Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Just now, richardmorris said:

So sleek, it's moving when standing still!

Travelling without moving 

[richardmorris]

6 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Travelling without moving 

Is is the same year as Dune?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Is is the same year as Dune?

Dunno. I was thinking of the title to a Jamiroquai album....

[Zelandeth]

 

3 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I like the way the speedo and rev counter both point to "5" even when the car isn't running. 

This seems to be a Fiat quirk that goes back to at least the 60s.  I've seen it in several other cars using their parts bin items and derivatives of them.

Lada for one.

I have always wondered why they were like this...as it's present across pretty much their whole model range over a huge time period it's obviously a deliberate decision...but why?

[dozeydustman]

I think the needle at 5 when really zero is a Veglia thing. Seem to recall some Peugeots fitted with Veglia dials were the same, but Jaeger Equipped ones started at 0

[LightBulbFun]

im curious does it immediately start going up when you start moving, or does it stay still until you do hit 5Mph?

[Jikovron]

One theory I came up with about the above 0 needle gauges was to give an air of prestige as the cable is likely to drive the magnet drum slightly erractically when starting from rest where its possibly smoothed out by the time the eddy current overpowers the clock spring, something very noticeable in my skoda given the cable is 9foot long !!

[Zelandeth]

How to temporarily get around a stuffed solenoid coil while waiting for Webcon to get back to me about which solenoid body we need (I've found what I am 99% certain is the right one, but no dimensions are listed and the DAT series are notably absent on the comparability list)...

Result?  Absolutely no change. 

Either the drilling or the idle jet are clogged - if you wind the idle screw all the way closed it makes absolutely zero difference so no fuel is getting through.  At least we're getting somewhere with the diagnosis.

Even if the carb was just cleaned there's no guarantee that it still is given there hasn't been a fuel filter fitted until now that I've found.

Also on the subject of carbs, there's one now stewing nicely in the ultrasonic cleaner out in our back garden.

This will be given the same full 90 minute run that TPA's one got and hopefully this will shift whatever gunk is still causing idle issues for Dolly.

Edit: Yes, those are tea strainers being used to keep the small components from vanishing into the murky depths.

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Also on the subject of carbs, there's one now stewing nicely in the ultrasonic cleaner out in our back garden.

This will be given the same full 90 minute run that TPA's one got and hopefully this will shift whatever gunk is still causing idle issues for Dolly.

Ohh yay hopefully its ready by the weekend  

[Six-cylinder]

My time with the Renault 11 is nearly over.

[Mrs6C]

1 minute ago, Six-cylinder said:

My time with the Renault 11 is nearly over.

Strangely colour-matched with the MKCentral logo...

[hairnet]

has anyone got long allen keys??

ive only got the oompla loompa short ones - (they are tiny)

i have socket ones but theyre too big

to fit in here - im also not sure what size it is

thanks

[bobdisk]

2 minutes ago, hairnet said:

has anyone got long allen keys??

ive only got the oompla loompa short ones - (they are tiny)

 

Metric or Imperial?  What sizes?  How long?

[Zelandeth]

You know I said I wasn't getting deeply involved in fiddling with the carb?  Yeah about that...

Had the Trevi running lovely for about ten minutes before the idle circuit clogged up again.

Blasted the heck out of that passage in the carb with carb cleaner before I put the now defeated solenoid back in.  Had to do some major juggling because the idle mixture screw was basically hanging out as it had been turned all the way out, and the throttle stop was wound way open to keep the idle up.

For about ten minutes after that, and for a 1.5 mile test drive she ran and drove absolutely beautifully...so I now know she can run well and there's just crud in the carb.

Idle was still a little on the lumpy side, but I've no idea how gummed up things still were, so I don't think that means much.  Lumpy though it was it was a thousand times better than it was.

...I need to drop the coolant anyway so having to disconnect that for the automatic choke isn't a headache...and it's only four nuts and a clip on the throttle linkage to get it off...and I've already got fluid in the ultrasonic cleaner.

Sod it...fine, I'll pull it off and clean it!

I couldn't in good conscience leave that original fuel line as it was on a car owned by a friend so went out and grabbed some 8mm line and a fuel hose clamp to replace the missing one on the return line.

There's now a filter involved as you can see.

The original hose was...due replacement.

It basically fell off the line from the tank once I'd taken about half a turn off the hose clip.

[hairnet]

7 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

Metric or Imperial?  What sizes?  How long?

like ribe length? length of your hand type thing

i think its metric the feet clamps are 4mm - they might be the same maybe 5? cant tell as access is bobbins and i cant see ?

[hairnet]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

My time with the Renault 11 is nearly over.

who did a french then

 

[Six-cylinder]

16 minutes ago, hairnet said:

has anyone got long allen keys??

ive only got the oompla loompa short ones - (they are tiny)

i have socket ones but theyre too big

to fit in here - im also not sure what size it is

thanks

My guess is metric and these are our longest.

[hairnet]

they would work

anyone got watchmakers hands

thanks o chocolate biscuit man

[Six-cylinder]

So that's it then, I make you carry shopping and you turn your back on me and leave!

[Mrs6C]

12 minutes ago, hairnet said:

they would work

anyone got watchmakers hands

thanks o chocolate biscuit man

Are you bringing this over at the weekend? If so, the AS collective can get to work on it. If you spray WD40 inside all the allen key housings in advance, they will have the best chance to move in the right direction when the time comes...

[Mrs6C]

Just now, Six-cylinder said:

So that's it then, I make you carry shopping and you turn your back on me and leave!

I hope you didn't leave a wheel of Camembert under the driver's seat like you did with my C15...

[Six-cylinder]

1 minute ago, Mrs6C said:

I hope you didn't leave a wheel of Camembert under the driver's seat like you did with my C15...

@colc will smell it in a week or so if I have!

[hairnet]

4 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Are you bringing this over at the weekend? If so, the AS collective can get to work on it. If you spray WD40 inside all the allen key housings in advance, they will have the best chance to move in the right direction when the time comes...

if not this will happen

the bar that you see thru the rear window is very distracting

 

[Mrs6C]

4 minutes ago, hairnet said:

the bar that you see thru the rear window is very distracting

You know you are supposed to look out of the front window?

[Six-cylinder]

9 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

You know you are supposed to look out of the front window?

Not when you are drifting!

[hairnet]

9 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

You know you are supposed to look out of the front window?

looking at mirrors as often as i do on the bike cant help it in cars and this is just........

ironic as i drive a van with no back windows everyday

 

[hairnet]

1 minute ago, Six-cylinder said:

Not when you are drifting!

not with an open diff and no skillz :D

 

[Zelandeth]

<insert expletive here>

Dash has to come apart again.  Apparently I didn't refit the speedometer cable properly, it was clicking slightly during the brief test run.  In the off chance it was just binding (there was a fair amount of slack in the cable) I gave it a wiggle from the engine bay side.  There was an audible "clunk" from inside the cabin...and now the speedo doesn't work...That clunk will have been the cable dropping off then.

It's not actually a big deal, taking the dash back out is all of 10 minutes work, and it was because of the potential for things like this that I hadn't refitted any of the blanking covers over the screws.  I'm not a complete rookie!  Cable did look a bit dry anyway so putting a good blob of grease on the end of it probably isn't a bad idea anyway.

Just one of those developments which makes you sigh and roll your eyes.

I wanted to be able to do some before/after tests regarding the cooling system flush so grabbed a reading from the metal line that runs into the radiator top hose (that's why there's a bit of matt black paint on there - to give me a solid temperature reading with the IR thermometer).  Slightly concerning to see that it seems to stabilise at 105C - that's definitely the upper end of what I'd like to be seeing - and is a good deal higher than the gauge is reporting (80ish).  Not in the red...but definitely leaning towards that side of the gauge.  This DOES seem to tie in with the way the fan behaves though, it kicks in after 15-20 minutes and then never cuts out again until after the engine is shut down.  Let's see how things look after a good old flush...I KNOW the heater hasn't had flow through it until yesterday because there was no vacuum to the valve that controls flow to the matrix...so it's entirely possible that my getting that working has released further gunk...and is all the more reason to do a coolant flush.

Tomorrow will involve much taking apart of things.  Let's see it I can get them all back together again!  Either way I'll make sure to get Dolly's carb put back together and dropped back over so whatever I wind up doing at the weekend that can be reinstated.

Other really minor detail I did today but had forgotten about...I noticed that there was quite a lot of oil on the underside of the air filter...a lot more than I'd expect given the engine doesn't seem to be breathing heavily at all.  Then I spotted that there's a PCV tap on the bottom of the air cleaner housing with nothing attached to it...I would say twin carb difference bit it doesn't look like it's ever had a hose on.  Not in recent history anyway.

It now has the blanking plug from the inlet manifold hose barb that the heater vacuum supply is hooked up to on it.

Was nice to be able to just grab something that I'd previously removed bit of the car and put it back into service...Especially as if she gets twin carbs again and things need switching back around all the original parts are still there.

I'll give the air cleaner body a good clean while the carb's stewing in the ultrasonic cleaner as the underside is gross and every time you go near it the back of your hands end up caked in black sludge.

[chaseracer]

3 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

I hope you didn't leave a wheel of Camembert under the driver's seat like you did with my C15...

Could be worse - might have been a Livarot!

[Tadhg Tiogar]

25 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

Could be worse - might have been a Livarot!

 

...or a half-open tin of surstrømming...