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vulgalour

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Everything posted by vulgalour

  1. Potentially stupid question time. Pat and I are a bit stumped on something the Lanchester is doing with its lights. Front sidelights and indicators aren't yet wired up. We don't think this will have a bearing on the issue, but I mention it just in case it does. Turn on sidelights - running lights and number plate light come on at the back as they should Turn on headlights (dipped beam) - headlights come on normally. Running lights and number plate light go off. What we can't figure out is why it's doing this. What would cause the rear lights to go off as soon as you turn the headlights on?
  2. Oh aye, that's a completely satisfactory replacement item. Thanks for siding with the seller on this one, eBay, you absolute bawbag.
  3. Another bit of the Lanchester working now. Finally got to the bottom of the connectivity issue which is that there's just loads of play in the rivet that's the pivot for the switch. There's one tiny sweet spot where the switch will make and hold contact. That means it works well enough. A better rivet would fix it properly but I haven't the tools or materials to do it (a pop rivet isn't going to work here, needs to be a rod that's peened over top and bottom) so it'll just have to be the way it is for the forseeable. Dome Light.mp4
  4. I'm going to do the right thing and fix the wiring/plug that I suspect is bad before I get to using the car again. Right now it's not being driven so it doesn't matter. In other news, the Maestro portrait is now up in the shop here: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/109828621
  5. @GingerNuttz earned his chips on this one, for sure. Looking forward to seeing you put it back together and the exciting diversions it has in store for you.
  6. Dashboard Lights.mp4 More things on the Lanchester working. Both switches for the dashboard lights work properly. As dim as it is, the light output on the instrument binnacle is hugely improved too after repainting the innards, so that was definitely worth doing. Ignition light (red, top right, usually) isn't coming on now though so that's something to investigate, probably dynamo related.
  7. The electrics have probably just confused because there's actual metal for an earth to attach to now.
  8. I really like that colour, no sense in having a modular Micra in a boring shade, you don't have a car like that to blend in.
  9. Maidstone multistorey today, not somewhere I have a need to go very often. Princess looked even weirder than usual in this setting.
  10. It works! Runs really smoothly, especially compared to how it was with all the old grease in it. Looks just right too, I was worried the cleaning and fresh paint would have made it look too restored, but I think I managed to tread the cosmetic line there on it. Well chuffed about this job, never rebuilt something like this before. Wiper Motor.mp4
  11. Been working on the wiper motor for the Lanchester this weekend. Lots of weird and wonderful smells as I gradually clear away 70 years of dirt, oil grease, and bad paint. Dry fit demonstrated it's moving a lot smoother than it was so I'm hopeful that when the new paint dries, it will actually work properly. Been trying to record the process as I go, as with everything else on the Lanchester project, so there'll be a video on this at some point in the future. I never intended to strip this down so far, I was only going to clean out the old grease and put fresh in and then one thing led to another and now I know what's inside a Lucas SW4 wiper motor.
  12. Although not my first car, this was the first car I had after passing my test and I loved it. I never wanted to sell it. Life circumstances forced me to sell it when I really didn't want to and I never got to finish it. I do regret selling it, and I also recognise the sanity of doing so when I did. It's just a car, really, and there's lots of other cars out there. My current 'never sell' is just as important to me as that old Polo was and if I ever have to part ways with it then I'm sure something else will replace it too. Whether that something else is another car or not I don't know, that's something for future me to worry about, should the need ever arise. Do I regret selling the Polo? Yes, absolutely. Would I buy it back if I could? I'm not sure. Cars are sentimental things, we build a relationship with them quite unlike most other tools because of the special sort of freedom (and prison) they give us. As such it would be silly to divorce ourselves from the emotional attachment to them when making the decision. You can rationalise environmental impact, ethics, and personal morality all you like but if you're not ready to sell emotionally, then you're not ready to sell. What the car represents is different for every person, and that's why there's no simple answer to what to do with that special car you'll "never sell".
  13. Rebuilt the stator tube hub control assembly (I have no proper name for this thing) for the Lanchester today after re-wiring it. Fresh grease has made it operate much better. Arse of a thing to record working on. Self-cancelling mechanism for the semaphore switch works nicely too now. Fingers crossed it actually works properly once reinstalled.
  14. Getting similar figures to your 1.8 Merc from my 1.7 Princess at around 22mpg urban. Not been driving as far afield as usual because of *waves hands at world in general* but I know from past experience it'll return mid-to-high 30s on a run. Never quite managed to get 40mpg out of it. It's not bad for an essentially 70s car really.
  15. Grey, apparently. It's clearly beige. Barrett has a point too, dark silver is still silver.
  16. Regular readers will remember my stress with wiring colours and wiring diagrams. Here it is in video form, finally, which should hopefully clarify what was annoying me so much.
  17. I seem to have fixed the dynamo on the Lanchester by accident. Had a moment at lunch for tidying up which meant pulling the Lanchester out of the garage, decided to disconnect the dynamo and test the brake light switch as much as I was able (need Pat to help me really, too difficult to DIY). With the dynamo disconnected it wouldn't be randomly running while testing lights. Once done, I reconnected the dynamo just in case and now it works fine again. Bit odd, don't really know what was amiss there, maybe it had just got stuck or something.
  18. It's difficult to record absolutely everything that happens as it happens so as for the system not getting hot enough for the fan to come on, it absolutely did. I had the gauge with the needle almost at the far right of the gauge and still no fan. I had it hot enough you could hear the coolant boiling. It was plenty hot enough for the fan to come on, I just didn't fiddle about with the camera to record it since, you know, the car was overheating and that was bad. The old cap didn't seal, the new one does. The new one is therefore better even if it's not correct. You're correct, fan switch doesn't do anything with the temp gauge. Trying to explain what's going on while it's going on and remember what I said for the write up and the video... I get muddled. Fan switch only operates the fan, when it gets to X temperature bimetallic switch closes, fan comes on. When it gets to X temperature bimetallic switch opens, fan goes off. Unfortunately, mine is having the issue that the switch has no bearing on what the fan is doing because the electrical connection is being broken before it gets to the switch. So all I can do is see stuff is getting too hot and that the fan isn't coming on and try and find the issue. This was a messy video and write up in all honesty. It was a difficult one to record and the images don't show the whole story. You'll just have to take my word for it that the switches were duff, the car did get plenty hot enough, and the problem with the fan unreliability is with the wiring. Having driven the car in stop-start traffic (something I don't have the means to record just yet) proved that the car could easily get too hot for the fan to come on, and that the fan would go on and off totally randomly, we're talking anything from a staccato burst of on-off, to refusing to come on, to coming on as normal and going off when the temperature dropped as normal. There's definitely an issue in the connectivity between switch and wiring. Anyway. Bodge employed for now and that's just fine. I'm not currently driving the car anyway because I haven't got welding gas to finish the bodywork off and get it in for an MoT. I have too much shit to do.
  19. For the first time in our ownership all three running lights now work on the Lanchester. I'm delighted! Bumper will be going back on when I've straightened the bent bits. Brake lights aren't coming on with the pedal, this could just be things being out of adjustment, a bad switch, dirty contacts, or a combination of all three. It's a big step in the right direction all the same, feel like I'm closing in on having the whole thing operational now. Light Test2.mp4
  20. Moving Huggy on, painful though it is right now, is probably the best decision. Time for another adventure for both of you. I hope Handsome serves you as well as Huggy ever did.
  21. Lanchester reflector colour test now I've got the light units working. I'd say the chrome paint is the brighter option here. Light Test.mp4
  22. In many ways, the MG ZT is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman a Rover 100.
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