This Video shows the belt in question
If Honda and Nissan can merge, and Nissan can get rid of Renault there's some hope for both of the Japanese brands!
The mini grill on my mums (new) 1967 car was polished aluminium. Was that cheaper than chrome then? It did need cleaning to keep corrosion at bay. Lucky she had a teenager!My dad told me that in his early driving days in the mid 80's he remembers every MK2 Mini he had or came across with the chrome grills always being rotten, his best mate had one which he got from his dad & he couldn't open the driver's door as the external hinges were that rotten the door would fall off
I'd have thought it would have been cheaper than chrome, I much prefer painted parts myself over chrome etc as it can be a right pain to keep on top off. With a Mini the bodywork's bad enough to keep on top off let alone the chrome rotting as well
That car has floors so thin it was returned to the dealer. He welded a strut across the foor to stop the floor making twangy tin noises. The bumpers rusted through at 5 years old and it was px'd at 6 because the subframe had rotted through. If I remember right dad "mended" it before sale! Good old Smedleys tinned peas.....I'd have thought it would have been cheaper than chrome, I much prefer painted parts myself over chrome etc as it can be a right pain to keep on top off. With a Mini the bodywork's bad enough to keep on top off let alone the chrome rotting as well
the first I've heard of it I know I've moved up North so I expected it to be a little higher but not nearly 50% they're taking the p*ss, so I shopped around & got a quote from Esure through Confused.com for £348 which was the cheapest I could find although I couldn't haggle with them I tried the weird thing it was cheaper for me to put the Cinquecento Sporting rims over the standard steels & it was also cheaper to use it for commuting than just social both of which I've never come across before but I'm not complaining 
so just under £100 cheaper with a modification declared I'm happy so it's now all paid for the year, just the clutch to do which I'm doing myself before I go to my dad's in the spring for peace of mind so I'm going to wait for a few good days weather wise & just crack on with it once I'm fully over this spout of flu 
& then she'll be all good for the show season.
Reminds me of an MOT fix I had to do with my first Mini, a hole had formed at the rear of the boot floor but right on the very edge where the rear panel & rear valance all join together & my dad said if we even attempted to weld it we could run the risk of blowing out the rear panel as the corrosion was right by it, so he told me an old bodge called thinners paste, I said what's that & he said you cut a piece of bacofoil just a little bigger than the hole, mix up some body filler & thinners then get it on quick, smooth it out & make it look neat as it dries quick, then paint over it then when it's gone off you can tap it & it sounds like metal due to the bacofoil & not hollow like normal body filler, which is exactly what I did & it was a good bodge as the rest of the car rotted around it
The ratchet is a Tektro. It may be an Amazon house brand, like Anker. It does what I ask of it. Though I wouldn't put a cheater pipe on it like my 60 and 70 year old Craftsman Ratchets.
That reminds of similar bodge in very early 70s, I had booked my car into bodyshop to weld in a new rear spring hanger, the said they were too busy before the Mot I had booked, cleaned off the rusted area, put bodyfiller on a piece of cardboard, pressed it against the rust hole, as it hardened they peeled the cardboard off and a nice smooth surface like original metal was left, a light coat of underseal and sure enough it flew through the very lax Mot of it's day! I still had the spring hanger replaced very soon after and it taught me that later as an Mot inspector I always bounced a old tyre lever along the chassis and could soon tell if re metal or not, if suspicious I would keep bouncing the tyre lever and a big hole would appear.Reminds me of an MOT fix I had to do with my first Mini, a hole had formed at the rear of the boot floor but right on the very edge where the rear panel & rear valance all join together & my dad said if we even attempted to weld it we could run the risk of blowing out the rear panel as the corrosion was right by it, so he told me an old bodge called thinners paste, I said what's that & he said you cut a piece of bacofoil just a little bigger than the hole, mix up some body filler & thinners then get it on quick, smooth it out & make it look neat as it dries quick, then paint over it then when it's gone off you can tap it & it sounds like metal due to the bacofoil & not hollow like normal body filler, which is exactly what I did & it was a good bodge as the rest of the car rotted around it
Nowadays testers are only allowed to use a plastic T shape toffee hammer, why???
Strongest ratchet I ever had was my old Britool one bought way way back. It had a fairly course ratchet action - which was maybe why it was so strong (big teeth?) Unfortunately Some wicked sod stole it from my tool box! Personally I'd never use a cheater bar or any sort of extension on a ratchet as I'd worry about ruining it - I've got enough other options I don't have to be tempted though.The ratchet is a Tektro. It may be an Amazon house brand, like Anker. It does what I ask of it. Though I wouldn't put a cheater pipe on it like my 60 and 70 year old Craftsman Ratchets.
As for the ATV, I have to install the chassis ground for the winch and machine the bushings for the one roller. I got the lathe set up do the Delrin without tearing it up.
Too bad I went one pass too many and cut the bushings undersized. Poop.
Ha, ha, many of us have been there.
That sounds like an interesting idea. So tinning the outside of the bush, thus increasing it's diameter a "smidgeon", caused ti to be "squeezed" very slightly when reinstalled? I've never heard of this but can see the sense behind it.
Never did one on a transit myself but remember seeing one of the other lads having a hell of a time getting the old corroded pin out of one. Must have used a fair few quid's worth of oxy-acetylene! The long stepped reamer? Yup, we had one of those in the garage workshop. I think it was an actual dealer tool? A peach of a tool to use and reamed both bushes perfectly in line with no guessing at adjustments. My own adjustable reamers can only do one at a time so there is a parallel sided extension which screws onto the exposed thread on the "business end" of the reamer and a guide with tapered outside and parallel inside bore which is installed in the "other" bush. The idea being that the extension and guide the reamer is kept in line. In practice what often happened was that the guide came slightly loose which affected the accuracy of the bush you were cutting. I seem to remember we had a couple of the factory reamers, one for the bigger cars like the A60/Cambridge/Oxfords and one for the smaller stuff like Spridgits/A30/A35/etc. Only the more skilled men were allowed to book them out of the stores and the tool was always very carefully inspected when you handed it back in. There was no chance you would have been able to "borrow" one overnight.We did king pins on many BMC but also early Ford Transits etc.
We had a nice reamer for Austin A60s and MGBs etc. that had two cutters non adjustable and you went through in one go top and bottom bush spot on.
The early Imp bushes were very simple to do as they were indeed just pushed in and ready to use. They had no facility for lubrication and were Teflon coated against wear. Unfortunately the seal arrangement was very poor so water and road dirt got in quite quickly, especially up here with our "nasty" weather, and the bush would wear again. They soon changed them to a normal type which needed reaming and had a grease nipple for lubrication. The seals were still pretty pathetic but if you greased them regularly, by which I mean far more often than at every service, they gave very little problem. The pin was quite short and so aven a little wear would give a lot of play at the wheel rims.You probably got spoiled Jock with your Hillman Imps, where you drove the new bushes in and they were the correct size so no reaming required I recall.
Now that's a good bodge, I'm not sure why testers are only allowed to use the t shape toffee hammers, some of the MOT rules are just silly, my dad told me that nowadays they can't fail the modern gas shock absorber as 1 they'll be no visible leak being gas & 2 testers are no longer allowed to do a bounce test as most cars either have plastic wings or they are just very weak metal wings, another one is the 3rd/high level brake lights in the rear windscreen, failure if a bulb or 2 is blown, pass if non of them work/disconnectedThat reminds of similar bodge in very early 70s, I had booked my car into bodyshop to weld in a new rear spring hanger, the said they were too busy before the Mot I had booked, cleaned off the rusted area, put bodyfiller on a piece of cardboard, pressed it against the rust hole, as it hardened they peeled the cardboard off and a nice smooth surface like original metal was left, a light coat of underseal and sure enough it flew through the very lax Mot of it's day! I still had the spring hanger replaced very soon after and it taught me that later as an Mot inspector I always bounced a old tyre lever along the chassis and could soon tell if re metal or not, if suspicious I would keep bouncing the tyre lever and a big hole would appear.
Re the rusty Mini grills, I assume they were the ones with the 10inch wheels that the Great Dane dogs liked as I mentioned earlier.
. The Mini grill is these early MK2 ones with 10 inch wheels, they just always look rotten
The first Citroen 2CV/Dyanne one I did involved as you say lots of heat, however I bought at auction a jig that fitted over the king pin once hub etc. was out of the way and it had a Sykes Pickavant hydraulic screw thread which made it an simple job, so no heat involved. I still have it some where and at the time the local Citroen Owners club members were good customers.
