Twiggy

have you checked next to Dolly?  
 
I say that because Renault 4's where supplied by the Ministry on the Invalid Vehicle scheme to Invacar users who needed a vehicle with more then a single seat, Ie if they where married or had other dependents like children to cater for (contrary to popular belief you where not just lumped with a Model 70 even if you where mother of 5 or such!)
The Renault 4 was issued as it was found to be especially/uniquely  adaptable to the disabled where other cars where not and was the only foreign car the ministry ever issued I believe 
https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1973/may/17/disabled-drivers-vehicles


@Datsuncog gives us a bit of insight into what sort of disability might get you a Renault 4 
 
what I find quite interesting out of all that is that they found the Citroen Dyane an unsuitable replacement, I do wonder why that was given the similar control layout between a Dyane and an R4, to that Mr Cog says
 
I am curious @richardmorris/@chaseracer what be your thoughts on the matter as a Citroen owners?  
 
 
anyways hows that for a bit of obscure Renault 4 trivia for yall  

We need to upgrade the server this forum runs on.
This current site is running Debian 10. In a few months time the Debian Project will no longer be supporting this version. It came out in 2019 and we are now 5 years on from then. That was the latest version when this server was originally built and now the latest is Debian 12 which it's life ends in 2028. Support includes all security updates and so it's important for us to keep this up to date for security reasons. 
Last night I spun up a complete new server. It's currently accessible here:
https://autoshitetest.co.uk
Please do login and have a play around. Right now search is still indexing (like here) and Email isn't working. I ran out of time last night for email but I hope to get that up soon. I have only restored this month's images as restoring all 215gb is expensive. The database restore is from last night at the time I started doing this restore.
This site served two main objectives. First is to make sure the backups actually are useful when restored. Secondly, just as crucial, serve as a basis of the new server going forward. 
For those interested, it's actually running on our hosting providers latest ARM 64bit servers. Apart from a useful half price voucher this month, the performance of these systems promise to be a lot quicker than what this is on now. Also use less power for the same given task (so better for the environment). Likewise the datacentre they're situated in France claims to use significantly less water for cooling than most other DCs. 
I plan to keep it up for a few days at least but I won't be running it constantly as that costs money. I don't want us to double our monthly hosting bill with two identical sites! 
So have a play and see what you think. Let me know of any issues that you see. Performance should be good as it's quicker and less people accessing it. Remember any data saved or posted on there will be lost when I do the eventual switch over!
Thanks.

Its that time again! The forum software has an update out and is also a good time for me to apply any operating system updates while there. 
Changes are here for those that are interested: https://invisioncommunity.com/release-notes/
Nothing really exciting apart from general bug fixes.
My plan is to do it tomorrow and probably will take an hour all being well. If someone is happening to be doing a collection mission or need access to the forum, let me know and I can postpone it.
Another heads up that I'll need to do a much bigger operating system rebuild at some point soon as the current OS is coming to its absolute end-of-life in a few months time. I need set aside a day to properly sort and test this but hopefully most of it can be done in the background until I can flick the switch to move across. This may cause a bit more disruption but as always I'll try to keep that minimal.

Looks decent. I sold it last year, maybe October time. I'd had both wings off, repaired them both above the headlamps and behind the front wheels, repaired the tops of the inner wings (the outers are still wearing my mismatched aerosol repairs I see!!!) and the LH scuttle which was quite rotten. I had the fuel tank out and repaired/painted it, repaired & painted the boot floor, new fuel hoses, rebuilt rear calipers, new SS exhaust, couple of new core plugs, rebuilt fuel pump, sorted out most of the electrics. It had a little hole in the RH screen surround and I bought a new screen rubber from Australia but never managed to deal with the hole. I wonder if he's covered it up with the new rubber and chrome trim. I advertised it for £2500 and it went in 48hrs.

Ive felt the need for something more sensible as a daily runner and while the Buick performs this task admirably, 15mpg round town hurts a bit. I need something with a few more mpg's to lessen the pain. 
I found something which fits the bill whcih I'll be making a short trip to collect later today.
Updates to follow
 
 

Much belated X3 related update.
With the X3 being needed for the family trip to Disneyhell Paris, non-start roulette would be a surefire way to make the trip worse.
Battery was ruled out as that was good so thoughts turned to the various earth points. I dropped it off at the local garage with instructions to "just fucking sort it" as I couldn't be bothered/didn't have time/etc.
Got a phone call from them later that day to say earth straps are all good but your starter is fuckin fucked m9 as it was getting stuck when hot. With that replaced it now starting on the button hot or cold.
Spirited on by good weather today I though it would be a good opportunity to have a look at the egr valve as I was pretty sure it would be gunked  up. 

The top two bolts were easy but the bottom right had to be done by touch as it was impossible to see. Someone had obviously been here before as the bottom left bolt was missing!

On the face of it didn't look too bad. I forgot to take a pics of the valve end but the inlet manifold should give you a fair indication. Of what it looked like

REALLY NASTY. It was a good 4mm thick all round.

spent a good 20mins gradually scraping out what I could reach being careful to not leave any loose debris inside. 
I've current got the valve soaking in Mr Muscle oven cleaner as brake cleaner didn't really make a dent. The valve was totally seized with carbon.
In other news the Roadmaster is peforming daily duties without fault so I treated it to a bath

It's better if everyone just wins a twix.

Thanks Stu' ..I'm hopeful that with a skim of filler and a coat of paint, it'll look as if it had always been there.
Today I loaded up the car of pre-purchased supplies, for my friend who'll be doing the paint for me ..as I'll be seeing him tomorrow morning.  The chap I'm sub-letting the barn from has another car coming in on Saturday so I'll need to move my car out of the way, and in the meantime to clear the floor all around of tools. I mostly did that today and it's nice to have a tidy barn / work place again. 
I then got on with trimming the bottom off of that side-bumper-bracket. Now it'll not be seen, save from laying under the car. 
Next, and quite a challenge for me to know how to tackle the task, but I've now started extending the valance panel's bolt-through flange. No pictures of any of this yet I'm afraid, but I will post one or two ..possibly on Thursday evening.  In fact, the only photo I took today was when taking advantage of the exceptional sunlight coming in from the barn's back wall window ..then I got straight on with doing my jobs, only stopping now and then to thaw my fingers out. 

^ The car in good light ..as she presently is, still work in progress, and with the valance panel in bare metal it's hardly noticeable. 
That's all for tonight. I bid you a warm and cosy evening.
Pete
 
p.s. Forecast for here tomorrow is -2 degrees ..so take care on the icy roads in the morning
 

Not much to report today.
I did correct the curved shape of the infill piece and then got on with making the first of the handed pair of front bumper side irons.

I'm not using the original side-irons, which would have poked through the side of the new valance, but instead have fabricated a new one which also clamps / secures in place that panel at the sides. The slotted hole in the bumper's own bracket gives the necessary vertical adjustment. All too often you see the rear blade of these slim-line bumpers hanging too low ..as if presenting a sad face (similarly slim bumpers used on the Jaguar 240/340 and Daimler 250, as well as the Jaguar S-type, Mk10 & 420 and Daimler Sovereign).  The inside curved flange of the bracket is cut to follow the outside curve of the valance panel, and two bolts clamp it up to the underside of the 'crows feet'.  I've yet to trim the bottom corner of the (recycled metal) bracket off to be horizontal.
From the underside it looks as if the valance panel is positioned a long way under / inward but even there it's almost too far out relative to the wing panel above.. The chassis structure prevents it going inwards any further.
Pete.

  I've also reshaped the back corner of the valance panel to bring it in better line with the shape of the wheel-arch. 
 

Yesterday I drove down to north London to buy the new-old-stock Daimler radiator grille. I'm very pleased to have found that ..just when I needed one,  and then upon my return to Ipswich dropped it off at the radiator repair place for it to be pressure tested (£25+vat).  I could have done it myself but I don't have the bungs and making them up would have taken more time than £25 worth.   
Yesterday I also received the metal shrinker-stretcher I'd ordered off Amazon.   Today I opened this pressie to myself. . .
    
In part, I chose this particular tool because it appeared to have a sensible and easy to clamp-down base. That decision turned out to be a good one as it's a pretty heavy cast iron lump and just with two clamps to the edge of my workmate it was solid enough to use straight out of the packaging. It is also light enough to move around when dancing with the full car width of under bumper valance panel.  I took it outside to benefit from better light and more space.   
I started with just trying a test piece out . . .
   
Using the shrinking jaws first, simply because that's the way the tool was set up.  And then I had a go with the stretcher jaws.  I'm impressed..  
   
Although just a test piece I'm very pleased how neat the flange face remains.  It's true there are fine grip marks ..but not nearly so ugly as I might get with clamping tight with a pair of mole grips, and perhaps even more consistent than my hammer & dolly. Those marks would easily be primed and painted smoothly over.  Most certainly it's both quicker and far neater than snipping darts to take the flange around a curve, or the subsequent welding of those V's to restore the panel's stiffness. 
First lesson to be learn was to take things steadily, working along the panel's flange systematically to create a smooth curve, both to the full depth of the flange and then again at just the half-depth of the flange.  A second lesson was to clean the paint and crud of the metal to be stretched or shrunk first. The tools jaws are cut with very finely slotted teeth ..quite similar to the face of a fine file ..and these clamp to grip the surface of the metal. If the panel's surface is painted, then that paint comes off and clogs the jaws. a power wire brush soon cleans the paint out, but I can imagine it would quickly become laborious ..removing the jaws frequently to clean them.  Much easier to just remove the paint first so that the jaws grip directly onto the bare metal.  

The valance panel I'm re-making was cut down the centreline and widened by 13".  I used a scrap panel off an electrical appliance salvaged from the skip whose edge already had a 90-deg fold. I simply eased that angle a bit before tack welding it in place. The fold was of course dead straight (as seen above) and although it would be completely hidden behind the car's front number plate - so it being flat / straight wouldn't matter a jot.. one of the reasons I bought this shrinker-stretcher tool was to improve the quality of the things I'm making.  Other things I make may well be far more visible. 
So, to practice further today, I stripped the paint off the centre infill section and used the shrinker tool to add a little curvature. . .

^ that to me is mega cool.  In fact I got carried away and over-cooked-it ..to be too curvy, but I'm confident that I can stretch it back to where I'd like it to be.
At £153 off Amazon ..delivered within 2 days... my major annoyance is that I didn't buy one 20 years ago.  Not least before I started cutting & shoving this front valance panel for the Daimler.  And not least before I made the metal gearbox cover for my Triumph.  Embarrassingly, even as a engineering professional - I didn't even know these tools existed for the home / garage market. But with a sheet metal folder and good quality metal-cutting shears and snips it opens up a whole new dimension to my panel making.. 
And as the repair rear-valance (under bumper) panel for this car cost £285.31 + delivery + VAT ..I can now make it myself.  Likewise the roof bows I need to support around the sunroof.   Tbh I don't really like handling cold-steel panels.. I'm very much more comfortable with wood ...but the opportunities this opens up in car repair / restoration is rather liberating. 
Bidding you a pleasant weekend
Pete
 

ps.. it's just been pointed out to me that my car's radiator may be the same as a Jaguar 2.4 rather than a typical Daimler V8 one.  This is because all but 750 of these Daimlers were built as automatics, and so had cooling pipes from the radiator to the gearbox heat exchanger.  My car was one of those built with a manual gearbox and so its radiator doesn't have the extra plumbing.   

" automatics...., had cooling pipes from the radiator to the gearbox heat exchanger "  is not quite correct ... Referring to the workshop manual and again looking at photos of the radiator for the automatic Daimler versus manual cars it seems that the automatic's radiator simply had a loop of pipe in the bottom of the radiator.  With gearbox oil pumped through that, via pipe connectors in the bottom of that tank (see above) the coolant radiator is the gearbox's 'heat exchanger'.  
Bottom line being that I can use either radiator (intended for the automatic or for the manual gearbox). I'll simply not have a use for the oil-way loop in the bottom tank. 
Pete

Yesterday, I stopped all else I was hoping to do and removed the radiator. . .
  
^ not being a modern I didn't have to dismantle the front of the car to get the radiator out. After the top and bottom hoses were freed, four nuts released the fan cowling ..which just pushes back to wait until the radiator is repaired). Then two bolts held the radiator itself in place to the body's grille surround. The bottom of the radiator simply has two pegs to locate it.
With the system drained down I took the opportunity to remove the heater. . .

My Triumph TR has its heater box tucked-in under the dashboard, and I'm sure that would be a sod to get out. In comparison, aside from the awkward reach to control linkages and bulkhead fastenings, this heater was very easy to remove.    

After releasing it's fastenings, the water pipes and linkages.. the heater box only needed one air filter to be removed before it lifted out.

As we all know.. not everything goes to plan.  Some fastenings have turned to ferrous fossil
I took this and the radiator down into town (Ipswich) to Sheldrake & Wells, for them to assess and possibly repair.  The car's heater was not very very impressive, so I suspect that is just furred up and after 55 years would benefit from a new core.  We'll see what they advise. 
That's all for today, save to add that I've ordered one of these . . .
   
It's a metal shrinker / stretcher to curve the flanges of panels.  With promotional discount it cost £153 inc P&P, off Amazon, which is better value than I could find on ebay, or through places like Machine Mart or Tool Station..  I think it'll be useful for tidying up the curved flanges of the valance panel and other bits I tend to make. in effect saving its' cost in less darts and snips needed to form flanges around their curve.  
I've never used one before, so it'll be interesting to see if such a relatively cheap tool lives up to expectations.
Watch this space.. 
Pete
 
 

The details can sometimes take longer than one would like but they have to be done. . .

^ in behind the rectangular vent you'll see a hole through the chassis's front cross member where the bumper iron fits. That iron, as it comes forward, curves upwards & outwards, and then is bent for its bolting face (for the bumper) to sit immediately under the body's horizontal / knife edge flange. 
Getting that exact position of where that bumper iron should pass through the valance panel took a bit of care and attention, with my first marking its position on the underside of that flange (with the valance panel removed) and then transferring those marks, together with a projection of its height down onto the valance panel.  The green felt pen marks are where I've determined the bumper iron would pass through the valance. 
Now how do I cut that slot. ?? 
This is how I did it . . .
 
^ Firstly I marked a line around the slot, where I determined the bumper iron would pass through, and then cut just the slot. The outer line is where I want the folded corner of a return-flange to be. . .
 
^ And then I applied the ball end of a very old hammer, inherited from my father, to fold the required return flange into the gapped size of the workmate's jaws.  The return flange so made restores the stiffness of the panel, which otherwise (if just a cut) would have wavered and probably split after a time.  This photo shows work in progress but with a little more snipping and 'application' the edges were trued up a little neater. . .
 

^ I think the slot (with 1/4" clearance around the iron) ended up looking pretty reasonable ..not least considering I'm not exactly well practised in the art of panel-bashing. 
Of course the same was repeated on the other side of the car, and then the bumper refitted to ensure they work when all was bolted up tight.

Thankfully the irons and bumper bolted up just fine, and those grooves ..for all the effort to make them neat, will hardly be seen when the car is down off the ramps ..just the way I like them to be.  I may be putting a lamp or else a grille behind those rectangular air intake holes, but I do like their giving relief to the otherwise featureless valance.
 
Unfortunately.. I then noticed a drip or three..   
Although I've not touched the radiator, I might only guess that my fighting with stubborn bumper iron bolts and hammering of the valance panel's flanges had shaken it. . .
 
Not much to see on either side of the core, but overnight it dripped about a litre.  
Odd though it may seem, I'm really very pleased ..because I much prefer to find and rectify this now, rather than when I'm a hundred miles away from home and heading out to a summer show. 
Pete
 

Back onto the job albeit somewhat a bit slower because laying on my back breaths flem into my lungs and starts me off deep-chest coughing ..same issue as preventing my getting a decent night's sleep.  Nevertheless I can't sit around waiting to feel better when a job, or a whole lot of jobs need to be done in pretty quick time.. in this case before she goes into paint. So back to it..
  
After a bit more work to remove the last remnants of paint and primers, I was back down bare metal with surface rust pitting on the inside but clean enough on the outside to see and feel what I was doing in terms of starting to remove dents and creases from where I'd roughly rebent this panel to approximately fit under the Daimler.   This time I repositioned the panel half-an-inch further back, which after some rework ought to improve the line down from the wheelarch, and also (from side profile) lessen the jutting out chin.  With it so positioned I cut out the overlaps (..of the darts) so as to mate the butt jointed edges.  You can see by the air-holes in a few of the spots of weld, that I was having a problem with the mig weld's supply of argon-shield.  Bottom line is that regulator isn't worth the value of the plastic bag it was packaged in . .

^ Total waste of space ..in any language.!   This one, a regulator for a disposable gas cartridge, was a new-old-stock still packaged item from a friend, who let me have it after the one I'd bought from Machine Mart was similarly crying useless.  I took it back for a replacement, and before walking out checked it.  The four or five the store had in stock were likewise useless.  I hoped they had just a bad batch , so when Mathew had one going free I said I'd give it a try.  Not just a batch then ..just a worthless piece of junk. None of those tried (six or seven in total) simply didn't let the gas through from Clark's own disposable gas bottle, likewise supplied by Machine Mart. 
Last night, on the way back from the barn, I stopped in to Tool-Station to buy another type. This one, sold under the SIP brand-name, it is in cast brass. . .
       https://www.toolstation.com/sip-mig-gas-regulator/p41163
At £21.62 it isn't cheap ..for a gas regulator with no gauge and poor calibration, but it works.  I needed to turn the knob open 3+1/4 full turns to get the gas flow required. On depressing the mig welder's trigger the gas comes as spurt before settling at a lower steady but reliable pressure. My old gas regulator (for full size bottles and with a volume & a flow-pressure gauge) didn't do that initial spurt. 
Anyway it works and now i can get on and splatter my pigeon-mess more purposefully. !
oh, I also treated myself to a 4-ft long LED strip lamp (formally known as 'fluorescent') < here > with a water resistant rating of IP65.  It cost me £35 ..but I needed better lighting without the deep shadows thrown by single bulbs. This 5400k lumen lamp needed a power lead with plug, so that I might use it portably ..low down and around the car, and that came from an old electric sander which had given up its ghost.  
Lighting and a welder which works.. will wonders never cease. ?  Nope.., because next door to Toolstation is a charity shop, where I bought a kitchen toaster and a small electric kettle.. Now I can have light, be able to weld ..AND have HOT Cornish-pasty and HOT coffee for lunch.  Whatever next .. a chair to sit on ! ?
Back on with the job . .

The LHS older repairs are somewhat different to the RHS.  Just under my finger you can see a step in the panel line. This is where the replace corner reinforcement (the Jaguar Mk2's infamous 'crows feet', which rusts away because it's 18g ferrous steel placed in such a vulnerable position, just forward of the wheel-arch) was welded in 1/4" too far forward.  Normally it wouldn't matter but this and other differences were noted when trying to match one side of the new valance panel to the other.  

^ previously the corners were just snipped and overlapped to approximate the required tuck under. Today I checked what I wanted, took a breath and cut the dart. This side being about twice the amount I needed on the RHS corner.  I could have tried to make the two corners dimensionally symmetrical, but instead I've chosen to just try and make it look right, from one side to the other. . .
  
^ taking shape ..literally spot by spot.

I'm happy with the tucking under outside shape following down from the wing either side.  The overall height presently looks a little less deep on the LHS but it's still work-in-progress. I'll look again tomorrow.
In the meantime I bid you a warm n' dry and comfortable evening,
Pete

Brake light ASSEMBLED. Ali Express sweatshop workers were having a good day when they made my light, as it works. 
I also replaced the opening window latch thing in the hope it might fix the non-opening but no dice. Ah well I never used it anyway. 

Did the Scramble but the show overwhelmed me a bit so I might save the battery for the old resto show, eh.  Definitely looking to keep the old motors but do less of the writing  - the industry is grating on me. 



Fixed the headlights while I was there. I lost the full beams in the Trough of Bowland in September and TBH, full and dipped on an SVX aren't that dissimilar. 



I forget the price of the metal that attends the Scramble, sometimes. 

A few more bum notes from the phone and Nikon for your eye faces: 





































The wind chill at the Scramble was horrible. 



I couldn't go home to my shared house in Peebo, owing to two of my housemates having COVID, so I stayed with some friends in the next county over. 
His missus's Freelander was misbehaving and she needed a lift back home where another car awaited. 

The SVX WAS the office for a bit...she worked in the back so the laptop lid didn't go over the door mirror. 



After that it was time to go back to the garage before a quick wash at the hand car place and another rinsing of the arches owing to the access road looking like a bad day in the Somme. 





When I have enough spare money the SVX is going back to Carnetix to get the centre pulley done; it's moaning like a bad day at the brass house and the bearing is starting to go. 
Low loader to Melton, I reckon. 

If there's enough money in the pot I'll have the vomiting rocker covers sorted and get a price on new top mounts. 

local social media sensation 😂

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
 
 
PC: 2 

Im still lying in my bed. Will get a call later when its ready then venture out
PC: 1 (i did venture out of bed for this, dont worry 🤣)

Having stuck 860 miles on this in 2 days, here's some thoughts on it...
 
Positives:
This car covers miles like they are metres - comfortable seats and a lazy driving experience make it a most pleasant place to be.
The arm rest is spot on - lovely matched height with the door armrest, it's basically like doing 70mph on your sofa.
The ride, even on 17" rims is comfortable - classic "see bumps but don't feel them".
The auto box performs well, smooth changes whether under harsh or soft acceleration.
Easy to get the box into overdrive and keep it there - useful on backroads.
The whine of the supercharger is not intrusive, but serves as a reminder that you are being pulled along by something a bit special.
The stereo is great - decent sounds all round.
Power is ALWAYS available - just prod the pedal and off you go. However, it's happy to just nurse along at a GPS 70mph.
The LPG is smooth at motorway speeds.
Despite a lack of cruise control, it's easy to maintain speed, and the pedal position is comfortable.
No engine fluids (coolant/oil/ATF/Power steering ) consumed.
 
Negatives:
The LPG fails to keep up past 4000rpm.
It idles roughly on LPG.
Light throttle openings on LPG are stuttery until up to 40mph.
If on overrun on LPG (e.g. coming down a hill with no throttle) it gets crossed up and splutters.
Think it has the beginnings of a ball joint rattle from the passenger front.
It makes Oliver Reed look like a tea-totaller.
860.4 miles
£193.79 in LPG
216.04L LPG (47.52 gallons)
18.1 mpg
22.5p/mile
 
If it was petrol
£193.79 is 141.55L (31.14gallons)
27.64mpg equiv
 
Overall:
13/10 would roadtrip again! 
 
I'll need to see if I can get the LPG checked and serviced fully (I did replace the filters and that has helped a bit).
With the LPG running cleaner I'd hope it will be a tremendous mile muncher.
 
I'm glad I've met my hero - I'm not disappointed!

 

OMGSNOKAOS!

You Northerners may laugh but that's about as bad as it gets down here.

Out and about at work last week I spotted this bringing the tone to an acceptable level while delivering a bin on a private estate in the Witterings

And on the way home from shopping yesterday afternoon I saw this beauty.

I dunno S Class AND a Roller, you'll have the Local chavs knocking ya door for their weekly/daily supply

That`s one delicious bit of kit !