C60X running not as well as it should....

[warren brown]

Thanks Dave - strike a light!Well - all the tune up bits arrived on Wednesday and this morning I replaced the plugs, distributor cap and rotor. And not without some drama. I was keen to start on Wednesday afternoon but discovered a three foot brown snake basking alongside the truck. As the .410 long-handled snake-dispatcher won't be ready to pick up from the shop until this week - there's a three-week cooling off period - I went for the analogue Spear and Jackson long-handled snake-dispatching shovel - but even though Tanya kept a keen eye on the thing - it slithered off and disappeared. eeeugh! I know engaging with one of those things with a shovel is probably a sure-fire way to get bitten - but I felt more comfortable armed. (btw - last week some dill in Western Australia was bitten trying to pick one up by the tail!!! Dead within 20 minutes! Good grief...Both of the cats have been bitten within the past three weeks - and we were sure one was off to cat heaven - but it pulled through.).
So - today was the day. The plugs were in a pretty ordinary way - and when I removed No 2 plug the porcelain had split in half. The plug socket - a Kinchrome 13/16 - collapsed on the inside. It has a kind of plastic retainer surrounding a magnetised metal ring - and the ring just broke up. Fortunately all the metal shards from this thing were contained inside the socket and nothing -thank God - fell into the cylinder. I don't know what caused what - whether the plug broke buggering the socket or the socket broke buggering the plug. I have to say I was surprised - the plastic bit inside the socket is really light and brittle - I've always quite like the Kinchrome stuff - and I'm not sure why the porcelain broke as there's no load on it - the socket was squarely engaged on the plug nut. The old dizzy cap seemed okay - just - but was a bit old, worn and how's-yer-father and even though I couldn't see a crack in it - I just replaced it anyway. Same for the rotor button. I was going to replace the leads - the new ones that arrived are DIY crimp the ends on type - and after making up a set I decided my effort was probably worse than the bespoke flash silicon ones already there. Removed and cleaned the air filter gauze - over and over - and it sure needed a clean. Put new oil in the oil bath - filter back in. The interior of the fuel tank looks crackerjack much to my amazement - and eternal relief - no sign of wasps but they could have been there - certainly there were wasps in the Studebaker when I bought it. New fuel filter is still clean - so I fuelled her up and pushed the starter. Fantastic!!!!!!! Back to running a smooth as - (I was going to say 'a baby's bum' - but there's a Royal Commission into that sort of thing here). Anyway - we've got power back!!! I've driven it around the property - hi range - low range - in six-wheel-drive and no chaff-cutting noises under load. I'll post a few photos when the missus returns with the phone cord! Thanks for your advice everyone - absolutely sensational!!!!!

[Mike Cecil]

THREE WEEK cooling off period??!! Aaaarghhhh! And I suppose it's a single or D/b, not a pump or a semi-auto?

NSW was always a bit retro in their (Govt) thinking. I remember having to transport a semi-auto rifle (part of the AWM collection) from Canberra to Victoria: the Vics were fine, but NSW gave us so much grief for the few hours it would be in NSW we sent it by courier instead!

Mike

[Keith Webb]

Great story Warren and also fantastic to hear you have her running sweetly again.
Bet the vet cost a pretty penny for the cats!

[warren brown]

Yes Mike - it's so damned fiddly. I you don't have a shooter's licence nowadays it's even fiddlier! You choose what you're after at the gun shop and pay for it (they keep it) - in this case a single barrel .410 - present your licence to the shop owner who gives you a form to fill out, you post that off to the firearms registry in Murwillumbah with your credit card details for $30 and in three weeks if you don't turn out to be the bloke from Wolf Creek they post you an approval form and you go and pick it up. If you already own a firearm they say it'll be sent to you in two weeks - but two weeks has gone and I rang the firearms registry who told me ...'It's in the mail!' Meanwhile we're on tenderhooks! It was a tossup between the .410 and a chainsaw - the chainsaw was winning until we saw a particularly angry, big brown snake on the road to our place - Tanya just said "That's it - we're getting the .410". Which surprised me know end. She'd never picked up a firearm before but handled the shotgun in the shop like she'd been a Navy Seal for thirty years. And thanks Keith - it is a great relief to have the old girl running so well again - I just took it for a spin about 20 minutes ago and it's pulling up hills in fourth gear. As for the cats - the vet didn't slug us the $1600 anti-venene for the first cat - she'd been bitten on the ear and knocked flat -truly weird to see - he didn't think the cat had been badly bitten - more of a fleeting thing - but as he said - it took more than two weeks for old puss to show improvement. As for Minnie the tough old farm cat we inherited - she's been bitten at least twice before apparently - and even though she had the same symptoms, she pulled through - her previous owners think she's become immune - describing her as a 'great snaker...'. I dunno - but I wouldn't get in the way of Minnie for anything. Tough. Bush tough. There's a woman in town and if there's a snake at her house she picks up the cat and hurls it at it. Complete success rate!

[warren brown]

Mike, your story about the semi-auto and the AWM triggered (excuse the pun) something in my memory - you'd be able to shed light or verify this story - Dennis Grant whom you'd know from your days at the AWM - he's now at he NMA - told me a story ages ago about the AWM writing or requesting from the army a Thompson gun - I think for a display or the collection and eventually one arrived - and then another one the following week and then another - and I think the AWM had to ring to get them to stop sending Tommy guns. The army didn't want them back - some order had gone through and that was that - but the AWM ended up with a nice collection of them. It could be an old wives tale - and it's so long since I heard it the facts might be a bit skewhiff - but gee it sounds good!

[motto]

By the sound of your snake problem maybe you should have made that .410 a double barrel Warren.
I suppose you could always clamp the Spear and Jackson to the barrel as backup though you may have to saw it off. The handle of the shovel that is.

Dave

[Richard Farrant]

hi Dave,
Maybe Warren should get the optional bayonet attachment for the .410"

[hrpearce]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

hi Dave,
Maybe Warren should get the optional bayonet attachment for the .410"

Richard our knife laws are worse than the gun laws, just ask anyone caught with a fish knife in his car and no other fishing gear.

[warren brown]

Dave - if they made a belt-fed shotgun I'd be up for it. The .410 is good because Tanya is comfortable in using it. And I will get a 12 gauge but a .410 won't blow the front steps apart if there's a blighter coiled up in front of the house.Mind you snakes are protected and all care will be afforded them. And Richard - I'm sure Spear and Jackson do a very fine bayonet.

[warren brown]

Just a few shots - the C60X with the patented-snake-whanger alongside. Broken plug and broken socket - chicken and the egg - don't know what broke what - and Minnie the Merciless - snake wrangler extraordinaire...

[motto]

There's only one thing that will do that to a plug Warren, sideways force.
Just how vigorously have you been waving that shovel about?

Dave

[Richard Farrant]

Warren,
My plug socket has a rubber insert and not had one break when using it.

Your little cat looks timid, but to see them in action, they can be vicious with their prey.

[warren brown]

Hi Dave an Richard - I think you're right. On number 2 plug I used the articulated/universal attachment as space was at a premium - there didn't seem to be an issue as the plug came out easily - it was only when I pulled the plug out of the socket I'd realised this happened. The articulated thing?

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by warren brown

Hi Dave an Richard - I think you're right. On number 2 plug I used the articulated/universal attachment as space was at a premium - there didn't seem to be an issue as the plug came out easily - it was only when I pulled the plug out of the socket I'd realised this happened. The articulated thing?

Ah yes Warren, they can tip with a universal joint. If it is a bit restricted, a Chev being similar to a Bedford engine, I often use a cranked ring spanner to loosen them, that way you do not touch the insulator.

[Luke R]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

hi Dave,
Maybe Warren should get the optional bayonet attachment for the .410"

Lee Enfield 303-410 maybe? keeping in style with the C60X

[warren brown]

Yes Richard - a bad workman blames his tools. If that's what caused it, that's a lesson for me that's for sure. Although, if I may say to the court - I took my time with this and made sure the socket was down hard and square on - but clearly - I haven't mastered that adapter. In putting the plug back in I used a Sidchrome plug socket with a rubber inside - the Kinchrome was plastic, (go figure) - and the Sidchrome sat well - I used an extender bar from the socket set that had a square-shanked nut-type end on the shaft and a conventional crescent type spanner to nip it up. I'll be doing that in for No.2 plug in future that's for sure.
and Ryan - I like the .410 Lee Enfield idea!!!! Got me thinking...

[Luke R]

Ryan??

[warren brown]

Luke!!! Sorry mate - at the time I was juggling another email with a bloke called Ryan!!! Sorry - a thousand apologies!!!

[Luke R]

No worries Warren.