Impromptu BL line up
Discussion
Janluke said:
The BV AA dept are on stand by
I am totes stealing that image for future use!There was in fact a brief episode of failure to proceed, but this was caused entirely by me being a plonker. The fuel gauge on this car is not working. I was flipping the switch to see if I could get a reading, and stupidly left the switch on right tank. There is no right tank! The old one has been taken out and the new one is in the boot awaiting fitting.
Having done this, soon afterwards I was obliged to coast to a halt on the hard shoulder of the eastbound M4. After calling the AA, I realised what I had done, switched tanks, reignited the furnace, cancelled the AA call-out, and set off, feeling like the pillock that I am. This sort of thing reminded me of my flying days (tank balancing and switching can be a big deal when flying small aeroplanes : get it wrong and you may have to park the crate in a field).
Also not working: the heater, as far as I can tell, and the rev counter is not connected. The AED has been disabled (good), but no manual choke has been fitted as yet. Cold starting involves spraying carby spray into the air intakes. Hot starting is fine.
The car is sufficiently original to have no door or wing mirrors, and to have a working 8 track player, with long and medium wave crackly radio. Note also keep fit windows - I would have thought those rare on this type of car in 1973, but I like them (no lecky windows means one thing fewer to go wrong).
I quite like the two tanks idea. Reminds me of riding my old bikes with a reserve tank. Bike stutters and while free wheeling/kangarooing down the road you reach down and turn the fuel tap to reserve and pull in at the next garage. The school boy error is to forget to return the tap back once you've fuelled up as then next time its starts to stutter you're pushing.
A fuel faff anecdote from the world of aviation: -
I once owned one third of a cool French aeroplane called a Mudry Cap 10b (pictured below, with the dude who taught me to fly at the controls - blowing smoke because he is flying an aerobatic display). For a time, we let a professional flying school rent the aeroplane to train commercial pilot students in spinning and basic aerobatics (this to equip them for spin avoidance and unusual attitude recoveries when flying commercial aircraft). The aircraft had one tank forward of the cockpit and one tank aft (unlike many other aircraft, which have the tanks in the wings). Both tanks had to be filled and tested for the annual certification, or for a long cross country flight, but the aeroplane could not be aerobatted with fuel in the front tank (for reasons to do with centre of gravity, weight and balance).
So, one day after a test, one of the very experienced ex RAF VC-10 pilots who taught at the flight school went to burn off the fuel in the front tank so that the aircraft could be put back into use for aerobatics. Whenever I had to do this, I would fly around quite high, and close to a runway in case, when the front tank ran dry, I cocked up the switch-over and then could not re-start the engine (unlikely, as you can usually re-start in flight by diving and rolling against the prop rotation anyway). What ex Group Captain Spyffyntung-Dymme DFC chose to do was.... fly circuits and bumps (touch and go landings). You can guess what stage of flight he was in when the front tank ran dry and the engine coughed. Yes, that's right, he was low in the climb out from a touch and go landing. Runway behind him*, no height, not much speed (in aviation, high and fast is safe, low and slow is dangerous - it's the opposite of what your Gran thinks).
Anyway, the multi-jet jockey turned single engined puddle jumper pilot did eventually pull his finger out and avoided stuffing in, but, crikey. A citation for the award of the The Most Highly Derogatory Order of the Irremovable Digit was duly filed with the proper authorities.
Aircraft accident reports contain many incidents relating to poor fuel management, especially in light aircraft. Modern large aircraft have computers to organise the fuel, move it from tank to tank and so on, but even they come a cropper sometimes when they are given the wrong fuel load or whatever. Fuel is loaded by weight - and kgs vs lbs faffs can cause some wobblies.
I once owned one third of a cool French aeroplane called a Mudry Cap 10b (pictured below, with the dude who taught me to fly at the controls - blowing smoke because he is flying an aerobatic display). For a time, we let a professional flying school rent the aeroplane to train commercial pilot students in spinning and basic aerobatics (this to equip them for spin avoidance and unusual attitude recoveries when flying commercial aircraft). The aircraft had one tank forward of the cockpit and one tank aft (unlike many other aircraft, which have the tanks in the wings). Both tanks had to be filled and tested for the annual certification, or for a long cross country flight, but the aeroplane could not be aerobatted with fuel in the front tank (for reasons to do with centre of gravity, weight and balance).
So, one day after a test, one of the very experienced ex RAF VC-10 pilots who taught at the flight school went to burn off the fuel in the front tank so that the aircraft could be put back into use for aerobatics. Whenever I had to do this, I would fly around quite high, and close to a runway in case, when the front tank ran dry, I cocked up the switch-over and then could not re-start the engine (unlikely, as you can usually re-start in flight by diving and rolling against the prop rotation anyway). What ex Group Captain Spyffyntung-Dymme DFC chose to do was.... fly circuits and bumps (touch and go landings). You can guess what stage of flight he was in when the front tank ran dry and the engine coughed. Yes, that's right, he was low in the climb out from a touch and go landing. Runway behind him*, no height, not much speed (in aviation, high and fast is safe, low and slow is dangerous - it's the opposite of what your Gran thinks).
Anyway, the multi-jet jockey turned single engined puddle jumper pilot did eventually pull his finger out and avoided stuffing in, but, crikey. A citation for the award of the The Most Highly Derogatory Order of the Irremovable Digit was duly filed with the proper authorities.
Aircraft accident reports contain many incidents relating to poor fuel management, especially in light aircraft. Modern large aircraft have computers to organise the fuel, move it from tank to tank and so on, but even they come a cropper sometimes when they are given the wrong fuel load or whatever. Fuel is loaded by weight - and kgs vs lbs faffs can cause some wobblies.
- Pilot saying; the three most useless things in aviation are the runway behind you, the sky above you, and the fuel that is still in the bowser. It is also said that you can never have too much fuel, unless you are on fire.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 11th February 17:29
Breadvan72 said:
Pilot saying; the three most useless things in aviation are the runway behind you, the sky above you, and the fuel that is still in the bowser. It is also said* that you can never have too much fuel, unless you are on fire.
- sometimes by people who attempt to take off in a Warrior carrying four pie eaters and luggage with full tanks on a summer day and wonder why they crash through the far fence rather than proceeding into the wild blue yonder
Apparently they ALL came with a vinyl top - well the coupes anyway ...
http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-jaguar-xj6c-...
http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-jaguar-xj6c-...
Breadvan72 said:
It is staying! The tapes in the car include a bizarre mix of Christian pop and Max Boyce, but I have been on eBay buying assorted 70s CHOONZE in 8 track format. The radio picks up Irish and continental stations as well as Radio Four. All very retro fab.
Good man! I toyed with replacing the 8-track in mine with a CD player donated by a mate but have been persuaded to leave it where it is. I've been told it works but haven't bought any tapes yet, still, the radio works and gives a you a warm fuzzy glow when T-Rex, The Faces and the odd dash of Bowie exude from the centre console. It sometimes picks up French or Punjabi stations when I'm retuning it!Interesting that your Webasto has been replaced, the black certainly suits it and breaks up the white but I dare say it looked very swish when the white one was first fitted (from new..?). When I had my Cooper S restored I looked into fitting a full length jobbie, but the £1k or so for supply & fit of the genuine article knocked it on the head. Quite tempted to put a red one in the (regency red) XJ though when funds allow, for the full on 'captain of industry on the golf course' look.
|http://thumbsnap.com/IhWbTqrZ[/url]
The car now has a thread in Readers' Slaaaaaaaaaaags -
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
P5BNij said:
Breadvan72 said:
It is staying! The tapes in the car include a bizarre mix of Christian pop and Max Boyce, but I have been on eBay buying assorted 70s CHOONZE in 8 track format. The radio picks up Irish and continental stations as well as Radio Four. All very retro fab.
Good man! I toyed with replacing the 8-track in mine with a CD player donated by a mate but have been persuaded to leave it where it is. I've been told it works but haven't bought any tapes yet, still, the radio works and gives a you a warm fuzzy glow when T-Rex, The Faces and the odd dash of Bowie exude from the centre console. It sometimes picks up French or Punjabi stations when I'm retuning it!Interesting that your Webasto has been replaced, the black certainly suits it and breaks up the white but I dare say it looked very swish when the white one was first fitted (from new..?). When I had my Cooper S restored I looked into fitting a full length jobbie, but the £1k or so for supply & fit of the genuine article knocked it on the head. Quite tempted to put a red one in the (regency red) XJ though when funds allow, for the full on 'captain of industry on the golf course' look.
Nice old barge. I'd sell the XJS, as you don't want to be called Two Jags. Plus it's a bit too new and modern looking for the fleet ?
I followed what must have been some Jaguar club returning outing of 3 S1 XJ Jags one Sunday evening last summer. Got a little way into the Blackwall tunnel and some BMW loon couldn't give a truck enough room on the first tight bend and crunch, everyone comes to a stop. While I'm admiring the lines of the XJ's, they are sat there slowly filling the tunnel with the smell of unburnt petrol in a way I'd forgotten old motors did. Thankfully I'm not old enough to have experienced what that must have been like in the 1970s, with what must have been a multitude of badly out of tune BL cars pumping 4star into everyone's lungs.
I followed what must have been some Jaguar club returning outing of 3 S1 XJ Jags one Sunday evening last summer. Got a little way into the Blackwall tunnel and some BMW loon couldn't give a truck enough room on the first tight bend and crunch, everyone comes to a stop. While I'm admiring the lines of the XJ's, they are sat there slowly filling the tunnel with the smell of unburnt petrol in a way I'd forgotten old motors did. Thankfully I'm not old enough to have experienced what that must have been like in the 1970s, with what must have been a multitude of badly out of tune BL cars pumping 4star into everyone's lungs.
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