Friday, October 14, 2005

Something actually went wrong!

Yes, I had a problem with Becky last night. The ignition light came on when I was driving her. My thoughts immediately turned to the alternator as being the culprit. This suspicion was proved right when I got my multimeter out and took a voltage reading across the battery terminal when the engine was running. I got a reading of just over 12 volts and it should be 14 volts. As it happened I had an alternator among my colletion of spares so I dug it out today and swapped the alternator after work. Becuase all my tools are kept in Baby Blue's boot I had to go over to where she is kept to be able to do the job. The one thing I like about Acclaims is that they'll still keep on going even if something has gone wrong. Anyway, back to the story. (as Ronnie Corbett would say!) I swapped the alternator over and it has done the trick. I was talking about this to Brian (a work colleague and fellow Triumph enthusiast - He's restoring a Herald 13/60 covertible) who thinks that the brushes might need replacing. I'm going to have this alternator repaired and then I've got a spare once again. WHen I was over there I had a closer look at my new welder. The hand-held mask is absolutely pathetic! I've got a proper welding mask off Brian and that just needs a lens before I can use it. Unfortunately, the lens for the hand-held mask is too small. A trip to Machine Mart, Arco or Halfords is called for then I can get what I need to start welding.

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