Temperature Alarm - Engine Wathcdog TM2

Hi All,

More tinkering last night.
You may recall my concerns over temperature, well time for some High Tech.
It’s a digital temperature gauge an alarm. 

It's called an Engine Watchdog TM2, made by these guys.
   www.enginewatchdog.com
   Phone: +61 7 3277 6770
  Fax: +61 7 3875 1732
Designed and made in Australia.
It originally came from the 4x4 market and being in Auz they take engine overheating very seriously, it can kill you in the outback !
It is ideal any 4x4, car, bike, boat etc that may be subject to high temperatures, very easy to fit and for 150 Auz$ its really worth the piece of mind.

This is how the kit looks, it comes with a cigar lighter plug but I cut that off and fitted the infamous Lucas bullets and the connected straight into my harness. They give you a nice circuit diagram so it is all easy to understand (installation guide here).

Got to use new toy as well, gas soldering iron, no cords needed !

The sensor is a simple thermo couple bonded (and calibrated) to a spade / lug that you slip under a suitable bolt on the engine.
I used one of the rocket box nuts (recommended) and this then transfers the heat by conduction.
It has the advantage of not needing water to transmit the heat, the sensor for my dash gauge (as are most) is in the coolant so if you loose coolant you can get false readings.

And here it all is tucked away in the glove box. I wanted it hidden to I can keep the original look but it has a big horn fitted that will alert me and I will also wire in a warning light but got to order that (that's why the siren is properly mounted yet).

EDIT :
I have changed the sensor location to on top ot the thermostat housing.

Aby questions leave a comment, email, shout etc..

Cheers,
Richard B.

Next . . . . Another big order to MOSS then new project list.

Steering Wheel - DONE

Hi All,

For the regular readers, if there are any, may recall a sneak peak at some restoration work on a steering wheel. I have finally got it done and wheel in the car, very nice even if I do say so myself !

Where we started (sorry iPhone photo).

Nice but the arm is cracked 

And the wood of the rim is cracked as well.

So of to our local off road 4x4 restoration garage A2B. After much swearing and cursing about welding old and contaminated ally finally a "good" bead of weld. (Big thanks to Gareth.)

Some, okay A LOT of elbow grease with files then wet n dry from 80 grit to 1000 grit. 

All gone !

To deal with the crack in the wood, and to give my self some grip in the non power steering some scallops on the back.

Clean it all up, wax the rim and voila !

Some crackle finish paint on the boss, same as moto lita and matches to the column nicely.

All three arms were sanded and polished to bring it all to a high shine, sadly the photo's don't do it justice  but I can't be bothered to get out the soft boxes for proper photos.

The wood was also sanded and then waxed to a stunningly tactile finish.

All very nice but what does it look like in the car ?

First out with the three arm puller (nice toy by the way).

And on with the new

The mota lita the car came with was nice but this is so much better as it's period. Also it is an heirloom so a lot of sentimental value.

Hope you guys like.

Cheers,

Richard B.

Next . . . . . . Temp alarm once the post man comes.

Wet N Dry Holder

Hi All,

As part of working on the steering wheel polishing I'm using a lot of Wet N Dry (aka emery) paper.
I have a nice rubber holding block which means all my paper is nicely the same size, 1/4 of a standard sheet.
I normally precut the sheets (rolls not easily availible here) and this means I end up with a pile of sheets.
In order to make it easier to manage and store them last night I made a storage rack.

Piece of 40mm flat aluminium and some 40mm buldog clips from the office that I found.

Few holes and some pop rivets and voila :-



Hold a LOT of paper and 15 different grades.

Hope you like, feel free to copy.

Cheers,
Richard B.

Next . . . . . More on the steering wheel.



Racing or Rubbing - a couple more from yesterday

A few more from yesterday, more like banger racing !

Clio 23 - UAE National Race Day 11-3-2011

Had a request for some shots of Clio 23 from yesterday, here they are.

Cheers,

Richard B.

Dubai Auto Drome 11-3-2011

Hi All,

Okay the MG wasn't on the track, we just drove there but there were lots of other Dubai Petrol heads.

Took the camera along so going to photo dump here, first time panning dragging the shutter, hope you like.

Cheers,

Richard B.