Project Meg the Visa.

[HillmanImp]

Right, with a REALLY heavy heart I am putting this car up for sale. I will regret this as I absolutely love this little car but its not getting used and I need to sort my shizzle out.

 

 

As soon as I locate some wheel bearings for it, I am boshing 12 months MOT on it. its got about 77k on it, fantastic history as you can see on the front page, new rear springs and shocks, 2 sets of wheels one set with winter tyres on and is an absolute fucking hoot to drive. I mean GR12 fun. 

 

The gear linkage is a bit sloppy sometimes but most of the time its fine. It has an oil leak from the rocker cover but that is a fucking right pain to get to on these so therefore it just leaks a bit of oil.

 

There is a bit of rust here and there with the worst bit on the bonnet at the front but overall its in good condition with no rot. 

 

Its had a slight scrape down the drivers side on the bottom half of the car before I got it but its not too noticeable because of where it is and could be repaired pretty easily.

 

I want £450 for it with the test and I will only sell it to someone I trust to look after it (well I hope will look after it).

 

As I write this I am thinking 'Why am I selling it' and am feeling a bit sad TBH. Car is not for sale elsewhere but I reserve the right to have an emotional change of heart and withdraw it from sale. 

[Fabergé Greggs]

I also think it would be better if you withdrew it from sale because it's making me emotional that I can't buy it.

[strangeangel]

Nothing would make me happier than to have this and that gold Samara on the drive with my 205, but that ain't gonna happen.

 

Hope you change your mind and keep it, it's ace

[Six-cylinder]

Sad news indeed, I have really enjoyed having another Visa on this Forum.

[cort16]

Does all this car selling mean you'll be able to stretch to an Xjr ? You'll not regret it.

[cort16]

 

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221763627913

[HMC]

Yeah the xjr would deffo be the ideal choice for that speedy dash to the maternity unit.

 

Edit- ^ that does look tempting!

[HillmanImp]

That does look tempting but it looks like I have just done a deal on another Jag. Details to follow.

 

Sad news indeed, I have really enjoyed having another Visa on this Forum.

 

It may well stay but I probably need to be realistic and get shot of it and divert what little attention I will be able to give my old clunkers to the Imp which had been AWOL for over 5 years now.

 

An XJR is on the list of cars I will own....eventually.

[barefoot]

You've got me looking for a Jag now.

You bu ch of bastards.

[cort16]

Half tempted by that Xjr myself

[Six-cylinder]

Jags are very nice but not instead of a VISA!

[AlabamaShrimp]

No!!! Keep the Visa! You know if you get rid you'll miss it and it's so rare you won't get another. I've storage space that's not great but very cheap if you need it

[MarvinsMom]

i can speak from experience of an x300 xjr that they are a nice car, fast and comfortable.

 

but some bits are NLA and others are difficult to find.

 

after a citroen visa the jaguar would be childs play!

 

would miss reading about this though if you did sell it, visa's are groovy if almost forgotten, proper citroen.

[HillmanImp]

TBH thinking about it I will probably not be able to sell this until I move house in a few weeks as whilst I have ordered a bearing, I do not know if its the correct one so if I remove the hub and I have not got the correct one I won't be able to move the car will I until I locate a new one? 

 

I have not thought this through. I think it will be up for sale but not just now. I need to move first don't I.

[HillmanImp]

Had a bad day today where I had to get a fair distance in a hurry where the only car I had working was the Visa as the Volvo was at the garage. I made a promise that if Meg got me there I would not sell her and she did with no issues, so she is staying. She is currently sat on a back street next to a park in Halifax so I hope she doesn't get the fook smashed out of her and will pick her up tomorrow.

[Inspector Morose]

Can I buy...

 

Oh. Okay.

 

You won't regret it!

[MarvinsMom]

i for one are pleased to hear that meg will be staying put.

 

now if only we can do something similar for vulg and the princess....

[KruJoe]

NO LONGER FOR SALE

 

[Like]

 

Wise move Scotty!

We all knew that the moment you waved goodbye to Meg you'd regret it for the rest of your motoring career. 

[Six-cylinder]

Can we have an update on Meg please!

[HillmanImp]

Can we have an update on Meg please!

 

Yes, of course......sorry for the delay.

 

Righto.  Meg PHAILED the MOT on the following:

 

 

I obviously did the welding to the suspension mounts a couple of pages back. I have taken it to a friendly mechanic to get the wheel bearing and rear lights mended as no matter what I did to the lights, they wouldn't work.

 

I actually needed a new light unit for one of the front lights. When it arrived I noticed it was different to the ones that were on there before and took a more modern bulb which was much brighter than the old one in the other unit, so I ended up having to buy another new light for the other side too.

 

The lights are still insecure. I am going to gaffer tape them in place for the time being but might see if you can still get the clips for them as a few of them are either borked....

 

 

Or missing:

 

 

This leaves the wiper motor. It worked but would sometimes get stuck so needs replacing. Its not the mechanism, its the motor so I decided to take it out. To anyone who has not done this before, a word of warning. Make sure you disconnect the battery first. If you don't and you suddenly jolt the stuck windscreen wiper into life, the mechanism may well try and park itself again whilst you are fiddling with it. Seems obvious, but it wasn't to me. Thankfully it was just a socket that got stuck, not my finger.

 

Anyhow, this minor cock up resulted in me not having a working wiper motor at at anymore as it just gave up the ghost. Therefore, my question to you, people of Autoshite, is can I get a motor from a C15 van? Will it be the same? It looks the same. 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-CITROEN-C15-MK1-FRONT-WINDSCREEN-WIPER-MOTOR-SINGLE-ARM-0390246161-CHP/302607273676?hash=item4674cc8ecc:g:rlQAAOSwlAZaYNkm

 

 

Here's mine:

 

 

What does the Autoshite collective think? Looks fine to me and it it was a tenner, I'd happily spunk my money on it but with it being £40 plus postage, I don't really fancy taking a punt on it if there is a slight difference between a 2002 wiper motor and a 1988 one. The 0390246 numbers are the same but they have a 161 on the end. I'm not sure how these things work. 

[Asimo]

I'd take the risk, but I am a bit cavalier about such things....

 

But first I would take the motor apart, clean the commutator, brushes and the parking switch and the contacts in that conector. Relube the gearbox and the motor bearings. No personal experience of this exact wiper motor but I doubt it differs much from others which have responded well to such attention.

[HillmanImp]

That sounds like good advice, its ironing night tonight (I know how to party) but I'll give that a crack tomorrow if I can. Thanks.

[Six-cylinder]

GoGentley is breaking his yellow 1983 Visa Super E for parts, try a PM to see if his is still available.

[Mrs6C]

GoGentley is breaking his yellow 1983 Visa Super E for parts, try a PM to see if his is still available.

It might have the headlamp clips as well...

[HillmanImp]

I think I updated on the News 24 thread about the headlight clips that were gratefully received and put onto the car. I can now adjust the headlights at the MOT like a normal person instead of gaffer taping them in place like a neanderthal. Thanks to all involved. 

 

Anyhow, onto the current situation. A few months ago the Visa had a FTP. Just lost power and wouldn't start again. I got it running again but not very well.

 

I've replaced the plug and the leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm but had to wind the fuck out of the mixture screw on the carb to even get it running at all.  I've also adjusted the timing. However I seem to have a misfire on the 3rd cylinder as there is no change in the revs when I remove the plug lead. 

 

However, there is a change in revs when I put my finger over the pipe below first and then remove the plug lead:

 

 

This would suggest to me that the misfire is to do with the air/fuel mixture, as there is obviously compression there when I put my finger over the pipe or am I talking complete jibber jabber? This pipe is sucking in shed loads of air (not sure of it's always done that) and I don't know if it is over compensating for something I've fecked as I have no idea what I'm doing. The plugs are also black from overfuelling (although cyl 3 is much less so)

 

I found this picture on t'interweb of a much cleaner car which I think shows the pipe as it is on mine with nothing attached to it (although this might not be the case see below):

 

 

The carb is a Solex 32 PBISA 12. What I adjusted the feck out of to get it running was the bottom screw in this photo:

 

 

Now my question to Autoshite is:

 

Before I start fucking the entire situation up more, is there something obvious I should be doing......

 

Hold on, I've just been looking at photos (I don't want to delete the above in case someone has some good advice on my numpty mechanical sklz) and saw this one:

 

 

Which seems to be that pipe on mine that isn't open essentially blocked off. Whats that doing? I assume it has a small hole to draw in air as opposed to the large one on mine or does it not?

 

Now I'm even more confused.

 

Can anyone help? I've no idea what the top screw above is on that carb?

 

 

[Mrs6C]

Not at home currently to check the Visa manuals or actual cars to see if they have this, but other than the basics of confirming a generous spark at points in distributor and then at each of the plugs, also that the plug gaps are OK, here are some suggestions of other things to check.

 

The lower screw of the Solex would appear to control fuel volume and thereby fuel/air mixture richness... here are some handy diagrams:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/visaforum/solex-32-pbisa-12-diagrams-carb-for-1124cc-models-t318.html

 

1. IIRC carburettors rely on an amount of vacuum being available to pull air through them to draw in the correct amount of fuel... so if there were to be vacuum lost somewhere and/or air being drawn in elsewhere e.g. via that stub end of pipe in preference to via the carburettor, the volume of air and thus fuel available would be less and the engine wouldn't run as well. If a carburettor is loose on its mounting so that air is being drawn in below the fuel jets rather than going past them, it would have the same effect.

Useful explanation and diagrams here:

https://www.howacarworks.com/basics/how-the-fuel-system-works-fixed-jet-carburettors

 

2. Solex carbs have fixed jets and emulsifier tubes and all kinds of small places where dirt can get in and cause blockages. Removal and cleaning of carburettor may be useful.

 

3. Solex carbs have an accelerator pump that lets in more fuel on harder throttle. These have a diaphragm that can split and then there is less or no extra fuel being pumped... I seem to remember one of those failing on my Herald 1200 coupe. Worth checking.

 

4. Thinking further about Heralds, they use a vacuum advance/retard pipe for the distributor.. Not sure if the Visa is the same, but if so and the stub end of the pipe is the end of a (now broken)  vacuum pipe, then no vacuum = no movement in the distributor to respond to revs, so timing would be out at anything other than idle... this may be more of a 1960s car thing than later models, of course...

 

5. Worth doing dry and wet (squirt of oil in bore) compression tests on all the cylinders to see if no. 3 has anything different to offer, which might point to worn rings or attention needed to the valves / valve timing.

 

6. PM Six-cylinder and ask him to check the various Visa technical manuals we have...

[Six-cylinder]

I have show the problem to the Peugeot 104/Samba/LNA Facebook group and these are the replys so far.:

 

Simon Jennings If there's a misfire that's only on one cylinder (3) then I doubt that it's mixture - taking the plugs out to check the colour would be my first move. I can't quite make out what the pipe is on the main photo but I do have the Solex 32 PBISA manual here so can check it of you can get a better photo. 

I'd suggest starting with a proper compression test with the plugs removed to see what condition the engine is in first.

 

Gary Stephens My guess is that the servo pipe has come off the inlet manifold! This is causing the air leak ! Purely a guess as I can't see if it's got a servo!

 

He Added - Hi Chris, I'm taking from what you wrote that this is where the vacuum is all the time! If he hasn't a servo my guess is that it has sucked the centre of the blanking cap that was covering it over!

 

Tom Leach Top screw isn't adjustable.

 

Gary Stephens Tom Leach your correct that's the idle jet

 

Gary Stephens I think the first pipe/ picture should be blanked off

[Six-cylinder]

I have been looking at my LNA pictures, is it the pipe with the arrow?

 

I can't see from the photos where the pipe goes to, I have the car but it is 6 miles away. If need be it is not a problem to go and have a look.

[StefanD]

My suggestion is to check the fuel valve in the roof of the float chamber. If this is not closing properly the chamber will overfill and too much fuel will enter the carburettor venturi and the engine will run rich. The idle valve screw will I believe only alter the mixture at idle. I used to find debris in the float valve that prevented it closing causing a slight misfire. Remove the top of the carburettor, remove the valve and blow it clean. Remove any debris from the fuel inlet pipe and float chamber. While you have the carburettor dismantled check that the float is not punctured and any lever arms are present and hold the float in the right place.

 

Stefan

[dozeydustman]

I think it's the vac take off from the manifold for either the servo or advance on the diz if my memory of the X-series is correct - it's been nearly 20 years since I last worked on one. I seem to remember on my Samba it was blanked off (no servo) but my 205 had a pipe (servo brakes).

 

I think your cylinder no 3 problem is more likely to be a bad ignition component - lead, plug or cap. Check the valves as well just in case something's gone tight. Get decent leads as even in the early 2000s 3rd party parts for these were absolute shit.

 

Any signs of mayo or OMGHGF? Hoping it's nothing serious such as a dropping liner as these engines are a PITA to take apart without dropping them.

 

The carb could probably do with a good clean out and setting up on a gas analyser if you have access to one or a tame mechanic with one. I seem to remember the basic set up on one of these was just nipped tight and enrich by 1.5 turns then set timing to 6deg BTDC @ 650RPM, though an idle nearer 750-800 rpm would be correct.