Making progress on our Tonka Truck

We finished up the body work on the entire cab and front end of The General! All has been media blasted and coated with epoxy primer after extensive body work. The inside of the cab got a thick coat of heavy duty truck bed liner.

We just finished the custom seat frame today (pictures coming soon). The frame will hold 3 bucket seats. Now we need to find a sleeper cab from an old Peterbuilt and an M105 military trailer for the bed. Next, we are going to rebuild the entire brake system, so we can start driving it more than down the street. The entire drivetrain is getting new fluids and the axles are getting all new seals, too.

Driver beats up traffic warden on duty

One Gideon Eloho, a resident of number 23, Trademore Avenue, Trademore estate,  have appeared before an Abuja Magistrate’s  court for assaulting a senior traffic warden.

The driver in charge of a golf car with registration number AZ 77YAB is facing charges of criminal force and assault on public officer and mischief which runs contrary to Sections 267 and 327 of the Penal Code.

The prosecuting counsel, Sergeant Abdullahi Adamu told the court that on August 22, 2011 a senior traffic warden,  Ayuba Usman attached to Divisional Police Station,  Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, arrested and brought the accused person to the station.

He  said that the accused person intentionally disobeyed  the officer’s hand signal while he was performing his lawful duty along Herbert Macaulay way by Sir Kashim Ibrahim junction, Wuse market Abuja.

In an attempt to apprehend the suspect, he was said to have  alighted out of the car and  beat up  the traffic warden,  tearing his uniform in the process and leaving him with internal injury.

Corporal Idoko Ogidi  was said to have intervened in the process of the fight, but the accused person held and cut off his uniform button.

After listening to the prosecutor, the accused person pleaded not guilty to all the charges leveled against him.

Magistrate Fatima Malo, granted him bail in the sum of N50,000 and a reliable surety who must reside within the court’s jurisdiction, adjourning the case to a later date.

Credit: Independent News

21/09/11

National Theatre parking lot abandoned

The multi-million naira car park built within the precincts of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, about two years ago has been abandoned.

A check by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that the park, located close to the entrance of the theatre complex, is now covered by weeds, with water tanks, four broken down plants and vehicles abandoned there.

The park, constructed in 2009, has the capacity for, at least 100 vehicles.

Officials, who spoke with NAN, said that the parking lot was constructed to solve the problem of parking space for visitors and fun-seekers, who besieged the National Theatre particularly at weekends and during festivities.

But the general manager of the complex, Kabir Yusuf, declined comment on the abandoned park, saying it was not built by the organisation.

He, however, disclosed a comprehensive plan by the federal government to re-design the complex into a world class tourists' destination. According to him, a five-star hotel and other facilities are to be provided within the premises of the complex.

On security, Mr Yusuf said adequate measures had been put in place to ensure the security of lives and property.

"It was in those days that people were robbed and girls were raped, but now there is security at the complex.

"We have introduced police patrol and we also have police dogs to curtail any criminal activity; criminals cannot operate here anymore because there is no room for them," he said.

Mr Yusuf urged the government to increase the level of funding to the national monument.

"There is need for increased funding of the National Theatre for its maintenance," he added.

Credit: 234NEXT

17/09/11

The British Invasion returns

Once again it's time to head for Vermont, for the British Invasion

Here's a preview of a few of the cars we are bringing:

Please join me on the show field, and meet the crew from Robison Service.  We will have cars in Land Rover, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Triumph classes.

When engines run too fast, or too lean . . . valves break

Last week, we received a 1990s Range Rover Classic that ran rough and made some noise.  A local garage had changed the plugs and wires, to no avail.  They did a compression test, and found one dead cylinder, with 25 PSI compression.  A normal reading on a truck like this is 175.  That's when the owner decided to ship the rig to us.

We did a leak down test, where we put air into the cylinder through the spark plug hole, to see where it comes out.  Air came out the exhaust as fast as we put it in.  There was only one thing to do - we pulled the head.

We found just what I expected - a burnt exhaust valve.  You can see the two valves in the cylinder head photo above.  The intake is on the left; exhaust on the right.  See the ragged edge on the right side of the exhaust valve?  That's the failure.  Here's the valve, removed from the head:

In this photo the failure is unmistakable.  That was where the story got complicated.  The owner said, "The engine only started skipping after I got the truck back from having a new transmission installed."  I asked why he had the transmission changed.  "It stopped shifting gears," was his reply.  "It stuck in low."

I decided to look at little closer.  Look real close at this photo of the piston.  Note the little line just below center right:




















It looks to me like the valve touched the top of the piston, ever so slightly.  BTW, the liquid in the cylinder is residue from disassembly.  It has nothing to do with the repair.

I thought about what the owner had said, and I concluded one of two things must have happened.
A - He ran the engine too fast because the transmission was stuck. As a consequence, the valve "floated" and hit the piston, causing it to fail
B - The engine was racing way too fast with a light load because the transmission was stuck.  As a result, it ran too lean, and the lean running caused that cylinder to overheat because its injector was a little marginal.

I don't know which explanation is correct, and of course one of you readers may suggest something totally different.  For now, I am going to use my best judgement and recommend we change that injector, and fix the valve.  Changing the injector covers both the bases for us.  The trans repair took care of the over-revving, and the injector will take care of possible leanness in that cylinder.

As you can see, there is no sign of damage on the cleaned up piston:



















The valve looks just as fried as ever.  We'll fit a new one, and new springs just to be safe.  We will also touch up the valve job on all the other cylinders and clean up the seats.




















If you go back to the top photo, you'll see there was black carbon all over the valve.  What does that tell us?  It says someone tried to drive this truck a ways with the failed cylinder.  That suggests it may have failed earlier than the owner thought.  However, it does not change the diagnosis.  

Is there a moral to this story?  I think so. When your car starts to fail, or act at all unusual, park it.  Don't drive it home and then say, "it sounds funny."  By the time you get there, it may be too late.  This fellow started with a transmission repair, but when he kept driving, it became an engine repair too.

In his defense, I must say that we see this all the time. Modern cars have loud stereos and lots of sound deadening around the motor.  Most of the lights and gauges we had 20 years ago are gone.  It's easy to drive today's vehicles until they go up in smoke, and then ask ourselves, "How did that happen?"

As owners (I am an owner too, not just a repair guy) we have to be extra observant because the sounds and smells that used to warn of danger are no longer there for us to see, unless we look real close.  Check your fluids every now and then, and if you ever feel something may be amiss, slow down, open a window, and listen and smell.  It it ticking?  Does it smell hot?  Is that gauge pinned in the red?

In the end, if our cars fail, we pay the price.  So it pays to be vigilant.

Parking Company Recruits Massively

Newly established, the 1^st and the only real professional car parking company registered in Nigeria, V-Park Management Solutions Limited simply refer to as “V-Park” is massively recruiting now for professionals and general staff. Please visit website via this link http://www.v-parkms.com/Careers.aspx, to find out about available positions.

Salaries and Benefits: Very Attractive

Credit: Africa News

12/09/11

KIIRA EV ( UGANDA )

The KIIRA EV is Uganda's solution to sustainable transportation for Africa's urban cities. KIIRA EV is a concept car that is 100% electric; It seats 2 people, is styled compact and designed to meet needs of Africa's expanding urban environment. An 18 horse power motor drives the KIIRA EV to a top speed of 60mph. The KIIRA EV was designed by Makerere University at the College of Engineering and Technology's Centre For Research in Transportation Technologies (CRTT). The Vehicle Design Project (VDP) is part of the CRTT that sets the stage for this ambitious venture which will lead to more advanced concepts in transportation technologies. The KIIRA EV is the concept car that ushers in the era of green energy technology to power vehicles for the African continent.

More details will be released in the coming weeks.

V-Park Technology: “parkbycodedcard” Launch Is Coming Up Soon

The now and the future generation of parking software was released into public Beta just two months ago, and is making its way toward Release Candidate stage, with the final testing underway. The specific date of release still undisclosed according to the CEO of V-Park Management Solutions Limited (Mr W.A Seriki), but V-Park is now claiming that “parkbycodedcard” is coming up soon. The parking company has not shared the deadlines for the delivery of the upcoming development milestone for this latest parking software, let alone the dates when it plans to release the operating system to the parking industry, or when it will kick off general availability. But claiming that parkbycodedcard is right on track to come up soon and strategic effort to restrict copycat from some parking companies overseas that have been dying to get their teeth in the web based parking solution which is first of its kind developed in Africa by Africans has been put in place.

 And yet, “soon” still sounds like weeks away, just in case you were planning on holding your breath. However, V-Park is indeed getting ready for the availability of “parkbycodedcard”, and plans to offer for the exclusivity purchase by an American firm was recently declined and possibility of future negotiation for best offer is now in view. According to the company CEO, the full Toolkit for this simple, flexible and cost effective parking solution for revenue management that will take the world by storm are already in place.

 
“The parkbycodedcard launch is coming up soon, and we're doing everything we can to help our customers and clients get the most value for money for our parking payment solutions that is second-to-none to others currently in the international market according to the Chief Operating Officer (Mr D.O Oluwabiyi). He further stressed that “it was the company intention not to release the final documentation of apps due to copycat issues as the company has spent huge amount of money for R&D for the complete project and the outside world trying to do this, cannot reap where they have not sown”. He added that the security and the safety of the overall process have been beefed up and the company legal department are monitoring trends for copyright law breach litigation by any impostors. “Those who wish to be notified as program updates are made available and when software is released can opt-in to receive email notifications via the following lhttp://www.v-parkms.com/ContactUs/QuickContact.aspx.

The company IT Specialist (Mr D.N Handapangoda) stated that the company is on schedule for the whole web based enterprise to be launched and the general public support locally for the parking software and the enthusiasm abroad has been very huge. He assured that “parkbycodedcard” will transform the whole parking industry within the first few years of its operations by saving governments, municipalities, parking operators, private companies with parking facilities and motorists huge amount of parking cost annually thereby increasing their bottom line very positively. He added that the beauty of the software is that it can be used anywhere in the world including off and on street environments. And the set up cost is very minimal in comparison to similar parking solutions in the market. He then concluded that the web based application has room for future expansion as it’s the most flexible piece of work he had ever worked upon as a lot of thought with due diligence went into the process right from its inception . Watch out for another press release early next month.

Credit: Africa News

07/09/11

Great Breaks on Great Brakes

Are quieter brakes important to you?

Do you ever have black dust build up on your wheels?

Have you ever replaced your brake hardware?

Do you tow a trailer with your vehicle?

Do you plan to take a family vacation with your vehicle?

Is your safety and your family's safety important to you?

If your vehicle's radio or air conditioner aren't working properly, that's an inconvenience. If your brakes aren't as reliable as they used to be, that's serious business. Now more than ever, your vehicle needs great brakes you can rely on for every stop. 

Right now, Mastermind Enterprises, your local NAPA AutoCare Center in Denver, Colorado is giving you great breaks on great brakes. From September 1 - September 30th, you will receive up to a $50 VISA rebate card by mail on your qualifying purchase of brake parts in our auto repair shop. Get great brakes you can count on stop after stop. 

Have your brakes checked today at Mastermind Enterprises!

Happy Labor Day!

We will be closed to spend the day with our family and work on The General. More pictures coming soon. See you on Tuesday!

Mombasa Parking Lot Workers Strike

Workers of a firm contracted by the Mombasa Municipal Council to collect parking fees at the Kenya Airports Parking Services are on a go-slow over salary increment.



The workers said the council has gone back on an agreement signed between the workers and the company management over a nine per cent salary increment and a Sh2,500 house allowance in June. "According to the CBA, the increment was supposed to be effected by July. But they have slashed our basic salary so as to make it look like they have awarded the house allowance," said a worker at the council.

But KAPS boss David Kihumba denied slashing the workers' basic salary. "It is not true we have gone against the CBA. This was a roundtable thing that we effected from the date due. Maybe they should say that they are not satisfied with the agreement we had," said Kihumba. The workers said the company did not give them their July pay slips at first. They claimed that they have been on a glow slow since August 3.

Transport and Allied Workers Union Nairobi central branch secretary Dishon Ogowa, however, said the CBA had not been signed although everything had been agreed. "There are things that they have not implemented well. We are now working on some documentation so that we make things official so that we can go to court if need be," said Ogowa.









Credit: allAfrica News
01/09/11

German city introduces parking meter for prostitutes... Africans might buy similar idea

Bonn, the former West German capital, has introduced a parking meter for prostitutes, a first in Germany, in order to tax those who just work the streets, a city spokesperson said Wednesday.

"We expect to get some €200 000 per year from the meter," said Isabelle Klotz.

The meter, which looks like those used for parked cars, was inaugurated at the weekend in an industrial area, near the centre of town, used by sex workers to solicit clients.

Sex workers have to pay €6 per night worked, regardless of how many customers they have.

On Monday when the meter was first emptied,  264 had been paid in, Klotz said.

Some 200 women are believed to occasionally work the streets in Bonn, but the average overnight tally is 20.

If prostitutes fail to buy a ticket, valid overnight from 8pm to 6 am, they will first be warned and then fined, she added. Leaflets in German and other languages have been handed out to inform the sex workers of the new rule.

"Other towns also tax prostitutes but we are the first to have a meter," Klotz said.

"Women who work in brothels also pay the tax. But until now it had been difficult to get women on the street to pay. Thanks to this new method we will be able to tax them in all fairness with the others", she added.


Juanita Rosina Henning, from the Dona Carmen sex worker support group, called for the meter's removal, saying the women already pay income tax on their earnings.

"This has nothing to do with fiscal equality," she said, adding that sex workers were the only citizens to be taxed in such a way.

"We call on the city to remove the meter," she added.


In Africa, the reception of the new policy on prostitutes has been positively welcomed mostly by decision makers based on their follow up reactions  in their local papers. Most of African leaders agreed that such system will go a long way to monitor and record the activities of the curb crawlers and also help to generate small revenue which could aid local road infrastructural maintenance if introduced across the continent. 


Africa currently has the highest number of prostitutes around the globe but do not have a system in place to monitor the activities of the prostitutes left alone for them to pay tax.














Credit: Undisclossed
01/09/11

No parking off for Jo'burg's Tau

'Are you really the Jo'burg mayor?" This is a question that Parks Tau gets asked a lot because of his youthful appearance. He is 41, but looks half that age.

Considering the responsibility of the job, particularly that of the growth and development strategy (GDS) 2040 he's just embarked upon, the look is a "bit of a disadvantage". He hints that he doesn't want to be the proverbial book judged by its cover.

Neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed by the responsibility, in fact, it's what he finds exciting about the new job, this father of three boys who lives in Winchester Hills in the south of Johannesburg tells the Mail & Guardian, in an interview that took a few minutes to organise.

He is fresh-faced, frown and wrinkle-free, thin, slightly taller than average, and wears a grey suit and pink tie quite confidently as he stands before his first meeting with the Johannesburg Press Club last week. He may not be the world's most charismatic speaker, but he is intelligent and talks directly to the gathering with no speech in hand. Tau looks as though he's just landed like a breath of fresh air into the City of Johannesburg, but in fact he has been there since he was 25.

So, even when he tries to avoid irritating jargon, he can't completely. Says Tau: "We must have clarity of language when we talk to people: what does accelerated social development mean?"

Is it possible that Tau's new mayoral committee's long-term growth and development strategy could give Cape Town's Helen Zille a run for her money?

The GDS process includes a nine-week public-outreach programme, which will culminate in a summit on October 20, where the new 30-year strategy will be formulated. To this end, the mayor has employed Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as YouTube, to get the public to participate in changing the face of its own city and ensure its sustainability. Tau's unreserved use of social-media tools to promote communication with the public and get his message out there is part of the advantage of having a young mayor.

The responsibility must be enormous, given that Johannesburg is expected to grow 66% over the next 30 years and water, sanitation and power has to keep up. Should we panic?

"Research and planning is an integral part of making things work, and yes, the general trend is towards population growth, but at a decreased rate of 1.6% per annum," he says. "Jo'burg is not such a densely populated city and we are looking at how to optimise and upgrade the infrastructure we already have.


"Should we be using energy in the way that we do or should we be looking at solar and other alternatives like gas and wind. We need a return on investment in the economy," says Tau.

Partnering with the public
The important thing is the implementation of all the grand plans for water, energy, waste, household growth and roads once they are finalised after the summit. 

Meanwhile, there are indications that the city is moving forward. For instance, last week it joined forces with the Hawks and caught a few cable thieves, which led it to some of the syndicates in operation. Cable theft is threatening to derail the multibillion-rand Gautrain operation.

It is this kind of collaborative effort, according to Tau, that could work if the public came on board. In not so many words, the new attitude should be: stop whinging and whining and start working with the council to solve the city's myriad problems.

One of the city's main issues is to speed up service delivery, for example, in the sorting out of incorrect bills. The correction process -- the complaint, reading a meter, then correcting the problem -- should take less than a month, he said. "We are turning the corner, but I have to say that it is the citizen's responsibility to pay for electricity and water, not the council's responsibility."

At a seminar on resource sustainability, one of the many seminars conducted by the city recently, councillor Ros Greeff, the mayoral committee member in charge of infrastructure, said current estimates are that the city will grow from the current 3.88-million to 6.5-million people in 2040. This represents an additional 200 000 households every 10 years. 

The seminar formed part of the city's programme to revise its growth and development strategy, taking into account the needs for the next 30 years.

There have been a few breaths of fresh air in Johannesburg since Tau's appointment.

Research, planning, communication with the public, the use of social media and the admission of mistakes is all taking place.

Last week, there was consultation with the public on energy alternatives and this week the subject is health, poverty and the burden of disease. Some of the other themes that will be tackled in the public consultation processes include transport, environment and governance.

"Democracy," says Tau, is more than just about elections.

And so, every Tuesday, he and his mayoral committee analyse all online inputs from the academic sector and social media that will be used for the summit on October 20. Meanwhile, submissions are pouring in.

What to expect
There will be huge public-education campaigns: on the pre-paid system, on why you should not water your garden at lunchtime, issues related to the environment and acid mine drainage, and how and why waste should be separated. Meanwhile, potholes proliferate but are being fixed slowly and traffic lights often don't work, causing snarled-up roads. But you may have noticed all sorts of digging on the sides of roads recently. Fibreoptic cables are being rolled out throughout the city to give the public access to telecommunications. The city is installing broadband connectivity.

It has raised some eyebrows about priorities: we have electricity outages, but are making headway with broadband? For Tau, nothing should be neglected. And so broadband will be installed and research into alternatives to coal, such as gas and wind energy, is also taking place so that future electricity supply is guaranteed.

Tau admits that we shouldn't expect "miracles" from him, but should look forward to huge improvements.

The outgoing chairperson of the Johannesburg Press Club, Hopewell Radebe, tells Tau the media is "not out to get everyone" and that he deserves a chance to succeed.

"All journalists will be calling for more information on your roll-outs and upgrading of infrastructure. 

"The best way to make the media report correctly and accurately is for you to keep communication open with us all the time," Radebe tells a keenly attentive Tau.

In a follow-on interview with the M&G, Tau says that he is enthused rather than daunted by the challenges that face him. "I have the opportunity to turn things around," he says. 
Pressed on whether he will compete with Zille to make Jo'burg more efficient than Cape Town, Tau just laughs: "I'm looking for benchmarks internationally. I need to perform optimally and continuously."

Tau is aiming high. Is he the man for the job? Johannesburg will be watching.

City facts:

• Johannesburg is planning for a population that will grow by more than 66% in the next three decades.



• It collects more than 1.8-million tonnes of garbage every year. This includes almost 250 000 tonnes generated through illegal dumping and about 1 800 tonnes of litter from the streets.



• Separation of waste at source will in future no longer be an option, but a necessity. Pikitup has introduced a pilot project to introduce and manage this process that will, in future, be expanded across the city.



• There will be greater effort to combat illegal dumping and the pollution of rivers, streams, lakes and other water resources through education as well as law enforcement.



• The city wants to root out the scourge of cable theft and illegal connections through stronger law enforcement and the support of communities.

Credit: Glenda Daniels (M&G) Online

August 2011