[Aberdare]

Well Folks... it has been a very busy summer with quite a few big jobs requiring my expertise to get completed... The XC90 got finished up only to come back in three weeks later because the valve body started acting erratically. Turns out that a shifting spring broke resulting in a shift valve plunger to become locked... not fun... 14 hours labour later and the XC90 was ready to be reassembled the 2nd time.

The 5.3L Jaguar needed quite alot of extra labour to workout all the bugs, but eventually it was delivered to the owner with wide eye amazement that her baby was ready for driving. On the subject of 5.3L Jaguar, we had a 2nd vehicle dropped in with a bad charging system... eventually the cause was found to be a separated harmonic balancer. Nine hours labour to strip back the front of the motor which included R&R Radiator... and while we were already in there, new water pump, crank shaft seal and one of the idlers for the three accessory belts. All the belt adjusters got reconditioned as well as the radiator got a rebuild. Finally, at the customer's request... the Auxiliary Air Valve was replaced and the engine idle speed was adjusted, before delivery back to the customer.

The Step Van was rolled back off the trailer, (because I really needed the trailer for another task) but unfortunately, there has not been any time for projects. It seems it is just the way it goes. Hopefully, August has a week or two of free time so that all the steel I purchased last year can be welded in, and the body can be made weather tight. On a Positive note, the Van rolled off the trailer with out any problem.

My 1948 Case Tractor still needs new tires, but I did manage some time to fill the cylinders with a mixture of diesel fuel and ATF. That was over a month ago and when I was at the storage compound over this past weekend, when I stood on the crank handle, the engine still didn't budge. I added more ATF and put the plugs back into the engine.

Here's a couple of pictures of the tractor.