[Jeroen]

I have done a bit more research on the timing issue of the W123. I checked on a few forums, spoke to my W123 specialist Cor, and talked to Peter and Toon.

Everybody agrees that it looks like the camshaft and crank are one tooth (18o) out of sync. Spanner mate Peter is coming over this coming Thursday and we are going to fix it. It should not be a big job, but it is tricky doing this by yourself. You have to ensure the chain stays tight and doesn't slip or anything falls into the engine!!

Peter will also bring his Lancia Dedra and a boot full of parts—new front discs, callipers, brake pads, various new light units, bulbs and so on.

Today I took my cut-away AC Compressor to the DIY Sandblasting place. Quite a drive from where we live. I took the Jaguar. I am having problems with my right arm and shoulder. I have noticed working the manual shifter in the Mini makes it worse, so for the next couple of weeks, either the Jeep or the Jaguar!

Here you see the little cabin I got to use. As I just wanted to improve the look of the AC housing I decided on glass bead blasting instead of sandblasting.

Sandblasting is typically more aggressive, can remove thicker coatings and surface contaminants and is better suited for heavy-duty applications. Whereas glass bead blasting is more suitable for achieving a smoother and more polished surface finish without damaging delicate surfaces.

I had noticed that whatever material the AC compressor was made off, it was very soft. My mini mill went through it like a hot knife through butter. So I did not think sand blasting would do it any good.



You put your part in, through a large door on the side.



This is the nozzle that does the blasting.



You operate the nozzle with your foot on a sort of on/off pedal switch. Glass Bead blasting is very easy to do, you hardly see the actual glass beads, as they are minute. But you can see the effect on the surface.

Look at this!!









Very easy to do, the machine is operated with coins. One coin gets you 15minutes of usage, which was enough to get this finish. Cost Euro 15 (INR 1300). I have made use of this guy before in 2016. Go the first posts in this thread and you will see I took various parts of the W123 that had rusted badly to this place. I sandblasted those.

If you like, you can leave your parts with him and he will powder coat your parts and they will be ready within hours! Pretty good service. I have not been able to find anybody else in the Netherlands or Belgium that provides these DIY blasting cabins.

Back in my shop, I took off the insulation tape and all the paper and kit I had used to protect the inside of the compressor. A lot of beads came out too, look at how tiny these beads are.



Next, I took the housing apart again and started painting. It is common on these cut-away models to paint the actual cuts (i.e. where you cut or milled through) bright red.



Tomorrow I am taking the Jaguar to Heinekenszand, about an hour and a half drive, to G&G Autoservice. Owner and X308 genius Raymond and his wife Joke are doing another technical day for the Jaguar 300/308 forum members. It's a long drive, but always worth it. I will be picking up the rubber hose for my Jaguar window washer.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Spanner mate Peter arrived early this morning with his very rare Lancia Dedra LX. We checked and Peter should now, being a professional classic car appraiser. His Lancia is considerably more rare than say a Ferrari GTO. There are only a few of these Lancia's left here in the Netherlands, probably in the world.

Peter will admit the Ferrari has the better value though!

Anyway, we had to prepare the car for the APK (Dutch MOT). First thing, both front brake disc and pads needed replacing.

First the left side. The jack and axle stand underneath. All these sorts of brake systems are pretty much the same. Still, they all come with subtle differences. So it always takes a bit of experimenting on how to pull them apart.



At first glance, these discs don't look too bad and the brake pads are fine.





But look at the inner side of the disc!!



We had never seen anything like it. Normally the disc wears more or less evenly. there might be a bit of a ridge on the outer diameter, but here whole chunks of metal were gone. No idea how that happened.



The outer side is ok.



When you replace the discs, you should always replace the brake pads, even these looked almost new with hardly any wear. Looking very smart. I had never seen a disc with this sort of finish. Looks almost as if it was sprayed. I checked, it was not!!



Same procedure on the other side. We turned the Lancia around for easier access





If you look very closely, you can just spot the wire from the brake pad wear sensor. Remarkably, the Lancia is equipped with 1 (one!) brake pad sensor. Some people claim it is some very remarkable clever Italian engineering. Peter and I think it is because Italian accountants were involved, not engineers.

It looks very smart with the new discs!!



Everything came apart very easily. This is often one of the most difficult parts when working on brakes. Especially old brakes on old cars, that might have been standing idle for a considerable amount of time. Luckily even pushing the calipers back in to accommodate the new pads was quite easy.


The rubbers that hold the exhaust in place were also in very poor shape, so we replaced all three.



Did I say poor shape? Cancel that, completely deteriorated to the point of breaking is a more apt description.



Here you see the rubber at the very end of the exhaust. A bit fiddly to get it off and worse to put it back on. I was very pleased with myself having fitted it back on. Only to realise I had put the old one on, instead of the new one. Practice makes perfect as they say.



Next back to the Mercedes W123. As I mentioned earlier, after much debate, discussion and head-scratching the only conclusion was that the distribution chain is one tooth off. So the camshaft is trailing 18 degrees behind the crank, at dead centre position.

So we made several different markings on the chain and the gear wheel.



Next, I grounded off, two of the protruding ends of one shackle.

Very carefully, we don't want to damage anything



Peter is in full safety gear. Grinding is hard on the eyes and lungs!!



Notice how we had used metal wires to tie both ends of the chain to the top of the engine. You don't want to chain dropping inside the engine. Lots of rages to prevent dirt, filings and tools from dropping into the inside of the engine.

More grinding is done.



Done, I could pop the little connector plate of the shackle.



Both Peter and I lifted the respective ends of the chain out of the sprocket. We carefully rotated the camshaft one tooth and put the chain back onto the sprocket wheel. Pushed a new locking plate onto it. This was the biggest challenge, it must have taken us about an hour to get this damn little thing in place.



With it finally in place, I used my special chain punch to secure the new shackle.



I finished by tapping the two tiny eendbitswith a punch and a hammer. Finally, I checked the diameter. Our improvised riveting technique had ensured that the little protruding pin, now flattened was about 0,2mm larger than the pin diameter itself. More than sufficient.

I gave a couple of full turns on the crank to ensure none of the valves was hitting a piston. Better safe than sorry.

Next, Re-installed the chain tensioner, the dynamo, spark plugs, spark leads, air inlet filter and all the other bits and pieces.



The Mercedes fired up right away and I took it for a test drive. I have not been on the motorway yet, but I am very happy to report the "stuttering" is finally gone. The engine runs very smoothly, with much better pick-up and acceleration too.

I used my scope to quickly check the ignition timing. I think it is a bit off. I will call Cor, my friendly W123 specialist and arrange to visit him. Ican'tt adjust the CO myself. I don't have a CO analyser. Very expensive bit of kit. When you adjust the CO levels, you also adjust idle and pre-ignition all at the same time.

So very happy with all these jobs done successfully.

Jeroen

Engine started up

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

If you look very closely, you can just spot the wire from the brake pad wear sensor. Remarkably, the Lancia is equipped with 1 (one!) brake pad sensor. Some people claim it is some very remarkable clever Italian engineering. Peter and I think it is because Italian accountants were involved, not engineers.

I remember my E90 had 2 brake pad wear sensors in total.

- Front driver side
- Rear passenger side

So I guess Lancia might have one in the rear too. The general idea (atleast of BMW) and recommendation is to atleast change brake pads per axle at the minimum and hence having 2 per axle is not necessary. I guess your mini should also have 2 in total. The accountants are everywhere 😜

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by carthick1000

I remember my E90 had 2 brake pad wear sensors in total.

- Front driver side
- Rear passenger side

So I guess Lancia might have one in the rear too. The general idea (atleast of BMW) and recommendation is to atleast change brake pads per axle at the minimum and hence having 2 per axle is not necessary. I guess your mini should also have 2 in total. The accountants are everywhere 😜

I checked with Peter because I could not remember. We did change the rear disc and pads some months ago. See one of the earlier posts. Peter confirmed de Lancia does not have any wear sensors at the rear! None. Cheap skate Lancia!

I haven’t counted the ones on my Mini.
And I seem to recall some Mercedes have four sensors. But I could be wrong

Jeroen

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

...

Next back to the Mercedes W123. As I mentioned earlier, after much debate, discussion and head-scratching the only conclusion was that the distribution chain is one tooth off. So the camshaft is trailing 18 degrees behind the crank, at dead centre position.

...

This is very interesting! Did you receive a timing chain with one extra link? This is unheard of! Anyway, I'm glad to read that your car is now alright.

This reminds me of a particular episode on the YouTube channel Diagnose Dan, who happens to be Dutch, where a Mercedes wasn't starting because of a timing mistake. The root cause turned out to be a misaligned crankshaft pulley that was used to time the engine.

https://youtu.be/2gHbl9C8WDw?si=c1SvfZIiK-1ERdFP

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

This is very interesting! Did you receive a timing chain with one extra link? This is unheard of! Anyway, I'm glad to read that your car is now alright.

]

No, an extra link would not work at all. The chain would not be able to be stretched by the tensioner sufficiently. It would rattle and most likely simply not work at all.

The simple truth is that somehow we must have made a mistake. Although I can’t figure out how. Several earlier posts deal with the first time when we replaced the chain. We had to redo it twice and I had my friend Peter and Toon helping me both times. We must have checked and double check those alignment marks a billion times. Because we know how important it is.

If you read through those earlier post initially the chain slipped one tooth the other way when we put it on. That we did notice eventually and we reset the chain that time too

Still, something, somehow either slipped as we closed it up, or we were not looking properly.

The thing is, the little marker in front of the engine to indicate position is difficult to see, the numbers on the pulley are difficult to read, even though I cleaned them up. The little notch on the camshaft can be seen easily. But 18o camshaft means only 9o camshaft rotation. So the difference between the correct position of the notch and it being one tooth off is pretty minute. So there are a number of complications here. With something important like this, we alsways ensure we take indecent readings from one another. So I would set up the engine, take the reading, turn the engine a bit and let Peter or Toon rotate the engine into the correction position and take the reading again. If our findings match you should be good to go. We did this multiple times and it still went wrong!

It has taught me one thing though, on the Mercedes M102 engine the camshaft can be 18o off to either side and the engine will still run half decent. At least in either position the pistons don’t hit against any valves!

That is why you always need to turn the engine over for two full revolutions when you have had the chain off. (Two full revolutions on a four stroke, one on a two stroke).

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

A couple of days ago I got this warning on the dash of the Mini.



My Mini comes with two Key FOBs. This warning means the battery of the Key FOB is on its last legs.

There are no external contacts on these key FOBs, the little battery gets charged using induction when you push the Key FOB into its little cubby hole on the Dash.

I just realised I had no idea why we call these things FOB. So I asked the Internet and this is what it told me:

The word fob is believed to have originated from watch fobs, which existed as early as 1888. The fob refers to an ornament attached to a pocket watch chain. The origin of the term “fob” as in “key fob” goes back to either the Middle English fobben, or German Fuppe (pocket) or the German foppen meaning sneak-proof.

According to my owner manual, my Mini comes with two different key FOBs. If your Mini has the comfort package your key FOB has a removable battery. Easy peasy



My Mini does not have the comfort package. This means the key FOB is sealed and BMW/Mini doesn't want you to change the battery yourself. Well, you can imagine what a new BMW/Mini key FOB is likely to cost. Probably more than I paid for the whole car.

So I decided to take it apart. We have a few, recent, threads on battery replacement on Key FOBs, so I thought I would show the various steps involved.

This is what my Mini Key FOB looks like



In case the battery runs down completely, you can pull out a normal key and that will allow you to operate the car normally.



The first thing was to pry off this chrome ring around the key FOB. Everybody on YouTube video's does this very carefully, but doesn't show the ring once removed. I did it very very very carefully and it still broke! I guess I won't be making YT videos



The next thing is the tricky bit. You need to open up the Key FOB along its side. It is all glued, so there is no other way. Get yourself a very sharp knife, the sharper the better and find a way to hold the Key FOB so you don't end up cutting yourself.

I ended up putting a block of wood in the vice and some rags around it. This provides sufficient and safe support for all my cutting.



Once you have cut deep enough around the complete circumference you can take the two halves apart.



The little circuit board comes out by itself.



A bit of careful soldering and the battery comes free of the board.



Here we are, this is just a simple rechargeable standard button battery. It has these clips attached to it, so it fits onto the circuit board. For those interested it is a Panasonic VL2020-1HFN rechargeable BMW-Mini Battery



Let's take a closer look at the Key FOB circuit board. It is very simple. All Key FOBs look similar. You can see the three little micro-switches. These do wear out over time and can often be replaced individually as well. I just sprayed some electro cleaner on them



The rear of the little circuit board. Note the coil. That is part of the induction system to provide electrical charge to the battery without having external contacts.



when working on electronic components, you need to take special precautions against electrical discharge. You need a special workstation, earthed and you need to be wearing one of these too.



Over the years I have found these key FOBs to be very robust. So I don't bother anymore.

I took the number from the old battery and popped it into Google. Plenty of online companies that could offer me this battery. You do need to look closely as I found that the same battery comes with different clips attached, or rather the angle is different. As you can see, the + and - clip are 180 degrees apart. But I have seen batteries with 90 or 120 degrees apart too.

So I ordered one battery online and it arrived the next day.

New (left) and old (right). As always check to see if new parts will fit the bits where the old part came from. I double-checked the + and - orientation with my multimeter. Also, the little = and - connector clips are a different size. You can't make any stupid mistakes soldering it back in.



Or can you? Well, I certainly could bugger it up. Have a look:

Can you spot the problem?





Although I did get the polarity right, I soldered the battery on the wrong side of the circuit board!!

So I had to take it off again and resolder it on the correct side of the circuit board. I also found out, it needs to sit at precisely the correct height above the circuit board too. So I had to redo it several times before I got it right.





Time to start putting everything back together again.



I had a close look at how the locking mechanism for the mechanical key worked. It only moves about 1mm, so you need to make sure you get it positioned correctly.



Did a few test fits, and made sure the key would lock and unlock. Then got some plastic glue and glued the two halves together. A couple of clamps on it for 24 hours to let it dry and harden.



Fitting the chrome ring back on was very fiddly. I had to break out my Dremel and several hand files. I spent about 40 minutes getting the body of the key FOB back in shape. Because it had been cut with a knife it is difficult to get a total 100% alignment. So needed quite a bit of careful work done.





All is done and working once again.



A final image of another small job I did yesterday. Hung up another sign I bought last Sunday at the Interclassic show in Brussels. Nice!



I had to cancel my appointment with Cor for tomorrow. Rescheduled to take my W123 to him on Monday morning

Jeroen

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I took the number from the old battery and popped it into Google. Plenty of online companies that could offer me this battery. You do need to look closely as I found that the same battery comes with different clips attached, or rather the angle is different. As you can see, the + and - clip are 180 degrees apart. But I have seen batteries with 90 or 120 degrees apart too.

As always check to see if new parts will fit the bits where the old part came from. I double-checked the + and - orientation with my multimeter. Also, the little = and - connector clips are a different size.

Those clips look as if they are spot welded onto the battery. If that is the case then you can easily remove the clips from the old discharged battery and then spot weld them back onto a new battery. That way you won't have to worry about whether the new battery has the proper clips or not. The new battery wouldn't even have to be a Mini Cooper part then. As long as the dimensions, the voltage and the capacity of the new battery is adequate, you can use the battery from any reputed brand.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Chhanda Das

Those clips look as if they are spot welded onto the battery. If that is the case then you can easily remove the clips from the old discharged battery and then spot weld them back onto a new battery. That way you won't have to worry about whether the new battery has the proper clips or not. The new battery wouldn't even have to be a Mini Cooper part then. As long as the dimensions, the voltage and the capacity of the new battery is adequate, you can use the battery from any reputed brand.

Yes, they are spot welded on. I am familiar with spot welding on cars and so on. But I was not aware you could spot weld these tiny parts too. So I checked with my friends on my Dutch model building forum. One of them is also the guy who taught us various welding and brazing techniques. He and a few others confirmed it is indeed simple spot welding.

I could have done the spot welding and it would have been a great opportunity to buy a little spot welder. Such as this one

https://youtu.be/231qtaRIs3M?si=zMAoOHvb71S1Y7Wr

I have also found some YT videos where people make a very simple makeshift spot welder by just using a large car battery and improvised prong as a welder.

Have a look at this:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=BcwLVrIg...dM6NPZU9ca2hvK

I was very surprised to find it puts very little heat into the battery and even the connector. The guy has his fingers on them whilst he is spot welding.

I just ordered a regular battery. BMW/Mini does not cell these batteries.
As I mentioned earlier it’s just a Panasonic battery. And you can get them with all kinds of clips welded onto it. I wanted mine straight away so I ordered it from a Dutch webshop. But places like Ali have them at the price of a cup of coffee if not less.

I have two of these key FOBs, so there is likelyhood of the other one needing a battery replacement too, in the not so distant future.

I might get myself such a tiny spot welder. I see different application for it too.

Jeroen

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I was very surprised to find it puts very little heat into the battery and even the connector. The guy has his fingers on them whilst he is spot welding.

Indeed and that is how my son does it as well. He uses a cheap car battery-based spot welder that he got for less than US$ 10 which you can see in the link below :-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post5380061 (DIY: Portable Lithium Power Station)

[Thad E Ginathom]

I've seen videos where people reuse parts (the big transformer, IIRC) from old microwave ovens, to create home-made spot welders.

Way up the economic scale by thousands of euros, there are some very fancy micro welders made for jewellers. Google and drool!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I've seen videos where people reuse parts (the big transformer, IIRC) from old microwave ovens, to create homemade spot welders.

Way up the economic scale by thousands of euros, there are some very fancy micro welders made for jewellers. Google and drool!

Yes, I saw the microwave-based ones. I might give that a try at some point.

Back to spannering:

I received my new relais for the Jeep. Just recap. I have been swapping the relays around to isolate a fault in the starter relais. Which was found to be a bink wonky. So I put the wonky relais in the position for the additional electrically driven cooling fan for the AC. That fan, and thus the relais, only kicks in when the AC clutch gets powered. And it seemed okay. However, I have noticed twice that the electrical fan would not power down with the ignition switched off. Now I know on some cars and engines it is perfectly normal. But on the Jeep, it is not. I double-checked the electrical schematics and it should power down immediately with the ignition in the off position.

As you might recall the battery of the Jeep was drained twice when I left my car at the Valet park service at Amsterdam airport. The first time I suspected a parasite drain. But there was no evidence of that at all. However, I did find out that with the key in the ACC (accessories) position it drew 3-4amps continuously. And because the ignition barrel is very old, it is very easy to turn the key past the ACC position. And thus the battery drains.

So last time I left specific instructions for the Valet team and they claimed they followed it to the latter. But the Jeep's battery was still drained after a few days. So I suspected it might have been caused by the fan relais sticking. A valet would not be bothered by an electrical fan still turning when he or she parks the car. Happens all the time.

So either the fan relais or the ASD relais (Automatic shut down) is likely to be wonky. So I ordered three new relais from my American friends at Rockauto. These relays sell for about $ 6-7. Those are the best ones, rated at 40A. Technically I don't need that, a 30A one is what is specified. It would have saved me a few dollars. The 30A in Europe cost a whopping Euro 30. So even with shipping and import duties, it was a lot cheaper to order from the states. And I have a more robust relais at 40A now as well.

Also, when you order at Rockauto, you get one of these cool fridge magnets. Work has it, a hundred years from now they will be collector items!!



My wife won't allow me anywhere near our fridge when I am in my spannering clothes. So these end up on one of the two steel parts/tool cabinets I have in my shop.



Swapping relais is of course, very simple. As long as you know where to find the box with the relais and which relais is which. Tip: often the functions of the relais and the ratings of the fuses are shown inside the lid.



So I replaced two, and one goes into the Jeep's boot in the box with parts and tools. Might come in handy.

The two old ones, go with the rest of my parts, but are marked as "used and suspect"



I am not the kind of person that keeps all the old parts. I throw away a lot. I tend to keep old parts as a reference, in case I need to replace them again. It sometimes helps to have an old one at the ready.

Also, over time certain parts might not be available anymore. Currently, I can get a new relais for little money. But there might be a time when you simply can not. And in many cases, it is possible to fix a relais. You just cut them open, similar to what I did with the key FOB of the Mini.

An old part can be a good template to make a new part from on my lathe/mill if new ones are not available. Or get it 3D scanned and printed of course these days! Easy peasy!

I also took a little trip to my favourite tool shop HBM. Last week was Black Friday. Black Friday symbolises everything that is wrong with America. Unfortunately, it has made its way across the pond.

We experienced four Black Fridays in Kansas City when we lived there. For weeks your mailbox, physical and on your computer, would fill up with all kinds of special Black Friday deals. I tried it a few times. But unless you are willing to wait at a shop's door till midnight and then fight the crowd for this one item on sale, it is simply not worth it.

I mentioned I have bought a boat. More on this boat to come. But probably not before next year as the official transfer is likely to take place in early January.

The boat apart from being in excellent condition has a very elaborate inventory of just about anything you can imagine you might need on a boat. From first aid boxes, pots and pannes, cutlery, all kinds of ropes, shackles, spare parts, flags, charts, books, videos etc. etc. The owner, Ad, left it all to us. Except for his tools, he took his tools with him. I would have done the same of course. I'm with Ad on this one!

So I went to HBM on Black Friday to get some basic tools for my boat. I had seen a very nice toolkit on special. Of course, that was sold out!

But I still managed to find I very nice bit of kit that will do me fine.



In some more details





This complete kit in its carrier case cost less than Euro 60. Which, trust me is very cheap. I don't think this is the best quality in tools. HBM never is. But for some emergency use on a boat, I think it will do very nicely indeed. I added a few more tools, a multimeter because you can never have enough multimeters. And some hand cleaner and WD40. Various screwdrivers, pliers, knife and so on. I have also ordered a small canvas tool bag into which all the loose tools will g,o. Next I will go through all my many boxes of bolts, nuts, clamps, washers and so on, to prepare a nautical kit as well.



Half the fun of owning a boat is fiddling with it, checking things out, opening things up, looking on the internet for information, going to specialised shops and exhibitions. And buying the appropriate tools and parts of course!!

For m,y shop I bought this 2 x 4000LUM light. It's great because it can sit on the fl or its' tripod. Very stablhas e and a huge amount of lights. LEDs, powered by 220VAC!





Each unit can rotate and be tilted individually



As always with all the kit from HBM; it's made in China and the translation leaves something to be desired. That is putting it mildly.



These were a Black Friday deal as well! So finally a successful Black Friday. I had to go all the way to the Netherlands for it though!

Today I visited a very nice model building show in Genk, Belgium. Picked up a few tools for my model building as well. Couple of simple clamps, handy 3rd/4th hand with magnifier and a fibre brush. The latter can be used to clean delicate parts and contacts.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

What, no rope-work/rigging tools? OK, so it isn't a sailing boat, but I'm sure you'll be needing them sometimes

I was puzzled by the wire cutters in the last picture. Why so complicated? I think it has a wire stripper combined? Am I right?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What, no rope-work/rigging tools? OK, so it isn't a sailing boat, but I'm sure you'll be needing them sometimes

No, my sailing days are long gone. I have always enjoyed sailing. There is a fundamental difference between a sailing boat and a motor boat, apart from the obvious. The main difference is that it is so much easier cruising on inland waterways with a motor boat. The Weather, wind force, and wind direction simply are not a factor. We like to go cruising on the water, explore the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and so on. Much better in a motor boat than a sailing boat.

Mine is a Drammer 935 classic. Here is the original add:

https://www.strandhorst.com/en/boats...5/drammer-935/

So I have signed the purchase agreement and paid the deposit. The one outstanding item the owner needs to fix is a new CE- CE-compliance certificate. That is almost done, but it takes a couple of weeks to process the paperwork, once all the evidence has been submitted.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I was puzzled by the wire cutters in the last picture. Why so complicated? I think it has a wire stripper combined? Am I right?

Correct, a wire stripper.



Here you can see it in action. It grabs the insulation and then strips the insulation with a very sharp downward cutting and pulling action.





I have several wire strippers obviously! My friend Berndt gave me this one some time ago. Works according to the same principle, but I have found this one to be pretty useless. Because somehow it does not grip the insulation tightly enough.



This is one of my oldest tools. I probably got it from my eldest sister or parents when I was in my early teens. It works well. If you have to strip multiple wires, you can use the little screw to secure the exact depth it cuts through the insulation. With a little practice, you can use it just like that, without bothering with the little screw.



Of course, I got a bunch of these side cutters as well, that will do the job, if you know how to use them properly.



I find the main advantage of these automatic strippers is that you have to work on wires with very little slack. With all the other strippers you need to hold the wire just behind where you want the insulation removed. So you might use fingers or a set of flat pliers or so. But often that is difficult. E.g. remember I had to crimp a new connector to the wire of the fuel injection on the Spider? No slack, very little room. Or when you need to strip a tiny wire on a circuit board.

So they do have their use, but in most cases, you can get the job done with more simple tools as well. It is more convenient and also, not putting stress on the wire.

Finally, I made it to W123 Specialist Cor. Cor attached his analysers. Next, we adjusted idle, CO and pre-igniton timing. All are within specification now. But most importantly. Finally, after several years of fiddling, troubleshooting and overhauling many parts, the slight engine stutter is gone!





Cor was also working on a W123 230C. Nice colour!!



Tomorrow we are doing a Christmas shopping run to the UK. We will pop across tomorrow evening on the Dunkerque-Dover Ferry and overnight in a nice B&B in Canterbury. My wife has given me the names of the shops we need to visit the next day, so I am planning the optimum route along all these different addresses. Back on the ferry by the end of the day.

The most suitable car for such an undertaking is the Jaguar. It is almost 300 km from Dunkerque and another 35 km from Dover to Canterbury and back again the next day.

I had noticed the other day the Jaguar had trouble starting. It sounded as if the battery was not fully charged. Today it would not start at all. Had to jumpstart it with help from the Jeep.

I took it to my local battery/alternator guru Ton. He checked the battery and it was fine. So I might have a parasite drain. I will need to look into it some more. I hate looking for parasite drains on the Jaguar. It is so damn complex and you need to bypass so much of the systems just to get all the electronics to be switched off.

More to come

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Super, Jeroen: I'm sure you will have heaps of fun with the new boat, and that it will be much more practical than tacking on a narrow waterway --- where one probably resorts to the engine anyway.

Looks comfortable for two if staying nights onboard.

My wire strippers are the simplest, cheapest possible, and also very, very old. I never got around to upgrading to the posher pliers type with the side screw, let alone the automatic kind. I do like the look of them. Reviews are very mixed, even for the more expensive ones.

Come to think of it, I did once have one at work, for computer cabling. It did work and it was invaluable for stripping several conductors all to the same length.

Have a good shopping trip! UK shopping better than Netherlands? Or probably you have some specific requirement. Canterbury was a very nice city last time I looked