Six Cylinders Motoring Notes - A small win today!

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

People have asked me why I don't use the E-Type more, here is the typical reason why. Yes it broke down going back to storage. @Talbotchecked the fuel and that was fine so checked for a spark and there wasn't one.  Next it was the tow of shame for the E-Type behind the Citroen XM.

Two visas rescuing an etype has to be a shoe-in for a calendar shot ?

[Six-cylinder]

15 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Possibly the first time an E Type has been photographed sandwiched between two Citroën Visas?

You could be right about two Visa rescuing the E-Type but the blue one has come to the aid of the Jaguar before!

I left the E-type lights on and flattened the Battery, the blue Visa had to give it a jump start. It was very embarrassing for the Jaguar as it was at a Citroen show!

[hairnet]

a three door shopping hatchback and a beast

[Six-cylinder]

24 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Two visas rescuing an E-type has to be a shoe-in for a calendar shot ?

 

[Six-cylinder]

The other project that happened was the fitting of the replacement bonnet, doors and rear door that Mrs6C had bought from @Tepper several years ago to the C15 van. We bought our van a bit rusty off Ebay and it has been getting worse for the last 8 1/2 years we have owned it.

The biggest thanks to @Andyrew who started off fitting the new tyres we bought for it. He then moved on to replacing the body panels, then the big 8 year wash. It was scrubbed within an inch of its life and Mrs6C helped with that. Andy ended but working by torch light finishing off fitting the internal door trims. 

[richardmorris]

It seems very hard to kill a C15D. The cockroaches of the van world. 

[Crackers]

2 hours ago, hairnet said:

scruffy french heap supervises british leyland product being british leyland

 

Look, I know my first name's french but that's not very nice!

[High Jetter]

XM? Couldn't the Visa's be harnessed to tug the Jag?

[Six-cylinder]

18 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

XM? Couldn't the Visa's be harnessed to tug the Jag?

XM has a towbar so easier.

[hairnet]

23 hours ago, Crackers said:

Look, I know my first name's french but that's not very nice!

cracqeur non?

 

[Crackers]

Thought it'd be rude not to get a shot of the gaffer's executive transport while the humble servant (*tips hat) shuffled things back into the paddock!

I do hope sir doesn't mind the staff taking such liberties!

[hairnet]

On 8/14/2023 at 8:32 PM, Six-cylinder said:

 

41 years tho ffs

 

[Six-cylinder]

30 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Thought it'd be rude not to get a shot of the gaffer's executive transport while the humble servant (*tips hat) shuffled things back into the paddock!

I do hope sir doesn't mind the staff taking such liberties!

That's a great shot recording the good times, thank you.

[High Jetter]

22 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

That's a great shot recording the good times, thank you.

Calendar shot. The older RR stands up well to the imposter.

[Six-cylinder]

Yesterday @Slowsilver came over and helped me take my Range Rover to a Land Rover specialist to have a few jobs done. While on my lift of shame we were papped on the way home by  @Prince_of_darkness91in slowsilver’s Maxi.

Next was I took Error 404 home. It started easily and after a moment hunting for 3^rd gear it dove just fine. Future jobs in addition to improving its appearance are an exhaust blow and heavy brakes.

We then did legals and levels on the Series 2 Daimler Sovereign. To my surprise there was little that needed attention. @Mrs6C found the bonnet catch on the n-s was not clipping in, that turned out to be a piece of wood used to fill the length had ended up under the battery so it was too tall.

We then went to a local Triumph meeting in S2 and I was reminded what a fine car it is in spite of the crazed paint on the roof. Decent lights make it very usable, if only it did better than 16mpg!

[wuvvum]

16 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

and after a moment hunting for 3^rd gear

Yes, I had that issue when I drove it on the field!

[Six-cylinder]

After a hose on the Saab 95 exploded and was judged unsuitable to refit I have now got a length of replacement hose ready for our next push to get the car back on the road.  

[richardmorris]

27 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Yes, I had that issue when I drove it on the field!

I have reverse, 1st and 2nd sorted but get confused after that.

[Crackers]

I found the 404 gearbox quite friendly except for the stick crashing into the indicator stalk if selecting 1st/reverse too keenly. 

[LightBulbFun]

15 minutes ago, Crackers said:

I found the 404 gearbox quite friendly except for the stick crashing into the indicator stalk if selecting 1st/reverse too keenly. 

Ditto, I had no problem with it at all! it was actually surprisingly easy/pleasent  I just kept forgetting where reverse is (its above 1st)

 

 in-fact I was thinking over the last couple days, that in this particular aspect it might of been the easier drive for me then the ZX (I mean if we ignore the 404's brakes LOL)

since coming up to the roundabouts in the ZX and trying to go down the gears, I kept fumbling things slightly while going into 2nd, (not so much the smoothness of the gear change that in itself was fine, but I was losing my road positioning  in doing so  if that make)

however in the 404 I realised with its dog leg 1st, gearbox, 3rd and 2nd are on the same plane, and would have made my life a lot easier! as I could knock it right into 2nd from 3rd without any thinking at all, then keep going if it was safe to do so and then back up to 3rd once out of the roundabout, or if it was not safe to continue, come to a stop and since I am already stationary the "extra step" to knock it into 1st would not of been a problem

[Slowsilver]

17 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Yesterday @Slowsilver came over and helped me take my Range Rover to a Land Rover specialist to have a few jobs done. While on my lift of shame we were papped on the way home by  @Prince_of_darkness91in slowsilver’s Maxi.

 

I trust that the shame you are referring to was caused by you having to take an expensive 5-year old Range Rover in for a (doubtless) expensive repair and not by having to hitch a lift in a 45 year old Maxi that is still working perfectly. Money doesn't always buy reliability! ☺️
 

[Talbot]

On 8/14/2023 at 7:07 PM, richardmorris said:

It was ok when I and @wuvvum drove it. Albeit lumpy from being cold. I meant to ask if it’s a series 1 or 1.5?

It probably actually wasn't, it's just that the issue didn't manefest itself.

It's a very odd one.  If you drive it gently, it has no issue running at all.  If you get a nice length of clear road and give it a bit of a "squeeze" in third gear, it will accelerate fairly cleanly for about 3/4/5 seconds, and then cut out.  It feels very much like the fuel pump can't keep up and the carburettors have run out of fuel.  Which isn't the case, as when you check at the side of the road, the fuel pump is working perfectly, and the issue is actually no spark.

it's done this to me about 3 or 4 times before.  Always the same run up (give it a bit of beans on a decent bit of road, it responds, then cuts out) and always the same issues thereafter.  Fuelling is fine, spark is gone.  However, since those previous incidents it's had new points, new condenser, new coil, new leads.  And it still has the same symptoms.

I'll be willing to bet that with the king lead reconnected (it came apart when I was testing for spark at the side of the road) it will now start and run again no problem.

I suspect the answer will be to get a decent electrical kit together, take it to somwhere where you can have a breakdown in a safe location and then "provoke" it to break down again.  Then test the life out of the ignition system.

I think something is getting hot and killing the entire ignition system.  And it only gets hot enough when you give it a bit of beans.  Drive it gently, and it never sees the issue.

[juular]

6 minutes ago, Talbot said:

It probably actually wasn't, it's just that the issue didn't manefest itself.

It's a very odd one.  If you drive it gently, it has no issue running at all.  If you get a nice length of clear road and give it a bit of a "squeeze" in third gear, it will accelerate fairly cleanly for about 3/4/5 seconds, and then cut out.  It feels very much like the fuel pump can't keep up and the carburettors have run out of fuel.  Which isn't the case, as when you check at the side of the road, the fuel pump is working perfectly, and the issue is actually no spark.

it's done this to me about 3 or 4 times before.  Always the same run up (give it a bit of beans on a decent bit of road, it responds, then cuts out) and always the same issues thereafter.  Fuelling is fine, spark is gone.  However, since those previous incidents it's had new points, new condenser, new coil, new leads.  And it still has the same symptoms.

I'll be willing to bet that with the king lead reconnected (it came apart when I was testing for spark at the side of the road) it will now start and run again no problem.

I suspect the answer will be to get a decent electrical kit together, take it to somwhere where you can have a breakdown in a safe location and then "provoke" it to break down again.  Then test the life out of the ignition system.

I think something is getting hot and killing the entire ignition system.  And it only gets hot enough when you give it a bit of beans.  Drive it gently, and it never sees the issue.

We had almost exactly the same issue with the Toledo, which only manifested itself when you decided to give it a little encouragement for any length of time. It felt almost exactly like fuel starvation as it would be a sort of on-off-on thing and would calm down if you took it easier on the pedal.

 We noticed that the coil was overheating to the point it was impossible to touch.  On further investigation we found that the coil was being fed a solid 14V at all times despite being meant to run with a ballast (so 7-9V). When I smashed the coil open much of the solder inside had melted and the top terminals could be pulled apart by hand.

A new coil fitted with a ballast resistor and it has been perfect since.  

[juular]

14 hours ago, Crackers said:

I found the 404 gearbox quite friendly except for the stick crashing into the indicator stalk if selecting 1st/reverse too keenly. 

I must admit the 404 was the first car I'd driven with a column shift and it was a bit of a headfuck trying to find 3rd and 4th.

It took me a while to realise that I needed to stop pushing the stick forwards into the dash and instead just let it rest in the neutral plane, and only apply vertical force.  Had exactly the same problem with the DS. Lesson learned!

[Talbot]

5 minutes ago, juular said:

We had almost exactly the same issue with the Toledo, which only manifested itself when you decided to give it a little encouragement for any length of time. It felt almost exactly like fuel starvation as it would be a sort of on-off-on thing and would calm down if you took it easier on the pedal.

 We noticed that the coil was overheating to the point it was impossible to touch.  On further investigation we found that the coil was being fed a solid 14V at all times despite being meant to run with a ballast (so 7-9V). When I smashed the coil open much of the solder inside had melted and the top terminals could be pulled apart by hand.

A new coil fitted with a ballast resistor and it has been perfect since.  

Funny you should mention that... one of the first things I wondered was whether it had been fitted with a ballasted coil, now being fed with full system voltage all the time and hence approaching thermonuclear fusion temperatures.

I'm reliably informed that the coil I fitted new last year was a non-ballasted standard 12V coil, however:

[LightBulbFun]

52 minutes ago, Talbot said:

I think something is getting hot and killing the entire ignition system.  And it only gets hot enough when you give it a bit of beans.  Drive it gently, and it never sees the issue.

 

I actually had a similar issue with REV, and discovered that dodgy connections can make things behave weirdly

on REV *everything* goes through her 2 main fuses, even the ignition and starter solenoid trigger goes through the main system fuse, so sometimes I would get a bad connection there and it would not crank, twiddle the fuse and it would fire up no problems

till "one day" I had it where I would get "ignition" and it would crank, but not fire, no spark *at all* so out of ideas/with nothing to lose I twiddled the fuse, and it fired right up

always left be a bit perplexing that one, because the connection was strong enough to fire the solenoid, and light the ignition lights etc, yet just week enough not enough to give me any spark at all!

 

so, I dont know an E type very well, but if the ignition system 12V feed goes through some sort of fuse, especially if its a lucas glass fuse, perhaps it might be worth giving it a twiddle(TM) and seeing if things improve?

or just tracing the ignition feed back all the way to the source, and cleaning all the connections along the way?  

[Six-cylinder]

4 hours ago, Talbot said:

Funny you should mention that... one of the first things I wondered was whether it had been fitted with a ballasted coil, now being fed with full system voltage all the time and hence approaching thermonuclear fusion temperatures.

I'm reliably informed that the coil I fitted new last year was a non-ballasted standard 12V coil, however:

I have another 12v coil ready to fit as I have ordered a couple more from @Andyrew

[Talbot]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

I have another 12v coil ready to fit as I have ordered a couple more from @Andyrew

I think the best thing to do is make it break down on purpose with an appropriate electrical tool kit to hand and see if there's any feed to the coil at that time.  If there is, then the coil is intermittent.  If not, (which I suspect) then the issue lies elsewhere.

[hairnet]

9 hours ago, Slowsilver said:

I trust that the shame you are referring to was caused by you having to take an expensive 5-year old Range Rover in for a (doubtless) expensive repair and not by having to hitch a lift in a 45 year old Maxi that is still working perfectly. Money doesn't always buy reliability! ☺️
 

RR just no

maxi (although i dont like bl stuff) just yes

[Six-cylinder]

Last night I went to MK Modern classics gathering in the Ferrari. It was a great show with a large variety of cars in good weather and friendly faces. 

That's where the good news stops.

The Ferrari now has a bad engine water leak that entailed me buying several cases of Buxton spring water to get home!

Rolls Royce has a bad intermittent misfire.

E-Type won't start.

Blue Range Rover is stuck at the specialist because the underbody captive nuts spin and the can't get the cover off to determine why I have a suspension clonk.

Somebody took my LNA keys home with them.