Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - To gas or not to gas(less MIG) - 09/11/24

[SiC]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

So aye, tis an Atco 12". Probably late 1950s, as I think by 1960 they'd ditched the cylindrical fuel tank. Ran when parked, spins but no spark, should be a fun wee project.

The eagle eyed amongst you have spotted it in a garage. I have indeed acquired AN HOUSE, collected the keys yesterday. The rent would make a grown man cry and I had to move out towards Falkirk to get a decent place for the dosh but hey-ho, it's a big place for two...

A garage for a 70s sized car and a driveway for three.

Obviously I have a garden now so slammed "vintage lawn mower" into eBay and bought the cheapest one that was nearest. £10, 5 miles away, can't argue with that.

Is that ... a garage door to the back garden?! If so it sounds a very dangerous thing.

Congrats on getting a house. Hopefully making life more comfortable and easier to work on cars. Just don't forget to not piss off the neighbours too much with noise! Always a delicate balance. 

[captain_70s]

5 minutes ago, SiC said:

Is that ... a garage door to the back garden?! If so it sounds a very dangerous thing.

It is, however I have already been out with a measuring tape and the patio is too short to fit a car and shut the doors. It does mean, however, that the Dolly can go out the back and another car can go in the front for work as needed as long as the back doors are open. I may stick a shed there for storing stuff.

Those shelves in the garage have to go too, between them and the stairs protruding from the door into the house it's too narrow for even a Dolomite sized car. They seem to be largely screwed together so dismantling should be straightforward.

[paulplom]

It's already got play in the crank. 

[Back_For_More]

Great news Cap.... You already moving in or got a planned date to get the fleet over there piecemeal? 

Looks a nice place. 

Neighbourhood looks quiet (for now) 

Best of luck 

[captain_70s]

Fleet update.

The lawn mower.

I cleaned it, pulled the flywheel off and cleaned the points. It generates enough electricity to zap me but not enough to spark. Feeler gauges were lost so I hastily reassembled to look at another day.

The Volvo

The battery has never been great and with the cold weather drawing in it finally gave up. Frequently draining over the course of a couple of days to the point where the engine wouldn't turn over. Both the van and Acclaim have spent a lot of time jump starting it lately...

It did prove useful for moving house though...

A few weeks ago me and Girlfriend_70s went in to Glasgow to look around charity shops for furniture for her office. We found a decent sideboard and set about carrying it to the car which was in a car park a few streets away. After one street Girlfriend_70's announced she couldn't feel her hands and carrying it any further was a no go. At least we'd made it to a non-pedestrianised area. So I could dash off, grab the Volvo and we could bung it in the boot at the side of the road. Easy.

Naturally it decided today was the day it'd develop a bout of unreliability. It'd crank but not a cough. Then the battery died.

Thankfully @jaypee came to the rescue to help carry the sideboard back to the car and provide jump leads. Obviously once we were all at the car is started first turn of the key...

Drove home, parked up, shut it off, turned key. Fired up fine. Alright then. Went inside for 20 mins, came out and tried to start it again. Cranking but wouldn't fire, pulled a plug, had spark. Sprayed some easy start down it and it briefly ran. Left it another 30 mins. Started fine.

So something is causing a lack of fuel when it's hot. Either an issue with the pumps/pressure or the injectors not firing. I've a list of stuff to test to narrow down the point of failure, a new battery for it landed tonight. So will be able to do investigations without the thing going flat every 5 cranks...

The Acclaim 

Took advantage of the under cover workspace to start getting this thing unfucked.

Yes. That'll not be helping the whole overheating thing. New rad and hoses going in shortly.

It also needs the timing belt rejigged as it's jumped a tooth or two. Not sure if the tensioner has failed or come loose somehow but removal requires an ugga dugga gun and removal of engine mounts/a wheel so I've been putting off doing it at the roadside.

The Dolomite

Still suffering from mullered thrust washers. I was considering dropping the sump at the side of the road outside my flat, sticking new ones in and driving it to the house. Then I came to my senses and asked @davidfowler2000 if he fancied towing it. Again.

Handily the night before the move Girlfriend_70s fell down the stairs and buggered her foot royally. So he also gave us a lift to the minor injuries unit in Stirling...

Most of my time lately has actually been spent prepping the garage as measuring suggested that the gap between the internal stairs and the shelving was 1cm wider than the Dolly...

So it was removed.

The high value* contents carefully** stored in the back garden.

The shelves reduced in depth by half.

And reassembled.

Perfect.

I also tested the theory of putting the Dolly out the back to work on another car.

Closing the doors is thwarted by the patio ending and a sudden jump in height.

I am sort of considering putting in some ramps to allow the car back another few feet as the current windbreak method is a bit basic...

It also means any car being worked on has to be mobile so the Dolly can go back in and the garage locked for the night. However I'd also quite like to shove a shed at the back of the patio for storing shit that is currently in the garage... Decisions, decisions. Sheds are silly money at the moment, as well as everything else.

It's actually crazy how much stuff I'd managed to squeeze in to a one bed flat. This place is now packed out...

Once parts start arriving I've got cars to fix. In this order: Acclaim, Volvo, Dolomite. Should keep me occupied over the winter.

[SiC]

Could the door be hinged the other way? I know it's a rental and all that.

Or put the back end up on car ramps would give an angle and give more room.

[Back_For_More]

Beaten to it... But moving that planter and car ramps should help out. 

Turning the Dolly and doing this would let you drop the sump there and have the Volvo in the garage so both will be done..... 

Looks a cracking place though. 

[N19]

Looks a great space, I know you've had merry hell with space to work, so hopefully the garage will help - great to be able to just close the door and leave when you're fed up. And I'm sure there's a way of sorting the rear door issue so you can keep a car out the back, by hook or by crook...

[SiC]

Remove the hinge pin (or unscrew the hinge) when the doors are open. Then partially close, put the hinge pin back in and close the door. 

[High Jetter]

If the Dolly goes in forwards, could you turn onto the grass enough to allow the doors to close, even if only one wheel on the turf?

[GingerNuttz]

Don't buy ramps, you can have em ones that are under the bench.

I don't know where they came from but I wouldn't put anything heavier than the smaller of your cars on em 😂

 

These ones

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310652401556?epid=13038092932&hash=item4854537794:g:Ti8AAOSwQItULTXE&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoOkwkRDtHqBmQyWPIrAl3eGT0rEIMceXsKL1VdFTkgSwYS3%2FhLI0EI5u1HTICjrRGuMolNdf%2Fj5sSZeCH%2Fp%2BwK8Bu7vaQy9EnuiRvw0L4072p%2BlzHiwXZAgJfF78m07nZqQlO%2BgFynwfgp67lrFEB4VndxW4P5mknNZhEgwbzT4lbMhyKB3wzqXuycs0vV7TfBcnGSEsRTVOUh99jEhjAVw%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9D34p6MYQ

 

 

[SiC]

They're the same ones I have. Got them from machine mart. I've put weighty cars on them like a Saab 9-5, Audi A4 Avant, etc with no real problems except wide tyres struggle. 

[GingerNuttz]

5 minutes ago, SiC said:

They're the same ones I have. Got them from machine mart. I've put weighty cars on them like a Saab 9-5, Audi A4 Avant, etc with no real problems except wide tyres struggle. 

I have a fear of laying under cars since a Xantia fell on me back in the day so it's big overkill ramps for me these days.

Fear of laying under cars while laying under cars welding 😂

[Datsuncog]

My ramps look quite similar to that - think they were branded Paddy Hopkirk.

Not stupendous, but they seem to do the job okay. I'll still chock the wheels and put axle stands under it while working underneath, though.

I had a superb set of heavy-gauge steel ramps built by my grandfather in the 1960s in his engineering works (blue things on the left of the photo)...

...but it seems that the movers 'forgot' to lift them back off the wagon whenever my folks moved house in 2005 - along with all my other garage tools, built up over many years.

Still raging about that. By the time I realised they were all missing (I was working overseas when they moved) it was far, far too late to do anything about it.

 

Anyway, congrats on the house move - having a bit of undercover space for car fettling will be a game-changer!

[captain_70s]

The issue with ramps is that the height difference is considerable, the patio is 37cm lower than the slabs bordering the grass on all sides. Most ramps only seem to give 20cm or so of lift.

I actually had two sets of ramps at one point and I gave them away because they were too much of a pain to store, I can't even remember who to...

Removing/reinstalling the doors is a potential option in the pins come out, but they'll be heavy. Not entertaining the idea of unscrewing 36 year old screws in 36 year old wood...

[drum]

Couldn't you put the shelving on the same wall as the steps?

You must be enjoying not having to work on the street while running an extension cable from your flat window.

[captain_70s]

9 hours ago, drum said:

Couldn't you put the shelving on the same wall as the steps?

You must be enjoying not having to work on the street while running an extension cable from your flat window.

I did consider it but the rearmost uprights are screwed into the wall and there is a electricity breaker box in the way. (And the roof leaks on that side in heavy rain...)

Not going to ask the landlady to mod things as we've already notified them about the rotten garden fence falling over and the windows/door frames of the house being so rotten they're falling to bits. We're delaying informing them about the washing machine with the failing motherboard and dishwasher that doesn't. Trying to avoid immediately being branded one of "those" tenants and risking getting booted or a major rent increase after 12 months.

This place is fairly near the top of our budget, and as my flat that I was renting for £550 a month has just reappeared on the market at £800 I don't much fancy rocking the boat...

The garden behind us is also at the higher height and a few extra feet would be right up to their fence. I'd be worried about their garden sliding into ours if I dug it out.

[drum]

Glasgow rentals have gone a bit mad this year. The unis have oversubscribed themselves with hundreds of students fighting over every flat. Fortunately my daughter kept her flat on so got it tied up before the craziness. Might not be so lucky next year 

[hairnet]

did you withold tea from flowler till he was finished

hope the foot heals for the boss

nice sharp music center there

 

[Cheezey]

Looking at your photos I think you might live very close to me. Is there a train station about quarter of mile from the end of your road if you turn right?

[captain_70s]

On 11/13/2022 at 5:37 PM, Cheezey said:

Looking at your photos I think you might live very close to me. Is there a train station about quarter of mile from the end of your road if you turn right?

Aye. House is easily identified by driveway covered in scrap.

The girlfriend got spooked the other week as somebody knocked on the door asking if the Acclaim was for sale. I don't think he was a "dag enthusiast" as he left a name and number and was seemingly asking questions about previous owners and stuff. One imagines the cars were spotted and the potential of buying a tidy car off a clueless old duffer for a quick flip was spied and immediately thwarted by the owner being 30.

Jokes on them, everything on fleet is fuuuuuuuuuuuuucked*.

Dolomite:

Situation unchanged, garage ornament, drips oil on the garage floor. #BLlyfe

Acclaim:

Was driving around with the heater maxed out due to tired rad. Many plans were formulated for swapping in a rad from another car through various means. Realised I'd never actually get around to doing it because I'm a knob so found a place called ScotRad in Edinburgh who would recore it.

Slightly past it's best. Money's worth was had at least...

A week or so later...

Back in the car and the Acclaim is now the go-to car for going anywhere again.

I still need to do some work to the rear brakes, timing belt and various other bits and bobs but it is now functional considering the low miles I do. It did briefly block a carb jet after being sat for a few weeks and lost it's idle, but a some foot-to-the-floor accelerations along the M9 saw it cleared. 

Volvo:

The novelty of having to jump start it whenever I needed to move it got tiresome.

Goodbye old battery.

Hello new battery.

The rear wiper motor was also refitted (removed back when a lose earth connection was causing electrical senility), new wiper blades all round and replacement of some dead bulbs.

I also washed it, as it was quite green.

While the new battery freed it up for use while the Acclaim's (the jump starter of choice) rad was away it didn't cure the hot start issue which required me to faff about under the bonnet while Girlfriend_70's turned the key, making use of the car a 2 person operation...

Discussion was had with @juular, the K Jet wizard, about potential causes.

First was the potential of the metering plate sticking.

As can be seen it was immaculate, but I made marginal improvements.

The plate was also off centre and catching on the surround causing it to stick.

So, that's the problem. Engine gets hot, plate expands a little, when it drops back down when the car is shut off it gets stuck. Sorted.

Nope. Made fuck all difference.

@juularthen attached his pressure measuring stuff to make sure the system was actually coming up to pressure.

This showed when running the pressure was fine but on shutoff it immediately dropped instead of holding, suggesting the either the non-return valve or accumulator has failed. However this would suggest if you ran the pump manually it'd eventually bring fuel up to start the car, even if it had to pump it all the way from the tank, but even with fuel up the lines it wouldn't fire. As a bonus the banjo bolt for the fuel return snapped when resembled. Thankfully the remains of the thread were spun out using a hex key, and a quick run to @juular's place in the 205 meant a spare* could be used to regain functionality.

*Deffo not stolen from his 240...

So the next potential culprit was the plunger in the metering head.

This meant it had to come apart.

Obviously all the fixings were utterly fucked. So I ended up pulling the whole system out.

Which at least let me clean 30 years worth of crap off the engine.

So now it's been doused in carb cleaner, everything is moving freely and the O-rings for the primary pressure regulator are to be replaced once they arrive. The warm up regulator will also get a dousing in cleaning fluid.

The benefit of this system playing up is that I am at least learning how this new-fangled mechanical continuous fuel injection works, hopefully cars never get more complex...

[hairnet]

steal flowlers posh volvo but put your plate on it - he'll never know*

fuel injection??? 

nah pinto

 

[SiC]

K-Jet is the work of the devil. Pile of shit that's complex, pain to diagnose and a technological dead end. After electrifying it, Bosch soon realised it's a much better system to dump all that mechanical shite and replace it with full electronic injection. 

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Dolomite:

Situation unchanged, garage ornament, drips oil on the garage floor. #BLlyfe

Do you still want that engine? I haven't had any time or sunlight to actually pull it yet. But I do keep getting jabs that it would be nice to have the car-cass removed from the drive, rather than bits of metal slowly falling off and causing rust streaks. 

(Probably would be a good thing you to buy it as I keep finding Spitfires with fucked engines and having bad thoughts of buying them to fit it into)

[vulgalour]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

Aye. House is easily identified by driveway covered in scrap.

The girlfriend got spooked the other week as somebody knocked on the door asking if the Acclaim was for sale. I don't think he was a "dag enthusiast" as he left a name and number and was seemingly asking questions about previous owners and stuff. One imagines the cars were spotted and the potential of buying a tidy car off a clueless old duffer for a quick flip was spied and immediately thwarted by the owner being 30.

 

Must be the season for it.  Recored rad looks lovely.

[captain_70s]

17 hours ago, SiC said:

K-Jet is the work of the devil. Pile of shit that's complex, pain to diagnose and a technological dead end. After electrifying it, Bosch soon realised it's a much better system to dump all that mechanical shite and replace it with full electronic injection. 

Do you still want that engine? I haven't had any time or sunlight to actually pull it yet. But I do keep getting jabs that it would be nice to have the car-cass removed from the drive, rather than bits of metal slowly falling off and causing rust streaks. 

(Probably would be a good thing you to buy it as I keep finding Spitfires with fucked engines and having bad thoughts of buying them to fit it into)

You have a PM!

I found K-Jet confusing at first but these early style pre ECU style systems, like I have on the 740, are actually pretty straightforward and intuitive once you understand the function of the various components. They did really outlive their design life though, fully electronic wasn't an option in 1974, but it was 15 years later...

In fairness I don't think anything has been apart/replaced on my system and it's done 190k and sat for over a decade.

[juular]

I'm quite fond of K-Jet, since it's easier to diagnose than a carb or EFI providing you go about it methodically.  Once you have a pressure gauge, each stage of testing is pretty unambiguous.

It really doesn't like sitting around for any length of time unused, but apart from that it's not a system that goes wrong much. Unless it has been messed with (which is common as people just crank the CO screw around to try and hide other problems), dirt in the system or perished seals tend to be the only issues you'll have to fight.

The downside is that if one of the integral parts fails, it becomes really expensive as there's no real aftermarket alternatives for the original Bosch parts.

There is an indie project to replace the fuel pressure regulator with a fully electronic version which is worth looking into for fun. It's not cheap but it does allow you to electronically 'map' the car. I don't see much point in it, though.

[captain_70s]

-5C, in the dark.

Reassembled fuel system, wouldn't start, pissing fuel everywhere. Went to snug up the banjo bolts.

Fuck off.

Also.

 

[captain_70s]

This is the story of my life currently:

With the various O rings, washers, bolts and shit replaced the injection system went back together, fired up and drove round the block. Parked it up and it wouldn't restart. Again.

@juular came over to test the system pressures and injectors and everything seemed fine.

The best guess was the mixture adjustment piston was getting stuck near the top of it's travel when hot, causing the car to flood when trying to start it.

So it all came out for the third time.

To get at the piston I'd have to take the metering head off, using these fittings...

Doused everything in various fluids, smacked the bolt heads horizontally with a hammer and screwdriver and poured boiling water over everything before leaning my body weight on to an battery impact gun I borrowed from @dome...

I was sure I was going to have to resort to drilling them out. Although @320touring lent me a spare he had from his Golf, just in case, and @derskine also offered one he had spare.

With that apart I could observe the piston (the end of which can be seen in the centre of the black bit above).

It was a bit varnishy but with no noticeable damage. I gave it a good clean and put it back together but it was still getting stuck towards the top of it's travel. While shopping for new bolts to reassemble I noticed that there was a spring available from the same seller on eBay. On some applications this seems to sit above the piston so it always returns to the bottom of it's travel as it should. The 740 shouldn't have one but I bought one and chucked it in anyway as the spring force was so feeble there was no way the airflow through the system wouldn't be enough to overcome it.

So it was all cleaned and reassembled, again.

The car hasn't run since before Christmas so this was very much a cold start. Although I shorted out the fuel pump to test the system for leaks so it was primed before this starting attempt...

I then went inside for the night, deciding to end on a victory.

This morning I went out and made sure nothing was leaking and took it for a spin locally. Running and driving perfectly.

Got home, parked up and went in for a cup of tea. 20 mins later I went back out to a car that would turn over and not fire. Again.

So right back to square one.

Found that if you give the car a sniff of easy start then it fires and once running it's fine. So I ran it down to the tip with a boot full of shite as it is at least now usable, with workarounds. Unlike before when it just wouldn't run.

Not being used since November it'd also gone quite mouldy as the windscreen has resumed leaking and it's full of water...

Highly irritated. Shall be back on it tomorrow to check the idle mix is correct and to see if disconnecting the cold start injector will stop it from starting when cold. As that may suggest only the cold start injector is fuelling it when it'll actually fire up normally when bone cold but shits the bed when it's warm.

[N Dentressangle]

It's winter. You're cold.

You have an ungrateful bitch of a Volvo that won't start.

You need heat.

WIN

[GingerNuttz]