Petrol head thread!!!

[billy rubin]

sure

i would think you can dump a quart of anything in. it will likely have a very low octane rating because its less volatile, but mixed with some gasoline it should be okay

[Dark Lightning]

That's what I was thinking. I appreciate the corroboration.

[billy rubin]

well , remember, pump gasoline itself is a mixture of all kinds of stuff. th ebasic requirement are just C5s and above, all of which will be liquid at STP

then they put in ethanol, detergents, octane boosters like methyl ethyl lead, tolulene, and so forth. maybe even iso-octane? diesel fuel is around 20 percent simple low molecular weight liquid oil. and the stuff i burn at the race track might have significant methanol in it, and the courageous peiople run nitro methane.

with fuel injection and knock sensors, we can pour a lot of stuf into a fuel tank that would have cause poor running or even damage not so long ago.

these are the people who make the stuff i burn at the race course

https://vpracingfuels.com/product-category/racing/racing-fuels/

[Icarus]

Most Charcoal lighter juice is composed of "alaphatic petroleum carbohydrates", which can covers a range of sneaky ingredients. But most of the time it is plain old mineral spirits.









 

[billy rubin]

heavens, ive got a line on a 1968 watsonian monaco sidecar for stupid cheap money

stay tuned to this station. ive been looking for a chair for my 69 thunderbolt since i bought it⁹.

[billy rubin]

this is what i have available for a tug



dont have any full frontals yet but hereis the chair. the only thing missing is th eperspex windscreen, which is absolutely not a problem, as watsonian windscreens were among the ugliest in the business. i can make a small flyscreen easily enough by just warming up and bending a piece clear plastic



watsonian had a lot to say about the advantages of a sidecar. they were very popular in britain until the middle of the 1960s, when suddenly the austin mini dropped itself directly into the middle of their niche.

[Tank]

What a beauty.

[billy rubin]

an incredible deal on this old tugboat. some 56 years old, as of today.











these are the seller's pictures. he took it down to pieces, completely repainted it, put it on his triumph trophy and ran it around for awhile. now he's tired of it and wants the room.

they do take up a shitload of garage space.

these old stodgy watsonians were the high-quality luxury chairs of their day. well engineered, durable, expensive. you could get them fully-enclosed if you had a lady friend who didnt like to ride in the rain. (didnt help you any, you just had to deal with it.) old used ones like this normally go for around $3000 or so. watsonian is still around, somehow, and new ones are 7500 quid or better, and then have to be shipped across the pond. this fellow asked US$1500 or best offer. i told him i would absolutely pay the full $1500 if it was in the condition the pictures showed, and sent him a deposit.

so its a done deal unless somebody dies. where i live this is about as practical as a four-horse chariot for about half the year. i absolutely dont have the money for this sort of thing, and i need a sidecar like i need a paper ass, but you only live once, and this will never be worth less than what i'll pay for it. so what the hell.

i am accumulating an incredible headache for my lovely wife to deal with when i croak. something like ten or eleven motorcycles, a fuckton of various parts that only i know the applications thereof, and now this thing.

but ill be dead, you know. so theres that.

[Icarus]

The sidehack looks good Billy.

My only experience with that kind of rig was way back in the dark ages. I had a Cushman with a sidecar. Not many people rode in the hack but I had great fun by sliding the rig around corners along with other teenage antics.

[billy rubin]

the only sidecar experience i have is riding monkey on a racing outfit for about 15 minutes. gave a guy a kill switch he needed and he took me out on the airstrip in return.

but this chair is a historical gem. watsonians were the bentleys of sidecars. about 200 pounds, i think. i have that 1969 BSA thundebolt to pull it so we ll see how it goes.

[Icarus]

You got class Billy!  Only sophisticated gentlemen have sidecars attached to their bike. In which case it is no longer a bike.

[billy rubin]

dunno about real sophistication. to be honest it looks like ill be riding aroud alongside a baby killer whale.

but ill see about getting a tweed jacket and some sort of skinny tie. i can look the part maybe

from the picturez it looks like the sidecar is a british-style tub mounted to an american chassis. in brutain you mount the chair on the left; and in america on the right. this one has the the cutout on the body on the tug side. doesnt make sense to try to climb out of the seat into the gap next to the moticycle.

wonder what the history of it is. you never know with these things after so many years

[Icarus]

Way back in the day I had a Harley 74 ci. It had built in lugs on the frame to accept side hack attachment.

These days nary a sidecar can be seen. But there are numerous trikes. Most of then are H-D modifications but I suspect that the H-D factory may have begun to manufacture them. I do remeber that there was an old guy in town who had a sidecar on his Guzzi. I saw him often at the grocery store. The sidecar made a most convenient place to haul his bread and milk.

[billy rubin]

they make a lot of sense for that. or if you want to take a dog along

[Icarus]

Just for fun petrol head video. I would have bet on the electric but Dani Pedrosa thought different.