The dawn of a new era

Another day dawns here in Sunny Cornwall. 

Its a Sunday so that means "Railway Day".  For those of you who don't know me, I am a bit of a rail enthusiast (No not a train spotter.......I like to get in and get my hands dirty)

More information on where I volunteer can be found here

http://www.helstonrailway.co.uk/

 So its off on my trusty steed.  If you were following the old blogs before I merged them, you might be thinking "What the hell is this?........That isn't a Lada/gonna pull a caravan!!!!!!!!

No folks, my daily hack is a 2007 Sukida 50cc moped.

On arrival I find out that this is what I'm going to be playing with today.  Now I get to play with this and other bits of kit in a private setting.  The skills and experience I get operating the 360 digger could earn me £9 or £10 per hour on a building site.......................if I had the right bits of paper (Stupid isn't it)

First job of the day (after greasing the machine) is to shift a load of concrete railway sleepers from one side of the line to the other............a bit pointless you might think, however where they were was all overgrown and needed the track bed prepping.  Plus we had a flail on site (those things that cut bushes on the back of a tractor) cutting back the banks and the overgrown trackbed.

Once that was done, it was down with the dozer blade and start to level the trackbed ready for the ballast (and ultimately track) to go down.  See below!!!

Time was marching on so it was off to put the machine to bed, have a general natter etc, have a coffee and head for home.

Now I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist taking the picture below.  I've seen this on the back of an old Citroen AX for a few weeks now and couldn't resist.  Definitely my sense of Humor

More later

A bit of an update

Its been a bit of a while since I posted on any of my blogs and a lot of things have happened.  The Lada has gone for a start.  I will be getting another one at some point........but there was no point keeping the blog alive

Likewise, the Caravan project has also been put on hold, which considering it was on hold anyway is a bit of an achievement in itself.

So what I have decided to do is combine all of my blogs into one.....Kernow life.

This will give me a chance to report on whatever projects I have on the go as well as general stuff like my work at the Helston Railway and my college course I'm starting in September as well as just general ramblings from living the Cornish lifestyle.

This should allow me to update a bit more often.

More later

Off on a Tangent.....

Since the Mondeo has now gone, I needed some cheap transport whilst waiting for some cash to come in, so
I recently bought this scooter for £80 and thought is was going to be a simple bolt on the battery, re attach the panels, MOT and Bobs your uncle.

Yeah Right.

it's supposed to look like this


However it arrived looking like this.


Now after some initial numptyness
http://www.scootershack.co.uk/the-workshop/aprillia-leonardo-starting-problems-t23458.html

We got to the stage of trying to start part 2http://www.scootershack.co.uk/the-workshop/aprilia-leonardo-125-starting-problems-part-2-t23528.html
Since then, the starter motor came out and the first evidence of previous botched restorations. There was only 1 bolt in the starter, the other had sheared. 

Took the starter out (with my dad) and cleaned it all out, it was completely choked with carbon. Re assembled and tested.....working fine (Thank god, not really in a position to fork out £90 for a replacement (or £400+ for a genuine aprilia one  )

Re positioned it and yeah.....it still works...............just doesn't engage in the engine 

Took the belt cover off and found that the back wheel end of the belt spins but the front part (fan?) doesn't

Then took off the other side and found everything jammed.........Oh no, not a seized engine I hope.

The plan now is to drop the engine, however I am seriously hampered by the number of rounded and seized nuts and bolts. (more bodged restorations?)

Will take some more photo's tomorrow and post them as they might make more sense than my ramblings.

This job has gone from a simple fix up job to a full on restoration.

Off came the exhaust and the covers so I could get in and see whats what.

I don't think 2 day old oil is supposed to look that colour...considering the head gasket has supposed to be done.



Thats not a good state for the alternator to be   (Not a brilliant picture, but the brushes are the same colour as the oil)



More bodging........waste of time doing the head gasket if you are only going to put 3 out of 4 bolts back in the head and leave it like that.


Now as I said earlier, this

spins quite freely by hand,


However this

and this

Appear to be seized.


However, by putting the socket on and turning they do both turn with some resistance, and the piston also moves......so no seized engine either.


The only puzzling thing is that I can get just shy of 2 revolutions (1 cycle of the 4 stroke) before everything gets jammed up (not putting a lot of force on it though)


it's the same in both directions, and from both sides.


Any idea's??????
I'm thinking the next job is to take the head off (it needs binning anyway (pic 5) and having a look to see if there's anything obvious.                                                                                                                                         

So as not to hijack this blog, further updates on the scooter can be found at   http://www.scootershack.co.uk/scooter-projects/aprilia-leonardo-125-project-t23560.html

                        

                   

No wonder Welding is so bloody expensive

I've been putting it off and putting it off, but I couldn't put it off any longer.  I've had to have a go at this welding lark.
Following a link from the Lada forum, I found this site

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/

After looking at the tutorials, there was nothing left but to grab the wing I cut off yesterday and "have a go" ............with mixed results.

Now my first mistake (I've since found out) is that I am using an arc welder.  However, cosidering the financial situation and it was loaned free of charge, I can't really complain.
If the object of the excercise was to blow holes in the metal...................I'd have done really well!!!

I did manage to get some actual welds.

Ad here.

Not looking quite so bad from the "wrong" side.

Try welding 2 bits together I was told (from the guy who I borrowed the welder from)  You might find it easier.

A little bit better.

On the positive, although it is not a very nice looking job, I did actually manage to stick one bit of metal to the other without it falling off.  To be fair this is the standard of welding that was already on the car and the guy gave up.

 

Copyright AdamG

Not sure what he was welding with be it mig or arc, but it is very rough and lumpy. Bottom line is that piece has to be cut out and I'll have to start again

You should have seen the one that got away

For a minute there I almost thought I was going to have to swallow my words.  In my last post I said that this was the wrong time of the year to be looking for cheap caravans, then this came up on ebay with a starting price of 99p and stayed there for a few days.

Colour scheme might not be to everybody's taste, and there are a few issues with it but if I got it cheap enough (Ideally looking for between free and £50) It looked like a good un, and it was reasonably close to me. (I should still have access to the old globetrotter, but it is to far gone to restore know, but could be a doner for parts)

Firstly all of my towing options went out the window
plan A was rejected.......I was being a bit cheeky and asking if the "seller" could deliver.
plan B would have been prohibitly expensive (£1.25 a mile)
Plan C has given up towing and got rid of his van.

By which time I had been out bid at my maximum I allowed for this van.

Fortunatly, it worked out fine because when the weights came through......the gross weight would have put me nearly 100% tow car/caravan which for those of you in the know will understand that that is a no no.  It also ended up going for £130

Besides which, my tow car still has a lot of work to do on it........
http://kernowlada.blogspot.com/

There is still a "possibility" in the air at the moment, other wise I'll have to wait till I get some money in..........we are due a load shortly but just how long.......Who knows??????????????

Slow progress

As I said yesterday, I had to go out and protect the other side of the car, so the sun was shining, out came the wire brush, curerust and red primer and the passenger side was attacked.

Not as well covered or neat as I would have liked.......I was running out of paint



I've remembered to do the bit at the top of the inner wing that I missed on the other side.

So, I had to go and do the bit I missed..........to be fair, I hadn't forgotten, there was still a bit of wing in the way.

Only a couple of hours on the car today........I've now run out of curerust and primer!
Progress is going to be very slow from now on.  I've pretty much run out of jobs to do until I either
1\ Order some parts from www.lada.co.uk (this requires having some money)
2\ Practice my welding skills till I am confident enough to actually risk using them on the car.

I have been putting that off because of the fear of the unknown..........what if I am totally crap at it?  Having to pay someone to do the welding would just about kill this project and I've put to much time and effort into it already. (Not that you would think so looking at the pictures.....It looks like I have just ripped parts off.

It might be a while before I update this blog again..............depends how I get on with the welding

Back to wrecking me 'ansomes

Bank holiday monday dawned in typical fashion...............cold, we and drizzly.  So whats new there then.

Well at about lunctime it started to clear up and this mysterious yellow ball appeared in this unusually blue sky..........Well, I'd better crack on and do something to the lada then!!!!:-)

First job was to remove the top edge of the drivers wing that I'd left in place last time.  Plan A was to try and drill out the spot welds.

When that failed, breaking a drill bit in the process (What do they weld with in Russia?) It was back to good old fashioned hammer and chisel!!!!!!

With that done (taking a bit longer than I thought) It was time to have a go at the other side.  It had to be done sooner or later and as you will have seen from an earlier post......they were done sooner than planned.

Now, I had planned to go softly softly and try and remove the passenger wing with the hammer and chisel.................Yeah right after about 15 mins out came the angle grinder again.

As on the other side, the inner wing where it meets the sill is in quite good nick, and not a pile of rusty powder as was expected (and suggested by other forum members)

The removed wing in its various componant states.............which means it came off in about 5 bits.

Now I should have expected this, since the other side was the same, but it was still a big disappointment to discover that the front of the passenger side inner wing was shot.

Look mum..............daylight.

And it gets worse around the front........will definatly have to do something there.......plan B time me thinks.......

Yeah..............definatly plan B............which is to decide what plan C will be

Well, time to button up for the night as I was getting cheesed off by this point.  Look mum, matching blue covers

Weather permitting, I need to get out there with the wire brush, curerust and red oxide primer and match it up to the other side.  Provided I've enough curerust and primer left.

I've definatly got to stop putting off attempting to use the welder (practice) as I am running out of jobs to do without needing parts!!!

At last something positive

When we last left, the plan was to go out with the wire brush, curerust and the primer the next day.  Well for reasons I won't go into that didn't quite happen.

It was a week later (to the day) before I managed to do anything on the car.  The first job was the new hammer and chisel to try and get the remaining bits of wing off.

I was actually quite worried about this because the last thing I wanted to do was to take the doors off, but as you can see, I didn't need too.

As you can see, the inner wing is actually quite sound where it meets the sill, not requireing any extra welding there then :-)

After a run around with the wire brush (god how did we cope before wire brush attachments to a power drill) out came the curerust!!!

When that had done its thing, time to get the red oxide primer on.  Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I have been using it on preserved railways for years so I know it is good stuff!!!

After letting that dry, it was time to cover up for the night.  As you can see from picture 3 I still have some wing to take off, but time was getting on so I left that for another day (Tomorrow????)

And I've still got to have a go at this welding lark to see if I can do it

Update

There is not really anything to update at the moment.

This is not really the time to be looking for caravans, unless anyone has a freebee to give away.

I spoke to my neighbour about the one I used to have but it sounds like that one is really too far gone now. (Shame because the hardest part, rebuilding the front window frame, was already done)

Because I had the front panel out and the gas locker apart to do the front window, and because it was being used as a crib hut (Tea break) whilst looking after horses, the big hole in the front (gas locker inards) allowed Rats to enter the van.

It has now been relagated to a storage shed.
I'm still tempted to take a look and see if it is still salvagable, but somehow I doubt it.

This blog may go quiet for a while as there is not going to be a lot to report.  Still having some cash issues and that combined with the time of year means there is no such thing as "cheap caravans" at the moment.

Part 5

Having seen the price of Lada's lately (in particular Larry on ebay) I thought it was time to install an anti theft device in the Kernow Riva


In reality, I had to get it apart because of the cracked steering column bracket

Recieved some news today that was not what we were expecting (which puts more of a delay on ordering parts from www.lada.co.uk
Added to that a load of hassle yesterday when we were told our benefit was stopped because of a cock up in the system (not our fault and all sorted now)

Anyway I was feeling the need to take out my aggression on something...............So one of the jobs on the Riva was moved forward, and I attacked it with the angle grinder!!!!!!!!!



I need to get a new hammer and chisel plus some metal drill bits and spend the next few days and weeks chiseling the remaining bits off. (well I do have all the time in the world)

Following advice from, another forum member I was expecting to find the bottom of the inner wing (where it meets the sill) to be a crumbling mess.

This was what I found


Curiosity got the better of me, so I cut a bit out of the other side to check that as well.



They are both intact..........Yippeee

Temper cooled, Time to button up against the weather cos It was time to get the kids from school.




Tomorrows job will be to attack with a wire brush, curust and a coat of primer on those inner wings.
At least I've got some more scrap metal to practice my arc welding on

Part 4

Right, anyone following this could be under the impression I am breaking it rather than restoring it. This update is a bit of the same.



Firstly I've moved it around the back and put it up on ramps. There is no way on this gods earth I am going to be lying on a gravel drive when I weld it (or do anything underneath for that matter)
Notice the concrete handbrake on both back wheels (Don't want that sticking on now do we)

Next job was to check the reverse light switch, which meant rigging up some sort of test device



I've soldered an extra piece of metal to the bulb holder so that I can slide clips on the test circuit


Yes is does work


This simple device (and a spare battery) proved that the wiring to the back of the car is fine, but not the reverse light switch. (The givaway though was that they were unplugged in the first place)

Next it was time to pull the front carpet out and see the extent of the job.

The drivers side....not to bad
Thats the top of the outrigger you can see in the middle of the pic.

Now, the passenger side

Oh dear.......

Again you can make out what is left of the outrigger

From underneath

Again from underneath showing the jacking point. (This list of parts seems to be getting longer and longer.

On the plus side, the inner wing on the drivers side seems to be ok at the bottom where it meets the sill


Now just waiting for some dry weather now so I can get out in the garden and have a play with the borrowed welder and some steel plate untill I feel confident at tackling the car.

In the meantime, a little bit of bedtime reading for me http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/arc-tutorial.htm