Jump to content

Zel's Motoring Adventures...Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - 25/03 - Trabant back in action...


Zelandeth

Recommended Posts

Oof. I wondered where this XJS got to. Jealous you got your hands on it before I managed to! I'm forbidden to buy a car until we move, so couldn't pounce on this. Especially one that needs room, money, time and plenty of patience to put right when it inevitably goes wrong. 

When you get bored of it/fed up of it bankrupting you, please please let me know as I'll be 100% interested!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

I’ll measure it up next time I’m down that way, it’s currently tucked up in my Grandmothers garage.

Managed to find the information online (and have since forgotten the dimensions) but was able to confirm that the hole in the door card has been hacked out to roughly 20mm beyond the outer rim of the original speaker cover.  So reinstating the original setup is a non starter without major repairs to the door cards.  Given the section in question is carpeted it wouldn't be impossible to do...but I'm not worrying about it just now.  Thanks for pointing out the original cover though, if you hadn't I probably wouldn't have made a point of checking out the dimensions in detail.

Predictably Halfords didn't have any of the models of speaker they had listed on their website I was after, despite their stock checker saying they had it.  The only ones they had in the size I was after were made by Edge or Ripspeed, which I'd not waste my money on.  So I did a bit of additional digging and have ordered a set of Pioneer TS-A1370Fs instead.  Better reputation than what I was after and are three way rather than two way.  Plus they have far more understated covers than the original ones I was looking at.

Managed to utterly forget what I was out for at one point today but have since remembered.  Plastic sheeting to replace the one behind the door card which appears to have been ripped out by whoever put the speakers in.  As such the door card is somewhat soggy though thankfully it hasn't fallen apart yet.  Easily sorted though...and I need to remove the whole door card to get the wood trim off for refinishing anyway...so it all works out.  Oh, I can see the power window wiring flapping around in there rather than being properly clipped in place too...so that needs addressing too.

23 minutes ago, SiC said:

When you get bored of it/fed up of it bankrupting, let me know as I'll be 100% interested!

Will be interesting to see when that happens...I had been expecting it to be a short term but of fun really, but really seem to have clicked with the car.  One of a pretty small list of cars which just felt like "home" the moment I sat in it.  Plus despite getting in (or out!) being somewhat of an undignified scramble because you're sitting about two feet below bedrock, it's just so ridiculously comfortable which my back has very much been appreciating.

Either way... it's not going to be a cheap prospect.  Aside from the hilarious fuel economy (hoping it will improve a bit after a few jobs are done, but currently 100 miles = £50 worth of fuel), there are areas where the bodywork needs attention.  Not kidding myself that it's in areas where I could get away with doing it myself either...it would never end up looking right.  It's going to want professional attention.  Base of the rear windscreen in particular has a great potential to be a huge can of worms...obviously though it's a car which deserves it all to be done properly.

Not a car for shrinking violets.  It's ridiculous the amount of looks it gets.  Imagine it will be quite popular at shows.  Will definitely need to get an information sheet written up before that happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's the juddering brakes and seeing the need to drop this lot out to change the rear discs if they're shot, that made me realise I needed to wait.

21009d1341315958-92-xjs-inboard-rear-rot

Of course that's freshly painted and refurbished. I imagine many are bit of a fight to remove from a car that has never had it removed before. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thankfully I'm 99% certain the judder is from the front discs as it's by far the most obvious through the steering wheel. 

New discs should be ready to pick up on Wednesday.  Checked and it was £111 for the discs and pads which was a lot better than I had been braced for.  Dropping the rear subframe to do the rears doesn't sound like fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re the rear lights - the US models did not have a separate orange section, instead it was all red, but it appears they used the same mould to make the UK lamps. You may find the tail light actually shines sideways enough to conform (unless there's actually a position for a 5W bulb back there) and normally the lamp has its own lens, unobscured by the retroreflector.

 

Please take more photos. I like these cars. There's something aesthetically pleasing about the shape of the headlights, too.

 

--Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That section behind the retro reflector is baffled off.  There's a pretty deeply recessed space which looks exactly the right size to have had a little 5W capless lamp living in it.  The light from the tail light in the red section does show to the side somewhat, but more by coincidence than design it looks like.  I meant to get a photo with the lens removed but totally forgot.  Will get one tomorrow.

Turns out that I really do need a new distributor cap, the breather line attachment point on it has snapped off at some point and has been messily glued (unsuccessfully) back in place.  Given that the distributor venting system pulls air through the cap this is sub optimal as it essentially means I now have a source (albeit a small one) of unfiltered air being drawn into the engine.  New cap has been ordered.  Seems daft not to do the rotor arm at the same time...though in true Jag fashion it's more expensive than the cap (£25 for the rotor arm, £20 for the cap)!  Once these are in my hands I'll get started on striping the distributor down and servicing it.

 

I wanted to at least try something with the oil pressure gauge today before starting pulling the cluster out to investigate that (there's definitely something amiss as all the gauges read slightly low - aside from the oil pressure one which does the opposite).  I can see that the gauge does react to changes in pressure, as it varies when running between being physically pegged against the top of the gauge and sitting on the 100psi marker.

So I wanted to see if I could null out the offset and still get a usable reading by adding an additional resistor in series with the sender.  As stated elsewhere, I have little interest in the actual numbers reported by it, I'm far more interested in learning what behaviour is normal for my car and then being able to spot any deviation from that behaviour.

One variable resistor to clip in series with the sender thrown together.

IMG_20200121_143534.thumb.jpg.4c90ffaf0ef802047266accb84594619.jpg

With this clipped in it was a simple matter to "dial in" zero on the gauge with the ignition on but the engine not running.

IMG_20200121_144050.thumb.jpg.e421dc95030085302542191ea0134e4c.jpg

Sadly it appears that the response curve of this sender is incorrect (or there is something amiss with the gauge itself as we suspect) as this was the highest deflection of the needle I saw at any point with the engine running

IMG_20200121_144244.thumb.jpg.d28c841adc5ac47828d8e78f944e0c44.jpg

I know these engines don't have great hot oil pressure, but I'd hope for more than that if stone cold.

Time to get the cluster out for a look I think.  I need to dismantle it to some extent anyway to free up and lubricate the trip counter reset mechanism which currently jams every time you press the button.

On the list of other small jobs I wanted to get done today was "kill the stupid warmup timer" which disables vacuum advance for 15 minutes from a cold or cold-ish start.  This is easy enough to do simply by disconnecting the thermoswitch, which resides to the rear of the right hand coolant manifold.  Just about visible in the shadows, centre frame below.

IMG_20200121_145826.thumb.jpg.c65bd0116f0c2ad9ef8ade75905e6163.jpg

In typical XJS fashion this dead simple job was made slightly more annoying by half the engine being in the way.  However after a bit of swearing it was disconnected.

IMG_20200121_150105.thumb.jpg.69bc49211efc438ace7404c124bcc6c9.jpg

The wires were then cable-tied out of the way.  This should hopefully (at least once the vacuum advance system is working) save me a fair chunk of fuel around town.

While ding that though it was noted that quite a few vacuum lines are past their past.

IMG_20200121_150112.thumb.jpg.48821352de2c2dc6b8a8be9e4bcccfc7.jpg

Will get a bunch of hose ordered in and assume they are all in a similar state...never know this might make the cruise control spring back to life!  Will take a while to do though, there are a LOT of vacuum lines!

EDIT: So when I was looking for number plate lenses yesterday I was mostly finding them on eBay, at a cost of about £25 each, which made me twitch a bit so I haven't ordered any yet.  I'm quite glad I didn't order any now...

https://www.britishparts.co.uk/classic-jaguar-c4707/jaguar-xjs-c16/lights-lens-c241/lens-number-plate-p2368

£5 apiece...that's much more sensible.  Even if it's not the greatest possible quality... it's a number plate lens, it doesn't need to be a work of art.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Turns out the recess in the tail light reflector that I thought would be for a running light is actually a recess for one of the bolts that holds the cluster in!

IMG_20200123_121605.thumb.jpg.e1f02c6a3abafc8d28fe0a9b221ce5fd.jpg

Every day's a school day.  Does bother me that despite the lens wrapping all the way round to the side of the car that the indicators basically have zero visibility from the side.  I'm sure there's a reason it was designed that way, but it just seems odd.

Few parts are now here.

IMG_20200123_114459.thumb.jpg.afd793c1cd6f47f7646f4df1b5f26c72.jpg

Brake discs weren't anywhere near as catastrophically expensive as I was braced for.

IMG_20200123_114512.thumb.jpg.ef52c94fff12021ea1a4a066c8a56ea2.jpg

There's several metres of fuel line there to start replacing the perished vacuum lines with and a replacement for the bright red filter on the distributor breather which should look less out of place.  Will be really interesting to see if we can get the cruise control sorted just by replacing some vacuum lines...

Yesterday a couple of the obligatory water beading photos happened...

IMG_20200122_133523.thumb.jpg.61be6f9e6c9674e0b9de99fa2c83318a.jpg

IMG_20200122_133516.thumb.jpg.d6e0f53fd503e74674746f8fd1de4517.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The perpetual light drizzle this afternoon put paid to any plans of doing anything outside.  Nothing to stop me doing a bit of interior work though.

It's no secret that the warning lights on the dash in the XJS are rather sub par.  Most of them quite simply aren't bright enough.  The ones for the indicators are probably the worst.  Especially as they're half shaded by the internal baffles so only half the light actually gets properly lit.

I have a bag of a couple of hundred flat top warm white LEDs and this seems like a good job for them.  I'm not using coloured ones as I just don't think that will look right.

Conveniently I also have a full set of dashboard lamp holders of the correct type that I scavenged from a scrap car years ago, so it was a simple matter to solder an LED and resistor in to one to create a test unit to try out.

Here's what the lights on the dash for the indicators look like as standard.

IMG_20200123_162049.thumb.jpg.2d41a935552b3d9b2c0915128b0089de.jpg

On a vaguely sunny day they're essentially invisible.

This is the what it looks like with my LED retrofit installed.

IMG_20200123_162059.thumb.jpg.990077f83ac73dc3001151e515c43e8f.jpg

I've adjusted those photos to give a realistic representation of how bright the light looks.

The improvement is quite obvious I think.  The colour still looks like a filtered incandescent lamp though which was always a requirement for me.  With the exception of the ignition light (as it's actually part of the charging system) I'll probably set about replacing the rest of them.  I'm undecided as to whether to also do the lamps which illuminate the panel, I probably will though in the interests of reducing temperatures inside the cluster and removing load from the somewhat marginal flexible PCB.  Using warm white LEDs like this should retain the original colour essentially unchanged so it shouldn't be obvious that anything has changed unless you know to look for it.

While I had this apart it also gave me the chance to sort the trim around the instrument cluster which was clipped together totally wrong.

Before:

IMG_20200112_154044.thumb.jpg.25f48484766a8ef83145ac4d2e76dc06.jpg

Note how the surround is all bunched up in the middle.

Now:

IMG_20200123_162026.thumb.jpg.034d6c04cc9e3b411e37a239bdaa2722.jpg

That's how it's meant to look.  I'll replace the foam around the base which has dissolved at a later date.  There's a similarly knackered strip internally at the top which is meant to stop light leaking out above the caution & warning panel which has also dissolved.  I've got some black foam weatherstripping which will do just fine as a replacement.

As I was writing this my new speakers for the front have arrived too, so fitting those will probably happen tomorrow.  Will look a lot less conspicuous than the bright red things which were in there before.

IMG_20200123_172938.thumb.jpg.761f78e94044ec433b86c7596f80cf77.jpg

Little jobs in the grand scheme of things, but they all add up eventually.

Edit: Forgot something!  Have also rebuilt the wiper blade on the driver's side headlight wiper with a bit of the old blade removed from the windscreen when I got the car.

IMG_20200123_193039.thumb.jpg.c8d24c820eb0f590d268e02e4891d2ee.jpg

Was stuffed as far as clearing the windscreen was concerned, will do absolutely fine for a headlamp wiper for a while though.  You can see how little the old one was doing in the photo above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today apparently totally of its own volition the cruise control has decided to start working again.

IMG_20200124_141238.thumb.jpg.bcc23d64012612fdb3d3568d73e2d689.jpg

That was a nice easy fix!  Have to assume that one is another thing which was faulty primarily due to it not having been used regularly in years.

Will still be giving it a service in due course, but nice to know the system does actually work and to have the use of it already given it's somewhere around number nine on the to do list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/23/2020 at 6:28 AM, Zelandeth said:

Turns out the recess in the tail light reflector that I thought would be for a running light is actually a recess for one of the bolts that holds the cluster in!

IMG_20200123_121605.thumb.jpg.e1f02c6a3abafc8d28fe0a9b221ce5fd.jpg

Every day's a school day.  Does bother me that despite the lens wrapping all the way round to the side of the car that the indicators basically have zero visibility from the side.  I'm sure there's a reason it was designed that way, but it just seems odd.

The itty bitty sidelight has a small bit of lens off to the side that I'm sure satisfies side-on marker illumination- the indicator portion being made red satisfies the retro-reflector portion being red at the rear (red turn signal being common-ish here, more so in Canada).

 

--Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/21/2020 at 7:59 PM, Zelandeth said:

Sadly it appears that the response curve of this sender is incorrect (or there is something amiss with the gauge itself as we suspect) as this was the highest deflection of the needle I saw at any point with the engine running

If it's the former, then I have an earlier version of this which may be of use?
https://www.spiyda.com/fuel-gauge-wizard-mk3.html

I upgraded to the later version as the early version has a pair of pots to adjust for zero and span (and another for linearity), so quite an iterative process. However my fuel gauge is extremely well damped so takes several minutes to settle, and I kept adjusting when the needle hadn't actually settled! With the later version I just recorded the resistance with a full tank, and for the next few tankfuls I would record the resistance and plotted it against the amount I brimmed it with. I could then work out the resistance versus capacity curve, and enter it into the unit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That summary of the tail lights does seem to make sense.  The tail light is clearly visible from the side...shame the retro reflector came at the cost of any appreciable side spill for the indicators.

IMG_20200124_184215.thumb.jpg.33c862e4579a0df71ef64c9bd310d781.jpg

Regarding the oil pressure gauge, I need to do a couple more tests.  Firstly I do now have a note of what the correct resistance readings should be so need to check my sender against that list.  Secondly I need to try using my trim pot correctly...wiring it up as a potential divider rather than just whacking it in series, which was never going to work!

First of the new speakers is now in.

IMG_20200124_163923.thumb.jpg.f979cd8c04a00f1ce98a09917c4b408c.jpg

Being slightly smaller than what came out works to my advantage as the bottom of the trim no longer fouls on the sill kick plate when closing the door.

I had to glue some little wooden blocks to the inside of the door card to screw the speaker too as it was fractionally too small to get all four screws attached due to the size of the existing hole.  Took all of five minutes to sort though and wasn't something I was worried about as the grills are more than big enough to hide the slightly messy edges.

While I was looking at audio I had a closer peer at the head unit in the dark with a torch to try to confirm (as I've been unable to find a decent photo of this unit) that there is evidence of the buttons being illuminated.

Using a bright light source shone onto them reveals clear portions, so there definitely should be lighting in there.

IMG_20200124_165923.thumb.jpg.e80dd0c80b36c8a90e86a2822ce50eac.jpg

IMG_20200124_165945.thumb.jpg.86fcca1ac978b4091b43327ac69a213d.jpg

The lamps were probably killed off by the illumination line being incorrectly wired up to the permanent 12V feed for goodness only knows how long.  I'll pull it apart at some point to restore functionality of the lighting.

Speaking of lighting curiousity got the better of me so I went digging to take a look at the light source for the fibre optics.

IMG_20200124_164811.thumb.jpg.a69ebf9301f8b92e986ae318114a6625.jpg

It's the silver and black cylinder just right of centre.  So pretty easy to get at (just three screws hold the panel above it on).  Pulling one of the lines and playing around even with the not particularly bright light from the torch on my keyring shows a great potential for improvement of the lighting.  The bottom of the temperature control here is being lit by my torch.  Top is the normal light source.

IMG_20200124_165226.thumb.jpg.5459d00363f8a7aff3df6cac0af384a0.jpg

Camera has made it look way brighter than it is...but it's actually visible to the naked eye there...the lighting at the top of the dial wasn't visible above the ambient light to the naked eye.  Will be nice to give that a bit of a boost as I think the visual effect looks really nice... it's just laughably dim at the moment.

Edited by Zelandeth
correcting autocorrect (again)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, PhilA said:

What type of bulb is it? 5W capless? Would one of the Chinesium "hyper-bright" green LED's to fit any Honda/Subaru/Nissan pocket-rocket suit purpose?

One of the little tiny bayonet things usually seen in the old Lucas dash warning lights etc, just a 6W version (or at least it should be...they're hard to find so often wind up replaced with lower wattage ones when they fail...and at 78K miles I assume this has been replaced a couple of times).  This is a 0.8W version, but the same type of lamp.

IMG_20200124_195238.thumb.jpg.a0d2cc9182a3d7c0860d807c36ce57c3.jpg

I reckon a 3W high power LED driven conservatively (will just utilise the existing green filter to keep the colour looking right) will do just fine.  Have a few in stock that should do.  The other popular configuration I've seen is an array of 5mm LEDs, one pointing at each bundle of fibres exiting the housing.  I suspect that would be overkill though... I'm going for readable levels of brightness, not making the entire cabin light up like a modern Audi...

Edited by Zelandeth
added photo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Loving the progress. Just a little idea I might share if/when you need spares (not a paid advertisement, just seemed reasonably prices on some stuff). Look for a seller called "just_xjs" on eBay. It looks like the seller has a good stock of XJS bits and some of them are much cheaper than other sellers based on when I was hunting for bits to do up my 3.6 manual XJS last year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Broadsword said:

... Just a little idea I might share if/when you need spares (not a paid advertisement, just seemed reasonably prices on some stuff). Look for a seller called "just_xjs" on eBay...

Thanks for that.  Have added them to my saved seller list.

I filled the Jag up again today...fuel economy improved from the 12.7MPG from the last one.

...To 12.9MPG.

The average economy readout on the trip computer appears to be absolutely spot on.  Useful, though rather depressing! Cruise control is still behaving too.

Got the newly rebuilt headlamp wiper put back on.  Seems to be reasonably effective at least.

IMG_20200124_141114.thumb.jpg.3e7a5392a3367568dff7d1b32e9c739c.jpg

Have realised that before I can strip the hub down to swap the front brake discs out I'll need to get some lock wire ordered in.  Yes, I know you're probably fine using modern thread lock etc, but I'd rather do it by the book.

Nothing else to report for today though.  Forgot I snapped a few photos after the first proper post-waxing rainfall.  Not sure why I find this so satisfying.

IMG_20200124_122845.thumb.jpg.43b7ba31455b92e4af3f7cd562bd2772.jpg

IMG_20200124_122841.thumb.jpg.81613190177cede2b0396758229c6300.jpg

IMG_20200124_122832.thumb.jpg.92cd82338b8d1de1fca2688f8c7b4245.jpg

IMG_20200124_122826.thumb.jpg.b54eb5782af78e2313e6a07f3bd2a107.jpg

IMG_20200124_122822.thumb.jpg.c689b9aee6ecb95bc7ec27601b1c93d4.jpg

IMG_20200124_122807.thumb.jpg.2cf6ba2bb9123b93a2e552f4c086cf95.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/24/2020 at 1:27 PM, Zelandeth said:

One of the little tiny bayonet things usually seen in the old Lucas dash warning lights etc, just a 6W version (or at least it should be...they're hard to find so often wind up replaced with lower wattage ones when they fail...and at 78K miles I assume this has been replaced a couple of times).  This is a 0.8W version, but the same type of lamp.

I reckon a 3W high power LED driven conservatively (will just utilise the existing green filter to keep the colour looking right) will do just fine.  Have a few in stock that should do.  The other popular configuration I've seen is an array of 5mm LEDs, one pointing at each bundle of fibres exiting the housing.  I suspect that would be overkill though... I'm going for readable levels of brightness, not making the entire cabin light up like a modern Audi...

That has to have a lifespan measured in minutes. 6 Watts in a miniscule package like that- yeah, LED is a good solution.

 

Also, I have a few pieces of equipment with the very same illuminated buttons they used on the trip computer. Funny to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took the Xantia over to my usual, trusted garage today to get a more realistic picture of what she needs for the MOT.

First, the MOT fail list as presented by the original garage:

536630623_IMG_20191210_1527223.thumb.jpg.ea2eaf374799a0303e9bbf480ede2946.jpg

Now the fail sheet from my usual garage:

IMG_20200128_150802.thumb.jpg.0515b73f5cbb8466c8444e250bf2774b.jpg

I'll look at getting the exhaust sorted and will then throw it back at them to get the suspension arm rebushed.

Have just made a start on seeing what I can do to improve the condition on the wood trim in the Jag.

IMG_20200128_154340.thumb.jpg.6f34334d3539a63470b1a760a2b1a4a3.jpg

IMG_20200128_160352.thumb.jpg.117fe253b8a6e513233e71eca3027a82.jpg

Have a bit of a jigsaw to reassemble here.

IMG_20200128_154949.thumb.jpg.c4c5998ee6831a9a519624dc871ad0fe.jpg

Which has happened I think because someone historically has been too rough trying to get one of the switches out.

IMG_20200128_154149.thumb.jpg.c75d16218807eedb292a04f408a985fa.jpg

There are a couple of bits of veneer missing here too unfortunately...so I may try just painting the panel first to see how it looks or see how horrifically secondhand replacements might be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fun fact: modern paint & varnish stripper is rubbish.  After well over an hour it's not even touched the exposed edges of the stuff on the trim panels.  The only bits to have been removed so far are those picked off using a fingernail.

IMG_20200128_170620.thumb.jpg.0c48b382974a5a5b7487e8941f3ca4f6.jpg

Have had a good dig around in the general vicinity to see if I could find the missing bit belonging to the surround for the hazard and rear demister switches but sadly it seems to be long gone.

I've just thrown a quick coat of paint on the metal panel so it doesn't look so unsightly while I decide what to do about that. 

IMG_20200128_170252.thumb.jpg.ac5366ac412c8ea25811f4faa9f0b28b.jpg

At least once both sides match it shouldn't be too obvious to the casual observer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Modern paint stripper is made from rhododendron sap and spring water mixed with a little bit of soap.

The can should make your eyes water and throat burn when it's opened. The new stuff works on new varnish and paint but won't touch older oil based finishes worth a damn. You probably need a license for anything with anything stronger than xylene nowadays...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently a friend has a tin of Nitromors from the early 80s buried in the back of their garage which they're willing to donate to the cause.  That should do it!

In other news, I have had the kickdown system working fine for about a week now but have kept forgetting to record video evidence of this for you lot.  Let's face it, V12s have always been rare and are rapidly becoming extinct.  So not many folks get to hear them sing nowadays.

Shame the camera picks up the treble a bit too much (it makes everything sound tappety!) so it sounds a bit tinny...but you can get a good idea of how turbine-smooth this engine is.

She does make a truly glorious noise.

The grumbling just as you move off is the nearside tailpipe touching the bodywork rather than anything more sinister.  Though I will be inspecting the known weak gearbox mounting in due course as it probably does want changing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After quite a bit of experimentation I eventually came to the conclusion that the correct formula required to remove the old finish from the woodwork is a combination of carefully applied heat and patience.  I'm sure if I could get hold of some proper old school Nitromors (the can we thought I'd found it turned out had dissolved the bottom out of the tin) or similar I'm sure it would be sorted in minutes...but the modern water based nonsense is a total waste of space.

After the old clear coat had been removed it was given a gentle rub down with 1200 grit sand paper just to remove any bits I had missed and to key the surface for the next step.

IMG_20200130_132406.thumb.jpg.f1fc35ba290f4bc380c320ce36aa136d.jpg

Which is a stage which will require patience.  Basically we're now applying new clear coat.  The best finish will be achieved by using many, many thin layers.  It's a bit disheartening as after the first layer goes down it looks awful!

IMG_20200130_132447.thumb.jpg.6f45f80a361a28f9beb2c4aeb809b75b.jpg

By the end of the afternoon and four coats on things were looking better though.

IMG_20200130_170135.thumb.jpg.a0647eb9b5f5b18e2015f4f9e137fe39.jpg

Really nice to see that with each coat that the grain of the wood is standing out more clearly and that it's taken on a really nice warm colour.

A load more coats then quite a bit of polishing still to do, but we're moving in the right direction.

I was having a dig through my box of random lighting components to see if I could find an LED suitable for upgrading the fibre optic source with (unsuccessfully, have ordered some 3W warm white ones) when I found something which should improve things in the short term.

The page I originally read up on the system from apparently quoted the wrong lamp type.  It's not actually one of those teeny tiny ones, instead it's a BA9s 6W lamp.

IMG_20200126_155300.thumb.jpg.1e156366d85fbf6f82dde0db71b4dedb.jpg

Still pretty weedy though for lighting half a dozen bits of the dash with though.

What I found was an identically rated modern version in halogen form.  While the power usage is identical, the halogen one produces more than twice as much light. 

With it fitted the difference was *immediately* obvious.  The fact that you could see the legends on the headlight switch light up with the lights even in (dull) daylight was new.

IMG_20200130_153609.thumb.jpg.503ca3af789c9c729f979faa19b39808.jpg

It had to be pretty much completely dark before you could see any sign of life from that before.

In full darkness while the heater controls still are utterly impossible to read (the text being about 8pt in size sees to that), are at least pretty easy to see now.

IMG_20200130_174019.thumb.jpg.cbf7e8b26883b7a1c81957b0ffda2c44.jpg

IMG_20200130_174049.thumb.jpg.907aeace488515e5c989f041834f55b3.jpg

Really need to sort the lighting in the stereo next so I can get a proper full dash at night photo up.

High on the priority list for tomorrow is getting the belts changed as I took a look at them today and discovered that they're looking rather dog eared.

IMG_20200129_164706.thumb.jpg.2ee4413fac580a1a9fde36ff2fe50725.jpg

Given how quickly you can cause untold damage to this engine in a loss of cooling incident, having questionable belts running the fan and water pump seems to be something that needs correcting sooner than later.  Expecting this to be an order of magnitude more difficult than it should be.  It's a pig to get to anyhow as the bonnet doesn't open very wide...we'll get it done though.  I'll pick up agent for the A/C while I'm buying so once I get the compressor clutch sorted I'll have one ready to fit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...