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

[Zelandeth]

The A/C pulley removal kit finally turned up today. 

Getting the old one off was pretty easy with the right equipment.

 

Testing the electromagnet showed it to be healthy, so there was little reason to disturb it.  Especially as I couldn't get to the circlip with the pliers in my toolkit.

The outer part of the clutch was utterly shot as you can see above, but the pulley section wasn't all that much better.

It had to come off either way as the bearing was distinctly grumbly and had quite a bit of detectable play.

Getting the new pulley on was awkward but nothing special.  Until I came to get the circlip in.  The pliers I have are too chunky...and the tips are sufficiently rounded off (the pliers are about 40 years old) that they barely hold the circlip in place.  I gave up after it had attempted to ping off into oblivion for the fifth time.  I'll get a new pair of circlip pliers then give it another try.  Once that's done I've just got the wonderful fun game of getting the belts on again.  Got to pull all of them off because the air conditioning one is right at the back of the stack.  Yay.  I get to get covered in oil again.  I am looking forward to putting an end to the oil leaks.

Dug the Invacar out of the garage properly.  It's really easy to forget how small a car it is when you haven't had it out the garage in a while.

She is also utterly filthy.

Nice to see her out in the daylight properly again.

The Invacar was taken round the block a few times to see if everything was behaving, all signs were good even if the brakes were a bit wooden for the first few minutes which wasn't really unexpected.  Made a point of chucking her into the last couple of roundabouts and doing a couple of emergency stops.  The wheel bolts were then checked again and they were still properly tightened.

We ventured just a little further from home to get some fuel and made it back home without incident.

Had a look and am glad to report that it seems that replacing the copper washer on the sump plug has sorted the oil leak it seems.

Really needs a damn good clean though.

The interior was in a right state too, nothing a quick attack with the vacuum cleaner couldn't help with though.

I really need to get the kit in to give the seat a wet clean though.  It's got quite a lot of dust ingrained in it.

Van carpet needs the same really... really need to just buy a wet/dry vacuum cleaner.

[Mrs6C]

How about bringing TPA over to the FoD this weekend? We could get the three Model 70s together, then...

[Zelandeth]

32 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

How about bringing TPA over to the FoD this weekend? We could get the three Model 70s together, then...

Hmm...not a bad thought.  She was still half grey last time they were all there wasn't she...

I'm honestly torn about which car to bring! 

I ran out of time today but I definitely need to get a few more miles of testing done over the weekend.  Completely aside from the wheel bolts I don't like she hadn't turned a wheel since September...and had only done a handful of miles since I had the whole drive system apart.

Had forgotten how much fun she is to drive though.

[LightBulbFun]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

The A/C pulley removal kit finally turned up today. 

Getting the old one off was pretty easy with the right equipment.

 

Testing the electromagnet showed it to be healthy, so there was little reason to disturb it.  Especially as I couldn't get to the circlip with the pliers in my toolkit.

The outer part of the clutch was utterly shot as you can see above, but the pulley section wasn't all that much better.

It had to come off either way as the bearing was distinctly grumbly and had quite a bit of detectable play.

Getting the new pulley on was awkward but nothing special.  Until I came to get the circlip in.  The pliers I have are too chunky...and the tips are sufficiently rounded off (the pliers are about 40 years old) that they barely hold the circlip in place.  I gave up after it had attempted to ping off into oblivion for the fifth time.  I'll get a new pair of circlip pliers then give it another try.  Once that's done I've just got the wonderful fun game of getting the belts on again.  Got to pull all of them off because the air conditioning one is right at the back of the stack.  Yay.  I get to get covered in oil again.  I am looking forward to putting an end to the oil leaks.

Dug the Invacar out of the garage properly.  It's really easy to forget how small a car it is when you haven't had it out the garage in a while.

She is also utterly filthy.

Nice to see her out in the daylight properly again.

The Invacar was taken round the block a few times to see if everything was behaving, all signs were good even if the brakes were a bit wooden for the first few minutes which wasn't really unexpected.  Made a point of chucking her into the last couple of roundabouts and doing a couple of emergency stops.  The wheel bolts were then checked again and they were still properly tightened.

We ventured just a little further from home to get some fuel and made it back home without incident.

Had a look and am glad to report that it seems that replacing the copper washer on the sump plug has sorted the oil leak it seems.

Really needs a damn good clean though.

The interior was in a right state too, nothing a quick attack with the vacuum cleaner couldn't help with though.

I really need to get the kit in to give the seat a wet clean though.  It's got quite a lot of dust ingrained in it.

Van carpet needs the same really... really need to just buy a wet/dry vacuum cleaner.

oh yay! very happy to see TPA is out and about once more and is not trying to turn herself into a Greeves Motorcycle! (although that would more be @BlankFrank Invacar going by XWC's DVLA page LOL)

 

9 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

How about bringing TPA over to the FoD this weekend? We could get the three Model 70s together, then...

yeah that would be awesome!  (and also make me even more grumpy that I cant make it LOL)

maybe finally get them all in a line now that REV is not snapping her throttle cable, for a game of Autoshite football finally  (that is the Model 70's on the side of the pitch watching Autoshitters play football, not actually playing football with Model 70's  and a giant inflatable ball!)

and im sure @beko1987 and co would be happy* to valet TPA for you  

[bobdisk]

Where is FoD ? I might try for Sunday if its not too far.

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

Where is FoD ? I might try for Sunday if its not too far.

if your near heathrow you wouldn't be able to swing by Hackney East London and pick me up and take me there and back would you?  

[Eyersey1234]

2 hours ago, bobdisk said:

Where is FoD ? I might try for Sunday if its not too far.

Near Milton Keynes 

[Zelandeth]

I did a bit of further testing this afternoon with both wheels jacked up I ran TPA up to an indicated 70mph and held it for a little while (jacked under the suspension arms to keep the ride at the normal level so the CV joints weren't overstressed).  Aside from kicking up a huge cloud of dust no drama to report.

I had hoped to get out for a bit of actual road testing done today but I just didn't have time in the end.

Did get a bit more engine bay tidying done after dinner though.  Redone the flaky paint on the top cowling, rerouted the fuel line more sensibly and convinced a few bits of wiring to sit more tidily.

Fuel line was particularly relevant given the way it was sitting before meant the filter was always under strain which I didn't like.  Should be better now.

[LightBulbFun]

50 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I did a bit of further testing this afternoon with both wheels jacked up I ran TPA up to an indicated 70mph

so how big was the ensuing wheely then?  

(the whole "how do you launch a Model 70" thing goes back to Stuart mentioning in passing that the early Model 70's had so much rear weight bias that apparently you could pop a slight wheely if you launched one hard enough, but then came the question of how do you launch one! I assume he just meant accelerate as quickly as possible in this case)

 

on a more serious note, I noticed while reading your post on TPA's recent trip out on the retro rides forums you mentioned getting the new hub when it arrives drilled out to 4x100 

I figured its worth mentioning that the Model 70 is actually 4x4 inch (tho probably worth measuring to be extra safe!), I made the mistake of thinking 4x4 inch and 4x100Mm where the same/interchangeable but someone pointed out that 4 inches is 101.6Mm and that does make a difference from what I have been told/read

just figured id mention as with something like this I rather be safe and state the obvious then sorry!

 

 

[Zelandeth]

Well the actual numbers will be immaterial anyway - the brake drum and wheel will be accompanying the hub to the machinist and the instruction will be "Make this attach to that."

Will get that updated later.

[bobdisk]

MK is a bit far for a last min trip, and a decent time there.  (LB, PMed you)

[Zelandeth]

I really need to hurry up and get the grid laid down over the lawn out the front of our place so I can actually use it for temporary parking when needed...The current automotive Tetris needed to get the Invacar out (when there's basically no on-street parking available around us due to the school) takes the best part of half an hour and is a right faff.  Just being able to shuffle everything to the left by one space will make things FAR less of a pain.

Nevertheless...after 40 minutes of messing around - made even more annoying when a parent arrived for the school and parked across the drive (again) - we got TPA out, and we went out to run some errands.  Have a couple of random "Model 70 in the wild" photos as you might have seen prior to 2003.

One of these things is not like the others...

Ever wanted to make a Suzuki Swift look absolutely massive?

I'd forgotten how much fun this car was to blast around in.

I do think that I need to have a look for a proper Girling brake master cylinder though, the one I've currently got (I couldn't find the correct type at a sensible price when I originally looked so a random supposedly compatible kit-car one was used (albeit with good feedback...I wasn't relying on random unproven Chinese tat for brakes!)...but I'm willing to spend a bit more now that I know the car is essentially sound rather than a garage-bound money pit.  She pulls up perfectly square, but the brakes really do require a darn good shove, especially for the last 10mph or so (I imagine as you lose the self-servoing effect from the drums as the speed reduces).  I think it's something you'll probably get used to over time as well, but it would just make the car a bit less hard work to drive I think.  I also know that the shoes used are all old-stock and probably still need to bed in to the drums, so they may well get better with use anyway.

Today we ended up covering just under twenty miles.  Including a lot of bumbling around housing estates and basically driving between points A and B via Q, Z, D and 42.  This was quite deliberate as I am still treating this as a shakedown period for the hub (amongst the rest of the car given how long it is since the was last out properly...and not forgetting that the only decent journey covered yet was the trip to and from the Festival of the Unexceptional last year!).

Really need to get that dash pod wired up.  Though before I do that I need to figure out what adaptors I need to fit the oil pressure gauge...and probably get a better suited temperature gauge (the type favoured by VW enthusiasts which clamps under the head of a spark plug). 

Something I am really happy to see is how clean the oil is now staying.  The first couple of changes turned pretty grubby after only a couple of miles.  This looks a bit happier I think it's fair to say.

No more visible leakage either, even despite one higher speed run today, and I'm sure that the oil was properly up to temperature.

I have to note though that the Halfords VHT silver paint doesn't seem to have been quite up to the temperature that Invacar exhausts run at!

Granted I didn't really do much in the way of cleaning before I painted it...If my compressor was working I'd hit it with the soda blaster, but a flap disc on the grinder might have to suffice.  Though I'm not worrying about that just now, she's not exactly going to be in mainstream service when the roads are covered in salt...and when this exhaust fails it will be getting remade in stainless anyway.

I need to get those wires for the number plate light cable tied out of the way too - though they're not actually quite as close to the exhaust as the camera angle makes it look.

When I got back (twice actually as I did the errand runs in two stages), the wheel bolts were checked and were still properly up to torque.

Once I was done with everything I made a quick run out to my usual car park photo spot to grab a few shots to celebrate TPA being back in a running state.  Yes the body is still rough as hell, yes she's still filthy, but still makes me smile.

At the very least one of these might do for a more up to date image for @LightBulbFun's Model 70 Survivor list for TPA.

Aside from anything else, the front end looks far better I think now that the black rubber surrounds for the indicators are visible again rather than painted over.  Likewise the new number plates look so much better.

To conclude, observations from today:

[] Windscreen wiper works surprisingly well.  I expected the dirt cheap chrome thing from eBay to be useless.  It does skip a bit at the parking end and I'm not sure how well it would fare at 70mph, but it seems to work a lot better than I expected.

[] Windscreen how appears to be water tight as tested by the random downpour today.  Likewise the nearside door.  Offside still needs to be rebuilt and leaks like a sieve.

[] Wheel seems to be staying attached.  Yay!  I will still change the hub once the new one arrives and is machined etc though obviously.  In the meantime it will be getting checked regularly.

[] Brakes require a decent shove.  Not sure how much of that is "they're just like that" though.  My shot at driving TWC was sufficiently brief that I really can't recall how the brakes were.

[] CVT belt needs adjustment I think.  There's always been a bit of judder on moving off in this car, but it seems to have got worse recently.  I think the pulley change I did was before we'd found the "pulleys must be x distance apart" note in the service manual too, so that will be the first thing I try.  This is an old stock belt stored in probably not the best conditions though, so that may be a factor.

[] Actually being able to turn the heater off makes driving on a sunny day far less uncomfortable.

Will try to make a point of getting her used a bit over the next few days and report back on any findings.

[LightBulbFun]

oh yay! makes me very happy to see TPA return to the road once more  

confusing the hell out of the rest of MK  will be fun to see if she gets papped by anyone else and ends up on the facebooks 

I think the body work looks bloody well done all things considered given what you have to work with etc! I have seen far worse!

59 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

[] CVT belt needs adjustment I think.  There's always been a bit of judder on moving off in this car, but it seems to have got worse recently.  I think the pulley change I did was before we'd found the "pulleys must be x distance apart" note in the service manual too, so that will be the first thing I try.  This is an old stock belt stored in probably not the best conditions though, so that may be a factor.

hmm thats interesting as I thought you had adjusted the distance appropriately and indeed checking back you have indeed done so  

(from the same post I got TPAs now replaced survivors list photo from actually ) 

On 8/28/2019 at 8:09 PM, Zelandeth said:

Before heading out though I made a point of properly setting the CVT belt tension - spacing the pulley centres 10.25" apart as per the manual (I'll probably find I've remembered the value wrong now) as I was pretty certain the belt was too loose when I was last out.  It was very snatchy moving off from a standstill and sounded like it was flapping around a lot at speed.

im sure theres probably scope for some fine tweaking based in individual belt characteristics 

it always did strike me as interesting/odd how they gave a specific measurement rather then just "make sure belt is tensioned to such and such degree" but from what I understand the ministry had a lot of issues with approved repairs not knowing what they where doing with Model 70s (as they where vastly different from anything that came before them) so they probably figured out and put 10.25 inches as a good catch all distance

in-fact Im pretty sure thats why a workshop manual For the Model 70 exists/was made in the first place because the Model 70 was so different then what everyone was used to at that point, the manual is actually dated to 1972 (and features a KPA-K/KPK-K (early 1972) car, in its photos) so its from a good few months to a year or so after the Model 70 actually entered service (depending if you count the 20 Pre production user trial cars or not!)

and no workshop manual has actually ever been found for anything Pre Model 70 sadly

 

59 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I do think that I need to have a look for a proper Girling brake master cylinder though, the one I've currently got (I couldn't find the correct type at a sensible price when I originally looked so a random supposedly compatible kit-car one was used (albeit with good feedback...I wasn't relying on random unproven Chinese tat for brakes!)

AFAIK and as you probably know the Girling brake master cylinder is thankfully an off the shelf part, easily supplied by the likes of the company @Angrydicky works for etc  

(but if push comes to shove (hah) there are 2 new brake master cylinders in the spares stash according to my list if needed  )

 

now if only I could get REV on the road like that!, I really want to get her home before winter as I dont like the prospect of her spending another winter in a field like that and I "just" need her to be road worthy to take her home

but im just not sure about the logistics of it all...

[Zelandeth]

You remember what work I've done better than I do!

The belt is probably the weakest link in the CVT equation just now.  It's the best looking of the four or five I've got but even so I've no guarantee it's not been used - and the conditions a lot of my spares had historically been stored in weren't great.  It's not the end of the world, just annoying.  Especially when trying to reverse parallel park on a steep hill!

I'd not be too worried about REV decaying in your absence.  The FoD is pretty open so there's plenty of airflow to help keep corrosion from getting too rampant, and you're well aware of how resilient these cars are in many ways.  Fuel systems are probably the biggest headache (especially given that everything is now ethanol blended), but that's obviously not an issue just now as there's no fuel in it.  I think you'll find that once the electrical system has had the once over and you've cleaned and filled with grease every one of those Lucas bullet connectors that the odd scratchy switch will be the worst electrical headache that a couple of months of disuse will cause.  Sitting there for a few years, yeah maybe things could become a major problem...but one more winter, not the end of the world.  Just a shame this year has been such a write off in so many ways.

Need to dig out the master cylinder details again and have a search for one (or a close relation...seem to recall finding one last time that was identical but had a remote reservoir that was half the price...if that's still the case I'll buy a reservoir from Lada for the £2 they are and just have a remote reservoir!).  I don't like the metal reservoir on this as it means there's no way to do a visual fluid level check without opening it.  Said reservoir is tiny too.

[LightBulbFun]

29 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

he FoD is pretty open so there's plenty of airflow to help keep corrosion from getting too rampant, and you're well aware of how resilient these cars are in many ways. 

yeah I know but I still get worried with her parked on/in the long grass like that

29 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Fuel systems are probably the biggest headache (especially given that everything is now ethanol blended), but that's obviously not an issue just now as there's no fuel in it.  I think you'll find that once the electrical system has had the once over and you've cleaned and filled with grease every one of those Lucas bullet connectors that the odd scratchy switch will be the worst electrical headache that a couple of months of disuse will cause.

yeah im not worried about that so much, its all fairly simple stuff, that im pretty sure I could sort myself in the dead end if needed (assuming the fuel tank is not made of swiss cheese, running a single fuel line is pretty easy stuff AFAIK)

 

but as mentioned in my post on my thread etc, the main thing im currently worried about is her brakes, seeing how much a PITA a simple new tyre job turned out to be 

I have no idea how im going to sort her brakes, as I doubt anyones going to want to help do brake work on her, not where she currently is at least 

[Zelandeth]

On 7/14/2020 at 3:52 AM, LightBulbFun said:

but as mentioned in my post on my thread etc, the main thing im currently worried about is her brakes, seeing how much a PITA a simple new tyre job turned out to be 

I have no idea how im going to sort her brakes, as I doubt anyones going to want to help do brake work on her, not where she currently is at least 

To be honest, a lot of the headaches there from what I recall hearing said were a combination of A: Trying to jack up an Invacar that's got three flat tyres.  B: Trying to remove multiple wheels at a time.  If the tyres already have air in them and you're doing it one wheel at a time things should be less of a headache.  Other than the major swearing involved in learning where the blasted shoe return springs are meant to sit the first time around and the stupid retaining bolts for the master cylinder I can't recall any of the work on the brakes being particularly difficult.  Annoying things like a bleed nipple shearing off and pipe connections that someone had already mangled, but that's par for the course on anything this age.

At least she's got a full compliment of working wheels now, so moving the car to either a hard standing or at least a bit of mowed grass is far less of a headache than it was before.

 

Had another couple of errands to run today, picking up items for a family friend who's still in full lockdown due to a medical condition.  Was an obvious choice for transport wasn't there.

I realised following a question from someone elsewhere that I didn't have a single bit of video showing how things were running since the new old stock CVT pulleys had been fitted.  Figured this was as good time to sort that out as any.

Unfortunately the captured footage really has highlighted that I need to get a better camera mount.  The one I've got now is miles better than the previous one but still isn't great.  It's also really limiting in the Invacar as the shape of it means that the only places I can fix it are to the windscreen or the side windows.  I usually used to favour fixing it to the rear windscreen looking over my shoulder.  Out the windscreen means you can't see any interior details, but attaching it to the side window (as I did today) results in absolutely *diabolical* levels of camera shake.  This is because the doors themselves move around quite a bit in the apertures while driving, the top frame flexes quite a bit itself, and then as the window glass is quite a loose fit in the channels that also wobbles around...so even with the anti shake turned on the footage is dire. 

I'm honestly almost embarrassed to be sharing this given how poor the quality is, but I know at least a couple of people will be curious to compare this to my earlier test runs so here you go.

As you can see a gremlin most likely due to the car having sat around for more than half a year did rear its head towards the end of the journey today when a bit of gunk seems to have found its way into the idle jet in the carb (this is the first tank of E5 as well) and she decided to cut out at a junction.  Immediately restarted and I just kept the idle up a bit with the throttle until the end of the drive.  She was still absolutely fine under load, just spitting and sneezing when asked to idle.

Of course the moment I pulled into my driveway and went to investigate...

...She decided to idle absolutely perfectly.

This carb was cleaned out prior to my getting the bigger ultrasonic cleaner so there's quite likely still a few bits of crud in some of the passages.  I might well pull it off if this fault reappears and give it another clean now that I have better suited equipment to the job.

I have noticed one issue that I'll need to keep an eye on and look into a bit closer.  We do appear to have a gearbox oil leak. 

It's not actually left any visible drips where I've parked at any point (ignore the ground, this is the Jag's parking space), but a visual inspection shows that there's clearly quite a bit of fresh oil on the 'box. 

This leak isn't a surprise really given that when I got the car the gearbox was absolutely encased in about a 3/4" thick coating of congealed mud and EP90 that took me the best part of an hour to chisel off.  However where it was coming from was completely unclear and a possible suspect was immediately obvious in that three out of the four nuts holding the top cover on were only finger tight.  There's also no evidence of a gasket under said cover.  I can't tell looking at it from under the car if this is coming out through the offside driveshaft seal or running down from the top cover, I'll need to pull the access panel behind the seat out to take a closer look.  If it's just coming from the top cover I'll make up a proper gasket for it and hope that solves the issue.  If it's the driveshaft seal I'll need to get myself some parts ordered.  At least it should be possible to change that without needing to dismantle too much, even if access will be a bit of a pain.

I'll really need to try to re-shoot that video once I can figure out a better way to hold the camera in place.  The little action camera I've got has a far superior mounting bracket, however the microphone in that can't handle the noise levels and starts clipping the audio horribly the moment you open the throttle...and I don't think I have the patience for trying to edit together video and audio from two devices for a quick video like this.  I'll need to double check if it has any provision for using an external microphone...If it does that's an obvious solution, even if the wide angle lens isn't really ideal.

[LightBulbFun]

happy to see TPA is running well  (gunge in the carb aside! REV did the exact same thing at the FoD last year but after I hopped in and drove her up and down the paddock idle came back  )

really enjoyed the video of her running around I found the quality perfectly acceptable  (perhaps a res higher then 720p would have been nice but thats about it ) 

it makes me very happy to see another Model 70 on the road once more, hopefully more will join in time! (currently the only Model 70's I know of in regular on road use is TPA621M and MPH759P)

 

as someone learning to drive I find it really interesting to observe what everyone is doing on the road during these videos

(and dont worry im just observing not taking notes!)

quite envious of your nice simple roundabouts, unlike the confusing 3/4 lane many exit monsters I have to navigate during my lessons! (did notice someone looks to have been getting pulled over at 12 minutes in LOL)

 

I did notice TPA's speedo needle seems to be jumping around a bit at lower speeds I dont think it did that before, so I have to wonder if her speedo cable came loose like TWC's during TWCs trip to good wood perhaps worth checking?

[Zelandeth]

...I hadn't even noticed that was in 720p.  Have only viewed it on my phone.  It appears that when I had a system software upgrade install itself the other day it's reset all the video encoding options back to the defaults.  It *should* have been 1080p/60fps!

I figure 4K is probably overkill and it takes long enough to process as it is.

That's really annoying.  Just looked at it on my PC and yeah, it looks absolutely crap.

Oh well, now I've got two reasons to reshoot that video!

The speedometer has always tended to wander around a bit below 20mph.  It's rock steady above it though.  That sort of behaviour is pretty standard for this type of instrument.  I'll be in the area to try to track down the gearbox oil leak though so will check it then.  One thing it probably would benefit from would be some grease on the connection between the cable and the speedometer head.  I seem to recall that being quite dry when I had it out to remove all the dessicated spiders that were in between the lens nd the face.

I think it's her way of just telling me she doesn't want to do 20 or 30mph.  She really does seem happier blatting along at 50-60 than bumbling along at 30.

[PhilA]

The brakes should self-servo all the way to a halt and remain there so long as you a) don't release brake pressure or b) stop then roll backwards a bit.

If they fail to grab they may just be coated in crud and need cleaning and/or need the shoes de-glazing.

Excessively grabby brakes (nice and progressive until you reach that 40.012225% mark and it locks solid) at low speed are usually either badly adjusted or the shoes are contaminated with oils.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

I think they've improved a bit just with use anyway, but I may well just throw an actually new set of shoes on at some point rather than one that's been rolling around in a damp, mouldy box of bits for goodness only knows how many decades.  Don't get me wrong, the brakes do their job well enough, just feels like they could be better - though it's so long since I drove any other cars with non-servo brakes that may just be my perception. 

Major step towards having the hub properly sorted has been achieved.

Just waiting for a reply from a couple of companies regarding getting it drilled to suit the Invacar then we should be well on the way to permanently resolving that issue.

[PhilA]

Self-servo drums are remarkably good. Forwards. 

The Chieftain doesn't need much of a push to stop it, the brakes bite in and one they have grabbed, all you do is modulate that bite with pedal pressure. It honestly doesn't need booster assistance. You can easily lock the wheels up just by pushing with toes against the pedal. I can't see an invalid carriage being any different, not like they would want to have brakes that were inefficient. If they make you think "ooeeerr" as you slow down yes. They need adjustment or cleaning.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

I think they've improved a bit just with use anyway, but I may well just throw an actually new set of shoes on at some point rather than one that's been rolling around in a damp, mouldy box of bits for goodness only knows how many decades.  Don't get me wrong, the brakes do their job well enough, just feels like they could be better - though it's so long since I drove any other cars with non-servo brakes that may just be my perception. 

Major step towards having the hub properly sorted has been achieved.

Just waiting for a reply from a couple of companies regarding getting it drilled to suit the Invacar then we should be well on the way to permanently resolving that issue.

oh nice! for reference where exactly did ya get it from/what its PN etc?

I hope it is suitable for replacing the damaged hub   it looks pretty damn similar so thats good!

 

as a side note the brake shoes are shared with the Triumph spitfire rear brakes so im sure theres plenty of options out there (see page 142  of my thread for more discussion on the brake shoes ) 

 

[mat_the_cat]

21 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

...I hadn't even noticed that was in 720p.  Have only viewed it on my phone.  It appears that when I had a system software upgrade install itself the other day it's reset all the video encoding options back to the defaults.  It *should* have been 1080p/60fps!

I figure 4K is probably overkill and it takes long enough to process as it is.

It's already too high a resolution for me to watch without buffering! 4k and it would probably take less time for me to drive down and watch in real life.

[LightBulbFun]

40 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

It's already too high a resolution for me to watch without buffering! 4k and it would probably take less time for me to drive down and watch in real life.

just manually set it to 144p for that 56K dial up connection then 

on a more serious note

id say it is worth recording/uploading in 4K because even if you dont have a 4K screen, when you set it to 4K youtube also streams it in a higher bitrate compared to lower res settings so you get better quality even on lower rez screens

assuming of course you have the internet connection and CPU grunt to support 4K playback (or have a video card/mobile device new enough to decode it in hardware)

besides, my main computer monitor is a 2560x1440P 27 inch monster, I have to justify it somehow! 

[Zelandeth]

Got a couple of things done yesterday afternoon but hit an energy wall quite early on in the evening so wasn't feeling up to writing it up.

First up was taking a closer look at the front apron on the van.  This is one of the things which has contributed to it looking the most rough ever since I got the thing.  I'd never really gone poking it on account of half expecting it to wind up full of holes if I did.  The panel isn't massively expensive so I'd always sort of planned on just replacing it at some point.  I figured I should take a closer look though and see if it can be tarted up a bit in the meantime at least.  I was really surprised that the two huge great blisters on both ends were covering solid metal...I'd expected this to disintegrate in these areas the moment I touched it.

Whole thing is pretty rough, but astonishingly solid.

Fair enough...As it's reasonably solid I'll look to pull it off at some point shortly so I can hit it with the wire wheel on the grinder to get most of it off, then drown it with Vactan (5 litres of which finally arrived yesterday) before repainting.  The back of it is covered in flaky rust and peeling paint as well and there's no way I can get access to all of it with the panel in situ.  Will give me a good opportunity to get at the inside of the wings as well.

The bonnet skin is toast though...the vinyls are basically all that's holding the corners together. 

Again, the whole panel is available...it's £150 though and given the expenses coming up I kinda feel that I can't really justify that expense right now - especially when getting it properly painted and the vinyls remade will probably near enough triple that cost.  I suspect the short term basing out the loose crud, slathering the whole area with Vactan, fixing the voids left with some fibreglass and painting it will the the order of the day.

That's probably a job for next week I think.

As shown on the most recent video of TPA out and about, some gunk appears to have found its way into the idle jet of the carb.  I was struggling for enthusiasm for pulling the carb to bits, so instead set about tidying up some wiring.  There was a large amount of generally untamed spaghetti under the front service hatch which had been bugging me for ages, so I set about wrangling it into some semblance of order.

I seriously need to just hit the whole car with the pressure washer to get rid of the paint and filler dust.  Secondly (now I know it can be removed), I need to pull that splash guard out and batter it into something more resembling the correct shape with a large hammer.

Few things in the back were given the same treatment.

The wiring to the tail lights used to wobble around a lot as it wasn't actually attached to the body/chassis anywhere.  I could see that being a recipe for broken wires down the line.

While working on this I spotted that the HT lead for the right hand cylinder was touching the back of the crank pulley.  While it hadn't worn through yet, it had made a nice dent in the insulation.  I decided that rerouting the HT lead to prevent this being a future problem seemed prudent.

Something which has been bugging me for a while is that all of the fuel filters from the motor factors around here have the opaque (or at least mostly opaque) cases.  I've never been a fan of these as you really can't see what condition they're in unless they are REALLY clogged.  I far prefer using filters with a clear body.  To this end I bought a little stock of clear filters online.

One of these has been fitted to TPA this afternoon, another will get going into the heater fuel supply in the van next time I'm doing work in the locker the heater lives in.

Given this is a brand new fuel tank, brand new fuel hose  from end to end and a fuel pump that was absolutely spotless internally I'll be curious to see how long it takes for any grime to become visible in there.

Today I pulled the top off the carb and blew through all the jets.  Unfortunately she still isn't happy, so I just need to accept that I need to pull the carb off and clean it properly.  Hardly the end of the world but undeniably annoying given I only just got the car mobile again!

 

[Zelandeth]

I do wonder if long term there might be a better carb solution available for the Invacar than the Weber 32 ICS10 that's on there and for which spares availability isn't great.  Sure I remember reading somewhere that a quick and easy way to release a bit of extra grunt from the 500cc engine was to drop the carb from the 600cc engine on.  I can't remember where I saw that though and a very quick look today didn't immediately answer the question of what carb was used on that.

Just "thinking out loud" really as I'd really like to give my carb a full overhaul, new seals etc, however it doesn't look like a carb service kit for this one exists.  Luckily I have found one (albeit slightly wrinkled, so currently sandwiched between two sheets of wood) top carb gasket in my garage at least.  That's a very important bit actually.  Not just to stop fuel sloshing out of the float bowl, but fuel is drawn through a couple of the jets by manifold vacuum.  So if there's a leak there you'll pull air in rather than fuel, the results of which are predictably sub optimal.

Don't imagine bike carbs would be a good solution as they're usually going to be optimised for peaky power delivery rather than low to mid range torque which is the order of the business with this engine, for all they're what you'd tend to look towards for an engine of this size.

The suspension bush I've been waiting for the Xantia finally appears to have arrived in the country, so she should be getting put back to the garage for the MOT in the next week or so...however she looked like something from the Lost World having been parked under a tree for several weeks. Was filthy enough before that (I was honestly embarrassed to have presented the car for an MOT in that state) so a wash was the first order of business today.

Better.  Though the clearcoat peel is getting a lot worse.

I'm tempted to have a play around with some cans of that plastic coating aerosol (the name of which escapes me right now).  The paint is in such a state there's nothing to stop me having a bit of fun really is there?

What colour do you reckon?

[LightBulbFun]

13 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I do wonder if long term there might be a better carb solution available for the Invacar than the Weber 32 ICS10 that's on there and for which spares availability isn't great.  Sure I remember reading somewhere that a quick and easy way to release a bit of extra grunt from the 500cc engine was to drop the carb from the 600cc engine on.  I can't remember where I saw that though and a very quick look today didn't immediately answer the question of what carb was used on that.

there was no 600cc version of the Steyr puch engine they went straight from 493cc to 643cc or 660cc (funnily enough the only place I have seen 600cc mentioned is on old online pages about the Invacar but the Model 70 was only  ever fitted with a 493cc engine from the factory) just figured id clear this one up as its a common (false) urban myth I keep seeing and during parts hunting like this, searching for parts for an engine that never existed would be a good way to waste a whole heap of time I imagine!

but the carb for the 650cc engine was *drum roll please* the 32ICS9... (ok that ones of a few different carbs used but from what I understand the webber is the best, certainly compared to something like a Solex!)

sadly im not 100% what the different number means exactly, but from what I have been kindly told on here, its generally thought to be a revision number, so the Model 70 has the best version of the Webber 32ICS  , I guess any difference in performance between a 493cc and 650cc carb would just be down to jetting? (from what little info there is out there the 32ICS10 was unique to the Model 70, but that kind of makes sense as by the mid 1970s the Model 70 was the only Steyr puch flat twin engined vehicle still in production!)

the really interesting thing is the workshop manual mentions the carb as being a 32ICS3, but the engine section is directly from steyr puch and I dont think its actually Model 70 specific

but I am really curious what the carbs on the earliest Model 70's where, perhaps @dollywobbler could check the carb on TWC for me? (IIRC its from her original engine right? and speaking of her original engine I still need the number from it for my research please  )

and although I have seen it mentioned in said manual, I have never actually seen a Model 70 with a Solex carb

13 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Just "thinking out loud" really as I'd really like to give my carb a full overhaul, new seals etc, however it doesn't look like a carb service kit for this one exists.  Luckily I have found one (albeit slightly wrinkled, so currently sandwiched between two sheets of wood) top carb gasket in my garage at least.  That's a very important bit actually.  Not just to stop fuel sloshing out of the float bowl, but fuel is drawn through a couple of the jets by manifold vacuum.  So if there's a leak there you'll pull air in rather than fuel, the results of which are predictably sub optimal.

have you spoke to these chaps? they could probably sort you out with a carb kit  https://www.haflingertechnik.com/

failing them, im almost positive these guys could sort you out https://www.prokschi.at/ (I have spoken to the I think the son of the guy who runs the place, as they do have a Model 70 in their collection  that they even took racing! https://www.seiberer.at/cms/ergebnisse2004.html?&kl=12&sid=419 bet that was a fun case of "one of those aint like the rest"  )

they also have a youtube channel with several interesting videos that are well worth watching IHMO (the english subtitles work well enough!) https://www.youtube.com/c/PROKSCHIat/videos

they are the kind of people who could build you a 762cc engine with forced induction for good measure LOL (they do all things Steyr puch flat twin)

[Zelandeth]

That's why we ask things here, because there's someone on here who knows everything worth knowing about these cars and engines...

Had it in my head that the larger engines used a larger carb.  Not sure where I'd picked that up from.

[LightBulbFun]

17 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Had it in my head that the larger engines used a larger carb.  Not sure where I'd picked that up from.

heres a forum thread I found a good while back that talks about the difference between the ICS9 and ICS10 (and if im reading things correctly there where 2 versions of the ICS10 one with smaller jets then other)

https://puch500forum.eokc.at/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1151

and heres a good quick 3 minute video on the various carbs used on steyr puch engined cars 

you are correct that some of the larger engine cars used a larger carb but only the 660cc performance engines the 40 horse power 650TRII's and such like if I understand things correctly

so your not completely losing it dont worry!  

[Zelandeth]

Ah ha!  The 40 in the Solex carb is probably where I'd got it (the 32 in the Weber is the Venturi size).