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Zen, and the art of wasting an hour or two

Submitted by terry_grimwood on Wed, 10/05/2017
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Nortons - General

Shoving a pencil or similar into a plug hole to roughly find TDC is pretty straightforward. Unless, that is, said pencil slips from the vertical just as the piston is rising and before you know it the pencil has snapped in half and the half that's left inside falls, to lie horizontally on the piston crown. Or rolls off to one side so you can't even see it. An hour or so spent hunched over the plug hole with headtorch and sharp metal probe trying to spike the end of a broken pencil and lift it vertically through a tiny hole is strongly recommended for those seeking a deeper understanding of the ultimate futility of all human endeavour.

Submitted by george_phillips on Wed, 10/05/2017

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Haha! Ver good, Terry. Have you read Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance? I remember this happened to me a million years ago when I was very young. I just started it and watched the bits of wood/embers fly out the exhaust. But don't do this at home! George

Submitted by george_phillips on Wed, 10/05/2017

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On a more practical note maybe some Blu-tac stuck firmly to another pencil (!!) might do the trick? George

Submitted by andrew_heathwood on Wed, 10/05/2017

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Terry

Enjoyed your story very much. I'm sure you realise this is all part of your path to higher levels of enlightenment!

Andy

Submitted by john_sunderland on Wed, 10/05/2017

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It seems that this is an important learning event for one and all. This scenario has not (as yet) happened to me with infernal confustication engines. That said I did loose a screw driver down the inlet port of a high pressure compressor, or so I thought. After a major hunt around in pockets, tool bags and the general area I was about to report the event to my lead engineer then; my so called 'work mate' brought it back. He had borrowed the said screw driver while my back was turned but didn't think to tell me.Surprised

Submitted by david_evans on Wed, 10/05/2017

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If the pencil doesn't have one of those metal sleeves that hold a rubber on, just put the plug back in and fire it up, a bit of wood and graphite wouldn't put up much of a fight.Laughing

Submitted by jonathan_soons on Thu, 11/05/2017

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I snapped off a chopstick that way. I managed to reach in with one of those retractable claw grabbers and got it out in seconds. Of course I took the rest of the day off I was so far ahead.

Submitted by jonathan_newton on Thu, 11/05/2017

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Previously George Phillips wrote:

On a more practical note maybe some Blu-tac stuck firmly to another pencil (!!) might do the trick? George
I dread to think what happens to blue tack under combustion temperature George. I spat my chewing gum on to the kitchen range once hoping to land in the fire. You only do it once in my mothers eyes, maybe it was the start of my love of polishing old iron. Can you get black lead anymore???? wink

Submitted by terry_grimwood on Tue, 16/05/2017

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Previously George Phillips wrote:
Haha! Ver good, Terry. Have you read Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance? I remember this happened to me a million years ago when I was very young. I just started it and watched the bits of wood/embers fly out the exhaust. But don't do this at home! George
I have indeed read Zen and the Art... though many years ago, more than I care to remember.I think I would eventually have resorted to the 'fire it up and let it burn' solution, but with some trepidation given that the pen (and presumably pencil) is said to be mightier than the sword (let's say piston).Think I'm going to see if I can find one of those proper screw-in TDC thingies at Kempton next Saturday.Terry

Submitted by terry_grimwood on Tue, 16/05/2017

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Previously Dan Field wrote:

I've got taking the head off to fine art and can do it in 10 mins!

Don't suppose you live near Tonbridge... :)

Submitted by jonathan_newton on Tue, 16/05/2017

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Previously Terry Grimwood wrote:

Previously Dan Field wrote:

I've got taking the head off to fine art and can do it in 10 mins!

Don't suppose you live near Tonbridge... :)

The screw in things are more likely to do greated damage on a Norton due to the inclination of the plug hole.... be warned especially if your cam takes over and flings the piston up into it...

er... yes, I did, a long time ago...

Submitted by dan_field on Tue, 16/05/2017

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Previously Terry Grimwood wrote:

Previously Dan Field wrote:

I've got taking the head off to fine art and can do it in 10 mins!

Don't suppose you live near Tonbridge... :)

Sadly not!

 


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