Project Strangeangel's Shite-tastic Shenanigans 12/12 NEW MOTOR - ACHIEVED.

[LightBulbFun]

25 minutes ago, strangeangel said:

And it's officially scrapped too, so it can't go back on the road.

 

has it been issued with a CoD? although difficult with enough wrangling with the DVLA that can be reversed 

(I know it was done so for a very early Rover 75 that was issued a CoD then saved for example)

[strangeangel]

3 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

has it been issued with a CoD? although difficult with enough wrangling with the DVLA that can be reversed

 

 

I'm presuming so, because he's told me it can't go back on the road, and it's no longer on the DVLA website (other than its MOT history).

 

[LightBulbFun]

4 minutes ago, strangeangel said:

 

I'm presuming so, because he's told me it can't go back on the road, and it's no longer on the DVLA website (other than its MOT history).

 

Yah that will have been issued a CoD then

as I said difficult but not impossible to reverse, I imagine its also largly down to who you get on the other end of the phone when ya contact the DVLA about reversing the CoD

although reading this post here it just sounds like all they want is an extra detailed V62 to reverse the CoD! would be interesting to try the V62 route with the Aixam

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=207228

[strangeangel]

1 minute ago, LightBulbFun said:

Yah that will have been issued a CoD then

as I said difficult but not impossible to reverse, I imagine its also largly down to who you get on the other end of the phone when ya contact the DVLA about reversing the CoD

 

 

I only want it for spares for my one, so it being scrapped isn't a deal breaker. In a way it's better because I'm not tempted to try and keep them both and make a thing of having two of them with consecutive registrations. I'll just settle for having one that works ?

 

[UltraWomble]

12 hours ago, strangeangel said:

Thing is, if he doesn't sell it to me he'll likely be stuck with it - that one (and mine) both came from the big smoke originally, and other remaining 10 roadworthy ones are likely down there too - a long old way from Bolton. And it's officially scrapped too, so it can't go back on the road.

 

Well id still offer him a onner for it - how much is metal and how much is plastic? From a weigh in point of view I cant see it being worth a lot really. And at the mo you are probably his only customer for bits.

[strangeangel]

13 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

Well id still offer him a onner for it - how much is metal and how much is plastic? From a weigh in point of view I cant see it being worth a lot really.

 

 

That's certainly true - it's all plastic and fresh air once you take out the batteries. I think it's 850kg with all the lead on board.

[strangeangel]

Quick update on the car in the Bolton scrappers... after a bit of thought I offered him £150, at which point - as in the correspondence from my other account re: the charger- he's gone quiet. Odd sales strategy, this.

 

[Tamworthbay]

The joys* of dealing with scrapyards. I am sure they all just a front for the Mafia 

[strangeangel]

Finally recovering from the old Man Flu, I thought I'd have a morning at the Aixam. It wasn't a great success...

 

The plan was to isolate the power and clean up all the 48V connections. I made the exciting* discovery that turning off the main breaker switch still leaves 24V appearing at the live terminals on the speed controller. However, all thoughts of fixing the ungrateful little bastard went out the window when it somehow activated the central locking with the keys in the ignition. Much was there swearing, and I had no choice other than to go old skool car thief on its ass with the ubiquitous wire coat hanger.

 

 

Once back in the car, I lifted up the battery covers and disconnected what look to me like the main live and earth from the traction battery pack:

 

 

Wrong. Next job is to remove the seats so I can get the battery enclosures off and properly disconnect all the power. I'm not fannying about with those connections until I'm satisfied that there's no electrickery of any description knocking about. But that's a job for another day, I think.

 

[strangeangel]

After a fairly successful morning upgrading the garage's solar power system, I decided to have a go at the Aixam. The aim of today's session was to definitively isolate the power from the engine end of the car, in a real and definitive way totally unlike the way that the main isolator switch fails to do.

 

This job necessitates the removal of the front seats. Well, that can't be too hard, can it? WRONG. The runners are bolted to the inner sills without the benefit of captive nuts, so the whole lot just turns. Helpful. You can't unbolt the seats from the runners either. Yes, that's right - Aixam really did build the whole fucking car around the front seats ?

 

Much sitting around variously swearing, tutting and muttering led me to the only possible way of getting the seats out: if you push them far enough forward they should just fall off. Well, not *just* fall off, they'll need a good shove against the dash, because the runners are, helpfully*, that bit too long. None of this was helped by the fact that the runners were as dry as a nun's twat and were all but seized in place. Eventually, after much pulling, pushing, kicking, grunting and swearing they came off.

 

This was achieved at some cost, you can see from this photo how the seat runners have been 'flared' as a result of all this. The car is made with everything at the lowerst tolerance they could get away with. Granted, that's for obvious reasons particularly with this electric variant, but it doesn't make it any less of a ballache to work with. I'll straighten those some other time.

 

 

By the time I'd disconnected all the power lines from the battery pack (and carefully labelled them all, natch) I'd had more than enough for one day.

 

 

In other news the BX trundles ever onwards. The washers failed last week, thanks to a build up of rust in the washer jet that runs through the boss of the wiper spindle. A straightened paper clip and a good clean of the length of hose between the tank and the nozzle fixed that. Unbelievably, MOT time is starting to creep into view (early March)!

 

The Ami is still rattling along in its own, inimitable style; now with the added benefit of yellow headlights!

 

 

[strangeangel]

I've been up to all sorts these last few days... pretty much anything that means I don't have to work on the Aixam. Today I gritted my teeth and got on with it, with about the same level of success as previous attempts. Now the power's off, I can take off and clean all the high voltage connections. This was easy, a little wire brush on my Dremel did a cracking job:

 

 

In all honesty none of them looked corroded at all, unlike the car's frame. Finally, I got round to the ones on the motor - there are two lives and two earths to it (why?). Both of the lives have melted plastic caps. Access to the lower pair of connectors was much improved by removing the car's inner wing. This was a lot less painful than you might think, but Aixam fashioned the car's inner wings (and sump panel) from sound-proofing mat. As you might expect, all this achieves is lots of water gets held against the car's frame, which helps it to rust as efficiently as possible.

 

While I was rummaging around I found more work that'll need doing:

 

 

And then onto the motor, The connector is impossible to remove because the nuts above and below are tightened against each other:

 

 

And that would be OK had Aixam not used a nut so shallow so as to make it impossible to get a fucking spanner on it ?. I went to Halfords to see what they had in (our local factor in the next village packed in last year), and that was an education in itself. They had no spark plugs (needed for the beige BX) and I waited 10 minutes while the sole youth on the till stood with the phone clamped to his ear. I waited, on the assumption that one of the other half-dozen people employed there would be with me in just a nanosecond, but that wasn't happening. In the end, I gave it up as a bad job.

 

Cursing under my breath, I wondered how I would ever get the motor out of the Aixam. And then, in a flash, I remembered how to think like a 'shiter again! I went to the pound shop and bought some fairly wanky looking spanners. I think you can guess where this is headed, can't you?

 

 

More soon!

 

BONUS PICS: Giffer damage caused by grounding the battery shelf:

 

 

The battery shelf is total crap, in a moment of mischief I twatted a suspicious looking bit with a tyre iron. Mmmmm:

 

 

Lovely pile of oxide:

 

 

 

[strangeangel]

Got a study week thing at Uni starting today. The BX's spare is flat, and when blown up reverts to flat in approx 1 minute. Great. I'm staying in halls, so I'm not pouring ££££ gallons of diesel down the camper's neck, so out comes the Ami. It's run beautifully since I bought it, so I'm actually looking forward to the 160-mile run.

 

 

And I was having a fine old time, until about 150 miles in it starts misfiring, and then carks it completely. It restarts, coughing and farting and dies again. I suppose when you've only got two cylinders to play with any sort of misfire is going to be bad news. I try this a few times, and it then runs for a couple more miles before dying. I can't see anything obviously wrong but I did notice that the rubber fuel pipe coming off the pump's clip is a bit loose, and you can easily move it by hand. Once tightened up, it ran brilliantly for the last few miles to my digs.

 

I can't believe it's that simple, it's got to be something else, hasn't it? Obviously it's not the end of the world, as all good shiters know it's the getting there that's important, the truck can always bring you home ?  I'll have to take my chances on the way back, but any ideas what I should be looking at when I get home, fellow Citroen fanciers?

 

[meshking]

Is it still on points? If so, could be condenser failing. But given it worked after a while seems unlikely. Perhaps the loose pipe was drawing in air?

[strangeangel]

1 hour ago, meshking said:

Is it still on points? If so, could be condenser failing. But given it worked after a while seems unlikely. Perhaps the loose pipe was drawing in air?

 

That was the only thought I'd had so far, but it seems a bit to 'easy' in the context of old  cars! It has electronic ignition.

 

[strangeangel]

It's around this time for the last couple of years that I start stalking E83, my car's sort-of sibling, to see how it's got on with the dreaded MOT. This doesn't look great:

 

 

Hope it doesn't end up being terminal...

 

[barrett]

Is that the red one? I'll drop in on my local Citroen garage and see if he knows the score. I'd be very surprised if hadn't done some work on it over the years.

[strangeangel]

18 minutes ago, barrett said:

Is that the red one? I'll drop in on my local Citroen garage and see if he knows the score. I'd be very surprised if hadn't done some work on it over the years.

 

That's the one, yeah.

 

[strangeangel]

For once I was right... tightening up that fuel line had nothing to do with the car's sudden return to life. I'm heading for home in the morning, so I thought I'd give it a try. It managed a few laps of the Uni before the problem started again. I can't see anything obviously wrong, and I only have a few tools and fluids on board anyway, so there's probably not much I can do but ring Autoaid in the morning.

 

Someone asked if the car had electronic ignition and I vaguely recall jonny69 saying that it did, but I couldn't be sure, and I can't find anything that looks like such a device anyway, so maybe it is a failing condenser as was suggested further up the thread.

 

[meshking]

Sorry, missed your reply. It could have a 123 ignition on it , so you wouldn't necessarily know if it was electronic ignition. There is a sometimes a telltale bit of wiring heading down to the points box area.

Annoying that it has failed again though. How old at the ignition cables? A Dyane of mine years ago used to eat cables - good test at night is to spray water over the HT leads, should see any sparking then. 

Or could it be as simple as a blocked jet? 

[strangeangel]

5 minutes ago, meshking said:

Sorry, missed your reply. It could have a 123 ignition on it , so you wouldn't necessarily know if it was electronic ignition. There is a sometimes a telltale bit of wiring heading down to the points box area.

Annoying that it has failed again though. How old at the ignition cables? A Dyane of mine years ago used to eat cables - good test at night is to spray water over the HT leads, should see any sparking then. 

Or could it be as simple as a blocked jet? 

 

Ah, I see... The ignition cables look OK, no obvious cracking or going rock hard etc. Don't know exactly how old as I've not had the car that long myself!

 

Yeah, I wondered if there's a blocked jet... I can't see a fuel filter, not on the engine side of the pump anyway. Unfortunately I've not come equipped to sort that out, and now it's dark and Hurricane Dennis is in full effect I think we'll see what the breakdown dude says in the morning.

 

[meshking]

Fingers crossed for you. There's some old school way of clearing the jets, if the engine runs then you pull the air intake tube off and cover it with your palm. The vacuum clears the jets apparently. I've never tried...

[rmjbn1]

Coil OK? I got into the habit of carrying a spare one in my 2CV.

Not sure if Ami is the same, but the coil is very exposed to dampness on the 2CV and any cracks in the casing could let water in. You might see it sparking in the dark.

I discovered this trying to optimistically overtake 2 HGVs in the fast lane of the M6 for Double HGV Super Bonus. Being the M6 it was raining heavily.

As you say, when you only have two cylinders, a misfire can be quite dramatic.

[barrett]

Johnny had a lot of problems with fuel pumps on this so I wouldn't be surprised if its another pump failing. I had something similar on mine but sold it before I had to deal with it...

[strangeangel]

2 minutes ago, barrett said:

Johnny had a lot of problems with fuel pumps on this so I wouldn't be surprised if its another pump failing. I had something similar on mine but sold it before I had to deal with it...

 

Yeah, I remember him saying that. He gave me an electric one he'd bought but never got round to fitting. Might be a job for when I get home. I've got a new mechanical one in the box as well.

 

I'm going to have to carry more stuff in future!

 

[strangeangel]

1 hour ago, meshking said:

Sorry, missed your reply. It could have a 123 ignition on it , so you wouldn't necessarily know if it was electronic ignition. There is a sometimes a telltale bit of wiring heading down to the points box area.

 

 

Jonny's just been on, and it is indeed 123 electronic ignition, which is why I couldn't see it. He's also said the car did this sort of thing when it wanted another wanky aftermarket fuel pump... Hey ho. Electric pump conversion here we come!

 

[meshking]

Interesting, I thought the failing pumps were generally shown up when starting after a long rest. I went through a few that kept letting the fuel flow back into the tank. A good strong blow into the filler would generally force enough fuel to prime the pump.

[strangeangel]

51 minutes ago, meshking said:

Interesting, I thought the failing pumps were generally shown up when starting after a long rest. I went through a few that kept letting the fuel flow back into the tank. A good strong blow into the filler would generally force enough fuel to prime the pump.

 

He went through a few of them in quick succession and only fitted the one that's on it just before selling the car. You'd think someone would make decent ones! I trousered one at a jumble not long after getting the car, a Quinton Hazell job. Dunno if that's going to be any better.

 

I wonder... will the electric one necessitate a return line to the tank?

 

[Zelandeth]

19 minutes ago, strangeangel said:

 

 

I wonder... will the electric one necessitate a return line to the tank?

 

It shouldn't provided it's one designed for use on a carburettor fed engine.  The one I've got on the Invacar is basically just a standard mechanical SU style pump with a solenoid bolted on the end to drive the diaphragm. 

They're set up with a pressure switch so the fuel delivery pressure is really no different to with a purely mechanical pump - just obviously no longer linked to engine rpm, fuel is just delivered or not as required.

[strangeangel]

Right then... Autoaid have been summoned. Apparently the 'Prestige Team' is required to deal with the Ami for some reason? They're sending someone local to check that it's actually broken first, given that I want it taking home, rather than to a garage.

 

Place your bets - will I be home this side of midnight?

 

[strangeangel]

Half 12 and the triage man arrives...

 

"I had to Google this 'cos I didn't know what it was!"

"Well, mechanically it's a 2CV if that's any help?"

"Only ever seen those on the telly"

[I open the bonnet. He looks quizzically into the void]

"Fuel pump, yeh? [pauses for thought] So you just want it recovering home then?"

"Yes, please"

"I'll ring them now"

?