The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[Duleigh]

***Groan ***
Going back to work in just over nine hours, after two weeks off. It wasn't quite the break I needed - a ton of shitty things happened, and I know I'm heading back into a reorganisation.

On the bright side, I managed to find a full set of four NOS front brake cylinders for the old Triumph Herald for the same price as I would pay for importing one. I know have to figure out what the weird bolts they used. Anybody know?

View attachment 2338460

Looks like a standard 12 point bolt head. a 12 point bold should be available at any aircraft manufacturing plant, I've never seen one on a car. That is serious overkill.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Looks like a standard 12 point bolt head. a 12 point bold should be available at any aircraft manufacturing plant, I've never seen one on a car. That is serious overkill.

Thanks Duleigh. That gives me a start. I wonder why they used those? I didn't want to take an angle grinder to them if I could avoid it. The normal is a 1/4" x 1/2" UNC set screw.

Edit... Oh, hang on. So a normal 12 point socket should fit?

 

[Duleigh]

Thanks Duleigh. That gives me a start. I wonder why they used those? I didn't want to take an angle grinder to them if I could avoid it. The normal is a 1/4" x 1/2" UNC set screw.

The head should be meaningless except if you're rebuilding it for show. A standard 6 point head should work as long as the length, width, and thread are right. They MAY have used them because the 12 point has a flange which doesn't require a washer in many applications.

a ton of shitty things happened, and I know I'm heading back into a reorganisation.

I didn't know Comcast had offices in Australia! (Reorganizations and Severance Packages are Comcast's #1 product!)

 

[orangecurious]

Thanks Duleigh. That gives me a start. I wonder why they used those? I didn't want to take an angle grinder to them if I could avoid it. The normal is a 1/4" x 1/2" UNC set screw.

Edit... Oh, hang on. So a normal 12 point socket should fit?

A lot of UK car plants switched to planes for WW2, so it may be from that.

I had an MG and it had some weird stuff.

 

[Duleigh]

A lot of UK car plants switched to planes for WW2, so it may be from that.

I had an MG and it had some weird stuff.

I love MGs. My buddy at Minot Air Force Base bought a 1975 MG Silver Anniversary edition midget. He got it cheap because the transmission was blown and over the winter in 1980 we rebuilt the transmission in his dorm room (winters in North Dakota are very long) What a fun little car, unfortunately it was in the wrong place. MGs are built for gently winding country roads, in North Dakota you can drive for hours before you find a curve in the road.

 

[Rustyoznail]

That makes sense. It's a 1959 model, so it's feasible they used leftovers. I just need to find the right socket.

Thanks all. The things we learn here.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I love MGs. My buddy at Minot Air Force Base bought a 1975 MG Silver Anniversary edition midget. He got it cheap because the transmission was blown and over the winter in 1980 we rebuilt the transmission in his dorm room (winters in North Dakota are very long) What a fun little car, unfortunately it was in the wrong place. MGs are built for gently winding country roads, in North Dakota you can drive for hours before you find a curve in the road.

The Herald is great around town in summer (It's a convertible), but not so good on the highway. It's got the 948cc engine which is only good for about 70mph flat out going downhill with a tail wind. It's a bit scary mixing it with trucks on a deadline.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yup, it’s Tex’s café, fer sure, fer sure. I go to catch twenty winks and wake up in an auto mechanics discussion. The things one learns…

 

[Duleigh]

Yup, it’s Tex’s café, fer sure, fer sure. I go to catch twenty winks and wake up in an auto mechanics discussion. The things one learns…

Don't go! I'll have questions about Northern Quebec fishing villages later.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

That's not cute at all... then again, neither is two months full of repeats.

Depends on the repeat. Various classics of my childhood are very cute and go down well with the next generations (The Clangers, Bagpuss, Morph).

Lots of great films I've never seen, simply because we're long past the days of my youth when all the films ever made could be.reviewed in the single-volume Halliwell Film Guide. Not to mention all the documentaries over the ages. Can't beat a David Attenborough series or a real history doc (as opposed to the 'History' Channel of wacky hypotheses and aliens...), though my favourite genre atm is Comedian Tours Some Part of the World, Using an Unusual Form of Transport, or Has Other Quirk. Enough of those exist to fuel me for a couple months.

 

[drobert44]

I love MGs. My buddy at Minot Air Force Base bought a 1975 MG Silver Anniversary edition midget. He got it cheap because the transmission was blown and over the winter in 1980 we rebuilt the transmission in his dorm room (winters in North Dakota are very long) What a fun little car, unfortunately it was in the wrong place. MGs are built for gently winding country roads, in North Dakota you can drive for hours before you find a curve in the road.

I had a new 70 MGB, loved it! Esp in Big Sur, Highway 1.

 

[NotWise]

Thanks Duleigh. That gives me a start. I wonder why they used those? I didn't want to take an angle grinder to them if I could avoid it. The normal is a 1/4" x 1/2" UNC set screw.

Edit... Oh, hang on. So a normal 12 point socket should fit?

They're for high torque, and a normal 12-point socket or close-end wrench should work.

 

[Duleigh]

Can't beat a David Attenborough series or a real history doc (as opposed to the 'History' Channel of wacky hypotheses and aliens...)

Amen to that, Sister! When Discovery slid down a hole of populist garbage and drew the History Channel and the "Science" Channel in with it, I was left with BBCA, which really wasn't all that good until the weekend when they let Sir David out of his cage.

Now on the ROKU Pluto app and the Plex app there's multiple channels dedicated to actual science! Real history that really happened! War documentaries that feature more than R. Lee Ermy. (I love the guy but can only take so much) and The Librarians (a dumb but highly addictive fantasy show)

 

[NotWise]

I had a new 70 MGB, loved it! Esp in Big Sur, Highway 1.

A friend of mine college bought a brand-new Midget. The transmission didn't last a year.

I always wanted an MG, but I figure now that they're mostly useful for people who get they're kicks from tinkering with the car. If that isn't your gig, then a more modern car will take a lot less tinkering and give you more driving time.

 

[drobert44]

I sold mine off a few years ago, but loved it in the countryside, in the summer. I used to work on them in 1970 in Monterey, California.

 

[Duleigh]

A friend of mine college bought a brand-new Midget. The transmission didn't last a year.

I always wanted an MG, but I figure now that they're mostly useful for people who get they're kicks from tinkering with the car. If that isn't your gig, then a more modern car will take a lot less tinkering and give you more driving time.

My dream car is a 1969 Alfa Romeo Spider... but I don't have a garage where we can spend the rest of our lives together.

 

[MrPixel]

The problem with MGs I knew of firsthand was the relatively soft steel of the camshafts and lifters. You were pretty much guaranteed to rebuild the top end every 60K miles or so. In looking back, I have to wonder if modern synthetic oils could have doubled the life expectancy.

I never owned one myself, just wrenched on friends' cars. For cheap sportscar thrills I favored Italian marques.

 

[orangecurious]

The problem with MGs I knew of firsthand was the relatively soft steel of the camshafts and lifters. You were pretty much guaranteed to rebuild the top end every 60K miles or so. In looking back, I have to wonder if modern synthetic oils could have doubled the life expectancy.

I never owned one myself, just wrenched on friends' cars. For cheap sportscar thrills I favored Italian marques.

my MGB went "around the clock" with the original engine without a problem. The B series engine was rock solid. Not sure about the Midgets.

One issue was the engines were originally smaller, but they increased the capacity over the years, so the B would run hot, fine in winter. not so in summer when ou had to turn the heater on as it helped cool it! The Midgets had a similar thing, but maybe not so drastic as (i think) they eventually replaced the engine as they couldn't make it any bigger.

As an MG owner (ok, in the past, but once an MG owner...) i cannot condone the use of a Triumph car in any way.

 

[Duleigh]

As an MG owner (ok, in the past, but once an MG owner...) i cannot condone the use of a Triumph car in any way.

I had to look it up... and I saw it, the 1957 forest green TR3.
I WANT ONE

 

[orangecurious]

I had to look it up... and I saw it, the 1957 forest green TR3.
I WANT ONE

ugly cars, well, sports cars. MGs had curves, TR's were boxes. TR7, ugliest sports care ever?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

We loved the Librarians! Pretty young fucked-up bisexual kinky polyamorous students, at a graduate school for magic, ending up in what is definitely not-Narnia for copyright reasons...

BBC4 and iPlayer is worth the licence fee, along with channels like Dave. If nothing else there'll be some QI or Would I Lie to You.

Though I also have a weakness for the last half hours of terrible films (violent thrillers or crime drama). Last night I caught the end of Transporter 2, where Jason Statham betrays zero facial expression during a totally implausible car chase, manages to jump onto a plane's landing gear after it takes off, materialises inside the plane, and then somehow the plane corkscrews for several minutes after the pilot dies, before exploding in the sea, he gets rescued, amd materialises leaving a hospital with one carefully-curated bandaid on his cheek and one tiny bruise...

 

[MrPixel]

...i cannot condone the use of a Triumph car in any way.

Then forgive me. I worked on my sister's TR6, too.

TR7, ugliest sports car ever?

Maybe, maybe not. Some TVR models were wretch-worthy. A couple of small cars did well adopting the wedge motif, the Fiat X-1/9 being one.

 

[desecration]

You would willingly buy an Italian or British motorcar? They make American cars look reliable!

 

[Duleigh]

ugly cars, well, sports cars. MGs had curves, TR's were boxes. TR7, ugliest sports care ever?

If this is a box, you can bury me in it

 

[NotWise]

ugly cars, well, sports cars. MGs had curves, TR's were boxes. TR7, ugliest sports care ever?

Depends on the driver. I once had a girlfriend who drove one. It was a pretty sexy car when she was behind the wheel.