My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was trained by RR.

As a fireman in civvy street, he built me a 8.5 reflector out of plywood that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and motor drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

https://goo.gl/maps/5ap1QeBts6u

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

He tried to teach me about engine maintenance, but my scientific mind was more into Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry where I made my 40 year €œcareer€�, but bits of his talent have been passed on thankfully which I now employ around the place.

Not his woodworking skills though.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxdUVBuWgAA2cVd.jpg

In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:
He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it
and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining
it.

Must be a really crap design if you can't 'redline' it. Surely you should
have learnt by this and gone for a better make?

--
*Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/17/2016 10:39 AM, Simon Mason wrote:
My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was trained by RR.

As a fireman in civvy street, he built me a 8.5 reflector out of plywood that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and motor drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

https://goo.gl/maps/5ap1QeBts6u

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

He tried to teach me about engine maintenance, but my scientific mind was more into Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry where I made my 40 year €œcareer€�, but bits of his talent have been passed on thankfully which I now employ around the place.

Not his woodworking skills though.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxdUVBuWgAA2cVd.jpg

is the headroom in there not a bit low?...nice story though

--
Beat fraud ... tug a wig
I like to live as a poor man, but with lots of money
The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive
Creativity in retirement is knowing how to spend time without spending money

On Thursday, 17 November 2016 11:20:01 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:
He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it
and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining
it.

Must be a really crap design if you can't 'redline' it. Surely you should
have learnt by this and gone for a better make?

He was on his way to a fire, overevved it and the pistons hit the valves on the way down.

In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:
On Thursday, 17 November 2016 11:20:01 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:
He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to
it and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by
redlining it.

Must be a really crap design if you can't 'redline' it. Surely you
should have learnt by this and gone for a better make?

He was on his way to a fire, overevved it and the pistons hit the valves
on the way down.

That doesn't happen by 'redlining' any engine. It's the sort of thing that
happens if you select a silly low gear at speed and *vastly* overspeed the
engine.

--
*He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thursday, 17 November 2016 15:18:20 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

He was on his way to a fire, overevved it and the pistons hit the valves
on the way down.

That doesn't happen by 'redlining' any engine. It's the sort of thing that
happens if you select a silly low gear at speed and *vastly* overspeed the
engine.

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

On Thursday, 17 November 2016 10:39:42 UTC, Simon Mason wrote:
My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was trained by RR.

As a fireman in civvy street, he built me a 8.5 reflector out of plywood that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and motor drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

https://goo.gl/maps/5ap1QeBts6u

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

Which four pot bike engine would that be?

In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:
On Thursday, 17 November 2016 15:18:20 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

He was on his way to a fire, overevved it and the pistons hit the
valves on the way down.

That doesn't happen by 'redlining' any engine. It's the sort of thing
that happens if you select a silly low gear at speed and *vastly*
overspeed the engine.

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

Still a bad design if that broke it.

--
*Why 'that tie suits you' but 'those shoes suit you'?*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thursday, 17 November 2016 15:45:23 UTC, harry wrote:
On Thursday, 17 November 2016 10:39:42 UTC, Simon Mason wrote:
My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was trained by RR.

As a fireman in civvy street, he built me a 8.5 reflector out of plywood that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and motor drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

https://goo.gl/maps/5ap1QeBts6u

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

Which four pot bike engine would that be?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB400F

I remember my Dad making a # telescope out of the mirror from a tv projector
light box. It was rather impractical, as the mirror was about a foot across
but was almost 3 quarters of an inch thicksurface silvered lead glass. Very
heavy for mounting anywhere. It was hard to find a lens for the eyepiece as
the curvature of the mirror must have been not a true parabola. Bit like the
issue with the Hubble only smaller!
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was
trained by RR.

As a fireman in civvy street, he built me a 8.5'' reflector out of plywood
that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and motor drive for it, a
garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

https://goo.gl/maps/5ap1QeBts6u

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and he
rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

He tried to teach me about engine maintenance, but my scientific mind was
more into Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry where I made my 40 year "career",
but bits of his talent have been passed on thankfully which I now employ
around the place.

Not his woodworking skills though.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CxdUVBuWgAA2cVd.jpg

On 17/11/2016 15:58, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

Still a bad design if that broke it.

No limiters in those days.

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Andy

On 17/11/2016 21:58, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 17/11/2016 15:58, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

Still a bad design if that broke it.

No limiters in those days.

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Valve bounce is a natural limiter.

In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
On 17/11/2016 15:58, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Simon Mason wrote:

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

Still a bad design if that broke it.

No limiters in those days.

All engines have limiters. Once the valves can no longer follow the
camshaft (valve float). But you won't break an engine by doing that -
unless you ignored the racket and carried on for some time. What is far
more likely is vastly over speeding the engine by selecting a low gear at
speed. That can easily take the engine speed well above what it could
achieve on its own.

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

--
*If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Friday, 18 November 2016 00:55:23 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

And again now, after they ditched the GM/Fiat fiasco.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-ro...-petrol-review

Simon Mason wrote
Dave Plowman (News) wrote

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

And again now, after they ditched the GM/Fiat fiasco.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-ro...-petrol-review

We'll see...

Its early days yet.

On Friday, 18 November 2016 08:18:58 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Simon Mason wrote
Dave Plowman (News) wrote

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

And again now, after they ditched the GM/Fiat fiasco.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-ro...-petrol-review

We'll see...

Its early days yet.

You can tell AE gets money from the Germans:

'Interior quality is good, if not quite up to the standard of its German rivals.'

Typical AE, they judge a car by the badge and the door cards. If this were German praise would be heaped upon praise and it would be awarded 6 stars out of 5.

Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Simon Mason wrote
Dave Plowman (News) wrote

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

And again now, after they ditched the GM/Fiat fiasco.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-ro...-petrol-review

We'll see...

Its early days yet.

You can tell AE gets money from the Germans:

'Interior quality is good, if not quite up to the standard of its German
rivals.'

Makes more sense to buy it from the krauts instead.

Typical AE, they judge a car by the badge and the door cards.

Yep, and the badges fade too. Kraut badges dont.

If this were German praise would be heaped upon
praise and it would be awarded 6 stars out of 5.

Even sillier than you usually manage.

On Friday, 18 November 2016 08:29:28 UTC, Simon Mason wrote:
On Friday, 18 November 2016 08:18:58 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Simon Mason wrote
Dave Plowman (News) wrote

And this is an Alfa - great fun, but not reliable.

Thought their one claim to fame was decent engines - in those days.

And again now, after they ditched the GM/Fiat fiasco.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/alfa-ro...-petrol-review

We'll see...

Its early days yet.

You can tell AE gets money from the Germans:

'Interior quality is good, if not quite up to the standard of its German rivals.'

Typical AE, they judge a car by the badge and the door cards. If this were German praise would be heaped upon praise and it would be awarded 6 stars out of 5.

Car magazine reviews aren't worth much.


NT

I learned from my Dad how to hold a piece of wood straight when cutting it. Hasn't featured large in my career I must say.

Clive