Zel's Motoring Adventures...Volvo, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 17/03.

[Zelandeth]

I may well drop Cobblers a PM.  The bit visible is absolutely tiny though, it's like trying to solder to the head of a pin.  The surface is a little oxidised as well on account of the battery having leaked (thankfully I caught it before it actually are through any traces), so getting solder to take to it is tricky.

I did have a quick look for a pinout for that chip but so far haven't found anything... it's a custom job made for Acorn to do some ARM specific housekeeping rather than an off the shelf job which doesn't help.

I'm guessing this is responsible for the faults that are currently manifesting.

[Zelandeth]

I thought that I'd resolved the issue with water finding its way in through the driver's door on the Jag.

Apparently not.  Looks like I'll be having to pull the door apart again then.  We will have to see if I get bored enough to tackle that next week.

This afternoon I decided it would be fun to stand on my head under the dash of the Invacar for half an hour.

Before anyone says anything, I'm waiting for the package with the ring terminals small enough for these terminals to arrive from eBay, I got fed up of waiting...when they arrive I'll terminate the wiring properly.

I've simplified the wiring into the car a bit by just thing the illumination and power supply to the gauge pod together, so it will just be lit whenever the ignition is on.  So all I'll need is an ignition switched live, a ground (which will be attached to the bracket once I've got ring terminals), and the two sender lines.  "Keep it simple, stupid!" Is an approach I like.

Hopefully the wiring will be done this weekend.  Need a couple of adaptors for the senders (also in the post) but no reason I can't get the wiring done.

Doesn't look too out of place.

Will obviously look better once I get some period gauges in there rather than the cheapie Chinese nonsense currently in there.  These have been in the garage for goodness only knows how long though so seemed the sensible choice.

Will serve the purpose though.

[Zelandeth]

That's this afternoon's exercise for me and one of the dogs taken care of.

I really do need to pick up a new battery though.  The existing one really has had it.

Considering one of these: Link Here.

Expensive compared to the 038 lead acid one that's in there...but it's more designed for the application and the weight saving would *definitely* be appreciated. 

[Zelandeth]

Couple of detail things done today.

One was to refit the finishing strips on the gutters.  These actually make a substantial contribution to the weatherproofing as they cover the screws which secure the strips to the bodywork.  Plus it makes the car look a lot less unkempt.

Can't get far enough from the car to get a proper photo of the other side.

I had initially planned on changing the front indicator seals, however can't find them.  I was absolutely sure I knew which box they were in...apparently I was wrong.  No huge loss as the whole indicator units are like £2 each, so I've just ordered a pair of new ones.  The lamp holder in the nearside one is somewhat temperamental and the lenses aren't the best anyhow, so a fresh set probably isn't the worst idea ever. 

The one light seal I did find appears to be for an Invacar Mk12 tail light I think... definitely nothing Model 70 related anyway.

With one of my indicator lenses for scale you can clearly see it's larger in diameter.

While rummaging around in the back of the garage I took the opportunity to drag my spare dash out into the land of the living.  It's scruffy and needs a really good tidy up, but there are no cracks or holes in the surfaces you can see.  Just a couple of small cracks in the lower edge around where it attaches to the bar under the dash.

The issue with them warping across the top is purely because the only support there is a tiny little flat bit of metal screwed to the top in three places that doesn't even extend to the ends of the dash.

Which as you can see from the shape of it, seems to bend more easily than the dash plastic itself.  I'm sure I can engineer a better solution than this.  It's spent a lot of time outside though so everything attached to it is rusted beyond hope.  Getting the fuel gauge out will be fun I think...

I'll see how well it tidies up.  If it ends up looking decent I will probably look to swap it for the one in the car.  I prefer it not having a gaping hole where the dash mounted gear selector would be if it had one anyway.

I've got some serious scrubbing to do...

Speaking of the dash, something which had been bugging the hell out of me in the car was the hole just above the interior light.  Don't seem to have a recent photo showing it so had to delve into the archives, this was taken when I was experimenting with possible locations for additional warning lights.  You can see there's a hole just above the left hand end of the interior light.

So I dismantled the light and moved it up a little.  The scratch next to it is still visible, but the actual hole at least is no longer visible.

That's it for today.  Little things but they all add up eventually.

[SiC]

On 4/28/2020 at 9:13 AM, Yoss said:

I was going to say your wiper switch is upside down as the pictogram shows the wiper coming down from the top.

Make sure you remind Dollywobbler/Hubnut of this every time you see him post anything about his Invacar. He absolutely loves it. 

[Zelandeth]

Yet another day where gardening ate up most of the day.  Did at least feel like we achieved something though.  The hedge along here was originally high enough along this whole stretch that the streetlight was almost entirely hidden.

The whole lot will be coming out at some point and the fence pushed back to just behind the trees, but this is a step in the right direction.

Did mean that I didn't have much time left for the cars though.  The Invacar has always had one small oil leak from the sump drain plug.  Nothing major but it always left a drip or two in the garage. 

Given she was due an oil change I figured this was a good time to investigate that. 

Yeah...the state of this might have something to do with it.

Generally I think that sump washers aren't generally meant to be conical!

I couldn't find another one the right size, so battered it back into a vaguely flat shape and added a smear of instant gasket.  I'll get a replacement ordered in and change it the next time the oil gets dropped (which won't be far down the road given I'm wanting to do the best to wash the inevitable gunk out).

I need to have a think about where I'm going to put the oil pressure and temperature sensors.

The pressure sensor can't just go where the pressure switch usually lives as there's no room for it.  The distributor is too close to it.  I'll need to make up a line to relocate a T connector to somewhere where there's more room.

The temperature sensor is going to be a bit trickier.  I'm guessing that the easiest solution would be to get an adaptor to thread into the sump plug and to put it in there.  The other option I can immediately think of would be to get hold of a second oil pickup strainer assembly and drill and tap a hole for it in that.  That looks suspiciously similar to the plate that VW used as the engine drain on the Beetle/Transporter engines... I'll need to check the dimensions, because if they are the same size that could make my life easier...

[Slowsilver]

On 4/25/2020 at 11:23 PM, Zelandeth said:

 

 

Intention being to use windscreen demister switch to switch the heater blower and the other to be wired in as a brake fluid level indicator.  Figured this afternoon would be a good opportunity to get them actually installed.  The general public agreement for placement was for it to go where I had suggested, to the right of the speedometer, mirroring the headlight/wiper switches on the other side of the dash.  I wanted to align things such that I had room to install a total of three switches there for potential future upgrades (I've a half developed idea to get me working forced cool air ventilation in the cabin which would want an additional one).  While the brake light/switch doesn't quite match visually it's the same width as the Invacar (etc!) ones so I can reuse the cutout for it in future.  I know BMC had a thing for using switch-based brake fluid warning lights for many years, did they ever do one that used this type of footprint?
I

I think this is possibly the BMC switch-based brake fluid warning light you are thinking of:

Warning light illuminates when bottom of switch pressed for bulb-test purposes:

Fitted to Maxis with dual-circuit brakes from 1977.

There is also a matching switch for the heated rear window, which has the same legend as yours but has a separate warning light (the green one directly next to it on the right):

Unfortunately they are not the same size as the switches on the main dashboard.
These are about 37 x 20 mm whereas the ones on the main dashboard are about 50 x 20mm, like your light switch.
But if it is any use to you they are Lucas switches, the part number of the brake fluid warning light switch is 39454B and the HRW switch is 39602D.
 

[LightBulbFun]

that reminds me here is the DHSS's Model 70 bits you should buy from your local motor factors list and give full OEM part numbers as a result, and  include a lot of electrical stuff like switch gear

its interesting how all the other switches are listed as lucas which you would expect

but the identical in style wiper switch is listed as being made by clear hooters ltd....

[Zelandeth]

That brake warning switch isn't one I recall seeing before, will keep it in mind.  Have spent very, very little time around Maxis so not a huge surprise.  Not one I'd go specifically looking for I think as it looks more modern to the eye (even though it's not really!). 

Guess one other option would just be another red warning light and situating it somewhere else on the dash... though the modern reproduction versions of the WL14 indicators have a slightly different bezel which is annoying.  Not that I need to worry about this at this stage given adding an actual fluid level sensor is still a ways down the to do list.

 

[PhilA]

Re: Temperature senders, what type is it? I've seen ones for other air cooled applications that are essentially just a ring terminal with a thermistor inside, which may suit this application better.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

46 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Re: Temperature senders, what type is it? I've seen ones for other air cooled applications that are essentially just a ring terminal with a thermistor inside, which may suit this application better.

Just a standard brass probe-type deal like any normal coolant temperature sensor etc type.

 

Just got my car insurance renewal sorted out for the Xantia (which is the one car I have on a normal policy).

Adrian Flux have been screwing me over to the tune of north of a grand every year for the last few years.  Historically something has always happened come renewal time which has pretty much shunted shopping around way down the priority list - Not this year!  Last year's premium: £1050.  The quote for the renewal this year has actually dropped for the first time in living memory to just over £800.

Just got it sorted with another provider: £222.71.  I'll take that.

Looking forward to telling Adrian Flux to shove it tomorrow.

Annoyingly they've fouled up my no claims bonus at some point some point in the last couple of years so I've only apparently got 3 years now...rather than 17.  Cheers guys.  My own fault for not triple-checking, but in my defence, it's printed in tiny text in one box about 80% of the way through a 30 bloody page document, ten points for clarity.  I'll need to see how far back that foul-up goes when I've got more brain tomorrow at some point. 

Just glad to finally be rid of them!

[Broadsword]

Great result on Xantia insurance. They are a real pain to get a decent premium for. Ironically the best deal I could get for my Xantia HDi while I had it was with Adrian Flux, but my experience with them is very hit and miss in terms of prices and service. Also their B-team Flux Direct was a real pain to deal with and I would avoid them in future. Strange behavior from staff too on that outfit for some reason.

[somewhatfoolish]

By their phone manner/speed of talking the Flux callcentre staff seem to be forcefed a cocktail of charlie and Adderall and have their genitalia wired to a cattle prod.

[Zelandeth]

£2-300 seems to be about par for the course these days for Xantias.  As their numbers are now dwindling that will hopefully not creep up again.  I can see why the Activa is a bit of a dear one historically - a high performance French hatchback that's been worth buttons for a decade and a half is never going to look attractive to them.  I'm not aware of any specific thing that loaded them though - unlike Saab 900s which used to be dear to insure primarily because they were such a prime target as ram-raid and getaway vehicles apparently.  That information came from someone who used to work in the industry many moons ago.
 

I'd been with Flux for years to be honest, when I had four cars insured with them they were about the cheapest - though when the number of cars dropped the premium never followed.  You can tell I've been with them for a long number of years as they still had a *good* reputation when I started out with them!

 

This arrived yesterday...

With a (very) substantial portion of luck should see the Invacar mobile again today.

[PhilA]

10 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Just a standard brass probe-type deal like any normal coolant temperature sensor etc type.

http://thesensorconnection.com/cht-sensors/cht-sensors/cht-cylinder-head-temperature-12-and-14-mm?keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwncT1BRDhARIsAOQF9LltUUBEbnCshWU-aR8laPXeWFHLYheim7mjscc2rh8WsKPBYyRrenEaAlJYEALw_wcB

Ring around the spark plug type. Other variants are available.

[Zelandeth]

Interesting.  Would mean buying a new gauge though...not that that's necessarily a bad thing that will be happening eventually anyway.  I'll have a poke around later and see if I can find a period looking gauge to go with a thermocouple type probe (guessing this is common among owners of air cooled VWs and Porsches so I'd assume there are options) at a vaguely sane cost.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

With a (very) substantial portion of luck should see the Invacar mobile again today.

*all the excite!*

[Zelandeth]

Don't get too excited!  It's not done yet and we've seen plenty how stubborn this job has been so far!

[Zelandeth]

As I alluded to in a post on the Grumpy Thread, I did eventually find out what had happened regarding the NCB on my insurance.

When I originally set up the multicar policy with Adrian Flux back in 2008, I carried over a not small amount of NCB from my previous insurer.  In 2009 when I bought the Pug 107, the NCB was transferred over to that as it was the only vehicle not on a classic specific policy so I could actually continue to build the NCB on.

Fast forward to 2017 when I sold the 107.  At that point I also had the Xantia insured with them (not on a classic policy as they deemed it not to be old enough - even though it was still insured through their Classic Vehicle Team - go figure).  I *think* the Lada was with them at that point as well, though I'm not about to go digging through my archives to confirm that.

It turns out that when I cancelled the policy of the 107, rather than transfer the NCB to the policy the Xantia was on (or ask me what I wanted to do!), it was just left floating not attached to anything.  Of course if it's not attached to a policy for more than two years, it expires...So somewhere in the region of 15 years worth of NCD had disappeared down the tubes.  This made me Rather Displeased.

It made me significantly enough displeased that I phoned back later in the day to - as a friend of my father's once put it - Tell Them A Question.

Despite a not inconsiderable amount of time on hold, the person I spoke to on the second call seemed to have far more idea what they were talking about, did some actual digging and confirmed to me that they should have asked me what I wanted to do with the NCB when the policy was cancelled as they did have it noted on file that the reason the policy was terminated was "vehicle sold."  In the absence of any other instructions, if there was another vehicle covered under the same multicar policy, it should have been transferred there. 

After another not inconsiderable amount of time on hold they agreed that the fault was entirely theirs, that they had clear records that I had no claims against me, and that they would reinstate the "missing" NCB.  The only issue is that it hasn't been active since 2017 it hasn't accumulated anything more since then...So I've lost two years, and there were a couple of years in there where they had "mirrored" as they call it NCB for the first couple of years when I was a named driver on my father's policy (with them), which they used to list on the final NCB statement, but don't any more.

So the final balance they've given me is eleven years...Annoying that there are a couple missing...but it's a heck of a lot better than the three years that I started with this afternoon. 

Getting them to admit that they fouled up and to do something to remedy the situation (especially as being completely honest, it IS there in the policy documentation...albeit in one single tiny box in a table about 20 pages into the documents...So they would have been within their rights to tell me that I should have spotted the problem and alerted them to it sooner) seems like a win to me so I'm not going to quibble over the final figure.

 

This did however successfully eat up pretty much the entire afternoon.  By the time I'd dealt with that, a couple of tasks around the house and sorted dinner out it was late enough that I didn't have time to even set foot in the garage.  So the continuation of attempting to get the nearside wheel properly attached to the Invacar again will have to wait until tomorrow.

[PhilA]

12 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Interesting.  Would mean buying a new gauge though...not that that's necessarily a bad thing that will be happening eventually anyway.  I'll have a poke around later and see if I can find a period looking gauge to go with a thermocouple type probe (guessing this is common among owners of air cooled VWs and Porsches so I'd assume there are options) at a vaguely sane cost.

Yes, I believe you can get them set for the standard VDO range (which all the cheapy Chinese copies use also).

 

Phil

[Slowsilver]

On 5/2/2020 at 12:28 AM, Zelandeth said:

Will obviously look better once I get some period gauges in there rather than the cheapie Chinese nonsense currently in there.  These have been in the garage for goodness only knows how long though so seemed the sensible choice.

Will serve the purpose though.

Considering these are cheap chinese things I actually think they look quite good and fit in quite well.
Where did you get the 3-hole panel from? Did you buy it recently or did you have it "in stock"? I have been looking for one of these so that I can add some extra instruments to the Maxi. I have the instruments but have as yet been unable to find one of these pods.
 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Slowsilver said:

Considering these are cheap chinese things I actually think they look quite good and fit in quite well.
Where did you get the 3-hole panel from? Did you buy it recently or did you have it "in stock"? I have been looking for one of these so that I can add some extra instruments to the Maxi. I have the instruments but have as yet been unable to find one of these pods.
 

I agree as it stands now, it already fits in quite nicely  

(I imagine those dials would fit in even better in a post March 1976 Model 70, where the dials all got a face lift, and moved from chrome surrounds to black plastic surrounds)

(TPA would have originally had a fuel gauge with a chrome surround)

[Jikovron]

Cheap gauges  

These are the same 3 gauge cluster I think, they are actually decently accurate, my main concern was for the oil pressure being abit flittish and random but its damped and reads properly! 

A bonus that you can remove the fronts with some minor bezel interrogation and blot out anything too garish on the scale.

[Zelandeth]

I've had them in stock for goodness only knows how long.  The only thing I did was swap out the water temperature one for an oil temperature gauge.  Can't recall where that was grabbed from, probably eBay.

I'd like to switch back to the Smith's fuel gauge at some point as it fits with the dash better, and I'd like to swap the gauges in the pod out with similarly in period examples - but that's detail work that can take place down the line.  I just couldn't justify the cost of buying that lot in the short term when what I have works just fine and my plan has always to get this car into a reliably usable state then to enjoy and improve it bit by bit over time.

[LightBulbFun]

well ain't this a bit coincidental! 

[lanciamatt]

16 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

As I alluded to in a post on the Grumpy Thread, I did eventually find out what had happened regarding the NCB on my insurance.

When I originally set up the multicar policy with Adrian Flux back in 2008, I carried over a not small amount of NCB from my previous insurer.  In 2009 when I bought the Pug 107, the NCB was transferred over to that as it was the only vehicle not on a classic specific policy so I could actually continue to build the NCB on.

Fast forward to 2017 when I sold the 107.  At that point I also had the Xantia insured with them (not on a classic policy as they deemed it not to be old enough - even though it was still insured through their Classic Vehicle Team - go figure).  I *think* the Lada was with them at that point as well, though I'm not about to go digging through my archives to confirm that.

It turns out that when I cancelled the policy of the 107, rather than transfer the NCB to the policy the Xantia was on (or ask me what I wanted to do!), it was just left floating not attached to anything.  Of course if it's not attached to a policy for more than two years, it expires...So somewhere in the region of 15 years worth of NCD had disappeared down the tubes.  This made me Rather Displeased.

It made me significantly enough displeased that I phoned back later in the day to - as a friend of my father's once put it - Tell Them A Question.

Despite a not inconsiderable amount of time on hold, the person I spoke to on the second call seemed to have far more idea what they were talking about, did some actual digging and confirmed to me that they should have asked me what I wanted to do with the NCB when the policy was cancelled as they did have it noted on file that the reason the policy was terminated was "vehicle sold."  In the absence of any other instructions, if there was another vehicle covered under the same multicar policy, it should have been transferred there. 

After another not inconsiderable amount of time on hold they agreed that the fault was entirely theirs, that they had clear records that I had no claims against me, and that they would reinstate the "missing" NCB.  The only issue is that it hasn't been active since 2017 it hasn't accumulated anything more since then...So I've lost two years, and there were a couple of years in there where they had "mirrored" as they call it NCB for the first couple of years when I was a named driver on my father's policy (with them), which they used to list on the final NCB statement, but don't any more.

So the final balance they've given me is eleven years...Annoying that there are a couple missing...but it's a heck of a lot better than the three years that I started with this afternoon. 

Getting them to admit that they fouled up and to do something to remedy the situation (especially as being completely honest, it IS there in the policy documentation...albeit in one single tiny box in a table about 20 pages into the documents...So they would have been within their rights to tell me that I should have spotted the problem and alerted them to it sooner) seems like a win to me so I'm not going to quibble over the final figure.

 

This did however successfully eat up pretty much the entire afternoon.  By the time I'd dealt with that, a couple of tasks around the house and sorted dinner out it was late enough that I didn't have time to even set foot in the garage.  So the continuation of attempting to get the nearside wheel properly attached to the Invacar again will have to wait until tomorrow.

I've been with Adrian flux years now and never had any trouble. Always cheapest for my two classics that's insured with them. I suppose every company can have issues though. 

[Zelandeth]

Sodding finally!

 

 Has only taken me eight months.

Amwaiting on some early Morris Minor wheel bolts to arrive to eliminate my seriously shonky using-old-wheel-nuts-as-conical-washers bodge there...but the fourth bolt is now present and actually has tightened.

I do need to remove and shorten the bolts slightly before I can actually drive though (and clean the award out of the brake drum) as they currently foul on the brake shoes... that's relatively easy though.

The M12X1.5 bolt is way beefier than the original 3/8" stud/bolts.

I'd rather wait for the proper bolts to arrive anyway as this arrangement just doesn't look robust to me...despite equal amounts of metal holding things together as with the original studs and nuts.  Sure it would be fine...not wanting to tempt fate though!

 

If the hub wasn't such an absolute pig to drill (even with a cobalt drill bit) I'd be tempted to just drill them all out to M12, but as it is such a pain and the existing threads seem fine in the other holes... getting appropriate wheel bolts in and calling it good!

[LightBulbFun]

Woo! very happy to see some positive progress being made with this whole debacle! 

im very much looking forward to seeing TPAs first trip round the block in many months  

(and finally something much better suited for the local shopping runs then the Jag!)

[Zelandeth]

In addition to the above, my oil filters arrived today (I discovered when I changed the oil a few days ago that I didn't have spares in stock as I thought), so I was able to get that fitted.

Then get the level rechecked once the engine had run a minute or two.

That's good enough for me.

Also to arrive today were these.

Getting them changed however is going to involve attacking the existing mounting screws with the grinder as they're rusted beyond recognition - which is why I didn't remove them prior to painting.

Only other car news of note was to attack the tape adaptor I use in the Jag to shut it up.  The rattly squeaky noises the internals make while running drove me mad.  A quick test revealed that this stereo would happily run without requiring both reels to be turning (some use that for end of side detection), so I was able to dump all this from inside it.

It now runs silently...because there's nothing moving.

So just waiting for the new wheel bolts to arrive then we should be good to put the Invacar back into service hopefully.  Really do need to clean the engine bay up though, everything in there is covered in paint overspray.

 

[J-T]

22 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

As I alluded to in a post on the Grumpy Thread, I did eventually find out what had happened regarding the NCB on my insurance.

When I originally set up the multicar policy with Adrian Flux back in 2008, I carried over a not small amount of NCB from my previous insurer.  In 2009 when I bought the Pug 107, the NCB was transferred over to that as it was the only vehicle not on a classic specific policy so I could actually continue to build the NCB on.

Fast forward to 2017 when I sold the 107.  At that point I also had the Xantia insured with them (not on a classic policy as they deemed it not to be old enough - even though it was still insured through their Classic Vehicle Team - go figure).  I *think* the Lada was with them at that point as well, though I'm not about to go digging through my archives to confirm that.

It turns out that when I cancelled the policy of the 107, rather than transfer the NCB to the policy the Xantia was on (or ask me what I wanted to do!), it was just left floating not attached to anything.  Of course if it's not attached to a policy for more than two years, it expires...So somewhere in the region of 15 years worth of NCD had disappeared down the tubes.  This made me Rather Displeased.

It made me significantly enough displeased that I phoned back later in the day to - as a friend of my father's once put it - Tell Them A Question.

Despite a not inconsiderable amount of time on hold, the person I spoke to on the second call seemed to have far more idea what they were talking about, did some actual digging and confirmed to me that they should have asked me what I wanted to do with the NCB when the policy was cancelled as they did have it noted on file that the reason the policy was terminated was "vehicle sold."  In the absence of any other instructions, if there was another vehicle covered under the same multicar policy, it should have been transferred there. 

After another not inconsiderable amount of time on hold they agreed that the fault was entirely theirs, that they had clear records that I had no claims against me, and that they would reinstate the "missing" NCB.  The only issue is that it hasn't been active since 2017 it hasn't accumulated anything more since then...So I've lost two years, and there were a couple of years in there where they had "mirrored" as they call it NCB for the first couple of years when I was a named driver on my father's policy (with them), which they used to list on the final NCB statement, but don't any more.

So the final balance they've given me is eleven years...Annoying that there are a couple missing...but it's a heck of a lot better than the three years that I started with this afternoon. 

Getting them to admit that they fouled up and to do something to remedy the situation (especially as being completely honest, it IS there in the policy documentation...albeit in one single tiny box in a table about 20 pages into the documents...So they would have been within their rights to tell me that I should have spotted the problem and alerted them to it sooner) seems like a win to me so I'm not going to quibble over the final figure.

 

This did however successfully eat up pretty much the entire afternoon.  By the time I'd dealt with that, a couple of tasks around the house and sorted dinner out it was late enough that I didn't have time to even set foot in the garage.  So the continuation of attempting to get the nearside wheel properly attached to the Invacar again will have to wait until tomorrow.

Well done for sticking with it. Sorting stuff like this drains the frigging life blood from me and raises my blood pressure to levels unknown