Castrol R - was that not a veggy oil, that was quite a pleasant smell, even more pleasant when smelt at race tracks when it was truly lovely and hot!

I forget the actual spec of the oil that my Mini Metro Automatic required which served both the engine and gearbox but i remember the smell when it seized after a main dealer service and the smell of BS as it was blamed on the Shell Formula petrol that had engines dying at around the same time,

only i never bought Shell Formula for that Metro.

Edited 23 April, 20188 yr by Offski

5 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

Castrol R - was that not a veggy oil, that was quite a pleasant smell, even more pleasant when smelt at race tracks when it was truly lovely and hot!

yes all the boy racers wanted that smell....even put it in strokes

vegetable oil...but had to be drained hot after a race....loved the smell

reminded me of my week at the 1963 IOM TT races... and scottish tracks

cheers

geof

6 minutes ago, Offski said:

I forget the actual spec of the oil that my Mini Metro Automatic required which served both the engine and gearbox but i remember the smell when it seized after a main dealer service and the smell of BS as it was blamed on the Shell Formula petrol that had engines dying at around the same time,

only i never bought Shell Formula for that Metro.

bad luck there

i worked for BP in 1967 and our managers engine got ruined by the BP oil he used...could have been visco-static??

i always used duckhams 20/50 with a can of STP added for luck in the cars

and straight castrol xl in the bikes

cheers

geof

Smelt 3 scooterist in Sunny South Ayrshire a few weeks back, heard then coming for a mile or so, then the smell was heaven as they came through a high street at pretty much full chat running race oil and maybe even race fuel.  Then the noise continued for maybe another mile as they left town.

The gravel in hub caps reminded me of putting a wet fish in the engine compartment of someones pride and joy, once... Imagine warming uo the car and being followed everywhere by the smell of pungent mackerel!

4 hours ago, mrgf said:

The gravel in hub caps reminded me of putting a wet fish in the engine compartment of someones pride and joy, once... Imagine warming uo the car and being followed everywhere by the smell of pungent mackerel!

the lads in my office in glasgow put a kipper in a mates sports car behind the seats

the boss went down to look at the interior one day and remarked on the "strange smell"

personally i prefer smoked haddock

On ‎23‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 20:18, Offski said:

I forget the actual spec of the oil that my Mini Metro Automatic required which served both the engine and gearbox but i remember the smell when it seized after a main dealer service and the smell of BS as it was blamed on the Shell Formula petrol that had engines dying at around the same time,

only i never bought Shell Formula for that Metro.

 

That must be the same time that Shell also messed up most of Fife Police Vivas etc - I was using that in a Ford Escort and jumped ship immediately to Esso and have stuck with that, I only used Shell UL+ on wife's old Polo when it had pinking issues.

23 hours ago, mrcrow said:

bad luck there

i worked for BP in 1967 and our managers engine got ruined by the BP oil he used...could have been visco-static??

i always used duckhams 20/50 with a can of STP added for luck in the cars

and straight castrol xl in the bikes

cheers

geof

 

I ran an MK1 Escort on lovely green Duckhams 20/50 and added in STP for luck, in my case it was Ice Station Zebra Ayrshire - worst winter for a very long time, so my handy stiff oil+STP was too thick to turn over even with a new bigger battery, had to come home by train and get back over to Dunlop a week later when the temperature had lifted a bit ad the MK1 Escort turned over a bit easier, when the weather improved I drained that mixture out and refilled with just Duckhams 20/50, lesson learned!

As backwards as the Kingdom is the Constabulary surely did not have Viva's still in 1989 did they?

 

26 minutes ago, Offski said:

As backwards as the Kingdom is the Constabulary surely did not have Viva's still in 1989 did they?

 

 

Quite possibly, but probably not!  So that must have been Shell's second (at least) mess up with amazing petrol additives - ah well, my Escort MK111 was from 1982ish, X reg, and only kept for 3 years, I probably meant Shuv Its  which were just "smartened" up Viva HCs, though they must have been turned into  beans cans by 1989 - except for some form of "different" people who held on to them.

 

Edit:- maybe it was as far back as my Escort Mk2 days!

Edited 24 April, 20188 yr by rum4mo

Most engines were engineered to run on leaded fuel up to about 1986 were they not, then unleaded was introduced in the UK.

4 minutes ago, Offski said:

Most engines were engineered to run on leaded fuel up to about 1986 were they not, then unleaded was introduced in the UK.

 

Yes, true, but that time Shell messed up it would have been with leaded petrol, I only mentioned using Shell UL+ as it was not until the unleaded era that I revisited using Shell again.

I served on the pumps at a Shell Filling Station in 1974/5 we sold lots of shots of Redex then, lots of HGV's customers on accounts.....

and in 1976 the garage i worked at was a Burmah station.

It was nice being able to have fuel on not very much of a wage.....

Edited 24 April, 20188 yr by Offski

18 hours ago, Offski said:

As backwards as the Kingdom is the Constabulary surely did not have Viva's still in 1989 did they?

 

Thats a bit of a "Cavalier" Attitude!  (Pun there for the over 40's).

 

I thought i would google Police Scotland about police cars from 1989 and see there is articles on them still using one from 1989. 

i could not see what it was, but then no surprise really, turns out it is a Land Rover. 

McArthur reveals police still using vehicle from 1989.mhtml

Police Scotland still use vehicle from 1980s - The Scotsman.mhtml

17 hours ago, Offski said:

I served on the pumps at a Shell Filling Station in 1974/5 we sold lots of shots of Redex then, lots of HGV's customers on accounts.....

and in 1976 the garage i worked at was a Burmah station.

It was nice being able to have fuel on not very much of a wage.....

 

 

I worked in a fuel filling station around '79, on the A123, Basildon.  Naafta or something, if my Alzheimer's serves me correctly.Being 16/17 at the time, I then rode  Suzuki A50P so they allowed me a gallon of fuel a week. (It was under a pound a gallon, then). Funnily enough, though, I found the job well paying. compared to the job I left after a year, to do. £60 starting, going to £65 after six weeks. The so-called training I was doing prior to that paid around £20... Typical of school leaver wages. I remember the redeem... Most sales-persons would pocket the 20p a shot charged, as it was really seen as a service item,  like checking oil for a customer. (This did often include selling a small can of oil, if their level was anything but at the uppermost marking) so the company were happy. The old manual pumps would also drip excess fuel once switched off, so keeping a can handy meant even more "Free" petrol, to run the old two-stroker!

Nothing wrong with a Cavalier - well as long as it was a GSI 4X4 2000 16V  - probably the best car that I have ever owned, only VX car I've ever owned, so I'm not a VX fanboy or Cav fanboy!

I was on £20 a week when at school and had a FS1E,

when i left school and was an apprentice I was on £18 a week in 1976, and when i did not take a day out of work to go to the college it went to £28.

Luckily homers paid well.

 

Funnily my Electric Bike has more power and can go as quick as this did, even with a 'hot plug' and using 5 star lol.

 

Edited 25 April, 20188 yr by Offski

The "Suzy", as some called them, used to be a little bulkier then the "Fizzy", so looked more like a larger bike, despite being only 49cc. `the fuel tank was fatter, along with slightly more "Muscular" looks and a fuller look to the engine. Very fast, too for a schoolboy... Most town/industrial area duel carriageways now seem to be 50MPH limits, where many were 70, so putting the lower limit into prospective, at 16, with the road craft of a monkey, I could do well in excess of 50MPH, close at times to 60 on my old AP, with drum brakes, pogo stick shocks and (Japanese, no-grip) tyres not much wider then a bicycle but can't legally now drive down parts of the A12 and A13, in a modern car, with years of experience to tell me when this would be safe to do. 

 

I had a look on the "Bay" recently, there was a lovely restored A50P for sale but at around £6500, I would rather buy a nice cruiser or something! I get £4000, purely for the work but....

22 hours ago, rum4mo said:

 

I ran an MK1 Escort on lovely green Duckhams 20/50 and added in STP for luck, in my case it was Ice Station Zebra Ayrshire - worst winter for a very long time, so my handy stiff oil+STP was too thick to turn over even with a new bigger battery, had to come home by train and get back over to Dunlop a week later when the temperature had lifted a bit ad the MK1 Escort turned over a bit easier, when the weather improved I drained that mixture out and refilled with just Duckhams 20/50, lesson learned!

yes those snell winters and the lazy rain which wouldnt go round you...just through you

bit of a similar situation

the battery in my car which was 8 years old at the time and the smaller size between two which will fit the battery box went flat due to a fan running overnight....

i thought...maybe even though i charge this old one...meh!...lets have a biggie for winter

from feb 25 to mar 18 this year my car lay under feet of snow at bristol airport and as i returned on a freezing midnight return from malta...and reconnected the battery....wham first time!!!

guess that old battery did me a favour

cheers

geof

21 hours ago, Offski said:

I served on the pumps at a Shell Filling Station in 1974/5 we sold lots of shots of Redex then, lots of HGV's customers on accounts.....

and in 1976 the garage i worked at was a Burmah station.

It was nice being able to have fuel on not very much of a wage.....

ah yes the redex clean out

fill the half up and down cylinders with some redex...when hot...leave to simmer and then refit the plugs and do some major smelly steam polution round the estate

then when finally reaching that out of the way place...bleed redex into the carburettor....did my 1958 morris 1000 with it...once

 

???

are those locking wheel nut removal sockets all different

when you buy a set of alloys wheels do you get the same removal socket as someone else?

they seem to look quite similar to me

cheers

geof

Edited 1 May, 20188 yr by mrcrow

34 minutes ago, mrcrow said:

???

are those locking wheel nut removal sockets all different

when you buy a set of alloys wheels do you get the same removal socket as someone else?

they seem to look quite similar to me

cheers

geof

 

With the McGard type ones you have there is about 20 variations 

6 minutes ago, CWARD said:

 

With the McGard type ones you have there is about 20 variations 

 

thanks...i thought there must be some very fine variations but looking at a lot of cars...who dont have dust caps...they all look fairly similar

cheers

geof