Thursday 28 April 2011

Epson Compatible Cartridges




We have been trying to get compatible cartridges for the new Epson cartridges that came out before Christmas for some time now. Unfortunatly we still can't get them. Our suppliers have told us that the problem is with the chip on the cartridge. The difficulty is that the chip can be manufactured by hand but not mass produced and that is what is causing the hold up. More bad news is that they have no idea when the compatible cartridges will be ready - it could be next week if someone has a EUREKA! moment or two months if nobody has that lightbulb moment. On the plus side we do have the full range of the new genuine cartridges here are the links http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/products/Epson_T1281_Black_Genuine-1564-0.html http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/products/Epson_T1291_Black_High_Capacity_Genuine-1569-0.html http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/products/Epson_T1301_Black_Extra_High_Capacity_Genuine_C13T13014010-1594-0.html http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/products/A_THREE_PACK_OF_Epson_T1302_T1303_T1304_C_M_Y_Extra_High_Capacity_Genuine_T1306-1598-0.html The cartridges are T1281 (Black), T1282 (Cyan), T1283 (Magenta), T1284 (Yellow) and T1285 (Quad Pack). T1291 (Black), T1292 (Cyan), T1293 (Magenta), T1294 (Yellow) and T1295 (Quad Pack). T1301 (Black), T1302 (Cyan), T1303 (Magenta), T1304 (Yellow) and T1306 (Colour Triple Pack). I will keep you updated, as soon as I hear anything I will let you know - hopefully it will be soon!

Wednesday 27 April 2011

The finished engine

Finally on Sunday night about 8 o'clock we finished!

This is what we did:



  1. Inlet Manifold

  2. New Gaskets

  3. Sump Plug

  4. Core Plug - this was the worst!

  5. Oil Change

  6. New Oil Filter

  7. Steering Wheel - we had it changed to a racing wheel last year because John couldn't get his knees under the original one - he is tall! The garage put the new one on squint so we straightened it!

  8. New Air Filter

  9. Changed the Points to an Electronic Ignition

  10. New Distributor Cap

  11. New HT Leads

  12. New Spark Plugs

  13. New Coil

  14. Electrics

  15. New Alloy Wheels and Tyres

  16. New Chrome Rocker Covers

  17. New Chrome K and N Air Filter (John is very excited about this - I don't know why?)

And finally putting some air in the new tyres! Jess has given up hope of us ever finishing and has gone to sleep!

The finished engine!!! Lots of chrome that I now have to polish. As you can see I haven't done it yet! The only thing left to do is the spacing on the tappets and to take the car for a test drive to make sure everything works. Wish us luck!

Engine work part 2

We had a LOT to do to the car! Dad worked pretty much non stop for six days! I love this picture of John and Dad concentrating.
I don't know what John is doing - maybe he is inspecting our work! John is intent on growing some serious seventies side burns to match his seventies car. As long as he doesn't grow an afro and wear a tank top and bell bottoms I can just about cope!

These are the old fuses made out of porcelain. I have a big pack of spares just in case..... I would take a spare engine in the boot if it was possible because I just know something will go wrong and guess who will be trying to fix it yes little old me..... I can foresee tears and maybe a tantrum on the side of the road!


The engine in bits, the light you see is Dad's it is amazingly bright and you can stick it under the bonnet or on the side of the engine so your hands are free, I am definately going to get one!


This is the hole where the sump plug goes, it is very important as it keeps all the oil in the engine. We took it out to change the oil and the thread on the engine block was completely stripped so we couldn't put the sump plug back in. This was serious and could have scuppered everything - the annoying thing was that we actually had another sump but couldn't take the engine out of the car to change it - we didn't have the lifting equipment. We tried thread sealer but it didn't work. I then spent the day running around all the garages, tool shops and even tractor dealerships in Kendal (and may I add that everyone I talked to was extremely helpful - people in Kendal are lovely!) I eventually found what I was looking for - a heli coil or rethreader. So that was another hurdle overcome!


This is my best little helper Belle!

We did a lot to the car!

Here is the evidence that we did lots of work on the car! Just to remind you it is a Ford Granada Mk 1 Ghia, it is John's pride and joy!
This is the engine with most of the top of it. We have removed the air intake and the rocker covers. Listen to me talking as if I know all about engines! I knew not much at all before last week but I really have learnt a lot!

This is a difficult picture to make out but it is the hole where we took the leaking core plug out, it is just below the black pipe, you can see where water has been running down the engine block. This was horrible to get out and even worse to get a new one back in!




Thats my Dad's hand, that is where the core plug is, it is on a difficult angle. It was one of those jobs that if the engine was out of the car or up on ramps it would have been a five minute job instead of an all day job! We won in the end though!


Two little helpers! Kara and Jess (the greyhound) as well as John and Dad's feet!

Monday 18 April 2011

My Dad deserves a huge thank you!

This is a slightly self indulgent post, but it is for a very good reason! As you all know we are going on the Cannonball Run this year. We are very excited but we had a few worries as the car had a new engine fitted this winter and there were a few problems - actually more like 50 million problems!!! Well I happened to know just the man for the job, it was just a case of getting him in the right place at the right time (I will explain why later) well my Dad arrived last Monday and was put straight to work with me as his helper! We finished the car last night (Sunday) we worked non stop! That is why there has been complete silence on the blog for a week! Dad and John on the way to a tea break! Meet Kenny Montgomery, he is a Marine Engineer and drives ships as his day job. I am his middle daughter, this is the first time in two and a half years that I have seen my Dad, whenever I go home to my parents house he is away we always miss each other. As you can imagine we have talked non stop for days!
Dad and me in our matching orange boiler suits, I have learnt so much, Dad is a very good and patient teacher, there was so much to do and even when I had had enough he carried on. Dad has spent a lifetime driving ships and is highly qualified, he has amazing stories to tell from all around the world. There really is nothing he can't do and he really encourages me to use my reasoning to work towards a solution. Dad is a perfectionist and will go to great lengths to make sure everything is spot on. I will do another post with details of all the things we changed/mended/hit with a big hammer!
This is the last ship my Dad drove, it is a tanker and he took it from Guangzhow (China) to Callao (Peru) it was not the best trip, lots went wrong instead of being a 40 day trip is ended up being 22 weeks! I think he was pleased to see the back of that one! John and I took my Dad to the train station this morning and once again I was reduced to a five year old girl saying goodbye to her Daddy as he went back to sea and cried buckets. He is going to hospital to have an operation on Wednesday so wish him luck. I cannot thank you enough Dad, not only have you saved us thousands of pounds, I know the work has been carried out to the highest standard. I am incredibly grateful and really appreciated the chance to have my Daddy all to myself for a whole week!

Friday 8 April 2011

Are you ready for our BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!


We are going on the Cannonball Run Europe!!!!!! We are going in our 1974 Mk 1 Ford Granada so that will be interesting! We are raising money for two charities The RFU Injured Players and Spinal Research. To find our more please visit our charity page http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/pages/Charity_Drive.html you will find links to our Just Giving pages, please donate if you feel able. We have been planning this for a couple of weeks now and honestly I thought I was going to burst with excitement, this really is a once in a lifetime experience! John and I will do our very best to raise as much money as possible, we will of course be keeping everyone up to date with our progress by blogging, doing videos, twitter and a webcam! I cannot tell you how excited we are (and a little scared!!) Wish us luck!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Where to find us.

I got to thinking the other day after I gave you the Facebook links that I have never done a list of all the different places you can find out about us. So here it is! First and foremost our website http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/ here you can find out all about us and of course order your ink!
Ok so you probably already know about this one (as you are here reading about it!) Our blog - we also have another two blogs though, both on our website. The first one is BLOG, NEWS AND TIPS and is similar to this (but slightly different!) http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/pages/blog.html the other is very different, it is about our charity drive (as yet I still can't reveal too many details) http://www.kc-inks.co.uk/pages/Charity_Drive.html although if you visit just now it will let the cat out of the bag as we have put a certain logo on there!
We have two Facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/KC-Inks/110791988941755 and http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Ink-Cartridges-UK/177969185563592 we put all sorts of stuff on there, competitions, giveaways, offers have a look you might be surprised!
We are also on Twitter - this took some getting used to (I still think we should be allowed to write a 3000 word essay on there!!) but at least my little tweets are entertaining (I think!) https://twitter.com/KCinks
And last but not least our Youtube channel. I gave John a new video to put up (editing is completely beyond me!) so that should be going up soon. We have a mixture of interesting, informative and downright silly videos up there, we are adding more all the time. http://www.youtube.com/user/KCinksLtd Have fun looking at everything!



Monday 4 April 2011

Facebook links as promised.



Here are the links to our Facebook pages, yes we have two - I think it is to keep me on my toes! Have a look, we put lots of interesting things on there as well as offers, giveaways and competitions to enter, we have had some really great prizes over the last couple of years including a weeks holiday in France! So friend us and you never know what you might win!


http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/KC-Inks/110791988941755


http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Ink-Cartridges-UK/177969185563592

Friday 1 April 2011

We have winners!

We have winners!!! First prize (the espresso machine) goes to Lili Hurst, the Kodak Photo frames go to Neil Fletcher, Sarah Montgomery and Denise Helen Ward. They were picked out of all the people who friended us on our two Facebook pages, I will put up links in the next post. Well done everyone!