A radio is a radio! Here's my £47.83 special.
https://i.postimg.cc/bJmHnKGV/crazy.gif
https://i.postimg.cc/wtQX4GFM/radio1.jpg

I would have liked a green backlight like they offer now though, or perhaps this coffee coloured one which is a bit more classy.

Haven't been around for a while sorry - we've been struck down with covid again :( All fine now though.

So, if you recall I had an issue with the alternator ground lead getting hot, so I knocked up a replacement yesterday using some HD ground cable that I had in the garage. Not any old junk, its the cable I'll be using to rewire the battery-alternator-starter wiring next spring. 35mm 240A rated multi strand and nice and flexible. Luckily I also had a bag of lugs, and heat shrink sleeving so I didn't need to spend a penny on this repair which makes a change!

https://www.duckfieldengineering.com...GroundLead.jpg

Its a bit bigger than the OEM cable :D

I made the cable a little longer than the original, thinking it would allow for the larger radius bend that this cable would need, but I've made it a tad too long, so I need to shorten it by an inch or so, but for now this is fine. It works, it doesn't get hot, and the dash lights up nice and brightly - which it hasn't until now :) I haven't checked the charging voltage as it was getting late when I did this job, but judging by the dash lights alone I'd say its a huge improvement.

I still have a long list of jobs to do before the car is ready for regular daily driver duties, but its safe for use as a back up car now... which I could have done with on Friday, as the 850R's heater fan died, leaving us with a car with a foggy windscreen. Luckily I had kept the original fan motor, so I swapped it back in yesterday, making the 850R road safe again. Thats why I ran out of time yesterday evening lol.

Just for my own reference, the outstanding work on the 940 currently stands at:

oil & filter
radiator hoses
coolant reservoir
coolant reservoir cap
coolant level warning lamp
thermostat
coolant
throttle body clean & gasket
IAC clean
renew remaining vacuum hoses
DAB radio & antenna
replace radio electric antenna element
replace dead switch bulbs
rear parcel shelf speakers
rear sun blind
leather upholstery clean & condition
repair crease in front bumper (bodyshop job)
passenger side headlamp wiper motor
windscreen wiper blades

...then take car to a garage to have the aircon heat exchanger replaced and the aircon regassed.

So, quite a few jobs remaining :( I have most of the parts, so its just a matter of working through the list when I get the time (and the wife/weather allows).

My time has been taken up by making some new large wooden gates - those will be finished on Monday when the last of the hardware is due to arrive, so hopefully I'll have some more time to work on the car soon :)

great update sam .take care and get help with the large wooden gates . any injury would stop the car projects .I'm hoping to see these great project cars out at some meets .

940 d24 auto 1995
 

Hi rolling thunder are you a carpenter like myself I have just nearly retired and have more time to devote to my 900 d24 strongly I have just been giving advice to a freind regarding big gates I'm guiding him to have them made in iroko with maintenance they will last .we are made going for a 70 mm finish full tendons wedged and glued joints with 15mm full bevels on the back midrails bottom rails

Just a quick pic of the new gates for those who are interested (and no I'm not a chippie - but I can navigate YouTube :D ).

https://www.duckfieldengineering.com.../940/Gates.jpg

They're a double palisade (hit n miss) style, made of reclaimed 6' tall vertical slats with new 4x2 treated frames and diagonal braces. Its roughly a 2/3 - 1/3 split (6'3 wide main gate and a 3'3" wide personnel gate).

Frame joints are glued and screwed lap joints. The diagonal braces are glued and have pocketed screws into the middle horizontal runner. The slats are secured by nailgun fired brads - that was great fun :D

As the gable end of the house isn't square I had to use HD adjustable farm hinges - in the end there was a 1.5" difference between the top/bottom of the gate to keep the gate tops dead level.

The gates aren't closed in this pic, which causes a bit of a perspective issue, as the original gates are still mounted on the front face of the posts :) Once the drop bolt arrives I'll be able to secure the new gates and remove the old.

They are exceptionally heavy :D I pondered the problem of man handling them when fully built up and came to the conclusion that I should only fit enough slats to mount the hinges, then put the gates on the posts and finish the slats after the gates had been hung. I would never have been able to lift the big gate on my own, let alone position it correctly :) I've fitted a 100kg supporting wheel to the big gate to try and take some loading off the post!

Despite the weight, I have fitted a 3rd hinge to each gate with the pin mounted upside down to stop anyone lifting the gates off the hinge pins... Sadly, that is a precaution that I have to take around here!

NB The old car battery is there to stop the wind from blowing the big gate around - if that gained any momentum, it'd blast the old gates clean off the posts :D

Hi RT

A pair of good looking gates sir, and looks as though once the drop bolt is fixed you can then make further progress with the 940.

I take it the cars will live within safe confines of these.

Cheers
Steve

a small top cap to protect the end grain of the vertical timbers will help with the longevity of the gates . great job are you going to paint or stain them?

This should be posted in the joinery section :teeth_smile::teeth_smile:

its only of interest to those who have wood. :tongwink:

Get two and you can listen in stereo :tongwink: