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I'm going to throw in a 'me too' here: I only have the one generator (at the moment), and I knew I needed a spare VR board, but was not in love with the idea of getting another of the same thing with the same flaws. If I can get an upgrade, so much the better! I suggest you put a 'surveying...

Probably the best thing you can do is turn it through slowly by hand (use the bolt head on the blower) BEFORE trying to start it. It will turn through very easily if all is well. If it stops or feels like you're pushing against more than just compression (of which there is very little when...

Jamawieb makes the point that I would: it's better to have to shed some load to keep from overloading the set than it is to have the generator spending most/all its time at 10% or less load. We just had a two day outage and at no point did I wish for more power than our MEP-002A can make. Ours...

My MEP-002A has been outside for about three years now. It has always started up when asked, but it was happier once I put a tarp over it. The tarp is mostly necessary to cover up the control box - it keeps driving rain from getting into the gauges and dampening the screw terminals. I do also...

Hm. Which hat am I wearing? If I'm an IP he gets to walk home. Does he know the hardware? Sure he does. He can obviously fly. And he was alone in it, which means that property damage and his butt were the only things on the line if he got a surprise from prop blast, wind gust, or bird...

A non-separately derived system always assumes that the generator is bonded to ground by a ground wire coming from the ground at the house meter (which usually means four conductor cable going to the generator from the house). It doesn't matter if it's in the back of a pickup truck or anywhere...

There's been a fair bit of discussion about the importance of valve clearance adjustment on these engines. I'd definitely set that before I got too worried about anything else.

If the filters and fuel don't fix it then you're down to a relatively small list of possible causes: 1. weak lift (electric) pump - unlikely or it would get worse instead of clearing itself up. That's also why i don't anticipate success from cleaning filters as long as there's no water in the...

It's a good idea to remove the tank and clean with pea gravel, fuel and agitation - repeat until it comes out clean. You've probably got the usual gunge layer at the bottom of the tank. Others here have suggested an annual pumpout of the tank to get the water and crud out - it's good advice...

The dive wasn't bad at all - you could see by the object hanging from the mag compass and his expression that he was keeping mild +G all the time. Looked like he was doing OK with airspeed limits as well. The landing...yeah, I've seen more 'daring' ones, but any time the inside wingtip is less...

Re: PCBs in transformer oil, I think the magic year is 1979. If the transformer's date of manufacture is after 1979 it should never have been exposed to PCBs. I wouldn't touch a transformer (or capacitor, or switch) of unknown or earlier manufacture date with a 50 foot pole. PCBs are nasty...

Too cool for words. Not only did I learn about trucks I didn't know existed, I learned about a type of truck I didn't know existed (a torpedo crane). I frankly never knew how they got torpedos aboard fleet subs in WWII, but it makes sense that such a beast would be needed. Somebody has to...

I removed my tank, washed it with kerosene and clean gravel to get the oily sludge out. Then I sprayed engine degreaser on the bottom to get the rest out with the detergent/water rinse. After that, I had a damp tank. Left it sitting on its side in the garage for a week in summer and that...

Capitalism at work. It all comes down to where their interest lies. The state bureaucrat has an incentive to a) do the minimum possible to get the paycheck (because promotion is rare and seniority based), and b) not get an ass-chewing from someone higher in the bureaucracy for titling and...

Have a motorcycle friend who just put a set of three on his Harley with light bar. They cast lots of light. These things win every way over HID headlights: low power consumption, long life, and no high voltages required. Coming soon to a vintage vehicle or several near me...

This is actually the layout I want to go to (am currently using an interlock kit), mostly because it will get me a whole-house cutoff switch as a bonus. The principles are still exactly the same as if you were going into a sub panel or an interlocked backfed breaker on the main panel...

Obviously, 'rebuilt' in this use means 'I found it in the field under the remains of the old chicken shed and this sucker wants to buy it from me.' That said, I've run worse looking gearsets than that for tens of thousands of miles without incident after a thorough cleanup. That shift rail is...

I think you got a unit that had been stored (apparently quite a while) somewhere with lots of red floury sand. It wouldn't have blown all that out of it when started if it had been running in that environment before being shipped. Whether or not it ran in the sand is pretty irrelevant as long...

I've attended the last three years in my Toyota, which is about as uncool for a MV rally as it gets. I wasn't the only one in that position by a long shot. On both trail rides I did, the driver needed a right-seater on the trail. I wouldn't attempt Devil's backbone without somebody spotting...

Euan and I had large fun in spite of random (even for Graves) weather. I think the ride in the half track made the boy's entire week. I know it did mine. The intense trail rides on Saturday were also an experience I would not have missed. Many thanks to Steve and the rest of the Lost...