Project Dollywobbler's Invacar - Ongoing

[M'coli]

Is the float height correct?

[dollywobbler]

Again, why would that have changed from Thursday? I mean, it wasn't running perfectly on Thursday, but it was a lot better than it is now. Thursday was the first time it ran on its own fuel system, and it ran just as well as it had done before I serviced it.

[dollywobbler]

Actually, having just checked back through the videos, it wasn't desperately happy to start on the 4th, being rather chuggy, chuggy. It was also a little chuggy when I started it after Christmas. Maybe it hasn't actually been that healthy...

 

EDIT - Just found a post on a Haflinger forum that confirms my finding from the manual. My timing light should illiminate just before the timing mark is reached. It's very clear on the fan shroud and crank pulley. My light is coming on after, so it's definitely retarded. So, that seized distributor IS going to be a problem. I'll have to try a chain wrench on it next time.

[SiC]

Would heat on the distributor join help too? Or just likely to ignite the petrol vapours hanging around the engine?

 

Could the floats slowly leaked in fuel over time now the chamber has been filled for extended periods?

[dollywobbler]

I did think about heat, but then I thought about petrol, glassfibre and my office just above the garage. Maybe not... I'll just give it regular doses of penetrating oil until I can actually have a go at freeing it. That said, the main issue is that apparently the seals degrade and just turn into a block of gloopy glue. Not sure penetrating oil is going to help...

 

Having had the top of the carb off, I think the floats are still floating. They're proper metal.

[PhilA]

If the rubber seal go funny, use carburetor cleaner on it. That should liquify the gunge enough to free it up.

 

Phil

[Talbot]

Is it the usual issue of an aluminium distributor body in a cast iron block?  Or is the block on these aluminium too?

[dollywobbler]

Block is ally. Unsure about the dizzy. It is apparently the seal that locks things up, like on Volkswagens apparently having had a google.

[Eddie Honda]

I think the floats are still floating. They're proper metal.

So what if they are proper or not? Check them. I had a leaky brass float on a lawnmower. It had a load of pin holes in the bottom of it where it corroded.

 

Gave it a good shake and there was plenty of pez inside, so spent some time carefully boiling the float in a pan of water and then attempted soldering it up. Didn't last long that bodge (about half a lawn)

 

Ended up getting another float for free from a lawnmower repair guy, the catch being I had take the rest of the shit it was attached to.

[dollywobbler]

I'll focus on the dizzy for now. Reminds me, must go and give it another soak in penetrating oil...

[plasticvandan]

heat will be fine,so many pussys think that having a blowlamp within 5 feet of a grp car will result in carnage,just use your noddle,unless your aiming it at the bodywork for 10 minutes it will be fine.

[dollywobbler]

I might let some of the penetrating oil dissipate before getting crazy with fire. Just gave it another soak. It's about 5 degrees in the garage today. Perhaps no bad thing that I don't have time for tinkering...

[Anthony]

I'll focus on the dizzy for now. Reminds me, must go and give it another soak in penetrating oil...

Given that the dizzy is seized in place, surely the timing was also wrong when the engine would at least run and rev cleanly?

 

Whilst the timing needs rectifying, wouldn't that suggest the cause of the current running issue is likely elsewhere and changing a known constant risks further muddying the picture?

[dollywobbler]

That's the thing. Watching back earlier videos, it clearly wasn't running that cleanly. At first, the blowing exhaust entirely masked the issue, but after that, it was still quite tricky to get going. 

[John F]

The Dynastart is rated 230W output if the spec sheet I read was correct - so let's do some maths.

 

Power = Volts * Amps, therefore Amps = Power / Volts.  230W / 12V = 19.2A.  That would be what's actually coming out the Dynastart at full output though rather than necessarily what would be getting dumped into the charging circuit itself...

 

FTFY

[Angrydicky]

My hometown is right next to Thundersley. I wonder where the factory was? There's an industrial estate off Hart Road which has been there donkeys, I would assume it was in one of the buildings there but which one? Assuming it is of course still standing.

[John F]

dollywobbler, on 07 Jan 2018 - 6:26 PM, said:

I have absolutely no idea! Probably the Lexus, because WAFT. Unless you fancy trying to cure the oil leak on the Honda? Problem is, there's a cam cover nut that's spinning, so not providing sufficient clamping force, and I can't remove it either.

 

Assuming it's a nut spinning on a stud then a bleb of weld 'twixt nut and stud should allow the stud to be removed.

 

If it's the stud that's spinning, some judicious leverage under the nut with a flat-blade screwdriver while winding out the nut with a socket ought to do the trick.

 

Angrydicky, on 08 Jan 2018 - 12:58 PM, said:

My hometown is right next to Thundersley. I wonder where the factory was? There's an industrial estate off Hart Road which has been there donkeys, I would assume it was in one of the buildings there but which one? Assuming it is of course still standing.

 

The Thundersley factory was one of the locations in the 'map game' thread in the Open Forum, it's by Thundersley Hall (if it's still there)... see http://autoshite.com/topic/30286-autoshite-map-game/page-3 (close to the bottom of the page')

[jonny69]

Leaky floats normally show up as fuel going everywhere - out the top of the carb overflow and all down the barrel where it pours out the jets. The stink of petrol is usually what gives it away on a car you use regularly.

[dollywobbler]

My hometown is right next to Thundersley. I wonder where the factory was? There's an industrial estate off Hart Road which has been there donkeys, I would assume it was in one of the buildings there but which one? Assuming it is of course still standing.

 

Church Lane apparently.

 

Thanks for the package. Delivery driver was chuffed to bits to see an Invacar, I thought I'd better open the garage and show him another! Frustrating that I can't just go and fit the new wheel and master cylinders, but such is life.

[Angrydicky]

Interesting. That was the area I was thinking of actually, Hart Road turns into Church Road at the mini roundabout by the school. Would be nice if some photos of the factory still exist.

 

Glad the package has arrived safely. 

[dollywobbler]

FUCKNUGGETS.

 

Got an unexpected break from work, so thought I'd have another go at freeing this sodding distributor. End result was, that after over an hour of swearing, using heat, using penetrating oil, using heat, putting out fires, levering, twatting with hammers, levering some more, the distributor snapped off.

 

Tried drilling into it, with the hope I could get some screws in and lever it out, but it just crumbled. So I kept going with that plan, twatting bits of ally out with a much-abused screwdriver. Then I did some more drilling to make sure I filled the crankcase with swarf. Then more twatting.

 

End result is that the dizzy shaft is still stuck solid and the crankcase is probably a write off.

 

I've had better days.

[Anthony]

Bugger

 

How serviceable does the engine in the spares car look as a worse case scenario?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

what a BASTARD

[dollywobbler]

Bugger

 

How serviceable does the engine in the spares car look as a worse case scenario?

 

I know the spares engine turns. Perhaps I'd better check whether the sodding dizzy turns before going to the trouble of hauling it out. Only 11,000 miles on it, and I can't imagine an engine change is that tricky. Just BLOODY ANNOYING given how much work I've put into this car. Naturally, it has a different oil system, but at least the other service parts can be swapped over. 

[Zelandeth]

Balls.

 

These things are sent to try us.

 

On the plus side, you do (hopefully) have a spare engine at your disposal, and it shouldn't be the worst job in the world to swap over. 

 

Should be an ideal opportunity to sort out any rust on the chassis, dodgy wiring etc that might be hiding behind it.

 

This is precisely the reason though that I always hate jobs on cars which involve the use of brute force, I'm always terrified that I'll wind up doing something like this.

[SiC]

Could you tap the shaft and then put a puller bracket and a nut on it?

 

At the very least it should be easier to fill the hole with diesel and leave it festering there for a while. The dizzy had to come off at some point anyway.

[wuvvum]

What a pain in the arse.

[SiC]

If you do take the engine out, a proper engineering shop may be able to find a way of getting that out. Even if it resorts to cutting the shaft off and then using a mill to remove the remains of the old distributor out?

[twosmoke300]

Weld a nut on the end of the shaft and use a slide hammer if you have enough room above it . Maybe try knocking the broken bit down a few mm to shock it loose

[dollywobbler]

Could you tap the shaft and then put a puller bracket and a nut on it?

 

At the very least it should be easier to fill the hole with diesel and leave it festering there for a while. The dizzy had to come off at some point anyway.

 

Er, about that...

 

That represents about two hours of work with a drill, a screwdriver and a big hammer. I'm knackered, and the shaft is STILL stuck in place. Given how much swarf is now inside the engine, this may not go down as one of my better moves, but I had angers, and they had to go somewhere.