Hitchcocks Forum

Found this out this morning: when refilling an engine with oil after a rebuild (this is on a 1959 Connie but applies to all models,) do make sure that A) you have fully tightened the oil drain plug and B) that there actually is a fibre washer on it. All cleaned up now!

REgards, Mark

Mark, anybody who has rebuilt motors of any sort has usually been caught out at least once. I get caught with these thing when somebody is standing close by talking to me

Yes: or Grand kids helping me.."Every washer taken and Poked in to every Bike Hole Wilst I was Underneather draining the Oil",,,Done it for you grandad!!...And Me spanners gone '0)

All been there Mark. Just the other day i removed the waste trap from under the kitchen sink to remove blockage.

Stood upright with the bucket of smelly water and without thinking poured it down the sink.. Doh!

One thing i hate is wet feet.. Hows it going out there? she calls from the other room...

My top tip is keep the garage door shut when carrying out delicate spanner work, just in case my neighbours cat, which in my opinion he should have a dangerous animals licence, comes creeping up behind you and makes a noise that no normal domestic cat should be capable of. (It took me ages to find all the bits I had dropped.)

And, I spent ages cleaning up and re-tapping some shouldered nuts to retain the inlet manifold (I'm testing this Connie on a single carb,) and only remembered when I went indoors for a cup of tea what I'd done with the original ones. Oh well!

REgards, Mark

My Mitsubitshi diesel work van lost all its oil on the motorway a couple of days after being serviced by the dealer.The mechanic hadn`t tightened the sump plug. They had to rebuild the engine.

Leon, I hear you, my day ended with discovering that the steering pump hose on my Wife's MX5 is still leaking after I thought I'd fixed it! Gave up and went to the pub....

REgards, Mark

Yesterday afternoon I set about firing up the Connie-thing only to discover the magneto timing has slipped, despite me being very careful with setting it. My right leg hurts! Would have gone to the village pub but it's shut Monday nights...

REgards, Mark

Years ago I remember changing the oil of my GS1000s in my mum's back yard. I drained out the old stuff and flushed the engine with flushing oil, replaced the filter and commenced filling her up with lovely new GTX. As I was pouring in the new oil I realised I was creating a giant, golden, gooey puddle around my feet. Yep, I'd forgotten to refit the drain plug.