Sunday 11 October 2009

(3) Spraying Grease into the Clutch Cable

Spraying Grease into the Clutch Cable

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This is the cable greaser, a handy wee gadget. It slips over the inner cable, screwed down with the thumbscrew on the top, and has a hole for a spray can straw. The grease is forced down inside the cable, and the job is finished in seconds! This one is a cheapo version; there are better ones with two thumbscrews for a really good seal.

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Rubber bits pushed forward to expose where the inner cable comes out of the outer sleeve, and the cable greaser in position.

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I didn't have enough hands for this shot! It's best to hold the cable upright as you spray, so gravity helps the grease work its way down inside the cable.

PhotobucketWhen grease hits the newspapers in the driver's footwell, the whole cable has been lubricated.

That's it! Push the rubber bits back onto the cable, refit the cable in its holders, and tighten the adjustment nut back to the previous measurement. Tighten the locknut against the adjustment nut, and put the glovebox back in.

Oh and put the newspaper in the bin!

(2) Gaining Access to the Clutch Cable

Gaining Access to the Clutch Cable
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Opening the bonnet, the clutch cable on my AEX engine Ibiza comes through the firewall to the right of the engine.

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Then it curves it's way down to the clutch.

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Here's the end of the clutch cable.

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So the clutch biting point is the same after regreasing the cable, I measured the length of cable protruding from the adjuster; about 2 centimetres (That brown coloured stuff on the nuts & threads is copper grease, not rust).

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The cable is held in place by a pair of nuts. Slip the spanners over each one, then loosen the lock nut till it reaches the end of the threads.

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A close-up of the loosened locknut. Now loosen the adjustment nut as well, so the clutch cable can be unhooked.

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The clutch cable, freed from the clutch. Keep it straight like this or the other end might come off the clutch pedal, and need hooked back on!

(1) Making Preparations

Making Preparations
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 First the driver's glovebox comes out, to make it easier to see when the cable's regreased enough.

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The glovebox comes out by first opening it, then squeezing the arms on either side inwards...

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Hanging on it's hinges, the glovebox pulls straight out.

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A few newspapers in the driver's footwell soak up any excess grease later on.

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All the tools to start: two 10mm open spanners, a cable greaser tool, a can of spray grease, and a measuring tape.

Now we can make a start!

Lubricating a 1990's Seat Ibiza clutch cable

Autumn is here, and winter’s right around the corner. I don’t like working on cars in the rain and cold, so tend to get jobs like this out of the way round about this time of year.

I drive a 72,000 mile 1997 Seat Ibiza, which is getting on in years a bit now! These old mark 2 Ibizas are fun  wee Spanish cars.There’s a little rust introducing itself to the rear arches, but I try to keep the car maintained to a high standard. Cheap to run and insure, they’re reliable and simple cars to service.

One thing that needs a little TLC now and again on my Ibiza is the clutch. My Ibiza has an old school, cable operated clutch. Due to the left to right hand drive conversion, the clutch cable has to snake its way into the engine bay in a series of bends. If you pick one of these relics up with a heavy clutch - don't assume the worst! Regreasing the cable, or at worst a new one (about £20) and the clutch is light again.

This is a 10 minute job from start to finish, and prolongs the life of the clutch cable. All that's needed is a measuring tape, a can of spray grease, two 10mm spanners, and a cable greaser gadget (about £7 on eBay).
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Sunday 4 October 2009

*** Call for Research Participants! ***

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After a heck of a lot of setbacks, I’ve finally made it to the last year of my uni Marketing degree. This year, as well as the usual exams, essays and reports, there’s a 10,000 word dissertation to write. This means conducting research on any marketing problem of my choice. I have to find participants, conduct research, and analyse the data gathered to indicate findings.

My research is going to be on the impact of the recent banking collapse on people’s attitudes to internet banking. By listening to the respondents, the research will (hopefully) give an indication of what needs to change in marketing online banking.

Banking is potentially pretty dry – any topic that hints at finance has the potential to risk boring the respondents. The truth is, I’ve no head for numbers myself – In fact I’m pretty sure I’m anarithmetric. I’m really not focussing on the finance side of things. I’m much more interested in what you as a consumer feel about internet banking, your opinions, anxieties, attitudes and behaviour. One area of this topic I’m interested in is the effect of risk perception on your attitudes. Do you consider yourself a risk taker, or are you risk averse?

Maybe it’s a subject you prefer not to think at all about – did you know the banks count on people perceiving it to be a major hassle to hunt around for better savings interest rates? Whatever your position, I’d like to hear it. For instance, you don’t need to be an internet banking user to participate. I’d still be interested in why you don’t use it, what opinions you’ve formed on the area, concerns, and the basis you form them on – your friends’ experience? Media reporting?

What’s involved if you take part?
I've posted a demo interview here. For their topics, most of my peers are using questionnaire surveys. I’d rather engage my participants in something a bit more lively and engaging: in depth, online interviews (If you want to be a different fish, you’ve got to jump out of the school). I’m hoping that people will have more of a rewarding experience being participants in a discussion rather than just respondents to a preset list of questions.

In depth interviews are an exchange of thoughts, usually conducted by email, over a period of weeks (altogether, I’m aiming for around an hour or two of real time). To keep the process fresh, some of these emails will take an ‘ethnographic approach’ – visual and interactive methods of participation. For example, you might be sent a clip of a credit card TV advert, and then we’ll exchange emails about how you felt about it, whether you found the message relevant, and so on.

Who am I looking for?
I’m going for a fairly diffuse sample, but you have to be aged 18 or over - the university has very strict rules about interviewing children, and my subject area only really applies to adults. If I can achieve depth from the interviews, 28 respondents should be enough to generate some real insights. If you’re based here in the UK that’s a bonus, as it eliminates cultural crossover. If you’re not, that doesn’t necessarily rule you out!

What if you have a change of heart afterwards?
That’s fine! There shouldn’t be anything too personal asked of you though – I don’t want your bank account number, your phone number or address or anything like that, and I don’t have any connection to any banks. If for any reason you don’t want to take part any more, just say so.

Sound like something you would like to take part in?
If you’re interested in taking part, feel free to contact me at the address below with the word 'participant' in the subject line. I’d love to hear from you.

 [This research is complete, my every gratitude to those who took part!]

Friday 2 October 2009

(4) Thanks, No Thanks!

Thanks
Pendoctor
Fotoresizer
Captain Tulley


No Thanks
Wierd date ordering on Blogger

(3) Sealing the Leaks

Stage 3

Revision - Have a good look inside the shell, I'm not sure all Targas look like this one inside. Apply sealant anywhere there is a visible join between the metal, plastic, and the membrane between them. In the cavity shown below, look for two metal tabs, on either side of the wall, and for a strange V shaped channel I'm sure I've seen too. Seal them all, don't skimp! I find that a propelling pencil lead dipped in a drop of sealant is good for reaching these awkward areas.
 


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This shot shows a curious close up of the nib without the feed, gasket &c. Notice that curious blue area? Surely no ink could have been left behind, after all that flushing? Even the feed was bone dry. A cautious probing with a wooden toothpick revealed this to be some sort of cellophane layer, sandwiched between the steel nib and the plastic housing. This was damaged on one side but its not clear to me how this could possibly have happened. You can also see that the inlay is covered by plastic a short distance in from the tines. My goal was to see how good this stuff really was. I only applied sealant to this area, not the outside of the nib unit you can see as you write. Anyway, on we go. Time to look at Captain Tulley's famous Creeping Crack Cure.


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I did some research on this stuff after reading the Pendoctor's article. Apparently its great for boats and leaking Volvo windshields. These are pretty challenging areas so I've got faith it will do the job in the more sedentary role of pen leaks! This photo represents me trying to be clever and working out how much comes out of the bottle in one drop. After all the nib is pretty small and I didn't want to soak the thing in sealant. The camera was on multi shot for this pic, not a single one showed a droplet in mid air between the bottle and the page. I used more sealant up doing this than during the repair! It comes out of the bottle in big fat drops that aren't really suited to this kind of work at all.
 

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With this in mind, I started searching for something to plug up the hole before the tines separate, in case sealant got between them and ruined the pen forever. I thought about using a blob of blu-tack first. Then I thought, I can just imagine all the veterans howling in indignation. "BLUTACK! You should never use blutack on a nib. It will transmogrify the tines! Only ever use cyan tack, available from blah blah". In the end I cut a tiny piece of rubber and put it in the hole. I expect a piece of pencil eraser would be fine too.


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This photo shows a top view of the rubber bung in the hole before the tines (is there a special name for this hole?)


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Here is a badly lit picture of the rubber bung viewed from below. I had the perfect thing to light this, a tiny bulb wired up to a 9 volt battery I use to inspect my car's horrible rear drum brakes. It would have fit perfectly in the nib, but I couldn't find it :-}


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Here's a shot that hardly shows what's going on! Just after the first application of Tulleys, which was extremely difficult. I used a damp cloth immediately after to soak up spills, as per the instructions. Its a half hour between coats.


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After 30 minutes it was time for the second coat. During this break I was racking by brains trying to think up a better method of application. It hit me all of a sudden, like a slap to the face.


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Introducing a method I call the 'Flounder Floss'. I wrapped a length of thread around my fingers, and dripped a little sealant on the thread. Now it was easy to be very, very precise about introducing a tiny amount of sealant to the very edge where the nib meets the plastic, keeping the thread taut between the fingers. This shot was pretty tricky to take!


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This close up shows how a little sealant applied to the edge finds its way to the rest of the nib/plastic lip. It sets clear, by the way.


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Another photo of how the Flounder Floss results in a very neat application. I really am quite frightfully clever. (ducks punches)


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I did about 6 applications, 1 every half hour. Then you wait 24 hours, and start again. I did this over the course of 3 days, it's quite labour intensive.


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For the very centre of where the nib meets the housing, I started getting paranoid about whether enough sealant was reaching it. I used a bent paperclip to apply to this area, as a big enough droplet wouldn't adhere to a needle. To be honest though, i think I was going overboard at this stage.


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I occasionally stuck this earbud (q- tip, language fans) in the rear of the nib housing and gave it a swirl, in case the sealant ran unexpectedly too far down and messed up the space for putting the feed back in. I don't think this would have actually happened but you never know!


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This photo shows the penultimate coat today. I have no idea why I took it beyond the fact I was getting used to taking photos of everything I did :-B


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This is an okay shot of how the sealant finds its way from the outside edge in. You can just see the rubber bung protecting the tines from clumsiness.


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So, duly reassembled, here's the Targa on my desk for a change, instead of in bits in a drawer, where it's been since my exams finished. I tried it upon reassembly and no leaks, but of course the real test will be over a week or so of use. If I've not bored you enough by now, stay posted! [update: it doesn't leak at all]

Based on tonight's use though, I'm very encouraged, because it was leaking on my fingers as soon as I picked it up before. I'm also really happy that this is an 'invisible' repair, there's no unsightly stuff to apply to the outside of the nib you see every day. This has given me the confidence to finally tackle my Hero 849 that's leaking too!

Revision - as a further update, this pen did eventually leak again, though with far less severity. That was the driving force for these revisions, to come up with a more robust solution to the problem. For the outside of the shell, I used a propelling pencil lead dipped in a tiny drop of sealant, always starting from the corners of the diamond and tracing them outwards for neatness.

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(2) Disassembly

Stage 2: Disassembly

I started off the disassembly with some trepidation. I don't have any section grips or spark plug grips. I thought I would jerry-rig something out of a pair of adjustable pliers and rubber so there's be no scratching. In the end, I didn't even need those, thanks to the age of the pen and the warm water used earlier.

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Here we are with the cap and barrel off. Baby steps eh? Rome wasn't built in a day.


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Thanks to the Pendoctor's article, I knew where to twist to seperate the nib section. It's here at the cap ring... But will it come apart, refuse to budge, or crack? I've never done this to a pen but have had some very tricky experience with corroded brake caliper bleed valves.

Revision - If it's recalcitrant, a thin wrap of blutack on either side of the join for traction and a little heat will work wonders.


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Astoundingly, these came apart using finger pressure. You can hardly see shellac in this photo, it had turned to dust!


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Safely unscrewed, I thumbed the feed out of the nib. It didn't take much pressure and wasn't glued in or anything. I was very glad to notice it fits in a squared off recess, so there's no danger of misalignment upon refitting. Thanks Mr. Sheaffer.

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This photo shows the gubbens inside the nib: the feed, a rubber gasket , and the plastic thing that the converter or cartridge attaches to. I was immediately suspicious of that last one! Lets zoom in.

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As we can see, the plastic thing that the converter attaches to is covered in keyed areas and recessed areas. A flashback to taking my laptop apart says making use of such keys and recesses is not optional :-) It sits in the nib with the topmost part of the diagonal slash in its tube in line with the nib, as in the diagram in the previous photo.

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Here are all the bits in a Targa, in an exploded view, to make sure nothing goes missing.

Phew! I dodged a bullet with the seperation I think. The hard part is next, using the sealant.

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I had a nice cup of Calmomile before attempting the main job, as you can see. I have no idea why some photos came out great and some not so great.

Revision - Now it is possible to remove permeated ink from the nib unit. With the shell now empty, wash it inside and out with soap suds and tepid water. Don't scrub at it, the membrane between the metal nib and plastic shell at the mouth of the shell is thin and weak.

Next, take a piece of paper towel, twist a length of it and pull it into the nib cavity. Lay another piece over the nib unit so that all areas where the metal nib and plastic shell meet are covered. A few drops of water will stick the paper towel in place, as shown in the photos below:


Leave it overnight, time does the work for you. The damp paper towel will wick the ink that has permeated the nib unit shell, and capture it as the paper dries:







Repeat with fresh paper towels until there is no more staining, and allow the shell to dry. In this way, the task of thoroughly cleaning out the ink before sealing is less involved, requiring just a few minutes of your time per day over a few days. Next post - resealing with Captain Tolley's.

(1) Flushing all the old ink out of the nib

Just before the summer resits, I bought a Sheaffer Targa from eBay, for my 'all-fountain pen' exams, which I posted about over the last fortnight or so. Unfortunately, during these the Targa proceded to leak ink all over my writing hand, courtesy of a majorly leaking inlaid nib. When I say majorly leaking - I could create a perfect diamond pattern on my pinkie by pressing it against the inlay.

The following photos represent my first real attempt at fountain pen 'repair' (I put repair in quote marks, because the pen wrote fine with no skipping or anything). Info on this problem is a little thin on the ground, I followed the advice given in this Pentrace article to use Captain Tolley's crack cure and work from the inside on the nib section. This one is pretty good too! Thanks Pendoctor.

So we begin 3 days ago!

Stage 1: Flushing all the ink out of the nib
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 First I soaked the nib unit in warm water for a few hours to start off getting rid of the ink still in it. So far, so good! On to the next pic!

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This Targa came with a squeeze converter. This is supposed to be a bonus for flushing, and later on seperating the nib unit.
Frankly I don't have much patience when it comes to flushing, so I got a big syringe from an inkjet printer refill kit, put it where the converter usually goes - a suprisingly perfect fit - and wrapped a lot of plumber's seal tape around the join. Now we can flush like crazy beasts!

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How's this for ink capacity? I was almost tempted to make this a permanent arrangement. Flushing had to be thorough, I didn't want any ink left to interfere with the sealant later on.


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This is a photo taken after the flushing and drying process. Notice that despite my efforts, there was still a little ink coming from the inlay onto my pinky. Just my luck; I kept going till there was nothing showing.

Revision - While it's important to get as much ink out as possible before applying the sealant later on, there's an effort saving alternative method that's far more thorough. At this early stage, just flush the pen with water till it runs through clear, so that the feed is clean enough to prevent dried ink from making disassembly difficult.