Humph has already declared half full.
Mine is full, I always fill up on a Thursday.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 29 Mar 12 at 21:34
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X1 - full - filled from half full a couple of days ago before the world went bonkers. Not used much of late, commuting by bike.
GS - full of Shell's best 98RON - I was down to the last 20 miles worth when I filled up yesterday - that would be normal for me.
ER6 - was topped up from my 20litre stash and also topped up the lawn mower from the same can. Filled that up when I was tanking the X1.. So well sorted really.
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Tank is ¾ full at the moment, but by the weekend the tank will have less than a ¼ left in it.
Hopefully no one will be panic buying in the wee small hours (4 am) when I return from Birmingham and won't have to queue. That's if the garages have any fuel left of course.
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My car is full for two reasons. One, I am going away for four days to the Lake District tomorrow so would have gone with a full tank anyway. And two, our fuel card system and how we reimburse for private fuel - done over 500 business miles this month. So including the Lake District trip the company will cover half of the fuel put in this month.
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filled mine up today. Fuel light had been on for about 30 odd miles. Same routine as always.
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Not a huge amount - range 3 miles at the moment.
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Just nudging off the full mark, done 70 miles since the last fill.
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3/4 full, brimmed it at Fleet services this a.m. due to infestation of Fuel Lemmings locally. That will get me to work and back for 3 days. Small sample size I know but computer says 46 mpg compared with usual 44 from Morrissons' finest.
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When I was in the Manchester area earlier in the week I made sure I always had enough fuel to get back to sunny Scotland in case the panic set in. :-)
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get back to sunny scotland? you'll need no fuel then.
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I believe that Aberdeen was hotter than London this week.:-P
You may believe that the sun shines out of the south east, many know better. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 29 Mar 12 at 21:50
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>> I believe that Aberdeen was hotter than London this week.:-P
That leaky gas rig up there finally caught fire then?
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>> That leaky gas rig up there finally caught fire then?
>>
Not yet, but no problem, we have plenty of clean fresh water to put it out with.
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>> Hopefully no one will be panic buying in the wee small hours (4 am) and I won't have to queue
>> That's if the garages have any fuel left of course.
Didn't need to queue as both my local Tesco and Esso had sold out. Fuel computer says I've got approx 100 miles left in the tank which meant avoiding the BP garage which was 8p a litre dearer than the others. None of the other local garages have pay at pump or a manned kiosk at 4 am.
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Range on trip 498 miles about 3/4 full but I have a 200 mile drive down from Preston tomorrow and a 200 mile drive back up on Monday, hope the local garages at home have some, around here lots of queues and empty garages
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C5 around half full, Sharan just under half tank.
Friend a few miles up the road just told me her local Tescos station has sold out due to panic buying.
Given they need to give 7 days notice I imagine many of those panic buying will have used most of what they have bought by the time there is any impact
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Brimmed it last night + 1 gallon for the mower.
My normal process as I was down to less than a gallon.
I still have two empty proper one gallon metal cans,
One is a Jerrycan style so I can legimately full my Jerrycan and be legal.
The other is an expensive original explosion proof "Paddy Can"
www.firstbrands.co.uk/rhino-fuel-cans.html
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"The other is an expensive original explosion proof "Paddy Can"
www.firstbrands.co.uk/rhino-fuel-cans.html"
I had a bad experience with a partially filled one of these in a hot car, I took the lid off which let off the usual vapour you get with any container, but as I lifted it and the petrol sloshed over the heated metal wadding inside, it boiled and shot out of the fill hole. Have used plastic ever since. The thermal conduction and hight heat capacity makes it unsuitable for storing fuel in places which may catch the sun.
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Thanks for that info.
I have never used it to date so a bit worrying. Have you advised the current maker of your experience ?
I think I will stay with my plastic one for now.
My 5L Jerrycan really needs to be stored upright which is easy in the shed but not in the boot.
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The Merc is just over half full, but the A4 is showing a range of 55 miles (warning light not on yet) - I checked earlier.
If tomorrow is anything like today round our way then the local petrol stations will be fine first thing (07:30ish) but will get progessively busier as the old and worried of the south coast top up their cars... Working on that basis I'll take the A4 in the morning and fill it up on my way to work ;-)
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Full tank in the Legacy but thats just because it was empty this afternoon. I fill it at least once a week from empty, often twice as it does 30k a year. I couldn't be bothered with all the queuing so I took the expensive route and filled up at Membury services as I was passing.
My bigger worry is that I have a three day test drive of a BMW 5 series starting tomorrow and want to do a fair few miles in it. Hopefully I'll still be able to get diesel......
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>> I couldn't be bothered with all the queuing so I took the expensive
>> route and filled up at Membury services as I was passing.
>>
I paid 146 ppl at Fleet services this morning, a mere 2 ppl more than Tesco Bournemouth. Most local garages have added several pence per litre to their prices this week.
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BMW 5 series starting tomorrow and want to do a fair few miles in it. Hopefully I'll still be able to get diesel......
To Germany ?
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>> BMW 5 series starting tomorrow and want to do a fair few miles in it.
>> Hopefully I'll still be able to get diesel......
>>
>> To Germany ?
>>
Unfortunately the two posts are unrelated.
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>> test drive of a BMW 5 series starting tomorrow and want to do a fair few miles in it.
>> Hopefully I'll still be able to get diesel......
I bet premium grade diesel is still available if needs be. It will probably come with fuel in it.
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As expected, only a couple of cars at the local petrol station this morning, so 62 litres of superunleaded (at a swingeing £1.579/litre) filled it up, and a lovely morning for a top down drive down to Chichester marina for a coffee; sorry, an off-site meeting ;-)
Peter
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Filled earlier in the week. Only done 20miles since.
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Just got back from a long time away, saw the news and yesterday both cars filled to the brim. That's a potential 1000 miles of driving.
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Civic just over half. MX5 ditto. Thinking of jumping up early and going to work in the Outlander and filling it up. We have a trip at the weekend and I'd like to be sure of getting back.
Clearly Cameron and Maude's exhortations have misfired. As Nick Robinson remarked on the BBC news just now, it's difficult to get people to panic in an orderly fashion.
I've been to Leicester today, went and returned via the A6 and I'm pretty sure a lot of the stations I passed had put the price up during the day by 3 or 4p.
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Just off full. I often fill on a Thursday first thing, but decided that was risky and was glad to have to queue for only five minutes yesterday mid-afternoon. Was down to about 4 litres.
As I expected, this morning Sainsbury's was murder.
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XJ is three quarters full which should last me well into next week. Z28 is showing about one third full which means a range of 70 to 80 miles or so.
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Still on the full mark after a panic topping up day before yesterday, only about 15 or 20 miles since then. But tomorrow expect to do 120 miles or so, so that will make a bit of a dent.
Who is responsible for the panic, the government or the union(s)? Neither actually. We are.
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Put twenty quids worth in the KIA on Monday. I don't fill it as I don't like too much of it sploshing around off road.
Don't know what's in the Almera. I fill it when it's near empty. If I haven't enough to go anywhere, then I'm in the same boat as most others. I've a bike for local journeys and a bus pass if it rains.
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>> Put twenty quids worth in the KIA on Monday.
Wow, thats doubled its value.
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C8 3/4 full
C3 nearly empty ("Can you fill my car up dahling?")
Motorbike 1/2 full
Mowers and rotavator all full
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'lingo was filledon Wed but has returned from Kettering and done another round trip there since. Xant is pretty well ful but going to Sheffield and back later today - daughter to come home from Uni.
Not too much panic locally by late yesterday - Sainsbury's had settled down and no queues at roadside stations.
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I brimmed it on Monday ~ really brimmed until it had reached the top of the filler neck. Also I bought another 5 litres for our mower ~ I now have two full 5 litres plastic containers in the garage. There was no queue at the pumps.
Here are the rules regarding storage of petrol. tinyurl.com/c5jbxj8
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Xantia: 3/4 should get to end of next week for commuting
Xsara Picasso: 3/4 - not getting used that much at the moment, will take over from the Xantia if it runs out
C4 Grand Picasso (agreed to buy, collecting Easter Sat): Not much by all accounts - not enough to drive it the 165 miles home.... hmmm
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I 'brimmed' a car with petrol once, about 30 years ago (doesn't thyme fly) I was caning an ex plod 3.5 V8 from sowf lunden to Cornwall (M4/M5) doing 90 - 100 MPH most of the way, our first stop was Little Chef (Happy Eater) Exeter.
Brimmed the car with 4 star, had some eggs n' bacon, came back to the car to find petrol overflowing all over the place - car was stinking hot, as was the weather that August,
Not a lot I could do really apart from go back for some more tea n' toast and hope for the best,
Rover was OK in the end and I drove on to Cornwall but, I've never brimmed a car with petrol since then
T'was probably due to heat, or something.
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The rarely used Focus is under 1/4 full - hopefully I can get some on my early morning (6-ish) shop at Asda on Saturday. Mrs F, who works in Oxford, had to queue for 20 mins at Asda in her Colt yesterday while the tanker unloaded. but got some in the end.
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>>came back to the car to find petrol overflowing all over the place - car was stinking hot
Used to have that problem with a '70s Princess. The tank was a sixteen gallon sort of flat triangle shape, with the filler neck in one corner. Fill it and park on a slope such that there was an air bubble in one of the other corners and it would push the petrol out if it got warm.
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>> such that there was an air bubble in one of the other corners and it would push the petrol out if it got warm<<
Yes, I did think along the lines of an air bubble at the time, what made it worse or course was the fact that the fuel filler cap wasn't on the side of the car like most of em are today, but on top of the boot area hence fuel all over rear of car :)
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I once left a half-empty 5-litre steel tank of petrol in my shed on a hot day. The next day I found it had bulged on all 6 faces although the (plastic) plug had not blown.
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Forty years ago (roughly) we had fuel rationing in the UK due to an oil embargo caused by Israeli Kippur's.
I knew a geezer in sowf lunden that stored 2 x 10 gallon drums of petrol in his toilet, one each side of the WC.
He lived in a one bedroom tenement type flat without a bathroom or a kitchen at the time,
so that was the only place to store the blimmin stuff.
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Filled up the Volvo's petrol yesterday at a garage I saw miraculously had no queues.
Then stopped at my usual garage to fill up the LPG. Long queues for petrol, nobody waiting for LPG.
I'd already filled up the jerry cans for the tractor some weeks ago, thank you minister.
One though occurs to me: Why are garages limiting fuel to £10 worth? Surely that encourages frequent topping up and adds to the queues. Wouldn't it make more sense to say MINIMUM amount perhaps £30?
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Too much hassle to manage.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 30 Mar 12 at 13:58
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>> One though occurs to me: Why are garages limiting fuel to £10 worth? Surely that
>> encourages frequent topping up and adds to the queues. Wouldn't it make more sense to
>> say MINIMUM amount perhaps £30?
>>
Cheers Cliff.... my bike takes £15 from reserve......
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There's mention in FB's BBC link of a woman in York who suffered 40 percent burns when petrol she was 'decanting' in her kitchen caught fire. It scares me enough pouring petrol from a plastic can into a lawnmower - so much so that if I run out mid-mow, I'll just put the machine away until it's cold before filling it - so what can she have been thinking?
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Oh, and since you asked, the Verso took a routine 43-litre fill last weekend and has done barely 100 miles since; the Volvo has done 350 miles since I put 63 litres in a fortnight ago, so is still almost half-full. There's time for the world (and prices) to settle down before either car needs another fuel stop.
Out of curiosity, ON, how much do you buy at your every-Thursday fill-up? Even when I was commuting 500 miles a week my habits weren't that regular - and didn't need to be that frequent.
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>> Out of curiosity, ON, how much do you buy at your every-Thursday fill-up? Even when
>> I was commuting 500 miles a week my habits weren't that regular - and didn't
>> need to be that frequent.
>>
Our average use is half a tank a week if we are local running. I will fill the car on a Thursday if it has less than three quarters of a tank, and its an excuse to stay out of the supermarket for the weekly shop. We tend to travel anything up to 150 miles round trip on the spur of the moment, so this fueling routine suits our use and I never have to bother about running out of fuel.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 30 Mar 12 at 14:42
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Missed the edit:-
When we are long distance running I usually refill when down to between a quarter and an eighth of a tank. Who needs the stress of low fuel light gambling?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 30 Mar 12 at 14:49
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So what can she have been thinking?
I read that as well - obviously not rationally - people like this give stupidity a bad name.
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A lot of people, genuinely do not know about fuel vapour or how it ignites, we do mostly because at some stage or other we have played with it.
People have no idea how vapour builds up in rooms, or the need for ventilation, or ignition sources in rooms.
Which is why the advice to use gerry cans was ludicrous,
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She wasn't thinking. She's an idiot. While I feel sorry for her suffering the horrendous consequences of her actions, I don't believe the case has any impact on the public's view of the Government's handling of the fuel delivery strike issue.
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>>I don't believe the case has any impact on the public's
>> view of the Government's handling of the fuel delivery strike issue.
Read the press, they will be making a field day out of it and influencing the public. Quite right, the advice given by a government minister and the PM was the root cause.
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we were always playing with petrol as kids...building sites and demolition sites werent locked up like fort knox as they are now, a splash of petrol in an empty 45 gallon oil drum went with quite a bang i recall
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>>a splash of petrol in an empty 45 gallon oil drum went with quite a bang i recall<<
Aye, and I've still got the scars to prove it.
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"Read the press, they will be making a field day out of it and influencing the public..."
Maybe - not that there's much of a story: woman acts stupid and suffers consequences.
"...the advice given by a government minister and the PM was the root cause."
You mean they told her to decant petrol in a kitchen with the oven switched on?
You may believe it, Z, but is any of the press actually going to say "this woman suffered because of Government advice"? I know the great British public is naive, but will it actually think that?
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As I said, is your average middle aged woman likely to understand the issues of petrol vapour in enclosed spaces? I would say not.
You just watch the spin tomorrows press puts on this. Your a bright lad, if you were a minister would you have told people, publicly, to use jerry cans? Would you have foreseen what might happen and be said at the first accident, or worse death?
Can you imagine the outcry there is going to be if a fireman gets killed at a fire where home fuel is stored?
As a bright lad would you have considered any of this? I know I would.
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Anyone who decants an evil smelling volatile liquid in their kitchen is by definition challenged sense wise.
Anyone who buys petrol at any filling station will see all the warning signs saying "inflammable.. no naked flames etc".
To defend a person pouring petrol in a house is had enough: to defend someone in a kitchen with a naked flame cooker is risible..
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>> Anyone who decants an evil smelling volatile liquid in their kitchen is by definition challenged
>> sense wise.
I can see you have never been served my mothers food.
>> To defend a person pouring petrol in a house is had enough: to defend someone
>> in a kitchen with a naked flame cooker is risible..
NOt defending her, but I can understand how it happened.
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>> Anyone who decants an evil smelling volatile liquid in their kitchen is by definition challenged
>> sense wise.
>>
Pass the port please someone
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Just under half.
Talking to a customer today, her nephew queued for 20 minutes at a petrol station today because he was nearly empty. When he got to the pump the guy in the queue ahead of him had put a fiver's worth in.
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Maybe that's all the spare cash he had - happens.
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Fair point, RP. We don't know whether the £5 spoonful went into a nearly-full tank or a nearly-empty one.
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"You're a bright lad..."
It feels so good to be patronised by Zero!
You're a bright lad, too, Zero - did you not know that?
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>> "You're a bright lad..."
>>
>> It feels so good to be patronised by Zero!
Hey don't get too carried away, I was only comparing you to a government minister.
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Just under half full. I normally fill up on payday (yesterday), but I am waiting for normality to return. Nearest garge to the office shoved his prices up 10p per litre yesterday!
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>> Nearest garge to the office shoved his prices up 10p per
>> litre yesterday!
>>
The price of a lot of things is governed to a certain extent by supply and demand. If demand exceeds supply then ...........
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I felt inclined to splash some in yesterday as I was coming north on the M1. Don't normally choose to pay motorway prices but having seen massive queues at several normal petrol stations in London earlier in the day I reckoned perhaps the more expensive motorway ones might be a better bet. I was down to a 1/4 tank so not desperate and could probably have got home but I fancied a cold drink so thought I'd swing in to Newport Pagnell services only to find they'd run out of fuel.
The next time I thought about it I pulled into Norton Canes only to find a huge queue. Couldn't be bothered to wait so carried on up as far as Stafford services to be pleasantly surprised by a quiet forecourt and fully operational pumps.
A shortish run home after that so more or less full now. Plenty for the weekend but I need to do the thick end of 400 miles on Monday. Hope calm has returned by then.
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Tomorrow, we are going round the M25 from J10, then up the M1, as far as J21A, then A45 to Bingham. Any ideas where to get fuel on the way up, or back?
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I'd nip out to a 24 hr place late tonight probably. Otherwise, one of the motorway services will have some albeit at premium prices.
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Yeah they will be filling up Motorway Services as a priority
Tesco Brooklands currently has fuel, and you have the choice of the Shell in Brooklands road or the Murco in Byfleet road. Esso at West Byfleet ran out yesterday.
All 7x24 stations.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 31 Mar 12 at 14:01
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Seems to have slackened off around here - Mrs RP filled up the V50 at 2.30am in Tesco Holyhead....other local FB friends report similar.
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Nipped up to London last night and came back in the small hours, not mimsing but driving with a light foot and scanning the fuel gauge frequently. On the way there passed many queues at garages and saw many of those black and yellow no-juice masks on fuel pumps, even in garages where people were queueing. Some garages had temporary 'attended service' notices too, staff supervising offtake.
On the way back, although there were still some masked pumps a lot seemed to be back to normal, as if deliveries had taken place. But I didn't top up. Still got more than half a tank if the gauge is to be believed. Which it isn't really. It holds its cards close to its chest, damn thing.
The London traffic was doing its thing in spades, slow clumsy u-turns at the worst moment, geological-time pauses before getting going when green light showed, slowing down exaggeratedly for 30mph speed bumps, dawdling up to green lights in the hope that they would change to red, etc. It is becoming unfamiliar and at first I felt like ON or some other indignant yokel (no offence ON). But soon I was back to normal, running red lights and maintaining a solitary but loud and profane monologue (Oh you unbelievable c-word, get on with it, the lights are going to change... F-word! See? B-word!!).
Today I feel older than usual. It's a hard life, moving around.
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>> It is becoming unfamiliar and at first I felt like ON or some
>> other indignant yokel (no offence ON). But soon I was back to normal, running red
>> lights and maintaining a solitary but loud and profane monologue (Oh you unbelievable c-word, get
>> on with it, the lights are going to change... F-word! See? B-word!!).
>>
I was driving in Bradford earlier this week, the drivers there make London drivers look like mimsing grannies. There was a car totaled against a wall (an obvious high speed impact) in the town center 30 mph limit. I often drive in London and Bradford was in a different league.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 31 Mar 12 at 18:13
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>> drivers there make London drivers look like mimsing grannies. There was a car totaled against a wall (an obvious high speed impact) in the town center 30 mph limit. I often drive in London and Bradford was in a different league.
Heh heh... you mean Georgie-porgie's niche voters scared you carpless by going too fast ON? Some people have all the luck.
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>> I was driving in Bradford earlier this week, the drivers there make London drivers look
>> like mimsing grannies.
If my granny had still been alive, she'd have shown the Bradford drivers. When she got in her pony and trap it was like a chariot race out of Ben Hur!
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Duncan,
Try Sainsbury's just off (half mile?) J21. Went there today about 1 pm expecting to queue. Drove straight to a pump and had a look round - think there are about 30 pumps (I was at 27) and there were 9 free (you know what I mean!!) ones. Went into shop to shop (!) and on way out noticed at least a dozen free pumps.
Services on A46 (Leicester North) had no fuel today.
PS. Suggest you take A46 from J21A to Bingham - not A45!
P
Last edited by: PhilW on Sat 31 Mar 12 at 19:32
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>> PS. Suggest you take A46 from J21A to Bingham - not A45!
>> P
>>
Close!
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Our local Total petrol station was closed this afternoon, with bollards across both entrances. The next nearest petrol station is fifteen miles away.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 31 Mar 12 at 15:54
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Erd a story yesterday (quite true btw) woman down ere on holly day from Eastbourne (Ssx) tried to buy petrol from a little garage near Kynance Cove (one of my favourite places)
Ee wouldn't flog her any juice b'cos she wasn't a local :o}
Funny thing was though - she was originally from Cornwall.
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We have two stations within 2 miles: no queues at 7am: both had fuel..
(We'll soon have a Sainsbury's one as well so I guess future problems will have even less impact)..
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I'm not going to fret too much about it other than to try to ensure that I've got enough fuel on board to get home from wherever I am. If it gets to the stage of a real strike or something and I've not got enough to get to and from where I want to go I guess I'll just have to stay put.
No point in worrying about things you can't control I suppose. Irritating though nonetheless and for me and indeed those who work for me, financially inconvenient to say the least.
Whoever, or whatever combination of whoevers are to blame I frankly don't care, but we simply don't need this distraction right now. Businesses are on the very brink of survival and little straws like this can indeed break already strained camel's backs.
Anyway, stuff it, the Merc's full and the Nissan has 3/4 of a tank and it's Saturday.
Rugby in the morning and mountain biking tomorrow afternoon. I'll worry about it again on Monday if necessary !
Hope I don't have to of course.
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Tank is nearly full premium diesel.Filled up as normal on Thursday about 9pm after swimming.BP station I use regulary.I don't do a lot of mileage now fuel should last a bit.
Jerry cans at home and garage, there was bound to be a accident.Agree with Zero on this one people don't realise about petrol vapours.
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I shuddered when I read that the unfortunate lady had been decanting a few feet from what I presumed to be a naked flame on a gas cooker or hob.
Most of us have probably had the experience of lighting a fire with petrol. Everybody should probably try it, very carefully. Once is usually enough, the shock of just how violently it ignites and burns, and the singed hair and eyebrows tell you all you need to know.
I am amazed that there are not more accidents on forecourts, given the ever present possibility of sparks from static discharge, all the electrical stuff going on, and forgetful people lighting up in cars etc.
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I don't think that anyone can blame the government for what happened. It was avoidable, even the most basic precautions would have prevented it.
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They can, they will, and they have. As soon as the Jerey can advice was handed out there was always going to be an accident and the blame was always going to be heaped on the Government.
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They failed to account for the lowest common denominator. Maybe we need for nannying..!
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What is even sadder is that the council are sending social workers in to offer help and counselling to the neighbours who were 'affected' by this event, if this BBC story is correct
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-17571415
I am feeling depressed annoyed and demoralised that the country is populated by people who do stupid things - please tell me where I can get some compensation ?
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It's not new, it happens every month and it's not normally news. Until you get a government minister involved and it becomes press gold
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>> I don't think that anyone can blame the government for what happened.
>>It was avoidable, >> even the most basic precautions would have prevented it.
>>
I agree. There are enough warnings at filling stations. Perhaps she thought these warnings do not apply anywhere else?
However many years ago a good friend who is normally most careful with all things mechanical etc was working on his car that was facing the road and outside his garage. The job involved the carb and a small amount of petrol dripped down the engine. A short while later flames appeared and minor panic set in. IIRC plug leads got singed but little other real damage.
At the time there was a paraffin stove at the very back of the garage and this was the ingnition sourse ( of the fire). We were surprised at the distance betwen the engine and the stove. A lesson to us both.
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Just in case Duncan doesn't see this lost in thread above
Try Sainsbury's just off (half mile?) J21. Went there today about 1 pm expecting to queue. Drove straight to a pump and had a look round - think there are about 30 pumps (I was at 27) and there were 9 free (you know what I mean!!) ones. Went into shop to shop (!) and on way out noticed at least a dozen free pumps.
Services on A46 (Leicester North) had no fuel today.
PS. Suggest you take A46 from J21A to Bingham - not A45!
P
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>> Try Sainsbury's* just off (half mile?) J21
Or either of the Jet garages a half-mile north (clockwise) along the A563 ring road.
None of the four garages in Coalville town, nor the three(!) BP stations at j22 of the M1, have run out over the course of this week's panic. Also, apart from at Morrisons there weren't any queues.
I was down in Portsmouth this morning, long queues at the Asda/Total station and hastily-written signs at all the other garages saying "NO FUEL", and in one case "SAME HERE".
I filled up last week. Still got enough for tomorrow's trip to Beds/Herts and back, and to commute until Easter.
*You'll often find me there just after 3am, stocking up on munchies for the day's driving ahead :)
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Sat 31 Mar 12 at 21:09
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"*You'll often find me there just after 3am, stocking up on munchies for the day's driving ahead :) "
See you there!
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I learnt a lesson while trying to balance the twin carbs on a Vitesse.
Unknown to me a diaphragm on one of the Strombergs was split.
I kept unscrewing the mixture nut in the bottom of a float chamber until it fell out, leaving a damn great hole for petrol to pour directly onto the exhaust manifold. The other carb kept it running and driving the petrol pump. A large white cloud formed (petrol vapour?). I briefly considered turning off the ignition, but thought the resultant spark might not be good idea. The air cleaners were off, so I put both hands over the carb inlets and shut my eyes. It stopped.
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'Most of us have probably had the experience of lighting a fire with petrol.'
Still got the scars across the back of all 4 fingers on my right hand to prove it! At the tender age of 8 ish decided to assist a little bonfire in the back garden by pouring a small jug of petrol on. 2 weeks in hospital is a steep learning curve. Always treated flammables with the greatest of respect after that.
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Roadrunner and Tom & Jerry was a pretty good crammer.
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>> Roadrunner and Tom & Jerry was a pretty good crammer.
Now that's it you see. Girls never played with fire, fireworks, things that go bang, never saw road runner or T&J.
Prams and dolls is not a good grounding in explosive vapours.
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Plenty of girls never played with dolls or prams.
Maybe having 4 younger brothers explained that - although I was a mean bowler at cricket!
>> >> Girls never played with fire, fireworks, things that go bang,
>> never saw road runner or T&J.
>>
>> Prams and dolls is not a good grounding in explosive vapours.
>>
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Me neither hjd, my proudest possesions was my toolkit!
I just had to take thinks to bits to see what was inside and how they worked.
Caught a programme on Quest the other night called How Stuffs Made and got hooked once again on details of a DPF.
Pat
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>> Plenty of girls never played with dolls or prams.
>> Maybe having 4 younger brothers explained that - although I was a mean bowler at
>> cricket!
My daughter had no younger brothers. I did buy her a proper train set for her first birthday (I had thought it was the third but I have just been corrected). Funnily enough I'd always wanted a train set, but never had one. She's a mechanical engineer now.
I don't think she ever set any petrol off, but then my dad didn't know about the experiment with weed killer and sugar either :-(
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ah, yes sodium chlorate and sugar
Do you know how much of that mix it takes to fill one of those 4' Airfix models of a Saturn V rocket ? Quite a lot, I can tell you, and for seriously dissapointing results :-(
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>> you, and for seriously dissapointing results :-(
Dont use cubed sugar next time.....
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 1 Apr 12 at 13:41
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Us poor Wiganers wouldn't have known what a sugar cube was, believe me, and we were fairly good at our extra-mural chemistry.
Get the mix right and soak newspaper in it, shred and wrap in tinfoil and it makes a passable smoke bomd. Unfortunately, we were too impatient to wait for the paper to dry in our unheated garage so one of the 'team' took it home and held it in front of the coal fire to dry, resulting in the paper catching fire and creating so much smoke the neighbours calls the fire brigade
for a seriously loud bang, half fill a coke tin with 'the mixture', this should then be a close fit inside the 2lb tin the weedkiller initially came in, which is also half full of said mixture, and then use a VERY long piece of fuse from a Jetex Jet Engine kit - brought all the neighbours out of there houses, I can tell you
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With the ingredients you lot have stockpiles of along with diesel and / or petrol I foresee big brothers enforcers kicking in a few front doors early one morning. :-)
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>> ah, yes sodium chlorate ......
The sale of sodium chlorate was banned in EU countries in September 2009, and consumers were only allowed to store it and use it up to May 2010.
I thought it was a pity, because I found it was the best thing for killing weeds in our block paved lawn.
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I (statute of limitations applies) used to use Sodium Chlorate for very loud bangs. Worked out a good testing method to cope with the salt the product was mixed with.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Sun 1 Apr 12 at 17:44
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2.0 Cortinas could be made to bang. Trick was, let it coast downhill, engine off but in gear, pumping the accelerator a bit, preferably silently catching up with attractive female pedestrians on the nearside. Just as you drew almost level with them return the ignition to the on position. Helluva bang if you got it right !
Don't try this at home !
And I'm already ahead of you on the bang innuendo...
:-)
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>> 2.0 Cortinas could be made to bang. Trick was, let it coast downhill, engine off
>> but in gear, pumping the accelerator a bit, preferably silently catching up with attractive female
>> pedestrians on the nearside. Just as you drew almost level with them return the ignition
>> to the on position. Helluva bang if you got it right !
>>
Works equally well with old side-valve Harleys equipped with manual adavance/retard. Perfect for deterring tailgaters.
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>> 2.0 Cortinas could be made to bang. Trick was, let it coast downhill, engine off
>> but in gear, pumping the accelerator a bit, preferably silently catching up with attractive female
>> pedestrians on the nearside. Just as you drew almost level with them return the ignition
>> to the on position. Helluva bang if you got it right !
Had a works van (Pug 205) that did that by itself....
It had a habit of misfiring and suffering low power, turned out the coil was tracking down its post..... one day it blew the rear silencer wide open!
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>> blew the rear silencer wide open!
I was thinking that too Swiss. Filling the exhaust system with explosive mixture and setting it off isn't all that good for silencers with a lot of back-pressure. Sporting straight-through ones were a different matter. Carburetted cars in high states of tune pop and bang charmingly on the overrun. The modern equivalent in saloon car racing is emitting sheets of flame sideways...
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I've had a very 'fat bellied' silencer as a result of that trick.
I did it once in a hire car in the north of Majorca in an attempt to get a tailgater off me. The resultant bang echoed off the surrounding mountains and got me worrying about causing an avalanche.
I've also left a sooty circle on the front of a pale blue Volvo 240 of an acquaintance who thought it would be fun to drive very close to me.
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Yup, I was very practised at this too, alas it does not work on a modern injected car.
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>> Yup, I was very practised at this too, alas it does not work on a
>> modern injected car.
My KIA's got a carb and a cat. I daren't try it on that.
I suppose the cat's worth more than the car?
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Yeah, I think cat fur is worth about 5 bob a ton, so it would be.
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Managed that on an RL Bedford once. Got accused by the RT Sgt if doing it deliberately to put it off the road. It was a bag of nails. As if. :-O
Petrol engined lorries. Don't see many of them around these days.
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Fuel contents survey. - R.P.
