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

[Zelandeth]

The one shortcoming found at the weekend with the van was a lack of an audio system from this century.

 

This was resolved today when I grabbed a modern JVC head unit for it. I've used a fair number of them over the years, and I've never had one of theirs that didn't do what it said on the tin.

 

 

It can handle Bluetooth media and phone Comms (the mic is mounted on the underside of the dash by the indicator stalk), which is what I was mainly after, given that most of my music is on Spotify these days when I'm on the go.

 

Also means I've now got a USB charging socket on the dash without needing ugly adaptors plugged into the cigarette lighter.

 

The biggest surprise is the audio quality - even through ancient, tiny Radiomobile speakers. This is likely down to clever DSP being done onboard with the processing power available these days. It lets you program in the speaker driver size, location and vehicle type. The difference once that's done is startling!

 

The nearside one in the cab is buzzing a bit, so those two will need to be replaced, though I reckon it may be a challenge due to the limited depth available in the original speaker boxes. I'm hoping to retain those and the original grills if at all possible.

 

Definitely a worthy addition to the onboard kit I think.

[Zelandeth]

Unexciting update.

 

Tracked down the source of an engine speed related buzz that started yesterday evening. Wiring loom connector had got wedged between the air cleaner and the bulkhead behind it.

 

Topped up the steering box oil, having finally got the correct stuff in stock. 30 second job.

 

Then drove a other 150 miles or so to visit my Nan and to collect the next patient for my hospital for broken and obsolete tech.

 

 

In addition to the usual couple of decades of neglect it's also plainly been dropped at some point. Should be interesting to see if I can sort it.

 

Yes, these are as heavy as I recall.

[Amishtat]

Might have some tapes for that if you repair it

[Amishtat]

Also just parked next to this, hadn't realised how much life they got out of the design

[Zelandeth]

I've already got a huge box of V2000 tapes I need to go through at some point. Got them years back shortly after I got my first machine (a mint VR2023, sadly got binned by my parents a few years back).

 

Made one addition to the van today I'd had sitting on the dining room table since last week.

 

 

Figure that's data worth having on hand at all times.

 

Was looking around the cab for inspiration regarding the speaker positioning conundrum and spotted something I'd completely missed before.

 

 

This also explained the rattle on the driver's side of the dash as the cover on that side was missing all of the clips.

 

The hole left behind here looks to be the same size as a 10cm speaker - or at least would have been before the dash panel was stamped out. I assume that there would have been a fitting kit originally available from Mercedes (I will check if that's still the case), but as it is...I could still get three of the four screws in and get things secure.

 

The original covers from the speaker pods originally fitted under the dash were reused.

 

 

They don't sit perfectly, but are passable at a glance and will do until a tidier solution turns up.

 

Only downside of this was that I had to remove the entire rear section of the dash to fit the speakers, which made it a somewhat tedious job.

 

The upshot is that with the speakers now fitted there, the audio is immeasurably better...so the issue before was indeed mismatched positioning with both speakers firing straight towards a whole load of sound deadening and/or thick carpet. The fact that the speakers were far from rigidly attached can't have been helping either.

 

Will probably get the ones in the rear changed as well soon as it's cheap to do and now the front is better set up it's quite obvious how dull the original speakers are - and they do struggle and distort if you give it any real volume.

[Zelandeth]

I was sure I'd been periodically spotting something moving over to the left - but every time I looked properly it resolutely refused to do it again. Finally remembered to properly look today.

 

Yep, this looks like the culprit, exactly as I suspected.

 

 

The original(?) foam adhesive pads had disintegrated, so were removed and replaced with some double sided tape for now. I'll probably stick it on with Sikaflex (which will also nicely stop water getting into the seam) next time I've got a tube open.

 

Also gave the Invacar a bit of a run and moved it around the garden a bit. Started first touch of course, and I'm glad to report the startup smoke screen has been vastly reduced since the engine has had the right amount of oil in. Some idiot (that would be me) managed to put way too much in when it was last changed apparently.

 

Think it's getting to last chance saloon time for KPL as I really need the space in the garage back for TP and my neighbours won't be happy about a mostly stripped Invacar sitting around in the front garden forever more. Having the Lada parked on the garden is bad enough.

[Shep Shepherd]

Does that head unit have an ISO connector? If so, it would be perfect for The Volvo ^^

[Zelandeth]

Does that head unit have an ISO connector? If so, it would be perfect for The Volvo ^^

Yep. It's got a small connection on the back of the unit itself, but terminates in a standard ISO plug.

 

Should work nicely in the Volvo. It's quite discreet when off so doesn't stick out too badly.

[Shep Shepherd]

Cheers for that! Although the mid-1990s Blaupunkt Melbourne I currently have in the car looks great, virtually all of the music I play in the car these days is either DAB (BBC Radio 6 Music FTW) or MP3, so it would be nice to lose the cassette with a tail thing I'm currently using to listen to the latter, hopefully with big gains in sound quality and no loss of style 

[Zelandeth]

This specific one doesn't have DAB as far as I'm aware (though there may well be a different model variant that does), though having Bluetooth there should be nothing stopping you from pairing it with another source...

 

It's not a feature I've looked for as every time I've tried using DAB it's invariably been an abject failure - or while it was actually working the audio quality was so poor that I couldn't listen to it. I thought we'd left the MP3 encoded at 11kHz phenomenon back in the 90s.

 

Given the clever equaliser setup on this thing and the ability to tell it what speaker sizes you've got etc it hopefully should see a pretty noticeable audio quality improvement.

 

This afternoon I'm aiming to get the exterior of the van into a state vaguely resembling clean.

[Shep Shepherd]

I don't need a DAB head unit, as I have a cheapo generic DAB adaptor installed in the car, which works better and has more features than the Pure Highway one in The Aero ^^

[Zelandeth]

Should do the job just fine then. For reference, this one is a JVC KD-R891BT if you're looking for an identical one. Lighting is mostly cool white aside from the one coloured button that you can set to anything, so should fit right in with the dash lighting in the Volvo I'd think.

 

 

This afternoon I got a few things done.

 

First up was giving TP an accomodation upgrade. Finally cleared enough stuff out the way to roll KP out and into the corner and shuffle cars around.

 

She's now safely tucked away in the garage. Given the lack of security in these cars that makes me rest a bit easier...would have been far too easy for someone to nick it before.

 

 

While I was moving things around, I also grabbed the nearside roof edging trim from KP to replace the mangled one currently fitted to TP.

 

 

Next up I finally had the opportunity to attack the van with the cleaning supplies.

 

 

Next up is polish and wax. Someone has obviously hit it with TFR at some point and the paint is flatter than a week old Pepsi as a result.

 

 

Should scrub up not too bad though. At least the paint seems to be of decent quality under the grime.

[320touring]

This reminds me - I was out in the Oxford on the way to meet SiC (on his Jag collection mission) and as I came to a roundabout in Cumbernauld, the spit of this van was coming the other way.

 

It was on an F plate, and had a rusty grille. Luckily I clocked that, rather than hammering (as much as Bodicea will) back round to give chase and meet someone who wasn't you:)

[Zelandeth]

Nice to know there's another one out there somewhere! To be honest, this one has a rusty grill too, I just did a quick and dirty paint job to hide it!

 

To give an idea how flat the paint on here was, this was taken at point blank range, with the flash on. There should be a blinding flash glare right in the middle of the frame...

 

 

Yeah... it's a bit flat.

 

After a polish, skim over with the clay mitt and a clean up polish however, it's looking like this.

 

 

There is actually sound paint under there.

 

Thinking that next step up front is to bust out most of the obvious loose crud from around the heater intake, drown the whole lot in rust convertor and then patch it up with some Isopon.

 

 

My worry with leaving it be for now is that every time it rains, more water is going to get in, and it will only get worse. If I eliminate the main entry route for the moisture, it should at least buy me some time.

 

Or should I just touch in where it's broken the surface of the paint and leave it well alone until I throw it at a professional to sort properly?

 

Thoughts?

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

I'd seal it for now fella - if you're already set on a pro taking a look..... Everyone on here knows damn well a simple 'take it back to treat it' always results in holes and tears of regret...... it may seem a lackadaisical approach initially but you've got your mind set to have it sorted properly, so it'll hold until then.

Once a part came up like that with the polisher - I'd have gone Forrest Gump on it until I was physically stopped by a kind passer by!

[The Moog]

Agreed if you are going to get it looked at properly do the bare minimum to keep it ok.

[Zelandeth]

The Lada has been released from its prison under the tree by virtue of the Invacar having made it into the garage. It did look like it had spent a month in the Amazon rainforest though and was more green than red. So it got a wash (and had several .illion pine needles removed from everywhere).

 

 

 

It still needs a really good wax, but looks better than it did.

 

The mission to clean the van up has continued as well. Feels like we're getting somewhere.

 

 

 

 

I discovered that the funny buzzing noise I'd noticed in the last couple of days was the patch I'd put on the air box to cover a hole. I'd failed to account for how violent the induction pulses on a diesel are, and the patch had half detached itself and was flapping around, buzzing against the side of the air box. Have removed it for now, while I think about a better solution. Will probably just bolt something in place - though I'll need to remove the air box to do that. Need to look closer to see which side of the air filter it's on. If it's on the intake side of the filter it will be a priority job obviously. If it's on the outside I'll deal with a bit of extra induction noise for now.

[Zelandeth]

Went to take the Lada out today and discovered that there is no brake fluid in it. The light flickered yesterday a few times so had noted it needed looking at.

 

Was on the clock, so threw it back in its spot and grabbed the keys for the van. Will investigate when I next get some time, probably Monday. For now it's got the "do not move" sticker on the dash.

 

Spotted the tyre pressure plate on the van today that somehow I'd not spotted before. No idea how I'd missed it...values on there were waaaaaay higher than the numbers scribbled on the back of the handbook that I'd been using. They'd always looked quite soft even when at the written values. So upped them to those on the van (56psi front, 65psi rear) to see what it did. Looks far closer to "right" to my Mk I eyeball. From the driver's seat it's transformed the steering. Actually has feedback now and is pleasantly weighted when moving, and at parking speeds is now merely "weighty" rather than "bloody heavy" which is nice. Haven't had it out on the open road yet, but around town it just feels much more composed seems like. I have checked as well, and yes the tyres are correctly rated up to and beyond the 2.8t max the van is played to. I'll be keeping an eye on wear obviously. While they're obviously newly fitted to the wheels, they are dated 2014, so we'll see whether they wear or perish first. Can't say "Maxmiler Pro" is a brand I know anyway...

 

Not going to have a chance to do anything this weekend sadly, but got a few things on the list for next week.

 

High on the list is definitely seeing if I can resurrect the heater blower in the van. It's not going to be long before a properly functioning demisters will be essential. Reckon the engine cover will need to come off to do that, so may well do the rocker cover gasket while I'm in there as it looks to be a pretty simple job.

 

Also need to get the prop shaft boot done, surprised that my plastic bag and cable tie bodge hasn't disintegrated yet! Especially after the 440 mile trek last weekend. I reckon looking at it that just undoing the two bolts holding the centre bearing in place is the best bet, dropping that whole bit of the propshaft, I'm guessing that will then allow me to just slide the splined joint straight off the end to stick the new boot on. In theory.

 

Wheel trims!

 

Here's the photo from the front of the handbook...

 

 

Anyone know of or have something sitting around that looks vaguely like that (or at least closer than the Halfords Specials currently on there)? Really want rid of them!

[Amishtat]

Saw this earlier and thought of you!

[500tops]

Spotted yesterday at the Dorset Steam Fair

[PhilA]

To be honest the picture on the brochure is so terrible those could just be flat stainless discs with a brushed spun finish.

 

I'm not sure how well Bonneville Speedway trims would go on it TBH.

 

 

Phil

[Amishtat]

Moon discs!

[bezzabsa]

Needs some W123 colour coded trims on those wheels

 

a-la 

[Zelandeth]

Those two look really tidy! We've got representatives of each of the Autotrail colour schemes now shown.

 

Hadn't thought of the older style Merc trims to be honest...

[plasticvandan]

There is much tentage for that lada,they were everywhere round here when I was small,as were rear engined skodas

[Amishtat]

Got some '60s Merc hubcaps if they're any use to you? Will get photos imminently if it's stopped pissing it down. Not as nice as those W123 ones admittedly

[Zelandeth]

Would certainly like a look at them. Anything that looks vaguely at home on there will be better than the rubbish that's currently fitted. Only reason they're still there is that they are very firmly attached. Destructive brute force may well be needed I suspect.

 

This is the whole cover of the handbook. Sadly there's only a tiny photo of a Merc.

 

[Amishtat]

This is what I meant. Don't know whether they'll fit but the one I saw earlier had little chrome hubcaps so it might be possible

[Amishtat]

Taken a little while to ferret them out but yeah, got all four if you want them

[Zelandeth]

Have a sneaking suspicion they might well clip in the centre recess. Could you get a measurement for me so I can have a look when we get home tomorrow to see if they'll fit.