The Car (and jeep)

[FarmerPug]

I recently ordered some more electrical stuff, after looking at a conveniently placed 12v feed under the bonnet:
2x of this:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 662wt_1027
and one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... _623wt_907

Its that season again for lighting everything up, i thought id buy the leds for an under bonnet light, i might have bought more than i needed, but it can be used elsewhere if its not needed, and the red illuminated button is there to switch it on, i could have got a standard black with no light button but under the bonnet a lit up red button looks more important.

[FarmerPug]

Ive described in the past how useless i think the d9 cupholders are, so i had ordered one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2078wt_907
and after about 2 weeks of it getting a cruise round the world its finally arrived, i was expecting something cheap and flimsy but actually its very sturdy and feels like its made of good plastic, here is a few pics, sitting on the bonnet by the way:



Now it doesnt come with fixing screws, no big problem i just tipped out the box of screws and stuff i took out of the vitara when i was stripping it:

theres more where that pile came from, but my choice of screws came down to 2 types, speaker screws (the long ones) or the ones previously holidng a glovebox in place (the stubby ones):

I chose to use the stubby ones, the heads on the speaker ones were too small for the purpose.

Situating the cupholder was the next issue, i decided to mount it to the centre console in the passenger footwell because its easy reached, and where its sitting doesnt get in the way of any vents or the seat in the small person setting, here is it installed:

[Bailes1992]

Looks better than my attempt!
I cut the bottom off a large mcdonalds cup and gaffa taped it to the dash

[FarmerPug]

Did it work, any pics?

As for news on the jeep, i was tightening a bolt on the pressure plate using a torque wrench set to 65 of Sir Isaac newtons meters and one split in the flywheel, blame either japanese build quality, drapers lack of calibration or an irish tool who doesnt have a clue. So i decided that was a message that i shouldnt be a cheapo and put a new clutch and flywheel into it.
And remember the box of screws:

You can see 2 in the photo, then the pile but there was another one, filled with a whole box of useful screws and other fixtures taken off the now scrapped vitara all useable on the samurai, well it was all sitting on the back of that trailer, i locked the shed after i finished working at the jeep, turned off the lights and went home. This morning it was gone, my uncle rang me at 6 saying the trailer had been stolen as well as the dog, The main concern was the dog who we have had since it was a pup (trailers can be replaced), when i got out to the farm there was no sign of him, but then i looked in the samurai to see if any tools had been stolen and there he was. some person or people had snapped off the bolt to the shed, stole the trailer and i had left my boxes in the trailer as well so they have gone. Arseholes isnt a strong enough word for whoever has stole the trailer.

[steve_earwig]

The bastards Very sorry to hear that mate, glad to hear the dog was ok though. What sort of trailer was it?

[Gary406]

Looks better than my attempt!
I cut the bottom off a large mcdonalds cup and gaffa taped it to the dash

thats as bad as pouring hot water on the engine lol

only joking mate

[FarmerPug]

The bastards Very sorry to hear that mate, glad to hear the dog was ok though. What sort of trailer was it?

An Ifor Williams 2 axle general duty braked trailer luckilly i had the ramps for it tucked under the jeep, for anyone who thinks the barrel lock in the hitch is enough for your trailer its not. But luckilly its insured, and the box of nuts and bolts although handy to have wasnt the worst thing to loose. And 2 weeks ago to this day the same thing happened to a friends trailer.
Thats called for an alarm system to be put on the sheds, long gone are the days when they could be left carelessy open.

[FarmerPug]

I got the veroboard and proper metal capped transistors (with the tab for easilly identifying the pins) in the post. Did a bit of soldering and ended up with a rather dinky looking little circuit, saves much more space than the cumbersome breadboard and has better permanent soldered connections.



i havent installed it yet, too cold, too dark and the fire was lit inside.
anyhow after noticing the beneficial effect of taking a picture sideways of a car to make it look whatever the word is, i had a go at it:

[steve_earwig]

At least it was insured. When my dad lived in Sussex there were a spate of robberies, they' load all your lawmowers, strimmers, whatever, into your trailer and drive off with it. There's very few places in the British isles were anything's safe anymore. It's starting here too, there were a few burglaries a while back, one of them the owners were watching telly downstairs while someone was helping themselves up.

[FarmerPug]

2 years ago the fuc*ers stole 3 chainsaws, a hedge cutter, and concrete saw from us, that was before the sheds even had doors, now at least these tools are kept in a locked cupboard out of the bastids sight so they didnt take them and anything i had left out from working on the jeep was left including my worx drill which was sitting on the bonnet, the patio heater, a full box of sockets they knew where the trailer was and just swiped it. Now though the whole farms getting an alarm system security lights reed switched doors cctv the lot. But at least they didnt take the dog if your dog is run over, or dies of old age you know its gone, but if someone steals it you dont know whats happened. But apart from loosing the trailer i find it sad that even here out in the countryside there is crime, a few years ago we never had to worry about locking the house doors, the car could be parked out the back with the keys in it. Its probably the recession causing these recent thefts.

[FarmerPug]

more odd picture angle photos:

And the circuit board:

much tidier.

[FarmerPug]

Led strip lights arrived today so off came the bonnet liner:

unfortunatley i broke some of the black clips holding it up is there any links for a bag of new clips.
using cable ties and a flexible glue called stikall i attached it to the liner:

1st side done:

then they were all wired up, no switch on yet but i did tempoarially connect it to the battery to see it working:

and its quite good it lights up the hole engine bay in the dark.

[omega]

its good to see that you have mounted the cup holder in a nice easy to reach place

[FarmerPug]

Its very easy to reach, even easier than in the cup holder provided by peugeot in the middle which makes you turn around and is inconvenient, with this i can reach it without taking an eye off the road.

[Welly]

Really sorry to hear of your thefts

I was the victim of an armed robbery when I was alone at work last year so anyone doing these things deserves being shot at dawn in my opinion.