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

[MorrisItalSLX]

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I really should look what the ignition timing is set to for the sake of curiosity...Not that I'd expect to have any better luck than Dollywobbler did adjusting it given that I know that KPL spent the best part of a decade at least without an engine cover on. 

Would it be worth soaking the dizzy in penetrating fluid once a day for a week (or longer) to try and free it up? I wonder if there is a more specific fluid to use in this scenario.

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

Would it be worth soaking the dizzy in penetrating fluid once a day for a week (or longer) to try and free it up? I wonder if there is a more specific fluid to use in this scenario.

In my experience there are two release agents worth thinking about: Plusgas or home made stuff which is a mixture of ATF and acetone.  I've added a dash of diesel too in the past.

I think I'll check what it is set too before worrying about adjusting anything yet though.

[Zelandeth]

Some very quick and dirty paint applied to the front of the van.  I've got some blue that's a pretty good match for the vinyls so I'll repaint those areas in shortly.

It's not pretty by any stretch of the imagination but I think looks a bit less horrendous than it did.  Doesn't need to last forever given that both of the panels involved will be replaced eventually anyway.  At least the rust should be a bit less conspicuous at a passing glance now.

[Zelandeth]

Today I set about giving both the front and rear screens on the Jag a treatment of Capt. Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure to hopefully resolve the issue with water seeping in between the screens and the rubber seals.

The driveway being on a slope is a pain when doing this as it tries to run to one side because of the slope.

While I was in the vicinity of the rear windscreen I took a brave pill and poked at the rusty blisters at both lower corners.  I was honestly expecting to wind up with holes in this panel (and know full well what an utter swine it would be to repair).  Mercifully the metal was still solid if somewhat pitted.  This was rubbed back a bit then liberally coated with Vactan.

I'll give it another couple of coats before getting some top coat on there.

A couple of weeks ago our lawn mower started playing up, and no amount of cleaning the carb would restore normal behaviour.  It would run fine for about 30 seconds then start behaving as though it was running out of fuel.

I was about to order a carb overhaul kit before discovering that you could get a whole genuine Briggs carb for less than £20...Which makes spending £12 on an overhaul kit seem a bit pointless.

Ten minutes later the new carb was fitted.

Based on comparison of what came off and what went on it seems that the diaphragm which serves as the fuel pump has gone hard and plasticy probably resulting in poor fuel delivery.

While it was pouring with rain so I wasn't able to really test it under load, it started first pull and was happy to run on both idle and run settings, so it *looks* like we've solved the problem.

Speaking of carbs, it looks like I've tracked down another one which *should* have the same stud pattern as the one on the Invacar, from a 1100cc four pot so the fuelling should be roughly in the right ballpark (I'm assuming that like air-cooled VW engines these engines probably prefer to run slightly on the rich side).  I'm just curious to do a bit of experimenting and irrespective of performance etc, for long term reliability I'd not complain about having a slightly better supported carb in place.  It's entirely theoretical at the moment anyhow, will let you know when it arrives and I have a chance to experiment.

EDIT: Oh, and I've got a couple of metres of 1.75" stainless steel tubing on the way to become the new tailpipes for the Jag.  Figured for £20 it was worth a shot at doing it myself.  The rattling from the sleeves in the silencers is annoying me, but I'm sure as heck not going back to having a silent exhaust, the V12 howl is far, far too addictive.

[Zelandeth]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:07 PM, LightBulbFun said:

ah interesting  

yeah was just a thought on my part, I dont know exactly how Model 70's where setup in period whether they where run lean or rich or such

Well this paragraph from page 28 of the manual gives a good clue...

[LightBulbFun]

28 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Well this paragraph from page 28 of the manual gives a good clue...

oh interesting   

although do keep in mind thats from the Steyr puch engine service manual, section, which Is directly from Steyr puch and I dont THINK its Model 70 specific, im pretty sure for the most part they took the english Steyr puch service manual and just stuck it into there so to speak

so Its worth keeping that in mind when reading through that section of the manual, that there might be some discrepancies because its not Model 70 specific

certainly for example it says the webber carburettor is an 32ICS3 but as mentioned I have never seen a Model 70 with one (although as mentioned I have sadly not been able to go over an early Model 70 in detail yet, the Manual is from 1972 and the earliest Model 70 drive train I have been able to get a somewhat detailed look at is the one in TPA which is from KPL from 1975)

 

although in this case, the above you screen shotted is probably fairly accurate, I doubt they specifically fitted performance jetting to Model 70s or such LOL

[Zelandeth]

After what seems like forever I finally have this bush for the Xantia's suspension in my hand.

Despite coming from an eBay shop which didn't mention the name anywhere, it came in an AutoDoc box with an AutoDoc invoice...I'd never normally voluntarily buy from them given the history of sending out completely the wrong part that's on part with Euro Car Parts...However it appears that this is actually correct by some miracle.  While changing it looks a deceptively simple job, apparently getting the old bush off can be a right pain so I'm sticking with my decision to get the garage to do that work.  It's booked in for a week tomorrow, and I'll hopefully have the car back a few days later with a fresh MOT.  Only taken me eight months.

[Zelandeth]

With the Xantia heading in for remedial work and an MOT at the start of next week I figured it was probably time to set about removing the cobwebs and pine needles from the interior.  I always try to present my car for the test in a reasonable state as I figure making a good first impression can never hurt.  The tester jumping into a car that's obviously cared for despite being worth about the same amount as the fuel in the tank is always going to put him in a better frame of mind than one he has to don full hazmat gear to get into.

While the clearcoat peel let's the exterior down the interior still scrubs up will for a 24 year old, 140K mile car.

Gave the cab of the van a quick scrub up too as it was really dusty.

Really do need to do something about the threadbare carpet on the engine cowl.  If it wasn't glued on I'd just remove it and have that match the rest of the dashboard.

EDIT: Went back out after dinner and gave the Jag the same treatment.

[bangernomics]

With the Xantia heading in for remedial work and an MOT at the start of next week I figured it was probably time to set about removing the cobwebs and pine needles from the interior.  I always try to present my car for the test in a reasonable state as I figure making a good first impression can never hurt.  The tester jumping into a car that's obviously cared for despite being worth about the same amount as the fuel in the tank is always going to put him in a better frame of mind than one he has to don full hazmat gear to get into.
While the clearcoat peel let's the exterior down the interior still scrubs up will for a 24 year old, 140K mile car.


Gave the cab of the van a quick scrub up too as it was really dusty.

Really do need to do something about the threadbare carpet on the engine cowl.  If it wasn't glued on I'd just remove it and have that match the rest of the dashboard.
 

There’s a guy that makes custom covers for these on the classic hymers FB site. They’re available in many colours and add sound proofing too.

[Zelandeth]

On 7/28/2020 at 8:19 PM, bangernomics said:

There’s a guy that makes custom covers for these on the classic hymers FB site. They’re available in many colours and add sound proofing too.

Have to admit that I'd actually prefer the engine cover uncarpeted as Mercedes intended.  It being carpeted looks out of place to me, and being carpeted in a light colour is just a maintenance nightmare...same is true of the whole cab to be honest.

I'd like to get rid of the shag pile carpet in the cab as a whole and have something more hard wearing and easy to clean in there.  Will probably go for a mid blue like we've got in the living area if I do decide to redo it.  To be fair that could do with being replaced anyway as it's well thread bare in a few areas.

Today was going well initially.  The fuel injection overhaul kit arrived, as did the pipework I'd ordered for the tailpipes on the Jag.  Fitting those was fairly uneventful, however then this happened.

That is what is left of my poor Huawei P20 Pro.  I've had a mobile phone since 1998, and this is the first time I've had anything more than the odd scratch or scrape on any of my phones.

This all came about because I've not been wearing the usual cargo trousers with decent pockets.   I've had two pairs fail during lockdown and haven't fancied going out into clothing stores to replace them.

So I didn't want the phone to get scratched up with my keys so took it out and put it on the rear bumper of the Jag while I was working on the exhaust.  I then totally forgot to retrieve it before I went out for a test drive.

It stayed there for about 3/4 of a mile before it dropped off.  In the middle of a 70mph dual carriageway.

I am a complete and utter idiot.

That's ended up a very expensive bit of exhaust work.

I have every phone I've ever had...still here, still working.  Now after 22 years, I now have a gap.

Also irked because I really liked this phone.  Even after two years and a week or so the shine hasn't worn off and I was still in awe of the things it could do.  Oh, and the camera which still never ceased to astonish me.

Suffice to say there may be a slight delay before we have any video of the results of the work on the exhaust I'm afraid.  Well, not necessarily..the camera on the P9 I'm using now isn't bad actually though I can't remember how good or not the mic is.

[LightBulbFun]

32 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I have every phone I've ever had...still here, still working.  Now after 22 years, I now have a gap.

whats the serviceability of one of these like? (I probably should check iFixit...)

because I wonder if you can get one with a bad motherboard/replacement housing or such and swap the motherboard from this one into the good housing to speak and see if you can get some life out of it?

(I know iPhones tend to be fairly serviceable in that regard if not damn fiddly, but not sure otherwise some android phones are alright and some are horrible glue together sandwiches sadly)

 

does remind me I need to get yet another battery for that Galaxy S4 mini, I got a cheap £5 battery off ebay just something that will last longer then the minute the slightly bloated battery it came with does

but the cheap £5 battery lasted about a week before just dying completely, so have gone back to the old dodgy battery as that at least lets the phone power up, I mean I know it was £5 but I expected better then a week LOL

[Zelandeth]

I've changed batteries in two P9s now and they don't seem bad to service.  You need the proper suction cup doodad to split the case as they're firmly fastened (P20 Pro would be a little worse in that regard as it's waterproof), but beyond that and the right screwdriver bits they're not bad.  The P20 Pro is built like a brick outhouse...for all this one has been thoroughly flattened the whole body is milled out of a single chunk of aluminium.  The battery and the internals aside from the camera aren't visibly damaged.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are cracks in the motherboard in there though.

While there was no visible damage to it, the battery was pulled and deposited outside on a concrete patio in a suitable explosion containment biscuit tin as I didn't trust it.  Especially given it was at about 98% charge when the incident happened.

If I can find a replacement display for <£20 I might throw that in and see if it will boot then, it could go into the computing cluster then.  It's never going to see service as a phone again though.  It would need a new display, new display digitiser, camera assembly, rear case clamshell, battery and even then I'd still have a chassis shaped like a taco...and the motherboard is probably stuffed anyway.  Just not worth it.

[Zelandeth]

Right, phone situation has been resolved.  A new Huawei P30 Pro should be with me by the weekend, I've knocked £8 a month off my bill and doubled my data allowance (which I barely ever touch anyway).

The exhaust on the Jag is definitely very much more throaty now - maybe a little on the loud side but that may tone down a little bit yet - it's a noise which still fits the car though so I'm happy with it anyway!  I'll try to arrange a sample of some description for you lot later today if I can.

[Zelandeth]

Had a parcel arrive this afternoon that I'd forgotten about since I last mentioned it a few days back.  This is what it contained.

Here's the data tag for those playing along at home.

This is a new old stock 32mm Solex carb.  It has the same throat size and stud spacing as the Weber 32 ICS carb on the Invacar - albeit with the base rotated through about 45 degrees.  So if this stays on the car I'll need to make an adaptor up - not that it will be difficult.  Just needs a metal disc with one hole in the middle and four smaller ones at appropriate places.

There was nothing really in mind here other than experimentation in the sheer spirit of curiosity.

Turned out the most difficult thing to get my head around for an initial test was figuring out how to actually bolt it onto the manifold.  The original Weber carb has studs attached to it.  This one has two holes to allow it to be bolted down or to fasten onto studs on the manifold.  Just bolting it on however was made a bit tricky by the fact that you can't slot a bolt in from the top because the top of the carb casting is in the way.  You can't slot it in from the bottom because the inlet manifold itself is in the way.  After a bit of head scratching I cut a couple of bits of threaded rod to size and put nuts in both sides to clamp it down.  That took me far longer to figure out than it really should have.

So what happened the first time I started it up?  I wasn't honestly expecting it to even start.  This was literally the carb as it was out the box - all I'd done was to blank off the vacuum feed for a distributor advance unit.  Apologies for the horrible camera work, you're listening more than watching to be honest though.

Well I think that's got promise!  The throttle response is immediately obviously far, far snappier.  Cracking the throttle open would usually result in quite a gaping hole in the carburation until the engine picks up, with at least the occasional sneeze back through the carb.  I think we might need to cobble together a connection to the throttle to see how it behaves under load.  The engine this carb was originally destined for was an 1100 I believe, so the per-stroke fuelling rate should have been pretty similar to what we would have been looking for here.  Should be an interesting experiment...Initial indications seem to be positive.

 

[LightBulbFun]

ohh interesting stuff  

it will be interesting to see once you got it dialled in how it performs/compares to the Webber 32ICS10T that was on there before, hopefully works well, its always good to have multiple options/alternatives for this sort of thing

sounds the same at idle as the webber, but when you rev it sounds different more an induction roar if thats the right term?, but im not sure if thats just because of the angle your at and or the funky air filter assembly you have (guessing ya dont have a video of TPA being revved with the webber carb in the same manner/from the same angle do you?)

right at about 2-3 seconds in it sounds almost like a large diesel engine being revved in a good way! like one of those big American lorries 

I do wonder why in the engine workshop manual they specced a 32Mm webber carb but a 40Mm Solex carb, unless the 40 in the specific solex carb they mention means something else?

[cobblers]

A Solex BISA 32? Your Invacar will have basically the same carb as my Talbot Express!

[Jikovron]

I've always had the impression that solex carbs are just that bit nicer in construction than the equivalent weber , better metals, fit and finish and generally a cleaner throttle response in general, mind a single choke delorto carb is a fine piece indeed, I had a single choke delorto that was a conversion carb for a 1600 pinto and that even had changeable venturi chokes which I though was novel for a bog basic carb.

[Zelandeth]

It does seem nicely made, the finish is definitely better than on the Weber.

It's way, way, way too hot to be messing around with cars out there today so there won't be anything to report today I'm afraid.

5 hours ago, cobblers said:

A Solex BISA 32? Your Invacar will have basically the same carb as my Talbot Express!

The application I'm aware of this carb being used on is late versions of the Chrysler/Talbot Horizon, so wouldn't surprise me if PSA had used it on other models too.

Need to have a think about which will be easier... coercing the throttle cable around a 45 degree bend (annoyingly it's about 1/2" too short to just reach) or to make an adaptor plate so I can fit it the right way around on the manifold.

Tending to think the latter as it's just a matter of cutting out a square of metal sheet and drilling five holes in it.

Don't want to invest *too* much time in it as it's entirely likely that my theories are totally wrong and the jetting will be a mile off and it will run pig rich under load.

[dollywobbler]

Following with interest! TWC has always done that coughing think (which even sounds like TOOK when it happens), and I definitely feel the engine has more to give. 

[dollywobbler]

Just now, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

When you get both sorted, can we see them race down Santa Pod? 

Well, TWC has already tackled Goodwood and Shelsley Walsh, so why not? 

Apart from the fact I'm sure we could have a very meaningful and entirely legal 'race' on the mean dual carriageways of Milton Keynes...

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

When you get both sorted, can we see them race down Santa Pod? 

Twenty-five second quarter-mile should be possible?

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

and it will run pig rich under load.

surely if that becomes an issue then the solution to that is stick on some form of forced induction in to make up for the running richness?

 

on a more serious note I think the coughing I think its something that they just did from time to time even when setup properly

REV does it as well, tho I imagine made worse by the fact she could probably do with a carb clean out as who knows when/if ever it was last done!

 

I do wonder if these issue with the webber carb is because they run a bit lean, then would all the issues be solved by simply fitting some slightly larger jets?

[Zelandeth]

I'm aware that they all seem to do it...but the thing is that it doesn't necessarily mean they *should* do it.  I've never come across another petrol engine which "just" tries to set fire to its air filter periodically.

I'm pretty convinced that it's an indication that the mixture isn't necessarily quite right "out the box."

New phone arrived earlier and I've just about got everything set up now.  I deliberately didn't just have everything transferred over automatically as it's a good opportunity to weed out some software I haven't used in five years.

Camera looks to be all I've come to expect from Huawei these days.

Hey look... actual optical zoom with proper optical image stabilization.

That's taken standing in exactly the same spot.

Oh...we have a wide angle mode too.

That's not so big a deal outside generally...but where it will be bloody handy is for things like vehicle interior shots.  Here's what I mean...

Standard:

Wide angle:

Heck, you can barely even get a photo of the back seat in the Jag normally because it's so cramped.

That's definitely going to be handy.  The macro mode though is mad...

Jag bonnet badge:

Xantia tail light:

This will be fun to play with...

[Noel Tidybeard]

i like the scheduled off/on feature which certainly adds to battery life & the way you can tweak the power savers to suit your self

in fact its amazing how many things a whoarewe can do that a something p9 cant

[LightBulbFun]

20 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Jag bonnet badge:

Xantia tail light:

This will be fun to play with...

do you have a SOX/SLI lamp or the MA/V lamp on hand?

would be interesting to see how well it could do a macro shot of one of its electrodes  

 

BTW dont forget to set the video recording settings appropriately  (does the wide angle stuff work in video mode? would be quite handy for recording videos inside TPA etc)

 

20 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I've never come across another petrol engine which "just" tries to set fire to its air filter periodically.

that gave me a good chuckle  yeah its why I was wondering if the issues is caused by a mixture problem/running a bit lean then could it be resolved by fitting slightly larger jets or the such like?

or do your think its deeper issue or such like?

[Zelandeth]

What, like this MA/V lamp electrode?

Don't have any SLI lamps handy right now...

Back to the Invacar.

I *finally* found the long lost trim for the number plate light so have stuck that back where it belongs.

It's not perfectly straight, I'll tackle that another day when it's not a thousand degrees outside.

Did a bit more experimentation with the carb.  Let the engine run long enough to get decently warm to see if any running issues cropped up...still seemed happy.  Let's see what the CO meter has to say.

Well that's rather better than I'd expect for a carb from a totally different engine on which I've not even touched anything.

Got a better video today, showing throttle response...audio is better if nothing else.

The first run is me cracking the throttle immediately wide open after the engine had been idling for a good 30 seconds or so.  The engine here is always going to initially respond a little slowly just because it's got a really heavy flywheel attached and has to spin up the whole gearbox input shaft when the centrifugal clutch engages.

Anyone who knows these cars knows that this would normally have resulted in a fairly noticeable pause before the engine really picked up. 

She starts a lot better now too.  Usually you had to give her a bit of throttle to initially get the engine to catch.

I have cobbled together a connection to the throttle cable which seems to work okay...think we might need to try to get a road test done tomorrow.

Re-jetting the original carb may well help, though it's such a dark art that you'd really need to get someone who really knows this stuff to take a look and figure out where the issue is hiding.  Whether it's too little fuel, too much air or deeper issues with the design not being ideally suited to the engine.  Or I'm speaking rubbish and it is actually fine...though I reckon the spitting back behaviour is a symptom of fuelling issues, especially as I've not managed to provoke that even once yet since putting this carb on...and that's despite it actually running slightly leaner at idle according to the CO meter.

[LightBulbFun]

28 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

What, like this MA/V lamp electrode?

hah very cool you can see the thoria pellet inside the tungsten coil used to lower the work function of the electrode  

(my only MA lamp is a GE A-H1 American example so it has different electrodes with the emissive material directly impregnated in the coils)

28 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Back to the Invacar.

I *finally* found the long lost trim for the number plate light so have stuck that back where it belongs.

It's not perfectly straight, I'll tackle that another day when it's not a thousand degrees outside.

Did a bit more experimentation with the carb.  Let the engine run long enough to get decently warm to see if any running issues cropped up...still seemed happy.  Let's see what the CO meter has to say.

Well that's rather better than I'd expect for a carb from a totally different engine on which I've not even touched anything.

Got a better video today, showing throttle response...audio is better if nothing else.

The first run is me cracking the throttle immediately wide open after the engine had been idling for a good 30 seconds or so.  The engine here is always going to initially respond a little slowly just because it's got a really heavy flywheel attached and has to spin up the whole gearbox input shaft when the centrifugal clutch engages.

Anyone who knows these cars knows that this would normally have resulted in a fairly noticeable pause before the engine really picked up. 

She starts a lot better now too.  Usually you had to give her a bit of throttle to initially get the engine to catch.

I have cobbled together a connection to the throttle cable which seems to work okay...think we might need to try to get a road test done tomorrow.

happy to see TPA is doing well so far with the new carb,

but something needs to be tweaked with your video settings, its at a weird aspect ratio wider than 16:9 but not quite full 21:9 I dont think?

either way its a bit TOO wide screen LOL it looks almost like the top half of the video is missing LOL

28 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Re-jetting the original carb may well hell, though it's such a dark art that you'd really need to get someone who really knows this stuff to take a look and figure out where the issue is hiding.  Whether it's too little fuel, too much air or deeper issues with the design not being ideally suited to the engine.  Or I'm speaking rubbish and it is actually fine...though I reckon the spitting back behaviour is a symptom of fuelling issues, especially as I've not managed to provoke that even once yet since putting this carb on...and that's despite it actually running slightly leaner at idle according to the CO meter.

yeah, its interesting, I dont think this its an issue on any other steyr puch engined vehicles, (but most of the videos on youtube of them are of highly tuned examples LOL) I have only seen the Model 70 do it, ill have to try to remember to ask John REV's previous owner, about it see what he recalls back in when he serviced these for a living!

I do wonder if its something to do with Model 70's specific drive train, its  heavy flywheel and low speed of drive train engagement, it only seems to cough when you get on the throttle from a stand still/slow speed almost like its complaining about being made to suddenly get up and go as quickly as it can with such a heavy load to drag along with it LOL

I dunno just random thoughts! 

I hope some day @dollywobbler (or you  ) can get a stock 493cc Steyr puch 500 car for a test drive it would be really interesting to hear how it compares to a Model 70

[Zelandeth]

Yeah, I need to find tune the video settings, I wasn't faffing with it for something this simple though.  I think the uber-wide aspect ratio is utilising the full width of the sensor, the normal 16:9 crops the edges a bit.  I'll make sure it's set to 1080p/60 and 16:9 next time I'm doing anything meaningful.

I have been meaning to do a proper "tour" video of the Invacar anyway, for which the wide angle mode will be bloody handy.  When I do get around to that I'll probably run the basic text I'll be planning for the voiceover explaining the history etc past you first for a fact check as I trust you to remember the details more reliably than me.

I've ordered a slightly slimmer case style than I normally use on my phone this time (aside from anything else, it seemed a shame to completely hide the back of it because it's so damned pretty)...

...The main reason for that though is actually that I hope to be able to more securely fix it within the window mounts I've got so hopefully will be able to get slightly less shaky video while driving.  We'll see.

The P9 has now been returned to duty in the distributed computing cluster.  It does get rather toasty in this application though...but conveniently has an all metal case back (which is directly coupled to the back of the CPU by a thermal pad).  This was the solution I came up with for thermal management...

Yep, those are the old CPU heatsinks from my workstation.  I was sceptical that this would do anything as they're just sitting on the case...but they do.  The thing used to throttle the CPU after about 15 minutes before, it never does now and always stays well within spec.

[dollywobbler]

On 7/31/2020 at 6:12 PM, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Twenty-five second quarter-mile should be possible?

I wouldn't bet on it. My 2CV last did it in 28 seconds. Albeit into a headwind.

[dollywobbler]

Back to carbs, interesting stuff Zel. I did meet someone at Bicester Heritage last year with a Steyr-Puch 500 but sadly wasn't able to arrange a drive. Can't be many over here! Unfortunately, a planned drive of a Haflinger fell through at the last minute and I've not been able to rearrange.