DaveMcT said:

The US Car Trek is a "Me too" Top Gear complete with three blokes giving each other inappropriate "gifts" while driving broken cars on road trips. The presenters are far better doing what they do on the own channels.

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Car trek is very much a homage to Top Gear.

They acknowledge it themselves outside of the show itself on their own channels. They always wanted to do Top Gear style road trips and were big fans of the trio. So given the opportunity they did, they are not pretending to have invented the format if anything they acknowledge its a straight rip of TG.

Hoovie is always good value TBH and do like the other presenters but was not impressed with Car Trek so tuned away. But fair enough I'll have to take another look.

StevenRB45 said:

Car trek is very much a homage to Top Gear.

They acknowledge it themselves outside of the show itself on their own channels. They always wanted to do Top Gear style road trips and were big fans of the trio. So given the opportunity they did, they are not pretending to have invented the format if anything they acknowledge its a straight rip of TG.

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I believe hoovie started his channel off the back of the grand tour starting, hoovie someone got into that first episode where they went across the desert in cars right at the beginning

DaveMcT said:

Hoovie is always good value TBH and do like the other presenters but was not impressed with Car Trek so tuned away. But fair enough I'll have to take another look.

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I find it reasonably watchable, it's not old TG but not even Clarkson and Co can make old TG. The format is just a bit tired in general.

Although with Car Trek being YouTube I'd doubt they script it to the same level..got to pay for writers then.

Having said that I find Flintoff and Harris watchable, Harris is at his best on his own with a nice or unusual car to geek out over. Flintoff clearly knows nothing about cars but is a fun watch...Paddy is as annoying as the Saturday night telly he belongs on.

Watching Late brake show with Jonny Smith and Harris was interesting as Smith did audition and would have been better than either.

Watched his feature with Jason Plato, and Matt Neal I feel like that would have been an awesome TG line up. Great Chemistry there with Plato and Smith having worked on 5th gear and Neals long standing rivalry. That and Plato is a wind up merchant.

Thoroughly recommend, also Jonny Smith and Richard Porters pod cast is very good. Covers a lot of ground from current stuff to working on old TG (Porter was producer on it and the Grand tour) to Max Power, to 5th gear...and just a good listen.

As above. I try to pretend I'm above You Tube.... But I love Smith and Sniff, Late Brake Show, and Harrys Garage. In essence you have the three elements of old Top Gear. Pissing about, interesting left field stuff and modern car reviews.

I though Chris Harris shot himself in the foot a bit when he said Chris Evans didn't work because he was just a famous bloke who liked cars but then went on to work with Matt LeBlanc, Freddy and Paddy. ( I did really like TG when Matt LeBlanc was on though.)

Personally I would bin off Flintoff he just seems to say yes to any offer he gets!

Dont knock You Tube where else would you find

Many are great on audio only but some need to be seen in all their glory.

Two grumps today.

First, the wipers on the Fabia have developed a mind of their own, running intermittent as soon as the ignition is on. Drive a few hundred yards and they stop, but then come on again later.
No fault codes, but if switch is faulty, ECU will just see an 'on' signal. If ECU is faulty, might not give codes.
Local Skoda specialist has seen before, was the switch, but will confirm first thing tomorrow.

Then insurance renewal for Panda was 30% higher than last year. Negotiated it down, only to find they'd 'lost' the 'driving other vehicles'. "This insurance underwriter will not cover for those in motor trade employment." But they did last year, and the one before. Since when did a driving instructor be 'motor trade'. I can understand they do not want to cover driving other vehicles while teaching, but I have a different policy for the learner car, that covers me to drive anything, anytime, anywhere, business or private, but I don't want to use that on the odd occasion I need to drive brother's or a friend's car. If the policy is social, domestic, pleasure, surely any extension on other vehicles is for the same reasons? Not job related.
I got upset with them as they failed to declare the different terms. They said, read the small print. My reply was that a 'renewal' is 'same again', so any changes are not a renewal.
So now tomorrow, I have another quote to trawl through.

portland_bill said:

Then insurance renewal for Panda was 30% higher than last year. Negotiated it down, only to find they'd 'lost' the 'driving other vehicles'. "This insurance underwriter will not cover for those in motor trade employment." But they did last year, and the one before. Since when did a driving instructor be 'motor trade'. I can understand they do not want to cover driving other vehicles while teaching, but I have a different policy for the learner car, that covers me to drive anything, anytime, anywhere, business or private, but I don't want to use that on the odd occasion I need to drive brother's or a friend's car. If the policy is social, domestic, pleasure, surely any extension on other vehicles is for the same reasons? Not job related.
I got upset with them as they failed to declare the different terms. They said, read the small print. My reply was that a 'renewal' is 'same again', so any changes are not a renewal.
So now tomorrow, I have another quote to trawl through.

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That's an odd one back when I did insurance you had effectively two fields "job title" and "area of business".

Driving instructor used to default to driving school as an area of business. Driving other vehicles was withdrawn if you selected motor trade as the area of business. So for example if you got a bus mechanic, you could select mechanic, it defaulted to motor trade and removed driving other vehicles. But you could put it back by changing motor trade to bus company.

Obviously they may well do it differently..or the clerk is clueless. To me Driving instructor is not in the motor trade..

One grump. Or several, depending on how you look at it.

I pulled the starter motor from the DeSoto yesterday to replace a cracked elbow on the oil filter system. Six wires on four posts and two bolts to remove it. Wires, no problem. removed and tagged. The two bolts...let's just say that whoever says older are so much easier to work on has never pulled the starter from a 1940s era Chrysler flat head 6 with the semi auto transmission attached to it. Can't get a socket on the bolts, can't fit a box end, either. So it's an open end and 1/16th of turn at a time because of obstructions; steering columns, shift linkages, brake and clutch linkages along with pedal arms, and various support brackets. it took an hour to get the starter out.

I stopped last night with the starter almost back in place. I have 90 minutes, so far, in getting the damn thing back in. I'll get back to it after breakfast.

Being an old fart, I hurt all over this morning. But what really hurts was that once the starter was out, it took less than five minutes to replace the cracked fitting.

I have friend in the Chicago area who comes from Wales. He told me about pulling the radiator from a real Mini and said that I probably should never get one.

Cheest said:

Being an old fart, I hurt all over this morning. But what really hurts was that once the starter was out, it took less than five minutes to replace the cracked fitting.

I have friend in the Chicago area who comes from Wales. He told me about pulling the radiator from a real Mini and said that I probably should never get one.

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Yes, old age and aches and pains. This morning was very cold up here - ice on the cars and a wee bit on the grass and roofs. Although cold it was lovely and bright with some sunshine too. I decided today would be a good day to service my IC engine'd garden tools.

Started on the hedge cutter, a Danarm TM310, a lovely well made machine with a powerful Kawasaki engine which I bought very second hand for £25 around 30 years ago and refurbished. Then my Echo ES 1000 leaf blower, a"trusty friend" bought around the same time also for £25 because it didn't blow! Luckily the nut holding the impeller on had come loose so an easy fix and it's run perfectly ever since. It is quite the most noisy 2 stroke I've ever worked with though, I thought the silencer was shot so bought a new one for it on one of our visits to my daughter in Southern Maryland - no-one over here could supply - but it's just as noisy!

Then on to my strimmer which is a make I've never heard of. It has a label which says "Ideal brush cutters - made in Japan" and it has a geared head (can't stand the bent type) Luckily for me it has a Kawasaki TG20 engine and the whole thing seems to be well made - which is just as well because I've never been able to find anyone listing spares for it other than general engine service parts. There's a definite knack to staring it too, but once running it's a bit of a ***** cat - with sharp claws extended! I found it in the back of my friend's garden machinery workshop in a pile of other broken and dismantled strimmers. This one though was all in one piece just lying there. I asked Jim about it and he said it had been in for service/repair (so long ago he couldn't remember) and the owner hadn't come back. Is it for sale I asked. You wouldn't want that Jock, it doesn't run but take it away and have a look at it, if you want it get back to me. I took it home and stripped it to the last nut and bolt. It was almost new inside, even the clutch linings still had machining marks on them! There was a problem with the plug cap/HT lead and the fuel lines/carb were completely clogged with stale fuel/oil - it must have sat for years without running but piston rings/bore/etc were all in 1st class order. I fixed the HT and blockage problems and it ran like a wee Swiss watch. Next time I was in at Jim's I asked what he wanted for it and he said £25. To this day it continues to run like a Swiss timepiece and I've only had to renew it's plug and get a second air filter.

The servicing's easy, being 2 strokes there's just the air filters to swap over (I keep 2 for each machine and swap over when needed then clean the spare one and keep it 'till needed.) Clean the plugs. I wire brush them - I know, you're not supposed to do this any more, but it works for me and they all run well. Pump some grease into the gearboxes on the strimmer and hedge cutter and give them all a wipe down with an oily rag and we're good to go again.

Then there's my lawnmower. It's a "bitza". !6" Harry cast Aluminium deck which my boss let me buy for £10 after it's engine gave out, to which I've mounted a Techumseh BVS 143 "industrial" (cast iron bore) motor from a larger machine which had rusted it's steel deck out so was in the scrap skip. The motor is considerably more powerful than the original which is great because, now fitted with the Harry's 16" blade, nothing stops it.
Best to change the oil hot though thought I, so I gave the grass it's first cut of the year before draining and refilling it's sump with genuine Briggs SAE30 oil no less! I got a deal on a 5 litre container about 3 years ago and once I've done an oil change on my youngest boy's machine - which has a wee Briggs on it - I'll have to buy some more and it'll be SAE30 again - learned my lesson about multigrade oil instability in lawnmower engines!

The Mini was so cramped there were a few jobs which were awkward and invariably drew blood! I seem to remember heartily cursing the engine mount under the bell housing amongst others. Doing a bypass hose was always "entertaining" even after they introduced the supposedly easier to fit convoluted design and keeping the exhaust downpipe's flared end in contact with the manifold while you fitted the clamp was a wee "secret" all apprentices had to be taught.

PS I know it sounds a little like a made up story that all my small machines cost £25 but it's absolutely true. The lawn mower was even better at £10 though wasn't it? I've had all these machines for over 25 years and they're all still going strong although the mower likes a wee "drink" from time to time, no blue smoke yet though! Oh yes, and now I've got a sore back!

Regarding the brush cutter/strimmer. Here's a few images for you all just in case anyone can suggest a source for spares?

Here's the Maker's sticker - sorry about the vacuum cleaner bits in the background:



and here's the only reference to a model number:



On the front of the engine there's a sticker proclaiming it to be a TG 20 with the name Kawasaki in smaller letters underneath. The carb's a bit "different" in that it has the usual pulse pump diaphragm to lift fuel from the tank but has a slider and taper fuel needle more like an old motor cycle carb:



The business end is very "business like" with a geared drive and twin line head:



Although the motor is of quite small capacity - maybe 20cc? - it makes short work of the stuff I put it to in my garden.

Just as added interest for you here's that very noisy blower:



I only use it to blow as I've found in the past that it's too easy to let stray stones damage the impeller on these machines.

I probably should also show you the "bitza" mower of which I'm very proud:



It has a very useful "hi lift" blade which helps it really chuck stuff into the bag:



When I bought it for my squad to use one of the selling points was that the holes in the blade made it run very quietly. Shame they soon fill up with strands of grass and then it makes an eerie whistling sound!

And just so it doesn't feel left out, here too is the hedge cutter, temporarily keeping company with the mower in my trailer:



None of your wimpy anti-vibration measures with this one. It's a bit of a powerful beast and has made short work of anything I've used it on. The "secret" being, as with all hedge cutters, keep it sharp! A "kiss" with a small file, maybe two strokes per tooth every week or so during "the season" makes a great difference to the look of what you're trimming.

So folks, any thoughts on the strimmer? anyone ever heard of that make? anyone know of a parts supplier for the running gear? (being Kawasaki the engine bits aren't too hard to find) All suggestions gratefully recieved.

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Regarding the brush cutter/strimmer. Here's a few images for you all just in case anyone can suggest a source for spares?

Here's the Maker's sticker - sorry about the vacuum cleaner bits in the background:

View attachment 216697

and here's the only reference to a model number:

View attachment 216698

On the front of the engine there's a sticker proclaiming it to be a TG 20 with the name Kawasaki in smaller letters underneath. The carb's a bit "different" in that it has the usual pulse pump diaphragm to lift fuel from the tank but has a slider and taper fuel needle more like an old motor cycle carb:

View attachment 216699

The business end is very "business like" with a geared drive and twin line head:

View attachment 216700

Although the motor is of quite small capacity - maybe 20cc? - it makes short work of the stuff I put it to in my garden.

Just as added interest for you here's that very noisy blower:

View attachment 216701

I only use it to blow as I've found in the past that it's too easy to let stray stones damage the impeller on these machines.

I probably should also show you the "bitza" mower of which I'm very proud:

View attachment 216702

It has a very useful "hi lift" blade which helps it really chuck stuff into the bag:

View attachment 216703

When I bought it for my squad to use one of the selling points was that the holes in the blade made it run very quietly. Shame they soon fill up with strands of grass and then it makes an eerie whistling sound!

And just so it doesn't feel left out, here too is the hedge cutter, temporarily keeping company with the mower in my trailer:

View attachment 216704

None of your wimpy anti-vibration measures with this one. It's a bit of a powerful beast and has made short work of anything I've used it on. The "secret" being, as with all hedge cutters, keep it sharp! A "kiss" with a small file, maybe two strokes per tooth every week or so during "the season" makes a great difference to the look of what you're trimming.

So folks, any thoughts on the strimmer? anyone ever heard of that make? anyone know of a parts supplier for the running gear? (being Kawasaki the engine bits aren't too hard to find) All suggestions gratefully recieved.

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Hi Jock,
Love your photos and "stuff"
The mower looks like it has a cast aluminium deck very robust.
I was at local tip a few years ago and saw someone about to chuck a similar cast aluminium decked high vacuum mower away. It looked brand new!! Spoke nicely to owner before it became council property and they said yes of course have it.

Drained old fuel , checked spark plug , new fuel .....started very easily . Ran great it really had hardly been used.

It was about 6 or 7 years old and tje grass collector was no longer available.

I didn't need a petrol mower so I gave it to a friend.

Cheers
Jack

paj the mower deck looks like a harry mower. it would of had a b/s 3.5 or5hp engine strimmer could be a large outlet, ie someone like sears under licence .blow vac dist by my claim to fame countax at great haseley oxfordshire

mowermender70 said:

paj the mower deck looks like a harry mower. it would of had a b/s 3.5 or5hp engine strimmer could be a large outlet, ie someone like sears under licence .blow vac dist by my claim to fame countax at great haseley oxfordshire

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The mower is indeed a Harry and has a cast aluminium deck. It came with a very cheaply made Tecumseh 3.5 hp engine which failed in less than a year! Mostly, in it's defense, because it was the machine I tended to put new members of my squad on to start them off and many would stress the engine by not emptying the collection bag when needed so the engine would bog down and overheat. That engine more than any other taught me how superior a straight 30 weight oil is in an air cooled engine compared to a multigrade. I think the localized hot spots in an aircooled engine destroys/affects the polymers in the multigrade. No coincidence I think that VW beetle enthusiasts still run them on SAE30? I remember being quite upset to see, at the end of a day's work when we were loading up the pickup, it's HARRY badge had disappeared! Interestingly I notice our estate gardener has the identical machine but with a 2 stroke engine - I really must take a look at it this summer and see what make it is - the engine I mean.

At that time Tecumseh were in the process of going belly up and I explored the possibility of fitting a B&S 3.5 or 4 hp side valve (their traditional engine which has been produced for ever - and a good wee motor it is too although with it being an ally bore you have to be careful to keep it's air filter well serviced or you can get bore scoring). Unfortunately the height of the Harry's grass chute gets in the way of the Brigg's fuel tank so that was a non starter (Ha Ha). Pity because at that time I had a couple of good engines on rusted out decks lying in the back of the machine store. Then the Techumseh BVS turned up with it's rear mounted tank and it fitted perfectly. I was never greatly impressed with the small Tecumseh engines - we had a 4 stroke on our scarifier too and it was an absolute sod to start - but this larger BVS with it's cast iron bore is definitely an exception. Both of my larger 21" cut walk behinds (Masports) had cast iron bore Briggs side valves and they were just about unkillable! I have a very soft spot for the Masport products, especially their swinging blade cutting system.

Talking about the Tecumseh's we also had 2 flymos for doing bankings with the Techumseh 2 stroke. They recommended a 50:1 fuel ratio but I ran ours on 33:1 and seldom had problems but I know of others who ran the 50:1 and suffered engine problems - big ends especially. The big end was a weird one too being a spit con rod, like in a shell type bearing, but containing needle rollers? Very weird, and a bit of a sod to assemble - lots of vaseline needed! We also has a different make (Allen I think? looked just like a Flymo) which had a Suzuki 2 stroke which was monotonously reliable and started first pull almost every time!

Jack. Talking about "good" machines being thrown away. Because I worked for a charity when I did my gardening job I also had contact with lots of "non mechanical" people - social workers etc - and once it was known I could "fix" machines there was a steady flow of people asking me to "fix" theirs. Actually this was really good as it helped me store up good will with the people who were helping "my people". I would regularly get people who were on the brink of throwing away a good and servicable machine simply because they didn't understand how to start it from cold. Over coming flooding on things like strimmers and leaf blowers almost became a teaching course for me. As did pointing out to people that their machine, after perhaps 3 or 4 years of ownership, actually needs to be serviced at least once a year - just like their car (some probably didn't do their cars either by the look of them!)

portland_bill said:

Two grumps today.

First, the wipers on the Fabia have developed a mind of their own, running intermittent as soon as the ignition is on. Drive a few hundred yards and they stop, but then come on again later.
No fault codes, but if switch is faulty, ECU will just see an 'on' signal. If ECU is faulty, might not give codes.
Local Skoda specialist has seen before, was the switch, but will confirm first thing tomorrow.

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Car went to the local Skoda specialist on Wednesday first thing. Diagnosed quickly. Switch, as expected, but replacement would have to be ordered, for delivery next day.
They put me in a 19 plate Fabia, with the lowest output 1.0 triple. Reluctant to get off the mark when cold, but adequate once warm. Pops along gently without fuss, but extra push on the throttle does little. Accelerating at the start of dual carriageways is best done in the left lane. Used it Thursday morning to go to Oxford to deliver some training (Red Bull MINI with 'can' on roof - drivers must keep aware of clearances). Then back to Witney to collect mine. 50 miles, fuel consumption slightly worse than my 1.2, surprising.

New switch fitted, total cost £199.07. Switch is just over £100 +vat, significantly cheaper than one for the Panda.

portland_bill said:

Car went to the local Skoda specialist on Wednesday first thing. Diagnosed quickly. Switch, as expected, but replacement would have to be ordered, for delivery next day.
They put me in a 19 plate Fabia, with the lowest output 1.0 triple. Reluctant to get off the mark when cold, but adequate once warm. Pops along gently without fuss, but extra push on the throttle does little. Accelerating at the start of dual carriageways is best done in the left lane. Used it Thursday morning to go to Oxford to deliver some training (Red Bull MINI with 'can' on roof - drivers must keep aware of clearances). Then back to Witney to collect mine. 50 miles, fuel consumption slightly worse than my 1.2, surprising.

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Not sure that'll be the base base car, they are 59bhp and make an N/A C3 look like a dragster, one of very few new cars incapable of doing 100 mph.

Having mentioned speed it doesn't tend to matter, regardless of 75 or 500bhp you drive at either the speed of the car in front, the prevailing limit or what you are comfortable with. Unless you have a really slow car none of these things tend to be flat out.

Obviously though if you drive the less powerful car at high speeds it needs to try harder and uses more fuel than the higher powered version. You'll probably also find the higher powered one has longer gears to take advantage of the additional power so can cruise more efficiently.

StevenRB45 said:

Not sure that'll be the base base car, they are 59bhp and make an N/A C3 look like a dragster, one of very few new cars incapable of doing 100 mph.

Having mentioned speed it doesn't tend to matter, regardless of 75 or 500bhp you drive at either the speed of the car in front, the prevailing limit or what you are comfortable with. Unless you have a really slow car none of these things tend to be flat out.

Obviously though if you drive the less powerful car at high speeds it needs to try harder and uses more fuel than the higher powered version. You'll probably also find the higher powered one has longer gears to take advantage of the additional power so can cruise more efficiently.

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Definitely an S, which is the base car. So I'm thinking it was the 1.0 non-turbo, 59hp. The first turbo is rated at 95ps, which should be close to my 1.2 89hp turbo. Acceleration was best described as 'adequate'. It gently increased to 70 on the dual carriageway, but most of its time with me was just ambling in traffic, and on lots of 50mph sections, so not really 'high speed'. It is the car in front.

portland_bill said:

Definitely an S, which is the base car. So I'm thinking it was the 1.0 non-turbo, 59hp. The first turbo is rated at 95ps, which should be close to my 1.2 89hp turbo. Acceleration was best described as 'adequate'. It gently increased to 70 on the dual carriageway, but most of its time with me was just ambling in traffic, and on lots of 50mph sections, so not really 'high speed'. It is the car in front.

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The S can be had with all the engines the other trim levels has so could be the middle engine from the up with about 75bhp.

Either way you'd miss the turbo torque more than the headline power figure. That is what always gets me, it's not the flat out speed it's the power to cruise motorway hills without a downshift and slip roads without heading for the red line just to keep up with traffic.

Was going to wash the car as it's filthy.

But we've had snow overnight so obviously..there's enough salt on the road to melt diamonds.



C3 ably demonstrating why I like having plastic trim on the arches not metal like the Mazda...mmm corrosive. There's more depth of salt than we got snow.

Going out this affo so guess which ever one I wash is not the one we're taking as it's pointless.

9:15 on Bank holiday and next door starts drilling.
Some 'professional' fitting an outside light, no mask.