19 Years of Tin Snail - Back to normality

[Noel Tidybeard]

one might imagine the Dyane LOL 90X may have come from California Auto Centre as thats where LOL 89X (the GSA Pallas) came from afaik

[dollywobbler]

Chap reckons it came from Solihull. I think California Auto Centre was Northfield, other side of town.

[Noel Tidybeard]

i do not remember an Citreon stealer in Solihull which would have been why Tone the Moan bought LOL from Woodgate Valley

 

the ones i remember are

• Fiat/Lancia & Vauxhall- Hall Green
• Lada, Vauxhall & Alfa- Sparkhill
• Renault, Peugeot/Talbot- Digbeth
• Ford- Moseley & Shirley
• BL- Everywhere lol

[LightBulbFun]

 

2CV based Lightbulb fun!   thoroughly enjoyed watching that with my lunch/dinner (linner?)

 

I was thinking to myself "a H4 in a 2CV? thats a bit fancy" and then you moved to the other head lamp and pulled out a P45, that made me grin no end

 

im guessing she ended up with miss matched head lamps when 1 burnt out on the road/when in a hurry? (since its best practice to replace bulbs as a pair in such a setting, since if one burns out the other is not far behind)

 

it would be interesting to see which is older, TBH the H4 looks older the P45 (the P45 despite the broken filament did not look very used to me, it had minimal blackening from what I could see, I imagine the filament failed from vibration/shock)

[dollywobbler]

The Halogen was probably fitted in 2004, if not even earlier than that. The P45 I think was fitted when she came back on the road in 2017 as the Halogen had blown or been nicked for something else...

[LightBulbFun]

The Halogen was probably fitted in 2004, if not even earlier than that. The P45 I think was fitted when she came back on the road in 2017 as the Halogen had blown or been nicked for something else...

 

when/if you get round to replacing the bulbs, feel free to grab a picture of the markings

 

most lightbulbs contain a date code I can read and tell you when said lightbulb was made (and sometimes even more!)

 

(on this note im curious whats in TWC )

[dollywobbler]

when/if you get round to replacing the bulbs, feel free to grab a picture of the markings

 

most lightbulbs contain a date code I can read and tell you when said lightbulb was made (and sometimes even more!)

 

(on this note im curious whats in TWC )

 

TWC has the sealed beam units she came with.

[LightBulbFun]

TWC has the sealed beam units she came with.

 

interesting from what I have seen Model 70s came equipped with P36 style bulbs rather then sealed beams so im doubly curious now 

[dollywobbler]

Ah, ok. Assumption on my part as I can't get the trim rims off to have a look...

[LightBulbFun]

https://twitter.com/HubNutVids/status/1086375914420817925

 

Yaaay! a chance to go Full lightbulb geek/nerd mode again 

 

touching a Quartz halogen bulb with your bare hands/fingers can indeed cause the lamp to fail prematurely

 

this is because you leave oily deposits on the bulb which when the bulb gets hot (Quartz halogen bulbs get very hot) the oils can break down and react with the Quartz bulb causing devitrification of the Quartz bulb weakening it, as well as form hot spots on the bulb which can mess with the halogen cycle.

 

(the halogen cycle is, the use of halogens to take evaporated tungsten from the glass wall of the bulb and redeposit it back onto the filament, this is why Halogen lamps dont generally blacken like regular incandescent bulbs do, but its dependant on the filament and bulb being the right temperature)

 

if you do happen to touch the Quartz bulb with your bare fingers, just clean the bulb with some alcohol. (isopropanol or such) and then it should be good again

[mrbenn]

Good info there! I knew you shouldn't touch the glass but didn't really appreciate why.

 

Now I do

[dollywobbler]

I decided it'd be a good* idea to tidy the garage today. It still looks terrible, but I did find a pair of H4s with P45t base. Hoorah!

 

That's good, because the one still fitted to the 2CV had failed. I refuse to say whether that was due to it being touched but it was old enough for the base to start going rusty.

 

Had a top level divtastic fail this morning though. I'd pinched the HT leads to try and start my spare engine, and entirely failed.

 

I forgot this.

 

So, I go to start the 2CV this morning. Churn, churn. Hmmm. Churn, churn. "Oh, I remember!"

 

Of course, by now, she was nicely flooded, so flatted the battery. Then flattened my jump pack (it was fairly low on charge to start with). Then managed to wedge the 2CV in a hedge trying to bump start it. 

 

So, Matiz to the rescue, jump leads on, churn, churn. GAWD! Churn, churn, cough. Repeat a few times. Eventually get one cylinder to fire. Those new cylinders have been nicely washed with petrol by now. Eventually get both to fire and eventually it idles long enough for me to disconnect the jump leads and park the Matiz. Oh no. Not quite. So, bump start down the driveway now, with better steering. 

 

Eventually got to the Post Office just too late for the post. BAH! What a grade A spanner. Naturally, none of this was filmed, so I can't even get the flipside of earning a few quid from my own stupidity.

[LightBulbFun]

did you find the gear cover for the fluorescent light fixture in the garage while tidying up too?

 

easy way to tell if it failed from being touched is, is there a big black splodge shaped like a finger print on the glass of the old one? 

 

if not, then it probably failed from a natural burn out or filament fracture.

 

as a tungsten lamp ages the filament gets increasingly crystalline and brittle and more susceptible to shock and vibration, you can actually see this with the naked eye, if you  compare the filament of an well used lamp to a new one you can see the filament of the well used/dead one is sparkly where the new one is not

 

glad to see she has matching lamps now

 

(out of curiosity what where trying to start the spare engine for?)

[Noel Tidybeard]

(out of curiosity what where trying to start the spare engine for?)

 

 

because he can (or can't as it happens) :mrgreen:

[dollywobbler]

Things have gone a bit wrong. Now the 2CV isn't running at all. This morning, it was still an utter ballache to get to run, requiring a jump from the Skoda and still churning away until finally firing up. Into the garage and I first concluded that the electric ignition unit was knackered. Out it came, in went the points-assisted set up it was using before the engine rebuild. No dice. Out with that and I chucked on a Boyer Brandsen unit I had to hand. No dice. Out with that, wire up the condenser that's sat on the bottom of the points box. No dice. Tried different coils. Same. The points are gapped and working correctly, with the ignition timing spot on. With a spark tester thing on the plugs, I can see a very weak spark. I'm now rather out of ideas. I was meant to be meeting up with Squire Dawson tomorrow, and then heading to Derbyshire on Wednesday. At the moment, I'll have to cancel all that. 

 

I have absolutely no idea what has gone wrong.

[dozeydustman]

Sounds like a bad connection or earth, or a broken wire somewhere. Hopefully that and not 3 faulty ignition setups. Got spare HT leads?

[mrbenn]

Is this something that has happened since the leads were removed to test the other engine? Just wondering if the connection to the coil or plug isn't tight.

[forddeliveryboy]

Worth trying a different, known good battery? Check the resistance on the plugs, but if they're not NGK that should be fine. Try a third coil, if there is one.

[dollywobbler]

Schoolboy error. After trying no less than four different ignition solutions, I replaced the plugs and it's fine. UGH. What an epic waste of a day.

 

It does rather confirm the suspicion of others that the 652 carb jets are too generous - as does the fact you can scrape soot from the tailpipe...

[LightBulbFun]

obviously the way to deal with the fact its not burning completely is to shove a super charger on it somewhere so it does burn completely and cleanly without having to faff with carb jets 

[dollywobbler]

150 miles today, to get to Derbyshire. Started off with the car encased in ice. I hadn't charged the battery up sufficiently after the spark plug debacle (2 mile drive) but with the jump pack connected, she started first time, despite being considerably below zero. Hoorah!

 

Icy conditions meant I took it easy at first, and I'd left the vent flap beneath the windscreen open overnight, so it took 30 miles for it to thaw out sufficiently to close again, but it was nice and toasty after that. Went screaming along the M54, an indicated 70 is 65mph and feels really comfortable. Handy to have a bit left in reserve at that speed too. She did slow down to 60 up one steep hill, but I had a right giggle overall.

 

Tomorrow, my friend and I will tackle rear brake pipe replacement, an advisory on last year's MOT. He has a two-post lift, which should make life easier, though I understand it's still a bit of a sod of a job. I've never changed them before. 

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

Feel your pain on the HT leads... I used to disconnect my Cavalier GSI as a theft deterrent. Always, always forgot! To make it more embarrassing - it was stolen anyway, they took the leads from the boot and connected it up and roared off...…….. I always used to re-connect them in the wrong order - every bloody time!

Can the jetting be changed? Or too much of an unknown/ballache?

[dollywobbler]

Jetting is easily changed, and was changed as part of the engine upgrade. Finding the original jets, well, that's more tricky...

 

Has been a really nice day sharing the work for a change, and with a lift too!

 

The job went really well - easier with two of us. As the brake pipes go through the rear axle tube, they can be a right sod. We also cleaned up and rust-proofed the rear arms, changed the HT leads and check the ignition timing as she'd been pinking a bit on the way up. I think she's getting too hot at speed, so a different muff strategy is required - need more air. Took the opportunity to grease the driveshafts and kingpins.

[LightBulbFun]

im definitely no expert on this sort of stuff, but I imagine if you fitted the orignial "602cc" jets that would leave her burning a bit lean? I wonder if they make some in-between jets?

 

its like the 2CV equivalent of goldilocks 

 

 

glad to see the brake line replacement went well  (BTW I notice she still shows up as 602cc on the DVLA do you plan to update that when you put her in for an MOT?)

[dollywobbler]

We consider the original jets a bit lean even for standard 602 with modern fuels. But, the leap in jetting for the 652 does seem a bit over-generous. I'll see what the plugs look like when I'm back home.

 

I do need to update DVLA, but can't say it's a priority. The important bit was informing my insurer, which was done.

[dollywobbler]

Brake pipe happenings.

 

 

Now to book her in for MOT...

[dollywobbler]

Sent myself to Coventry for the weekend. The journey started well.

Coil overheated - puddle is from me using a bottle of water to cool it back down. This worked. It's a newer-style coil. They should not die like this, but apparently they're cheap Chinese tat and problems are common. I bought a used coil for £2 in the flea market once I got to the event.

The overheat was caused by a horrific traffic jam, because Powys decided a busy Friday in the school holidays was an ideal time to do roadworks...

After this, Elly the 2CV ran beautifully and we had a merry old time. In just over a month, we drive to Croatia. Via The Netherlands. And Normandy. 

[lesapandre]

Are you stopping in Normandie? (unlike a lot of place names where we use the original these days uk still uses the y - in French ie)

[dollywobbler]

Yes. Have an AirBNB near another big Citroen Centenary event, but also have a couple of people I'd like to visit/stay with in the area. Then probably going to head to Croatia via Chamonix, or at least that corner of Europe, as it's just so spectacular.

[chaseracer]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

...near another big Citroen Centenary event...

See you there ?