Six Cylinders Motoring Notes

[brownnova]

Grease my ride! 

[wuvvum]

[wuvvum]

Chaseracer driving an Inv*c*r. 

[HMC]

Great, looks like a great day was had. Did much get fixed? 
 

hopefully I can make the next one, on call rota permitting!

[catsinthewelder]

Chip run ?

 

[richardmorris]

3 minutes ago, catsinthewelder said:

Chip run ?

 

Frites!

[DoctorRetro]

Gutted we missed this, but couldn't risk infecting everyone. 

Dominic is OK, his temperature has stayed low, but he's sniffly and has an intermittent cough. 

 

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

Great, looks like a great day was had. Did much get fixed? 
 

The Jinling quad truck seems to be working pretty well now after Catsinthewelder fitted a new front variator pulley. 

[richardmorris]

26 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

 Catsinthewelder fitted a new front variator pulley. 

In an alternate reality that probably sounds normal!

[hairnet]

4 hours ago, brownnova said:

Grease my ride! 

chris made it sound worse than it was

took longer to get it on the ramp and rich to crawl under it

who was the FF stood in all the 2cv pics

big thanks to the chris and claire show again

hugh (ge) thanks to @bobdisk and @Slowsilver

[hairnet]

who between them figured out what was holding the rack to the bootlid - didnt i say i couldnt see and access was shit

i think the mx5 slut enjoyed her time in the field - i think i was the only one in the place that didnt have a go

daisy lmao and @chaseracer fkin hooligan - new diff and tyres now please

@Marina door handles ya herbert - 500 miles in a week and it hasnt complained

jurys still out on the driving position @beko1987 and ROTFLMFAO @quicksilver

[beko1987]

A very action packed day! The new executive toilet taxi has been bedded in, and the power steering has fixed itself for now. 44odd miles of lapping the field fixed it... 

Also @Lord Sterling will be impressed, nice non genuine branded floor mat

Its also wearing the original 2005 spare now as the front passenger egged itself in about 3 minutes... Struggled getting the locking wheel nut but 3 of us eventually managed it. Luckily the vauxhall box of normal bolts was rolling around the back so we fucked the rest of the lockers off too as the key was splitting. 

There was also a speed warning issued which was mostly @Ghosty and @Talbots fault. Various shitters taking a cautious jog back upon re entry to the pits sort of gave the game away

Other stuff then as and when as usual. Here is hairnet hairdryer getting looked at. 

Bar my field of view being the windscreen top rail it's bloody nice to drive across a field. 

@chaseracer had his appliance improved

I drove an invacar! And it wasn't that bad once I threw everything I thought I knew about driving to one side! 

[hairnet]

43 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

In an alternate reality that probably sounds normal!

see also alfas

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Au Claire de la loon.....

How many madmen does it take to release a 2CV handbrake?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

From the sublime to the amusing....

 

[Ghosty]

Oi, that wasn't my fault! Talbot randomly pulled the handbrake without telling me and the first I knew is when suddenly the Astra was pointing sideways ?

 

[Six-cylinder]

And so it goes on into the night fuelled by Mrs6C's cider!

[Six-cylinder]

Its so good to have the Jingling going again thanks to @catsinthewelder

[Marina door handles]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

who between them figured out what was holding the rack to the bootlid - didnt i say i couldnt see and access was shit

i think the mx5 slut enjoyed her time in the field - i think i was the only one in the place that didnt have a go

daisy lmao and @chaseracer fkin hooligan - new diff and tyres now please

@Marina door handles ya herbert - 500 miles in a week and it hasnt complained

jurys still out on the driving position @beko1987 and ROTFLMFAO @quicksilver

 

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

A very action packed day! The new executive toilet taxi has been bedded in, and the power steering has fixed itself for now. 44odd miles of lapping the field fixed it... 

Also @Lord Sterling will be impressed, nice non genuine branded floor mat

Its also wearing the original 2005 spare now as the front passenger egged itself in about 3 minutes... Struggled getting the locking wheel nut but 3 of us eventually managed it. Luckily the vauxhall box of normal bolts was rolling around the back so we fucked the rest of the lockers off too as the key was splitting. 

There was also a speed warning issued which was mostly @Ghosty and @Talbots fault. Various shitters taking a cautious jog back upon re entry to the pits sort of gave the game away

Other stuff then as and when as usual. Here is hairnet hairdryer getting looked at. 

Bar my field of view being the windscreen top rail it's bloody nice to drive across a field. 

@chaseracer had his appliance improved

I drove an invacar! And it wasn't that bad once I threw everything I thought I knew about driving to one side! 

Well this is amusing, even though I was never  in a position to go to the FOD  (due to house hunting commitments) , thanks to Monsieur Hairnet my old MX5 is standing in for me! 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

We now come to LBF's pride and joy, the Invacar which has inhabited his thoughts and dreams - much to the chagrin of some on the Forum who thought that to have one obsession (with all things of an illuminatory nature) was unfortunate, but to have two looked like carelessness. 

When I arrived, @Mrs6Cwas seen messing with it up to her armpits. After a fashion, it agreed to start and run, though had to be eased from its resting place by traditional muscle power.

Like everyone else, we were invited to have a go in it. I think I can say that the idea behind the controls is simple. That said, it is genuinely a frightening experience to actually drive it.

Engine is lively despite age and years of neglect, and does propel the flimsy body to decent speeds. I think I managed 31 mph along one side of the FoD, pitching and rolling. I haven't felt this vulnerable since travelling in a Daewoo Matiz, which I think is unsafe at any speed.

@Zelandethhas already been giving MK traffic two fingers in his. I detect @LightBulbFunwill be following shortly.... One thing that was apparent was its ability to put out a decent cloud of blue-ish exhaust. Since it is ancient enough to be exempt from the dreaded ULEZ charge, this might just be the thing to pilot past the next Eggstinktion Rebellion march.....

[Zelandeth]

Definitely hoping to put in an appearance at some point tomorrow afternoon.  This afternoon I managed to get a good few hours in getting most of the to do list on the Trevi sorted.

Initially it was refusing to idle again.  Though I've definitely pinned down where it's getting clogged up, and it's in between the solenoid and the idle screw...so took them both out and blasted that through yet again...and so far it's behaved since so I might have got rid of the crud this time.  Hopefully.  Maybe.

On to the tail lights.

Getting into the nearside one was slightly awkward on account of the antenna being in the way, especially as the ground wire from it was strung right over the tail light lamp holder assembly so I had to disconnect that first.

Once we got the lamp holder assembly out...it was obvious it was a miracle the lights were working to start with.

Not really a huge shock given that we know water has been getting into the boot for goodness knows how long.

I could have spent half an afternoon messing with sandpaper etc...or I could cheat.

Not perfect but good enough.

A full new set of GE lamps went in (what came out was as as rusty as the lamp holders, getting the indicator lamp out required pliers). 

Despite the rusty lamp holders there was nothing wrong with the ground connections, I gave them a quick clean anyway but everything tested fine.

Now the offside was rather more of a headache to get in to...which was annoying as that's the side we had strangeness reported by the lamp failure display.  Problem was that this thumbscrew that holds the trim that holds the carpet over the lamp holder assembly was stuck.

Sufficiently stuck that the plastic top wound up spinning on the metal inner.  So I had to spend a bit of time trying to detach the carpet up under the trim as carefully as I could.  ...Which someone had already done on the *other* side where the trim came off perfectly fine!  Ah the joys of working Lancias I guess.

This side wasn't quite as bad but was given the same treatment.  This has sorted the problem with the interaction between the separate lamps...but hasn't had any effect on the report of a faulty lamp on this corner.

I have a sneaking feeling that this may be down to an issue with the module in the dash, especially as the LED for that lamp glows dimly as soon as the ignition is turned on.  Taking the bulb out of the other tail light puts out the warning on the offside rear corner...but puts one shown on the nearside headlight.  It seems to have some issues.

There is a spare (no idea of the condition) one in the boot.  Annoyingly I didn't spot that until this afternoon or I'd have tried it out *before* I put the dash back together.

That's a job for another day I think...I get the impression that I might see this car again and don't mind that at all.  She's going to want a radiator fitted soon at the very least...

Also found a bit of ducting that I know is meant to live in the engine bay based on some photos I've seen of these cars, I assume to help to direct cool air to where it's more useful.  Figured it wasn't doing any good in the boot so put it back where it lives.

Aside from properly itemising what I've done and what's still to be done I think I'm pretty much at s point where she can return to her owner so the usefulness of my work can be assessed!

One very important job was still pending though!  Cleaning!  I'm not too worried about disturbing well earned patina here as I know from the auction photos from back in 2017 that she was valeted before that sale...so is just grubby!  The outside I'm leaving be (not least because of not wanting to accidentally remove any of the structural duct tape) for now, but I'd like to spruce up the interior a bit.  That's the bit you spend the most time with after all.

Firstly I went through the car with a fine tooth comb, gathering all the parts, nuts, bolts, screws, washers...and a tiny stubby ratcheting spanner...into a box in the boot so I didn't end up accidentally vacuuming up something important.  Then we got to work.

Before:

After a vacuuming (carefully as I had no idea how fragile the seat cloth was) it looked a bit better.

The amount of spiders evicted was biblical.  Plastics still need gone over back here.

Up front was even grubbier.

Another half hour made quite the difference.

It's a real shame about that bit of damage to the driver's seat as other than that the interior is in astonishingly good nick.  Does look like a different car inside now she's mostly clean though!

Plastics in the rear need a wipe down, the glass wants a clean, I'd like to get a bit of Vactan on a few spots, then she's good to go home I think.  Hopefully my work will meet with sufficient approval that she can return for other work in the future.

The fuse box is definitely going to be something that will need further work.  I've had to give the headlight relay a highly technical wiggle on several occasions now.

 

[Talbot]

3 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Oi, that wasn't my fault! Talbot randomly pulled the handbrake without telling me and the first I knew is when suddenly the Astra was pointing sideways ?

 

Nothing to do with you doing 40 at full lock with huge understeer.  ?

[Tadhg Tiogar]

I'd just like to say that I found the Astravan satisfyingly underwhelming, even after I adjusted the clock to show the correct time and date.

[paulplom]

Did you manage to get the boot rack off @hairnet's mx5?

[beko1987]

3 hours ago, paulplom said:

Did you manage to get the boot rack off @hairnet's mx5?

I said we should have tied the roof rack to the astra and be doing 55 by the time the rope goes taught... 

Hairnet didn't want to try that oddly enough

[bobdisk]

Glad to be of assistance! ? Look forward to the next FoD, whenever it happensI Have thought I have wanted an Invacar since following @dollywobbler's series about TWC from the start,  now after driving @LightBulbFun's REV around the field, I KNOW it is a must have !! Managed just short of 25 mph, not bad for a first drive ? . The smoke stopped coming out after a running for a while, someone realised the first fill of petrol had some 2stroke oil in it !  Got to get the DAF sorted first.

[wuvvum]

Travelodge spot. 

[bobdisk]

Bond Equipe, 1969 or near

[406V6]

Thanks again to Mr & Mrs 6C for hosting us in the FoD. I called round in the afternoon and it was great to meet people who were only forum usernames before.

Plenty of others have put pictures and reports here which give a good view of what happened yesterday. Had a good old chat with Mr 6C and was honoured to be given a ride in the Gamma to collect a battery for the Jinling. It’s a lovely old thing (the Gamma I mean) with a blue velour interior that looks as good in real life as it does in the pictures. It’s the first Gamma I’ve seen for years and nearly 30 years since I last rode in a Lancia (H Reg Dedra). Definitely the first time my 406 has been parked next to a Gamma.  And I learned what a variator pulley is when Catsinthewelder fixed the Jinling.

Mrs 6C did some fine work on Lightbulbfun’s Invacar and it was good to meet Mr LBF too.  Eventually the Invacar was started and the engine sounded very healthy although with fair amounts of the characteristic blue smoke. He was belting it round the field, clearly enjoying his purchase. Top marks for enthusiasm.

Nice talking to Slowsliver about the early Mondeo (one of the forum threads I always keep up to date reading) – hope he can get that ABS fixed.

Lastly another pic of a load of cars in the field.   

Superb weather and a very enjoyable afternoon thanks to our excellent hosts Mr & Mrs 6C. Highly recommended !

 

[hairnet]

9 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

I'd just like to say that I found the Astravan satisfyingly underwhelming, even after I adjusted the clock to show the correct time and date.

pervert