Progress

So, after soaking in Plus Gas the stud came out. Result - one loose engine.

Still need to drill out two more studs at the bottom of the crankcase as they're seized. Not sure how easy getting the barrel off will be. Cast iron piston in a cast iron barrel...hmmmm. Its at the top of its stroke and both valves are closed so hopefully the corrosion is minimal. We'll soon find out. Plenty of Plus Gas in there at the moment.

More to follow.

Lights

One of the benefits of working at Great Yarmouth - salvage.

Got these strip lights for the DoomRamp garage. All are wired up and working so just need to fit them and things should be a hell of a lot brighter in there (although the standard of skating will still remain shite).

1920 Airy-ole

Been a while since I posted anything so here goes with a double blog.

First off I need to get the crankcases on my 1920 Ariel welded cos the metal moths have been at them. To do this I need to get the engine out of the frame, and then strip the engine.

Sounds easy, hey.

This is the Ariel as it is at the moment:-

Not quite a complete motorcycle, although I do have forks, makings of wheels, mudguards, seat and most of the other bits I need.

Now the engine in this bike has never turned in my ownership, and I suspect that its been sat in water or on something damp for a fair long while. Most of the bolts have freed up well but two of the lower studs holding the crankcases in the frame are seized and no amount of heat, hammering or general angryness will budge them.

So, out with the big drill:-

Even after drilling most of the stud out and more hammer and heat action the bloody thing still won't budge. So I left it full of WD40 and will wait to see whether it frees up or if I need to drill right through.

More to follow....

Disposa-bass

Wanted something to do while I'm at Great Yarmouth for the station outage. I'm there for the next six weeks.

I've got my skootplank, I can go swimming, but that still leaves me open to abuse the hotel bar.



So, when I was in Stroud a couple of weeks ago I saw this for sale:-

Went back yesterday and bought it. Its a 2005 Squier Jazz Bass Standard, Indonesias finest. And pretty cheap too.

When I tried it out the neck action was shocking but I thought it probably needs the truss rod adjusting. No, the strings were so tight that they were bowing the neck. Tuning it properly, with a bit of bridge and truss rod adjustment and it plays real nice. Very different sound to the Rickenbacker 4001 I have. Sweet geetaar.

Gotta get my funk on now;-)

More Vinyl of The Weeekk!!!

Nice laid back choice this week...or maybe not.

Mad as a box of frogs, Plasmatics were fronted by a dodgy looking bird who thought that modesty was two hastily fitted strips of leccy tape - a thing of fascination to us school kids BITD.

I had one of their singles (Butcher Baby) in some blood spattered vinyl if I remember correctly.

CDs just ain't the same...

Vinyl Of Da Weeeekkkk!!

OK so this one ain't rubbish. Its pretty good.

I never bought any of the Jam albums when they came out. I was still at school and my pocket money only stretched to 45s (and Olde English and Special Brew snakebites - but thats another story).

So this was another car boot purchase - 2 quid well spent. Contains a fair few Jam bangers. Perhaps not in the same league as Setting Sons or All Mod Cons but its still good stuff all the same. And it sounds great on a proper hifi, rather than out of an ipod.

Benjyboard Lollipop

Not the greatest pics - the colours are a lot brighter in reality.

Picked this up offa EBay - BB Lollipop deck with ACS500s and Powerflex 5s.

Sweet board with a nice rocker on the deck. Amassing a nice wee collection of Benjyboards.