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[wuvvum]

Didn't really get a lot done in the way of fettling over the weekend.  Saturday was spent at the FoD - I ended up driving down in the Maxus, that hadn't been my original intention but I had a few bits to do in the van first thing, and as I was running a bit late and traffic was getting shite I decided to just carry on in the van rather than going home and getting the Rover.  It was the first long run the van had had in probably 6 months or more - it actually wasn't too bad, there are far worse vehicles in my fleet to do ~300 miles in a day in.  I stuck 60 quid of diesel in and it didn't quite use it all, so that works out at something over 30mpg, which is acceptable for a big old van, although I was cruising at 65ish rather than hammering down the outside lane with the Sprinters.

Sunday I was busy most of the day but I did refit the carb to the Mobylette - then as soon as I turned the fuel tap on it started pissing petrol out of the overflow hole.  Turned out that the float had somehow got stuck and wasn't closing the needle valve, so the carb had to come off again.  

Monday I refitted the carb for a second time - the bike fired straight up and I let it run for a bit while I sorted out a dodgy earth on one of the front indicators.  I went back to it a bit later to take it for a ride, it started straight up again but wouldn't rev, it died as soon as any throttle was applied.  It was behaving like the carb jet was blocked, so I took the carb off yet again, unscrewed the float chamber and blew through the jet - that got the bike running again  and I took it for a quick spin but it's still buggering about a bit - at one point it cut out at about 30mph and ground to a halt, only to restart after a couple of kicks and carry on like nothing had happened.  I'm not sure what's going on - I'm sure it's a carb issue but I'm not sure what yet.  Fortunately bits for Dell'Orto SHA carbs are piss cheap so I can afford to play a bit of parts darts with it - I really do need to get it running well enough that I can trust it enough to ride it more than pushing distance from home.  I did also want to fit the new rear tyre I bought for it a month or two back, but I couldn't find my proper tyre levers and I don't think the levers from a Poundland puncture repair kit are going to make much of an impression on a moped tyre.

Next job was to check the gearbox oil level on the Visa.  That was a bit awkward because I couldn't get a socket on the level plug as the steering column was in the way, and my spanner set has every size except the one I needed (21mm).  I eventually found a Whitworth spanner which was a pretty good fit.  The oil level was actually more or less where it should be, which was good to see - both the Renaults were noticeably low when I checked them.

Last job for the day was to get the carb off the Renault 4 to see if I can see why it's running like a bag o' shite on a light throttle and refusing to idle off choke.  It was actually very easy to get off, much less of a faff than the Volvo carbs.  While I was poking around in the engine bay though I did notice that two of the spark plugs were finger tight or less, and were essentially being held in position by the plug leads.  Tightening these up didn't make any difference to the running though.  Some of the nuts on the combined inlet / exhaust manifold studs weren't as tight as they could be either - that's the next port of call if servicing the carb doesn't work, as there might be a bit of air getting in round the manifold which wouldn't be helping the running.  Manifold looks rather more awkward to get off than the carb though, especially since the gasket does both inlet and exhaust so both need to come off to replace it, so I'm trying the carb first.

Tomorrow I have the Rover booked in to the local garage for them to pressure test the aircon system - if it seems to be holding pressure then I'll make another attempt at fitting a belt to the aircon compressor, if it's leaking from every joint then there doesn't seem to be any point...

[Ghosty]

On 5/28/2023 at 12:00 AM, HMC said:

SpOtted a typical looking (for west devon)  well worn RM combo from my bedroom window

They look much the same here in Manc, still have them here too.

RM are really hanging on to those Combos, they love them as they're massively more dependable than the Partners that were supposed to replace them.

[calebaaront]

Went for a drive up to Guildford and back in the Trabant this morning.  Country lanes up there and the A3 back. I just about managed 68mph! The only downside is I stopped for fuel and then it wouldn't start again but after a couple of cranks it made a huge backfire (made an old lady jump bless her) and started fine. I've only recently replaced the plugs and it's got an electronic ignition so it's not the condensers. Could it be the coils getting hot? 

[barefoot]

Whoa, way too fast!

I've got a Trabbie handbook and it says never to exceed 100kmph. When you drive it fast for long periods, it advises that you take your foot off the pedal, let the revs drop to tickover for a moment every 10 km or so, then boot the revs back up to chuck some lube around and prevent it from instantaneously seizing. Mine did that on the way back from some microcar meet (where I bought the book). Silence and a little red light on the dash. A gentle cruise to the hard shoulder, let it cool for a mo and we were off again.

[calebaaront]

23 minutes ago, barefoot said:

Whoa, way too fast!

I've got a Trabbie handbook and it says never to exceed 100kmph. When you drive it fast for long periods, it advises that you take your foot off the pedal, let the revs drop to tickover for a moment every 10 km or so, then boot the revs back up to chuck some lube around and prevent it from instantaneously seizing. Mine did that on the way back from some microcar meet (where I bought the book). Silence and a little red light on the dash. A gentle cruise to the hard shoulder, let it cool for a mo and we were off again.

I was mainly doing about 50, I was on and off the throttle quite alot too as the traffic was relatively slow. Was sat happily at 50mph, 68mph down a hill and tail wind for about a mile. it was not a fan of it. 

[Ghosty]

I saw a Trab on the M5 yesterday, but it was one of the VW engined ones.

 

[Ged]

Had a bit of a XUD moment with my 305, head is cracked and with it being £500 for bare 1.9TD heads... Not sure if I will try to track down a used head / other engine or a hdi only thing that worries me is getting the ECU to play ball but if its from an early enough car it shouldnt be too bad.

[loserone]

Woah is that the XUD from the Xantia with a cracked head?

[Ged]

2 minutes ago, loserone said:

Woah is that the XUD from the Xantia with a cracked head?

Yeah, looks to have been lacking some corrosion inhibitors heh. But the coolant mysteriously disappeared (no leaks) could have maybe evaporated but.. I was driving it unknowlingly as the shitty level sensor design didnt work with my aftermarket temp gauge somehow sitting happy. Sadly got my 2000 odd miles of fun out of it over the past month I had it finished so dont want to go back to a N/A engine.

[loserone]

Bumhats.  Very sorry to hear that, it felt like a great engine and I bet those 2000 miles were hilarious 

[SiC]

Over 67 years old and still working the streets. Interesting they make use of the MOT exemption too. 

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

It's time for "oh shit you're dragging the car to Telford on Sunday" levels of maintenance so I've been and changed the oil as it was slightly* overdue. Anyway, in the five days between having the bonnet open last and today, it appeared that the wee emblem thing from the engine cover had ejected itself from the motor vehicle.

Had a bit of a look around the bay, and at first couldn't see anything. And then, sitting wedged in the fan...

That's it there. It's a bit worse for wear now, but at least it was still somewhere in the car.

 

Now to get something to properly attach it to the engine cover again. Probably should tidy the car up a bit too for the show. Honestly just a run over with the hoover inside and a quick wash and wax ootside and it'll be reet.

[Zelandeth]

Ah, nothing like picking up a project (nothing car related) you haven't really touched in probably four years or so, and immediately looking at it and having to ask yourself "Why on earth did I do that this way?!?"

I'm guessing because I was foolishly and massively optimistically trying to get stuff done for a totally unrealistic deadline at the time I started this back in 2016(?) and therefore not seeing the bigger picture.  I've a terrible tendency to get serious tunnel vision at times like that, focusing purely on the checklist item I'm actually working on rather than things as a whole.

Now at that interesting crossroads where I need to make a decision on whether I basically chuck what I've done so far in the bin and start over.  Or try to unpick my own poor decisions, mistakes and oversights and fix what I've got.  Realistically starting over is probably the most sensible option, even though it probably does mean binning north of a hundred quid of materials - but I do have more than enough in stock to start over.

That kind of feels like giving in though...and does involve a fair chunk of work to get back to square one as several parts will need to be stripped back for reuse.  So at least partly out of bloody mindedness (and partly out of being a tight Scotsman who doesn't want to waste expensive material) I'll see if I can sort it out.

Definitely one of those times where I'd like to be able to reach back through time and give myself a good thwack on the back of the head to make me wake up and see that I was being an idiot!

[mat777]

When you're fettling the project car in the hot sun but luckily there's a pub across the road from your lockup (.... who'd unfortunately run out of bottles of actual cider, but at least the fruity pisswater was cold! 😅 )
 

 

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

Over 67 years old and still working the streets. Interesting they make use of the MOT exemption too. 

 

thats an M&M Electric Vehicles rebodied machine  would of originally carried an older style body when new, I love milkfloats for they are one of those vehicles that very much was a case of "if it aint broke dont fix" and most had service lives spanning decades,

(and Milk-floats are one of those vehicles that where always exempt, or more specifically never required an MOT, which is why you never see one robbed of its number plate)

[Yoss]

On 5/30/2023 at 1:25 AM, Ghosty said:

They look much the same here in Manc, still have them here too.

RM are really hanging on to those Combos, they love them as they're massively more dependable than the Partners that were supposed to replace them.

We still have a couple of 08 reg Combos at our office, which mostly consists of 11 or 12 reg Partners. Two of the Combos have thick yellow bands over the front wheel arches from some previous life, not sure why, but are otherwise pogweaseled to buggery. They came off the scrap line from some other office during COVID when we needed extra vans and they never left. I assume some of the Pugs have disappeared but we have dozens of those so I wouldn't notice a few missing.

The Pugs all arrived in 2012 as that was when we went from cycle duties to van sharing. I never thought they'd still be here 11 years later. They are quite shagged but they've probably done okay considering the abuse they get. And I can't see us replacing them anytime soon with the state the company is in.

Mind you I'd like to see the state of Amazon's Sprinters after eleven years. Most of the ones round here are only two years old and already beaten to buggery.

[Markeh]

In an update to my friend's saga for getting a courtesy car after someone broke into hers, she finally picked up an Enterprise i10 on Saturday morning. With an EML on the dash, a battery warning if she sits in the car with the ignition on for more than a moment or two, and a dodgy TPMS sensor that keeps telling her she's got a low tyre but not which one, and all are testing fine.

On the bright side, my taxi commitments ended as of Friday morning, and she's discovered she likes Android Auto in the i10.

[junkyarddog]

I is officially old,

I removed the lowering springs from my Golf!!

Before.

After.

I'm actually glad I did and it feels much nicer on the bumpy country roads where I live.

The front springs are the originals that I removed years ago,the rears are actually from a mid 80's Passat estate as the coils are slightly thicker but they needed to be shortened a wee bit to suit,these were fitted for quite a while when it was a daily driver,but then I went all pineapple and lowered it!!🤣

[Jazoli]

48 minutes ago, junkyarddog said:

I is officially old,

I removed the lowering springs from my Golf!!

Before.

After.

I'm actually glad I did and it feels much nicer on the bumpy country roads where I live.

The front springs are the originals that I removed years ago,the rears are actually from a mid 80's Passat estate as the coils are slightly thicker but they needed to be shortened a wee bit to suit,these were fitted for quite a while when it was a daily driver,but then I went all pineapple and lowered it!!🤣

Looks much better, lowering a car never has a positive effect on the ride and handling in my experience.

[stuboy]

bloody exhaust still banging on the mondeo...

[junkyarddog]

44 minutes ago, Jazoli said:

Looks much better, lowering a car never has a positive effect on the ride and handling in my experience.

Have to disagree on the handling,as it was really flat and planted around bends,but yeah the ride was really starting to grate,despite the fact that when I lowered it originally I didn't find it much different.

Just getting old I guess 😐

[wuvvum]

Put the carb back on the Renault 4 after work and took it for a quick drive - it does seem to be running a bit better, it'll idle off choke now and I actually had to turn the idle screw down a bit.  Exhaust sounds a bit less farty too since I tightened all the nuts up, although it's never going to be quiet...  It's still not perfect as even when warmed up it pulls better with the choke slightly out, but I can live with that.  I am going to treat it to a set of plugs though as there's an occasional missfire when I put my foot down.  I'm also going to fit an inline fuel filter as there doesn't appear to be any kind of filtration between tank and carb (I'm assuming there's some kind of in-tank filter but I have no idea how effective that is) and there was a fair bit of sediment in the float bowl.

Also got the TF running again - turned out I'd twatted the inertia switch for the fuel pump when removing the rear shock - pressed the reset button and the car fired straight up.

So that's good.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, junkyarddog said:

I is officially old,

I removed the lowering springs from my Golf!!

Before.

After.

I'm actually glad I did and it feels much nicer on the bumpy country roads where I live.

The front springs are the originals that I removed years ago,the rears are actually from a mid 80's Passat estate as the coils are slightly thicker but they needed to be shortened a wee bit to suit,these were fitted for quite a while when it was a daily driver,but then I went all pineapple and lowered it!!🤣

Looks much better, ride height.

[SRi05]

On 6/7/2022 at 4:23 PM, SRi05 said:

MOT Pass for this old bus today. Possibly my favourite motor ever, just plods on without any grief whatsoever.

Jesus, I've kept a car long enough to do this again 

 

 

 

[stuboy]

Collegue at work buys auction lots and sells on ebay, some stuff didn't sell so said do I want it... who'd say no..

[richardmorris]

[puntopaul]

My Punto that I bought off this very forum a few years ago, passed its MOT today so my efforts cleaning and polishing it was well worth it!! Also found its 90's rival, so couldn't resist a photo!!

 

[lesapandre]

Interesting and well written blog/website by former US Road&Track staffer Dennis Simanaitis:

https://simanaitissays.com/about/

[lesapandre]

22 hours ago, richardmorris said:

'Car tax' exemption article looks interesting - been looking at this for some of mine.

[wuvvum]

The 107 failed its MOT today, as anticipated.  It didn't do as badly as I'd expected though - it failed on a sticky rear brake (which probably needs the wheel cylinder replacing, I did the other side last year) and one bit of welding for which the garage quoted me £90.  So it looks like the old heap might live to see another year.