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

[PhilA]

Senders are straightforward, and from memory they follow the VDO curve so most cheap aftermarket gauges should work with it.

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, PhilA said:

Senders are straightforward, and from memory they follow the VDO curve so most cheap aftermarket gauges should work with it.

Yeah, just a matter of making sure you're getting a gauge for either an NTC resistive or thermocouple type sensor.  Which an annoyingly large number I looked at earlier didn't state - was on my phone though so don't know how much of the pages I was probably not seeing...will have a dig around and see what I find this evening.

[PhilA]

I can't see the cheap Chinese ones being anything other than thermistors. Thermocouple sensors are too expensive to make in comparison.

You could almost make your own, most of them are just an electrical o-ring with the thermistor bead held in with thermal epoxy and heat-shrink over it all.

I've not seen thermocouple sensors outside of aircraft and race car applications where the temperature range the thing has to tolerate is huge (exhaust sensors etc)

 

Phil

 

[Zelandeth]

There we go... let's see if this goes for a sensible price.

 

[dollywobbler]

I fitted a cylinder head temperature gauge to my 2CV but it just made me MORE paranoid. So I took it off again. I think monitoring oil temp may be sensible though, as that's cooling as well as lubrication.

[Zelandeth]

12 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

I fitted a cylinder head temperature gauge to my 2CV but it just made me MORE paranoid. So I took it off again. I think monitoring oil temp may be sensible though, as that's cooling as well as lubrication.

I'm not particularly interested in the raw numbers it shows at the end of the day, I'm happy the engine is running reasonably well now so I'll see what the variation I see on normal runs is - if I see it straying too far outside that envelope in the future I know something needs to be looked at.

Head temperature is always going to look somewhat alarming as it can jump around quite so quickly. 

Given the size of the oil cooler and the amount of air the fan shifts I'm not really expecting cooling to be an issue...but I'd like to have some idea of what's going on.

Oil temperature gauge will tell the same story - just slightly slower.  Issue is I need to plumb it in, which requires more thought, planning and gathering of parts....may well happen one day.

[PhilA]

Failing that, go down this route...

[bobdisk]

3 hours ago, PhilA said:

Failing that, go down this route...

Would this have 2 sensors, one for each cylinder ? ! !  

 

[PhilA]

46 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

Would this have 2 sensors, one for each cylinder ? ! !  

 

Yes, and you can tell if they're in balance at a glance from where the needles cross.

[Zelandeth]

6 hours ago, PhilA said:

Yes, and you can tell if they're in balance at a glance from where the needles cross.

Have to admit part of me is curious to see how much imbalance there is given the left hand cylinder is shaded by the oil cooler.  Know that tends to result in cylinder no 3 on Beetles and T2 Transporters running hotter than the rest.

Looks like brake cylinders is my next job given that MEV spares have done it again.

Ordered 23:55 on Thursday, arrived at 11:49 on Saturday.

Can't fault that service.

[PhilA]

27 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Have to admit part of me is curious to see how much imbalance there is given the left hand cylinder is shaded by the oil cooler.  Know that tends to result in cylinder no 3 on Beetles and T2 Transporters running hotter

The CHT gauge would be coupled with EGT normally. You can get shared cht/egt gauges also.

[Zelandeth]

As I was going to need access to the rear brake unions on the flexible lines I needed to remove the rear service hatch again.

While it was out I decided it was a good opportunity to test something out.  The flashband I'd stuck to it as sound deadening did help, but I don't think it made nearly enough difference to be worth the weight.  It pretty much doubled the weight of the hatch.  It also added enough extra to the dimensions to make it even more awkward to remove.  Additional mechanical noise was being added as well as the insulation never really adhered well to the underside so it was usually sitting directly on the CVT pulley cage.

So today I pulled off most of it (a few areas were thoroughly stuck and weren't going to come off without a huge fight) and gave it a few coats of rubberised truck bed liner.

Several more will be added next time we get a break in the weather.  It's already noticeably dulled down the sound of you tap it so mission accomplished hopefully.  I'll report back on whether I notice any difference when driving.

The main mission for the day was getting these fitted.

Nothing particularly complicated here, just fiddly.

I knew I couldn't easily get the union on the back of the cylinder off so didn't even bother.  Just pulled it at the Flexi end and planned on feeding the whole lot out through the backing plate in one piece.

Went pretty smoothly.  Getting those U clips off the back of the cylinder is a heck of a lot easier when you know how they work!

Before going any further I made a point of double checking what the threads in the wheel cylinders were *before* I had flared the new brake line... I'd already been very nearly caught out when the master cylinder turned out to be metric.  These aren't.

Once I'd suitably plugged the brake line off the old cylinder so it could spray brake fluid into my eye, I was then able to use it to give me an idea how much pipe I needed.

Also checked very carefully to ensure they were indeed as close to identical as possible.

All indications were good.

It was at this stage I ran into a slight snag.  These new cylinders are much more of a snug fit through the slot in the back plate.  This wouldn't be a problem with the hub on most cars where you can slide it in straight...however thanks to the rather bulky hub on the Invacar you have to slot it in at a slight angle to clear the wheel mounting flange.  Just enough to make it bind up.  After a bit of head scratching I eventually chose to very gently tap it past the tightest point with a hammer and block of wood.  Hopefully nothing was harmed...but short of removing the whole hub I couldn't see an alternative.

I then had a mental foul up and convinced myself I'd fitted it upside-down and spent 20 minutes pulling the cylinder out again to compare to the original.

By this point it was getting dark...and right about the point it got properly dark, my work light decided that this was an ideal opportunity to run out of charge.  I got the hydraulic line routed and installed though.

The original pipe had been touching the suspension arm at the lower corner so I deliberately made the new pipe a bit longer so it could be routed better.  May see about adding a clip roughly level with the shock absorber to ensure the new pipe can't vibrate.

I really do need to get a wire brush and some paint on that rear suspension at some point, it just looks horrendous.

Sadly thanks to having run out of daylight (it started raining while I was tidying up too), I've a few things left to fit.

No way I was trying to refit those springs in the dark.  They're fiddly enough in full daylight, trying to fit them in the dark is just asking to get a spring in the eye!

Hopefully get this side finished and the other one done tomorrow.

 

Edit:

Had one little job earlier in the day on the electronics workbench.  Our patient was a Prinztronic Mini7 calculator I picked up about a week ago. 

While it powered on there was no response from the keypad (aside from the number 2) and there was clearly an intermittent issue with the power supply.

This isn't a particularly high end calculator...in fact it's very much built down to a price.  No screws on the case, it all just clips together. 

It is quite stylish though (especially in this two tone blue) and by the standards of the time was quite compact.

Took a while to figure out how to get it apart but we were in pretty quickly.

Here's the heart of the beast for those of you interested in this stuff...no surprises to see a TI TMS series IC.

TI helpfully date code things in a dead simple way too so we now have a solid date of mid 1975.  There is one other IC in here which I'm pretty sure is just a display driver given where it is in circuit.

Don't recognise that maker's logo.  Anyone know it?

The reason for the intermittent power was a dead simple cracked solder joint between a battery post and the PCB.

Easy repair.

The issue with the keypad became self explanatory the moment I started to dismantle it as the metal domes from the keypad switches started to cascade over the desk like metallic confetti.

Those domes should all be stuck to this PCB!

Getting these all back where they were supposed to be was a bit like trying to herd a scurry of squirrels who are all hyped up on Red Bull, but we got there in the end.

I was quite interested to see how the keypad legends were printed...I had assumed the legends were screen printed on the back of the keys themselves.  Was quite surprised to find that it was actually just a printed sheet of paper behind the keypad.  There are little lenses moulded into the back of the keys which makes it look larger.

Quite clever actually.  Means they only needed to make one standard type of keycaps for the whole range, just printing a bit of paper to accommodate different layouts or features.

I really do like the look of it too.

That alone was responsible for my deciding I needed one from this family in the collection after I saw a friend's one a while ago.

Glad to report that it now seems to be fully functional again.  I do need to replace the decomposed foam behind the battery contacts, but that's a job for another day.  For testing purposes this is absolutely fine.

It is a comically slow calculator though for the period...square root calculations take the best part of 1/2 a second.  Division about 1/4 a second...which by 1975 is quite slow.  It also doesn't have any logic to stop you taking the square root of negative numbers.  It does correctly catch divide by zero though.

The small u at the far left is the arithmetic error indicator on this display.

Should be able to get a page put together for it on the website soon hopefully.

 

[PhilA]

9 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

 

Don't recognise that maker's logo.  Anyone know it?

NS. National Semiconductor.

[dollywobbler]

Those huge hubs are a right pain! Good luck with the springs. Another joyous battle! If there's a technique to brake shoe springs, I'm yet to find it...

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, PhilA said:

NS. National Semiconductor.

Cheers for that.  Not a logo of theirs I've come across before.  Sort of thing I really should find and save a cheat sheet for really given this hobby...

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Those huge hubs are a right pain! Good luck with the springs. Another joyous battle! If there's a technique to brake shoe springs, I'm yet to find it...

I don't recall having too bad a time of it last time.  The first one I did though I remember wrestling with for the best part of an afternoon.  A good pair of pliers and patience are probably the most important things.

From memory my method was to hook the spring into the shoe without the handbrake pawl on first, then slip that shoe off the cylinder and adjuster, then hook the other one in and then wrestle the whole lot into place.  Make sure you've backed the handbrake adjuster on the drum off first as well as it takes a bit of the tension off things when you're trying to get things seated.  Starting with the shoe without the handbrake pawl on is key I think as that limits the movement of that shoe more.

I had to have the nearside one apart three times in quick succession when I first got TPA going and I'm pretty sure that was my plan of attack.  It is still fiddly as all hell though, and as such the moment you start getting frustrated with it it's time to take a five minute break.  If it gets you wound up you're just going to end up taking a chunk out of one of your fingers or launching one of the retaining clips into orbit.  Or both as I managed the first time around.

There are actually pliers made specifically for this job... something I've nearly bought half a dozen times now.

[Zelandeth]

Perfect weather for crawling around on the ground working on cars...

That process I mentioned above for rebuilding the brakes?  Complete cobblers! 

That's what happens when it's over a year since you last did a job and try to remember the exact sequence of operations without the hardware in front of you.  Here's the exact sequence I've found to be easiest - I only had to retrieve and refit a spring which made a bid for freedom once during this, and the whole process was less than half an hour.

Only thing that didn't look happy in there was that the brake shoes were quite glazed - though I think this was probably the case when they went in.  May well explain why  the brakes have always felt a little wooden.

I took these outside and wet them down, worked upwind and had a decent dust mask on, and gave them a gentle scrub up.  The abrasive paper while still wet was double sealed in two plastic bags before putting it in the bin.  I'm not losing too much sleep over a miniscule amount of potentially asbestos containing brake dust that's sealed in a very damp plastic bag.

Didn't go crazy, just wanted to get the worst of that glazing off.  I'll do the same on the other side when I have it apart.

I've *tried* to document everything below with photos where possible to help anyone doing this on an Invacar in the future - @dollywobbler hopefully this is useful as I know you've had frustrations with these brakes before.

Preliminary steps:

[] Wind the adjuster all the way off.  This is a good opportunity to make sure it's operating properly as if it's not you're going to be chasing your tail trying to get the brakes set up properly.  I took both of the pistons out, cleaned and re-greased them to ensure they don't jam up in future.  The wet around the adjuster in the photo below is just residue from the brake cleaner - it was -2C outside while I was doing this work so it took a while to evaporate!

You probably don't *need* to wind them all the way off, but it just makes things a little bit easier - and given how many seized adjusters I've seen over the years, ensuring it's given a good run through a fair amount of its travel and is cleaned up whenever the brakes are apart isn't bad practice at all.  Plus it means you've got no excuse for being lazy in checking the adjustment by saying "Ah, it was okay before..."  Been there, done that myself plenty of times!

[] Clean up the areas where the shoes sit against the backplate and put a tiny smear of grease there.  You don't want enough that it can migrate onto the shoes over time, it's just a tiny amount more than anything to stop rust forming than anything.

[] Make sure that you have all the parts for the brakes on hand and within arm's reach.  I find the hub caps actually really useful for things like this which are associated with the wheels.

Actual assembly:

Step 1.  Put the shoes loosely in place, don't hook them over the cylinder or adjuster at this point, and thread through the lower spring.  This is the most fiddly one as the cylinder gets in the way, so makes sense to me to do it first.  Plus you're pretty much working blind.

Note that the springs both need to go BEHIND the shoes.  If you put them the other way around, they'll rub against the hub.  The lower spring has an asymmetrical design - the offset straight section sits next to the rubber boot on the hydraulic cylinder to ensure it clears it.

Step 2. 

Route one end of the top spring into the forward right hand (as you're looking at it - if you're left handed you might find switching this around works better for you) shoe.

Step 3.  This is where it gets fiddly.  Grab your favourite pair of pliers and get a hold of the spring.  You want to be as close to the end as you can get while still giving yourself enough room to actually get it through the hole in the shoe.

With a bit of patience you should be able to thread it into the left hand shoe.

...Like so.

Step 4.  Grab the shoes, hook them over the handbrake pawl (sorry, forgot to photo that), and over the adjuster at the top.  KEEP YOUR SODDING FINGERS OUT OF THE WAY.  They will snap into the adjuster with some considerable force.  Gave myself a horrible blood blister the first time I did this by making that mistake.

You can see if you look closely that the upper spring isn't sitting right.  It should loop out through the inner of the two holes and seat in the outer.  Basically ensures that it can't vibrate loose and helps to hold the shoes in the correct orientation.

Getting those back in place properly is basically a case of using a combination of a pair of pliers and sturdy screwdriver to wrangle the spring into the correct orientation.  This probably took me the longest out of anything here as it's quite fiddly and you want to be careful that you don't let the spring "ping" back through the hole.

Step 5.  Refit the retaining springs and disc clips.

You can see how the top spring is now sitting properly.

I remember these spring clips driving me absolutely spare the first time I tried to fit them - but I just seem to have got the knack of it now and they just went straight on more or less.  Think the second one took three tries or so.  Fiddly rather than difficult.

Step 6.  Grab a clean rag, soak it in some brake cleaner and give the shoes a good wipe down to remove the inevitable plethora of greasy fingerprints you've got all over them during fitting.

I prefer to wipe them down rather than spray into the assembly as there is grease in the adjuster and on the backplate that I don't want to wash off.

That's it!  You're done.  The above took me just over 25 minutes from sitting down next to the car to slotting the drum back on.

Only thing you've got to do next is to adjust the free play in the shoes.

Yes, I forgot that was left on there from when I backed the adjuster off...I wasted a good 15 minutes looking for it at this point not realising it was still attached to the brake in question.  This is a proper brake adjuster spanner by the way for those of you who might not have seen one before.

First up I operated the handbrake a few times just to let the shoes settle, then the adjuster is tightened up until the drum is just locked - then backed off until it's just free.  Basically what you're doing is making sure that the shoes are *just* clear of the drum, so there's no huge amount of space to be taken up when you either press the brake pedal or pull on the handbrake.

Then it's a case of putting the wheel back on...

...Clearing up my horrible greasy fingerprints...

...And moving on to the other side!

Except not today.  It was -2C when I started out and felt like it had got colder, so I decided that's a job for another day when it's a little warmer.  It will definitely get changed in the near future, but there's no reason I can't do a test as things are.  The nearside wheel cylinder is working fine and has a working bleed nipple, which was the reason I was changing the one above.  The drum will be removed, things checked over, the shoes given a clean up if they're glazed, and it will be properly adjusted - it's just the new cylinder installation that will wait until the weather is a little warmer.

Having a proper Lucas/Girling style reservoir now at least means that the EasyBleed now works properly rather than spewing fluid everywhere like it did when I tried to use it with the old one.

The front tyre only being inflated to 17psi means it's a convenient source of air for it too.

With everything bled through there's still a lot of dead travel there - but I'm not reading into that too far at this point as I've not touched the nearside yet and I know the handbrake had got to the stage of "pretty much useless" recently so there's definitely adjustment to be done - the front likewise hasn't been adjusted yet either. 

It's immediately apparent though that once that travel is taken up that the brakes (as best as you can tell shuffling the car a foot or three back and forth in the garage - I couldn't start the engine sadly as I'd asphyxiate Chris who was working in the adjacent room) seem to be far more positive.  If you "stamp on the pedal" the car just immediately stops now.  The reaction to that always felt somewhat soft before.  Hopefully this gives some idea...Apologies for portrait video...I had just wedged the phone among things on top of one of the light fixtures so didn't have a huge amount of choice.  I didn't decide to video it until about 3 seconds before pressing record.

You can see how much bite there is when the brakes are applied sharply though, and that the handbrake actually does something useful now.  Definitely won't be actually driven until the free-play has been eliminated though.

Assuming that the both the front and nearside brake need adjustment and that the shoes are likely to be as glazed as this pair was, we should be in a lot better place once they have had some attention.

I made a point of draining the last dregs of fluid from the old master cylinder and bagging it up so it doesn't end up getting contaminated with grit or leak fluid everywhere while in storage.

Assuming that my current setup works, this can be added to the parts stash as it's a direct replacement for the original one and works just fine.

The last job for the day before I retreated inside to regain feeling in my extremities was to see what I could do with the mangled front mudguard.

After fifteen minutes or so bashing it with a 4 lb lump hammer, we had this.

Not pretty, but once it's buried under the body and in a matt, textured paint finish it'll look just fine.  Looks a mess while the paint is still wet though!

This will dry to a satin hammered finish, so should look just fine then.  The underside has been painted as well...I couldn't see any evidence of it having ever been painted from new underneath!

I'm not going to bother trying to fix the original mounting hole.  It's an annoying fiddly design which basically requires you to remove the brake master cylinder to get to the bolt.  Instead I'm going to fit two 90 degree brackets to the trailing edge and put a couple of bolts through the bulkhead.

That's all for today.  It was a chilly enough day that rebuilding one brake drum and fixing a mudguard was enough!  Will report back once I've got the rest of the brakes gone over.

[Zelandeth]

As expected, the nearside brake shoes were quite glazed so were given a scrub up just as the ones on the other side were.  My prediction that the adjustment was "drastically in need of attention" was indeed correct.  I think I got a full three turns on it before we got to the point where the shoes came anywhere close to touching the drum.  Beyond that it was just a case of "reassemble like yesterday" and to tweak the adjustment of the offside one so they felt even.

This has vastly improved things, there's far less dead travel in the brakes now - though it's still closer to my knees than I'd like because of the essentially lost travel as the bars are starting slightly depressed.

No photos, as I was trying to get things done quickly as it was sodding cold.

The paint on the mudguard has dried up pretty much as I'd hoped.

Once it's in place I think it will be perfectly presentable.

I have now attached a bracket to it, so should be able to get it refitted soon.  I'm probably going to leave that be until I'm finished all the work up front as it gives me a bit more room to work.

I think the plan for next time I'm in the garage is to see if I can get the handlebars detached to experiment with drilling a new pivot point to attach the brake cylinder clevis pin to.  See if I can get back that bit of lost motion.  *Hoping* that won't be too massive a mission. 

To do list before the road test I think:

[] Modify brake lever pivot point to suit new master cylinder.

[] Replace the furthest forward ball joint.  I've identified that's where most of the play is - you can hear and feel it going "clonk" when you shake the drag link.

[] Fit foam padding around the top fuel tank strap.

[] Refit front mud guard.

Then I think we'll be good to go.

-- -- --

Edit: There we go, the webpage is now live on my website for the Prinztronic Mini 7 Calculator Over Here...

Smart looking little thing.

[Zelandeth]

Interesting...today the handlebars are sitting on the normal stop.  I'll need to investigate tomorrow to see what's moved or settled.  There's still more travel in the brakes than I'd like - though I think I need to clear the drive so I can actually test it under engine power as the feel is completely different.  There used to be a certain amount of dead travel then a very firm point where all the braking effort was done - whereas it feels far more progressive now.  Proper testing needed.

 

Another parcel arrived for TPA this morning which contained this.

Probably paid a bit over the odds for it, but to be honest I was willing to pay a few quid extra for a halfway decent instrument that doesn't look totally out of place anyway.  Plus this is a thermocouple type which saves me a bit of wiring and came with the sender too.

Though it was looking a little sad.

Nothing a few minutes and some heat shrink tubing couldn't sort though.

Testing it by heating the ring (gently) with a blow torch showed that it seems to work just fine.

This is a bit of a relief given how sensitive the meter has to be to measure such a tiny voltage...would be far too easy for someone to have zapped it by applying 12V at some point in its life.

With the sender fitted I did a quick test to see it was still working...all seems good.

Unfortunately I can't fully wire it in just now as I don't have enough wire in stock.  Have got some on order.  The gauge has been loosely fitted where it will live though.  Doesn't it look so much better than the mid 2000s Cheap 'n' Nasty (TM) gauges that it's currently sitting next to?

The matte finish to the glass is an immediate advantage as it's not just a mirror.  I'll be replacing the other two with something a bit more period appropriate shortly.

I think it's fair to say that TPA does have a bit of an issue with leaky valve stem oil seals.  She's absolutely fine if used regularly, but the first startup after sitting for more than a few days usually results in quite an impressive smoke screen.

Honestly not worried about it though as I've never noticed anything while driving and she doesn't use a drop of engine oil between services going by the dipstick.  Just filed under "note and monitor" for the foreseeable future unless it gets massively worse.

Having satisfied myself that the rear brake circuit is fluid-tight I buttoned back up the service hatch - finally got around to swapping out the 8mm nuts for wing nuts so I don't need tools to open it up any more.

Small detail but should save me a couple of minutes.

Last job was to try to change one of the ball joints.  Decided to go for the one on the handlebars as it's by far the easiest to get to.

Getting the locknut free did require a good belt from the big hammer but somewhat to my surprise everything came apart without much fuss at all.

Comparing it to the new ones does show a bit of a difference in the tapered section, though the length of the joint itself is identical.

I *think* this is the manufacturer cheating a little to get away with using the same part for a couple of different applications.  The top part of the taper is exactly the same size and profile as the existing one, so there will just be a bit more protruding below, with the body of the joint sitting a little lower.  Shouldn't be an issue in this application.

The only headache was the inevitable moment when the spindle started to rotate while trying to tighten up the nyloc nut.  Pair of pliers were able to provide enough friction though to get things tightened up.  Job done!

Here are the markings from the original one in case they're useful to anyone.

To be honest with a new clip for the boot and some fresh grease this one could probably do further service - though when they're so cheap you do have to wonder if it's worth it!

Not too bad for an hour and a bit.  Also gave the interior a hoover out and cleared out the plethora of tools which had built up in the cabin.

 

[Zelandeth]

Busy day today so didn't really have much time for tinkering on the cars - however there was one job which I really wanted to take advantage of the weather for - finishing putting together the paving I've currently got the Xantia parked on.  I got one side done a couple of weeks ago but stopped at that point as I was close to death.  The big issue is that the ground between where the paving slabs are currently stacked and the driveway has been completely dug up while the bamboo removal was underway and is basically a clay bog at the moment.  Currently however it's all frozen solid so far easier to walk over and wheel equipment carrying paving slabs.  The *downside* I discovered however was that the slabs were all thoroughly frozen together in the stacks, so freeing those was a bit of a battle. 

After an hour or so though I was done, and my temporary (Um...Two years and counting...) overflow parking spaces were looking a little less dodgy.

I need to split a couple of slabs to fill in at the end, but that's something I can do later.

Having a tidy space here has suddenly become a little more important as despite me needing another project about as much as I need a hole in the head it looks like another car *might* be arriving here shortly.  This is honestly more a case of an automotive refugee in need of a safe harbour though than something that I was looking for so I feel a little less guilty!

The wiring supplies I'd been waiting for arrived today so I should be able to finish wiring in the temperature gauge in the Invacar next time I get a spare hour in the garage.

[somewhatfoolish]

If you've an angry grinder a cheapo diamond blade will go through the slabs, or more practically cut 33-50% through then flip over and jump on them to break the rest.

[LightBulbFun]

13 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Busy day today so didn't really have much time for tinkering on the cars - however there was one job which I really wanted to take advantage of the weather for - finishing putting together the paving I've currently got the Xantia parked on.  I got one side done a couple of weeks ago but stopped at that point as I was close to death.  The big issue is that the ground between where the paving slabs are currently stacked and the driveway has been completely dug up while the bamboo removal was underway and is basically a clay bog at the moment.  Currently however it's all frozen solid so far easier to walk over and wheel equipment carrying paving slabs.  The *downside* I discovered however was that the slabs were all thoroughly frozen together in the stacks, so freeing those was a bit of a battle. 

After an hour or so though I was done, and my temporary (Um...Two years and counting...) overflow parking spaces were looking a little less dodgy.

I need to split a couple of slabs to fill in at the end, but that's something I can do later.

Having a tidy space here has suddenly become a little more important as despite me needing another project about as much as I need a hole in the head it looks like another car *might* be arriving here shortly.  This is honestly more a case of an automotive refugee in need of a safe harbour though than something that I was looking for so I feel a little less guilty!

The wiring supplies I'd been waiting for arrived today so I should be able to finish wiring in the temperature gauge in the Invacar next time I get a spare hour in the garage.

Ohhh exciting!  

I think you should be able to get another car in front of the Xantia

and possibly even 2 smaller cars next to it on the left

[Zelandeth]

 

5 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Ohhh exciting!  

I think you should be able to get another car in front of the Xantia

and possibly even 2 smaller cars next to it on the left

I'd *really* rather see the number going down than up...Though I'm just stuck to be honest as I like everything too damned much - and the Xantia especially is just too damn good at everything to be able to consider moving it on.  Though it's by far the biggest liability really as it's crammed full of difficult/impossible to source parts so if it were to go wrong in an interesting way I'd be in trouble.  It's also the most difficult to sell to be honest...They're really not worth anything even in immaculate condition, and this one has horrendous clearcoat peel issues and has had a partial poor respray in the past.

More likely than not what will happen at some point down the line is that something interesting on my list that's suitably versatile to take over "daily driver" duties, and I'll then consider passing it on to another enthusiast to have a chance rather than bothering trying to actually sell it.  I despise selling cars these days anyway...

Parking wise, there should be room for the new arrival where the Xantia is currently parked - it'll be moved forward to be next to the Jag.

This afternoon it was far, far too cold for anyone with even the slightest shred of common sense to be outside.  So of course I was crawling around on the floor in the garage feeding wiring through the car for the temperature gauge in the Invacar.

Fed it all through the car, then hooked up the engine end, routed it along the HT leads then jumped to the main loom that runs under the battery tray.

Then continues to follow the main front-to-rear loom down under the floor.

It is cable tied to the loom where it passes through grommets in the chassis braces under the floor, before popping back up following the handbrake cable and fuel lines as appropriate before rejoining the loom in this corner.  I'd have preferred to follow the main loom all the way up there, but that would have required removal of the fuel tank to get to...so we took the long way around.

Then into the cabin through the big grommet to the left of the handbrake cable.

Then behind the dash to the gauge itself.  Firing the engine up showed success first time.  I left the engine running at a fast idle for about 25 minutes while I was putting things back together and tidying up and this was where she settled.

Interesting to see how quickly the gauge starts coming up though, it was off the stop within about 30 seconds of starting the engine...That does a lot to highlight how much less thermal mass you have to play with on an air cooled engine.

Quite curious to see how it behaves under normal driving conditions...As I've said the actual numbers I'm not particularly worried about really unless they're massively out of the correct ball park, I just want to draw up a picture in my head of what's normal for this car, and it's if we suddenly see a departure from that I know I need to investigate something. 

After being on charge overnight the Jag started first touch today so I was finally able to shuffle cars around to get everything pointing the right direction.  Had been meaning to do that for ages. 

Interior of the Jag is absolutely soaking again...That replacement fan for the dehumidifier can't get here soon enough!

I think most of the major water ingress issues have been resolved now, though I do still have a bit getting in through the doors (the weather sheets in them are both wrecked), so will try to get that sorted soon.  The carpets have been removed for the last couple of weeks so they don't just behave as giant sponges.

[Zelandeth]

Have had a few people express various concerns at the routing of the temperature sender wiring along the HT lead.  Fair enough, it just seemed a logical routing at the time given the sender is attached to the plug.  I'll reroute it this afternoon if I get time.

[dollywobbler]

Bit late to this, after a rather trying week, but many thanks for that Invacar brake breakdown. Very useful. I've also got a spring not quite home on one of the shoes, and it's been fine for some 4000 miles now. I need to do a full strip down, clear the rust and crud off the backing plate and lube then reassemble - hopefully on Monday, when it should be a little milder...

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Bit late to this, after a rather trying week, but many thanks for that Invacar brake breakdown. Very useful. I've also got a spring not quite home on one of the shoes, and it's been fine for some 4000 miles now. I need to do a full strip down, clear the rust and crud off the backing plate and lube then reassemble - hopefully on Monday, when it should be a little milder...

No worries.  As I've said it's no workshop manual and your mileage may vary...that's just the sequence I've found easiest.  Still fiddly as all hell but that's true of any work on brakes I think.

Think I've generally been quite lucky with the brakes on TPA really.

[dollywobbler]

I do now have some proper brake spring pliers, so it'll be interesting to see if they help.

[Zelandeth]

38 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

I do now have some proper brake spring pliers, so it'll be interesting to see if they help.

They should make getting the top spring on an order of magnitude easier I'd think.

Getting that spring seated properly is quite important I think - as if it's not the tendency will be for it to try to pull the shoes together in a V shape (looking from above/below) rather than in a linear fashion.

Just got back in from half an hour the garage, coming to the conclusion that it's WAY too damned cold out there to do anything else.  Whole fleet was meant to be getting a fluids and visual check over...but screw that it's too damned cold!  Air temperature isn't too bad (hovering around freezing) but that wind is like a bloody knife.

A few people on a couple of forums had expressed concerns about my using the HT leads as a convenient thing to tether nearby wiring to so I went and removed 3928236348 cable ties and had a bit of a reshuffle of that whole corner.

HT leads are now completely clear of anything else.

Really should give them a clean too to get rid of the dust from the bodywork as I'm sure that's just waiting to behave like a sponge first time they get wet.

[Zelandeth]

Some important fleet news...

Right now absolutely the last thing I need is another car.  Much less another *project* car.  Never mind one that's not had an MOT since 2011 and currently has serious running issues.

So why on earth is a car fitting the above description getting delivered to me later this week? 

Simply put, because it was an automotive refugee in search of a safe harbour due to an impending loss of storage.  It's also a car which has been on my wish list since I was about five.

Yep, it's the very beige BX14 RE from this thread over here.

Photo from the thread.

So plan...um... don't really know at this point!  It's hard to make a long term plan for a car you've never seen!

Long term I simply don't have room for another car.  At least not without resorting to off-site parking which isn't ideal.  A thorough assessment will follow once it's here though obviously step 1 irrespective of anything else will be addressing the running issue, which I've already got a couple of ideas for.

The list as I know it at the moment:

[] Severe misfire.

[] Issue with the steering rack.  Not sure if it's a wear problem or if it's peeing LHM everywhere.

[] Some rust scabs on the lower of the doors.

[] Judging from the previous MOT it doesn't look like the odometer is working... really hoping it's just a cable issue as finding replacement bits for a Series 1 BX dash will be a tall order I expect. 

I'll be keeping an eye out anyway as being in a relatively low trim I don't believe this will have a temperature gauge...and that's an instrument I *really* dislike being without.  Equally though I despise tacked on aftermarket stuff... especially on a car with such a beautifully designed dash as an early BX.

[] Door card fabric looks to have started to decompose...but at least they should be fairly simple to rebuild if necessary.

[] Rear bumper needs painting.

Sure there are a million other things I'll find once it's here.

 

Unless I find myself becoming immediately attached to it (which let's face it...this is me, it's entirely possible) it will probably eventually be offered back on here...I just can't be done with dealing with selling cars to the general public these days...plus given this car has been part of the forum since 2017 and is so brilliantly colour co-ordinated I'd rather see it stay here.  If it doesn't end up staying on my fleet long term anyway!

Hopefully it won't be too far from an MOTable standard.  I know a lot of work has been done over the last few years by the previous custodians of this car so it would be really nice for for everyone involved if I could do the final push to get it done.

[Mrs6C]

Well done!

[LightBulbFun]

57 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Some important fleet news...

Right now absolutely the last thing I need is another car.  Much less another *project* car.  Never mind one that's not had an MOT since 2011 and currently has serious running issues.

So why on earth is a car fitting the above description getting delivered to me later this week? 

Simply put, because it was an automotive refugee in search of a safe harbour due to an impending loss of storage.  It's also a car which has been on my wish list since I was about five.

Yep, it's the very beige BX14 RE from this thread over here.

Photo from the thread.

So plan...um... don't really know at this point!  It's hard to make a long term plan for a car you've never seen!

Long term I simply don't have room for another car.  At least not without resorting to off-site parking which isn't ideal.  A thorough assessment will follow once it's here though obviously step 1 irrespective of anything else will be addressing the running issue, which I've already got a couple of ideas for.

The list as I know it at the moment:

[] Severe misfire.

[] Issue with the steering rack.  Not sure if it's a wear problem or if it's peeing LHM everywhere.

[] Some rust scabs on the lower of the doors.

[] Judging from the previous MOT it doesn't look like the odometer is working... really hoping it's just a cable issue as finding replacement bits for a Series 1 BX dash will be a tall order I expect. 

I'll be keeping an eye out anyway as being in a relatively low trim I don't believe this will have a temperature gauge...and that's an instrument I *really* dislike being without.  Equally though I despise tacked on aftermarket stuff... especially on a car with such a beautifully designed dash as an early BX.

[] Door card fabric looks to have started to decompose...but at least they should be fairly simple to rebuild if necessary.

[] Rear bumper needs painting.

Sure there are a million other things I'll find once it's here.

 

Unless I find myself becoming immediately attached to it (which let's face it...this is me, it's entirely possible) it will probably eventually be offered back on here...I just can't be done with dealing with selling cars to the general public these days...plus given this car has been part of the forum since 2017 and is so brilliantly colour co-ordinated I'd rather see it stay here.  If it doesn't end up staying on my fleet long term anyway!

Hopefully it won't be too far from an MOTable standard.  I know a lot of work has been done over the last few years by the previous custodians of this car so it would be really nice for for everyone involved if I could do the final push to get it done.

Oh thats very awesome! I hope to see it in person and maybe even drive it, id like to think its one of the more insurance friendly cars on your fleet!

 

an old family friend of ours used to have a white BX (still does maybe? my mum asked him about it for me and a couple years ago and he offered it to me for free if could fix it! I must chase that up some day, I feel bad for not chasing it up then and flinging it here on the Forum, sadly I dont have the capabilities to take on a Broken BX myself!)

it replaced a couple DS's he used to have

well he had 1 DS, that sadly got written off, so we all badgered him to buy the Grey DS that used to live in the area so he did (although none of us where particularly into cars then, we all loved his DS so we had to make sure he got another LOL) and then eventually it was replaced by the Aforementioned BX  

those DS's and the BX I think are the only old cars I ever rode around in as a child, I remember being fascinated by the DS's Yellow head lamps that could MOVE and same with the hydropneumatic suspension that somehow convinced me the car could float on water...

ahh good memories  (I specifically remember riding with him in the BX as we drove around London Late at night trying to find a shop still open that would sell a 2D lamp to me for my collection LOL)

 

EDIT: just noticed its Essex registered

like an Invacar