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

[Zelandeth]

Huge box from Tayna Batteries arrived earlier.

That people, is how to pack a battery.

A good 3" of padding on all sides, foam wrap and double bagged inside that lot.  Took me the best part of ten minutes to dig my way into it.

State of charge indicator shows charged.

I note that the "remove label for battery maintenance" text has been removed from the label since my previous one was made.

About an hour later another box arrived with this in it.

It seems to work at least, plus side it's got a manual adjustment for output voltage which means I can bump it up a little from 12V closer to what you'd expect to see from a charged 12V battery.

Not exactly hard to figure out how to hook it up.

Not exactly the last word in quality in the fit and finish department, but I can't see anything that rings any alarm bells.  For £22 delivered I've zero complaints.

I'll probably make some standoffs for it to attach to so it doesn't struggle for airflow - the fan draws in from the bottom and sides so if I mount it flush overheating might be an issue.  Not that it will generally be running anywhere close to it's rated capacity for any period.  I'm also going to be mounting it to a vertical surface (probably rear wall of the "electrical locker" as I refer to the rear of the space under the sofa/bed) so if we ever have any issues with water ingress through the outer hatch just forward of that area it should be kept well and truly clear of it.  Just seems like a sensible precaution...the old school transformer and linear regulator setup would be rather more forgiving of damp than a switch mode supply like this.

Need to engage my brain a bit with regards to wiring things up, but pretty sure I can get an automatic switchover sorted out with a handful of components and some brainpower...quite possibly a single double pole relay could do it... Absolutely sure I can do all the switching on the 12V side...mains can just be left "on" to everything permanently (I'll incorporate a switch anyway for service purposes, but you get the idea).

There are a handful of things I'd like to tidy up while I'm doing this work too - not least getting rid of the last few inline glass type fuse holders.  There are a couple of redundant wires that can be binned, one or two to be rerouted actually under the floor, and I'd like to beef up the wire that's actually used for the split charge charging line...it just *looks* weedy to me for the application.

Oh, and a bunch of grounds which run *aaaaaaaall* of the way back to the battery.  Zip tied to the goddamned chassis rail.  Which being a van/truck chassis has a plethora of bolt holes, mounting eyes etc all over the place...they're getting abbreviated and terminated to the bloody chassis and a beefy earth strap just run to the leisure battery - which should reduce the spaghetti in the leisure battery box by about 80% in one shot.  I imagine it should eliminate a lot of the voltage sag we see when the water pump runs a bunch too.  Said water pump may get totally rewired anyway... there's something not quite right with it on the control panel (it's causes backfeed into some of the indicator lights and way more volt drop than I'd like...so the switch may be repurposed to run a remote relay).

The inverter is getting tweaked too.  It's only really there as insurance against needing mains in an emergency, and is the sort of thing you can run a battery down with in a hurry - so I want to hook it up to a potential relay same as the setup for the fridge so it can only run when the engine is running and the charging system is live (the idle speed is slightly too low for it to wake up until you blip the throttle).

I actually quite enjoy stuff like this - not so much while doing it, but standing back and looking at the end result and actually seeing an improvement or how much better something works is worth it.

I'm seriously considering just taking a few days away before the weather gets too horrendous to go have a wander around up north.  Aside from one overnight trip to collect the S123 I've literally not been more than 40 miles from home since November 2019 and am going *sliiiiightly* insane.  Got a couple of friends who can loan me a parking spot and mains extension lead which is all I need with the van, otherwise I can be totally self sufficient.  Insulation does just fine even in sub zero temps with the heater, I've got both hot and cold running water, TV, fridge, comfy bed, oven, hob, perfectly usable bathroom, shower, eight USB charging sockets around the bed, and shedloads of storage.  What more do you need for a few days away?

Edited October 26, 2021 by Zelandeth
Correcting autocorrect

[Saabnut]

If you are coming this far north, I can offer parking

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, Saabnut said:

If you are coming this far north, I can offer parking

I will be, but still kinda scoping out if the idea has legs at this point.  May all be academic at the end of the day if we end up back in lockdown in the next week or two anyway.

[Zelandeth]

Oil dropped from the S123.  Pretty much the same as previously seen as I more or less expected.

Looks like the filter has picked up a bit more detritus, but I was expecting that following the head work.

New filter element in.

Really do appreciate this being a car it's dead easy to do an oil and filter change on without spilling a drop.

I'll leave this in there for a couple of hundred miles and then do another check - hopefully we'll see at least a reduction in the amount of glitter then.

Mileage so far for those who are still keeping a pool going on how far I get before the engine grenades itself and snaps the crankshaft in half.

[Zelandeth]

Definitely on my list of "things you don't want to discover don't work half way through a journey" are windscreen wipers.  Which I discovered today when I went to wash the windscreen on the S123 were indeed completely dead.

As they worked fine yesterday my first suspect was a dodgy contact in the fusebox.  Which on these cars is on the bulkhead in the engine compartment behind this little plastic cover.

There's a knack to getting it in and out of the space around the brake servo but you soon learn it.

I've plenty of prior experience with this type of fuse as Lada used them right up to the late 90s, and about 95% of electrical issues on those can usually be resolved by wiggling fuses.  This seems rather less temperamental as the fuse holders are of several orders of magnitude better quality (brass rather than rusty pressed steel for one thing!), but they can still be a bit twitchy.  Sure enough as soon as I touched the relevant fuse the wipers sprang to life.  To took that one out, cleaned the contacts and the fuse and put it back in.  Hopefully problem solved.

Picked up a replacement for the mangled throttle return spring and a new PAS belt from the dealer today (previously picked up belt for that is the wrong size), and have also ordered a new heater control valve - meant to order that with the last batch but totally forgot.  Dealer was a tenner cheaper than eBay there too.

This afternoon I finally got the opportunity to do something about the state of the poor BX which had been turning green for the last couple of months thanks to the proximity to the tree in our front garden.  If I get my way it's going in the next round of landscaping work.

Given how lovely this thing looks (and I never thought I'd say that about a beige car) it's downright sad to see it looking so neglected.

Yuck.

This doesn't just lift straight off either, it's horrible sticky stuff.  Has left black residue in quite a few areas which will probably need polishing off.

Definitely still has some water ingress issues.

I'll need to make sure any drainage bungs in the floor are removed before winter properly arrives.

One of the leaks I have found...the rear windscreen...and not in the way you might expect.

I'm not sure if the seal has shrunk or if it's had a replacement rear screen and either the wrong seal was used or the glass is undersize.  That lighter line you can see to the right of the seal itself, that's the edge of the glass.  It's not captive under the lip of the seal for a good 50% of the width of the screen at the top.  I've never seen this issue before save for on 60s and 70s cars where the seals have obviously perished or shrunk.  Seal *looks* fine...just isn't tight up against the glass.  You can clearly see the run marks from where water has got last it during the wash.

Still quite grubby in a few areas but hopefully she's looking tidier enough that the neighbors will stop complaining.  They actively have been too... seriously folks, don't move into suburbia, it is hell.  I'd not wish this nonsense on my worst enemy.

I had planned to was the van too (which is always something of a mammoth undertaking) as it had been turning distinctly green in a few places...however then this happened.

That is the coupler which should have the hosepipe on one end and be fastened to the pump itself in the pressure washer at the other.  It has detached from the pump.

When it did this it did so with quite some force, launching itself a good portion of the way across the driveway.  It was still attached to the hose, and now no pump body...so was essentially a free running hose with just enough of a restriction to ensure a decent jet of water was being sprayed.  Of course it then took off like a racing snake across the garden, taking me a good thirty seconds to catch it, while getting utterly drenched (it was between me and the tap to cut off the water supply).  A poor innocent passer by also got thoroughly soaked during this event unfolding...I don't think I've ever been quite so embarrassed in my whole life.  Thankfully they saw the funny side of it, which I count as hugely lucky.

Unfortunately the *reason* it launched out of the front of the pressure washer is that a chunk has broken off the pump casting itself, so there's no tab there any more to hold the clip which should hold that plastic part into the metal body.  Of course it's the metal (aluminium) bit that has failed rather than the easily replaced plastic part.

That is now two identical pressure washers I've had where the metal pump casting has failed...first one cracked, dumped the gearbox oil and eventually catastrophically failed as a result of loss of lubricant.  This one has had a large chunk of it just break off without any obvious cause.  I mean the second one was a freebie replacement from a forum member, but it's disappointing that there seems to be a definite quality control issue there with that part.  It also means I can't cobble together one working one out of the two as it's the same part which has failed on both of them.  I wouldn't be so surprised if this was some generic cheapie or a Karcher, but I tend to expect better of Nilfisk.

So now I once again am in the market for a new pressure washer.

At least I managed to knock the worst of it off the cab before this happened I guess...

At least I can see out of it again now!    Finishing off the cab with the hose wasn't too bad, but it won't touch the ingrained stuff and I can barely even get the spray to reach the level of the roof...so it'll have to wait till to pressure washer is replaced.

Shame I'm not friendly with the local bus company or I'd see if I could stick it through the bus wash for a contribution to the petty cash tin.

 

 

[Zelandeth]

Looks like I'm going to be making a run up north towards the end of this week.

Before then I'd like to give the van a quick check over, it's due an oil change, and I really would like to finish installing the better speakers in the cab so I can actually *hear* that the stereo is even turned on above the wind noise and exhaust.

Can I remember where I put them?  Uuuuh... That'll be a no then.

Oh...and if I could stop the bloody handbrake cable buzzing above 2500rpm that would be great too.

[beko1987]

Dang that is poor for the nilfisk, I'd gravitated towards them as they had a metal pump. Guess that's not the weak point! 

I'll put a book on mum's nilfisk now then 🤣 Sorry it didn't last. You can buy body only machines on ebay but idk if that's going to be worth it now... Could just put the money towards the decent washer you've been promising yourself 

[Zelandeth]

7 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Dang that is poor for the nilfisk, I'd gravitated towards them as they had a metal pump. Guess that's not the weak point! 

I'll put a book on mum's nilfisk now then 🤣 Sorry it didn't last. You can buy body only machines on ebay but idk if that's going to be worth it now... Could just put the money towards the decent washer you've been promising yourself 

Still really appreciate you sending it my way, not a failure either of us could have seen coming.

Not something which would see huge use over the winter anyway so I'll probably just use the local jetwash and old school hose pipe until the spring then have a think about it. 

 

After a search only covering about 80% of the house I eventually managed to track down both of the speakers I was looking for earlier.

I've had these for what feels like forever, but they've never actually been properly fitted to a vehicle.  They came as part of a package deal including a sub and amp (which were what I was after) and all the stuff that went with it.  Really was a case of a whole car audio system in a box, just add your own head unit - though the shop did have a variant with that too.

The sub and amp are actually still in regular use as part of one of the stereo systems in the house, having spent about a month ever in a car.

These should help out quite a bit compared to the little 10cm ones in the dash.

There aren't a huge amount of places I can really put them without adding in unsightly surface mount boxes, the obvious spot being in the forward facing sides of the seating/lockers immediately behind the cab.  I'm loathe to go cutting holes in things...but improving audio is high enough on my list I'm willing to do it.  If some future custodian really wanted to undo it, at the end of the day it's just two panels of plywood laminate they'd need to replace.

Nearside is easy enough.

Offside I realised was going to be trickier on account of me already having installed hardware in that area in the form of the inverter outlet and switch.

Right in the way.

New plan...move the outlet and stick the speaker here.

That bundle of wires you can see there is on my list of bodges I inherited with the van I hopefully will get rid of shortly.  I'm planning to vastly simplify the DC wiring when I add in the new power supply and charger setup.  Currently every circuit has its own feed all the way back to the battery, instead I'm going to install a beefy cable to a distribution point in the locker right next to the power supply, where it can then split off to the relevant circuits.  The current setup is just a mess, for all I have removed quite a lot of bodgery compared to when I first got the van.

I hadn't been in the nearside locker for a while...like in a couple of years.  As evidenced by there still being a mains fan heater in there... I've had working heating since sometime in 2019!

It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has ever been unfortunate enough to witness me undertaking anything resembling carpentry that things pretty much immediately descended into farce.  Eventually we got to this point.

You are not getting to see what's behind the panel.  It is seriously ugly.

The other side first required me to remove the socket, but followed a similar theme.

Likewise, you're not getting to see the carpentry.  Especially as a fair portion of it had to be done by hand as I couldn't get in there with the jigsaw.

I'll reinstall the socket shortly, probably directly under the switch.

I may go back and add a cover of some sort behind the speakers, partly as protection for them and partly to hide my absolutely hideous carpentry.

Will be curious to see how this sounds - has to be an improvement over the tiny dash mounted ones though.   No I've not discounted the idea of adding a sub in the future.  That's a job for the future though.  Would really like to get some better ones actually in the cab too, though that's difficult without actually cutting holes in metalwork which I'd rather not do.

Last job for the day was to give the new power supply a test run.  With everything on and the heater in preheat mode and the leisure battery disconnected the line voltage stayed rock steady at the voltage I set it to.

So looks like that will do the job just fine.  The fan speed is load dependent, but even at full chat (well, the loudest I've heard it anyway), it's just a distant bit of white noise once the locker is closed.  Definitely won't be objectionable for the intended use.

The little round pin socket, before folks ask is a DC outlet.  Only thing I generally use it for is the water transfer pump for filling the onboard tank from the portable one.  Though as part of the electrical improvements I might install a cigarette lighter style outlet in the locker so I don't need to run in and out of the van during the filling operation.

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by Zelandeth
Added additional photograph.

[rusty998]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:57 PM, Zelandeth said:

One of the leaks I have found...the rear windscreen...and not in the way you might expect.

I'm not sure if the seal has shrunk or if it's had a replacement rear screen and either the wrong seal was used or the glass is undersize.  That lighter line you can see to the right of the seal itself, that's the edge of the glass.  It's not captive under the lip of the seal for a good 50% of the width of the screen at the top.  I've never seen this issue before save for on 60s and 70s cars where the seals have obviously perished or shrunk.  Seal *looks* fine...just isn't tight up against the glass.  You can clearly see the run marks from where water has got last it during the wash.

I would think that the rear screen has as you said been replaced at some point, the trim's on these can get caught in the bond as the screen is being fitted, the screen apeture is quite small which doesn't leave a lot of room for the bond to sit on, you might be able to seal it in situ but only once it's all really dry but you could also be waisting your time to if it's loose across the top, obviously the best route would be to remove and refit by a screen fitter who understands what he's working with

[Zelandeth]

Not much to show for today photo wise, as a lot of what was going on was time consuming but with little visible output.

The inverter outlet socket has been reinstated as I had suggested right under the switch.

I started out with the intention of tidying up some of the wiring...but that's been revised to "I'm ripping out all this sodding spaghetti and starting over."

It's just a mess.  Nothing is labelled, a red wire can be +12V DC, ground or 230V AC mains I've discovered.  Which is just "special" and makes tracing anything an absolute nightmare.  A lot of that looks to be original, but the routing doesn't even vaguely follow the factory diagrams.

For now I've disconnected the leisure battery entirely aside from the split charge line as I know where that goes and that it works properly.  I tracked down the main live for the accommodation systems (which was already separated out, presumably due to a failure of the original wire), and the feed for the heating system.  These are all now fed directly from the new DC power supply - having cut down the cable length has vastly reduced the voltage drop we were seeing.  The upshot of this is that the lights no longer flicker when the heater fuel pump runs.  I'm optimising this setup more for "running on mains" as honestly that's what we're far, far more likely to be doing 90% of the time. 

Wiring is a point-to-point mess in the locker at the moment as I have nowhere near enough wire on hand to do the level of rework I have in mind, so I've gone for "works fine for now" over presentable, and will rip the whole lot out and redo it properly and tidily in a couple of weeks time when I've got a bit more time available and the supplies I need have arrived.

A lot of time today was simply spent figuring out what was doing where, which conductors were what, what was duplication, and then ripping things out.  Still have a couple of mystery cables, but I need to go crawl around under the van to figure out where they go.

Tomorrow's main tasks are to get the speakers wired up, change the oil, grease the kingpins, check fluids and make sure all the lights are working.  Tuesday afternoon after I'm done lugging the dogs around will be time for a thorough end-to-end clean of the interior and pitching what looks like about a quarter tonne of miscellaneous tools, supplies, empty boxes, screws etc from various projects that have accumulated in every nook, cranny, drawer or locker in the van over the last couple of years.  I'll probably leave the leisure battery here too, I won't be using it on this trip (especially as I just ripped all the wiring to it out!) and there's no point in lugging weight along during a several hundred mile trip that I don't need to.

[Zelandeth]

Today's main mission was to get the speakers I had just fitted wired in.  I was not looking forward to this job as chasing wiring through the cab of the van is a royal pain as there's not much that comes off to hide it behind.

Helpfully I discovered that the speaker wiring for the original rear speakers in the ceiling of the living area runs through a grommet in the floor under the fuse box, across the rear cab chassis support and then up into the bodywork.

This meant I could reuse the bit between there and the head unit - I just snipped the wire under the van and dropped a cable tail down from the lockers right next to the speakers.  Easy.

I've left the original wiring in place as my intention is to wire those up to the monitor in the back, giving us a self contained entertainment setup without the need for standalone speakers or anything.

While crawling around I discovered that the reversing light switch (which doesn't work) is actually external to the gearbox, attached to the back of the shift linkage.

I'll need to have a poke around at that and see if it can be adjusted/repaired or if it needs replacing.  Could even just be old grease that's dried up over time.

While crawling around I had a hunt for something which has been bugging the heck out of me since the day I bought the van - an extremely annoying rattly buzz (or buzzy rattle) which appears whenever the engine gets anywhere towards the top end of the rev band.  Which equates to any road speed above about 55mph.

Finally tracked down the bugger.

Precisely what to *do* with this information I'm not 100% certain.

For now I've stuffed a couple of cable ties in the hole to make it a bit smaller and slathered it in grease.

We'll see if that's made any difference whatsoever tomorrow.

I'll need to see if I can find a parts diagram to see if there should be something else there - it feels like there should have been a rubber boot or something to prevent this being an issue - as it seems like it will always have done this.  I know mechanical refinement was never really the top of the priority list for a vehicle like this, but a noise as maddening as this surely never would have been considered normal.

EDIT: Thinking about it, what I'll probably do is find a small spring and hook it around the return cable (the middle cable there is attached to a spring and is what pulls the handbrake off) and that hole in the chassis cross member above it.  Game will be finding one that's strong enough to stop it bouncing around but not too strong to interfere with the smooth operating of the mechanism.

The speaker installation by the way appears to have been a success.  While not stellar it's at least half decent now.  Decent stereo separation, good chunk of bass and no real distortion - especially as the heavy lifting is now being done by the 6x9s rather than the tiny little speakers in the dash.

Last job before I downed tools was tweaking the offside wiper arm a little as I noted last time I was out in the rain that it was fouling the side of the windscreen.

Dropped it down by a couple of splines on the spindle and hopefully that will do it.

Oh, and I managed to fill three full size rubbish bags with bits and pieces between the nooks, crannies, drawers, lockers and pocket dimensions.

[Zelandeth]

This has been a very welcome escape from the concrete jungle.

This is the traditional spot where I usually snap a photo of my cars up here. Lada and Jag have been the only recent ones missed...and the Jag will be living less than 20 miles from this spot in the future so I'll be arranging that to happen one way or another! The Invacar I still really want to do the round country run in so would obviously happen then. Merc S123...well if the engine doesn't grenade itself in the next couple of months we'll see. Kinda sad I never got the Lada there, just never had the opportunity...being 450 plus change miles from my current driveway means it's not a trip I can just make on a whim! 

Definitely isn't enjoying the cheap supermarket fuel. I'm sure the actual difference is absolutely tiny, but in a 2.8t brick with 78bhp to work with and the aerodynamic profile of a block of flats it doesn't take much to be noticeable. Dealing with a bit of a headwind on the first half of my drive out yesterday and I was barely managing to hold 50 in top gear, even the slightest of gradients necessitating a drop to fourth. The return trip, bounded along at 60 in top gear without a care in the world, only a couple of the steeper hills requiring me to drop gears. You always notice a headwind in this, but the difference usually isn't so dramatic unless it's really strong.  Guess it shows how much on the knife edge of the performance being acceptable the van is.  Lesson learned, will stick to my usual diet of the stuff with the fancier additives which help boost the cetane rating a bit.

Been lovely to actually rediscover peace and quiet again.

Back down south tomorrow though...which I'm not looking forward to.

 

[Daviemck2006]

Wheres the junction where you snap your cars at Zel? I'm guessing it's on or very near to the B9001 somewhere. I have probably driven past it loads of times.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Zelandeth]

17 hours ago, Daviemck2006 said:

Wheres the junction where you snap your cars at Zel? I'm guessing it's on or very near to the B9001 somewhere. I have probably driven past it loads of times.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk
 

Correct.  It's the first junction on the road from the Auchterless crossroads towards Fisherford/Colpy etc, B992 if I remember right.

[Daviemck2006]

That's the way I used to go to Aberdeen in the car, every time when I lived in Portsoy. Of course when I was at stagecoach driving the 305 I was constantly in and out the A947 so the B9001 to Inverurie made a change.

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[Zelandeth]

Back at the house now.  Well, was yesterday evening but was knackered so no update.

Filling back up with Shell's V-Power diesel made an absolutely immediate difference - and not in the head either.  Foot to the board's before was just about holding an indicated 60, fourth being needed the moment you hit any sort of incline.  That increased to definitely no more than 70, only needing to drop a gear for longer hills.

It really felt like you were only getting about 80% throttle, which in something like this makes a big difference.

Definitely still feels a bit more lethargic than usual though.  Admittedly it was bloody windy on the whole trip and I've got a bit of weight on board, but it's noticeable.

Van is due a service anyway, so we'll see if that makes any odds, would not be the first time I've seen a fuel filter change improve diesel performance.  Can make sure there isn't something funny going on with the throttle cable too meaning we're not actually getting full travel.

[Zelandeth]

One issue I noted while out last week with the van was that the freshwater pump had sprung a slight leak.  The leak was tiny, however it meant it kept losing prime. 

A bit of digging found a seal kit for £30 odd but couldn't actually find any in stock...or for literally £7 more...

Whole pump, delivered in less than 24 hours.

Made in Mexico rather than China which these days is a bit of a surprise.

Also picked this up from Mercedes.

Which is a heater control valve for the S123.  I noticed while doing the head work that it was weeping a tiny amount from the driver's side temperature control spindle when it was moved.  Only a tiny leak, but that's the sort of thing which I always reckon it's smart to do *before* it becomes a big problem.  Still quite surprised to see dual zone heater controls on a car this old.  Especially one without A/C even having been specified.

[Zelandeth]

Old leaky water pump... I'd forgotten the pipework in here was still such a mess.

Old and new next to each other to make sure everything matched up.  Yep, aside from the label they seem to be identical.

The silicone sealant oozing out between the two halves of the pump casting suggests to me that someone has had a shot at sealing this up before. 

New one in, correct way up this time round.

Needs a bit of tidying but is working fine... reckon the old one had been struggling for a while as this now primes several orders of magnitude faster than the old one and provides a much smoother flow.

The strainer is bugging me...the threads are such that I can't position it in a useful direction.

[Zelandeth]

Only a quick ten second job done along with the usual check over.

New air filter in.  Old one had been in there for a few years (still not up for replacement by mileage) but as it was starting to look grubby I figured it was time to change it.

The whole housing being part of the filter means it's a bit more expensive to replace - but means changing the filter is literally a ten second job.  One spring clip then the whole thing just pulls off.

Have oil and fuel filters waiting to on too, will be getting those done at the weekend.

The old water pump had definitely been got at with silicone and instant gasket.

Old pump was rather full of gunk, evidenced here by what was built up on the pressure switch.

Eww.  Kind of glad I pulled it now...definitely think the system will be getting rather more aggressively treated this year as I don't want that stuff growing in there.

[Zelandeth]

Went to start the Jag earlier...battery flat as a proverbial pancake.

Fine. 

Right, that's it... alternator is coming off tomorrow.

The new keeper moves house...well, *moved* house today, so she needs to be made ready for a 450 mile drive asap.  Oh, and the MOT needs to be done too...which is always nerve wracking on a 35 year old Jaguar!

We've still not 100% decided if she will be driven up or transported yet, it's largely going to be down to availability of time for a delivery/collection mission really.  I don't doubt the car would make it just fine, only real mechanical gremlin I've had has been the alternator.  Plenty of issues/faults, but that's the only real one which has actually been a threat to forward progress (so far).

[Zelandeth]

Right...time to quit putting it off, the alternator needs sorting on the Jag.

By the standards of this car it's not actually too bad to get to.

Though of course that oil cooler line set is in just the wrong place so makes things a bit awkward.

Said oil cooler lines will also make actually removing it from the car interesting as I don't think the alternator will fit past them.

Step one obviously was to disconnect the battery.

Doing any work on this system without that would be a recipe for disaster.

Not all that many connections to it.

Those two little screws required a bit of digging around to find a suitable tool for, I believe they're a BA size.

Back cover off meant I could get a better look, albeit via the camera as my view was of course obstructed by the aforementioned oil lines.

I ended up removing the brushes complete with the regulator (rectangular silver box above centre frame).  Had to cut one wire as I couldn't for love nor money get this bolt to come out.  That black wire is attached to a ring terminal.  If I can't get it out I'll solder and heat shrink the new parts on to it.

There we go.

Compared to photos of new brush sets for the Lucas A115 alternator the brushes don't look *massively* worn, but there's a good 5mm difference between the two which can't be good I reckon.

Equally suspiciously there are signs in the potting compound that at least some of the magic smoke has escaped.

A new regulator isn't expensive and it would be silly not to replace it given the situation.  Especially as the alternator has been obviously weak as long as I've had the car.

Guess we'll see when it goes back together again!  *If* I can figure out how to reassemble it!

 

[Zelandeth]

This afternoon's job.  Sorting this.

More specifically, sorting the illumination in that switchgear.  None of it was working. 

The fact that they were all out seemed quite odd to me, was really hoping I didn't have a wiring issue to contend with.

Reason I hadn't done anything with this before was that I couldn't figure out how to get the panel out.  A bit of experimentation revealed that you had to remove the switches before the panel would come out.  Otherwise it wouldn't clear the dash above it.

Upon removal of the first switch the penny immediately dropped as to why the lighting in all these switches was out.

You figured out what these are yet?

Yep, fibre optic bundles.  All of these switches are illuminated from a single lamp via fibre optics...clever in that it saves a heap of wiring...but does mean you lose the lot when the lamp fails.

Thankfully the illuminator unit is just about accessible through this panel behind the left hand temperature control.  New lamp in there and we had light from the fibres.

What followed then was about an hour of trying to cram the heater controls back into the right place.  The mounting bracket for them is smashed into about fifteen pieces so nothing lines up making getting things together like herding cats.  I really need to sort the bracket for the heater controls, but before I can do that I need to figure how the heck to get the centre console out, and it's not self explanatory.  It's clearly not properly bolted in as the whole thing wobbles too.  One for a future date.

Success on the sorting of the illumination though.

Far nicer to have all the dash lighting working properly.

Glad it was just a duff lamp rather than a really annoying wiring fault or something like that.

 

 

[Zelandeth]

New brushes and voltage regulator for the Jag's alternator arrived today.

Comparison of the new and old brushes shows there definitely was a fair bit of wear to them.

Now getting this thing back together is definitely up there on the "Jobs I never want to even entertain the idea of ever doing again" list.  What an absolute faff.  Trying to get the brushes, the springs, the insulation pad and the screws all back in place - especially bearing in mind that the forward brush retaining screw *also* secures the regulator (which wouldn't just sit in place) was a massive headache.  It would have been fiddly and annoying and tried my patience on the bench, but trying to do it with the alternator in situ was a massive pain. 

Eventually though we got there.

There's one missing securing screw for the plastic cover because I dropped it.  I'll have a dig around tomorrow with the car moved and see if I can find it.  If not I'll just have to find another one that's roughly the right size.

Have to admit I was slightly nervous when I hooked the battery up given how much of this job I did blind.  However after a couple of minutes nothing was on fire or trying to be on fire...so I upgraded to turning the ignition on.

Ignition light works...that's a good sign as it means we must have continuity through the brushes.

After starting up we initially had a bit of erratic behaviour but this wasn't entirely unexpected as the brushes will obviously need to bed in against the commutator.  After a 20-30 minute run round in circles though things looked healthy enough.  So I was brave enough to go get some fuel...which at the current prices stings a bit in this car.

That's from around 1/4 a tank.  Nowhere close to warning light territory.  Ouch.  That's probably good for around 200 miles on a good day!

After that trip we were showing this on the gauge, at idle with the headlights on.

Which actually equates to...

... because the gauge reads a little low.  Previously this would definitely have dropped off charge under these circumstances, requiring the revs to be held up over 3000rpm for a couple of tens of seconds for the charging system to wake up again.

It still struggles at idle with the headlights on, rear screen heater and heater blower on high...but given it's only a 55A alternator I think that's not necessarily a concern, as soon as the revs are brought up to 1200rpm or so it comes up to an acceptable range.  Not sure what the rated running current is, but I'm pretty sure that *each* blower motor is fused at 30A.  So assuming around 20A flat out, there's a fair old chunk of the rated output on the heater blower alone!

I need to make a few errand runs tomorrow so will take the Jag for that and keep an eye on the performance of the charging system.  Fingers crossed this stays fixed as I REALLY don't want to have to mess with the alternator again!

[Zelandeth]

Been using the Jag for most errands etc over the last couple of days, so far so good.

I've always known the Jag was pretty quick, and in some ways deceptively so.  I've long wondered how it compares to modern traffic though, especially given how often I seem to have to brake to avoid catching up too quickly.  So I actually timed a couple of 0-60 runs this afternoon when traffic was cooperatively absent so I could just boot it out of a layby.  I was not expecting the results.  5.6 seconds, slightly uphill with a fair chunk of heavy crap in the boot and about 3/4 a tank of fuel.

That's pretty damned respectable in 2021...must have been insane back when the car was new.

Tomorrow's main job is to clear up the mess I made getting the van ready for use a couple of weeks ago so I can get TPA out again.  Weather looks not bad this week so would be nice to get her out for a run again.

[Zelandeth]

Made a point of unearthing TPA in the garage today and clearing up enough of the mess that I can actually walk through the garage again.

Last time I didn't drive TPA for a couple of weeks she played up a bit, refusing to idle properly and generally behaving as though there was crud in the carb idle circuit.  This sorted itself after about an hour of driving.  Sure enough when started up today she behaved exactly the same.

This was the point at which I spotted a very likely cause of issues - that the carb was visibly wobbling independently of the engine.  Both mounting nuts were barely finger tight.

With them nipped up (which is sodding fiddly), she started and idled absolutely perfectly.  So I'd obviously had a huge vacuum leak from the carb base.  I'll stick a couple of shakeproof washers under the retaining nuts next time I get a chance.

Goodness only knows how long that's been causing a leak to some degree... curious to see if there's any noticeable change to how the car runs in general now.  Hopefully get her out for a drive in the next couple of days so we can find out.

[Zelandeth]

Having unearthed TPA yesterday it was time to take her out for a run today.  This was intended to be a quick half hour run, but we ended up being out all afternoon, getting home well after dark.

After a bit of a race against the sunset I did manage to get to my usual photo spot as the sun was setting.

So has the carb being loose been an issue for a while?  Yes I think it has actually.  While outright straight line power is much as it always has been the engine feels much more responsive now than I can remember.  Especially that point between where the clutch has just fully engaged and you get to 30 or so.

Need to see about sorting the window catches and replacing the missing weather stripping between the sliding sections as it was a bit chilly at a couple of points today!

Also really should have a look at the voltage regulator and see if I can bring the cut in point down a bit.  It only really comes properly on charge on the open road, which is far more of an issue when you've got the headlights on.  I may well try to pick up a second one as I've heard from a few people that setting these regulators up is a bit of a dark art...and I don't want to break it!

[LightBulbFun]

very nice to see TPA out and about as always  and im glad to hear your having a bit more success with the fettling of things then I am!

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Also really should have a look at the voltage regulator and see if I can bring the cut in point down a bit.  It only really comes properly on charge on the open road, which is far more of an issue when you've got the headlights on.  I may well try to pick up a second one as I've heard from a few people that setting these regulators up is a bit of a dark art...and I don't want to break it!

I was going to say when I saw the pictures (first on twitter) I thought to myself going by those lights, if its not the camera doing it then TPA's battery is about as charged* as REV's battery is as of current! 

it will be interesting to see how you get on with the regulator  

 

especially as REV has developed her own charging issues (which is a bit annoying as she did not have any charging issues back at the FoD!)

im hoping its just a case of bad grounds/dirty connections, however its a bit of a weird issue, in that the light will go out at as you increase engine speed from idle as you would expect, but as you continued to increase engine speed, the charging light comes back on at about half brightness and flickery, which is a bit weird! I have never seen a charging light come back on as you increase engine speed before (I still need to get a DMM on the scene and check what its actually doing system voltage wise mind)

I do know from briefly scanning through electrical part of the Steyr Puch engine workshop manual that these regulator boxes do contain a couple set of points I wonder if some of those have gotten fowled up...

[bobdisk]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

especially as REV has developed her own charging issues (which is a bit annoying as she did not have any charging issues back at the FoD!)

im hoping its just a case of bad grounds/dirty connections, however its a bit of a weird issue, in that the light will go out at as you increase engine speed from idle as you would expect, but as you continued to increase engine speed, the charging light comes back on at about half brightness and flickery, which is a bit weird! I have never seen a charging light come back on as you increase engine speed before (I still need to get a DMM on the scene and check what its actually doing system voltage wise mind)

I do know from briefly scanning through electrical part of the Steyr Puch engine workshop manual that these regulator boxes do contain a couple set of points I wonder if some of those have gotten fowled up...

@LightBulbFunThere is a large relay somewhere to operate the starter side of the Dynastart. It could be the contacts in that. I did notice a voltage regulator in REV positioned on the chassis near the rear offside light. It looks like the Bosch one on the Daf. That has a conventional starter and dynamo, so they are probably different types, but in the same box.  Those are places to look for REVs charging problems.  @Zelandeth Has TPA got something similar?  It will have something like white paint as a sealer on top over the cover screw, covering the points. Before trying to adjust it, try cleaning the points and see if the voltage on load improves. It will have the Bosch type number on the cover. I had an awful job with the Dafs regulator but got it right in the end.  

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, bobdisk said:

@LightBulbFunThere is a large relay somewhere to operate the starter side of the Dynastart. It could be the contacts in that.

ah the starter solenoid on REV is fine thankfully  just her battery does not have enough charge to turn over the dynastart/engine hence the Clunk is all you get without a jump pack! since the solenoid engages but the voltage just drops off a cliff,

although I will say on a separate note id like to check her Dynastart brushes just for peace of mind since they have never been checked in my ownership I dont think

3 hours ago, bobdisk said:

I did notice a voltage regulator in REV positioned on the chassis near the rear offside light. It looks like the Bosch one on the Daf. That has a conventional starter and dynamo, so they are probably different types, but in the same box.  Those are places to look for REVs charging problems.  @Zelandeth Has TPA got something similar?  It will have something like white paint as a sealer on top over the cover screw, covering the points. Before trying to adjust it, try cleaning the points and see if the voltage on load improves. It will have the Bosch type number on the cover. I had an awful job with the Dafs regulator but got it right in the end.  

indeed its a Bosch 20A voltage regulator, you can still get em new even  https://prokschi.at/bosch-regler-20a-14v.html

not cheap mind! one of the interesting things on that web page is it says its a solid state unit made to look like the old mechanical units, but question I wonder is how do you adjust it?

or is it being a solid state unit, able to provide charging/14V over a wider engine rev range without needing to adjust anything? 

[dollywobbler]

TWC also notably doesn't really charge until I'm over 40mph. I do find myself switching down to sidelights in queues...