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

[DodgeRover]

That looks pretty much like a 20l auxillary fuel tank, there are some marine ones made of plastic in that sort of size and shape.

In fact I have a feeling I've seen that exact tank before, possibly on something agricultural or a lawn tractor/ stationary engine?

[Zelandeth]

In fact I have a feeling I've seen that exact tank before, possibly on something agricultural or a lawn tractor/ stationary engine?

 

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest given that the entire car is basically a parts bin special...

[Fumbler]

With some nice fibreglass details of course.

 

If you don't mind me shifting the points drastically... How's the Lada?

[Zelandeth]

With some nice fibreglass details of course.

 

If you don't mind me shifting the points drastically... How's the Lada?

Driving nicely actually, making the work I've done actually feel worth it. Aside from the cooling fan playing funny buggers a couple of days ago anyhow...but that's just the usual dodgy fuse contacts keeping life interesting.

 

The only real grumble I've had is that the fuel economy has persisted in being rubbish. That's currently on the list to investigate. Main theory is the timing being slightly out...because I can't think of any other likely candidates!

[Fumbler]

Given you said fuse I'm presuming you have the high class electric fan model. It's amazing how many different configurations Lada gave given what Lada Power sells. Father had a friend with one who could buy a racing cam off the shelf. Apparently it was a lot of fun on the motorway.

[Zelandeth]

Given you said fuse I'm presuming you have the high class electric fan model. It's amazing how many different configurations Lada gave given what Lada Power sells. Father had a friend with one who could buy a racing cam off the shelf. Apparently it was a lot of fun on the motorway.

You probably still can!

 

I think most of the cars from around 1990 onwards had an electric fan (not the Niva, which still had a mechanical one right up to the end of imports in 98). Haven't ever seen a 1.5E without one anyway. Kinda wish mine did have a mechanical fan as it would have saved me faffing around with the fan cowling when I fitted the injection hardware (it wanted to occupy the same physical space as the crankshaft position sensor bracket).

[Noel Tidybeard]

25l fule can for a boat may fit the bill

[Zelandeth]

Finally had a response from someone, they're happy to take a look and provide a quote. Excellent.

 

Something I've been picking away at bit by bit here is digitising some of my old car magazines. I've got a heap of stuff from the mid 90s (mostly Autocar) which I really want to get shot off as it takes up space. It's also slightly manky and dog eared courtesy of having spent a lot of time in a house which had major damp issues. I enjoy the content, but have no need to the actual mags, so digitise and recycle seems a sensible way forward.

 

The thought occured to me yesterday, "I wonder how many of these cars are left."

 

About ten seconds later the realisation that via the MOT history checker, I can find out.

 

Three magazines worth of numbers later and I've found *one* car left...A P plate Mondeo Estate which as of June had around 178K miles on the clock. The next closest contender was an Almera GT which the last MOT ran out last year - previous year having had advisories for rust basically on every prescribed area on the car.

 

It's interesting to see how few have actually ended with an MOT fail...so I have to assume the main cause of attrition is down to a mechanical/electronic failure between tests rendering the car BER. Obviously there will be the odd accident victim too, and I don't think the system follows a reg change...so it's got a huge amount of guesswork and assumption involved. Surprising how short lived a lot of cars are, and then the odd exceptions too...likewise anything that came off the road before 2005 just shows "reg not found."

 

If folks are interested I can post the findings here once I've got a decent chunk done.

[mk2_craig]

I would find that extremely interesting - I've always wondered if a press car is any more likely to have a short life than the average example, due to the perceived higher odds of being trashed by Roy Lanchesters.

[Zelandeth]

I would find that extremely interesting - I've always wondered if a press car is any more likely to have a short life than the average example, due to the perceived higher odds of being trashed by Roy Lanchesters.

We'll I'm stuffing the results into a spreadsheet, so we'll see what turns up.

 

Data I'm recording is reg, make, model, fuel, reg date, date of last recorded MOT, result, mileage at MOT and if there was a history of corrosion issues Y/N.

 

Obviously it's imperfect data as nothing that died prior to 2005 is represented, but should be an interesting distraction anyway, and should be an interesting way to see how true the reputation for some marques being Kong lived are or not...

[mrbenn]

I'd be interested to see that, too. I went through a few road tests from 90s-00s mags recently and was surprised, and saddened, at how few of the cars are still about.

[Fumbler]

You probably still can!

 

I think most of the cars from around 1990 onwards had an electric fan (not the Niva, which still had a mechanical one right up to the end of imports in 98). Haven't ever seen a 1.5E without one anyway. Kinda wish mine did have a mechanical fan as it would have saved me faffing around with the fan cowling when I fitted the injection hardware (it wanted to occupy the same physical space as the crankshaft position sensor bracket).

In some ways you could get more airflow with an engine driven one as a high flow 4 blade fan can be bought. Yes, racing cams are still sold for around $140 a pop. From 198X onwards they had electric fans. In fact I havn't seen a VAZ-2105 with a mechanical fan. At 1:56 of the 1998 RTE broadcast of Dermot Morgan's death one is driving into the hospital which I found kind of cool.

[mat_the_cat]

I'd be interested to see that, too. I went through a few road tests from 90s-00s mags recently and was surprised, and saddened, at how few of the cars are still about.

 

I did something similar with a collection of 90s Custom Car magazines, although didn't note the results. I was really surprised at how few remained, especially given the time, effort and money which had clearly gone into them.

[Zelandeth]

In some ways you could get more airflow with an engine driven one as a high flow 4 blade fan can be bought. Yes, racing cams are still sold for around $140 a pop. From 198X onwards they had electric fans. In fact I havn't seen a VAZ-2105 with a mechanical fan. At 1:56 of the 1998 RTE broadcast of Dermot Morgan's death one is driving into the hospital which I found kind of cool.

My grandparents had a mechanical fan on their Riva (1200L on a B plate), though that car was more bodge and duct tape than original metal, so no idea if it was original!

 

If I wind up keeping it I reckon I'll get a slimline "pusher" fan fitted to the front of the radiator as an elegant solution. Even with the lower bracket cut away it's still far too close to the CPS mounting boss for my liking, and there's hardly enough of a gap between the fan blades and the wiring, which I don't like. Can't push the fan any further forward or it's in danger of fouling on the radiator core...and that would be even worse. To be fair though, it's the only thing that's really been a pig to get to fit nicely.

 

Thinking this evening, I really need to get my tail in gear and sort some stuff out.

 

Lada will be getting taken off the road for the winter soon (don't imagine the salt can be that far away - that's basically when that happens. So I'd like to at least have some of the pending jobs (actually getting the tin of Dinitrol in the boot onto the offside floor/will mainly) done before that happens, likewise grease up the brake caliper slides etc so I don't have to mess around with them come spring.

 

Also two things come up in quick succession at the end of October. Firstly is that the (currently belt-less and immobile) Xantia's MOT is up, and roughly a week later I need to ferry myself, a bunch of stuff and either two of our family or two friends who will be traveling with us to Scotiacon and back - and for a trip from MK to Livingston and back, the Xantia is the obvious choice.

 

Well, I'd quite happily take the van...but given we're most likely going to wind up in convoy with other folks (we wound up with eight cars at one point last year), the ability to maintain 70mph with ease rather than with ear plugs will be appreciated.

 

So I really need to fix the damn Xantia!

 

Van's MOT is up in December too. So I'll *need* to sort the exhaust before that. Seriously tempted to just get some off-the-shelf bits for that and try to make my own.

[Fumbler]

Salt and Lada do not mix. Similarly, salt and MR2 doesn't mix. It's on SORN until about March now, hibernating in a nice heated unit.

 

Liking the van. Looking very nice.

[Zelandeth]

Salt and Lada do not mix. Similarly, salt and MR2 doesn't mix. It's on SORN until about March now, hibernating in a nice heated unit.

 

Liking the van. Looking very nice.

I'd love to have it stored somewhere dry over winter, but sadly attempts to find anywhere that's not extortionately expensive (or at least beyond justifiable based on current situation) have proved unsuccessful.

 

The van is definitely a fun toy, though it's definitely a different thing entirely to work on than any of the cars.

[Fumbler]

Storage is something that will be a problem for me, especially if I get something that might like to rust, and somehow I think having it parked in father's unit's car park might make it spontaneously combust.

[Zelandeth]

Have had the first response back regarding the fuel tank.

 

The first offer is around the £500 mark - though more than half that is tooling costs and it's assuming an *exact* replica of the original. This mob do generally specialise in Motorsport and aerospace stuff...so I've clarified that I'm not too worried about the actual construction so long as it does the job and fits in the original space, so will see what they come back with. I was kinda hoping for something more in the £100-200 mark...far north of that I'll have a bash at making something myself.

 

The Lada will actually be getting a decent run tomorrow for a change...fingers crossed nothing falls off.

[Six-cylinder]

Try Northern Radiators, they repaired my BMW E3 tank that had been fibreglassed to the rear quarter! 

 

http://radiator-repair.co.uk/repair-workshop/fuel-tanks/

[Zelandeth]

Try Northern Radiators, they repaired my BMW E3 tank that had been fibreglassed to the rear quarter! 

 

http://radiator-repair.co.uk/repair-workshop/fuel-tanks/

Cheers, will drop them a line and see what they can offer.

[Fumbler]

That's good news on the Invacar fuel tank. I'd be happy to see it roll by of you ever decided to drive it back from whence it came.

[Zelandeth]

That's good news on the Invacar fuel tank. I'd be happy to see it roll by of you ever decided to drive it back from whence it came.

We'll have to see!

 

I'm leaving off coming up with excuses to drive all over the country with it until I've seen how it drives.

 

Though the idea of visiting every museum in the country which have one on display has occurred as a possible plan...

[dozeydustman]

Have you got rough dimensions of the Invacar fuel tank? Going to a couple of breakers yards this week, I can keep an eyeball out for something that might be suitable

[Zelandeth]

Have you got rough dimensions of the Invacar fuel tank? Going to a couple of breakers yards this week, I can keep an eyeball out for something that might be suitable

Approximately 16.5" X 12" X 7"

[dozeydustman]

Thanks for that Zel, I'll keep an eye out this week. I'm working around Plaistow (in Sussex) this Monday, I know there's a farm near there where they're constantly breaking small cars, small agricultural plant etc, they may also have something suitable that can be adapted.

[Zelandeth]

Cheers for that.

 

Had to make a run 30 miles or so down the M1 today, and it became apparent that the 60mph vibration feels a bit worse than I remember...so need to move replacing the rotoflex coupling between the gearbox and prop shaft up the priority list I think.

 

It however has still confirmed the fact that it's oddly far far happier at 70 than 60.

[Fumbler]

11 Euros to get another on LP Europa. Glad to hear nothing fell off .

[Zelandeth]

You may remember a couple of weeks ago the Lada had apparently randomly decided to consume a fair chunk of its brake fluid. Crawling around the car failed to reveal any suspiciously damp areas that would have explained the loss. I've just been keeping an eye on the level, which hasn't moved.

 

Well it hadn't moved until yesterday afternoon when I got back into the car and the level light was on again.

 

Looks like we have now found the source...

 

 

That will be a stuffed caliper seal then. Will get in touch with Tom at Lada and see how much calipers are. If the prices follow usual Lada trends a pair will cost less than a couple of tanks of fuel.

[Fumbler]

Oh definitely. They'll cost peanuts given what the prices of pads and drums are online. At least you got some rust protection on the suspension. Those anti roll bar mounts look a bit worse for wear. Given my eyes it could just be creasing.

[Zelandeth]

I don't usually bother looking online as I know I'll be getting the right stuff from Tom, and I like supporting marque specialists. Plus it will be reasonable stuff not some random Chinesium knock off. Plus he knows the cars inside out so can decipher my often vague descriptions of what I need.

 

I've already got the rotoflex coupling in stock (£12) as the one on the car was visibly perished when I got the car, just hadn't got to the top of the list yet.

 

The ARB bushes do look like hell, but there's no play in them so I've made the decision to leave them be unless they start making noise. Especially given the stud the carrier bolts onto snapped on the last one I did...