of the road and had trouble inflating it.
Used a full tube of silicone between the rim and beads.
That fixed it.
Left the owner to fix the mess. :)

Cheers, Peter.
OKA196 tinyurl.com/OKA196xtMotorhome
Mob.0428171214
Last Edit: 04 Mar 2014 09:19 by Peter_n_Margaret.

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04 Mar 2014 10:54 #14 by Paul Scherek
Paul Scherek replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Another botch I did, similar to Hal's friend, was on the pistons from my fifties R60/2 BMW motorbike. The pistons were so loose and rattly that I couldn't bear to ride it any more. Being as usual broke, I removed the pistons, and acting on advice received, heated them up with a blowtorch, wrapped them in rags to hold the heat and squeezed them across the gudgeon area in a vice and allowed them to cool very slowly.

It worked! After a couple of goes, they were actually oval enough to be quite a good fit on the thrust faces in the bores. I got quite a few more thousand miles out of them.

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04 Mar 2014 11:39 #15 by OKA 138
OKA 138 replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
I.m not really ashamed of this as in another life when tubeless tyres started to become the future in the road transport industry and us that were using them who were based in the far north west didn't have access to the tools at that time to make the seal on a tubeless when inflating so we used grease covering the area between tyre bead and rim when air applied no valve it would hold enough to push the tyre onto the rim and as more pressure applied the grease would squeeze out to be scraped off and returned to the bucket ready for the next one .
I have to admit to using the butane system but I carry 3 cartridges of grease these days and would have no hesitation in using one to inflate a tyre.
Bit cheaper than silicone Peter and reusable and not that messy only the hands.

Cheers Dave

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04 Mar 2014 12:21 - 04 Mar 2014 14:25 #16 by dandjcr
dandjcr replied the topic: I am ashamed.......(I put a car battery in backwards)
Have you ever put your car battery in backwards?

Well now you don’t need to do it to see what would happen as I’m ashamed to say I have already done it for you.

It was on my Ford Fairmont a few years ago. I was having battery problems so I swapped the soft battery for one from my ride on mower. It looked the same and fitted fine, but as soon as I connected the last terminal I sensed that all was not well.

A continuous loud beeping noise came from somewhere under the dashboard, the windscreen wipers started up and wouldn’t stop, and nothing else seemed to be working.

It took only milliseconds to realise I had done something wrong. The replacement battery had the same terminals in the same positions but with all the grime on the top I didn’t notice that the + and - markings were reversed.

I quickly (but not quick enough) removed the terminals and put them the right way round but almost everything was dead, only the lights were working.

What to do, apart from swear and curse? First check the fuses, they are designed to protect electrical circuits right? Wrong, they only protect wiring from fires from the power source. They can’t react quick enough to protect electronic circuits.

Anyway, the main 100A and 60A fuse links and a few other smaller fuses were blown and I hoped, in vain as it happened, that just replacing them would be enough. Still nothing worked.

Back to the internet to seek expert guidance and wiring diagrams from the Ford Forums. Fortunately most well designed electronic systems like the sound system, a/c and the EMS have built in protection from reverse polarity, but the Smartlock and security systems weren’t so smart and the door locks, indicators, instruments, wiper controls, windows, keyless entry, de-immobiliser and power management for the EMS, A/C and sound system were all broken.

IOWs, it was stuffed.

Then I discovered there was a large electronic circuit board under the dashboard, hidden from view, called the BEM (Body Electronics Module) which controls most of those things, so I unplugged and removed it and found several burnt out wiring tracks and some blown up transistors.



I bypassed the burnt tracks, replaced the blown transistors and held my breath.

Surprisingly it bounced back into life and pretty much everything was now working. A little bit of electronics knowledge and a lot of luck saved the day.

The Smartlock light on the dashboard still does funny things, and occasionally the radio aerial goes up and down all by itself but overall I fixed it and it’s still going after 3 years but I’m very careful about battery polarisation now.

On an Oka you *might* be lucky as there's not so much electronics in them (except all the expensive CBs, iPads, LED lights etc that you installed), but I still wouldn't risk it. The merest touch on the wrong terminal would be sufficient to destroy sensitive electronics.

David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
Oka148 profile here.
Visit our technical and travel blogs: here.
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Last Edit: 04 Mar 2014 14:25 by dandjcr.

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04 Mar 2014 13:57 - 04 Mar 2014 14:10 #17 by dandjcr
dandjcr replied the topic: I am ashamed.......

Paul Scherek wrote: After a couple of goes, they were actually oval enough to be quite a good fit.


Paul, I wonder if the next owner went to the BMW spares department and asked for a pair of oval pistons?

Honda have done it, they must have heard of your exploits.



Wierd:



Wierder:


David and Janet Ribbans - Oka 148
Oka148 profile here.
Visit our technical and travel blogs: here.
Last Edit: 04 Mar 2014 14:10 by dandjcr.

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04 Mar 2014 15:06 #18 by Paul Scherek
Paul Scherek replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
Interesting arrangement! It certainly gives a lovely big thrust face, but it just doesn't look quite right......

Do you know if the idea ever hit production?

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04 Mar 2014 15:45 - 04 Mar 2014 15:47 #19 by James and Usha
James and Usha replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
They used them on racing motorcycles I think. Not sure if they made it into production road bikes. I think it was a 4 stroke in an era of 2-stroke domination and didn't perform as well as they had hoped. Time for Mr Google.

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Found it on Mr Wikipedia ;) Honda NR

#072
Last Edit: 04 Mar 2014 15:47 by James and Usha.

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04 Mar 2014 16:55 #20 by Ewart and Vivian Halford
Ewart and Vivian Halford replied the topic: I am ashamed.......
David you just reminded me of our old land rovers, they were positive to earth.

Ewart oka 365
0428911147

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