Beamish Weekend

[geoberni]

Just a thank you to the North East Branch as organisers of the Beamish Weekend.
As events go, the only problem on the day was finding where to go.

As I'm so far away, around 165 miles, I had no great desire to attend a Road Run on the Saturday so I booked a hotel for Saturday night ready for the required 8.45 arrival on Sunday morning.
Looking out over the hotel car park as dusk fell, there were 3 other Minors out there so I wasn't the only one travelling a fair old distance....
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The only problem with the event, was around the communication. Direct messages to those who had registered was basically nil, other than an initial acknowledgement of a booking.
The booking form had specified that if your car was pre-1961, the first 20 applicants would have the opportunity to park on the 1950s Street, Derby HQ said my booking number was 93 but not what that meant in terms of the 1950s St parking...
With a few days to go, I contacted Susan Akrill who advised that I was No 20 for the 50s St Parking and that "it will all be clearly sign posted".

The piece in the latest Minor Matters said to arrive by 8:45.... At 8:30, I and several others are at the main car park having failed to find any 'signposting', seeking advice from staff as to where we had to go.
Eventually we found a lady who told us we should have turned left at the roundabout just by the main entrance gate, so off we set, taking the road she had specified. Eventually en-route a couple of signs were spotted, including at the required entrance gate....
I've no idea if this signage was a MMOC responsibility or Beamish.
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After that, all went like clockwork; of the 20 places that had been advised, as far as I could count only 12 were actually parked on the 50's 'street' (it's actually more than a single Street).
The chap directing where he wanted us to park, immediately knew exactly where he wanted me to park Basil, outside the Police House.

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This view is from across the Bowling Green showing the Allotments and the rear of the 50's housing examples.
I was having a peaceful moment with cup of tea at the time, thinking that any Bowlers visiting would be in tears at the weeds in the green.. .

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Meanwhile the rest of the Minors were about 10 minutes walk away, on the Event Field the other side of the 1900s Street, as seen from the open top bus.
I counted 68 there at the time but there might be a small error on that number.

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As there is a 5 image limit per post...

To Be Continued...

[geoberni]

As 5.00pm approached, those of us parked on the 50's st prepared to leave, topping up oil and fuel tanks in some cases.
I had found that on the 165 trip up to Beamish, Basil had dropped his engine oil from the top mark on the dipstick to quite near the bottom mark.
From the drip marks on the road it was evident that it was being lost rather than burnt
So that's something I have to investigate now we're safely back home.

Beamish also has a Police Call Box beside the hairdressers, so once the public had left and with my phone battery down to about 4%, I managed to get a final photo on site.

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On the way out I had to decline Mike Dean's invitation to join whatever mass event photo shoot he was considering; with a 165 miles in front of me I was hoping to get home by 10:00pm.
Basil seemed to be running a bit 'rough' for the final 40 miles or so which gave me a few concerns travelling down the A1, but I made it without any breakdown.
This morning I went out to check his oil level and have a general look under the bonnet. The oil was again near the low mark and I found the rearmost Distributor Cap Clip had misbehaved, being undone. Hopefully that will account for the rough running.

One tailpiece.
Before the general public were admitted, most of the owners on the 50s St were wandering around and generally chatting, and while talking to a young trio who had a SII parked by the Bowling Green, one of the guys (and I may have his name wrong but I think is was Fergus) said he had to just pop back to his car for a moment.
When he returned, he presented me with this 1960 A5 booklet, which he said he had recently purchased for 'a couple of quid' on a market stall and was looking to donate to a suitable Police Car owner.
So I thanked him profusely and immediately placed it on display in Basil's open glovebox.

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Many thanks to Fergus, and sincere apologies if I've remembered the name incorrectly

I'm sure there will be suitable coverage of the event in the next Minor Matters.

I can't speak for those that were parked with the main group, but I thought it was a great event, baring the confusion on where to go. It seemed to me that anyone who actually 'knew Beamish' knew exactly where to go anyway.

Having the cars on the 50's St really added to the experience, there was a lot of attention being given to the cars and IMHO, I think they really contributed to the overall appearance of the St.

[svenedin]

Nice write up Berni and a great photo of your car. Glad you had that 4% phone battery left!

I should think the loose distributor cap was indeed the cause of the rough running but I'd check carefully that nothing was damaged e.g rotor making physical contact when it isn't supposed to.

That was a lot of oil even by the standards of my engine when it was very worn out. In those days I was leaking about a pint every 100 miles but this is clearly significantly more.

Stephen

[Bill_qaz]

Berni, I don't know if its worth trying but when I first bought mine I used to top up to max and was a bit alarmed how it dropped.
I read a tip about running it half way between min and max and it uses far less oil imho. I don’t measure how much per mile but topping up is now very little. I think running at max level maybe pushes it out of the rear scroll.

[svenedin]

Berni, I don't know if its worth trying but when I first bought mine I used to top up to max and was a bit alarmed how it dropped.
I read a tip about running it half way between min and max and it uses far less oil imho. I don’t measure how much per mile but topping up is now very little. I think running at max level maybe pushes it out of the rear scroll.

It's worth trying that. I tried that on mine but it made no difference.

Stephen

[Bill_qaz]

Berni, I don't know if its worth trying but when I first bought mine I used to top up to max and was a bit alarmed how it dropped.
I read a tip about running it half way between min and max and it uses far less oil imho. I don’t measure how much per mile but topping up is now very little. I think running at max level maybe pushes it out of the rear scroll.

It's worth trying that. I tried that on mine but it made no difference.

Stephen

Yours was probably burning the oil due to wear. Were as I think mine leaked when filled to max and now doesn't

[svenedin]

Berni, I don't know if its worth trying but when I first bought mine I used to top up to max and was a bit alarmed how it dropped.
I read a tip about running it half way between min and max and it uses far less oil imho. I don’t measure how much per mile but topping up is now very little. I think running at max level maybe pushes it out of the rear scroll.

It's worth trying that. I tried that on mine but it made no difference.

Stephen

Yours was probably burning the oil due to wear. Were as I think mine leaked when filled to max and now doesn't

Mine was both burning and leaking!

Stephen

[geoberni]

Well, I think the major leak has been resolved.
Running Basil in the garage (with the door open of course) at a fast idle for a few minutes soon revealed a steady drip to the garage floor from behind the oil filter head where it attaches to the block. Basil has a Spin On Filter conversion.
I estimated 1 drip every 10 seconds or thereabouts and that was just at a fast idle that was tolerable noise in an small space, not hammering along at 55-60 for over 3 hours...
Dynamo off, check the fixing nuts for being tight and one of them did move slightly.
Strip the Filter Head and connecting pipe from the engine.
No new gasket to hand, but I do have some sheets of gasket paper, so carefully cut out a new gasket.
No problem with the reassembling, for which I am grateful since those Oil Filter connecting pipes can be a bit of a bar steward.

So was it the cause of the oil loss?

A drip every 10 seconds or so, over the time the journey took, is approximately 12,600 Drips, or Drops. the volume of the Drip/Drop is variable dependant on the viscosity of the fluid, so I went with standard definition created in the 1820s.

1 Drop is 1/480th of an Imperial Fluid Ounce.
So dividing 12,600 by 480 gives me 26.25 Fl Oz., or about 1.3 Pints.
That easily accounts for about 2/3rds of the oil lost so I'm happy with that.

I just need to check that the DIY gasket has done the required job over the coming months. I'll also not bother about getting too near the top line just in case.

[Bill_qaz]

Always nice when you can find a cause for the effect and more important a solution. Well done Berni

[svenedin]

Great. Sounds like that is sorted then!

Stephen

[59Elva]

I guess I hadn’t noticed that your car was ex-police. They didn’t have markings on the sides or a red gumball on the roof? A very fitting photo in front of the station. The silver bell is very quaint.