Cheap Diesel

I am lucky enough [?] to drive  a diesel-powered car in the UK. It is not powerful, nor is it a recent model, but it gets me from where I am to where I want to be and back again in comfort.

But it drinks diesel like a fish drinks water, mainly because it is fitted with much smaller tyres than it was originally designed for.

So, last Spring, I decided to supplement pump diesel with the contents of my deep-fat fryer. This gives me about 3 litres of clean fuel every two to three weeks. After I have processed it, I mix it with diesel, depending on the ambient air temperature. In the height of the UK Summer, I got away with a 50/50 mix, but in Spring and Autumn, I drop ot back to 25% bio to 75% pump diesel, and in Winter, I use 100% pump diesel.

This is because bio emulsifies at a relatively high temperature and will clog up the works in a typical UK Winter.

However, this would not be a problem in warmer climes, such as Kenya. So when KCIS eventually gets itself organised enough to actually own a vehicle, we will be getting a diesel, and we will run it on a bio-diesel mix.

If we can find a major source of used cooking oil (just how many fast food outlets are there in Nairobi?), we may be able to produce enough to pass on our excess to the likes of KWS, Rhino Ark, the UN (but not for their petrol-guzzling Hummers) and any other organisations running fuel-hungry diesel 4×4s.

It will be a lot cheaper than pump diesel and performance is not compromised.

Amazing … !

I have not taken any drugs, pills or potions , nor have I used the inversion table, since before Christmas, and recently I have been getting definite pangs, one verging on sciatica.

As I stated in my previous posts, I have been trying to find out if the relief I got over and after Christmas was due to the table or a supplement I have been taking.

So, on Thursday, I dosed myself with the supplement – five small doses, spaced two hours apart.

And ? My back pain has gone again.

I am not drawing any conclusions yet, but watch this space.

Clean Water – design finished – Part II

I woke up in the middle of the night with a design feature bouncing around between my ears.

Although the water purification plant was finished on paper, there was something niggling at me.

Last night, it came to me and I had the presence of mind to have a pad and pencil next to my bed – for once.

The system is now easier to build, the filters are easier to clean, and the cleaned water easier to extract.

Now, that was worth waking up for.

Turbo? What Turbo?

2.3 litre, turbo-diesel Surf

I have had another play with my sick Toyota Surf. The symptoms are simple, drive along with a light foot (so the turbo does not kick in) and it goes like a dream. Put your foot down so that the turbo does kick in – and it doesn’t. The car coughs and splutters as it copes with being drowned in its own go-go juice.

I have ascertained before that the turbo and the bypass work correctly, so I stripped off all the pipework between the turbo outlet and plenum chamber. There is a lot of air coming out of the turbo, at very high pressure, so that works.

I stripped off all the pipework from the air filter to the turbo – big suction (whoops! where’s my hand gone!).

Put it all back together and – no turbo.

So, is there a restriction in the air intake at the filter lever or from open air? That is the next question to be answered – when it warms up enough to work on a tonne and a bit of cold metal again.

The car runs well, as long as the driver is very light-footed. And having a non-working turbo is not a case for MoT failure, so I may just get it on the road before the end of the month when the VEL is due on the other old bus.

Tinkering with Allen Scythes

I had another tinker with the Allen scythes (circa 1950) yesterday. I am trying to get at least one of the pair I have acquired to work, using one to replace parts for the other.

Of course, these being British built and old, all the nut, bolts etc are Imperial, that is A/F. I have a small set of A/F sockets but I no longer have any spanners.

Why? Because my son, a car mechanic, started work at a garage that renovates old cars and builds hot rods, and he raided my ancient toolbox, removing anything that wasn’t metric.

Although a socket set is a useful thing to have, some of the fixtures that need to be removed from the Villiers engine are only accessible with a spanner. I was a little annoyed with my son!

Oh well. I suppose the next phase will be to visit a car boot sale to see if I can find any ancient spanners.

All In The Mind

I love my bed. I love the 7 or 8 hours I spend in it out of every 24. But I hate it when think of some brilliant [?] idea, only to have forgotten it by the time I get up.

This happened last night. I was thinking about boreholes – well, don’t we all? – and had a “scrapheap” idea about how to raise the water up to ground level – and the rest, I can’t remember!

This happens quite often. I have a pad and pencil next to my bed, but I always forget that it is there. I have tried a tape recorder next to the bed, but concentrated so much on the fact that it was there to be used, that I didn’t get any inspiration.

I have even got up at 3 am just so that I can work on some idea that I have had. Unfortunately, on one such occasion, I needed the number-crunching power of the computer, and by the time it had wheezed itself into life and I had made a cuppa, my mind was a total blank, craving nothing more than sleep.

I sat in front of a blank screen, delving into the depths of my mind to try and dreg up the idea that had got me up, to no avail. So I went back to bed.

Of course, the following morning I feel like warmed-up-death and moped around the office, eyes half shut.

I know that my short-term memory is not as good as it was, which is not good news as it has never been very good – as far as I can remember.

I stared at the list of projects and concepts on my website, trying hard to jolt my memory into something resembling life.

I have tried to clear my mind by reading the 20 or so blogs that I follow. But in the back of my mind, there is a guilt feeling that I really ought to be working on the concept I had whilst under the duvet.

Frustration has now set in – hence this rambling.

I think I will go and tinker with my mechanical scythes. This is worthwhile, even if it doesn’t solve the water shortage problem in parts of Kenya. But it is mechanical, and it may just do the trick.

Tinkering …

For the last year, I have been driving a Mazda Bongo Mk. I, a rarity in the UK. But apart from checking the oil and water levels, I don’t mess around too much with it. It ain’t broke so I am not going to fix it. And anyway, the engine is under the front seats and not too easy to get at.

But I have a couple of other “projects”. I recently acquired two Oxford Allan Scythes. For those who don’t know, these are grass  cutters, with reciprocating blades mounted on the front, a pair of 21″ wheels with pneumatic tyres, all powered by a Villiers 147cc 2-stroke engine.

Needless to say, neither machine works – yet.

I have stripped the carburettors (there is more technology in a baked bean tin) and cleaned them, washed out the petrol tanks, and tinkered with the throttles. All that needs to be done now is to check the coils and points, then a quick pull on the starter cord and I will be able to clear my one acre paddock like a knife through hot butter – well, that’s the plan.

But during this last rather wet week, I have not  been able to do much, so I looked up the workings of a typical two stroke engine. And it occured to be that if it were attached to another motor, it would make a reasonable water pump.

So, if one of these scythes doesn’t work, guess what the motor is going to be turned into? And if it works, I will be in the market for a few old two-stroke engines in Kenya!

-oOo-

On another tack, looking to the future, I will need a vehicle when I am in Kenya. So I contacted someone there who deals with Japanese imports out there (is there any other sort of vehicle in Kenya?). I want a 4×4 that will climb up a wall if necessary. I was thinking Pajero or Landcruiser. But my contact suggested the Hilux Surf.

Now, I am only guessing, but judging from the name, I guess this is the car version of the indestructable Toyota Hilux. If this is the case, I want one.

I have watched the Top Gear team try to destroy one of these. It has withstood accidents, being submersed in the sea, having a caravan dropped on it, being hit by a demolition ball and parked on top of a tower block that was then demolished. The vehicles looks the worse for wear but the engine started.

These clowns were so impressed that they have ceated a shrine for it.

So, if it is good enough for Clarkson and Co., it’s good enough for me.

I have acquired one here in the UK now. It is comfortable, very comfortable and the immense tyres soak up the bumps, even with the suspension in firm mode.

It’s not very big, no bigger than the average family estate. It is just the tyres that make it look big.