Project Plum - The Plan of Attack

[Cheapmods 0]

He lives!!! LOL

 

Good luck with everything! :salute:

[boost monkey 0]

:lol: yeah, still alive and kicking!

 

Good to hear from you matey, must catch up on your thread sometime.

 

Placements can be hard work:

 

 

:norty:

[Cheapmods 0]

oh jeez... looks like you got it made! 8)

 

and don't bother with my thread just yet, no real updates as usual, but I am tryin to finagle a 20vt Haldex swap :norty: if all goes to plan.

 

Enjoy the sun :salute:

[boost monkey 0]

Cheers buddy :D Finagle is an awesome word by the way! :grin:

[CazzaVR 0]

Hey Jon! :wave: Gonna get the Plum completed before you leave? :nuts: How long are you out there for?

[boost monkey 0]

10 months. I've been out here 2 weeks now and it's SO HOT. I hear the UK is turning frosty...

 

The Corrado didn't get any further before I left, but it's with Prodigal now so it's in good hands.

 

I've been thrown in at the deep end here, did a 10 hour first day and an 18hour second day! We just had race weekend, and one of the cars (Toyota Starlet converted to RWD with other toyota parts, plus a 4AG on carbs) had a TON of problems. One of the things was changing the differential at 11pm friday night. Ho boy. Apart from that they do other car stuff - block decking, crank grinding, liner replacement, head overhauls, plus all general machining facilities like lathing, drilling, some CAD work etc. Today I have been working on replacing the seals in the mother of all hydraulic jacks (think somewhere between an engine crane and a crane crane!) the shaft was 3" diameter and the whole jack was about 8ft long and VERY heavy. It was actually from a 4-post lift which is kinda cool.

 

SO, I'm keeping my hands dirty and it's fun. And it's hot and i'm tanned. And there's a pool and the food is free. So it's kinda cool.

 

pics up in a while :)

[dirtytorque 0]

Free food.

:clap:

 

so your gonna be protly monkey.

[CazzaVR 0]

Sounds like fun, Jon. Glad you're enjoying yourself :)

[ziderapple 0]

I didn't know where your placement was, saw the pic you posted... so right click, properties, blah blah blah... then BARFU**INGBADOS !!???!!!???!! Whhhhhat? :shock:

[boost monkey 0]

Ad the best blag for engineering placement goes to..... :wave:

 

i'm crazy tired, been learning how to MIG weld today on aluminium. Really interesting stuff! My steel toe boots are giving me blisters though...

 

my life is so hard.... :nuts:

 

p.s. @Mods, what do I need to do to keep my project thread alive in my absence - post it in once a month? Can it be set to a non-expiring thread in exchange for a twix?

[dirtytorque 0]

what part of Barbados are you in ?

[boost monkey 0]

I am due east of Holetown on the west coast, in a little area known as Content. I'm about 1 mile from the machine shop, and I have a little automatic Hyundai Matrix for bombing around in. left foot braking fun!

[dirtytorque 0]

I am due east of Holetown on the west coast, in a little area known as Content. I'm about 1 mile from the machine shop, and I have a little automatic Hyundai Matrix for bombing around in. left foot braking fun!

 

 

St James then?

8)

I was going to see if you was near my folks,although everywhere is near everywhere in Barbados.

[boost monkey 0]

Ahhh Rob, did you call me on your mobile? Thought I recognised the number, but didn't come up with your name due to being +44.

 

Yeah, St. James, circa Lion Castle Polo Estate and Duke's Tenantry? Barbados isn't that big really is it!

[dirtytorque 0]

isle of weight sort of size.

nah wasn't me.Unless I sat on my phone and types Jon with my ar$e.

[boost monkey 0]

Sounds like a party trick! I've lost my phone now, hope the rottweiler hasn't chewed it up

[boost monkey 0]

wow, no updates for a while. You must think I hate you :-o

 

couple of quick things:

 

@Toad, white VR is looking GOOD! I noticed your sig update when I was showing a guy here my build thread. Very cool dude! :clap:

 

@dirtytorque, do you know a guy called TPSRETARD on the MS forums? He recognised your username on here! Used to have a silly powered 10second red Mazda 4wd?

 

Here's the current pics, all 200 of them. Feel free to browse :-)

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118176&id=277002994&l=059c65e84f

 

It's a shame shipping costs so much - I could have finished my car in a week so easily over here. I've been working a lot on Toyota 4AGEs which are the weapon of choice, and generally dumped into very light 1980s Starlets :D I've been lapping valves, skimming heads, shaving shims down ten thousandths of inches to adjust cam lobe clearance :D all hands on, and really good.

 

I've been able to keep up a little bit of my CAD work too - the boss is building a 400rwhp rally car based around the Nissan SR20DET engine. I've been asked to look at the rear suspension design which ties in perfectly with some of my course aspects. Really interesting stuff how they're planning to run it - the car is an old boxy Datsun 120Y and has been fully framed and reinforced by one of the engineers. Plus, being a machine shop they can literally make ANYTHING. they're making up a subframe for the engine out of 2" chromoly tubing! It's awesome :D I'm hoping soon I'll be taught how to MIG/TIG weld so I can join in the fun :D

 

Anyways, hope you're all good. Sorry I have been so absent, I'm doing 9 hour days in the heat with a lot of lifting and moving of gearboxes/engine so I'm cram crackered at the end of the day! Look forward to catch up on some of the projects soon!

 

Went to a race day a few weeks ago and saw a 20vt powered Elise running about 500hp - that was awesome :D

 

Catch you all soon I hope!

 

Jon :salute:

[dirtytorque 0]

Man you sound like your having a really interesting time.

Nah don't recognize that user name from the MS forum although the memory is not what it should be. :lol:

So picking up some great skills?

I like the pic of the aircon.Much needed lol.

Did it take you long to get use to the crickets churping away at night when your trying to get to sleep?

[boost monkey 0]

Hey Rob :D my auto notification for when someone replies doesn't seem to be working :/

 

Yeah, picking up some real good skills.I'm actually considering sourcing an engine down here to fully rebuild and then ship it back next year - i could do all the labour myself, and parts are pretty cheap through the caribbean / US.

 

Still getting used to the crickets! I'm using ear plugs atm cos the A/C is pretty loud, so they help to drown out the crickets too :) Walking out of that front door to 20C before 8am is still something i need to get used to.... summer is going to be :eek:

[pete_griff 0]

Hey Rob :D my auto notification for when someone replies doesn't seem to be working :/

 

Yeah, picking up some real good skills.I'm actually considering sourcing an engine down here to fully rebuild and then ship it back next year - i could do all the labour myself, and parts are pretty cheap through the caribbean / US.

 

Still getting used to the crickets! I'm using ear plugs atm cos the A/C is pretty loud, so they help to drown out the crickets too :) Walking out of that front door to 20C before 8am is still something i need to get used to.... summer is going to be :eek:

 

bonjour pal, good to hear it's all going well for you out there. building an engine out there wouldn't be a bad idea - don't think it would be overly cheap to get it back to the uk though... (and take it from me - couriers are notoriously $hit at looking after your belongings!)

the longer you spend out there, the more you'll get used to the heat - you'll just be sweating lots!

 

checked out your facebook photos the other night - looks like you're keeping busy :D

[dirtytorque 0]

Hey Jon.I think tpsretard just piped up in the knock detection thread over on the MS forum. 8)

 

Is he a friend of yours?

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

Looks good! A good life experience and all that!

[boost monkey 0]

Hey Jon.I think tpsretard just piped up in the knock detection thread over on the MS forum. 8)

 

Is he a friend of yours?

 

Yeah, he lives at the same place I do :) Currently running a WRX STI and missing his 500hp Mazda! ;)

[dirtytorque 0]

You've died and gone petrol head heaven.

[culshaw 1]

today you are my hero, my osf brake line decided to play lets get rounded and threadless so first result is your gem of a post saying there is a join behind the downshield instead of thinking i'd have to get a 6 foot line loop the looping around the back of the engine bay

 

thanks so much

 

:notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: