Bloody cars

[Shayne]

20 years ago i was working at demolishing the Villiers hotel and this



was nothing but a roofless gutted skeleton when the spacemen from England walked in to remove the asbestos . Our 45 year old boss retired a multimillionaire after that job so i guess we were just cannon fodder .

 

[clivehorridge]

My late Dad was an HM factory inspector (pre HSE) for much of his working life after being in RAOC and REME during WW2. not a person many businesses enjoyed seeing at times, but probably responsible for saving many lives or bad injuries. Some of the things he came across were horrendous and down to just plain criminal negligence, others were not so clear. One very simple job that killed someone was rewiring a standard 13a plug. Just one strand of the live feed hadn’t gone into the terminal properly and a tiny bit of it was left outside the plug, hardly enough to see. One thing I remember being impressed on me was securing gas bottles after him seeing the aftermath of one toppling over and the valve being knocked off. It took off like a torpedo, through the wall of the workshop and killing someone on its way.

I used to do a lot of oxy-acetylene welding in the old days and I built a great sack-barrow type carrier with securing chains and a locking stand when not being wheeled.

Helping another "fitter" a few doors down in his steel framed garage, he was stretching the torch hoses to reach a difficult part and toppled the free-standing bottles he was using.

FM, the oxy gauge snapped off against the toolbox it hit, it upended itself and took off. It glanced a 9" RSJ roof beam, bending it up almost at right angles, and went straight through the timber roof.

We rushed out to see where it would land, luckily, just in time to see it bury itself about a foot into the park land behind our houses, some 50 or 60' from the garage.

Those bottles take some carrying, so to imagine it shooting off like a firework is an eye-opener. So lucky nobody was hurt.

He was a real cowboy, it wasn't long after he was welding steel pipe work down a street hole with the bottles in the van. He had a blow-back (no check valves of course) and the whole lot went up!

The fire brigade simply watched it until it burned out. One of them said do you have any other bottles in the van? Yes said Maurice, 2 propane and a spare acetylene! They just moved back another 10 yards and coned off the area!

 

[clivehorridge]

I wonder how Gary got on with his leccy car fix, we've just about destroyed his thread between us...

 

[Gary820]

I wonder how Gary got on with his leccy car fix, we've just about destroyed his thread between us...

Not at all mate.
Some good conversation about stuff that rarely comes up, like getting electric shock and Frank somehow still being alive!!!

Quite enjoying not being at work this week too, put my 35's back on, painted the fence had a couple of days out with the family.
Even better I'm not babysitting the new lad who started Tuesday lol.
Not long qualified, never worked in a dealer, never used a clocking system, done a job card write up or dealt with warranty bs. I feel sorry for him in a way tbh.

Lost 2 senior techs recently and only person they can find is this young lad.
Our other master tech will be gone within 2 months too. There's no one out there wanting to do the job but management think we're easy to replace. When other master goes it's potentially going to be good for me, busy but more rewarding

 

[clivehorridge]

Glad you're getting a bit of time to yourself.

I'm having a sh!tty week of it trying to close out a court submission due in on Monday, because I want the weekend off!

Yesterday I worked till 04:15 this morning and after this break I'm having (at my desk at 8:45pm) I'll probably keep going till about 03:00am.

If I do, I've a chance to close it by tomorrow afternoon.

It's the little 'un's birthday tomorrow so I want some time with her (she's 8) to fix up her X-Box birthday prezzie.

(Don't know the first thing about 'em)

 

[frank rabbets]

Good luck Gary. There are shortages in all areas except old age. That's the problem. The old age "bulge"population has plenty of income but does not produce anything. That's the problem with NHS. It's pointless investing more as in 10 years time when the bulge is dead the NHS will be too big.

 

[Gary820]

That's some hours Clive! Hopefully get it done and get some x box time lol. I was up till about 2am with a teething boy, gave Emma chance to have some sleep (brownie points).

We're not the only dealer short staffed. One down the road has a 19 bay workshop including 2 mot bays, 3 techs and no mot testers!!! Can't find any staff!

Unfortunately management still don't see there's a problem and haven't tried to keep good staff. A lot is down to money and I understand why the other lads have left.
I won't leave to do the same job somewhere else and anything I've applied for and the job I turned down is all about a career move, it has to be right for me and the family. I'm not desperately trying to find a new job like others I'm looking to move up.

 

[clivehorridge]

That's some hours Clive! Hopefully get it done and get some x box time lol. I was up till about 2am with a teething boy, gave Emma chance to have some sleep (brownie points).

We're not the only dealer short staffed. One down the road has a 19 bay workshop including 2 mot bays, 3 techs and no mot testers!!! Can't find any staff!

Unfortunately management still don't see there's a problem and haven't tried to keep good staff. A lot is down to money and I understand why the other lads have left.
I won't leave to do the same job somewhere else and anything I've applied for and the job I turned down is all about a career move, it has to be right for me and the family. I'm not desperately trying to find a new job like others I'm looking to move up.

I can't believe it, but I've just finished!

One section which I thought would be a whole day's work took me only 40 minutes!

Maybe I can go to Ana's playschool birthday party tomorrow at mid-day after all

Sometimes with deadlines the hours are stupid. I've done all nighters and on occasions 36+ hrs straight, but it is only occasional. Lately they've been more regular, but I'm on 4 cases simultaneously at the moment and that's rare. Just a quirk of timing which is not under our control.

Life is good though, no complaints, I leave that to the missus

 

[Gary820]

Just because variety is the spice of life and all that, small selection of the fun from the last few days

This is a 'fuel' sample from a non start I inherited after someone fitted a fuel pump!!
Turns out they'd mis fuelled it so in an attempt to 'clean' the fuel system, well see below lol

Good old low oil pressure with timing chain guides broken and in the sump

Nice little z3m in for service.
I'm the M accredited tech so get the pleasure of these kind of motors.

Then my ramp died completely, it was 22 years old so on Monday a new one is getting fitted. Old one has been stripped out ready.

I kicked the apprentice off his ramp as I've actually spent nearly every day this week on spanners!! Had people on holiday plus losing staff we're a bit short.


Had this little beauty in for a new propshaft too, limited addition 1 of 300 and only 30 in the UK. 30 year anniversary m5.
Have it stitched into the seats etc, alcantara and leather trim, leather stitched dash, carbon ceramic brakes, performance exhaust etc etc.

No leccy cars this week though.
About half a day on the phone to various departments at bmw to sort a connected drive issue with 4 cars (online service in the car)

 

[Crispin]

Just because variety is the spice of life and all that, small selection of the fun from the last few days

This is a 'fuel' sample from a non start I inherited after someone fitted a fuel pump!!
Turns out they'd mis fuelled it so in an attempt to 'clean' the fuel system, well see below lol
View attachment 106199

Good old low oil pressure with timing chain guides broken and in the sump
View attachment 106200

Nice little z3m in for service.
I'm the M accredited tech so get the pleasure of these kind of motors.
View attachment 106201

Then my ramp died completely, it was 22 years old so on Monday a new one is getting fitted. Old one has been stripped out ready.
View attachment 106202

I kicked the apprentice off his ramp as I've actually spent nearly every day this week on spanners!! Had people on holiday plus losing staff we're a bit short.


Had this little beauty in for a new propshaft too, limited addition 1 of 300 and only 30 in the UK. 30 year anniversary m5.
Have it stitched into the seats etc, alcantara and leather trim, leather stitched dash, carbon ceramic brakes, performance exhaust etc etc.

View attachment 106203
View attachment 106204


No leccy cars this week though.
About half a day on the phone to various departments at bmw to sort a connected drive issue with 4 cars (online service in the car)

What is the blue stuff? Comfort?

 

[StarCruiser]

What is the blue stuff? Comfort?

Perhaps the ride had got a bit harsh…

 

[Gary820]

What is the blue stuff? Comfort?

Apparently it's a fuel system flush and they decided to put extra in as they'd put petrol in their diesel.

 

[Gary820]

Nothing much of interest recently, been out of the workshop a lot or doing bloody trim rattles! Had a panoramic sun roof that had come loose and made a hell of a noise.

Had a slight misfire under load, it'd been in before a couple of times and as no faults stored the other lads just said "no fault found" and kicked it out too busy chasing bonus.

Well they were right about the no faults stored and you had drive for a few miles to pick up on the 'misfiire' sounded sweet just didn't feel right.
Compressions ok, no leakage etc.

Decided to take the lid off for a look and found one of the camshaft followers sat in the head and not where it should be, cylinder 3 exhaust only had 1 valve opening. Follower had been bashed around a bit and left it mark.

Hydraulic lifter had failed so the follower jumped off.
Quizzed the customer and they said it did make a bit of a noise a few weeks before!!

New camshaft, set of lifters and followers all done.

 

[Gary820]

Also had a rear screen on to do, such a crap job to do as the shape of the tailgate, the glass has a big curve on both sides and easy to damage the paint.
Poor radio reception and the aerial is in the screen.

Managed to get out of doing a 7 series front screen though as had an oil leak to sort, interestingly on a x3 that the customer had travelled round Europe in and even driven in the Sahara! Was quite happy to show me pics of it stuck lol.

 

[frank rabbets]

Crikey. On older engines hydraulic tappet failure just lead to tappet rattle but never failure as the followers were held in place by their independence. In fact an empty hydraulic tappet would bottom out still leaving enough valve lift for the engine to run. There's a lot less machining to do on the pictured engine c/w older designs and a lot less reciprocating weight.

 

[Gary820]

The engine ran really well untill it got hot and higher constant revs. Luckily it didn't burn the other exhaust valve out. Was nice to find something when got in there

 

[Gary820]

This will make you smile......

I Only had to program it but made me smile, i3 fire engine lol.

It's actually owned by bmw uk as a demo/press type car. Full working blues etc.


And just because we like paper work I think I hit a personal record yesterday.....

109 pages of job card pack for an intermittent running fault.
Had to drill it and use a cable tie to hold it together lol

 

[Crispin]

Fireman Sam should have one of those

How quick is the i3? Guess it's quicker than I can be when it has the blues on...

 

[Gary820]

Fireman Sam should have one of those

How quick is the i3? Guess it's quicker than I can be when it has the blues on...

They're pretty quick tbh, 60 in about 6.5 seconds and mid range acceleration is great. Not much more then 90mph flat out but gets there sharpish.

They said it's going to york racecourse tomorrow. They've prob got some vehicle demo on so make something that turns heads. There's an i8 in police livery knocking about and seen a mustang before too.

 

[Shayne]

109 pages go digital and saves the trees eh