Betax Cleaning

[E. von Hoegh]

I will second this. The amount of equipment being destroyed by hacks is ridiculous . If you don't KNOW what your doing do not do it, pay someone who does.
Often this botched repair job equipment is sold without full disclosure about what has been done.

Yes. You can't tell people though, they ask and then ignore good advise - or argue with it - the mark of a true hack. This will be the last time I respond to this type of question.
Maybe I'll start repairing shutters, too.

[Michael Graves]

I once "CLA'ed" my own Ilex. It worked for one, maybe two years, without fail, and then started to get really sticky at 1/10 and below. So this time, feeling a bit more flush, I sent it Carol's way. About three days later -- just about the time it takes for a stork to fly a shutter betwixt hither and thither -- I get an email from Carol. "Did you try to fix this yourself? It's a mess!" "Of course not!" I said aloud. "not recently" I said to myself. "Can you fix it?"

She could and she did and that shutter is still my most accurate and reliable. But not because of me.

[Tin Can]

Head gaskets you say? I know head gaskets!

I worked for Fel-Pro in the Dyno lab for 30 years, testing head gaskets. We used to have a custom department that would hand make a head gasket if we did not stock it. We had a deep catalog that covered nearly any American engine ever made.

There are ways, many ways, to save old engines!

If they were digital, I'd post the picture story of a ca. 1925 Fay & Bowen LN-43 boat engine which came to me in boxes, filling the back of a pickup truck. The LN-43 was a 60 hp four, 4 3/4" x 5 1/2", 1200 rpm and 950 pounds. The (early) Paragon drive was in the same case as the rset of the engine. The magneto was missing, and the only one I could find turned the wrong way. I noticed that the impulse coupling was designed to be assembled to work either way, so I retimed the internals of the Bosch magneto to turn the correct direction. The starter was missing, but I found the correct Northern Electric with the wrong mounting nose. I made parts on a lathe, welded them together, put them back in the lathe, drilled six holes in the mill and had a correct mounting nose. Then all the valves were unserviceable.... babbit bearings... where do you get a head gasket for one of these?


Yeah, I've resurrected a couple basket cases.

[E. von Hoegh]

Head gaskets you say? I know head gaskets!

I worked for Fel-Pro in the Dyno lab for 30 years, testing head gaskets. We used to have a custom department that would hand make a head gasket if we did not stock it. We had a deep catalog that covered nearly any American engine ever made.

There are ways, many ways, to save old engines!

I found a head gasket, an original, copper/asbestos unit. It helps to know eccentric old men with barns full of things like this. I found valves for some 50s truck engine which needed the heads turned down a bit. I poured the babbit myself. A guy in Niagra N.Y. made rings to fit the original pistons - which were virtually unworn.

[Tin Can]

After all that, I hope you kept it.

That's how I became a mechanic. My older brother, left a basket case Twin cyl Matchless bike behind. He had lost a piston. I was 16 trying to make a piston, never happened, but I tried and finally traded that now priceless bike for a smashed Honda, I could fix.

Shutters may be my Waterloo.

I found a head gasket, an original, copper/asbestos unit. It helps to know eccentric old men with barns full of things like this. I found valves for some 50s truck engine which needed the heads turned down a bit. I poured the babbit myself. A guy in Niagra N.Y. made rings to fit the original pistons - which were virtually unworn.

[Randy]

Yes. You can't tell people though, they ask and then ignore good advise - or argue with it - the mark of a true hack. This will be the last time I respond to this type of question.
Maybe I'll start repairing shutters, too.

I had never rebuilt an automatic transmission before. The one on my 1970 Ford pick-up failed back in the early 90's. I couldn't afford to have it done so I did it myself. Sold the truck about 10 years later. About 2 years ago I ran into the fella who has owned it since. I asked if he ever had transmission trouble. He said it has worked flawlessly since he had it.

At any rate..Mr. Hoegh, you can take your good advice and shove it.

[E. von Hoegh]

I had never rebuilt an automatic transmission before. The one on my 1970 Ford pick-up failed back in the early 90's. I couldn't afford to have it done so I did it myself. Sold the truck about 10 years later. About 2 years ago I ran into the fella who has owned it since. I asked if he ever had transmission trouble. He said it has worked flawlessly since he had it.

At any rate..Mr. Hoegh, you can take your good advice and shove it.

So, you start a thread asking for advice. You don't like the advice, discount it, and tell us how you're going to ignore it. Then, you're rude. Why start a thread in the first place?

Good luck.

[E. von Hoegh]

After all that, I hope you kept it.

That's how I became a mechanic. My older brother, left a basket case Twin cyl Matchless bike behind. He had lost a piston. I was 16 trying to make a piston, never happened, but I tried and finally traded that now priceless bike for a smashed Honda, I could fix.

Shutters may be my Waterloo.

No, I put it back in the 30 foot Fay & Bowen dual cockpit runabout it belonged to.

Jeez... a Matchless! I like the older Brit bikes.

[Randy]

So, you start a thread asking for advice. You don't like the advice, discount it, and tell us how you're going to ignore it. Then, you're rude. Why start a thread in the first place?

Good luck.

I actually thought the advice was sound - if one doesn't know how to do something, it is often best to leave it to the experts. What I don't like is being called a "hack" by some internet bully just because I didn't immediately take his advice as the best and only advice.
Next!

[E. von Hoegh]

I actually thought the advice was sound - if one doesn't know how to do something, it is often best to leave it to the experts. What I don't like is being called a "hack" by some internet bully just because I didn't immediately take his advice as the best and only advice.
Next!

You're not the first who has disregarded my advice, but you're the last who will do it regarding this subject on this or any other forum. I said this would be the last question like this I will answer, and it is. I've lost track of how many times I've gone through this very same scenario (and there's always someone who chimes in and says "well, I used ronsonol and it worked perfectly", even though they don't own a shutter tester).
And, while I may be blunt and stubborn, I am no bully. It isn't me calling names and telling someone to "shove it" either.
When I used the term "hack" in an above post, I was making a general point, you're the one who decided it was pertinent to you.
The last word is yours.
Good luck.