Extracting it

Well the serenity of the Natural History interlude was short lived; out with my trusty old drill (it was a Black & Decker that I got for my 21^st – it was actually made in Australia, which is not something that one sees much with consumer goods these days!) I reckon that for all that I’ve put it thru in the past 20 years; it has been a fantastic tool.

Anyway, I compared the screw extractors to the drill bits I owned & selected one that was nicely sized so to allow the extractor to bite & remove the broken bolt…

Bugger, No joy…

Ok, so let’s get the drill out & use the next size up screw extractor…

No Joy…

The screw extractor is doing a nice job of scouring out the inside of bolt…

Oh I hate this; OK, so let’s try with an Allen key driven into the hole, at least this may bite into the insides of the bolt & allow me to smoothly extract the bolt, or, rotate it so that it can be removed from underneath

No Joy…

Hmmm, drama & burgeoning panic; SO, in order to feel better, Let’s rip some skin off of my knuckles for good measure… ARRGH

OK, so see if the file can bite into the broken bolt & loosen it… all it will take is a little move & the thing will spin freely…

Nope, not even close…  Well let’s just bloody well give up & bloody well file the bloody thing out then…  Hmmm, despite the chunks of steel bolt that have come out of the bolt hole, I have still got a problem

AND of course I now have to come up with a plan of how to hold the battery bracket… AND, to top it all off, I reckon that this will cause an issue with the plastic battery cover when I purchase one...

Fan-bloody-tastic

Bloody; Bum; Poo!

I can’t even console myself with any of the alcohol in the shed as I have to go pick up the boys this arvo

DAM IT ALL!

Anyway, In order not go nuts, I will have to consult the Workshop manual & see how the battery covers are kept closed; if it is a bolt that fits thru & tightens the cover & the black retainer I will have to look at options… if not, I will look at doing something like this…

The proposed battery retainer, oh I can just smell the panic with this idea!

Most of you will have noted the pure desperation of this idea; yep, I know I have a BIG problem… & I am in vain trying to sell myself the positive!

I will have to do this sooner rather than later too, because IF I need to do welding & associated hot work, it needs to be completed BEFORE I send the love cub to be spray painted (which of course will destroy any  of the paint!)

It also looks like I will be buying some of the plastic trim sooner rather than later (probably from E-bay…) as I will need to get the paint matched to the light blue plastic re-production parts & it is easier to do it in a job lot...(pity about the money bit!)

Next, let’s remove the Carburettor… & discover that the plastic heat shield thingy is broken too – this is probably going to cost heaps to replace as well! Oh well, I was after a real man’s hobby!

Hmm, so all the light blue plastic parts & the white side covers & a carby kit (if I can find the fuel tap bit… otherwise it is a whole new carby)

How the BLOODY hell could this job have turned out so BLOODY hard!

Bad Karma is all I can put it down to!

Now, so in future, I don’t have an issue with the innards of the engine, let’s plug the inlet & outlet to keep all the potential contamination out of it. Given everything that has gone wrong today, I don’t have an issue being a shade cautious at the moment. Some masking tape to widen out a couple of old down off cuts & I think I have an answer

The Cubs Donk - inlet & outlet plugged Leigh Style!

The positive of all this silly business is that the Old Donk will look schmick-o when the hydro blasting is completed…

Now how do I get this up to Dear Ol’ Dads place? Well in the Shopping trolley of course! – Rhonda the Honda; our families ever reliable Honda CRV!

A Honda in a Honda...

I did make sure to put down some old newspaper in the back of the car as I could just see anything going wrong if it possibly could after the past couple of hours on a five minute job! Now quickly up to Dear Ol Dads shed to deposit the Love Cub on a pallet & hopefully the old girl will be cleaned up the next time I see it!

Now quickly around to pick up the boys after school & start to obliterate the terrible memories of the easy 5 minute job!

So Mote it Be!

Leigh