Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 13/11.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, PhilA said:

Viva/Firenza/Magnum brakes.

They are useless, do not expect them to be good. But, they do work and are fairly reliable.

Good to know.  Though I remember everyone telling me that the unassisted brakes on my Metro would kill me but found those to be absolutely fine, just needed a good old shove to work.

Did a very brief investigation into another very minor thing that was bugging me - this bit of blue overspray from something on the nearside rear quarter.

I wanted to see if it would buff off.

The answer is "yes, albeit with quite a lot of polishing." Also there's a look at what colour the car should be!

Of course at this point it decided to start raining so that's as far as we got.

[PhilA]

Even vacuum boosted they're a bit mediocre. I had those on my Victor. 

Experimented with Peugeot 106 floating calipers which required a bit of a bodge to fit... While they inspired significant confidence in the brakes they really didn't fit properly.

You can probably find different calipers but those ones will work, they're just a little underspecified for the weight of the car.

 

[Zelandeth]

Well it looks like I will be seeing if I can get these going.  Can't immediately find anyone with them in stock, and most of those are asking > £100 each anyway...So we'll see if the existing calipers can be coaxed back to life first I think.  Service kits do at least seem to exist, so hopefully they can. 

Biggest question really will be what state the bores and pistons are in so we can see if they need to be sleeved.  I obviously don't have the kit to do that, so it would be a send off to a specialist job.

[Zelandeth]

Today on "jobs that would be 5000 times easier if I had a proper workbench with a vice..."

Seeing if I could get the pistons in this free.  

It's been stewing in Plusgas for the last few days.

I had a little movement from one piston before, and a combination of patience, compressed air and lots of penetrating oil eventually resulted in this.

It then pushed back in by hand.  So while it obviously needs to come fully out for inspection and cleaning, that side is at least free now.

The other one however I can't get to shift more than a millimetre or so.  However the headache I've been trying to power through since first thing this morning is trying to turn into a migraine so we've downed tools for the day now.

[Jikovron]

The piston bore of these calipers never need sleeved as the piston and square O ring are the sole elements of sealing contact, as long as the seal groove is in decent shape the bore only has to be cleared of corrosion and general dirt and any burs to allow free and fairly loose passage of the piston when dropped in without a seal fitted

In the past I've taken to heating them and using 2 flat screwdrivers to gently pry up via the piston dust shield lip to gradually start exercising the piston back and forth, it's usually either corrosion formation on the upper bore above the main seal but sometimes the seal bonds to the piston which can involve such joy as welding a nut to the piston to draw it out with a threaded bar etc.

[Zelandeth]

TPA was out and about doing normal car things again today.

Figured as it's been absolutely forever it feels like since I really did a proper inspection of the drive system it was about time I did.

I think I've finally got the knack of removing this thing now.  Usual slight misting of oil from the gearbox output shaft but it doesn't seem to have got any worse.

Belt looks to be holding up just fine.  This will have probably somewhere in the ballpark of 3,500 miles on now I think.  I'll need to look up the logbook to confirm the exact number.

Pulley surfaces also look fine.

Primary:

Secondary (which I basically rely on the camera to look at as I can't really *see* it):

There was some slight surface tarnish on that when it went on, doesn't look any worse now.

What I did find however was that the bolt on the primary had backed off slightly.  There was no actual movement in the pulley itself (it's a very snug fit on the gearbox output shaft), but that washer behind the bolt was free to rattle around.  I was able to get maybe 3/4 of a turn out of it.

Given that the slightly metallic rattling noise at low speed that I've had for as long as I can remember now seems to have gone away I reckon this may have been slightly loose for a long time.  I think I will look at making up a locking tab for that bolt as that coming properly  loose at speed Would Be Bad.  Though I think you would get plenty of warning as before it could come out the bolt would hit the inside of the service hatch I think, so would make all the noise ever.

In the meantime it's been done up Quite Tight, and a decent blob of Loctite has been applied.

This is a good example of why preventative maintenance is a good thing.  I have checked on the belt visually from the engine bay regularly, but it's well worth getting right in here now and then to check on things.

Also found a ball joint where the metal clip holding the dust cap on has rusted away.  Otherwise seems fine still so will just replace the clip if I can find one the right size.  Failing that I do have a full set of replacement ball joints in stock if necessary.

Something I want to try is a little bit of experimentation with drive pulley spacing.  The only thing I've noted with the HP2020 belt versus the standard one is that it drops into "overdrive" slightly earlier than the book says it should.  Given the dimensions are essentially identical I'm guessing the difference there is in the actual weight of the belt.  It's a very low priority task and is only really noticeable when accelerating from a standing start on a gradient, but now it's stopped being a million degrees outside I might be more inclined to try tweaking it a little.  My guess is that we need a fraction more tension on the belt.

[Zelandeth]

Have got the good piston in this caliper sliding perfectly smoothly through the full range of travel by hand, so I'm inclined to leave it well alone provided it doesn't leak once subject to full hydraulic system pressure again.

The piston cleaned up fine, just a bit of surface tarnish in a few areas.

Given that I will pretty much definitely wind up having to replace the seal if I pop it fully out, leaving it alone makes sense to me for now.

It's been cleaned up, given a good dose of rubber grease and had the (also cleaned) rubber boot refitted.

The other piston however still refuses to move beyond the one point, though is relatively free up to that point.  Getting any leverage on it is bloody awkward and getting heat involved is a non starter because I'm having to hold on to the caliper.  Basically, I really need a workbench with a vice for this job!  

Will have another ponder at the weekend, though I'm really just leaning towards sending these off for refurb at this point.  Especially as from what I've read when this car was initially got running and driving back at the field that the driver's side one had to be split and the pads removed to get it rolling.  So it's likely to be far more of a fight than this one has been so far.

[PhilA]

Yeah, once those get woken up they are ok for a few months then they'll start to weep. Ask me how I know.

[Slowsilver]

18 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Will have another ponder at the weekend, though I'm really just leaning towards sending these off for refurb at this point.  Especially as from what I've read when this car was initially got running and driving back at the field that the driver's side one had to be split and the pads removed to get it rolling.  So it's likely to be far more of a fight than this one has been so far.

You are correct. The whole driver's side brake was seized solid and I had to split the calliper to free it off. I threw it back together with the pads in to make sure that the pistons didn't get ejected but no shims, which should still have been in the boot. The pad retaining pins were pretty mangled and one of the bolts holding the calliper halves together didn't go back in fully. It will certainly need some serious overhauling, if it is indeed salvageable. Good luck sorting it.
 

[Jenson Velcro]

Not sure if I’ve missed it, but what make are the Cavalier’s front callipers?

 

[Zelandeth]

20 hours ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Not sure if I’ve missed it, but what make are the Cavalier’s front callipers?

 

I now know they are the Girling type.  Aside from the "92" stamped into there were no readable markings on the nearside caliper.

-- -- --

This afternoon I decided to play chicken with the weather.  This was rapidly bearing down on my location.

Mission was simple: Get the offside brake caliper off the Cavalier so I could get the pair sent off to be rebuilt.

In a rare show of organisation, I actually made a point of getting everything I expected to need out in advance and putting it where I could get to it, rather than the usual 15 trips back and forward to the garage.

Five minutes later, first contact with the enemy.

I was briefly sidetracked by a sinister looking bit of peeling seam sealer on the inner wheel arch, but thankfully I seem to have caught it in time.

Really isn't hard to see why these cars have a reputation for rusting.

Thanks to the wonders of power tools, less than ten minutes after picking tools up I had the caliper off, wheel back on and the jack back in the boot.

The little bag the jack and wheel brace live in are even colour coded to the car, how considerate of Vauxhall...

Yes I know they're just all that colour, but it amused me.

This is where we took a moment of "one step forward, two steps sideways."

These two calipers are not the same.

The one on the right is presumably original to the car and is clearly made by Girling.

The one which came off the nearside however bears no legible maker's mark anywhere.  The only clear marking anywhere on it is a stamp showing the number "92." This is the only other markings I can see, where are precisely as clear in person as in the photo.

Not that surprising to find a car of this age has had a caliper changed at some point, but it's still bloody annoying as I don't have a nice matched set to send off to be rebuilt.

I'm also rather alarmed that the pads in each side are a totally different brand with a significant difference in the amount of wear on them...so it seems that whoever changed the nearside caliper didn't bother swapping the offside pads when it went on... additionally the lower caliper to hub bolt was missing it's washer...You remember me saying I was going to test the rear brakes before pulling things apart?  Nope...on the strength of this, they're definitely getting properly inspected beforehand now.  

Don't suppose anyone has an old nearside Girling caliper floating around do they?

Did spot something I'd previously missed that was a quick fix (well, it still needs a little attention but is a lot better).  Spot the difference.

The valance had been shoved upwards on the offside.  It still needs a little finessing and whatever did the damage has broken off one of the tabs where it attaches to the lower part of the wing, but it's a lot better.

So a little stuck while I decide what to do about the brakes.  Having ascertained thanks to someone on Retro Rides that the front calipers are shared with the BMW E21 I have found a couple of places that do have new ones in stock - but still north of £100 each.  The refurb plan is pretty much stalled without a matched set though...so I may well just go down that road.

[dave j]

Isn't that an ATE marking on the left of the caliper?

[Zelandeth]

25 minutes ago, dave j said:

Isn't that an ATE marking on the left of the caliper?

Now having looked up their logo, I do believe you're correct.  

[Noel Tidybeard]

i was looking at this caliper and thought it says ATE and sure enough there are ATE listed in the parts book

[Jenson Velcro]

Similar but not identical part numbers. Not sure what the differences might be. Same rebuild kit though

 

[Jenson Velcro]

Looks like there’s a remanufactured rhs ATE caliper on eBay at the moment.

[Zelandeth]

58 minutes ago, Jenson Velcro said:

Looks like there’s a remanufactured rhs ATE caliper on eBay at the moment.

I have to wonder if the difference is something daft like one having a metric pipe union and the other imperial...which obviously is trivial to deal with for us.  An expensive gamble though!

Going to have a look at eBay to see if I can find that one...the LHS is the healthiest looking one, so replacing the driver's side would be the sensible one I think.

[Jenson Velcro]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I have to wonder if the difference is something daft like one having a metric pipe union and the other imperial...which obviously is trivial to deal with for us.  An expensive gamble though!

Going to have a look at eBay to see if I can find that one...the LHS is the healthiest looking one, so replacing the driver's side would be the sensible one I think.

 

[Zelandeth]

Apparently the new caliper has now arrived back home.  Sadly I'm currently 3,500 miles away from the car so it'll need to wait for attention!

Whether that caliper gets sent off along with the original one for inspection and any necessary rebuild work will depend on what it looks like.  I may well send them both away anyway for the sake of long term reliability anyway.  It's not as though I can start putting stuff back together properly until they're both present anyway.  It *looks* good in the photos on the eBay listing, but we all know how much that means.

Also on the subject of brakes, discs.  Am I correct in thinking that the wheel bearing races are pressed into the discs on these?  I've got a new pair of discs in the boot waiting to go on, but will get a bearing set ordered too if that's the case.  If I need to take everything apart anyway I'm inclined to just change the consumables involved to save me time and head off future failures before they have a chance to pop up.

[Zelandeth]

Back home and trying to get caught up with things.  While jetlagged to hell and back (yesterday was effectively a 32 hour day by the time I fell into bed).  Oh, and we had contractors arrive at 0830 this morning to start replacing our roof.  Yeah, genius bit of programming on my part there.  Though in fairness it's the date I was given and with the trouble we've had getting folks in I just took it.

Firstly I've confirmed that the new caliper for the Cavalier will be going off to be inspected and rebuilt as necessary with the one that came off the car.

Yes it's a factory remanufactured part - but as I kind of expected, that looks to have happened somewhere probably in the 1990s and it's sat somewhere less than entirely dry since.

It will probably be fine, but I figure if I'm getting one sorted I may as well just get the pair seen to.  Less likely to come back to bite me then.

The other car related item waiting for me was this.

Which I will test fit to the Invacar as and when time and energy allows.  Given the work we've got going on at the moment that might mean a bit of a wait.

[Six-cylinder]

23 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Back home and trying to get caught up with things.  While jetlagged to hell and back (yesterday was effectively a 32 hour day by the time I fell into bed).  Oh, and we had contractors arrive at 0830 this morning to start replacing our roof.  Yeah, genius bit of programming on my part there.  Though in fairness it's the date I was given and with the trouble we've had getting folks in I just took it.

Firstly I've confirmed that the new caliper for the Cavalier will be going off to be inspected and rebuilt as necessary with the one that came off the car.

Yes it's a factory remanufactured part - but as I kind of expected, that looks to have happened somewhere probably in the 1990s and it's sat somewhere less than entirely dry since.

It will probably be fine, but I figure if I'm getting one sorted I may as well just get the pair seen to.  Less likely to come back to bite me then.

The other car related item waiting for me was this.

Which I will test fit to the Invacar as and when time and energy allows.  Given the work we've got going on at the moment that might mean a bit of a wait.

I found some with the correct two threads and length but no stop collar and had planed just to thread lock it in. It will be interesting if this works.

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

I found some with the correct two threads and length but no stop collar and had planed just to thread lock it in. It will be interesting if this works.

Yeah, it will be interesting.  Biggest thing to be careful there is that it's a through hole it's going into so hopefully it will tighten up properly rather than mangle the threads.

The shoulder should greatly help in being able to say "yes that's right" but I don't think serves a massive amount of function aside from prevention of a weak spot I guess that might be able to fatigue over time.

It would be interesting to have a look at to get some precise measurements from for future reference though!

[Zelandeth]

Funny how having a new roof fitted on your house manages to eat up huge chunks of your time.  Contractors are doing all the hard work, but input keeps (unsurprisingly) being needed.  Usually only for 30 seconds at a time, but it means you really can't get stuck into anything substantial as you keep needing to answer the door.

We're getting there.

[] All four roof sections fully stripped back to bare refers.

[] All felt & battens replaced.

[] 4X gable end rafters that were totally rotten replaced.

[] Roof light & support framework replaced (well...not yet, currently there's a huge hole where it used to be).

[] All new ridge tiles.

[] All soffits (all ~90 metres of them) and gutters replaced.

[] A LOT more broken tiles than either us or the contractor had anticipated replaced.  The fact that the tiles had basically been holding the north facing roof aspect together for the last 20 years probably has something to do with that.

In all we're expecting the final bill to come in somewhere in the ball park of £30K.  Isn't home ownership fun.  On the plus side, having all that having just been done will be a nice thing to have listed on the for sale ad when we come to sell the place.

Does mean though that I've barely touched anything car wise this week.

A few things have progressed though.  One of which is having *finally* got a first draft completed of TPA's page for my website.  It's still just raw text at this point and still needs a load of editing, but it's a start.

The overall Invacar FAQ page which goes along with it though is mostly done.  You can see that over here if you're interested.  Will be a couple of minor alterations to be made there, but unless I (or someone else) think of anything worthwhile to add there that page will largely be left be.

Despite time being in short supply, something somehow managed to follow me home a couple of days ago.  Funny how that keeps happening.

Never going to turn down an opportunity to spend some time behind the wheel of an MGB.  I know a lot of people seem to like to hate them because they're so ubiquitous in the classic car world, but I like them.  Just enjoyable cars to drive I find, something very right about sitting here.

Was quite a lot more serene when cruising than last time I drove this car because I remembered the existence of this switch.

Yeah...totally missed it both of the previous times I drove it.  Never said I was the brightest spark.  Derp.

There were a few things she was here to have looked at.  All pretty quick jobs, so ideal to pick away at while remaining in earshot of the roof guys in case they needed me for anything.

[] Non working radio.

[] Dead instrument panel lighting.

[] Missing clutch pedal rubber needs replacing.

[] Rev counter not working.

The radio issue became pretty much immediately obvious once I pulled the head unit out the dash.

Yep...not being plugged in would have a lot to do with it.

Turns out this head unit had never been hooked up based on the (very crusty) fitted ISO connector not matching the proprietary one on the head unit.

Helpfully the fitting kit turned out to be stashed in the centre arm rest.

Which also meant I could happen to this mess.

Which I totally forgot to take a photo of after tidying.  However the radio now works properly.

Something more period appropriate has now been sourced and will be swapped in at a future date.  Will be a two minute job at least now the wiring is sorted and labelled.

While digging the spaghetti out of the centre console I discovered a free range lamp holder trying to find its way into the driver's footwell.

This of course actually belongs in the indicator lamp for the rest windscreen demister, so was clipped back in there.  Have to wonder how long it is since that last worked.

The panel lights were even easier to revive...after I have the rheostat a minute or so of highly technical wiggling back and forth through its full travel the dash lights were working properly.

Just about visible in daylight of you squint at the right angle.

Which is easier to see after dark.  Definitely back from the era where dash lighting was just what you needed and nothing more.

Quite cozy though, I'd take it over the cold white blindingly bright LED nonsense that's the norm these days.

If I can convince the control to come out of the dash I'll give it a grease up - the knob didn't seem impressed with the idea of being removed when I last tried though, and I'm not going to risk breaking it.

The rev counter issue has proven to be slightly more elusive.  Everything at the coil end seems to be in perfect order, though there isn't a direct connection there I can see, it must T off somewhere else in the loom.  I need to sit down with a wiring diagram to confirm where the signal for the tach is tapped off.  

Thought I'd pop it out of the dash for a look, as wiring issues behind there seem high on the likelihood list to me, or the famously high quality wiring connectors used on BMC products of this era causing problems.

Oh.

Well that's annoying.  The tach doesn't quite fit past the indicator switch...I literally need about an extra 1/8" of clearance.  I did faff about with it for a while, but the retaining lugs stick out just far enough behind it that I can't quite get it out.  I intend to revisit this at the weekend.

I have stuck my camera up behind the dash and couldn't see anything amiss, nor did wiggling wires around have any effect.  The tach has briefly sprung back to life completely of its own accord on a couple of occasions, and my gut feeling is that it may well be the unit itself that may be at fault.

We'll be back to this.

Not much to be said about replacing the rubber grip pad on the clutch pedal other than that it's now been replaced.

Wasn't even that awkward, I was prepared for that to be quite a fight with how deep and narrow the footwell is but it wasn't anywhere as bad as I expected.

Something which ended up on my list within about 1/4 a mile was the fact that the mirrors both wobbled around while driving and also rattled while doing so.  That was going to rapidly drive me round the twist.

This was resolved by tightening the screws on the brackets (they were both less than finger tight), then as I discovered the glass was also very loose, so added some closed cell foam blocks in behind there.  This has resolved both the rattle and the wobble.  Well, as much as you'd expect on an MGB, they're always going to wobble a bit.

As we were expecting some quite heavy rain overnight yesterday I put a temporary patch on the obvious holes in the roof where you could see straight through to the cabin.  Realistically this sunroof needs replacing, but this hopefully kept the worst of the rain out.

It certainly has reduced the wind noise from that corner!

Hoping to get some time to finish investigating the rev counter issue tomorrow then it will be back off to its home and into winter hibernation.

This has definitely reminded me though quite how high the MGB really should be on my list of stuff to own at some point.  I do like these old crates.

[Six-cylinder]

9 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Radio - Something more period appropriate has now been sourced and will be swapped in at a future date.  Will be a two minute job at least now the wiring is sorted and labelled.

As we were expecting some quite heavy rain overnight yesterday I put a temporary patch on the obvious holes in the roof where you could see straight through to the cabin.  Realistically this sunroof needs replacing, but this hopefully kept the worst of the rain out. It certainly has reduced the wind noise from that corner!

Thank you for all you work in improving the MGB GT.

I have this Sparkomatic SR 312F Radio/Cass I am guessing from the 1980's. 

The roof is very disappointing the original lasted 45 years and in May 2016 I had a new one fitted that is already in the same state as the original after all its years.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Six-cylinder said:

Thank you for all you work in improving the MGB GT.

I have this Sparkomatic SR 312F Radio/Cass I am guessing from the 1980's. 

The roof is very disappointing the original lasted 45 years and in May 2016 I had a new one fitted that is already in the same state as the original after all its years.

That head unit should look far more at home in there I think.  I do need to have another glance back there as I just noticed there are four speakers in the car (or rather two aftermarket ones in the boot plus two grills beside the rear seats - may or may not be anything actually behind them) but only saw wiring for two when I connected things up.  Will double check that.

That is poor showing on the roof.  I knew it was a relatively modern replacement but wouldn't have thought for a second it had only been on there six years given how it's shrunk.  That really is shockingly poor.  Especially given this car spends a lot of its life in good conditions under cover.  

At least patching up the split at the one corner should stop anywhere near as much weather being able to pour straight in.

[chadders]

Regarding the non working rev counter, mine needs a sharp tap on the glass to work and has done for 30+ years since it replaced the original. 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

Regarding the non working rev counter, mine needs a sharp tap on the glass to work and has done for 30+ years since it replaced the original. 

Tried that!  It doesn't seem to respond in any way to percussive maintenance.

[High Jetter]

17 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

The overall Invacar FAQ page which goes along with it though is mostly done.  You can see that over here if you're interested.  Will be a couple of minor alterations to be made there, but unless I (or someone else) think of anything worthwhile to add there that page will largely be left be.

I've just read through that with my proofreading mindset engaged and can find nothing of note except, perhaps, an unnecessary 'for' in this sentance:

Even for vehicles where this is zero rated (for example historic vehicles or a disabled driver) still need to go through the process on a yearly basis, even though there's no actual fee to pay in that case.

However, my eyes now hurt after reading that text on a black background. That would put me off reading it, TBH. Just my 2p worth.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

I've just read through that with my proofreading mindset engaged and can find nothing of note except, perhaps, an unnecessary 'for' in this sentance:

Even for vehicles where this is zero rated (for example historic vehicles or a disabled driver) still need to go through the process on a yearly basis, even though there's no actual fee to pay in that case.

However, my eyes now hurt after reading that text on a black background. That would put me off reading it, TBH. Just my 2p worth.

Cheers for that.  I didn't even really think about it at the time.  I just grabbed one of the standard pallete colours that wasn't normal text - green is usually reserved for hyperlinks.

Will change it to something slightly less painful to read - probably a light grey - to make it a bit less eye wrenching.

I know the white on black is divisive as it stands - one day I may actually learn how CSS works and give people an option of a light and dark theme... though at my usual rate of progress that will probably happen somewhere around April 2063.

I think it was 2002 I originally put that template together!

[High Jetter]

Actually it wasn't the green as much as the black background that puts me off. Always has done, I'm afraid.