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

[Zelandeth]

Not sure where time went today, so no road testing I'm afraid.

 

One area where the Invacar is plainly lacking is sound insulation.  The fact that with it idling there is no notable difference noticeable when you close the door tends to suggest it's lacking in that department.

 

I'm not about to go plastering the whole car in Dynamat, but there are a couple of obvious areas where it could be easily improved.  The huge bass drum that passes as a cover for the transmission service hatch for one.  

 

 

The original seal had decomposed as well which wasn't helping any, so that has been replaced too.  

 

No work of art, but it should do the job.  Definitely has helped, as the noise level at idle is now noticeably lower inside the car than outside.  Not going for Rolls-Royce refinement levels, but if we can shave a couple of decibels off the noise levels that can only be a good thing.

 

Only other areas I might look at would be the front bulkhead (again because itsi a large flat area which seems prone to drumming), the inside of the doors, and the roof.  I think what I attacked today though should help a lot.

 

Definitely hope to keep track of time a bit better tomorrow and get it out for another run.  Target?  Ten miles in one session I think...

[dollywobbler]

I wonder if the lack of seal is one reason the screws keep coming loose? Maybe having something for them to compress will help there.

 

The roof is also a massive boom box. The headliner made a big difference in mine, though it's not the best solution, as it robs headroom.

[SiC]

That's what you would think, but there seems to be an odd issue with it in that especially when fitted to KP if you very slowly pressed down on the handlebars you could bottom the cylinder out without meeting any resistance at all. Only if you did it really slowly though. It's not possible to do that any more, but the effect is still there - applying the brakes rapidly you get a response far "higher" than when just lightly bleeding a bit of speed off downhill. Hopefully that description makes sense.

 

I have done the "leave it with weight on the pedal overnight" thing a couple of times without any obvious difference...as I'm sure I've heard folks mentioning that as a tip when dealing with MGB brakes, with which I believe this shares the master cylinder.

On my MGB I had it where pressing and holding the brake would slowly cause it to bottom out at the end of the travel. That was holding it for like 60 seconds hard. I replaced the master which solved it. Pulling apart the old one, the insides were pretty cruddy and crusty. I think they can leak past the internal seals and cause this problem.

[egg]

No soundproofing of course on the MK12, just a small square of heat shield material behind the seat. Although there is no access to the engine from inside the car on mine.

[PhilA]

I learned that there is such a thing as "acoustic windshield".

 

Cuts down on wind and rain noise. In this instance I don't really think that would help a great deal. Good to see it is improving with being driven though.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

I wonder if the lack of seal is one reason the screws keep coming loose? Maybe having something for them to compress will help there.

 

The roof is also a massive boom box. The headliner made a big difference in mine, though it's not the best solution, as it robs headroom.

 

The roof I think will get lined with carpet at some point.  That is a job I think I would rather do with the roof off the car though, so an item for the future wish list.  Probably will use a medium grey cord carpet, and line the inner cavity of the doors as well.  Should not look out of place.

 

I think the main issue I was having with securing of the hatch was simply a combination of rotten spring clips that had lost their spring and a random selection of screws, none of which were ideal.  I will be drilling and tapping some metal plates to accept M6 bolts to hold it in place long term.

 

On my MGB I had it where pressing and holding the brake would slowly cause it to bottom out at the end of the travel. That was holding it for like 60 seconds hard. I replaced the master which solved it. Pulling apart the old one, the insides were pretty cruddy and crusty. I think they can leak past the internal seals and cause this problem.

 

This is interesting in that once you have generated pressure in the brakes, it will maintain it.  You could hold the pedal down all night and it won't sink.  Just requires there to be some pressure generated first.  It is a behaviour I have never come across in person before...and once I have a new one I definitely will take the old one to bits to find out what has gone wrong with it.

[Zelandeth]

Uneventful run out today, and I can confirm that 50mph has been achieved. Surprisingly easy actually... she'll definitely do 60+ I reckon.

 

One thing which did come out of the second bit of that run was establishing that between standstill and 30mph, she can outrun an ADL Enviro-200. Much to the embarrassment of the driver I think!

 

The amusing part of today was watching someone managing to completely miss a green light at the junction by Sainsbury's while they were taking a photo of the car...our locals are going to have to get used to seeing her out and about.

[LightBulbFun]

happy to see she will do 50Mph without any issue, especially because that means the full range of the CVT system is working

 

not too surprised she managed to out run the enviro, from what I have seen, and stories from others, they are surprisingly rapid off the line

 

(theres a few old stories online of people attempting to drag race one in their hot hatch only to get embarrassingly beaten by the Model 70  )

[Zelandeth]

It's really obvious at 40-ish when the drive system goes into "lockup" mode for want of a better term.  You can very clearly hear the change in the engine note.  I'm not sure what is normal for these things, but it sounded like there might be a bearing somewhere howling - it's the first time I've had her up to that sort of speed, so only have a sample size of one.  I would say wheel bearing based on the noise - but not sure how much of a din is just normal for these.  The front one is silky smooth so I don't think it will be that one (couldn't feel any vibration through the handlebars either), rears are pretty easy to get at as I recall...and if so I may well pull things apart and repack them with fresh grease if nothing else.

 

The speed test against the bus was really silly and unplanned...and being an E-200 proves absolutely nothing given my memory of driving one - my C5 with a flat battery could out drag an E-200, and that was unladen!  He just happened to pull up next to me, and I just sort of realised it had to be done, and cracked the throttle full open and off she went...

 

I really do think that once I am a bit more confident that she will be a really fun little local runabout.  Every time I am out in it I wind up grinning like an idiot, and repeatedly finding myself chucking it around far more than I probably should a three wheeler...Not that I'm too much a stranger to having tripods on two wheels...the dog sees to that when I'm out running with him.  You *can* take a C5 round a roundabout at 25mph.  Whether you *should* on the other hand is a totally different question.  

 

Back to the Invacar.

 

Encouraged by the difference that my sound damping has made to the noise levels I figured I would add to it a bit but not by actually adding more sound insulation as such - but just improving on the frankly laughable sealing arrangements around the doors.

 

It was really obvious that a significant chunk of the ambient background noise from outside was coming in through the gaps around the doors - especially at the base.  The amount of daylight visible makes it obvious - and results in draughts blowing up your trouser legs above 30mph or so.

 

Nearside:

 

Offside:

 

I do have some new seals, but the ones on here while looking somewhat dog eared in a few places are actually in decent condition and replacing them wouldn't really achieve much I reckon.  What would would be getting the base of the door to sit closer to the body - but I dontd really see any way to do that which wouldn't make the door foul on the body when opening.  The top bit just seems to be an afterthought - relying on the gutters to keep rain out for the most part.

 

I did have a nice big pack of foam weatherstripping handy though, which while quite thick when in open air squashes down to pretty thin, and is sort of like memory foam so good at dealing with irregular gaps.

 

My plan was basically to go over the edges of the doors where it contacts the main door seal, helping to make a better contact with it.  

 

Like so.

 

 

The results tell the story I think...

 

Nearside front:

 

Nearside rear:

 

Offside front:

 

Offside rear:

 

Upper window frame offside (had a roughly 1/4" gap before):

 

It is really noticeable now that closing the doors results in a very noticeable drop in the ambient noise level from outside now, so it must have improved things to some extent.  The other thing it's helped with a lot is reducing the amount to which the doors wobble and rattle.

 

While I had the weatherstripping out I also put a couple of bits under the front service hatch to stop it rattling, likewise the engine cover.  The car is always going to rattle like a cement mixer full of ball bearings, but I may as well do what I can to help.

 

We had our six monthly dentist appointment this morning which meant a run up to Leicester, Activa was of course the vehicle of choice for that - no surprises that all three passengers dozed off en route both ways!

 

Did notice that something had failed on the way home though...

 

 

Annoying...those lamps only went in in October.  Will need to get another set of H1s ordered in.  I do have a couple of spares but always try to change them in sets, will see if I still have the receipt (was part of the last service, so should have) and see if Osram will stand by the warranty.

 

Headlight bulbs are at least only "awkward" to change on the Activa rather than needing half the car dismantled before you can get at things.

[PhilA]

All sealed up; you may want to fit a carbon monoxide alarm now.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

All sealed up; you may want to fit a carbon monoxide alarm now.

 

Phil

There's already one under the seat right next to the heater outlet. Glad to report that it's never shown anything above zero when on a run so far.

 

Sealed is definitely an exaggeration...you just are able to see about 85% less daylight through gaps now!

[Zelandeth]

Everyone remembers that the Lada is still looking for a new owner.

 

Having seen the amount of bird leavings all over it after being parked where it is for a couple of weeks and having been glared at again by our neighbours across the road about it, the fact it's still here is causing me stress.

 

£2k and it's yours. That's £1500 less than I paid for it, and I'm not even trying to work out how much I'm actually losing. I want to get the van ready for this season and I'd really like to get a custom exhaust made up and buy in some repair panels, so need funds freed up for that.

 

Mainly though, it's just stressing me out being outside my house - especially as it's not in view so I worry about security every day.

 

That price is only to folks on here. Yes, I'll happily try to work with you on payment options. Sadly I can't say I'd be interested in a swap because the only reason it's being sold is lack of space. Which is annoying as I'm sure I could arrange an interesting swap way easier than find a cash buyer!

 

I really cannot take less than that for it though. If it's still here once the spring properly arrives it will be getting spruced up, I'll probably bite the bullet and swap the wings over, then get some decent photos and toss it for sale on C&C, Facebook etc and deal with the resultant nonsense that goes with it. That will definitely not be for two grand though. That's a limited time deal.

[Zelandeth]

This afternoon I mostly invented several new expletives while referring to whoever designed the doors of an Invacar.

 

Given I had been improving the weather and soundproofing it seemed silly not to try to do something about the doors.

 

Namely the gaping hole underneath the window runner.

 

Exhibit A:

 

Having got the actual door seals into a state vaguely resembling useful was to be utterly pointless unless I were to do something about that - which is actually more important as water pours in through that gap whenever it rains.

 

Roughly two hours later, this is the same area as in the photo above.

 

For completeness, the front of the same door.

 

Originally the window rail was held onto the top of the door by (tiny) self tapping screws.  Straight into the fibreglass.  These screws, predictably, had next to no purchase - which allowed the rail to lift away from the door.  This also allows the inner and outer door skins to move relative to each other.

 

My solution was to do away with the self tappers and replace them with M5 bolts.  Simple enough - though INCREDIBLY awkward where actually threading the nuts onto the bolts was concerned.  Hence the fact that the job wound up taking me a couple of hours of swearing to get completed.

 

The result though is a door which is now mostly weather proof and where the window frame is far more firmly attached to the base than it originally was, plus a door which now doesn't rattle half as much as it used to.

 

...On the plus side I now have the technique down so hopefully the offside won't take quite as long to sort out.  Still no doubt will scrape my arm to bits and give myself as much of a glass fibre rash doing it.

[mrbenn]

Nice work. You're must be blessed with plenty of patience!

[Fumbler]

Everyone remembers that the Lada is still looking for a new owner.

 

Having seen the amount of bird leavings all over it after being parked where it is for a couple of weeks and having been glared at again by our neighbours across the road about it, the fact it's still here is causing me stress.

 

£2k and it's yours. That's £1500 less than I paid for it, and I'm not even trying to work out how much I'm actually losing. I want to get the van ready for this season and I'd really like to get a custom exhaust made up and buy in some repair panels, so need funds freed up for that.

 

Mainly though, it's just stressing me out being outside my house - especially as it's not in view so I worry about security every day.

 

That price is only to folks on here. Yes, I'll happily try to work with you on payment options. Sadly I can't say I'd be interested in a swap because the only reason it's being sold is lack of space. Which is annoying as I'm sure I could arrange an interesting swap way easier than find a cash buyer!

 

I really cannot take less than that for it though. If it's still here once the spring properly arrives it will be getting spruced up, I'll probably bite the bullet and swap the wings over, then get some decent photos and toss it for sale on C&C, Facebook etc and deal with the resultant nonsense that goes with it. That will definitely not be for two grand though. That's a limited time deal.

Any idea on what the insurance on one of those is? Having trouble finding what group it's in you see.

[egg]

Well done, I like the total quality management approach here, you're improving it all the time.

[LightBulbFun]

very cool to see TPA is slowly becoming water tight again, I love all these little details 

 

 

 

I wonder if DW plans to follow suit with TWC now as well? 

[Zelandeth]

Nice work. You're must be blessed with plenty of patience!

I actually quite enjoy little detailed jobs like this to be honest.

 

Not sure if the correct description for me is "patient" or "bloody minded" to be honest.

[Zelandeth]

Any idea on what the insurance on one of those is? Having trouble finding what group it's in you see.

Not sure about grouping, but I've got it on a classic policy with Hagerty, 5k miles PA, about £275/year if I remember right.

[Mrs6C]

Here's a thought... would the Invacar be allowed to use the Redways?

 

Hmmm, powered wheelchairs and mobilty scooters are allowed to use them...

 

but motor-powered vehicles are not...

 

https://www.getsmartertravelmk.org/cycling/redways

 

Perhaps 'back in the day' the answer would have been YES but these days probably NO...

[Zelandeth]

Well done, I like the total quality management approach here, you're improving it all the time.

Well that's the general idea. I'm hoping to wind up with a vehicle I'll actually want to use on a regular basis at the end of the day, so that's the reasoning behind a lot of this. Being at least *mostly* weatherproof is going to be necessary for that unless it's going to be a purely fair weather car.

[Zelandeth]

Here's a thought... would the Invacar be allowed to use the Redways?

 

Hmmm, powered wheelchairs and mobilty scooters are allowed to use them...

 

but motor-powered vehicles are not...

 

https://www.getsmartertravelmk.org/cycling/redways

 

Perhaps 'back in the day' the answer would have been YES but these days probably NO...

Back in the day I imagine so, but definitely not nowadays I'd think!

 

...Granted, that doesn't seem to stop the owners of droves of mopeds, scooters, monkey bikes and mini Motos which you see tearing around them....

[Zelandeth]

Had intended to take TP when I made a quick run to the supermarket earlier today - however made it about 1/4 of the way there before she started playing up.

 

My money is on crud in the carb given that it was purely by fiddling with the choke that I managed to coax her back to the house.

 

Think it's time I did what I should have a few months ago and just pull the carb actually off and take it inside where I can give it a really thorough internal clean. There's nothing in the fuel filter, but given the amount of slime I originally scooped out of the float chamber there's probably plenty of crud able to flake off and get into the teeny tiny jets. I do have a new top cover gasket at least. So that will be a task for either this evening or tomorrow afternoon.

[Zelandeth]

Nothing Invacar related today.  Any work in the engine bay requires the garage door to be open, and the wind was blowing rain straight into the garage, so wasn't willing to mess around with that.

 

Instead though decided to get on with some of the stuff still waiting to be done inside the van well away from the weather.

 

Have now got most of the bathroom panelled in now.  Just need to do the last foot or so and around the cabinet and a few fiddly bits.  Then have wallpaper to go up (essentially glorified sticky back plastic) and seal the corners and edges.

 

 

Still looks a mess - but you can't actually see the innards of the wall any more, and should be fine once we have some decently thick wall covering over it.

 

Nice to get a bit of work done on this, it's been months since I really did anything on the van and the new holiday season is starting to enter my thoughts now.

 

Do still need to decide what to do about the exhaust...definitely will be getting a short side exit stainless system made up...question will be whether that happens before or after the MOT.  The cost of the standard system may well make that decision for me.  If it's expensive may just have to get it booked in to have a stainless system fitted before the MOT.  Unless I can do enough to get this through a test...but with one hanger snapped off and a foot long split in the silencer that seems unlikely...especially as I will need to get the whole thing off to sort the hanger anyway as it's buried up directly above the middle of the expansion box, with the propshaft in the way on one side and fuel tank on the other preventing access while in place.

 

So...the Van (known) MOT to do list...

 

[] Fit new nearside headlight due to the current one having a tarnished reflector.  Already have it, just needs fitted.

[] Replace brake pads (already in stock).

[] Repair or replace the sieve...I mean exhaust.

[] Replace rubber boot on steering drag link front ball joint.

[] Replace the weeping fuel return line.

[] Properly mount the fresh water tank (or remove it for the test). 

 

Think that's it for the known MOT stuff.  The brake pipes while serviceable are pretty old looking, so I may well get a set of flexi hoses in stock and change them while I have the wheels off to do the pads.  I tend to like changing things like that on any new vehicle I get - especially one as heavy as this!

 

Immediate to do list that's NOT for the MOT:

[] Fit the new thermostat that has been in the glove box for several months.

[] Sort the heater blower.

[] Remove the fuel tank so I can properly clear out the vent line so it takes less than half an hour to fill the thing past 1/3 full.

[] Figure out what's squeaking up front.  Keeping fingers crossed it might just be a crusty old belt.

[] Properly fit the new propshaft slip joint boot (it has had a highly technical plastic bag and cable tie substitute since a week or so after I got the van).

[] Figure out what the fluff the previous previous owner has done to the split charging system and return it to how the factory intended.

[] Finish putting the kitchen back together & plumb the gas to the fridge and cooker back in.

 

All stuff that can be done in nice little chunks.

 

Then of course there is the "sort the rust in the windscreen scuttle" which will be a world of pain.

 

Oh...and drive it again.  Realised when sitting in the driver's seat today quite how much I'm missing wafting around in it.  Yeah...Most people wouldn't class a 29 year old 78bhp 2.8 tonne van as something they would miss driving...but I am not most people.

 

Need to get back in here!

 

 

Still kind of amused that that is the first thing I have to jump into straight after putting the Invacar away due to how the driveway Tetris works out.

[LightBulbFun]

cool to see work progressing on the van

 

im glad to have had a chance to have a ride in it before winter hibernation

 

(im surprised "sort out the wheel trims" is not on the list of things to do  )

 

on the side exit exhaust, do you plan to have it exit just before a tyre or just after it?

 

just wondering because iv heard stories (not sure if on here or elsewhere) of one of the problems with having an exhaust that exits into a a tyre basically, is the hot exhaust gas can end up cooking the tire, considering im aware of this your probably well aware of it by now, but i figured id mention it to be safe

[Zelandeth]

My plan will be for the tailpipe to be directly below the join between the van cab and the camper body, just behind the driver's door step. Anywhere further back is additional weight for no real gain - and becomes an argument between new exhaust routing and the living area services which are all over the place under there. As far as I'm concerned the shorter the better really. I don't want to know what the stock system must weigh.

 

I keep forgetting the wheel trims - they'll basically be dealt with once I track down a set of Merc centre caps. Finding anything generic that looks period appropriate locally so far has proven a lost cause. Reason they haven't just been binned yet is that I think I'm going to need to smash them to bits to get them off...they ain't falling off that's for sure!

[Scruffy Bodger]

Good to see weatherproofing on the Invacar. Tbh tho, it doesn't matter too much if you like it. I've driven a floppy (rag) top for years, no heater and all you might have got across you was a sprinkling of water, who cares? In a flood you'll get far wetter running across the pub car park to a car meet than actually driving there.

[Zelandeth]

Good to see weatherproofing on the Invacar. Tbh tho, it doesn't matter too much if you like it. I've driven a floppy (rag) top for years, no heater and all you might have got across you was a sprinkling of water, who cares? In a flood you'll get far wetter running across the pub car park to a car meet than actually driving there.

Twofold reasons I'm trying to weatherproof it.

 

[] The demister is rubbish. Therefore the less moisture in the cabin I need to keep off the windows the better. Especially as there's no rear window demister or vents to clear the side windows.

 

[] Having rubber seals between surfaces will vastly reduce the chances of things rattling or squeaking - and there's *plenty* of stuff to do that in one of these.

[LightBulbFun]

BTW the carb talk on the beige BX thread made me wonder, do you know what carb does TPA have? I know TWC has a webber carb but i cant remember which TPA has

 

(for those not in the know, from what the manual says, Model 70s either came with a Webber 321CS or Solex 40PID carb)

[Eddie Honda]

One bee in Weber M9