Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 20/03

[SiC]

Surely there isn't anything that special about that exhaust pipe? No idea of the diameter but I'd imagine any exhaust place could cut and bend something similar to shape and then couple onto the existing.

[Zelandeth]

59 minutes ago, SiC said:

Surely there isn't anything that special about that exhaust pipe? No idea of the diameter but I'd imagine any exhaust place could cut and bend something similar to shape and then couple onto the existing.

It's a very simple system as far as I can tell.  Only special bits are the heat exchanger/expansion chamber assembly and maaaaaaaaybe the silencer - no idea if it's constructed any differently to the one on a "normal" system.

The front to rear pipe is split here - I'm assuming for ease of shipping.

I've struggled a bit before to find anywhere here locally that would touch exhaust stuff if they couldn't just buy new stuff themselves off the shelf unless we were talking building a whole new system in stainless for £££. That's exactly why both the Lada and Merc S123 left me with slightly blowing exhausts.

Biggest challenge I'd likely run into if getting a system made would be finding anywhere that stocks small enough tubing.  Standard system is 38mm, the normal upgrade is 45mm apparently.

[cort1977]

Jetex Exhausts Ltd – Products

Jetex sell exhaust parts and seem to have some 38mm.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Shame Trabantwelt aren't still doing their stainless systems...

Good work on it as usual Zel... funny you changing the bumpers over, I went the other way!  You'll definitely be able to sell your wavy ones on the forum I suspect!  Although I'd keep them in the garage myself, you never know!

Must get mine out for a run, could do with a two-stroke pick-me-up!

[Zelandeth]

6 hours ago, TrabbieRonnie said:

Shame Trabantwelt aren't still doing their stainless systems...

Good work on it as usual Zel... funny you changing the bumpers over, I went the other way!  You'll definitely be able to sell your wavy ones on the forum I suspect!  Although I'd keep them in the garage myself, you never know!

Must get mine out for a run, could do with a two-stroke pick-me-up!

There were many occasions in my life where I would have happily just stowed them away so that they could stay with the car if it were to move on in the future so any future owner could do as they choose.  However given how far beyond critical mass my garage already is, stowing more "stuff" in there just isn't practical.  I really need to get rid of things rather than hoard more.

8 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Jetex Exhausts Ltd – Products

Jetex sell exhaust parts and seem to have some 38mm.

Noted, I'll keep that in mind.  Hopefully it will just be the "mid" section running between the heat exchanger and the silencer that needs changing as that's pretty simple and hopefully wouldn't be a major headache to have made up.  There are several slight bends in it (the pipe dips down slightly under the front subframe, and angles up to meet the silencer where it's tucked up in front of the rear suspension) which would need to be reasonably precise for it to fit right so I'd probably look to get it made up rather than trying to cobble something together myself, inevitably making a hash of it and ending up having to pay someone to afterwards anyway!

[Verysleepyboy]

I know a guy in Litchborough just up the A5 who can make up exhaust for you in SS - just order the parts from https://www.304stainlessexhaustparts.com/ and he can fab up anything, even possibly a new heat exchanger.

Usually works on old VWs but can turn his hand to most things.

[Zelandeth]

On 11/03/2025 at 11:30, TrabbieRonnie said:

Shame Trabantwelt aren't still doing their stainless systems...

Good work on it as usual Zel... funny you changing the bumpers over, I went the other way!  You'll definitely be able to sell your wavy ones on the forum I suspect!  Although I'd keep them in the garage myself, you never know!

Must get mine out for a run, could do with a two-stroke pick-me-up!

It really is such a subjective thing, and I think one of the fun aspects of a car which had such a long run in that you have the option to do things like that so easily.  

3 hours ago, Verysleepyboy said:

I know a guy in Litchborough just up the A5 who can make up exhaust for you in SS - just order the parts from https://www.304stainlessexhaustparts.com/ and he can fab up anything, even possibly a new heat exchanger.

Usually works on old VWs but can turn his hand to most things.

Cheers for that, that could be very useful indeed.  Knowledge of local folks with specialist skills like that is invaluable, and I'd always rather support someone like that than some random national chain if I've got the choice.

Car will be going up on the ramps shortly to deal with the rust in the one corner so I'll take the opportunity to properly inspect the rest of the system and make a call then on how much is getting changed.  Though I do like the idea of just throwing stainless on there and never having to worry about it again!

-- -- --

The throttle cable routing I'd chosen didn't work.  It put enough tension on the cable that it wouldn't return fully to idle properly.  Helpfully I did realise that there was *one* thing in the right area I could just zip tie the cable to - one of the springs that holds the rear of the engine shroud on.

That seems to have done the trick.

I noticed yesterday that she seemed a bit unwilling to initially rev up from idle from a sharp throttle input - that to me says "I want more fuel." Adding choke immediately made things better, which added further credence to my logic.

It's easy to tweak the base mixture setting on this carb as there are several (five?) notches which determine the needle height relative to the slide.  It was set to the highest slot as supplied, which is the leanest option.  I've moved it down by one notch (which effectively lifts the needle a bit), and that definitely seems to have made the throttle response snappier.  I'm actually pondering going a slot further then reading the plugs after a few runs - two stroke engines being what they are given the choice I'd always choose leaning towards rich than lean.  The odd fouled plug is far easier to fix than melted pistons!

Another horrible mid rev range buzz has been eliminated, which turned out to be the heat exchanger touching the air dam under the bumper.  A very clearly not new rub mark there tells me that mine isn't the first bit of exhaust to do that.  A little brute force was applied and has given a bit of extra clearance.

She seems to have settled down a bit now things have worn in a bit.  

 

Still a decent number of things on the to do list, but we're getting there!

Fitting the new door window seals so they STOP BLOODY RATTLING is probably next on the list.

[Zelandeth]

The Trabant has gone off for a little vacation with @Andyrew who is very kindly taking care of the welding needed on the underbody.

This was slightly nerve wracking as it meant going out of town on a main road for the first time since the engine change.  The difference in both noise level and ease with which she now sits at 50-55 compared to before the work was done really is night and day.  Still not a *relaxed* experience by any means, but the car definitely sounds several orders of magnitude less like it's imminently about to fly apart than it did.

While the Trabant is away, this has followed me home.

Really is quite a charming little thing.

It's a long time since I spent any real time in a car with hydrolastic suspension, I really had honestly forgotten how nicely the system works.  Really does float along just soaking up bumps in a way that just nothing modern I can think of comes close to.

[Zelandeth]

You all know that nothing arrives on my driveway without some tinkering (or at least curious nosing around) happening.

Something I was made aware of on the VP was that it was leaking oil.  Turns out it was leaking a LOT of oil.  It was literally dripping off the front valance, bumper and nearside suspension when I got home.  Hadn't just dropped on the driveway after I'd parked - but enough bad pooled that it also ran out from under the car and off the edge of the drive.  Echoes of the Jag!

It had also gone from slightly over full on the dipstick to well below minimum in about an hour's driving.

I know @Andyrew had had issues with the main seal on the oil filter housing (new one being the wrong size I think he said), but that tightening it up had stopped that from weeping.

Examining it more closely showed that it was indeed looking reasonably dry there, but there was just so much oil bloody everywhere it was kind of hard to tell.

Wiping it down and taking a look (carefully - given both the fan and alternator are going to be after your knuckles here) quickly found that oil was basically peeing out from between the filter body and the mounting bolt.

It was then being picked up by the airflow from the fan, finely atomised and distributed liberally over the whole front of the car.

This also turned out to be due to crappy o-rings - the one at the bolt end was way too small and not making contact with anything.  It was also so brittle that it just fell apart.

Swapping that out for a slightly chunkier one and wiping everything down seems to have sorted it.  Still looking bone dry there after a few errands were run today.

I've had plenty of issues myself like this - and it's usually down to crappy consumables that come with filters etc these days.  Or indeed them bot even bothering to include all the washers/o-rings you need with the filters - I know on the P4 you needed three and they only gave you two with the filter.

That was oil leak number 1 fixed.  While looking at that one after the test run...spotted another one!

The pressure take off for the oil pressure gauge was wiggling.  It had almost completely unscrewed itself from the reducer boss, which had *also* almost unscrewed itself from the block.  Have nipped those both back up (being careful not to twist the line), and that also appears to now be oil tight   Haven't had that happen with something like this before, but I HAVE had it happen with a spark plug.

It's kind of hard to tell whether I have fully stopped everything as there's just so much spread over things in the vicinity that it's probably going to be dripping now and then for ages, especially off the valance which has acted as a nice little gutter to catch it.  As far I'm aware though it's now about as oil tight as an A-Series can really be expected to be in the real world.

Really is a charming little car.  The ADO16 is a car which I'd always kind of overlooked before, but I can really see why they're popular.   Aside from their tendency for water soluble subframes I really could see one of these being a car you could happily use every day.  Looks  distinctive, really easy to drive, and the suspension does an absolutely fantastic job of dealing with the utterly wrecked roads around here.  Gave a friend a lift to an appointment in it today and that was one of the first things they picked up on. 

[Andyrew]

Excellent work,  thanks!  Glad your are enjoying it. The auto box is naff but charming at the same time and makes it so easy to drive.  

I'd been googling seals for the end, as that style of housing is fairly common on BL tat. 2.25 land rover one was my next step.

Really wished I'd left the oil filter alone before scotland as it only had the tiniest of weeps before. 

[GlenAnderson]

My sister had an 1100, back in the late 80s when they were a £50 disposable car. It was, as you say, lovely to drive (although the worn out crossplies weren’t exactly confidence inspiring). Terminal tinworm saw it scrapped when its MoT ran out, sadly, as it simply wasn’t worth repairing. 

[SiC]

They made loads of them, so must have been pretty good to be so popular. There isn't supposed to be many left and there isn't that many on the roads. However barn/garage finds always seem to be popping out of the woodwork! 

I think because they were loved by their owners that when they failed MOTs, they were parked up and kept with the expectation of bringing them back to the road. Loved because a combination of driving well especially compared to pre-60s porridge, but I think also because of the 60s economic boom, it was the first owned brand new car for many people. 

They are a car that really gets under your skin. Especially mine - I think most know I have a big fascination with them! I've had two and definitely would have a another. Not least the first (purple 1100) I didn't get back on the road before needing to sell (selling my house and now owned by Sharley on here) and then the second (blue 1100) that I bought during COVID and so didn't get much use (lockdowns) before several reasons meant it had to go (medical bills/garage door/bought a BMW E28). Not only they're great to drive (helped by a direct connection to the steering rack like a Mini) but pretty simple things to work on. Engine bays have plenty of room and the mechanical suspension/steering setup is trivially simple. Just metal work you need to keep an eye on - but the shell is a simple design. Then they're also a readily affordable to buy, especially compared to a similar aged Mini.

I'd say it's a shame they didn't become quite a cult classic like a Mini but then they'd be a lot more expensive to buy.

[Six-cylinder]

12 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Really is a charming little car.  The ADO16 is a car which I'd always kind of overlooked before, but I can really see why they're popular.   Aside from their tendency for water soluble subframes I really could see one of these being a car you could happily use every day.  Looks  distinctive, really easy to drive, and the suspension does an absolutely fantastic job of dealing with the utterly wrecked roads around here.  Gave a friend a lift to an appointment in it today and that was one of the first things they picked up on. 

Water soluble subframes is the reason I hide my Morris 1300 away over the winter, it will be out again soon doing errands. I totally agree with you comment "happily use every day".

[Volksy]

I remember doing Leeds to Newquay in an MG1100 many years ago. 

It coped admirably and we all arrived pretty fresh given we only stopped for fuel. I remember the cabin was really light and airy which I'm sure helped.

[Zelandeth]

14 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Excellent work,  thanks!  Glad your are enjoying it. The auto box is naff but charming at the same time and makes it so easy to drive.  

I'd been googling seals for the end, as that style of housing is fairly common on BL tat. 2.25 land rover one was my next step.

Really wished I'd left the oil filter alone before scotland as it only had the tiniest of weeps before. 

No worries.  I always enjoy getting loaned different cars, and if I can ever hand them back in even a tiny bit better shape than they arrived it makes me happy.

Is there a spin on filter conversion available for this exact variation on this engine?  Given the faffing about with several seals and trying to line everything up while reassembling it, that seems a worthy upgrade.  

It does feel like the gearbox could do with some adjustment - I know these are pretty dim witted at the best of time, but it really feels like it could do with waiting another 5mph before dropping into top.  It is a long number of years though since I last drove an automatic A-Series, and that was in a Metro - so it's entirely likely a fair number of changes had happened in the intervening 20 years between the two cars.  I'm also far, far from an expert.

12 hours ago, SiC said:

They made loads of them, so must have been pretty good to be so popular. There isn't supposed to be many left and there isn't that many on the roads. However barn/garage finds always seem to be popping out of the woodwork! 

I think because they were loved by their owners that when they failed MOTs, they were parked up and kept with the expectation of bringing them back to the road. Loved because a combination of driving well especially compared to pre-60s porridge, but I think also because of the 60s economic boom, it was the first owned brand new car for many people. 

They are a car that really gets under your skin. Especially mine - I think most know I have a big fascination with them! I've had two and definitely would have a another. Not least the first (purple 1100) I didn't get back on the road before needing to sell (selling my house and now owned by Sharley on here) and then the second (blue 1100) that I bought during COVID and so didn't get much use (lockdowns) before several reasons meant it had to go (medical bills/garage door/bought a BMW E28). Not only they're great to drive (helped by a direct connection to the steering rack like a Mini) but pretty simple things to work on. Engine bays have plenty of room and the mechanical suspension/steering setup is trivially simple. Just metal work you need to keep an eye on - but the shell is a simple design. Then they're also a readily affordable to buy, especially compared to a similar aged Mini.

I'd say it's a shame they didn't become quite a cult classic like a Mini but then they'd be a lot more expensive to buy.

Definitely preferable to me to a Mini.  For a start, I actually fit in one (even without the extra travel on this driver's seat) which I don't in a Mini.  Secondly, you can actually buy one for sane money, unlike a Mini.  I'd never even look at a classic Mini mainly for that reason, but I have to admit I'll definitely be keeping half an eye on these now.

11 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Water soluble subframes is the reason I hide my Morris 1300 away over the winter, it will be out again soon doing errands. I totally agree with you comment "happily use every day".

Will be even more interesting to compare to your one now, if my memory of where the various BMC brands were positioned is right, that and the VP would basically have been at opposite ends of the scale wouldn't they?  Just be interesting to see how the feel of the two compares.

[Six-cylinder]

14 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Will be even more interesting to compare to your one now, if my memory of where the various BMC brands were positioned is right, that and the VP would basically have been at opposite ends of the scale wouldn't they?  Just be interesting to see how the feel of the two compares.

You had to bring that up, yes I have got the poverty model and the 2 door saved another £26 over the 4 door!😁

In April 1968 my Morris 1300 listed at £698 and the VP1300 Auto at £1135.

But I still win because I have the red strip speedo!

[SiC]

13 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I have to admit I'll definitely be keeping half an eye on these now.

Worth keeping an eye on here:

https://www.the1100club.com/marketplace.php

Club resources are great. Full manuals and loads of technical info behind the login. I still subscribe as the magazine is quite a good read too - one of the better club magazines.

It's a shame Issigonis ignored Pressed Steels warnings on the rot traps and he thought he knew better. Definitely a car that it's a good idea to know how to weld. Or just get a garaged queen.

[High Jetter]

46 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

You had to bring that up, yes I have got the poverty model and the 2 door saved another £26 over the 4 door!😁

In April 1968 my Morris 1300 listed at £698 and the VP1300 Auto at £1135.

But I still win because I have the red strip speedo!

They all drove pretty much the same tho, apart from the twin carbs. Kestrels were aptly named, at the time

[Zelandeth]

18 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

You had to bring that up, yes I have got the poverty model and the 2 door saved another £26 over the 4 door!😁

In April 1968 my Morris 1300 listed at £698 and the VP1300 Auto at £1135.

But I still win because I have the red strip speedo!

Probably a much more true to its roots version of the car, price tags be damned.  Really eye opening to see the list price was nearly doubled!  

Had this out on errands duty again today and checked in on our oil leak situation when the car had sat for half an hour or so when we got home.

Oil filter side is now dry.  There were two single dots (below the L) which from the location I think are probably from a bit of webpage from the crankshaft seal as that area is a little damp.  That's absolutely within the "just keep an eye on it in case it gets worse" realm though.  Ignore the patch below the 3, that's from several days ago.

There was a little puddle on the driver's side though (even though you can't really see it in that photo).  This had come from...the oil pressure capillary tube union again.  Which once again was loose enough I could wiggle it by hand.

Actually cleaning up the area around it properly revealed the cause of the problem.  This was originally sealed to the block with a fibre washer, which had completely disintegrated.

Didn't have another fibre one on hand, but I did have plenty of copper washers in a variety of sizes so have substituted one of them.  Did manage to slip a spanner off when tightening the connection to the gauge onto the boss though which really irks me as it's taken a distinct chunk out of one edge of the union.  My knuckles didn't look much better either.

No signs of any seepage after another 30 minute test run.  So hopefully this will *stay* fixed this time.  Do have to wonder how long that had been leaking for.

Definitely nothing wrong with the oil pressure on this car.

Interesting to see that they seem to have used the same oil pump to feed the transmission, as it clearly drops by about 25psi briefly when you select drive or reverse before the relevant solenoid engages.

Found this in the glove box when I chucked something in there today.

Which I recognise as being the lamp which should illuminate the heater controls, which I'd noticed were lacking in the lighting department when I photographed things for the dash at night thread.  Brief moment of standing on my head confirmed the wiring was there, and when plugged in it worked.

This initially wouldn't fit into the housing though as the lamp fitted was physically too large.

Had a quick rummage in my stash and found a smaller lamp which should do just fine.  It is a bit lower wattage, but should be sufficient for the job I think.

So that's now also working.

Finding how effective or not will have to wait until after dark obviously.  If it's *too* dim I'll have a further dig to see if I have another one that's closer to the original wattage.

[captain_70s]

Illuminated heater controls?! Very swish, Triumph didn't bother with that shit in the 70s, you just have to remember the control layout and grasp around in the dark for them...

 

[SiC]

Don't go too high as it might melt things! In my experience in changing bulbs on old stuff, most of this lighted stuff is pretty dim. Just with modern lighting making it appear dim to the modern eye.

I was reading up on the automatic box the other day on the 1100 club. The pump actually pressurises the valve body at 100psi for forward gears and that rises to 150psi for reverse. There is a take off point on the oil filter to allow reading that. The valve body then regulates down for the main engine. This is why the filter is so big and different to the standard manual filters. Also why you can't retrofit a spin on filter as they're not designed to take anywhere near enough pressure these require.

There even was provision (I think on the earlier and removed on the later) for an additional pump that allowed tow starting the car.

 

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

Don't go too high as it might melt things! In my experience in changing bulbs on old stuff, most of this lighted stuff is pretty dim. Just with modern lighting making it appear dim to the modern eye.

I was reading up on the automatic box the other day on the 1100 club. The pump actually pressurises the valve body at 100psi for forward gears and that rises to 150psi for reverse. There is a take off point on the oil filter to allow reading that. The valve body then regulates down for the main engine. This is why the filter is so big and different to the standard manual filters. Also why you can't retrofit a spin on filter as they're not designed to take anywhere near enough pressure these require.

There even was provision (I think on the earlier and removed on the later) for an additional pump that allowed tow starting the car.

 

What a strange setup!  Probably does explain why we ended up with such a horrendous leak from the filter housing though from something I'd have expected to maybe cause a bit of a weep.  If it's seeing raw pump output pressure the whole time that would explain I. 

I'd just assumed in my head that BL had just crammed a normal auto box in there with a few concessions to packaging maybe - but hadn't realised that it was quite so designed for the purpose from the get go as if it's handling things like the engine lubrication it seems to have been.  Surprising that they went with the added complexity of making it a four speed as well that far back, given three seemed to be the norm and worked fine for so much of the market for another 20+ years.

I definitely get the impression that this one could do with some governor adjustment if nothing else, as I'm pretty sure that even by the standards of the time it goes up through the gears far too quickly - you're in top by about 25mph, and that doesn't seem to really be materially influenced by the throttle position.  That I think is probably a bit to deeply involved for me to go twiddling though, especially given that from what I've heard (which admittedly is probably about 90% internet and pub gossip rather than anything that's fact checked) these aren't the most robust of gearboxes.  So I'm resisting the temptation to go and see if there's any obvious adjustment method on that throttle to governor linkage...

The lamp that was in the holder when I found it was a 5W example - the one which I've fitted is 2.3W - a strange value, but that's what's printed on it!  It's pretty dim, but does what you need it to - which is just to allow you to see where things are - the controls are so simple in this you don't really need anything else.  Camera has made it look a little brighter than in person.

I'll take that over cold white LEDs in everything that seems to be the norm these days.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

these aren't the most robust of gearboxes

The things that immediately strikes me are it's complexity and the fact all that complexity with all those hydraulic flows is being fed with oil contaminated with combustion by products. These engines while durable, aren't exactly the closest tolerances and not the cleanest combusting lumps. Add in to that many people never (even back in the 60s/70s) bother changing engine oil especially as they become rusty old bangers.

I read somewhere that the problem with British cars of the 60s/70s/80s/etc isn't just that some were poorly made but just as much that they're simple, tough designs that take a lot of abuse which led to maintenance being less rigorous than it might have should been. I think there is a bit of truth in that. 

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

the one which I've fitted is 2.3W

Yeah I always remember playing with those screw in bulbs and the associated white bulb holders as a child and wondering why an odd value. Presumably it must be something to do with a common filament size/length you can fit in those E10 bulb envelopes while making it reliable. 

[LightBulbFun]

45 minutes ago, SiC said:

Yeah I always remember playing with those screw in bulbs and the associated white bulb holders as a child and wondering why an odd value. Presumably it must be something to do with a common filament size/length you can fit in those E10 bulb envelopes while making it reliable. 

usually you get odd wattage ratings in lightbulbs when your targeting specific lumen levels,  for example back in the days of incandescent street lighting in the USA, they had street lighting bulb rated in fixed lumen rating, and then you had a number of lamp-life options to suit your replacement scheme

so for example see how the 1000 lumen lamp has a wattage raiting of 85W or 92W depending on if its a 1500 hour or 3000 hour lamp

and this difference in wattage when the lamp-life changes, comes from the fact that an incandescent lightbulb the hotter you run the filament the more efficient it is at producing visible light for a given amount of input energy *but* the hotter you run the filament the faster it evaporates and will burn out, so you could run the filament cooler, but then you lose efficiency 

so if your trying to target a fixed light level, say you want 1000 lumens, the hotter you run the filament the less watts you need to put into it to get your 1000 lumens, but the shorter the filament will last, conversely if you want it to last a long time you could run the filament cooler, but you would need to put more energy (watts) into it to get the desired 1000 lumens

 

you can similarly also get odd wattage ratings if you have a lamp designed to draw a fixed current for example a 12V 0.3A lamp would draw 3.6W, sometimes you get lightbulbs that are designed just on current raiting and a fixed lumen output, so you get weird voltage and wattage raitings, going back to the USA, the series streetlighting bulbs are a key example of that, they had systems where all the streetlights in a circuit where wired in series and driven by a constant current regulator 6.6A was the most common rating (and still often found in airport/airfield lighting)

 

 

so going back to that 2.3W panel lamp, it was probably designed to target a specific current or lumen value for a specific lamp life hence its seemingly oddball/non round wattage value  

 

another perhaps more familiar  example is look at a Halogen H4 lamp, and see how that 12V ones are 55W/60W, but 24V ones are 70W/75W (because the higher you go in lamp voltage the less efficient it becomes, so to maintain the same  H4 lumen value they have to raise the wattage)  

 

hopefully this makes sense!  

[Zelandeth]

0.3A was also a popular rating to see for panel lamps in the 40s-70s as it was quite common to use a 0.3A series heater chain in valve equipment like radios and TVs.

As with everything in the field of lamp making, nothing happens by accident!

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

0.3A was also a popular rating to see for panel lamps in the 40s-70s as it was quite common to use a 0.3A series heater chain in valve equipment like radios and TVs.

As with everything in the field of lamp making, nothing happens by accident!

and for miniature/panel lamps thats just the very tip of the ice-berg! there were gazilions* of miniature lamp types, see these 2 catalogs for starters (which also have some nice technical detail/explanation sections throughout, for those curious about that sort of things  ) 

https://www.techni-lux.com/files/documents/lit/zzal1001.pdf

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/GE/GE-Specialty-Lamps-1983.CV01.pdf

 

*which makes things fun when you have to replace one, most recently for example I was approached by someone who is deeply into their model trains/locomotives, and needed explicitly very specific type of miniture lamp used almost exclusively with these these models to the point of being marked "For toy train" in those catalogs above

thankfully once you figure out the ratings of the lamp or its catalog number/most common part number, something can usually be tracked down  so when I got the voltage current and cap type of the failed lamp, I was then able to go through the catalog above get its catalog number and quite easily find some old stock on eBay etc (and from its more detailed specs, I was able to suggest possible nearest neighbour replacements)

[Zelandeth]

Okay, time to start doing something about actually getting the Renault ready to move on.  

Step one was to stick the battery on to charge as unsurprisingly it was stone flat.  It's entirely likely dead-dead given how long I reckon it's been flat, but we'll see.

Oil and water levels were both still exactly where I left them.  With the charger hooked up, the expected background things sprang to life.

I then made an hour's work for myself.  I couldn't remember exactly what worked and what didn't on the driver's door lock (it has the latch from the rear door on that side fitted as that kept jamming) - turns out the one thing which doesn't work is the key.  The linkage however was quite happy to drop into such a place when I tried it and jammed the lock barrel - meaning I couldn't remove the damned key.

No amount of wiggling the key, bashing the door or swearing at it worked.  I had to strip down and remove the fscking door card to reach in and push the offending bit of linkage out the way...which took 5 seconds.

Note to self: Don't do that again.

Next thing I planned to do was replace the bit of fuel line which had decomposed by the pump.  However I bought that hose the best part of a year ago, and I'll be damned if I can find it.  Guess I'll order more... that's a surefire way to make it immediately reappear.  Once that's fitted the car will hopefully be back into a state where it can actually run and drive.  My *hope* is that I can find someone to then take it on as it stands.  However if that fails I'll jump through the necessary hoops of getting it an MOT first - though if you want it stupidly cheap as it stands (well, once it's running again anyway), I'm open to insulting offers.

I know it needs three small bits of welding (one bit on a chassis outrigger where someone jacked the car in the wrong place god knows how long ago, and two bits on the inner wings where the seam sealant has failed and the seam has been attacked), a door latch so the rear driver's side door can be opened without having to body slam it from inside while someone holds the handle outside, and a pair of drop links fitted - though I can probably do that given the only tool needed is a pair of circlip pliers and I now have a pair that I *think* will fit.

Rusty bits, photos taken today.

This is an older photo, though given the car hasn't seen any salt, or indeed many miles at all since it was found I don't imagine it's much worse now.

I'll be crawling around on that side when I fit the fuel line so will grab an updated photo then.

The other thing the car really needs is a head gasket.  There's some oil contamination in the cooling system, though it's never pressurised it, and the oil has always stayed clean - so it's not failed catastrophically.  The car has also never to my knowledge overheated.  

It was finding this contamination that had me stop using the car as I didn't want to have it fail catastrophically and cause major damage - so hopefully should just be a case of remove head, clean everything up, have the head checked and cleaned, then reassemble.

Gasket, head bolts, camshaft seals, I think valve stem seals, timing belt etc has already been sourced (I just need to sift it out from this box full of Trabant and Rover bits!).

It's a really rare car now, and is a bloody lovely thing to drive (or even just sit in!), but I just don't have the time or patience that it really deserves - especially as finding parts is now quite a headache as so many of the breakers overseas now refuse to ship to the UK.  So time for someone else to have a bash at it before it decays any more just sitting on my drive.