Project Dollywobbler's Invacar - Ongoing

[richardthestag]

There was a supposedly genuine headliner kit on Ebay for £65 plus £15 delivery. I was going near the seller yesterday, so I asked what cash deals were on. Fifty quid. Sorted.

 

Fitting it was, er, interesting.

 

Had to remove the seat back, remove the trim above the windscreen (including the demister) and rope in Mrs DW to help with 'clever violence.' Otherwise, I was clearly going to ruin everything.

 

Sorted!

 

It's a proper 1990s velour, made by a company in Devon in 1997. Does seem to vaguely fit, and it's added to refinement levels pretty seriously. Reduced headroom, but we reduced the seat height, which makes it more comfortable, and means I'm no longer trying to look through the top of the windscreen. Ace!

 

Still bloody loud, but less echoey.

 

can only like once but would do so many times if allowed

[Felly Magic]

Pffft next you will be fitting electric doors

 

And a wooden dashboard, no PLAH though for space reasons

[PhilA]

I want the doors to hiss open like the ones on Star Trek.

[Noel Tidybeard]

And a wooden dashboard, no PLAH though for space reasons

 

ah but the seat can be moved to the left or right so could have plah side table

[dollywobbler]

Have a 0-60mph test. Pre-headliner.

[puddlethumper]

Crikey !!! 60mph must feel a bit bloody scary. You sure have steel ones.

[Lacquer Peel]

2m10s, yikes.

[dollywobbler]

2m10s, yikes.

 

I needed two goes...

[beko1987]

That'll probably do it the world of good, several of those!

[MorrisItalSLX]

So the headliner a NOS item or a custom jobbie that has been sitting on the shelf since 1997? Lucky it wasn't bined in 2003!

 

Need more pictures!

[dollywobbler]

I've no idea of how they came about. It looks a bit wrong having 1990s velour in a 1970s car to be honest. Maybe they were ordered by one specialist? I mean, vinyl would be more appropriate.

 

There will be more pics. I've just made a custom upper dash panel out of an old pair of jeans.

[madrat]

I've no idea of how they came about. It looks a bit wrong having 1990s velour in a 1970s car to be honest. Maybe they were ordered by one specialist? I mean, vinyl would be more appropriate.

 

There will be more pics. I've just made a custom upper dash panel out of an old pair of jeans.

Velour seat cover, shag pile carpet, very 70s

[Zelandeth]

I can well see me making something up along those lines once I've got my pile of bits into a roadworthy state, anything which helps reduce the number of hard surfaces that sound can bounce off has to be a good thing.

[SiC]

I was only watching it through my phone loudspeaker but it was enough to make my ears hurt. Also the seatbelt made me chuckle. Like that will actually have any use in any sort of accident. ...

[beko1987]

Would probably be preferable to be thrown from the vehicle in the event of an accident in that thing! Maybe some sort of panic mode ejector seat?

[PhilA]

Would probably be preferable to be thrown from the vehicle in the event of an accident in that thing! Maybe some sort of panic mode ejector seat?

Doors fly off and body pops clear off the chassis before SPANG ejecting the driver and seat clear up in the air, then with parachute to bring back down to ground again.

 

I've been watching too much James Bond

 

 

 

Phil

[madrat]

Need an air bag suit.

[beko1987]

Doors fly off and body pops clear off the chassis before SPANG ejecting the driver and seat clear up in the air, then with parachute to bring back down to ground again.

 

I've been watching too much James Bond

 

 

 

Phil

 

 

Then whoops...wrong button!

[johngarty]

Top content as usual. Just wondering, do you get many honks from on-coming traffic? Used to get quite a few in my old Robin. 

[dollywobbler]

Nope. None so far. Mostly just confused looks.

[Zelandeth]

Nope. None so far. Mostly just confused looks.

I'm looking forward to this...the bafflement I see in people's faces when in the Lada never gets old!

[dollywobbler]

I should add an asterisk to the title really, as 'running properly' might be overstating things. She starts on the button, every time. She does not conk out while driving. She still goes 'TWC!' on occasion, especially if too little choke is apparent when warming up.

 

But, the main issue is bogging on full throttle. It makes climbing hills a terrifying business, as the full-throttle power (what little there is) just isn't there. This can't be right. It's way, way slower up hills than the 2CV. On gentle throttle, all is sweet and lovely and she goes quickly and everything.

 

The bogging is accompanied by a horrible petrol smell, and the top of the carb gets damp. If I take the air cleaner off and give it full throttle, I can watch droplets spitting back out of the carb. This strikes me as not helpful. I'm not really sure what the problem is though, so I'm a bit stumped. There are several hills between me and Buckinghamshire, including Fish Hill in the Cotswolds, so I'd really like to get this sorted.

[oldcars]

Does yours have a vacuum advance on the carb? My L connection on the end of the pipe on my Rialto had popped off and i had bogging under load, but i'm not sure that would cause the petrol issue you mention.

[dollywobbler]

Nope. All mechanical only. 

[madrat]

I think you need to find a carburettor specialist and have a chat.

[Zelandeth]

My gut feeling would be issues with the float level in the carb...but I reckon that you're far better to just admit that carburettors work on witchcraft and see if you can get a garage to look at that if you've got one in the vicinity who are old school enough to know what a carb is.

 

They're fine and dandy when they just need a clean out and some seals replaced etc, but one that decides to play funny buggers can be a royal pain if the fault isn't obvious.

 

...I don't want to think how many hours I lost fighting with that bloody Pierburg one on my second Saab.  I could have any combination of two out of idling, mid range or full throttle working...but never all three!

 

Not something stupid and actually not carb related like a restricted exhaust is it?

[dollywobbler]

It might just be me. I've just had the easily-accessible main jet out again, given that a blast, discovered that the filter nut on top of the carb was very slightly loose, squirted more fuel treatment straight into the carb etc and I swear it's a bit better.

 

The query is that when the engine is revved, petrol does erupt out of the main choke in tiny droplets, when I'd assume everything would get sucked into the engine. Am I fretting about nothing? I'll try to conduct another test drive later. First, I need to worry about food.

[RayMK]

After a run, are the plugs a normal colour - mid to light beige?  If so, the mixture must be near enough nominal most of the time.  If they are black and sooty (over-fuelled and/or timing way out or gap wrong) or very pale then the mixture is too lean or timing too advanced. In view of the difficulties associated with adjusting the ignition timing, you will probably prefer to concentrate on the fuel side.  Is there a 'sweet spot' before it bogs down? Could you alleviate the bogging by adjusting the throttle cable to stop it going past the sweet spot? Does it still behave the same without an air cleaner i.e. maximum airflow, assuming that it has not got any fancy flow inducing ducting on the air intake? Are the points set to the correct gap? Is the coil correctly connected? They will still provide ignition when incorrectly connected but it will be non-optimal.  Is the transmission correctly sliding to lower ratios when full power is applied at lower speeds or uphill?  If the CVT sticks in a high ratio, jammed by the vast power, the engine could bog down as the revs fall on a hill.

 

With any fibre-glass car, having a smell of petrol around is a strong incentive to carry a decent capacity fire extinguisher and be well versed as to how to use it in a hurry.  Good luck.  Apart from the bogging down, it seems to have superior performance to my 1961 Reliant, not difficult, but impressive nevertheless.

[dollywobbler]

After a run, are the plugs a normal colour - mid to light beige?  If so, the mixture must be near enough nominal most of the time.  If they are black and sooty (over-fuelled and/or timing way out or gap wrong) or very pale then the mixture is too lean or timing too advanced. In view of the difficulties associated with adjusting the ignition timing, you will probably prefer to concentrate on the fuel side.  Is there a 'sweet spot' before it bogs down? Could you alleviate the bogging by adjusting the throttle cable to stop it going past the sweet spot? Does it still behave the same without an air cleaner i.e. maximum airflow, assuming that it has not got any fancy flow inducing ducting on the air intake? Are the points set to the correct gap? Is the coil correctly connected? They will still provide ignition when incorrectly connected but it will be non-optimal.  Is the transmission correctly sliding to lower ratios when full power is applied at lower speeds or uphill?  If the CVT sticks in a high ratio, jammed by the vast power, the engine could bog down as the revs fall on a hill.

 

With any fibre-glass car, having a smell of petrol around is a strong incentive to carry a decent capacity fire extinguisher and be well versed as to how to use it in a hurry.  Good luck.  Apart from the bogging down, it seems to have superior performance to my 1961 Reliant, not difficult, but impressive nevertheless.

 

I'm a bit confused about the CVT to be honest. There is no link between it and the engine, other than the physical drive through the gearbox, so I'm not sure how it is meant to 'see' a hill. It doesn't have the vacuum pipes of a DAF. At a guess, I'd say they just didn't expect them to be climbing hills, so the pulley movements are entirely speed related only. 

 

Haven't had the plugs out yet. I should do really. 

[RayMK]

A simple CVT system works fine by having centrifugal weights or balls in radially inclined slots, assisted by the odd spring or two. The belt tension and the centrifugal device are designed to give a balanced response between load and engine speed.  The DAF's diaphragm and engine vacuum enhancements improve response under sudden acceleration and allow low ratio hold when descending hills.