OldNoccer

Gender: Male
Location: Cheshire UK

Total Posts	Last Post	Last Seen	Joined
845	11/08/09 15:57:23	11/08/09 15:57:23	09/10/07

Visitors Now	Visitors Today	Most Visits	Total Visits
0	0	60 10/30/08	499

Send Supporter Gift

My favorite sites

WelshHighland Railway - A blow by blow account of re-opening a railway closed in the 1930s, so maybe it is not too late to undo the damage caused by Beeching in the 1960s
The Anson Engine Museum - See REALLY old engines working

My Bio

The invention of the wheel definitely has had a profound effect on my life, I need wheels (at least until global warming brings the sea to my doorstep). I reckon that the cost of those wheels is sufficient that you might as well pay a bit more and arrive with a smile on your face.

I have the luxury of the space for 3 cars and they are as follows :
A V8 Marcos - fast sporty fun. An engine simple enough to rebuild at home, a galvanised chassis and fibreglass body so no rust. Very few special parts, so parts are cheap, old enough to have negligible depreciation, even reasonable insurance. At the same time it is rare, beautiful and classy.
A V6 Calibra - a true 4 seater coupe, with reasonable performance, excellent fuel economy. Bought for a song on eBay, so negligible depreciation, but expensive for parts and not cheap to insure either. Black and beautiful.
A 110 V8 Land Rover - this former radiation detection vehicle has every extra Rover offered. It is no longer fitted as a mobile lab, but with 6 foot of load capacity in the back it is the general beast of burden (and occasional camper). Moves fridges, ovens, garden rubbish, lathes, engine hoists, and when it snows it is great fun - how anyone manages without one of these I don't know. In spite of the fact it is called a 110, I can't get it to go that fast - but close !

I have carefully worked out the costs of these vehicles, and mainly due to cheap servicing, cheapish insurance, and negligible depreciation, they work out the same as a normal modern family car - except for fuel costs as they are a bit thirsty! But if I want to save the planet, then I have a motorbike too (OK two, actually).

To keep things going it is useful to be able to strip down and rebuild. For example the V8 Landy engine was a fun project - see enclosed piccie :

The upgrade to Vitesse spec, Piper cam, ARP bolted mains, duplex timing chain, tube manifolds, etc was bolted in with the existing carbs for bedding in, then was converted to Holley programmable fuel injection via an Edelbrock inlet manifold. All home built - here is a picture of the pistons in the kitchen being matched to the gudgeon pins and rods then filed for exact balance :

That's the nice thing about building an engine from new parts, they are all so clean you can build it in the kitchen !

BTW - Did I mention that I am single

My Occupation

Safety Engineer for major oil and gas company (designing things so that if the worst happens people don't get hurt).

My Hobbies

All things mechanical - especially cars and bikes, but also have a selection of vintage lathes, old power hacksaw and pillar drill, ancient generator. People at work say I am turning into Fred Dibner - which I take as a compliment.

My yuku Posts