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Scrapheap Challenge

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droog
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PostPosted: 20:08 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

Remember Scrapheap Challenge on C4? Think it ran from 1998 to 2010.

Various teams building working vehicles that had to perform a specific task out of scrap cars, vans, trucks and assorted industrial machinery?

I used to love that show - I was just getting properly into doing my own spannering at the time so it was an inspiration - particularly as many of my bikes at the time were close to scrap anyway Razz

Another great show in the genre was 'Wheeler Dealers' with Ed China fixing up older cars.

Great era of TV for beer drinking, DIY spanner monkeys - these days 99% of terrestrial TV seems to be about baking fairy cakes and puffing up meringues! Rolling Eyes everything was better in my day moan, grumble etc etc . . . (ok - maybe that's a massive exaggeration . . .) Mr. Green
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Kawasaki Jimbo
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PostPosted: 20:20 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Meh!
WDYJSOYTVSAGADSLBI?

Regrettably I don’t always follow that advice although the telly is often just background. I don’t care that Nadine Dorries is threatening the BBC’s guaranteed licence fee either.
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Bhud
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PostPosted: 20:23 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to watch it sometimes. It was alright. I thought the way they found such ideal scrap in that scrapyard stretched the bounds of credility a little, though. And the presenters were a bit too overexcited.
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droog
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PostPosted: 20:31 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's probably rose tinted spectacles on my part, I tend to remember the 10% of the past that was all beer and sunshine and filter out the other 90% that was mostly boring or just plain shite Mr. Green

And yes, I think the scrap parts were strategically sourced and placed rather than just random findings Very Happy
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droog
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PostPosted: 20:32 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

But fair play for managing to stick them together and make them work - there was some proper skill and knowledge on display.
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Bhud
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PostPosted: 20:41 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was often pretty clever stuff, yes. Sometimes a bit frustrating when a team was given advice on how to do this or that, when there was an obvious solution. But there was one thing I really liked about it was the idea of a scrapyard. Full of potential; full of possibilities. It's good for creativity.
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droog
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PostPosted: 20:52 - 18 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bhud wrote:
It was often pretty clever stuff, yes. Sometimes a bit frustrating when a team was given advice on how to do this or that, when there was an obvious solution. But there was one thing I really liked about it was the idea of a scrapyard. Full of potential; full of possibilities. It's good for creativity.


Yes, I was learning the basics of diy bike maintenance and mechanics at the time, so seeing these guys with engineering and mechanical backgrounds using their depth of knowledge combined with abstract and creative thinking to solve problems, meet challenges and make things work against the clock inspired me to get deeper into the subject.
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 18:05 - 19 Jan 2022    Post subject: Re: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

droog wrote:
Another great show in the genre was 'Wheeler Dealers' with Ed China fixing up older cars.


Wheeler Dealers is still going, but without Ed - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheeler_Dealers#:~:text=Wheeler%20Dealers%20is%20a%20British,13%20(2003%2D2017).

My problem with it was always that they never included Ed's labour costs, so you got a really misleading impression of how much money was actually to be made when fixing up and selling old cars.
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 19:06 - 19 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

They did include them in later series, it moved from the hobbyist to the expert and quite frankly f1 elvis sucks balls on screen.
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TbirdX
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PostPosted: 19:58 - 19 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was working in a scarapyard in the back end of east london when they were filming an episode there.

One of the contestants came by where I was working on his wy to the lav when I looked up and said...

"You're Ben aren't you?"

His face made all sorts of crazy contortions trying to figure out where he knew me from or how I knew his name.

I didn't know him, nor he me, his name was written across the front of his overalls but his face was a picture. Smile
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Polarbear
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PostPosted: 20:37 - 19 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really enjoyed it. Some of the constructions were epic. I expect if they tried to do it now it would be so sanitised by H&S it just wouldn't work.

It didn't do the fat army Major any harm either did it, getting that
'Escape to the Chateau' programme.
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droog
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PostPosted: 22:02 - 19 Jan 2022    Post subject: Re: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

Zen Dog wrote:

My problem with it was always that they never included Ed's labour costs, so you got a really misleading impression of how much money was actually to be made when fixing up and selling old cars.


Yes, when you calculate the cost of labour plus the cost of the garage space, hydraulic lift and equipment the figures probably didn't add up, especially as some of the profit margins were very thin.

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
They did include them in later series, it moved from the hobbyist to the expert and quite frankly f1 elvis sucks balls on screen.


Yeah, I prefer it when Ed China was doing it.

TbirdX wrote:
I didn't know him, nor he me, his name was written across the front of his overalls but his face was a picture. Smile


lol! Classic! Mr. Green

Polarbear wrote:
I really enjoyed it. Some of the constructions were epic. I expect if they tried to do it now it would be so sanitised by H&S it just wouldn't work.


Yeah, some of the engineering/mechanical work was very clever and inventive - even though it wasn't that long ago it does seem to be from another age when people were a bit more into dirty, oily potentially dangerous mechanical stuff - artifical intelligence, software and baking seems to have taken centre stage since then.

Yeah - The Strawbridge guy seems to have done ok with his chateau.
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 11:26 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Because of scrapheap challenge I realised that, when I was messing around with a scaffold pole chucking lighter fluid and stuff in and lighting it to watch the flame front run repeatedly from one end to the other and back, if I'd used a U shaped tube it would have been a pulse jet....
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droog
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PostPosted: 13:03 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Because of scrapheap challenge I realised that, when I was messing around with a scaffold pole chucking lighter fluid and stuff in and lighting it to watch the flame front run repeatedly from one end to the other and back, if I'd used a U shaped tube it would have been a pulse jet....


Like the V-1?

If the Germans and Japanese had been watching scrapheap challenge back in 1945 it might have extended WW2 by at least two more years . . . Shocked Mr. Green
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 13:19 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:
Because of scrapheap challenge I realised that, when I was messing around with a scaffold pole chucking lighter fluid and stuff in and lighting it to watch the flame front run repeatedly from one end to the other and back, if I'd used a U shaped tube it would have been a pulse jet....


On the pulse jet theme, and the scrapheap challenge theme generally, have you guys seen Colin Furze?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EHZPjLNHk
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 13:39 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

droog wrote:

Like the V-1?


Yep. Thats all a pulse jet is, a U shaped tube.

Obviously to run for some time you need to add a way of fuel injection and a source of ignition for ease of starting
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MarJay
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PostPosted: 14:27 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Re: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

Zen Dog wrote:
My problem with it was always that they never included Ed's labour costs, so you got a really misleading impression of how much money was actually to be made when fixing up and selling old cars.


Not at all. The idea was and has always been about what an enthusiastic amateur can do given time and tools to work on cars. If you're an enthusiast and want to own an M3, or a 911 or something but can't afford anything other than something that needs work you can do it economically. Loads of people seem to have the misconception you have but it's always been made clear right from the beginning.
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droog
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PostPosted: 14:30 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zen Dog wrote:


On the pulse jet theme, and the scrapheap challenge theme generally, have you guys seen Colin Furze?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1EHZPjLNHk


Incredible! Look forward to checking out that channel! Shocked Very Happy

Nobby the Bastard wrote:


Yep. Thats all a pulse jet is, a U shaped tube.

Obviously to run for some time you need to add a way of fuel injection and a source of ignition for ease of starting


Interesting design, relatively simple but effective.
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droog
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PostPosted: 14:41 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Re: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

MarJay wrote:
Not at all. The idea was and has always been about what an enthusiastic amateur can do given time and tools to work on cars. If you're an enthusiast and want to own an M3, or a 911 or something but can't afford anything other than something that needs work you can do it economically. Loads of people seem to have the misconception you have but it's always been made clear right from the beginning.


After working on my own bikes for the last decade I would like to go down this route with cars - and as you say; get hold of something interesting that needs a lot of work that I could pick up relatively cheaply - the only thing that puts me off is the physical size of cars and the extra weight compared to bikes - to do all the kinds of jobs I would want to do to make the project satisfying and economical I'm thinking I would need a lot more garage space and a hydraulic lift for extracting engines and gearboxes etc?
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droog
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PostPosted: 14:45 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would like to revive an old 911 if one came up at the right price which is possibly wishful thinking these days anyway - but as a case in point the 911 engine can only be extracted from underneath the car and would require putting the car on a lift for example?
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 15:04 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

droog wrote:
I would like to revive an old 911 if one came up at the right price which is possibly wishful thinking these days anyway - but as a case in point the 911 engine can only be extracted from underneath the car and would require putting the car on a lift for example?


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qHegeZG2L._AC_.jpg
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droog
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PostPosted: 15:52 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:


Yes, they look good - much more reassuring than axle stands.

If I was gonna seriously work on cars I think I would save up for a low rise hydraulic lift.

I reckon I'll stick to bikes though because in terms of practicality they are so much easier to take apart and work on.
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 16:08 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Re: Scrapheap Challenge Reply with quote

MarJay wrote:
Not at all. The idea was and has always been about what an enthusiastic amateur can do given time and tools to work on cars. If you're an enthusiast and want to own an M3, or a 911 or something but can't afford anything other than something that needs work you can do it economically. Loads of people seem to have the misconception you have but it's always been made clear right from the beginning.


I wasn't a dedicated watcher, but in the few episodes I watched I don't remember that ever being mentioned as the intent. Most amateurs don't have access to a massive workshop, or a dedicated team. If it was meant to be representing the enthusiastic amateur, who was occupying that role on the show? Brewer didn't do any of the work, and Ed had access to way more kit than your average amateur. They don't make any reference to whether the particular work they do is viable for your average amateur either. If they said things like "obviously you'd need access to a spray booth/chassis jig/whatever if you were doing this yourself" I could see it, but they don't. I'm not saying you're wrong, but that intent wasn't clear at all, to me at least.
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 16:10 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nobby the Bastard wrote:

Yep. Thats all a pulse jet is, a U shaped tube.

Obviously to run for some time you need to add a way of fuel injection and a source of ignition for ease of starting


Does a pulse jet have to be U shaped? I always assumed they were U shaped for packaging/space saving reasons, since they'd be ridiculously long just as a tube.
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Nobby the Bastard
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PostPosted: 16:26 - 20 Jan 2022    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Zen Dog"]
Nobby the Bastard wrote:


Does a pulse jet have to be U shaped? I always assumed they were U shaped for packaging/space saving reasons, since they'd be ridiculously long just as a tube.


Yes, because you need the jets to go in the same direction otherwise the net effect is zero force. Thrust comes out of both ends.
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Old Thread Alert!

The last post was made 2 years, 67 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful?
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