Reading draw at Southampton but still in second place

Reading played out a tired draw at Southampton today, but showed great character in coming from behind late in the game to draw 1-1 with a goal from Shane Long.

Other results went our way with Birmingham drawing and Burnley losing.

A haul of 17 points out of a possible 21 over the Christmas period and retaining second place is not at all bad.

Manager Steve Coppell was disapointed with the first half performance, but pleased with the resolve that Reading showed in coming to earn the draw.

Team P Pts
Wolves 25 57
Reading 26 51
Birmingham 26 51
Cardiff 26 44
Burnley 26 43

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Costs So Far

Alternator
eBay 10.00

Earth block
Screwfix 1.75

Electrical connectors
Halfords 3.00

Nuts/Bolts/Washers
Halfords 5.00

Misc (solder/metal)

5.00

Fan Belt

Total

24.75

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress(3)

The wiring solution

I have seen various suggestions regarding the wiring for this conversion.

Here is how I have dealt with it, as mentioned previously I have used an earth block from Screwfix.

This has been mounted in a small plastic box for insulation and the ends of the wires soldered before inserting into the block.

I know it doesn't look too original, but once mounted it will be quite hard to see.

Still have to tidy up the spare black wire from the regulator box, the warning light wire.

Reading v Cardiff and Andy Hall!

Adam Federici comes to Reading's rescue!

Was going to be the title of this post as the Reading goalkeeper scored an equaliser deep in extra time to earn Reading a draw against a well organised and very physical Cardiff City side.

However due to some questionable refereeing by Mr Andy Hall the game took on a very sinister undercurrent from the earliest few minutes.

I believe Mr Hall used to be on the Premier list :-)???

A clash beween Reading's Noel Hunt and the Cardiff right back resulted in the afore mentioned Mr Hall pushing players and sprinting into the situation as if there was a full scale brawl in place!
Cardiff sensing the referees weakness of course took full advantage for the rest of the game (who could blame them).

Mr Hall of course was not really interested in this as he had to be sure that the throw ins were taken from the right place(far more important!!)

The worst challenge of the game (please check the video Mr Hall) was the horrendous challenge by Chopra on Adam Federeci the Reading goalkeeper, makes you think a little about what Stephen Hunt was vilified for a couple pf seasons ago, as this was far worse !

Guess who score Cardiff's goal in the 89th minute?????

However a draw was probably the right result as Carfdiff had Reading pretty much worked out from the start. Perhaps Steve Coppell might have introduced Jimmy Kebe a little earlier as he caused Cardiff problems from the moment he came on.

Ah well, a draw is better than nothing and it might not look as bad later in the season, as I think Cardiff will be there or thereabouts.

There appeared to be some nasty scenes at the end between some Reading player and the Cardiff fans, but not too sure what went on..

Reading remain in second place behind Wolves and above Birmingham.

1	Wolves	25	24	57
2	Reading	25	29	50
3	Birmingham	25	11	50
4	Burnley	25	6	43
5	Cardiff City	25	10	41
6	Palace	25	11	40

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress(2)

Alternator now in place with home made fan belt adjusting arm extension. not pretty but it works.

I also need to find a slightly longer fan belt, no luck as yet however.


All well after a test start and run without the wiring connected.

The wiring was interesting to say the least!

Most of the instructions and wiring colours on the net and various other sources do not apply to our car.

The brown and various brown variants were all to be found at the regulator box as expected.

Additionally our car had a thick yellow and a thin yellow and green coming from the alternator.

The thick yellow is to be joined to all the browns as per the usual instructions, the thin yellow and green is to be joined to the thin yellow at the regulator for the warning light.

A lot of instructions suggest either soldering the various wires or adapting the regulator as a junction box.(all good ideas BTW)

I have taken a different approach, I got an earth bar from Screwfix and joined all the wires up that way.

Something like this:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/11385/Electrical-Supplies/Earthing/8-Way-Earth-Block

This will then be insulated by placing in a project box from Maplin:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1677

This will then be mounted in the space where the regulator used to live :-)

WARNING !!!

If you want to try this be very careful that the earth bar does not earth out at any point.

If it does you will be needing a fire extinguisher on the non fused Herald, be very careful!

I'm also considering the fitting of some inline fuses or maybe a small fuse box.

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion Progress

Right, on we go!!

Now have the bolts, spacer and washers and have managed to (bodge) fit the alternator into place.



Not the most asthetic piece of engineering I'm afraid, however the Spitfire alternator brackets or quite hard to source and as a result quite expensive!

Everything is nice and tight and the belt run is pretty straight



Could probably do with a slightly longer belt I think, had a look in Halford's today and the only ones available were either the same length or the 1500mm (a bit too long). I'll go with the original for the time being.




I now need to fashion a little piece of aluminum or steel into an extension for the fan belt adjusting bracket, and then I will then complete the wiring.

Watch this space!!

Reading Move On Up!

Reading strolled to an easy win against Birmingham at St Andrews at lunchtime today, with goals from Noel Hunt, Kevin Doyle and Kalifa Cisse.

Birmingham's goal came from Kevin Phillips after a loss of possession on halfway.

The result was never really in doubt, Noel Hunt was suffering from concussion after an early clash of heads. The clash however didn't stop him from opening the scoring with an excellent free kick.

One of the other highlights of the performance was the distribution of Adam Federici in the Reading goal.

1	Wolves	24	24	56
2	Reading	24	29	49
3	Birmingham	24	10	47
4	Burnley	24	7	43
5	Cardiff City	24	10	40
6	Sheffield Utd	24	10	37
7	Palace	24	9	37

Triumph Herald Alternator Conversion

So it begins, out with the old and in with the new(er)

Started with removing the dynamo (strangely enough:-))

Please note that the dynamo may foul the distributor.

Got around this by loosening it off and turning it away from the dynamo.

Be sure to mark the position of the dynamo before loosening so as not too put the timing too far out.

I put a small felt tip pen mark on an HT lead to line up with the LT lead of the distributor.

The dynamo was then removed.



Tried a few test fits of the altenator with the various parts of the existing dynamo bracket.



It would appear the best way to do this is to remove all the existing bolts etc (including the large one in the alternator and dynamo picture above) and replace them with two different size bolts and a large amount of washers to ensure all the pulleys line up.

The Herald fan belt will also now be too short, I'll pick up an new one when I get the bolts.

Triumph Herald Positive to Negative Earth Conversion

This is how I converted my Herald to negative earth.

1. Disconnect the battery

2. Remove the battery from the tray
3. Refit the battery around the "other" way

4. Connect the terminals in the correct
configuration for negative earth

5. Swop the LT connections on the ignition coil
to also reflect negative earth configuration
(you may have starting problems if you don't)

Please go to this link where there is a basic
but very clever way of testing if the polarity
is correct. here is the test

6. Remove the large terminal from the dynamo

7. Take a piece of wire connected to the live
terminal of the battery and "flash" it on the
dynamo terminal a couple of times(it will spark)
The dynamo should now be repolarised
Refit the large terminal to the dynamo

8. Start the engine and check the charge rate
of the dynamo

In my case the dynamo charged prefectly first time, you may however need to flash it again if the charge rate is not sufficient.

My fuel gauge and wiper motor appear to work OK, I will therefore be leaving them alone!

The heater blower also appears OK, however I will swop the wiring over in the near future to see if there is any difference in the operation pos to neg.

Please don't take this method as the same in all cases, follow these steps at your own risk :-)

Coming soon "The Alternator"

Check Out Steve's Twitters

Check this out !

Steve Dahl poll

Herald Update

I have purchased an alternator for the old girl, and will shortly be fitting it and converting to negative earth at the same time.

Got a very good deal on the alternator, eBay of course!

I'll publish the trials and tribulations of the conversion here in the future.

It looks as if only the heater blower, tank sender, battery and ignition coil will need reversing during the process, I think???

Try Your Luck?

A $1m house for $50?

Try your luck at

Win a million dollar custom home for $50.00!!

Reading Now Within One Point!

Stephen Hunt after scoring Reading's first from the spot, making up for his miss on Tuesday :-)

A fine headed second goal came from Shane Long after a cross from James Henry.

After a 2-0 win over Norwich on a really poor playing surface, Reading are now one point behind Birmingham and play them at St Andrews next week!

After also scrapping a 1-0 win over Blackpool on Tuesday it has been a pretty good week.

The quality of the last few games however shows that the number of games in the Championship ensures that the quality is not great.

Table

Table - December 13 2008

Pos	Team	P	Pts
1	Wolverhampton Wanderers	23	53
2	Birmingham City	23	47
3	Reading	23	46
4	Burnley	23	40
5	Cardiff City	23	37

Herald Update

Did a bit more work on the Herald before the winter:

Changed leaking rocker cover gasket

Replaced the throttle cable and fitted a clip to the throttle pedal to stop the cable falling out !

Replaced the bulkhead bonnet shut weatherstrip.

Woodrow Landfair

Here's a link to a very interesting guy and an amazing trip click here for photos

Click on the image for his homepage

And on, and on and on

Despite yest another strange sending off, Reading gain a 1-0 away victory at Barnsley.

Steve Coppell's side dispatched Coventry City on Monday night and made it six points from six at Oakwell thanks to Brynjar Gunnarsson's winner.

A defensive howler from Dennis Souza gifted the goal to Reading, although the visitors had to battle it out a man light in the second half following Jimmy Kebe's dismissal.

The visitors did take the lead in the 64th minute after a defensive mistake from Souza left Gunnarsson to knock into the empty net.

Despite some late pressure from the hosts, Reading held on for a deserved victory.

Barnsley: Muller, Hassell, Foster, Guedes, Van Homoet (El Haimour 78), Campbell-Ryce, Colace, De Silva, Whaley (Odejayi 67), Macken (Rigters 87), Cureton.
Subs Not Used: Mostto, Coulson.

Booked: Foster, Macken.

Reading: Hahnemann, Rosenior, Duberry, Ingimarsson, Armstrong, Kebe, Cisse, Harper, Stephen Hunt, Doyle, Noel Hunt (Gunnarsson 56).
Subs Not Used: Federici, Matejovsky, Long, Henry.

Sent Off: Kebe (35).

Booked: Cisse.

Goals: Gunnarsson 64.

Att: 11,938

Ref: Clive Oliver (Northumberland).

Let's just wait for the normal Wolves implosion and see what happens !!

Keeping the pressure on them and Birmingham...

Reading FC March On!

15 Nov	Sheff Utd	A	Championship	2-0	25,065	3	Cisse, Doyle
22 Nov	Southampton	H	Championship	1-2	23,121	3	Kebe
25 Nov	Cardiff	A	Championship	2-2	17,154	3	Doyle, Gunnarsson
1 Dec	Coventry	H	Championship	3-1	16,803	3	N. Hunt(2), Cisse

Steve Dahl

I was very disapointed to see that Steve has been fired from his morning show on Jack FM in Chicago. I have been listening to Steve for a couple of years now, and it was one of the most entertaining shows around. Steve still has a contract with CBS for another 21/2 years, so if they don't find a proper vehicle for him, i.e. A TALK SHOW ON A TALK STATION, not the only human on a robot MOR music channel. As Steve rightly says "music is cheap"

The full story can be found here

I hope you and the team can make it back as soon as possible!


Here is a little tribute from me!

Keep checking in at www.dahl.com

Perhaps we can get him back soon....?

Barack Obama

Pretty glad he got elected, just hope that the crap "W" leaves behind won't be insurmountable?

The $76 Billion cheque that he has to write as soon as he arrives could be the tip pf the "W" iceberg!

Here is his victory speech.

The British politicians are falling over themselves to be his buddy :-) BBC Report

Video

Good luck to him, having spent quite a bit of time in the Chicago area over the past few year, I can tell you that he was very popular locally.

More chance of a bit of peace in the world hopefully?

Reading FC and so it goes on!

Despite the pre season loss of a number of key players, we are doing very well and are sitting a comfortable third with a great goal difference.

Kevin Doyle has kept on banging them in and has signed a new contract, he is being ably supported up front by Noel Hunt.

Jimmy Kebe is now striking fear into the hearts of fullbacks, despite being s figure of ridicule last year.

Jem Karacan is proving to be a real find, although he is being rested at the moment.

At least if/when he goes we should get a decent fee!

The match away to Bristol City last week was one of the best performances for a number of years. BBC Report

I haven't seen us control a game like that for some time, cracking goal from Cisse also.

Today's game wasn't as good a performance, but as they say it's the results that count.

Great 20 yard effort from Doyle was a highlight of the performance, a downside was the really poor performance of the officials, particularly the yellow flag assistant who could have cost us the game. Two what looked like perfectly good goals disallowed and some phantom offsides ...

I'm really starting to worry about the general level of officiating in the English game, inconsistent and gutless are just two thoughts that come to mind :-(

Derby were really awful, they look as bad if not worse than last season!

Just looking at the report on Sky's web page, and apparently John Oster came on as sub in the 60th min !!!

http://www.skysports.com/football/match_facts/0,19762,11065_2861226,00.html

BBC report

Lets keep it up!

NFL in London San Diego Chargers v New Orleans Saints

Had a great day out at the NFL Game in London at Wembley Stadium, despite the heavy rain early in the day. We set off quite early and also attended the NFL tailgate party outside the stadium. The party had some really good New Orleans Jazz and some various NFL themed items.

The game itself was very hard fought as was expected due to the fact that whichever team lost was effectively out of contention this year.

It was my first visit to the new Wembley and we sat at one end behind the in zone, my only real criticism was the quality of the PA system, which was pretty poor, this made it hard to hear the refereeing calls etc.

The atmosphere however was fantastic!!

A good day all round with New Orleans coming out close winners 37 - 32.

Looking forward to next year!!

US Presidential Survey

Come and take my survey, just a bit of fun:-)

Bottom of the page.

Kinda Worrying!!

I was a little concerned at how quiet things on the investigation of the January BA Boeing 777 crash seemed, so I looked up the report after hearing the recent few mishaps with BA planes.

It would appear the crash was caused by ice in the fuel according to the report, which is kind of a worry.

Also some reports can be found here and here in regards to recent BA 777 matters and emergency landings.

NBA in the UK

Popped up to London's O2 Arena to see an NBA pre-season game between, the New Jersey Nets and the Miami Heat. A very good crowd watched a pretty tame game that came to life in the fourth quarter, leading to a narrow win for the Nets 94-92 after a number of turnovers from Miami.

The atmosphere was a little lukewarm as the audience were fans of basketball rather that either of the teams. Both fairly ordinary by NBA standard, kind of a Bolton v Villa type of thing, two good teams but not world beaters.

Dom Joly however was not impressed

A highlight of the evening was a wheelchair basketball match between members of the GB Paralympic wheelchair basketball tea which was played at high speed and with no little skill.

The O2 has come a long way from being the former dome white elephant, however concessions as it seems everywhere these days were horribly expensive.

May I suggest that you frequent the Starbucks inside the main entrance to the right as they are charging their normal high street prices and not £7 for a hot dog as in some places within the venue.

There also appears to be a massive shortage of toilets, this leads to 1970's third division football ground style long queues outside the few facilities that are available.

As long as you take steps on the food and drink situation a good night out can be had at the O2.

Our new lodger :-)

New inmate :-)

Saugatuck and Lake Michigan

Civilised Drive Through!

Uncommon Grounds Indeed.

A Souvenir :-)





Oval Beach


The Keetwatin Martime Museum
The Suite

Main Street
The River

Deer in the Garden

Whilst we were on the last trip we took a trip up to Saugatuck, a lovely area on Lake Michigan.

We stayed at a very nice place called Bella Vita Spa and Suites, which is just off the pretty main street.

There are lovely beaches and the river is very pretty, particularly Oval Beach.

We found a brilliant little coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds, excellent coffee(roasted on site) really nice food, books and free wi-fi. What more would you need!!

There is another small town nearby called Douglas where we had an excellent dinner at The Everyday People Cafe