What I learned from my Dad

[Simon Mason]

My Dad who is now 95 used to fix Spitfire engines after WWII as he was trai ned 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 moto r drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and with a fire sprinker.

He could tune 4 pot bike engines by ear with a screwdriver held to it and h e 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 m ore into Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry where I made my 40 year ? career?, but bits of his talent have been passed on thankfully whic h I now employ around the place.

Not his woodworking skills though.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

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?

[Simon Mason]

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

[Dave Plowman (News)]

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.

[Simon Mason]

He actually missed a gear and floored it in neutral.

[harry]

or out of plywood that he made into a telescope, plus an observatory and mo tor drive for it, a garage and extension bedroom on top all wired in and wi th a fire sprinker.

he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

Which four pot bike engine would that be?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Still a bad design if that broke it.

[Simon Mason]

trained by RR.

ctor 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.

nd he rebuilt his Alfasud boxer by hand after wrecking it by redlining it.

[Brian Gaff]

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

[Vir Campestris]

No limiters in those days.

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

Andy

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Valve bounce is a natural limiter.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

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.

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

[Simon Mason]

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