Topic

Hello, well introductions first I have a R reg VVC, In Ham green..Found in a barn with small damage and 68K on the clock.. I bought it from the chap in June 21 with MOT etc..
So April 22, MOT CAT failure ..Hmm...along with rotten wish bones(they has been welded.. .Argh) and a very moth eaten Gearbox mount! All changed with a BM cat new down pipe and SS silencer! Off we go.. 4 new recon gassed spheres fitted in Swadlincote...multo comfort once again..and a compliment on her underneath..Having sat for at least 10 years in a dry barn, the TIn Worm was not at all active and is totally original below!! Nice...Along wlth tidy subbfames etc...

February 23..failed on CAT again.. now fitted CAT from MGOC Spares, but will put the old CAT on, then check if there is a problem causing the CATs to die..
So I wonder who can check that all is well, No smoke, nice clean plugs, so no obvious over fueling.. Bad CAT or what else I wonder?
Anyway another summer of entertainment awaits..
But what strikes me(I am sure said before) is what a staggeringly good little car from an almost bankrupt parts bin.. Sheer genius..and 25 years later, drives like a modern car!
Why can Britain not do this anymore?

British engineering has an almost unlimited capacity for creating innovation to a degree unparalleled by any other country, there are few devices & processes that don’t have their roots in this country even though they are now attributed to others. Newton laws of motion, particularly “action & reaction are equal & opposite in direction could not be better demonstrated than in Frank Whittle & the jet engine. Although reaction engine principles had been known since the invention of gun powder, it was he who created the ubiquitous gas turbine jet.
Alan Turing & the electronic computer. And so it goes on.
The problem is that those who provide finance to these geniuses can’t see further than their noses, it’s a wonder to me how they manage to piss in the right direction, even those who have a spout. Just as there’s real progress some twit who in all probability couldn’t sharpen a pencil pulls the plug & all the hard work done is snapped up by a third party.
Right I’ll shut up now.

Spot on, we are sliding gently down the pan, Bessemer converters onwards we were there upfront ..
No real forward vision..I should know, I still only design with Valves!
Seriously something is missing here in UK, .. Hey ho, we all do what we can..

Valves, valves! What, valves of all things, hot glass bottles with that enticing orange glow.
I knew the chap in charge of valve production at Mullards Blackburn & he told me that they had reached near perfection in the making of EL34s not long before closing the line. I was particularly interested in that , the 6L6 & KT66 at that time. And the same went for most of the valves made in that factory.
Don’t get me started on this one, these tangents seem to be specifically designed for me to fly off.

What’s turntable / arm / cartridge combination is on your thumbnail picture?
Oh welcome to the t-bar.

You mention Henry Bessemer, his contemporaries said he was mad to blow air through molten iron & the entire enterprise would explode, killing all concerned. It didn’t & look what we built with the resultant steel.

Hi, now that is interesting about the EL34's..What a brillinat chap to know..
These days I use an EL34 in one of my designs to drive a GM70 output valve..However one of my favorites in the venerable 807!
I managed to pick up 100 pcs of Mullard branded 807 from the 2nd War, from Egypt! Valves and cars!

Also finally got my F's MOT and they discovered that over 2000 RPM, the CO rises way too far..But just below the CO gets down to 0.15, so it scrape through..
So it seems I have an over fueling problem over 2000 RPM..
Any one with any ideas?

807, venerable indeed to the point of being an institution to those who know. I graduated from one valve amps (ECL86 I think) to two single ended amps with 807 outputs & E81CC driver, all from war surplus. Ring tip spot resistors in every value you could want apart from the values you wanted. The output transformers looked exactly the same as the mains apart from the mains primary had two 110v taps for wiring in series (uk) or parallel (us). They sounded "fabulous" from a Balfour princess turntable through second hand 13"x 8" fane speakers, no boxes. I must have been twelve or thirteen.
I had a box of CV1741 mil spec EL34, goodness knows how much they'd be worth now!

Wow,

What a wonderful story! I was fortunate to be at a school with a very strong Radio Society, which got me started, Amatuer license at 14! Been in Electronics all me life, but got back into Valves 12 year ago, and now it is my business, even one day hoping to make some money!!
My first Amp was the Mullard ECL86 as well..
Those were the days..Believe me you have no wish to guess the price of a UK wound output transformer! But that is what I use for my own designs, that are actually selling ok!
Lastly, I made a stereo headphone amplifer, as a challenge for a Hifi show, using a pair of Lucas Ignition coils! I cut them open drained them, then separated the primary and secondary windings, added 4th wire. Glued back together sans oil and ran them back to front.. Astonishing result..Using at EL36 on each channel and a couple of 12AU7, nearly a watt!
Fitted with a car key switch to turn it on! Bonkers..

Apologies in advance, no advertising was supposed to get on here! But I could not remove the photos..