Finally a use for shirt collar clips?

[Ducked]

The wee soft metal things that hold the collar of a new shirt to the carboard in the packaging. Always thought I should keep them but if I did I don't know where they are.

Trying to improvise replacement turn indicators from old bicycle reflectors (at top in picture below) They might not notice the colour change if both sides are the same.



Moved the bulb holder inside the wing, cut a hole in the back of the reflector, and mounted it on the outside, BUT I can't get the bulb to flash consistently, despite scraping and bending the contacts. Bulb is OK (though I tried a new one anyway) and a test light probe flashes.



Tried bits of coke can to enhance bulb contacts, but they are too springy and won't stay put.



Don't really need any more shirts...

 

[eljefino]

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

You approve of failure?

Tsk tsk. Don't think that's the American Way.

 

[eljefino]

Nope, the effort!

 

[Ducked]

Gave up on the bulb and lashed up something with an LED strip. I have a lot of these that I salvaged off the dump, but of course couldn't find them, so went back and scratched around in the dirt for a few more.

These were also a bit hard to keep working, and may not once they see some engine vibration, but they are OK static so far. You can see the LED's though, which should be a fail, but the private inspection centres are a bit casual. They may well baulk at the contrast but I'm out of time so I'll just have to chance it tomorrow.

 

[Shannow]

I love these threads.

 

[Ducked]

I'm not enjoying this one very much.

Local fuzz seem to be taking an interest in my car, resulting in a couple of hefty parking fines where I usually park it under the elevated railway.

Lots of shiny cars still parking there so I have to wonder if everyone is getting ticketted.

Anyway, this means I no longer have ovehead cover to work, which means sunburn, and sweat in the eyes.

 

[Ducked]

Got up at dawn (less sun, more mosquitoes) and implemented plan A (bulb retained) for the drivers side wing indicator, replacing the clear but crazed light cover with a red bicycle reflector and moving the bulb holder inside the wing.

So now both sides are illegal in a similar way, rather than one legal (original) and one illegal (red bike reflector and LED lash-up), which is less illegal but more detectable.

I had to drill the heads off the screws, (a bit of a struggle since Black and Decker seem to have accidentally substituted small liquorice chews for their HSS twist bits) but got the clear acrylic off intact (until I slammed the hatch on it before leaving).

At this point I tested the LED lash-up implemented for the other side yesterday and it had stopped working. Not a big surprise, so I figured I'd better re-instate the original hardware.

Jacked up the car, removed the wheel-arch liner to get at the back, and it started working again. *?!@#!

Time to roll the dice at the test centre.

Ta da! All lights worked for the required 20 seconds or so and they didn't fail it on emissions, (though they probably should have), so I'm sort-of-legal for another 6 months.

Did get an "advisory" (actually a "watchee, watchee" but its called an advisory on a UK MOT inspection) about the cracked tyres, so I will.

Might remove that LED lash-up in case it shorts, though I suppose it'd only be an intermittent short.

 

[Shannow]

Sir Anthony Hopkins used nuggett to "remove" the cracks in the tyres in the World's Fastes Indian

 

[Ducked]

You mean nougat? That'd make them sticky, too, which I'm told is a good thing in tyres.

I had a phase of treating my tyres with sunflower oil a few years ago (and latterly Canola on the back, but I've since had a phase of rotating them so I've probably lost track of which was which).

It fills in sidewall cracks nicely but I became unsure about tyre softening and stopped doing it. Actually the cracks the tester seemed to be talking about look a bit like tread edge break-away due to cornering forces and MIGHT be due to the treatment softening the rubber.

OTOH maybe if I hadn't stopped doing it they'd be better preserved. Dunno.

Been aware of them for a couple of years, so the "watchee, watchee" wasn't strictly necessary, but if they're bad enough to attract Taiwanese attention maybe I'll pay a bit more attention.

 

[Ducked]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Sir Anthony Hopkins used nuggett to "remove" the cracks in the tyres in the World's Fastes Indian


Havn't seen that film, but I did a bit of internyetting. You sure he wasn't using boot polish? He was playing a Kiwi, after all.

I'm not bothered about cosmetics but it seems possible boot polish might have a passive protective effect, though the solvent content might be damaging.

I thought sunflower oil might be an active protectant, since its fairly reactive. IIRC tyre cracks are thought to mostly propagate by ozone snipping of the rubber chains at the pointy end of the crack, where they are under tension.

 

[Shannow]

Nuggett was the shoe polish we had as kids.

When I was in Air Cadets, I switched to Kiwi Parade Gloss