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

[Zelandeth]

Once again, bloody home owner nonsense like painting fences and the like are most of the day...however I managed to get a an hour in in the evening - when the temperature dropped back to something vaguely tolerable.

 

Task no 1 - get the new headlights wired in.

 

Unexciting simple wiring mod needed to suit the H4 lampholder and the fact that the sidelights needed an earth feed running to them (previously grounded through the reflector itself). 20 minute job start to finish.

 

Ten minutes added as I had to mod the basket a little to accommodate the sidelight lampholder.

 

Messy, but it's never going to be seen again! Well...save for when I take it out again to paint it anyhow.

 

 

Sidelights:

 

Dip:

 

Main beam:

 

Couldn't resist giving the trim rings a quick polish...for some reason I can't leave brightwork dirty no matter how much of a lost cause the car is.

 

 

While the headlights might not look 100% period...they work bloody well!

 

Dip:

 

Main:

 

That's just running off the battery (no engine yet!), so it looks like they might actually provide useful illumination.

 

Number plate light is now working too after I eventually, after rummaging through approximately 350 bulbs in the back of the garage, found the right one for it.

 

...just need to make somewhere for it to live now.

 

The windscreen washer pump in TPA was seized solid. I'd fitted a NOS one to KPL though, so ten minute job to swap them over. I did discover that the hole in the dash in TPA was too small as the pumps were different. Bloody Invacars...why can't stuff just be the same? Anyhow...ten seconds with the drill sorted that.

 

Much better.

 

I swapped the fluid reservoir over too as TPA had a drinks bottle rather than the correct Lucas one, and it had some unidentified substance growing in it.

 

I'll transfer the washer jet over too at some point. Simply because of cosmetic choice. TPA currently has a very 80s looking rubber jet, rather than a nice chromed one like KPL. Chrome stuff just fits the design of the car far better.

 

Figuring that I'd fixed one thing on the dash and may as well continue the theme - this was also sorted.

 

 

Just needed the lampholder contacts cleaned up.

 

Still nothing from the wiper motor...so will probably grab the one off KPL and just swap it over.

 

Just little tasks, but they all count at the end of the day.

[dollywobbler]

This makes me so happy. Great stuff. Even the small stuff is progress.

[Zelandeth]

Not much in the way of photos today as it's not been very visible stuff that's been done.

 

I've mostly been hiding inside all day because it's been too hot. However by 20:00 or so it had become tolerable again.

 

First order of business, start piecing the braking system back together. The front flexible line had been ripped in half goodness only knows when. Luckily I had a nice new one on KPL. Before I got to that though, time to swap over the master cylinder as the one on TPA has been full of water forever most likely (the lid is long gone and the service cover has also been missing). The one from KPL is slightly suspect, but will do at least for moving the car around.

 

In sharp contrast to getting the one off KPL (where I took a grinder to the bolts), they came straight off on TPA. Even though it's still supremely awkward to get a spanner on the back.

 

The cylinder itself looks almost new, and isn't seized...so it may well get pulled apart to see what shape it's in. Could be rebuildable. Likewise the line between it and the front/rear junction has obviously been changed relatively recently as it's copper and has nice shiny unions. They came straight undone without any fuss.

 

Just a matter of pulling the split pin out and disconnecting the pushrod, then reassembly was just reverse of removal. Easy money.

 

Turning my attention to the hose, things weren't *quite* as easy. The union between the rigid line and the Flexi is attached to the mudguard.

 

This is pretty well mangled - quite possibly from the same incident that caused the damage to the front panel, we'll never know. So after a bit of hanging off it with a big pair of pliers and bashing it with a hammer I got it back into something vaguely resembling the right shape. Ish.

 

Annoying is the fact that I didn't take a photo of that before. Not sure if DW has one.

 

While I had the hammer and crow bar out, I decided to have a shot at sorting something else I'd noticed. That the suspension spring wasn't properly seated, but was offset to one side. Sorting this was a simple matter of levering the spring off the seat a little then giving it a belt with a 4lb lump hammer. It settled properly into the right place with a "bong" that shook the whole car.

 

...back to the Flexi hose. While both the hose union at the wheel cylinder and the rigid line cracked off without much protest, the same could not be said for the flexible hose side of the joint above the front wheel. It was utterly disinterested in the idea of being separated from the mud guard.

 

However something occurred to me at that point...that I was absolutely sure that the joint in question was fastened in place on KPL in a totally different way. Looking confirmed...rather than just being bolted to the mudguard, it has a totally separate bracket fastened to the bulkhead frame, sharing the bolt hole with the speedo drive cable bracket.

 

Fine...the original bracket can stay where it is on TPA and we just transfer the whole lot over from KPL. Saved me having to disconnect a few connections too (I took the distribution union to Flexi rigid line too as the one on TPA showed signs of being kinked).

 

I'll probably take the grinder to the original bracket on TPA as it's a bit in the way now and is totally redundant. The whole mudguard may yet be taken out for remedial work yet anyway.

 

It might not look like much, but this picture shows a lot of actually useful progress rather than me just making things tidier.

 

 

 

The reason I stopped at this point was purely that I ran out of daylight, ending up tidying up by light provided by TPA herself.

 

 

Do have to wonder then this courtesy light was last actually used for its intended purpose before today?

 

 

Hopefully get the shoes back in the rear brakes tomorrow, bleed them and see if anything works. The wheel cylinder in the front brake looks brand new...so let's give it a shot.

[vulgalour]

I may have missed it, but is the end goal now to swap the engine out of ex-caravan park trike into ex-dollywobbler trike?  Seems you have enough to make one really good Invacar and plenty of bits left over.

[Zelandeth]

I may have missed it, but is the end goal now to swap the engine out of ex-caravan park trike into ex-dollywobbler trike? Seems you have enough to make one really good Invacar and plenty of bits left over.

Yep, that's the plan. I wasn't going to fully commit to that until I'd actually had a chance to give DW's spares car a look over. It's - despite the cosmetic challenges - in so much better overall shape that it's just the obvious choice.

 

 

I very briefly ventured outside this afternoon with a view to getting the rear brakes rebuilt. There was a nice breeze when I started out, which promptly stopped the moment I got started. My usual aversion to any temperature above a out 20C if doing anything resembling physical work had sweat literally running off me, and I retreated inside once I'd got it back together.

 

 

I also stuck some air in the front tyre...with more than 3.5 psi in, strangely enough the car is far, far easier to roll.

 

Speaking of tyres, I should probably look at actually getting some ordered now that the road is starting to look less like a distant hallucination.

 

Definitely an element of "practice makes perfect" with these brake drums - must have got this off KPL and had it refitted to TPA in about 20 minutes - far cry from the whole evening it took me to get things put together the first time...

[Zelandeth]

Damnit!

 

 

*Grumbles something profane*

[PhilA]

Bleed it by cracking off the union..

 

Erm

 

 

Maybe not, on second thoughts

[Zelandeth]

Well that was annoying.

 

Got the nearside rear brake rebuilt, only for the bleed nipple to sheer the moment I tried to undo it.

 

Cue profanities.

 

While it's a little sticky, I know the cylinder from the front wheel on KPL works - so off it came.

 

 

Now, let's see if the brake pipe will play nice and come off cleanly...oh of course it won't.

 

 

Fine...snipped it off. I've got a load of brake pipe and fittings aplenty, so will make a new one up tomorrow.

 

That drum has been stripped down *again* and the cylinder has been extracted. It's moving freely, so I may have a shot at extracting the remains of the bleed nipple... don't hold out much hope though.

 

So a bit frustrating, but meh, you win some you lose some, such is the way of these things.

[Zelandeth]

After nearly having a heart attack when next door's cat jumped out of the back window and landed next to me when I was picking up bits of brake, I decided to tackle getting the rear window moved over.

 

Can't complain really. Getting the infill strip back in was a royal pain, but it always is without the right tool, especially when the strip is pretty badly perished. Still, got it done.

 

 

 

...and suddenly it starts to seem much more like a car again...not sure why that should make such a difference!

 

Next up I set about getting the door seals glued back in place. They look perfectly serviceable, just the glue has failed. We'll see in a bit if they've stayed stuck, or if I need to get the heavy duty stuff involved.

 

Final afternoon task was to swap the rear view mirror glass over from one of the spares. The mirror housing is actually in astonishingly good nick, so just changed the glass over.

 

[Zelandeth]

So, back to the brakes.

 

Conveniently, I had a section made up that was the perfect length to replace the one I mangled yesterday evening. Think it was originally for one on KPL that I then didn't need to change.

 

So wheel cylinder back in, brake pipe connected, brake drum built back up (I'm getting good at that now - to the crazy extent that I found it actually satisfying the way it just clicked together as expected. Wouldn't have seen that coming with the amount of swearing that accompanied the first drum I tackled...

 

Brake bleeder hooked up (knowing in advance that the bleed nipple on that cylinder worked!), and off we go. Three or four pumps in, I hear an immediately recognisable "psssssssssst" noise of brake fluid hitting glass fibre behind my right shoulder.

 

 

Exactly the same pipe that failed on KPL (just opposite side) when I started reviving it's brakes. No big surprise. Already have new ones ready to swap over.

 

I did have pressure in the system for long enough to confirm that the brake lights do work though.

 

Not having enough time left to start pulling more pipes off I turned my attention to a couple of other minor jobs.

 

I removed the throttle from KPL and transferred that over to TPA. The interior continues to look less like an abandoned example...

 

 

I also had a look at the door alignment issues...and have come to the conclusion that the driver's side door has "issues" to put it simply. Reckon I need to get some decent drills to drill out the screws holding on the top frame to my spares door and see how that fits.

 

 

 

This is despite the front top corner being jammed up against the closure. The passenger side isn't perfect, but looks like it's sortable.

 

The whole skin of the driver's side one has detached from the frame, as such the whole door has about as much structural integrity as a piece of tissue paper.

 

Off to look at another car for most of tomorrow, but I'll try to get some more brake sorting done if I have time.

[dollywobbler]

Those metal plates simply screw to other metal plates inside the skin, that have captive nuts I think. The skin is bonded to the 'frame' of the door.

 

TWC felt a lot more complete once she had a rear window too. Makes a difference!

[Zelandeth]

We'll got very little done today one account of endless bloody traffic jams both to and from a vehicle viewing. I for some reason keep forgetting that it tends to take three times as long to travel any distance down here as it does in rural Scotland.

 

It turned out to be far, far better a prospect than I'd expected. This is both good and bad. Good because "yay vehicle!" but bad because that means I actually want to buy it. That means space needs to be cleared.

 

Originally was thinking the Activa might move on, especially given the fact that I know that long term it's somewhat of a maintenance liability. However that aside, it's such a mind-bendingly competent and practical car that I struggle to justify selling it.

 

Invacar? No...not even got it roadworthy yet, and it's not taking up space anywhere other than in the not-really-big-enough-for-a-car garage anyway.

 

So...Lada? Yep! This new one will tick many of the same classic car driving experience boxes for me, but adds quite a lot of other bonuses as well. Plus it's something I've wanted near as long as the Lada. Also, I've owned it now, have had huge fun doing the injection project, next up would be trying to tidy the few scabby bits of bodywork up...and I do wonder if such a low mileage example maybe deserves a more skilled hand than mine...

 

Haven't 100% decided yet...but I think the Lada may well be available. Don't think for a second that I'll make back anywhere close to what it owes me, but that's not why I do these things.

[Zelandeth]

Decided to have a quick experiment with the paint this evening.

 

The roof is actually generally in good order (unlike the rest of it), just covered in grime. I wanted to see if the black stuff would come off.

 

So, out with the paint renovator and some elbow grease.

 

 

Yep...it will come off. Takes time, but the roof looks like it will actually clean up not too bad.

 

For the sake of curiousity, I decided to see how the rear quarter would look with the grime and oxidisation removed.

 

 

 

Not actually as bad as I expected.

 

The paint is hilariously thin. This isn't even particularly aggressive cutting paste and yet even that has managed to rub through in a couple of places. I reckon a complete repaint will be on the cards. Not that that's really a surprise.

[mrbenn]

I'm deriving a curious amount of pleasure from the fact that this car is going to return to the road, having languished in a field for years then being used as a spares car. Top work!

[Zelandeth]

All right, have made the decision.

 

The Lada is officially up for grabs. I'll get some current photos later on today and put up a proper for sale advert in due course.

 

The new inbound motor will tick many of the same boxes for me, but is something that the rest of the family can actually enjoy too. The fact that the Lada took up a lot of space, essentially just for me to mess about with has always nagged a bit. My other half isn't comfortable driving it, and nobody particularly likes travelling in it other than me. Dog included.

 

The big question really is what it's worth.

 

I paid £3500 for it a couple of years back. With less than a month's ticket on it, barely running, with four mismatched tyres, clutch in desperate need of adjustment, near to no brakes and more electrical gremlins than you could shake a stick at. However it was almost entirely rust free (wing tops excepted - new ones came with it), in a good colour, had 13K on the clock, was immaculate inside, and seemed fundamentally sound despite the above issues.

 

I immediately put a fresh set of tyres on it, dealt with all of the problems and wound up with a decently driving example... especially once I got the fuel injection conversion in and working properly to get rid of the silly electronic carb setup, a project which has probably cost me far closer to a grand in itself than I'd like to think about. Heck, probably more if actually added it up. However it shouldn't need touching again for years now with a bit of luck! Once I fix the throttle linkage anyway - which has been by far the biggest pain in the tail of the whole project. Obviously that will be resolved before sale! Beyond that it could benefit from a few bits of wiring and pipework being tidied up, but there's nothing that actually affects the use of the car there. Engine bay just looks a bit scruffy.

 

Really had no plans to sell it, but this is too good an opportunity for me to pass up.

 

Car is currently on the road, so quite happy to take folks out, provide test drives, video etc. If it's still here by then, it will be at the Festival of the Unexceptional, so you'd be welcome to take a look then. Delivery can probably be arranged too.

 

Being realistic, I'd like to get somewhere around the original £3500 I paid for it - nothing close to the six or seven it probably owes me - though that's obviously negotiable, and I'm more interested in someone enjoying the car than making money. I know it's not cheap though - sadly the days of them being cheap have long gone.

 

It never fails to put a smile on my face, nor on the face of people who see it out and about. To be honest, seeing the reactions of people is probably the best part of owning it.

 

Anyone interested?

[LightBulbFun]

its a shame to see the Lada go im quite fond of such cars, having grown up and am living on a council estate we got/get ALL THE CHOD 

 

I hope its replacement requires a class D Licence to drive 

 

in an ideal world id buy it off you but I have nowhere near the amount your asking for plus the small* issue of not having a drivers licence...

 

I blew my Car* buying budget on buying a bunch of obscure PowerPC CPUs for some projects im doing... *grabs hot air gun*

 

(*you can buy a car for £55 right? )

 

as they say Good luck with the sale

 

(PS your going to have to edit the first post now )

[Zelandeth]

Sadly not something requiring a class D licence, but some of the stuff I've learned playing with stuff that does will prove useful in driving it. Plus it does have 1st gear in the correct location to the left and back like many buses.

 

I'll be sorry to see the Lada go, but nothing stands still and this is too good an opportunity to miss.

[Zelandeth]

I think we can safely say that this fuel tank has seen better days.

 

 

Should be perfectly suitable to serve as a template for manufacture of a new one though.

 

I've also successfully shifted most of the black crud off the roof...

 

 

Finally, have started the very preliminary stages of rebuilding the offside front corner.

 

 

The more I'm thinking about it though, I reckon I'll cut that back out as I've had a far better idea on how to go about it.

 

That will be to get a metal strip of roughly the right width to fit in the "bumper" recess, have that running in a U shape right across the front, then rebuild the corners around that. It should also provide a bit of much needed stiffness to the structure as a whole I think. Yes, it will mean a few rivets, but let's face it we're not talking a concourse car here...

[Zelandeth]

Just a quick half hour update today.

 

Decided to make a move on getting the power unit transferred over. That way I'll have all the valuable stuff on the one car then and it'll make sense to get it all into the garage.

 

Plus, crawling around under it to sort the brakes will be far less uncomfortable on a (relatively) smooth concrete floor than lock-block or a lawn full of pointy bits of tree bark and pine cones.

 

So... what's involved.

 

Carb. Choke and throttle cables off (fuel supply has been from a can, so that wasn't attached to the car, just tied that off out the way).

 

Wiring. Oil pressure switch, HT king lead, coil CB terminal, ground strap and three wires to the Dynastart.

 

Labelled it so I can't screw it up on reassembly!

 

 

Exhaust. Came straight off as it was treated properly last time it was off.

 

Will finish properly painting it before it goes back on.

 

 

Fasteners. Two bolts in the rear engine mount. Came straight out. Two bolts at the top of the bellhousing, came straight out - even if access to the offside one is fiddly between the cowling and intake manifold. Two nuts at the bottom half of the bell housing...also came straight off.

 

Supported the engine from underneath with a jack (block of wood between the jack and the sump of course). Then gave things a good old shake. Not budging.

 

Time to consult the manual and see if I've missed any fasteners or if it's just being stubborn.

 

 

New engine mount dug out ready to go on too as the original one has disintegrated and the only thing holding the engine down at the moment is weight.

 

 

Obviously before the gearbox can come out I'll need to unbolt the driveshafts, disconnect the speedo drive and the gear selector too as well as disconnect the mounts.

[plasticvandan]

Fibreglass is such a forgiving material to work with,why not at least have a go at repairing it nicely?and I don't mean a tin of isopon... A mould would be pretty easy to fabricate for that corner being how the basic shape is still there.it's survived this long against all odds,I personally think it deserves it.

[Zelandeth]

You're not wrong, and that's part of why I've decided to change my approach.

 

The metal will essentially be a mould to allow me to pretty easily rebuild the original profile. The whole panel is laughably flexible as it is, so adding a bit of extra structure really can't be a bad thing in the long term. I reckon that with a bit of care I should be able to make the repair pretty much invisible.

 

Should I come across an actual lower corner at some point in the future, yes I will *definitely* take a mould from it. Not least because it could be useful to others in the same boat, as these corners are almost inevitably the first bits of the body that get wrecked, so a good mould could be a handy tool to have about.

 

To be honest there's probably a lot of detail work like this which will get done once the car's got an MOT and is a mobile project, currently getting it actually roadworthy is the primary goal.

[Zelandeth]

It is now confirmed.

 

I have committed to buy the proposed new fleet member.  Collection will be this coming Monday if all goes well.

 

Now you lot get to guess what.

 

Your clues are that much like the Lada, it was very traditional in design, to the extent of being quite obviously obsolescent compared to a lot of the competition by the end of the production run.  It also has an extremely recognisable instrument panel, and really odd interior door lock controls.

[LightBulbFun]

is it a Trabant? please tell me its a trabant (with the 1.1 Polo engine so you have a motorway speed bath tub? WCPGW... )

[will16]

I'd never heard of a Invacar till this thread, looks like a hilarious little thing, nice work so far. Mind if I ask what paint restorer are you using on it?

[Zelandeth]

I'd love a Trabant. Would have to be a two stroke though... sadly the opportunity to get one of those hasn't yet come up.

 

As for paint renovator, the Auto Glym stuff (simply titled Paint Renovator - the one with a pink label) is my usual choice. It's not cheap, but goes a long way.

 

I'd never heard of the Invacar until fellow member here Dollywobbler went and got a pair of them - which is what lead me to get started on this mad journey - and in fact the one I'm currently restoring was his parts car originally.

 

This evening's achievement:

 

 

Got it separated from the box, figured out which orientation was needed, then lifted it out. It can be lifted out by hand with one person, but I'd not recommend it. Getting it back in will definitely be a two man job as it will require more finesse.

 

I'd also recommend taking the exhaust manifold off, as the nearside pipe interferes with the rear cross member otherwise necessitating the engine to be rotated as you lift it, which is fiddly.

 

Gearbox next, then will start reassembling things in TPA after a good clean.

 

Remembering that it was sticky on KPL, checked the speedo cable, sure enough was on TPA too. Soaked it overnight yesterday and today gave it a bit of exercise with the drill. This also allowed me to check that the odometer worked - it's now reading a mile higher.

[Zelandeth]

Aaaaand out comes the gearbox.

 

 

After spending about an hour faffing with the gear selector.

 

Couldn't get it off at the lever end for love nor money...however a quick rummage in the spares stash revealed this.

 

 

So this got involved.

 

 

Two minutes later, box was out.

 

Aim to hit them with the pressure washer quickly after dinner, then try to at least loosely get things into TPA, as my extra pair of hands disappears until Thursday evening tomorrow morning.

[dollywobbler]

Getting at the split pin for the gear selector is a right pain in the arse. Especially when the selector has seized, which sadly seems to be the case with the gearbox that came out of TPA.

[bezzabsa]

MOAR NEEDED

[Zelandeth]

MOAR NEEDED

How's this?

 

 

Gearbox is in. No mechanical aid used, though my arms are going to let me know about it tomorrow I reckon.

 

The problem I had with the selector was that the split pin disintegrated. Leaving just enough remaining to prevent the dowel holding the whole lot together from coming out. The bit of split pin left was thoroughly rusted in place. Still is.

 

Luckily everything is free at the gearbox end, and I've got a full front selector assembly, so will be dodging that problem.

 

 

Going to pop over to a friend's place tomorrow to borrow an engine hoist to help with getting the engine back in. Will just make it a lot less hassle that way. Last thing I want to do is drop it and break something.

 

The remains of the offside gearbox mount that was left in TPA refused all efforts to remove it, and I wound up chopping the sucker off with the angle grinder. Took ten seconds...should have done that before wasting half an hour faffing with it.

[dollywobbler]

I did get TWC's engine back in on my own, but can confirm that it isn't really sensible.