What have you fixed lately?

[Stuart]

Spent a couple of hours putting together an Ikea Malm bed. The delay was caused by the order of the instructions being wrong. Basically if you put the bed together in the order shown, it doesn't fit properly..

[Uncle Peter]

Wired up the electronics and fitted new scratchplate on my latest guitar project. Yep it's another strat to go with the rest of them

Going to do a jazz bass next but this will be a scratch build body with a nice laminated top.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Uncle Peter

Wired up the electronics and fitted new scratchplate on my latest guitar project. Yep it's another strat to go with the rest of them

Going to do a jazz bass next but this will be a scratch build body with a nice laminated top.

It'd be nice to see some pics of the final product.

[Taf]

The car was having starting problems. I found it was a sticky fuel pump relay. Took it apart, lubricated, reassembled. All OK now.

Whilst looking for a solution, I found a comment on a Czech Skoda site that said "after being left unused for a few days, fuel pressure will have dropped to zero, so before cranking the engine let the ignition switch stay on second position for 10 seconds to allow the fuel pump to operate and return full pressure".

I never knew that before.

[Uncle Peter]

Originally Posted by Osem

It'd be nice to see some pics of the final product.

Will do, just got the string trees to pop onto the headstock later when I finish work and it's pretty much done.

[Uncle Peter]

Decided to put a Fender decal on since the guitar is all Fender bits apart from the custom neck Hence the reason it being masked off to protect from the nitro spraying over the decal.



The body is from a Mexican Strat: probably a factory second because there is a minor imperfection in the cavity routing which you can't see anyway - bought from eBay for 40 quid.

The pickups and hardware are from a standard USA and Jap strat, just bits that I had lying around from previous guitars that had been upgraded.

The neck was made by a luthier friend. It's a compound radius neck which means basically the it has a normal profile near the headstock to make it easy to play chords and becomes flatter nearer the top frets to make it easier to play your Steve Vai licks and show off your chops.

Just needs a few more nitro layers on the headstock, flatting off with wet and dry, fit the string guide and strings.

[Osem]

Looks great!

I'd imagine a job like that is very satisfying.

[Uncle Peter]

Originally Posted by Osem

Looks great!

I'd imagine a job like that is very satisfying.

Ta, for 40 quid and the cost of some wood it's pretty satisfying yes

Nothing beats a stratch build though although I don't really have the inclination to make necks which is a real fiddly and time consuming process.

[Osem]

The older I get the more I like working with wood. It's warm, forgiving and doesn't answer back like...

[dilli-theclaw]

Not so much fixed as updated / upgrades (ran) an old 2009 iMac that I got given - I am very impressed with it considering how old it is it runs really well.

And the accessibility is second to none - much better than the built in windows stuff.

[rhyds]

Originally Posted by Taf

The car was having starting problems. I found it was a sticky fuel pump relay. Took it apart, lubricated, reassembled. All OK now.

Whilst looking for a solution, I found a comment on a Czech Skoda site that said "after being left unused for a few days, fuel pressure will have dropped to zero, so before cranking the engine let the ignition switch stay on second position for 10 seconds to allow the fuel pump to operate and return full pressure".

I never knew that before.

Most fuel injected cars prime the fuel system once the ignition is turned to position II, I've always given my cars a few seconds before engaging the starter for just this reason.

In fact, I once had a very strange problem with a Rover 45. If you jumped in first thing in the morning and turned the key, it would spin over fine but not actually start. Try again and it still wouldn't. Turning the ignition off for 15 seconds and then try again and it was fine. That 15 seconds wait caused the ECU to prime the fuel system again and it would then start. In the end a new battery sorted it

[tweedle]

Originally Posted by rhyds

Most fuel injected cars prime the fuel system once the ignition is turned to position II, I've always given my cars a few seconds before engaging the starter for just this reason.

In fact, I once had a very strange problem with a Rover 45. If you jumped in first thing in the morning and turned the key, it would spin over fine but not actually start. Try again and it still wouldn't. Turning the ignition off for 15 seconds and then try again and it was fine. That 15 seconds wait caused the ECU to prime the fuel system again and it would then start. In the end a new battery sorted it

Many years ago Vauxhall had an issue with failing fuel pumps on 2.0DTI diesel cars. The fuel pumps were fine but they were lubricated by the diesel fuel.

They would fail because car owners would just turn the key to start the car and not allow a few seconds for the pump to prime itself with diesel for lubrication.

[Osem]

I'm learning some useful motoring stuff here. Wonder how many 'breakdowns' have been caused by stuff as simple as this?

[heero_yuy]

It's also good practice, especially if you have a turbo charged car, to allow the engine to idle for a few seconds before moving off or revving to allow the oil pressure and supply to get fully established to all working parts.

[Taf]

I also learned that you should not depress the accelerator pedal when starting an injected engine. This can cancel the "choke" and so you get an unstable start. This was a tiny comment in the manual on a page not relating to starting the car.