Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 29/01

[beko1987]

"care package" which should aid with further ramp times in the future 🤞

[Zelandeth]

56 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

"care package" which should aid with further ramp times in the future 🤞

They've gone well out of their way to help me on quite a few occasions in the past too.  It's just really important to me on a personal level that they know that I absolutely don't take that for granted and that I really do appreciate it.  Completely aside from their being really useful.  Also figure keeping the folks who do all my MOTs on side can never be a bad thing!

[somewhatfoolish]

11 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Much better.  Hopefully that will stay put now.

A drop nose pin would be the thing if you wanted to have it removeable without tools.

[Zelandeth]

On 22/09/2024 at 00:33, somewhatfoolish said:

A drop nose pin would be the thing if you wanted to have it removeable without tools.

Will keep that in mind, though I don't really mind needing a spanner to remove it, as if I'm pulling it off it's going to be because I'm working on something in the depths of the engine bay so an additional 60 seconds isn't really the end of the world.  Plus this was using what I already had floating around in the garage anyway.  It doesn't require me digging around in the depths of the "don't use this stuff very often" toolbox to find a punch to drive the pin out as was the case with the original setup anyway.

My intention had been to get the Partner valeted today so I could get some up to date photos for the for sale thread - however a thunderstorm decided to arrive pretty much as I was about to start with that, so that's now become an additional task for tomorrow me.

[Zelandeth]

Well the Partner is now up for sale on another couple of forums as well as here.  Hopefully I'll get a bite somewhere as I really don't want to have to deal with the wider public.  Last couple of times I've had to do that really did make me question how humanity as a species has survived this long and how some people actually manage to dress themselves in the morning, never mind pass a driving test.

I'd kind of expected this year's BL day at MK Museum to end up being called off with how much rain we've had over the last couple of weeks and with the forecast looking distinctly dodgy on the day - but it did go ahead, and aside from a couple of spots of rain at a couple of points the weather behaved at least for the few hours that I was there.

Despite it only being three miles plus change away from home, last time I took it here the Rover decided to overheat (but behaved perfectly on the way home), and thankfully there was no repeat of that nonsense this time round.  I'm going to order another thermostat I think as I really feel that's been the root cause of my intermittent overheating issue.  There's no other reason I can fathom that we would have something like this happening seemingly totally at random.  The one in there is new as I swapped it when I had the heads off - though the fact that it's new of course doesn't mean a damned thing other than that it's entirely likely to be dead out the box.  I suspect the one that came with the car is still sitting in the box the new one came out of, tempted to test that and if it passes just chuck that back in given it's at least as likely to be reliable as a new one.

I would have liked to get the car a clean before I took it to the show, but trying to fit things around every day life meant that never happened.  You can't really see the grime from 20' though!

Was quite surprised to have the only P6 there, have always been a couple in previous years.

While the P4 definitely pre-dates BMC's involvement in Rover, one of those was in attendance and of course got photographed.

Do think two tone colour schemes like this suit them well. 

This Metro aside from a missing white stripe is basically identical to the first of the cars belonging to my parents that I have any conscious memory of.

No, I have no idea what the hell my phone's camera has done with this image.  It seems to have major, major issues dealing with bright colours without having a complete fit.  The compressed version on here honestly doesn't look much worse than the locally saved version.

While my default colour for BL products given my choice is Snapdragon Yellow, I wouldn't say no to this purple Dolomite.

That said, they are a design which can pull of beige pretty well I reckon too.

Some lovely detail work on that P5 Coupe.  Think most of the photos I got of that are on film though.

Unsurprisingly there were a fair number of MGBs there both in roadster and GT form.

I know they're a car that a lot of classic car folks seem to love to hate, but I do still want one.  From the time I have spent in/around them my take home message has always been that there's a reason that they were and continue to be so popular.  There's more to enjoying a car than 0-60 and lap times, and driving a B to me has always just felt fun and like the designers knew exactly who their target market was and had the car set up ideally for them.

I do always forget quite how much smaller than the B the Midget is - having one parked only a couple of spaces over from the white one a couple of photos above really reminded me of that.  They also look like a car that must be a huge amount of fun - essentially being a car that you wear rather than ride in.  I do just worry that given I'm a bit lanky that I'd struggle to fit in one - I do struggle in a Mini a bit for that reason.

Have never had the chance to drive one though, have to see if I can fix that one day.

Always fun seeing so many of these parked up together.

Including an 1800GT.  Which does the odd thing of having the sportier trimmings while ALSO being beige...and I love it for that.

Given free reign of any that's on the market I'd probably pick a chrome bumper MGB, but if I found the right car I could see me enjoying either version.  The Midget however it really feels didn't survive the styling revision nearly as well.

Though admittedly I do somewhat feel MG's pain there in trying to adapt an existing design to meet those new rules with such a tiny car and with virtually no budget to speak of must have been a nightmare.

I really hate myself for the fact that I'm now actually noticing cars like this which wouldn't have had black/silver plates from new...It's like once you've noticed the missing comma in the "Congestion, use hardshoulder" notices on the M1 - once you've noticed it on one car, you can't stop seeing it!

For all they might have a bunch of flaws, the SD1 is still a cracking looking car.

If I'd been able to stay longer it would have been fun if we'd been able to get the P4, P6 and this SD1 photographed together.

Violently coloured 80s wedge?  Count me in!

Initially I was internally rolling my eyes at the "modern" alloy wheels on that Range Rover looking to my eyes out of place...before realising that I'm an idiot and that being on an L plate they quite likely were factory spec.  My brain repeatedly forgets that they made them later than the mid 80s!

Speaking of violently coloured cars it's hard not to mention this metallic turquoise Mini in that context.

Or indeed a multichrome R8 Coupe.

Probably have another dozen or so photos on film, but I mostly just enjoyed having a wander around and a natter with a few people at what's probably one of the last gatherings of the year I imagine.  With the weather turning and nights drawing in I don't imagine there will be all that many more this year.

This was the first time really out-and-about for the camera on the new phone to be used properly, and hopefully redeem itself from the thus far lukewarm reception I've given it.  The camera is one of the things that seems to have praise heaped on it in most of the reviews of the Pixel 9.  Given the huge slab that sticks out the back of the thing to accommodate it, it really needs to earn its keep - However all this lot of photos has confirmed to me is that it really doesn't stack up against the camera on the Huawei P30 Pro it's replaced.  In the right conditions it maybe captures a *tiny* bit more definition, but that's scant reward for noticeable stepping visible on gentle curves, odd geometric interference patterning at times (I'm assuming they're using some stupid AI based upscaling which is doing a crap job), and fact that it seems incapable of dealing with the colour red properly.  Either appearing as a massively over-saturated JPEG-compressed-to-hell mess, or muddy purplish mush.  The depth of field in macro mode is also even worse than on the Huawei, and the fact that you need to go into a menu to turn on/off the flash rather than just having a shortcut on the screen seems utterly daft.  So much for five and a half years of "progress."  Really do wish I could have just stuck a new battery in my old one and carried on.

[SiC]

Are you running your Pixel 9 in 50MP mode? While the file sizes are much more on my Pixel 8 Pro, the ability to zoom in on details is pretty impressively useful. However yes they do use AI to fix up sensor noise and it doesn't always get it right. 

[PhilA]

With the roof off, you might be able to get into the Midget, but if you have long legs you'll find your thighs in the steering wheel, and the seating position uncomfortable due to the pedals being all the way on the right and the wheel being offset and forcing your right shoulder forward (making the seating position want the pedals on the left).

 

Over 5'11", like in the Mini, is generally a "no", which is really odd given how tall Issigonis was. You'd think he'd design a car he himself fit in.

[Zelandeth]

15 minutes ago, SiC said:

Are you running your Pixel 9 in 50MP mode? While the file sizes are much more on my Pixel 8 Pro, the ability to zoom in on details is pretty impressively useful. However yes they do use AI to fix up sensor noise and it doesn't always get it right. 

Running it at 50MP mode just seems to make the files bigger.  It doesn't seem to address any of the underlying issues in the quality of the image - realistically the definition is limited by the optics more than the sensor, and like the P30 Pro, yes there's more definition there in 50 Vs 10MP mode, but definitely not five times more!

The 10MP images straight off the camera on the P30 Pro look sharper and with far better colour rendition than those from the Pixel 9 Pro XL I have here.

The Huawei also didn't do really weird nonsense like creating straight lines in a gravel driveway that aren't there.

Kind of mirrors the overall experience of everything on the phone...it seems solidly average.  Sadly what it replaced felt far more polished!

[Zelandeth]

Finally!

Immediate and marked difference to how the car drives.  It's vastly more stable in a straight line now, rather than needing continual corrections to keep it pointing the right direction.

If you'd told me a few years ago that I'd need to get recommendations from someone in the trade to find somebody who can set wheel alignment properly I'd have laughed.  These guys are primarily a Jag specialist, and is one of those buried in an industrial estate types of place you'd never find unless you knew it was there. 

The vibration at speed is (unsurprisingly) still there.  Looking closer though there's no point in getting the wheels balanced prior to putting new tyres on.  Both offside tyres are down to the wear bars on the outer edge, as is the nearside front.  What I hadn't spotted until today and the car was up on the ramp though was that the nearside front is *really* close to wearing to the cords on the inner edge.  There's also a fair ding in the rim on that wheel.  Nearside rear one has clearly been replaced at some point as it's less worn and a different tread pattern to the others.

Anyhow, new tyres have been ordered and will hopefully be fitted on Monday.  I feel bad that I'd not spotted how bad that nearside front one was.  I guess that's one of the curses of such wide tyres on a car where they fill the arches so much - seeing the inner edge properly any time other than when the car's in the air is near impossible.

The nearside rear tyre still has some life in it, so that will be offered on here for cheap if someone has use for a part worn 225/45 R17 tyre.

Hopefully that will finally restore smooth, vibration free cruising.

[Zelandeth]

With the wheel alignment sorted it was time to get new tyres on the Volvo.

Usual choice for me.

Wait a minute, what's this nonsense?

Turns out they found a crack in one of the wheels when they took it off.  Of course not the one we already knew had the buckle in it as that would have been far too convenient as we've already got plans afoot to deal with that one.

Garage however have been great about it.  In their view they can't be absolutely sure it's not damage caused when they worked on it (though I've no idea how you'd crack a wheel swapping a tyre unless you were being seriously ham fisted), so have insisted on sorting a repair or replacement at their cost.  So hopefully should have that wheel back with the fresh tyre on towards the end of the week.

To be honest, getting them all refurbished is something that's been on my radar for a while now as they are a bit scabby up close.  Not that you can usually see that for the half inch thick layer of brake dust (seriously, I've never known a car as bad for it as this).

Does mean I won't know till later in the week if we've sorted the vibration or not as my max speed on the spare is 50...and the vibration doesn't really make itself known until just under 70.

Looks like the Partner will be back on daily duties for a few more days then!

[Twin-Cam]

On 30/09/2024 at 18:11, PhilA said:

With the roof off, you might be able to get into the Midget, but if you have long legs you'll find your thighs in the steering wheel, and the seating position uncomfortable due to the pedals being all the way on the right and the wheel being offset and forcing your right shoulder forward (making the seating position want the pedals on the left).

 

Over 5'11", like in the Mini, is generally a "no", which is really odd given how tall Issigonis was. You'd think he'd design a car he himself fit in.

The man was mad, never attach logic to any of his creations.

[Twin-Cam]

Ah I really should have attended. I'm about 3 hours away so it's a fair old trek, but a few of my mates not fancying it rather made the decision for me. Always next year.

[Zelandeth]

Wheel arrived back at the garage this afternoon just before they closed up for the day so hopefully that will be all sorted out tomorrow afternoon.

Taking bets on if we've sorted the 70mph vibration...

Another job for tomorrow is changing the bulb in the front nearside running light bulb as I noticed in the reflection of the car next to me parking yesterday evening that was out.

[Zelandeth]

We have four (correctly sized) wheels on our wagon again.

Unsurprisingly these handle surface water rather better than the tyres that came off, especially given they were far more worn on the inner edges than I'd realised.

I do sometimes wonder whether the legal wear limit needs to be reconsidered given how bloody wide tyres are these days.  There's a hell of a lot more tyre to shift water from under on something like this compared to the skinny 140-160 profile stuff that was the norm in the 80s.  It also means that it's way easier to end up with a tyre that's damned near through to the cords on one shoulder but technically is still legal given the measurement is over 75% of the tread surface.

I am glad to report that with four new tyres, correct wheel alignment and properly balanced wheels the vibration at speed has been completely eliminated.  Cruising at motorway speeds is now positively serene.  Going to have to be damned careful now as there is very little to tell you you're actually going that fast, it would be way too easy to end up speeding.

Also dealt with the position light I noticed was out yesterday.  No thanks to Halfords where I had an absolute bloody fight to get these.

As I've mentioned before, our store a couple of months ago was "improved" and one of the changes that came with this was basically all consumables aside from oil being moved to be behind the counter.  So you have to get someone to go retrieve it for you rather than just picking it up and going to the till.  Bulbs, wipers, batteries, filters, they're all back there now.  At the best of the time this is an utter pain as it means that the one till that's ever open is having to deal with significantly more workload.  It's also a royal pain trying to explain to someone who has zero technical knowledge and zero interest in gaining any to find your slightly oddball bulb for you (the 10W festoon ones for the Trabant running lights took some getting).  I'd hoped this would be a two minute job...but no.  The guy wouldn't just go and get the bulbs I asked for - he insisted on taking my reg and looking them up.  Then kept completely failing to understand the difference between the daytime running lights and the position lights.  After what felt like an eternity of going back and forwards, and a queue of about ten people having built up behind me, I eventually left with the bulbs, my patience however was nowhere to be seen by that point!

Changing it was actually really simple - thanks to Volvo being sensible.

The holder in question is actually buried deep in the wing, however they put a really long extension on the back of the lamp holder so you can reach it.

It's the vertical white bit of plastic just visible in the void just right of centre frame.  Once you've popped off the connector for the indicator it's pretty easy to remove.  Here's a photo of it out showing how long that extension piece is.

The only reason for including that bit of extra plastic was to make it easy to change the bulb without having to remove the headlight.  Other makers could really take lessons from that.

Driver's side is a bit more fiddly as the washer bottle filler neck is in the way so I used a pair of pliers to grab it instead.  Reckon I probably could have managed by hand, it just would have involved more swearing.

I changed both as I figured if one had blown the other probably wasn't far behind.  It was very blackened, so I reckon I wasn't far off the mark.  Job done on both sides in about 15 minutes.

Shudder to think how long that would have taken on quite a few cars of this age where I'd have ended up having to dismantle half the front of the car.

[beko1987]

I've got a front sidelight out on the Xsara and have been putting it off for ages as it's a bastard of a job! 

I first knew of my front tyres being less than stellar too after briefly aquaplaning at 60 on the m40 which never usually happened 😂 They'd have legally been OK too but I had them changed within the week. Still don't know if I did knock the tracking out (inners wore) or if the roads are so shit it all just got beaten to death over 20k 🤷

Especially in mk. I hit the same bloody pothole right infront of a roundabout 3 times in a single day the other week. If the A421 is open by next weekend when I go to pboro I need to try and remember it's there or I will damage something I'm sure

[Zelandeth]

33 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I've got a front sidelight out on the Xsara and have been putting it off for ages as it's a bastard of a job! 

I first knew of my front tyres being less than stellar too after briefly aquaplaning at 60 on the m40 which never usually happened 😂 They'd have legally been OK too but I had them changed within the week. Still don't know if I did knock the tracking out (inners wore) or if the roads are so shit it all just got beaten to death over 20k 🤷

Especially in mk. I hit the same bloody pothole right infront of a roundabout 3 times in a single day the other week. If the A421 is open by next weekend when I go to pboro I need to try and remember it's there or I will damage something I'm sure

MK Council I think hold the dubious honour of being the only local authority I've ever seen close a road for a fortnight to resurface and manage to make it WORSE than it was before they started.  All the bloody pot holes were still there, you just couldn't see them any more because there was a thin veneer of fresh tarmac over the top.

There are a couple of roundabouts on the major thoroughfares which have absolutely huge craters in front of them, especially on H5 and V11.

[beko1987]

29 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

MK Council I think hold the dubious honour of being the only local authority I've ever seen close a road for a fortnight to resurface and manage to make it WORSE than it was before they started.  All the bloody pot holes were still there, you just couldn't see them any more because there was a thin veneer of fresh tarmac over the top.

There are a couple of roundabouts on the major thoroughfares which have absolutely huge craters in front of them, especially on H5 and V11.

That would be where it was, the main route. A421 from Horwood to the hospital. StraightOverStraightOverStraightOverStraightOver forever. Just where the left hand front wheel has to go to stay in the correct inside lane of the roundabout when almost all the attention is elsewhere within the driving process 😂

Several times thanks to a cancelled op the first time for my stepdad 🙄

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Driver's side is a bit more fiddly as the washer bottle filler neck is in the way so I used a pair of pliers to grab it instead.  Reckon I probably could have managed by hand, it just would have involved more swearing.

Is the washer fluid neck possible to remove? I wonder if Volvo designed it so it could and improve access to the bulb. Some Volvo's they made the whole light cluster removable without tools to make bulb changing easier!

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Is the washer fluid neck possible to remove? I wonder if Volvo designed it so it could and improve access to the bulb. Some Volvo's they made the whole light cluster removable without tools to make bulb changing easier!

I think so from the looks of it.  I think the neck is a separate piece which could be removed after removing one or two bolts.  It was just easy enough to get what I needed to with the pliers that it wasn't worth messing with.

In fairness, the headlight and indicator bulbs all look easier to get to - it's just the position lights which are a bit fiddly, and they're pretty low priority compared to the rest.  I suspect only being necessary for the US market as they're totally separate to the normal side and tail running lights.  Ones in the tail lights are LED based so shouldn't need maintenance (until they fail and write off the whole cluster).

I do have to admit to thinking the little row of LEDs at the bottom of the cluster does look smart though.

[hairnet]

[Zelandeth]

Yep, decision made I think.  P6 will be moved on.  Probably in the spring as it's not the time of year for selling something like that right now, plus there are a couple of things I'd like to tidy up before it moves on.

I like it.  I really do, but I don't love it.  It's an absolutely fantastic car, and it's plain after spending even an hour behind the wheel how absurdly ahead of its time the design was - but before the penny pinching had started thanks to BMC, the way a lot of the car is engineered is just lovely, and that starts from how the door feels when you *open* it, not just how it closes.  Plus just look at it, it's bloody gorgeous.  It could be a car 40 years newer to drive.  It absolutely keeps pace with modern metal without even trying, the brakes are as good as anything from the 90s, and all of the controls are finger light (steering in my case is a little overly vague as I reckon the front end alignment is off - it looks like there's way too much camber - I intend to get that sorted before it moves on).  I think that's maybe why I've not warmed to it as much as I'd expected - I've just not found it really engages with me when driving.  It's almost *too* good.

Plus I've got two big, fast luxury cars on fleet (and running) so there is a definite duplication of duties.  Since I've got the Volvo I've really had to remind myself and get myself to take it out.  Which is the main reason I've decided it's going to be moving on.  If I'm not looking for excuses to take a car out for a drive, there's little reason in me owning it I reckon.

It's a car I'm very glad to have owned and ticked off the list, and I really enjoyed bringing it properly back to life from the five and a half cylinder wheezing state it was in when it arrived.  However I don't feel it's a long term keeper.  

I think an MGB is next.  It's another one that's been on my wish list forever, and is definitely a type of car that's not otherwise represented.  So we'll be left with:

[] Invacar.  It is what it is, makes no sense as a car but makes me smile when I drive it.

[] Trabant.  Astonished me how well suited it is as a daily for a lot of my local running around.  Became my go-to choice for most of those local journeys almost as soon as it arrived on fleet.  Tiny, ridiculously easy to park, and doesn't care in the slightest if someone opens their door into it in a supermarket car park.  Plus it's far more fun to chuck around than it has any right to.

[] Volvo.  Versatile, comfortable, high-class, warbling cruise missile.

[] The Other One.  Which really is one too many...but we know I'll never limit myself to three don't we?  However the current six is a bit silly.

Of course I do have to then play the game with myself of deciding whether I want to go GT or cabriolet?  I do very much miss open top motoring from when I had the Cappuccino, but the GT is probably a more user friendly car for day to day use.  Especially as I don't have a garage to keep it in.  Do hope to change that at some point in the next couple of years, but don't have a definite timescale on that.

[Zelandeth]

Today's silly experiment: See what happens with a V8 P6 when you remove the intake silencer from the equation?  That made a huge difference on the P4, so I was curious.  Especially as this car is very muted as it's currently set up.

0-30% throttle, no really discernable difference.  Beyond that however we get an unmistakably V8 bellow in the mid-range which develops into a properly visceral howl at the top end.  

Cheaper than a big bore exhaust and sounds every bit as good.  Is there a temptation to just leave it like that?  Um...yeah...kinda childish?  Yes, but it doesn't half sound good.

Yes I've put it back as it was, but it was a silly experiment done while I had a spare 30 minutes between finishing one job and taking my other half to a doctor's appointment.

I may grab a video if I can find time and something better than zip ties to hold the random cone filters that have been floating around in my garage for a couple of decades onto the carbs.  Just a bit of silly fun when I had a bit of spare time.

Not likely to be much else going on in the near future as things have just been really busy this week and look to be staying that way for a bit.

[Crackers]

9 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Beyond that however we get an unmistakably V8 bellow in the mid-range which develops into a properly visceral howl at the top end.  

Video or it didn't happen. 

Something I never did try with mine, and should have. 

[Zelandeth]

12 hours ago, Crackers said:

Video or it didn't happen. 

Something I never did try with mine, and should have. 

Already thinking the same, though it will probably have to wait till the weekend or start of next week at this rate.

Looks like I do have a job for next week.  This pinged up today.

Already have everything in stock for it though.

The question I will need to answer though is whether I can reset the service indicator without needing access to VIDA?  

[Westbay]

"

2002-2007 All Volvo Models

• The service reminder indicator lamp illuminates for 120 seconds when the ignition is first switched on
• Insert key and turn Ignition Switch to position I
• Press and hold in the reset button for the trip odometer
• Turn the Ignition switch to position II (within 2 seconds)
• Hold the reset button for the trip meter pressed in until the original trip counter value blinks and is redisplayed
• (For all vehicles 2003- a general yellow lamp will light when the reset button must be released.)
• Release the reset button for the trip odometer within 4 seconds. The instrument gives an audible signal when successful.
• If the trip meter is already reset the reset button should be held in for a minimum of 10 seconds and a maximum of 14 seconds.
• If the reset button for the trip odometer is not released within 4 seconds, the service reminder indicator (SRI) is not reset."

[Zelandeth]

After a surprisingly long period sitting in the for sale section and after me having to knock a fair chunk off my asking price, the Partner went off to a new home yesterday.  Just the wrong time of year to be selling a car.  It is what it is though, and with me not being able to park it on my property it needed to go.

It's definitely a car I'll miss.  Such a useful thing and surprisingly pleasant to drive - though that did surprise me a little less once I discovered how much DNA it actually shares with the Pug 306 under the skin, which was surely one of the best driving cars of the 90s in any of its variants.

If you've been on the fence, considering a Berlingo/Partner and have been wondering if they're really as good all rounders as the hype would have you believe, I'm just going to say a solid yes in my view.  Having owned one now I'd confidently say that one will be the only car that 99.9% of drivers will ever need.  Despite the boxy looks they've got a chassis which allows them to be more fun on a twisty road than you'd think too.  The French seem to be really good at that, making cars which handle far better than you'd think, and also ride comfortably.

I've really not been doing much lately.  I've been generally a bit time poor lately and just have lost my mojo with regards to doing car work to be honest.  However I managed to coerce myself into actually looking at one of my to do list items on the Rover, namely the adjustment of the kickdown cable.  It was far too loose before.  Still is, but it's definitely better.  There's apparently barely anything between too loose and too tight, so there's probably going to be a few iterations there before I get it spot on.

Something I'd never actually checked on this car was the condition of the air filter elements.

Looks like they were changed when most of the work was done to the car, so nothing wrong with those.  Not the biggest filters for 3.5 litres of engine to breathe through though - especially not when you see how little clearance there is inside the filter housing.

There's not enough room around the filters to fit a finger in, so I'm sure this does restrict breathing quite a bit.  Rover obvious deemed it to be fine, but it doesn't surprise me that I've seen alternative arrangements in place on a lot of examples people have modified for more grunt.  Not that it feels like the car needs any, with the torque available it feels *plenty* perky.  I do wonder if the original filter elements might have been more conical in shape which would have clearly helped with breathing?

Volvo was away on work duties today, but I needed to make a tip run - so Rover was up on daily duties in this regard.

There's no such thing as a car on my fleet that gets away with not earning it's keep it it's working.  While any of them might pop up at shows, they'll also all do runs to the supermarket, trips to the recycling centre and just general running around.  

Having added a bit of tape over the gap on the side of the heater box has helped get us at least some heat into the car.  I really need to take the whole assembly out and put it back together properly though - there isn't room to access it in situ...so I wish whoever had it out had just screwed it back together properly.  It's not the end of the world to remove, just faff I'd rather not have to deal with.

On the plus side, last time I had done a run to the recycling centre in this car I broke down about 30 seconds after leaving when the fuel pump died for the second time.  This time I actually made it home under my own power without having to get a lift home to grab bits to jury rig an alternative fuel supply...so I'll take that as a win.  Actually felt good to just use it as "an car" for the afternoon, and have it just behave like one.

Hopefully won't be so long before the next update, there's a long enough to do list after all!

[Zelandeth]

Had another poke around at the kickdown cable on the Rover.  I think I've figured out the reason it's been a bit erratic.  Someone at some point in the past has kinked the inner cable so it doesn't always return properly when the tension is released - which is going to be why it seems to sometimes hold first gear when you've pulled out of a junction on a light throttle.  You could tell something was amiss with the cable as often when you looked at the cable it would be bundled up outside the top of the ferrule. I've done what I can to flatten out the kink and lubricate the cable and it seems to be behaving a lot better now though I've not had a chance to do a test run yet.  I've also replaced the random bolt I was holding it on with before as even with a locknut on I'd already lost the bolt twice.

I honestly don't know what type of fastener should be in here as it was totally missing when I got the car, but for now we've gone with "comedically oversized R clip."

It looks ridiculous, but it's not going anywhere nor does it catch on anything, so it will be fine until I find what should actually be in there.

I'm not actually sure which of the two holes in that arm the kickdown cable should be attached to - I went with the outer one as that is the one which had witness marks on to suggest it had been used before.  Though it doesn't pull the cable straight.  However the other hole in the arm also pulls the cable at an angle in the other direction, so neither looks to be perfect.

While in the vicinity I have found evidence that I still have a small water leak somewhere on the top of the engine.

Exactly where from is anybody's guess as there's so much going on around the heads and inlet manifold.  I'll need to investigate that further at some point, my prime suspects are the thermostat housing or the flange the heater hose in the middle of the photo above is attached to are my prime suspects.  

I had a dim memory somewhere that I'd noted the car still had the ballast supply to the ignition coil in play.  I've now confirmed this is the case.

Which would be fine if this car hadn't been fitted with a Petronix ignition system, which calls for a direct 12V feed.  Running them on a ballasted supply can actually damage the unit over time and apparently can mess with how the dwell setting behaves, so it really should have the ballast bypassed.  I've no idea if this coil is the correct type to be used on a direct feed though, and the label with the details on has long since vanished.  The primary resistance is 2.9 ohms, which is within 0.1 ohm of the coil on TPA which definitely has a direct feed, so I reckon this coil may be fine.  That's a job for another day though.  On the plus side, I do have an ignition switched 12V line right next to the coil from when I was messing about with an electric fuel pump which I'd had fitted in that corner.  So that's handy at least.  Be curious to see if having a full 12V there makes any difference, given the engine actually seems to be running pretty well as it is.

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

I honestly don't know what type of fastener should be in here as it was totally missing when I got the car, but for now we've gone with "comedically oversized R clip."

It would be a clevis pin.

[Zelandeth]

10 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

It would be a clevis pin.

Thanks.  My brain had decided that it was absolutely going to refuse to remember the correct name for it!  Had been bugging me all evening.

[Zelandeth]

Nothing car related today.

Instead, today's target was this.

Or rather one of the boxes in it.  The receiver for the upstairs thermostat had decided to turn into a door stop.  To be fair, no huge loss...the thermostat has to be one of the most useless pieces of rubbish I've ever had the misfortune to have to use.  About as easy to program as writing a novel on a Sinclair ZX81, and it had neither any hysteresis adjustment nor anti-cycle provision so it continually cycles on/off every time you get vaguely close to the set point (I'm sure this has *no* link with why I've got a buggered zone control valve to sort for the downstairs circuit), and loved to spontaneously de-pair themselves.  However they were what I could get locally on the day when we discovered the ones in here were knackered the day we moved in.  Can't really complain too much, for all I trash talk it, it's lasted 10 years!  So in we go.

Yes, the fuse after the isolator is already in my pocket when I took that photo as insurance.

Ideally we'd just do away with the wireless nonsense, but wiring in new stats would be a lot of work as the originals used stats in this panel with just a remote sensor - so there's only 2 wires rather than the 4 we'd really want.  Oh...and we've substantially changed where they're situated as well.  So wireless it is.

It always gives a great feeling of confidence in a product when there is absolutely *zero* branding on it whatsoever.

Quality with a K right there.

Think we have also maybe solved the question of why it always seems way warmer downstairs than it really should do...

Four degree offset between the nameless wonder and the new Drayton unit...yeah, that would explain a lot!

New unit in place.  It is actually level...the light switch isn't!

And all back up and running.

Simple enough really, there's just a power, neutral then two wires for the contractor that go into the module so hardly rocket science.

I'm probably going to swap the downstairs one as well soon now on the strength of how much better this seems to work (and how much less of a pain in the rear it was to program), and that it seems to read an accurate temperature.  No, there's no offset adjustment on the old one (well there IS in the menu, but it doesn't do anything!).  The other nice to have feature on the new unit is a valve protection function which can be set up to operate the system for a minute every week even when there's no actual call for heat - this prevents the oh so common problem of zone valves and pumps from seizing up over the summer due to lack of use.

It's such a shame that this system has been so hacked about as judging from the one remaining control panel that's left there it was clearly really nicely put together back in 1980.  

Sadly I do need to try to fold myself under the utility room sink to change out the zone valve that's jammed.  I'm seriously considering actually removing the sink first as access is so poor, and I'm pretty convinced that I'll need to remove the whole "manifold" that the three zone valves are connected to as I don't think there will be enough clearance to get one out without doing that.  Why they couldn't have just put those in the loft I don't know!  No, wedged under here was far better...

That's waaaaaay over in the corner behind the sink.  I can juuust about get one hand to the lower to at full stretch as it stands, so it's a right git if a space to work on.

Yes, that's been seized up for about a year now...I cannot quite stress enough how much I do not want to do this job.  I can absolutely do it...I just really don't *want* to!