Project Cobbler's's Talbot Express - Time to move it on?

[320touring]

At least put in a diverter so you can still make these noises on demand..

[The Moog]

At least put in a diverter so you can still make these noises on demand..

Sick puppy ... Next you will be asking for a naked exhaust note ...

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, cobblers said:

Yeah, it's just a straight through perf tube wrapped in silencer wadding, the next box I planned to fit was to have chambers and a bit of a labyrinth path inside - I figured I'd be better having the pressure restriction after the first box, that way it'd force the noise into the wadding a bit more.

I had just a "token" box in mind, maybe 12" long, but after hearing this I'm going to build something substantially bigger. There's plenty of room for it.

Seems about right...not dissimilar to the noise from mine.

Most of the PSA vehicles using that engine in period tended to use one big box at the back as I recall.

[cobblers]

I've just driven this ten miles home from work to give the batteries a boost and air it out a bit. It's the first vehicle to ever give me a headache! 

I'm going away Friday/Saturday, I think I'll take some earplugs. Horrible!

[Jim Bell]

7 minutes ago, cobblers said:

I've just driven this ten miles home from work to give the batteries a boost and air it out a bit. It's the first vehicle to ever give me a headache! 

I'm going away Friday/Saturday, I think I'll take some earplugs. Horrible!

At least when you get a headache you'll and able to stop and have a lie down with the curtains shut. 

[cobblers]

Another 10 miles this morning made a decision for me:

 

Literally, fuck that noise.

[spartacus]

TBF mate you can't go wrong at £97, even if you have to fettle it a bit to make it fit.

[cobblers]

Aye, not a bad price really and hopefully it'll be a bit better quality than the one that came on the van.

I went online to buy the stuff I needed to add the other silencer - Another reel of Stainless MIG wire, another shitty hobby bottle of Argon, some more exhaust wadding, another bit of stainless sheet and it was quickly nudging £80 quid, and I really don't have the time to fanny about nor the confidence that it'd not still sound like shit.

[Jim Bell]

You could also make a bit of money selling the old pipe on as an artisan musical instrument. 

 

[cobblers]

you're looking well there jim

[Zelandeth]

That's not a bad deal, hopefully it won't be too much hassle to fit.  At least you've got space to play with under the van.

[paulplom]

The neighbours would love that. Can I lend it?

[cobblers]

I got the rear batteries properly fitted and the 35mm2 cable run up to the split charge relay. I use a nice cable gland where it goes through the floor and ran a load of it before I remembered I had some conduit that was the perfect size. It's obviously fused properly (120A at either end) but I'd rather protect it as best I can.

With that I plonked in the inverter (£35, 1.2kW modified sine) and a 50A charger (came out of an ambulance)

Obviously I'll need to move that cushion, it perfectly covers the vent on the charger. TBH I never use that cushion, it's for the useless bed extension between the front seats.

Pleased to say the inverter/charging system works great - I left the inverter on, powering the water heater as I drove out to camping. It takes about 80 minutes to fully warm the water tank from cold, and thats about 10 minutes less than the drive. It draws 55A which the alternator can easily keep up with. 

I left the water heater on for a few hours before I had a shower and charged up my laptop etc, there's plenty of power.

 

You can also probably see the new exhaust:

Other than the mid section needing 40mm lopping off it, it went on quite well, it's quiet and sounds fine. I hate those U clamps so I will probably weld up the joints one day as they do slightly leak.

 

Anyway I came back from the pub last night to get settled down in the van and found water everywhere! I've had a "mystery" leak that I presumed was the skylight, but it only happened when parked at a certain angle, and yesterday I was parked at that angle. I followed the water up to a hole in a cupboard where someone had drilled a hole for a TV aerial:

 

I was going to fibreglass it up today, but when up a ladder I saw all that space and it got me thinking about a solar panel again. Instead of doing a permanent repair, I just siliconed a stainless M 8 coachbolt in the hole as I might use it for the power entry cables.

 

There's only clear room for a 50W panel unfortunately, but I have one of those spare off of my shed, so I'll fit that one day! 

Also note the missing cap off my flue - I knocked it off on a low bridge ?

[Skizzer]

This is all very excellent.

I’m glad you managed to capture OMG RACEVAN for posterity before putting the sensible exhaust on though.

[brownnova]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:41 AM, cobblers said:

Another 10 miles this morning made a decision for me:

 

Literally, fuck that noise.

Is that the coastal Motorhomes one? Mine was quite good if it is. According to the garage which fitted it it fitted fairly easily. 

[cobblers]

Yeah, it was from coastal, they are good at posting stuff quickly and had 5% off on their site. It seems alright, not a bad fit other than the middle bit being too long, easily resolved though. It would have gone on fairly well as it was but would have pulled on the mounts more than I'd like. It's quieter than the old system and the van feels a bit more perky. There's a long uphill climb where I'm foot to the floor in 4th gear for 3 or 4 miles and I'd regularly get to about 48mph tops, today I was doing 53+, but that could easily be down to the wind or something.

[Zelandeth]

Glad it wasn't too bad to fit.

Biggest headache I had with mine was that they hadn't spread out any of the outer sections for the slip joints...so I had to batter a chisel into the slots before anything would fit together.  The actual fit wasn't bad.

Did you use any assembly paste (Firegum is my preferred choice - goes on pretty thin and watery but expands when heated)?  I've found those joints pretty much need it to get a properly gas tight seal.  Firegum doesn't seem to cause issues on disassembly later either unlike some of the other products.

[bezzabsa]

All I could think while listening to the Exhaust was Moggie Minor on Steroids LOL

 

[cobblers]

25 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Glad it wasn't too bad to fit.

Biggest headache I had with mine was that they hadn't spread out any of the outer sections for the slip joints...so I had to batter a chisel into the slots before anything would fit together.  The actual fit wasn't bad.

Did you use any assembly paste (Firegum is my preferred choice - goes on pretty thin and watery but expands when heated)?  I've found those joints pretty much need it to get a properly gas tight seal.  Firegum doesn't seem to cause issues on disassembly later either unlike some of the other products.

The downpipe slip joint was too tight, probably had a bump in the post -  I got the mid section slightly engaged and then swung on it all kinds of angles while bashing it in with a dead blow hammer, I should have noticed it in the workshop before I got to the van but I wasn't paying enough attention

I didn't use any paste, that would probably have helped seal, but now that I'm happy it fits right I'll drop it off in one piece and weld all the joints up on the bench, it's a 5 minute job to remove.

[spartacus]

As long as there are no cats. or lambda sensors involved then silicon isn't bad for sealing up exhausts.

[Zelandeth]

Speaking of exhausts, here's what the ridiculous thing makes the OM.601 in my Merc T1 sound like. 

The camera is sitting literally about 6" from the end of the tailpipe which is just below the step in the back.

[cobblers]

The electric water heater thing works quite well - there's enough in the batteries for one tank of water (plus about 4 days of normal camping use) so it's handy to get me out of a bind. The main thing was to have enough batteries to not have to worry about them, and I've achieved that. 

I bought a 10" wheel to try on the back because deep down I am a foolish manchild.

 

That's far too ridiculous, even for me - especially of a FWD vehicle.  Oh well! I'm keeping the wheels I have on the front (16x8) but swapping the Insa-Turbo Dakars to those tyres I have on the back soon. These mud terrains look cool but the rolling resistance is just unreal - I instinctively go to check if I've left the handbrake on 3 or 4 times each trip.

I made a start with the new doors I bought. Initially I'd planned to paint them, but other than a few scratches, they're not that bad, so I ran over on with the buffer to see how it'd come up - I'll do the same with the van and hopefully they'll match OK.

unfortunately, under the adhesive I found out someone had removed the ducato badge using half a brick, so I masked off the area round the mess and lashed over it with a coat of paint from a supposedly matching aerosol.

 

Of course the aerosol match is absolutely nothing like right, presumably it was matched over the phone.

I'll try the door on the van and if it's original colour is owt like the van I'll drop it off at the paint place and get them to mix me something close. I'll have to go through the charade of pretending the paint is actually for a lawnmower or a tractor, otherwise they won't be able to sell it to me to paint a van with. 

I also finally got a 2KW Diesel heater. This thing is immense  - It'll fit in the spare space next to the batteries, and I really can't believe the heat it kicks out. I'm glad I went for a 2KW instead of a 5KW, as even on the lowest setting this thing really is fierce. I've been running it up on the bench all day to make sure it doesn't pack in as soon as I've fitted it. It's absolutely amazing for £92. I just need to work out where to put the fuel tank.

 

 

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

be careful where you point the outlet- there's moar than one West Midlands Ambulance Service vehicle with scorchio marks on the floor!

[cobblers]

Over the last week I got the heater fitted. I wanted to fit it behind the gas heater, but when I really got started, it wasn't practical - all the holes through the floor ended up having chassis in the way, so I put it in another cupboard that I barely use - It had a shit tool kit and an old stinky sleeping bag in, both of which I forgot I owned.

 

The intake is over by the sliding door which is a really cold spot:

I didn't have an intake grille, so I drew one up in "naff 1980s style" and 3d printed it:

 

 

 

I think it fits in perfectly. 

 

I paired down the wiring loom a bit, shortened the pump wires etc and noticed that while all the connectors are sealed for external use,  none of the connectors had all the wire seals fitted, so I fitted some.

 

I ran them through a new gland next to the main charge wire for the pleasure batteries

I then fitted the pump on it's rubber mount with a load of rubber hose to dampen the clicks, but it didn't work, I need to redo it - it's noisy.

 

The little 5l diesel tank is fitted inside the van for now. Not ideal but I couldn't be arsed running a pipe all the way up to the engine bay. If I can fill it without spilling everywhere, then there's no smell. 5L will last about 50 hours of use.

So here we are - It's -2 outside, and I'm in the van with the heater set to the lowest it will go, and I'm really warm. I'm sat here in my underpants with the roof vent half open.

I'm glad I went for the 2KW version instead of the 5, this thing is still way more powerful than it needs to be. Great success! I just need to mount the pump on something softer because it's quite noisy - the heater fan noise itself isn't very loud, but its quite an inoffensive noise.

 

[rusty998]

Nice bit of installing, these Chinese heaters do work really well, what kind of pump does it have?

[cobblers]

They're a doser pump - the pump a fixed squirt of fluid per pulse and the heater controller varies the pulse frequency from about 1.5Hz-5Hz.

 

My pump is the smaller type that pumps 0.016ml per "click". Some people hang the pumps with cable ties, but I think I'm going to sandwhich it inside sponge inside a little box. It'll keep the water off it, too.

[Zelandeth]

What worked for me was to suspend mind just above the floor (by about 1/4") by a bit of tension on the fuel lines, that seems to have pretty much eliminated the physically transmitted click.  You can still hear the actual sound a bit but it's pretty subtle and inaudible with the fan speed anywhere above the lowest setting.

[mat_the_cat]

7 hours ago, cobblers said:

I think I'm going to sandwhich it inside sponge inside a little box. It'll keep the water off it, too.

That's what I did,but sadly I can still hear the damned thing!

I'm seriously considering getting one of these:
https://www.aclsretail.com/index.php/item/87-challenger-diesel-autoheat-whisper-quiet-fuel-pump

Either that, or drinking more heavily in the evening before so I pass out and can't hear it!

 

[cobblers]

I don't personally mind the noise, I just don't want other people to hear it. I don't often camp in places where there's another van withing spitting distance, but sods law last night I ended up bunged in the car part about 4 meters away from another van as they'd closed the grass off for a few days.

I'd bring the pump inside the van, but I'd rather keep as much of the fuel setup outside so any leaks just go onto the floor.

I've got my eyes on a die-cast aly box, and some bulkhead hose barbs. I'll use a loop of (probably if it's diesel safe) silicone hose inside to really isolate the hoses and probably dampen the pulses a bit.

Those pumps won't work on my heater (mine needs a .016ml pulse instead of a ,022) but I've heard (ho ho) that they're not really much quieter than the standard ones - I wonder if they'll sell the damper separately?

 

[cobblers]

Oh, I've just found those pumps on aliexpress for £12 if you fancy one:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000269341354.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.17424431q0F4mc&algo_pvid=96812cf9-0152-4619-bd43-2c9c83f2dbc9&algo_expid=96812cf9-0152-4619-bd43-2c9c83f2dbc9-0&btsid=482468c3-62e6-4066-b259-03e52774074b&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_6,searchweb201603_53