Good Old Gunsons

I just wish here to recommend a tool manufacturer who I have found very useful in the past when working on basic machinery, that manufacturer is Gunson, and they make tools for specialist uses at an affordable price. I first came across them when I restored a 1955 Land-Rover, their Eezilap
electric drill powered valve lapping tool I found very useful for lapping the hardened valves into their seats on a rover side valve engine. That old motor was designed to run on rougher fuel than we had available, so the motor was tuned with the Gunson's Colortune tool, the ignition flame colour gave the best running possible on the old four star fuel. I later used that device and the Eezilap for my job when servicing and repairing Honda single cylinder four stroke air cooled motors as fitted to construction site plant, the machines always had the reports that they ran very well, and more importantly, reliably. I became hooked on the Gunson products, they had proved their worth to me and for my later running restoration on the air cooled VW camper, I again used Gunsons, their diagnostic multimeter, Hi-guage, Lo-guage, (which ended up fitted to the vehicle in the cockpit to monitor economy) and finally, the Clickadjust tappet adjuster, totally invaluable when having to adjust VW engine valve to rocker clearances, it makes the job so much less onerous, (Ugh, memories of lying on cold roads in winter adjusting the tappets, with oil dripping from the tappet housing onto ones face).

I also had the Eezibleed brake bleeder, but I managed to wreck that one when I used the bottle for something else and then lost the fittings.

It strikes me, these machines that we have, they being rather basic, which I do like, my Gunsons tools will be seeing the light of day again, especially for maintenance, the tappet adjuster, and the colortune at least, maybe later, the Hi guage, Lo guage and the diagnostic tester if I am unlucky.

I don't work for Gunsons, nor do I have any reason to spread the word about their tools except for the fact, that they work and work well and are fairly cheap to buy, even ebay, the older incarnations are cheap, and just as effective.

( Err, I just noticed the tappet adjuster I have is not going to be of much use with these engines, I guess I will have to do it the hard way)

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Originally Posted by Sprocket

(Ugh, memories of lying on cold roads in winter adjusting the tappets, with oil dripping from the tappet housing onto ones face).

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Ah the joys of working on automobiles.. all the same stuff as motorcycles only 1,000 times more difficult to reach and 10,000 times more stuck. I changed the oil on my truck here in the middle of a snow storm. Took the truck out to get some supplies first and naturally snow got plowed into every corner of the body work. It was melting/raining all over everything under the truck. I got cold sandy salty water all over my face and in my ears, not to mention hot oil on my hands and clothes.

I felt like a bad science experiment BUT at least the oil was changed! Then. I changed the manual tranny fluid on the truck when it was below freezing outside. Relearned that ramps don't work on concrete and lifting a truck 17 inches off the ground won't even get the tire off the ground. That was a mess too. F%@*ing cars!

That said, I still love my truck. :icon10:

CC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sprocket

... the motor was tuned with the Gunson's Colortune tool, the ignition flame colour gave the best running possible on the old four star fuel. I later used that device and the Eezilap for my job when servicing and repairing Honda single cylinder four stroke air cooled motors

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Gunson makes some handy stuff. I've had a Colourtune for years and works a treat, mind you the colour of the spark plug is the ultimate check. :thumbsup:

If you want one, best price I'm told is eBay UK @ £27 delivered.

Worth a mention that the Colourtune is not recommended for use on cylinders less than 180cc. I've tried it on 50cc and 125cc, but the results were erratic. So it was back to trial and error and checking the colour of the plug. Tedious.

I used to use the colortune on Honda single cylinder motors, the GX and GXV series four strokes with displacements of 120cc upwards with no problems, but maybe the fact that these motors were fitted to largely stationary plant might be the difference in tune for whatever reason.

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Originally Posted by CrazyCarl

Ah the joys of working on automobiles.. all the same stuff as motorcycles only 1,000 times more difficult to reach and 10,000 times more stuck. I changed the oil on my truck here in the middle of a snow storm. Took the truck out to get some supplies first and naturally snow got plowed into every corner of the body work. It was melting/raining all over everything under the truck. I got cold sandy salty water all over my face and in my ears, not to mention hot oil on my hands and clothes.

I felt like a bad science experiment BUT at least the oil was changed! Then. I changed the manual tranny fluid on the truck when it was below freezing outside. Relearned that ramps don't work on concrete and lifting a truck 17 inches off the ground won't even get the tire off the ground. That was a mess too. F%@*ing cars!

That said, I still love my truck. :icon10:

CC

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That was similar with the VW transporter, ordinary car jacks just lifted the body with the wheel staying on the floor, so I used one of those high lift Jackall ratchet jacks when I was dropping my engine and fitting the rebuilt one. Yeah not very safe balanced on on jack, but I dropped the van wheels down onto milk crates to get the clearance I needed. The engine I took out and put back in on my own, using a skateboard, a plank of wood and two scissor jacks, shove the motor under the van, drop the van then rock the motor onto the gearbox bell housing and bolt up, easy. Every vehicle I have had has taught me something new, usually the unusual, not in the repair manual or in some cases any manual but works way of doing things, I love it.