Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 31/01.

[High Jetter]

It could well be, things usually say 'this way up' for a reason - waste of ink/time/needing to be stamped. As you say, best to get it checked, justin case.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

It could well be, things usually say 'this way up' for a reason - waste of ink/time/needing to be stamped. As you say, best to get it checked, justin case.

Aye, it would be a false economy not doing it when I've pulled it all apart again anyway.

I'm sure if it honestly didn't matter which way up it went the original gaskets wouldn't have had "this side up" stamped on them.

[Bear]

15 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Aye, it would be a false economy not doing it when I've pulled it all apart again anyway.

I'm sure if it honestly didn't matter which way up it went the original gaskets wouldn't have had "this side up" stamped on them.

I'd say that's VERY likely - the stamping looks like it forms the seals against the block and compresses to the head - given the lack of a compression ring around the bore it's probably dealing with a certain amount of leakage at that seal by design.

[PhilA]

Having recently done the head on the Pontiac, the engineering design that's gone into that compared to mine (grated, the design of yours is about fifteen years newer and with quite a lot of rapid development involved), things like the air cleaner pipe- could it be pressed tin? Yes. But you could guarantee it would buzz at certain RPM. That one won't. There's a reason they made it from thick aluminum. 

You've likely got the heavy valve overlap mine does, providing the particularly quiet and smooth running that's typically associated with flathead engines, but without the flow restrictions. 

Good luck with it, the block is likely still flat, given how tight the intake was put on that'll have added to the stresses in the head, which will be your warp of it's had any significant dissimilar metal corrosion forcing it up and making it twist. Hard to tell when someone's been in there in recent times. Skim and reassemble hopefully the repair it needs. 

Nice old bus, interesting to see in pieces. Rover really were clever when they wanted to be.

[Zelandeth]

On 03/12/2025 at 04:30, PhilA said:

Having recently done the head on the Pontiac, the engineering design that's gone into that compared to mine (grated, the design of yours is about fifteen years newer and with quite a lot of rapid development involved), things like the air cleaner pipe- could it be pressed tin? Yes. But you could guarantee it would buzz at certain RPM. That one won't. There's a reason they made it from thick aluminum. 

You've likely got the heavy valve overlap mine does, providing the particularly quiet and smooth running that's typically associated with flathead engines, but without the flow restrictions. 

Good luck with it, the block is likely still flat, given how tight the intake was put on that'll have added to the stresses in the head, which will be your warp of it's had any significant dissimilar metal corrosion forcing it up and making it twist. Hard to tell when someone's been in there in recent times. Skim and reassemble hopefully the repair it needs. 

Nice old bus, interesting to see in pieces. Rover really were clever when they wanted to be.

It really is sad seeing what happened to Rover after BMC got involved when you look at what they were designing and building before that.  

I will need to get some proper video of this engine running once it's properly sorted.  I was astonished how smooth the one in my previous one was.  It took me several weeks of driving it to stop thinking I'd stalled when coming to a stop at junctions because of the complete lack of any vibration in the car.

 

New gaskets have arrived now.

It's immediately obvious that they weigh about twice as much as the modern ones.  The quality of the stamping and the surface finish is far better as well.

Will hopefully start getting it stripped back down this weekend.

[Zelandeth]

Zero progress to report on the Rover so far.  I've just had no time to look at it.  

Noticed something the other day which is going to require investigation.  

The Volvo has developed an oil leak.  It's not massive, but it is leaving a few drips where I park.  No idea where it's from as the underside is completely covered by the under tray and that's where the oil is dripping off.  

Unless it's something *very* simple I won't be dealing with this.  It'll be a garage job as this car is too modern, too complicated and is well outside my comfort zone.

As far as the Trabant goes, it's mostly been getting used for local running around - and having been switching and swapping between it and the Volvo the advantages of a tiny car for a lot of day to day stuff really do shine through.  Especially in busy car parks where between being so narrow and having such a ridiculously small turning circle allow you to be really lazy compared to needing to hunt for large enough spaces for the Volvo to fit in.  Plus I obviously don't care if anyone bashes the Trabant with their doors, they're not going to hurt it!

I checked the lights today... that's about as in depth as things have got beyond driving it lately.

I've also started to come down with something, hopefully not that horrible strain of the flu that's going around, which is going to put even more of a damper on any plans for productivity in the near future.

[High Jetter]

Smiley Trabbie, tho... Hope it passes.

[Zelandeth]

Oh good gravy, I had no idea how absolutely awful the dip beam performance on the Volvo was.  First time I've driven it on unlit roads in the dark.  I need to polish then damned lenses apparently!

I actually had to more or less stop at a couple of points coming down the A421 when I had oncoming quadruple laser LED nonsense coming towards me as I was essentially completely blind.

The lamps are pretty much brand new and I know the optics internally are clean and the alignment is fine - the lenses are just cloudy.

[beko1987]

I think alot of that is how the a421 curves up and down, I hate it at night too! 

Cars 5 miles away will be blinding you but they themselves can't see. The xsara was awful on it, qashqai is better but ive very much joined the enemy in terms of being a blinding wanker 😂😬

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I think alot of that is how the a421 curves up and down, I hate it at night too! 

Cars 5 miles away will be blinding you but they themselves can't see. The xsara was awful on it, qashqai is better but ive very much joined the enemy in terms of being a blinding wanker 😂😬

Aye that is part of it, but it's a road I'm far too used to driving both in day and night, so I know it's not normally that bad!  Saab even with one duff reflector was better!

It's a road I generally avoid, only ended up there because I didn't clock that the satnav had changed the chosen route to save three minutes until I was halfway down the M40 and couldn't be arsed backtracking by fifteen minutes to go via M6/M1.  Only used the damned thing to deal with the "get out of Birmingham" bit anyway and wasn't concentrating on the directions.  My own fault.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

11 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Oh good gravy, I had no idea how absolutely awful the dip beam performance on the Volvo was.  First time I've driven it on unlit roads in the dark.  I need to polish then damned lenses apparently!

I actually had to more or less stop at a couple of points coming down the A421 when I had oncoming quadruple laser LED nonsense coming towards me as I was essentially completely blind.

The lamps are pretty much brand new and I know the optics internally are clean and the alignment is fine - the lenses are just cloudy.

We had the same in our Bini last year.  Polishing the headlights made an absolutely huge difference.

[Zelandeth]

Good news for a change - spotted a message today showing that Headline MK will be reopening for business next week after a fire destroyed their workshop at the end of the summer.  So once I pluck it from the car again I should have resolved the issue of who to look at the Rover's head.  I know a couple of good options were raised by folks, but something that's 15 minutes from my doorstep has huge points for the convenience factor.  

Good for a bit of a kick to get me moving on it again as well.

[auntiemaryscanary]

6 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Good news for a change - spotted a message today showing that Headline MK will be reopening for business next week after a fire destroyed their workshop at the end of the summer.  So once I pluck it from the car again I should have resolved the issue of who to look at the Rover's head.  I know a couple of good options were raised by folks, but something that's 15 minutes from my doorstep has huge points for the convenience factor.  

Good for a bit of a kick to get me moving on it again as well.

Good to hear. Will be loads easier to get it done locally.

[Zelandeth]

Very little to report due to lack of time.

Have a photo of a car being used for car things.

Will be really nice at some point to get this thing properly weather tight so I don't need to keep a continual rotation of dehumidifier pouches in and out of the car.  I really do need to replace the dessicant dehumidifier I had that died a few years ago as it was perfect for this sort of situation.  If I'd realised how much they'd gone up in price and down in quality I'd have invested more time in trying to fix it, my mistake there.  I do have a heat pump one, but they're no use when it's so cold.

[Weird Car]

5 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Very little to report due to lack of time.

Have a photo of a car being used for car things.

Will be really nice at some point to get this thing properly weather tight so I don't need to keep a continual rotation of dehumidifier pouches in and out of the car.  I really do need to replace the dessicant dehumidifier I had that died a few years ago as it was perfect for this sort of situation.  If I'd realised how much they'd gone up in price and down in quality I'd have invested more time in trying to fix it, my mistake there.  I do have a heat pump one, but they're no use when it's so cold.

I love how well the Trabi blends into the imo drab architecture of MK 

I’m toying with the idea of another Trabi myself but that’d probably mean the Volvo would have to go to make space 🙃🤔

[Zelandeth]

16 hours ago, Weird Car said:

I love how well the Trabi blends into the imo drab architecture of MK 

I’m toying with the idea of another Trabi myself but that’d probably mean the Volvo would have to go to make space 🙃🤔

Bletchley in this case rather than MK itself, but yes that's kind of why I took that photo, it just seemed to look right there.  There are some properly bleak looking bits of MK though!

I'd obviously say yes get another Trabi, but I'm definitely biased!  If you're ever over this way you're more than welcome to a shot.  This was only ever meant to be a bit of quick fun and to satisfy my curiosity about them and to see if they were anywhere near as bad as reputation would suggest. It immediately got right under my skin and is definitely a keeper now though.

[Zelandeth]

Okay, this was so much fun the first time around, let's do this all over again.

Not amused to see the state of this O-ring, which has been in place for like a month.

Okay, going to take the measurements from that and try to source a better quality, Viton one sourced.  Probably pay a visit to Pirtek and their petty cash tin for that.  This would be annoying in any setting, but for something that the head has to come off to change it's absolutely intolerable.

An hour later, head is off.

I'll get the inlet manifold separated (again), then it will be off to Headline MK to be checked out and if necessary have any repairs done.  Then it will simply be a matter of putting it back together (again), this time with the gasket the right bloody way up.  Then can start concentrating on some of the other major issues that need attending to.  Like the brake pedal that bites an inch from the floor and woefully wayward steering.

[Zelandeth]

Rental for the next week.

Possibly the most gutless thing I've ever driven.

Definitely the most annoying.

[beko1987]

It'll have all the eu mandated driving 'safety aids' won't it 😢 I bet that's awful around mk. You'll be able to turn the lane departure warning off without looking after a few trips...

[Zelandeth]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

It'll have all the eu mandated driving 'safety aids' won't it 😢 I bet that's awful around mk. You'll be able to turn the lane departure warning off without looking after a few trips...

Yep. Including the thing that beeps at you if it deems you to be travelling even 1mph over the speed limit.  Which when they change every three yards gets very annoying very quickly.

Especially as they have evidently used the same speed limit database as Google as it reckons about half of H5 is a 30 limit rather than 70.

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Especially as they have evidently used the same speed limit database as Google as it reckons about half of H5 is a 30 limit rather than 70.

my favourite is when theres a small road adjacent the dual carriage way/motorway your travelling on, and its not quite registered where you are, (or as you say the database is just wrong) so it thinks your doing 70 in a 20 zone...

it/google maps really freaks out when you go through the Blackwall tunnel I have noticed as well...

[Weird Car]

2 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

my favourite is when theres a small road adjacent the dual carriage way/motorway your travelling on, and its not quite registered where you are, (or as you say the database is just wrong) so it thinks your doing 70 in a 20 zone...

it/google maps really freaks out when you go through the Blackwall tunnel I have noticed as well...

There’s a part of the a3m like that, it used to really upset my black box years ago 

[Zelandeth]

What utter twit at Nissan decided that the two things that don't need to be illuminated are the power button for the stereo (not duplicated on the steering wheel) and the OK button on the wheel?

I definitely didn't fumble around for five minutes in the dark trying to work out why I couldn't get it to work.

If you open the door it immediately slams on the parking brake.  Which then slammed the door on my head (I was looking to make sure I was lined up centrally on the drive as the rearward visibility is non existent).

I've stalled it I think four times now.  A complete lack of any torque below about 3500rpm, an engine you can barely hear and clutch bite point that's somewhere level with the head lining make pulling away not looking like a learner being let loose for the first time near impossible.  I feel that it might be less of an annoying car with an automatic.

There's a badge on the back claiming "e-Power" which makes me laugh.  I really haven't found any power yet, e or otherwise.

The dash shouting at you to change up to sixth gear when your foot is on the floor and you're loosing speed in fifth on the slight gradient you're on is kind of laughable.

The forking speed warning chime can get in the sea.  Especially as it reads a solid 5mph high at 70.  As can the lane departure warning system which likes to wake up halfway round roundabouts on lines it thinks are markings but are just seams in the surface or markings that are totally irrelevant to my direction of travel.  There are a couple round here which have had temporary markings on (for bloody months) and it gets hopelessly confused on the remains of those.

The only reasonable place to put the key is on a shelf on the centre console, which also happens to be a wireless charging pad - which makes it flash an angry orange light at you.  Seriously, either go completely keyless or give me somewhere obviously key shaped to put the damned thing.

The stupid flat bottomed steering wheel they nicked off VW is just as fscking stupid as it was when VW put it in the Golf-R.

Auto wipers are apparently maaaaaasively over sensitive and just about gave me a heart attack when they randomly screeched across the screen earlier.

I will give them points over VW for actually having physical buttons/knobs for the HVAC controls.  It also has at least some vague suggestion of suspension travel and seat padding.  Speaking of suspension, there's a buggered drop link on the offside front.

Let's see how I feel after a six hour motorway run tomorrow.  Also curious to see what the fuel economy does.  It's managed a positively stellar 31.1mpg driving around MK today.

[Markeh]

29 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

What utter twit at Nissan decided that the two things that don't need to be illuminated are the power button for the stereo (not duplicated on the steering wheel) and the OK button on the wheel?

I definitely didn't fumble around for five minutes in the dark trying to work out why I couldn't get it to work.

If you open the door it immediately slams on the parking brake.  Which then slammed the door on my head (I was looking to make sure I was lined up centrally on the drive as the rearward visibility is non existent).

I've stalled it I think four times now.  A complete lack of any torque below about 3500rpm, an engine you can barely hear and clutch bite point that's somewhere level with the head lining make pulling away not looking like a learner being let loose for the first time near impossible.  I feel that it might be less of an annoying car with an automatic.

There's a badge on the back claiming "e-Power" which makes me laugh.  I really haven't found any power yet, e or otherwise.

The dash shouting at you to change up to sixth gear when your foot is on the floor and you're loosing speed in fifth on the slight gradient you're on is kind of laughable.

The forking speed warning chime can get in the sea.  Especially as it reads a solid 5mph high at 70.  As can the lane departure warning system which likes to wake up halfway round roundabouts on lines it thinks are markings but are just seams in the surface or markings that are totally irrelevant to my direction of travel.  There are a couple round here which have had temporary markings on (for bloody months) and it gets hopelessly confused on the remains of those.

The only reasonable place to put the key is on a shelf on the centre console, which also happens to be a wireless charging pad - which makes it flash an angry orange light at you.  Seriously, either go completely keyless or give me somewhere obviously key shaped to put the damned thing.

The stupid flat bottomed steering wheel they nicked off VW is just as fscking stupid as it was when VW put it in the Golf-R.

Auto wipers are apparently maaaaaasively over sensitive and just about gave me a heart attack when they randomly screeched across the screen earlier.

I will give them points over VW for actually having physical buttons/knobs for the HVAC controls.  It also has at least some vague suggestion of suspension travel and seat padding.  Speaking of suspension, there's a buggered drop link on the offside front.

Let's see how I feel after a six hour motorway run tomorrow.  Also curious to see what the fuel economy does.  It's managed a positively stellar 31.1mpg driving around MK today.

Same drivetrain as my X-Trail albeit with an auto, don't know if they dial down the power in the QQ. I didn't even know they offered the E-Power system with a manual! I actually thought mine was fairly quick around town!

Auto wiper sensitivity can be adjusted with the intermittent speed dial on the wiper stalk. If you are lucky, someone may have set the driver's custom settings to disable all the mandated bullshit - button with the three lines on the wheel, and turn the driver's profile on, so if someone's done that already then 2 presses at startup will restore those settings - might get you some easier peace! I agree the speed warnings are bloody irritating. The two things that annoy me on mine are that I can't bring up that menu and change the settings while I'm on a phone call, had a lot of instances lately where someone's rang me as I've got in the car and I've had to put up with stupid bonging, and also mine has a weird quirk where the first road it sees it thinks the speed limit is in KMH not MPH - so it bollocks me for doing 15mph in a 20mph! Fortunately my speedo is bang on.

Prepare to be disappointed with fuel economy on the motorway, the E-Power system is just not really designed for motorway running IMO, you'd probably get slightly better economy out of a regular ICE powered one, but there's not that much in it.

I will say that christ, the facelifted J12 you have there is pretty damn ugly, and it's not as if the J12 was a major looker pre-facelift!

[beko1987]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

What utter twit at Nissan decided that the two things that don't need to be illuminated are the power button for the stereo (not duplicated on the steering wheel) and the OK button on the wheel?

I definitely didn't fumble around for five minutes in the dark trying to work out why I couldn't get it to work.

If you open the door it immediately slams on the parking brake.  Which then slammed the door on my head (I was looking to make sure I was lined up centrally on the drive as the rearward visibility is non existent).

I've stalled it I think four times now.  A complete lack of any torque below about 3500rpm, an engine you can barely hear and clutch bite point that's somewhere level with the head lining make pulling away not looking like a learner being let loose for the first time near impossible.  I feel that it might be less of an annoying car with an automatic.

There's a badge on the back claiming "e-Power" which makes me laugh.  I really haven't found any power yet, e or otherwise.

The dash shouting at you to change up to sixth gear when your foot is on the floor and you're loosing speed in fifth on the slight gradient you're on is kind of laughable.

The forking speed warning chime can get in the sea.  Especially as it reads a solid 5mph high at 70.  As can the lane departure warning system which likes to wake up halfway round roundabouts on lines it thinks are markings but are just seams in the surface or markings that are totally irrelevant to my direction of travel.  There are a couple round here which have had temporary markings on (for bloody months) and it gets hopelessly confused on the remains of those.

The only reasonable place to put the key is on a shelf on the centre console, which also happens to be a wireless charging pad - which makes it flash an angry orange light at you.  Seriously, either go completely keyless or give me somewhere obviously key shaped to put the damned thing.

The stupid flat bottomed steering wheel they nicked off VW is just as fscking stupid as it was when VW put it in the Golf-R.

Auto wipers are apparently maaaaaasively over sensitive and just about gave me a heart attack when they randomly screeched across the screen earlier.

I will give them points over VW for actually having physical buttons/knobs for the HVAC controls.  It also has at least some vague suggestion of suspension travel and seat padding.  Speaking of suspension, there's a buggered drop link on the offside front.

Let's see how I feel after a six hour motorway run tomorrow.  Also curious to see what the fuel economy does.  It's managed a positively stellar 31.1mpg driving around MK today.

Keep your foot near the throttle. It'll brake bloody fast from 70 to 30/40/50/whatever random sign it picks up which is terrifying in lane 2 happily bowling along 😡

[LightBulbFun]

8 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

What utter twit at Nissan decided that...

if you dont mind me asking, what is with the rental? surely Ye Olde Volvo would be the best for this sort of Jaunt?  

[Zelandeth]

22 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

if you dont mind me asking, what is with the rental? surely Ye Olde Volvo would be the best for this sort of Jaunt?  

Abby needs it this week and I haven't quite figured out how to make a car be in two places at once yet.  Rover would have been second choice if it was ready, but the cylinder head sitting in my conservatory says that's not happening yet.

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Zelandeth said:

Abby needs it this week and I haven't quite figured out how to make a car be in two places at once yet.  Rover would have been second choice if it was ready, but the cylinder head sitting in my conservatory says that's not happening yet.

"Through the magic of buying 2 of them!"

 

based on how awful the rental is, it sounds like you would of been better off taking the Trabant!, functioning hearing is over-rated anyhow...

[Westbay]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Keep your foot near the throttle. It'll brake bloody fast from 70 to 30/40/50/whatwver random sign it picks up which is terrifying in lane 2 happily bowling along 😡

Sounds terrifying / down right dangerous !

[Zelandeth]

8 hours ago, Westbay said:

Sounds terrifying / down right dangerous !

Not half as terrifying as when the collision detection system in one of the VAG company cars decided we were about to hit something (we weren't) and did an emergency stop in lane 4 of the M1. Especially as it wouldn't allow said procedure to be aborted in any way and we were stationary for a good few seconds before the bastard thing decided we actually weren't about to die and would pull off again.

Arrived safely with no real drama.  It is...passable.  A tedious way to cover distance but could be worse.  It's quiet and by modern standards doesn't ride too badly.

Adaptive cruise is definitely nice to have, though it's far too fond of locking onto a vehicle in the wrong lane to match speed to.  Having to drop two gears to achieve any meaningful acceleration also takes some of the convenience out of it.

The cruise doesn't automatically change in this one, it detects the change but you have to tell it to change the cruise.  Given it appears to be at least partly database based this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it thinks a huge chunk of the M6 is 50mph, where the works have been gone for well over a year.  It did mean it was pinging at me every five minutes for about fifteen minutes though, and flashing the dashboard like a bloody Christmas tree.

I did find two more roads in MK it was convinced were 40mph rather than 60 this morning too, so I wonder if that's actually one of the reasons I seem to spend so much time stuck behind people who are dawdling to that extent.

Lane departure warning and steering assist are both extremely annoying.  Especially as it's bloody windy today so I was getting shoved around a bit.  Steering assist can at least be turned off with one button press, lane departure is several layers deep in the vehicle settings though.  It also turns itself back on every time the thing is started.  Likewise the speed limit alarms.

Steering assist I think on mine is just broken.  It wants to absolutely cling to the left hand side of the lane - to the extent that it's *uncomfortably* close to adjacent traffic.  Also means it's about 3mm from it throwing a hissy fit that you're drifting out of your lane.

Only had three instances of the LOUD "I think you might be about to hit something" beep.  One was a queue in an adjacent lane, one I think was a plastic bag floating over the road and the third I've not a bloody clue as there wasn't a damned thing anywhere near us.

Fuel economy?  33.7mpg.  According to the trip computer.  Cruise set to 70, and just me on my own with one case of luggage so hardly heavily laden.

The Volvo would do better than that.  Probably have got me here half an hour earlier too, in considerably greater comfort and less stressed.

It's the first time I've had to drive a car with the full gamut of post 2021 nanny features, and I'd be quite happy if it was the last. 

Adaptive cruise is absolutely a nice-to-have, especially in semi-heavy traffic around Birmingham etc.  I wouldn't even begrudge the lane departure warning system as it's a good idea, if it wasn't so bloody highly strung and utterly paranoid.  The sodding speed alarm nonsense though, that can get in the fucking sea.  You can turn the audible chime off, but that doesn't stop the dashboard flashing angrily at you.

So I made the whole drive at a real speed of 64mph.  As the flashing I deemed to be more annoying than going slightly slower.

All in all I feel like I've spent more of the journey trying to keep the various bits of safety gear happy than actually driving.

It also annoys the piss out of me that there is no way to dismiss notifications on the map from the steering wheel - you *have* to use the touch screen.  Like the 284636291749 times it popped up a notification and told me that there were roadworks reported ahead.  That is just stupid UI design...the "dismiss" button there clearly should be mapped to the "ok" button on the wheel.  Or maybe "back" if you wanted to be a bit deliberately obtuse and pretending to be a Microsoft product...but making you lean over and forward a not inconsiderate distance to reach and look down at the screen is just stupid.