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

[LightBulbFun]

On 09/12/2020 at 17:15, Zelandeth said:

The run out yesterday went largely to plan but was marred slightly by the indicator stalk making a bid for freedom shortly before I got home.  The stock mounting arrangement for this is at best "flimsy" thanks to it relying on two self tapping screws fastened into the plastic of the stalk assembly (bakelite?).

Using a nut and bolt isn't really an option due to the proximity of the terminals for the indicator switched circuits to the hole in the body where the fastener lives.

If you find a bolt with a really shallow head you might just about be able to get away with it, just.  Nothing I have in stock is small enough though.

I've a couple of ideas in mind, but the first one I wanted to try was tried today...Drill the holes out, tap them properly and stick a bolt of a carefully measured length in.

Step one...drill out and tap the holes.

Result was a nice clean thread.

I went with a standard M6 thread as I had fasteners that size in stock, and it seemed a decent step up but without risking taking too much meat out of the assembly I was trying to secure.  Also was the biggest I could get away without having to also drill out the holes in the metal back plate.

A healthy dose of thread lock was added before bolting things together.

I took the opportunity to tap out the holes in the backing plate that the plastic cover attaches too so I could get that securely fixed and get rid of two rusty fasteners.

Much better.

Washers were fitted there to both keep the end of the bolt where I wanted it (precisely level with the end of the threaded hole) and to allow me to actually tighten things up without the bolts disappearing into the recessed hole in the backplate.

Really need to get some paint and touch in the space where this switch used to live.

Likewise I need to get a bit more loom tape in and extend the covering on the loom to the stalk the last few inches to the back of the switch.

Nice to be rid of a couple more of the list of rusty fasteners in the cabin too.

Historically the baseplate always wobbled around a bit when the switch was used.  Reckon this is why it was able to work loose over time.  It now seems to be rather more solid from the looks of things.

Hopefully this will stay put this time.  If not I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve...but they're rather more of a bodge. whereas I feel that this is more just an improvement on the original setup.  I need to pick up more dog food tomorrow so will probably take her out to carry out that trip unless the weather is horrible so we can see if it works then.

 

just curious how well has this fix held up for you? and do you recall what length of M6 bolt you used?  as I think ill be looking to replicate this, as REV's indicator stalk has similarly gone a bit floppy, despite my best efforts to try and fix it otherwise!

looking at how it looks and feels I think its its pretty clear that the threads have just stripped out on my indicator stalk (which itself is a modern replacement, some probably has plastic made from the finest cheese)

[Zelandeth]

49 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

just curious how well has this fix held up for you? and do you recall what length of M6 bolt you used?  as I think ill be looking to replicate this, as REV's indicator stalk has similarly gone a bit floppy, despite my best efforts to try and fix it otherwise!

looking at how it looks and feels I think its its pretty clear that the threads have just stripped out on my indicator stalk (which itself is a modern replacement, some probably has plastic made from the finest cheese)

Afraid if I did take note of the length of the bolts I used I've long lost that information.

I do remember having to shim it out slightly with a washer on at least one of them as when I first tried things one was too long and touching one of the contacts, leading to the indicators on one side being stuck on.  The bolts most likely were just plucked from the drawer of random fasteners in the garage though rather than something I picked up for the job.

The stalk design itself just isn't great - those screws were always going to be a big weak point.  The hope is that using an M6 thread gave a lot more threads than the self tapper so will be stronger.  So far it's still holding up.

[Zelandeth]

Been very little going on lately.  Though I need to do a bit of inspection on the Volvo as I noticed this when playing automotive Tetris this afternoon.

That oily spot appears to have come from the offside of the Volvo engine bay.  Ignore the general staining etc, that dates back to the XJ-S which had more oil leaks than I could count.

Helpfully all of the under trays are still present, so between that and not much ground clearance don't imagine I'll see much from underneath.  Will pull the top cover off first as that's easiest to get to.  Hopefully just a cam cover gasket or something relatively simple like that.

Given it was a dry day I made an excuse to get TPA out for a run.

Who knew Hyundai i10s were so big...

In other news I put together a little enclosure for some of the (utterly pointless) meters that were going to live above my workstation a week or two back.  This was done not least as part of a tidying exercise that got both the random project box and two of the three meters out of the way.

Rough and ready, and only fit two meters.  Fast forward to yesterday when I found an ideal candidate for something which would fit all three.  Random old bulkhead light fitting with a cracked diffuser.

End result?

I'll take that.  There's definitely enjoyment to be had in making something new out of something old, broken and otherwise destined for the recycling bin.

Current meter barely moves to be honest, even with both desktop PCs running, the scanner, the various attached lights etc it barely touches 1.5A, only time it really jumps up is when the printer actually runs the fuser while printing when that pulls around 6A.  I'd probably been better using a 5A meter and just keeping the printer separate if I wanted to actually see the needle moving.

It's all *utterly* pointless though, and only exists because I want it to and because I had a voucher for RS that was going to expire and randomly made the discovery that these panel meters were nowhere near as expensive as I'd expected.  Who knows, if I run the house off a generator at some point I might actually see the frequency meter move a bit.