L fallax

Minor ailments with this currently include one of the carb needles becoming loose resulting in raw fuel being dumped out of the exhaust (pretty stains on pavement) and a somewhat temperamental fusebox connection. Both easy fixes I suppose.
In preparation for a long journey down to Rustival, a 700 mile round trip, I thought it would be good to add a few features.
First up is a working 12v socket. The wiring had long since disintegrated from this do it had to be redone.
To begin I stuck it in phosphoric acid to clean up the rusty insides.

Then made up new wiring. Originally this is fed off the ignition switch and is both permanently live and unfused. Not happy with this, I've made the wiring to fit into a switched live on the fusebox, and added a tail onto it for future use.

That meant I could then use a portable inflator to pump the tyres up that were all sitting at 20psi.
Next up, I wanted to do something about the high-low beam toggle which is operated by a foot switch next to the clutch pedal. 

That's not it in location but you get the idea. My problem is my feet are way too big to use the switch and I keep pressing the clutch instead.
The full beam can also be flashed by pulling the indicator stalk towards you so my plan was to modify this so that it can be used as a toggle switch, then I could do away with the floor switch.
The advantage here is that the stalk flash is fed through a relay, so I can make modifications that don't need to handle the current. The floor switch by comparison is straight wired to the headlamps and is consequently chunky as hell.
So here's the plan. Splice into the feed to the flasher stalk and wire in a bistable (latching) relay. That way you have one flick for full beam on, then another for full beam off.
The relay is easy to come by for a staggering £3.43.

And here is how it wires in.

Temporary wired in with alligator clips.

That'll do.
Next plan is to improve the indicators. You'll have to take my word for it, but as standard they're so damn slow. Going all the way round a roundabout it'll probably flash twice, which I feel is dangerous as the non-lit time is far too long.
This one is simple enough to fix, the original flasher relay is binned and a modern relay with adjustable speed wired in.
No need to explain this really as it's a like for like swap, I just had to make up a couple of wires to connect the pins into the existing plug. I kept the old plug so that for any reason the old flasher can be put back on.
Waaaaay better.
Final electrical mod: hazards. Seems odd for a Volvo not to have hazard lights but there you go.
This required splicing into the yellow wire coming from the flasher relay, adding a 4 pin switch, and splicing the output straight to both left and right indicator bulb wires, bypassing the stalk.

Hardest part of that was cutting the loom wrap in the right place to find the green and blue wires for the indicators to cut into them.
I'll feel a bit better about using motorways now.
Time to celebrate with a chippy.

 
 

back again with an overdue progress update,
she’s cleaning up now!

fitted some Cobra motorsport springs, now sits 40mm lower. can scrape some important bits but only if youre rushing, so its no bother!  spacers too. looks better and handles with more stability.  
Dunlop street response2 tyres all round, Black diamond discs and Yellowstuff pads, good braking from cold but especially with some temperature, then, really superb. and no surprise, the dunlops perform amazing. 

most recently did a bit of a half assed paint job on the steelies but they actually tidied up pretty solid. still rocking the 13”s!
refreshing the engine and clutch will be the next big things to get done!

lovely immaculate Triumph TR5 from last month, in royal blue with ‘shadow’ blue trim! 

lovely immaculate Triumph TR5 from last month, in royal blue with ‘shadow’ blue trim! 

lovely immaculate Triumph TR5 from last month, in royal blue with ‘shadow’ blue trim! 

Spotted at lidl...

Quiet pint and classic motors spotted..

Fitzwilliam square in dublin:

Wizzing about this morning in the Daf I ventured into M&S in Whetstone, where I parked next to this.....
 

What are the odds? I chatted for a few minutes with the owner, who, like me, believes classic cars should be used not stored in garages all the time. A sunny day & a classic car-a great way to do the shopping! 

back again with an overdue progress update,
she’s cleaning up now!

fitted some Cobra motorsport springs, now sits 40mm lower. can scrape some important bits but only if youre rushing, so its no bother!  spacers too. looks better and handles with more stability.  
Dunlop street response2 tyres all round, Black diamond discs and Yellowstuff pads, good braking from cold but especially with some temperature, then, really superb. and no surprise, the dunlops perform amazing. 

most recently did a bit of a half assed paint job on the steelies but they actually tidied up pretty solid. still rocking the 13”s!
refreshing the engine and clutch will be the next big things to get done!

back again with an overdue progress update,
she’s cleaning up now!

fitted some Cobra motorsport springs, now sits 40mm lower. can scrape some important bits but only if youre rushing, so its no bother!  spacers too. looks better and handles with more stability.  
Dunlop street response2 tyres all round, Black diamond discs and Yellowstuff pads, good braking from cold but especially with some temperature, then, really superb. and no surprise, the dunlops perform amazing. 

most recently did a bit of a half assed paint job on the steelies but they actually tidied up pretty solid. still rocking the 13”s!
refreshing the engine and clutch will be the next big things to get done!

back again with an overdue progress update,
she’s cleaning up now!

fitted some Cobra motorsport springs, now sits 40mm lower. can scrape some important bits but only if youre rushing, so its no bother!  spacers too. looks better and handles with more stability.  
Dunlop street response2 tyres all round, Black diamond discs and Yellowstuff pads, good braking from cold but especially with some temperature, then, really superb. and no surprise, the dunlops perform amazing. 

most recently did a bit of a half assed paint job on the steelies but they actually tidied up pretty solid. still rocking the 13”s!
refreshing the engine and clutch will be the next big things to get done!

back again with an overdue progress update,
she’s cleaning up now!

fitted some Cobra motorsport springs, now sits 40mm lower. can scrape some important bits but only if youre rushing, so its no bother!  spacers too. looks better and handles with more stability.  
Dunlop street response2 tyres all round, Black diamond discs and Yellowstuff pads, good braking from cold but especially with some temperature, then, really superb. and no surprise, the dunlops perform amazing. 

most recently did a bit of a half assed paint job on the steelies but they actually tidied up pretty solid. still rocking the 13”s!
refreshing the engine and clutch will be the next big things to get done!

One of the local volvo 240s this one belongs to the owner of the small local car workshop / garage.

45 year old Mercedes wich is still a daily driver and one of several of these that are still in use in the area here.

I was a very lucky boy and saw these two in the same 10 minute walk to the shops. The Lancia was spectacularly clean.

Parked next to this yesterday morning. Pretty much the same age and size as my car but a very different approach in all other aspects. 


 
And came across these on a dog walk. The Sprint is partially hidden because there were people at the front door so I was being surreptitious. 

If I didn't have the dog with me I might have said hello being a fellow Triumph owner but he is a bit of a handful. But two doors up I also found this. 

Even the mk1 Focus is getting scarce even if silver was the most common colour. 

Spotted a couple of days ago but forgotten about.

 

Catching up with some recent spottages from the past month. It's that one-owner Golf again - I was hoping for a chat with the owners but they'd already disappeared into the shop. Good to have a proper look as it really is spotless and worthy of the FOTU concours. Let's all bask in the glorious beigeness..

 

 

 

 
Aldi came up trumps again a couple of weeks later with this Prelude. Pop up lights and four-wheel steering for all the good times.

 

Chunky Renault camper thing was parked up on the industrial estate

A random assortment of stuff on the move

 

 

 

 

 

Double shite bonus - didn't know the Granada was there when I snapped the Monterey

And a very lazy spot as it was right outside my house. I'm sure you all know who put it there.

Came out of Asda to find this parked next to me. Haven't seen a Terrano or Maverick for a long time. 

With good reason judging by the state of that wing. 

Well looked-after but obviously driven regularly down in Chilham this afternoon.  Registered 1962.