invacar LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...

[LightBulbFun]

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

There was no evidence of a physical gasket when I took the cover off TPA, but it had clearly been leaking like a sieve for years from the 1" plus in places crust of mud and congealed EP90. 

I've just used a smear of Hylomar when putting the cover back on and the oil seems to have stayed mostly inside the box.  Aside from the weeping offside driveshaft seal anyway...

indeed, before I made that post, I specifically looked in the workshop manual as well, and it also makes no mention of there being a gasket with regard to the gearbox top cover, so I dont think there was ever one from the factory, but we will see when I take the cover off!

4 hours ago, reb said:

I wouldn't worry about a simple job taking a long time, I'm the same at the moment. It's just a case of practice, as you do more on the car you'll get more efficient. Before the world turned upside down last year I fitted entirely new suspension to my Volvo in a couple of hours, more recently it took me longer than that to do some minor bits and pieces on the 205. The most important thing really is to take your time to make sure you don't miss a step, as nothing will cause more delay than that! Well, except finding out you have the wrong part once you have everything stripped down!

Yeah, I also just wish simple jobs like this did not leave me so broken, as it really limits what I can do afterwards in an outing (cold weather and minimal daylight obviously not helping, but thats a universal problem everyone has to put up with!)

but with regards to not missing a step, I noticed in the photo you can see a washer merrily sitting  in the chassis leg, looks like I forgot to put that back on the nut before I threaded it onto the bolt!

I was just so focused on getting the Job done that I completely forgot about it!, I highly doubt it critical to anything, I checked and she still turns over nicely etc (with the the aid of the jump pack of course) better then before actually because the dash lights dont go completely out when cranking over now! clearly a nice reduction in voltage drop thanks to the new lead, but its still annoying that I missed the washer, I like to do things properly if I can help it!

3 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

I hope REV is enjoying her new life in London. Did you get to the chip shop in the end @LightBulbFun? 

I dont think she is enjoying it sadly! if the suddenly dead fuel pump, door falling off and other issues are anything to go by anyhow!

to be fair if someone dragged me from the nice FoD, to live in Central London, I too would have probably throw a massive paddy as well LOL

so I have sadly not made it to the Chippy yet!

 

 

[Eyersey1234]

Sad for the fact you didn't get to the chippy

[wuvvum]

That fuel pump is a similar sort of setup to what I currently have on the Volvo - I can confirm that neither thread screws all the way home and I've not had any issues with leakage.

I did have a similar issue with the pump connections being a larger diameter than the fuel lines on the Volvo - I used cheap inline fuel filters to join them up, with a short length of 8mm fuel line on each end of the pump - the inline filters have 5mm and 8mm sections, for 8mm you just push the pipe further on.  Would recommend Jubilee clips though if you go down that route.  The bonus is that by the time the fuel gets to the carb(s) it is very clean...

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, wuvvum said:

That fuel pump is a similar sort of setup to what I currently have on the Volvo - I can confirm that neither thread screws all the way home and I've not had any issues with leakage.

I did have a similar issue with the pump connections being a larger diameter than the fuel lines on the Volvo - I used cheap inline fuel filters to join them up, with a short length of 8mm fuel line on each end of the pump - the inline filters have 5mm and 8mm sections, for 8mm you just push the pipe further on.  Would recommend Jubilee clips though if you go down that route.  The bonus is that by the time the fuel gets to the carb(s) it is very clean...

ah cool thats good to know!

indeed I thought about doing that with some fuel filters as make shift reducers, but I have neither any extra fuel filters nor any 8Mm fuel hose on hand

as you can tell I am well* equipped* for all eventualities...

[AdgeCutler]

Brian the Invacars chassis had the rear frame and engine cradle test fitted today, the aim of this being to check, double check a few measurements in preparation for the final few jobs. So far so good as everything sits in place nicely and the drop arms slotted straight into their fixing points perfectly.  The end of the central spar has been left over length as the original had corroded entirely at the extremity meaning no accurate measurement could be had, once the rear frame is in place it'll be time to offer up the rear body work to try and ascertain exactly where the the spar should terminate.

[Mrs6C]

5 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

Brian the Invacars chassis had the rear frame and engine cradle test fitted today

That is looking great! Are the front uprights actually the same size and shape as the rear outriggers?

[AdgeCutler]

10 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

That is looking great! Are the front uprights actually the same size and shape as the rear outriggers?

One of them is (the near one in the picture), even had the outer radius on it to accommodate the outer tube when used as an outrigger, this has been retained on the new item to stay faithful to original. This upright does little more than act as a body mount and is 16 gauge steel . The other upright is the load bearing one, carrying the front wheel setup, it is of a more rigid build being narrower and keeping the folds tighter together, it is fabricated from 14 gauge steel. They both have face cover plates plug welded to them unlike the outrigger but the latter gain strength in having the floor bolted to them.

[High Jetter]

Jeez. The amount of detail in this, great respect.

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

Brian the Invacars chassis had the rear frame and engine cradle test fitted today, the aim of this being to check, double check a few measurements in preparation for the final few jobs. So far so good as everything sits in place nicely and the drop arms slotted straight into their fixing points perfectly.  The end of the central spar has been left over length as the original had corroded entirely at the extremity meaning no accurate measurement could be had, once the rear frame is in place it'll be time to offer up the rear body work to try and ascertain exactly where the the spar should terminate.

Some bloody impressive work there, I'd love to have a chance to see this car in person once it's complete!

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

Brian the Invacars chassis had the rear frame and engine cradle test fitted today, the aim of this being to check, double check a few measurements in preparation for the final few jobs. So far so good as everything sits in place nicely and the drop arms slotted straight into their fixing points perfectly.  The end of the central spar has been left over length as the original had corroded entirely at the extremity meaning no accurate measurement could be had, once the rear frame is in place it'll be time to offer up the rear body work to try and ascertain exactly where the the spar should terminate.

thats looking awesome! im very pleased to hear that the original chassis rear end/suspension/engine cradle bolted right up to the remanufactured rest of the chassis  

as always tis some seriously impressive work and I look forward to when it all comes together to form a complete Brian the Invacar Mk12E  

[bobdisk]

@LightBulbFun When you fit an electric fuel pump, a safety cutout like this is a good idea:

https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/inertia-safety-switch

 

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, bobdisk said:

@LightBulbFun When you fit an electric fuel pump, a safety cutout like this is a good idea:

https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/inertia-safety-switch

 

ah cool! a couple people had mentioned those, its good to see one in detail  I dont have on hand, but if I end up sticking with the electric fuel pump long term for whatever reason then I will certainly see about getting an inertia cutout switch fitted  

 

speaking of REV, a bundle containing a length of 8Mm fuel hose, a couple filters and several hose clamps arrived yesterday evening, so im hoping a little bit later today ill be able to plumb in the electric fuel pump I got a couple days ago and hopefully that will finally get REV going  

 

also with many thanks to @auntiemaryscanary who went out of his way to pick one up from his local Lidl and post it off for me, I had this arrive which should make doing Oil changes much easier! (especially seeing as the gearbox does not actually have a drain plug LOL)

]

just hoping it will be able to cope with the comparatively thick 20W50 and EP90 oils that the Model 70 contain! but for £10 I figured it worth a punt   and im hoping my jump pack will be able to power it for long enough,  

I mean the oil capacities on a Model 70 are not exactly large, im pretty sure the Oil Filter of a Leyland Olympian takes more oil to pre-fill then the entire engine oil capacity of a Model 70!, so hopefully the jump pack should be able to run it for as long as I will need it when I need to do an oil change/service  

[LightBulbFun]

got a couple more Jobs (almost) done on REV today

main one being is I finally got the electric fuel pump installed and plumbed in, I just have to wire it up electrically, but I ran out of daylight before I could do that sadly

it is a little bit messy down there, but I did have to use a couple short lengths of 8Mm hose and a couple fuel filters acting as reducers so I could plumb the Fuel pump with its 8Mm barbs into the 5Mm hosing the rest of REV is fitted with, 

when I go back to finish the install I hope to clean it up a bit (trim the remaining zip tie tails and double check the fuel line is happy where it is, Ie make sure it is not going to chafe on anything and is not at any sort of tight angles that might stress a connection somewhere)

and ill probably add a couple more zip ties running diagonally or something such for holding the fuel pump down to be safe

then once its wired in ill turn the ignition on and hope it all works!, check nothing leaks and that it does not flood the carb and once I verify everything is good there hopefully then ill be able to try and start REV and hope she fires up rather then explodes or something LOL

and then hopefully take her to the Chippy and back of course  

[Mrs6C]

Despite it being awkward to do all of this, I bet you are really pleased that can just go do that now, on REV, any time that you like!

[Landy Mann]

Good progress well done

[LightBulbFun]

39 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Despite it being awkward to do all of this, I bet you are really pleased that can just go do that now, on REV, any time that you like!

Yeah! indeed it was very painful and awkward! and took me a fair while I think I went downstairs at about 1:30 and then ran out of daylight around 4:15Ish, at one point I almost decided to pack up because it was just getting too painful but I knew it would bug me if I just left it then, so I pushed on through and got as much done before I ran out of daylight, and I am quite pleased with what i have managed to accomplish so far  

(although sadly I cant quite just pop out when I like to tinker on REV, as not only do I have limited daylight, but im also quite limited due to all the stairs etc! I have to pre-plan what im going to do, get dressed and make sure I have everything to hand to bring down with me so I have to make as few trips up and down as I can  I cant sadly just pop out and fiddle with one thing then pop back in etc, all the stairs would just be the end of me)

36 minutes ago, Landy Mann said:

Good progress well done

thanks!  

[dollywobbler]

It's a frustrating time of year alright! Dark evenings are not the tinkerer's friend. Good luck with it.

[AdgeCutler]

Good to see you're making progress Dez and I'm sure you're finding the sense of achievement quite rewarding.

A couple of my lunch breaks this week have been spent Brianing, the globs of ferrous oxide that once were the door rollers have been wire brushed enough that I can now see what they are and how they were constructed. Re-manufacturing these will be a nice little job on the lathe once I've got that running again, I've just finished stripping the capacitance start up contacts for the phase converter. These had become full of sawdust and the primary contacts had gone open circuit which meant the power was running through the inrush contacts and fried the attenuation coils. Hopefully the stripdown and homemade inrush coils will save me the £400 that a seller in Germany wants for the only unit of this type I can find for sale. I've also started to re-assemble Brians control console.

[Yoss]

14 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

 

666. Twice. That should definitely help it work. 

[Zelandeth]

Get yourself a half decent headlight, Dez.  Aside from making half the jobs on an Invacar which involve standing on your head in the dark (which seems to be most of them) they're worth their weight in gold at this time of year.  Nothing like being 89.7% of the way through a job and having to leave it because you can't see. 

Wound up finishing off the work on the Jag yesterday well after daylight had run out, but between working in the shadows anyway and the headlight I really didn't notice until I started packing up how dark it had got. 

[AdgeCutler]

4 hours ago, Yoss said:

666. Twice. That should definitely help it work. 

Well, anything involving electrimufication is a black art indeed.

[LightBulbFun]

Progress report on REV, im very pleased to report I was able to finish the fuel pump install and she happily runs off of it without any issues  

https://youtu.be/-sPWjejgqZM

sadly however she still is plagued by a sticky throttle/throttle cable issues,

but im pleased to report the brakes do seem to do something as I managed to slam on and stop her plowing into the back of the SD1 and prevent a very 1980's accident from happening!

so obviously I was not able to make it to the chippy still! as I dont feel safe at all driving her like that with a sticky throttle!

im not entirely sure what im going to do about the whole throttle cable issue as I fear thats a bit above my physical abilities, I had really hoped this was one of the things that Adam would have been able to have fixed but clearly not

(although I do wonder if there may be something up with the condenser as I do recall @Zelandethmentioning the revs on TPA dropped a couple hundred RPM when he replaced his condenser, so I have to wonder if mine is breaking down slightly once things warm up and is somehow causing the revs to climb?)

I can also confirm that at higher revs the charging light indeed does come back on weirdly, not fully but can see it flickering at about half brightness or so, curiously there is a sweet spot where it does go out, so not sure what the issue there is! I think ill try clean up some grounds/terminals and then go from there! (REV's battery very much needs a charge, she will happily start off the jump pack but the battery is clearly not very happy! and id like to not over discharge it and ruin it as it is a new battery that adam kindly fitted!)

 

however I am pleased to report that i did managed to (figuratively speaking!) run into the neighbour who owns the SD1 (and his wife) at long last, and we had a good talk about things, he even started the SD1 up and it sounded (and smelled) lovely  

(curiously they thought the mystery resident Volvo 940 was also mine!)

[martc]

50 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

(curiously they thought the mystery resident Volvo 940 was also mine!)

Are you Scottish?

[LightBulbFun]

8 minutes ago, martc said:

Are you Scottish?

No but the wife of the neighbour who has the SD1 is! so perhaps that has something to do with it!

I mean given how many Volvos have been brought up to Scotland by the SVM, I think its only natural for a Scottish person to assume that any volvo which has suddenly appeared must belong to a shitter!  

 

I did at least manage to get nice autumn picture scene 

[auntiemaryscanary]

Well done on get it running, what an achievement getting the fuel pump and lines in. You said you are not sure about tackling the sticking throttle. Is there a local friendly garage around? I bet Mr & Mrs SD1 will know of one. Be useful to get to know a good place because there will be other jobs you can't do or don't want to do. 

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I was able to finish the fuel pump install and she happily runs off of it without any issues

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!!!

Fantastic news! Well done!!!

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

sadly however she still is plagued by a sticky throttle/throttle cable issues

Maybe now is the time to get a new throttle control like the one that was successful for Zel and fit that? It won't hurt and may well help!

[Mally]

Whats the issue with the throttle cable?

A good bike shop should be able to make a new one if you can remove the old one in 1 piece.

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!!!

Fantastic news! Well done!!!

Thanks  im quite pleased it worked and she finally ran after coming home at long last!, and she starts and runs well as she has always done which was good to see  

22 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Maybe now is the time to get a new throttle control like the one that was successful for Zel and fit that? It won't hurt and may well help!

well the problem is Zel has (AFAIK) only ever had to replace his throttle cable inner, which on REV is fine AFAIK its brand new I think REV's issues lay with the throttle cable outer or how its run

where as TPA is still on her "original" throttle cable outer I dont think Zel has ever had need to replace it

and thats where the problem lies, something is either up with the newer outer that was fitted at the FoD or the Routing, and no one on here has otherwise had to replace a Model 70 throttle cable outer before...

 

16 minutes ago, Mally said:

Whats the issue with the throttle cable?

A good bike shop should be able to make a new one if you can remove the old one in 1 piece.

a couple years ago (doesn't feel like it!) the original Throttle cable snapped at the FoD (to be fair both the inner and outer where utterly FUBAR, but surprisingly worked nice and smoothly right up until it left @SiC stranded LOL)

so a new inner and outer cable from The parts stash(TM) was fitted by various shitters at the FoD, but ever since then its never been right, its far too stiff to actuate and it likes to jam on at times, and seperetly the twist grip itself is quite sad, I do have a replacement here ill hopefully try and fit tomorrow, but I think the issue still lies with the throttle cable (as the twist grip itself moves freely despite being quite sad)

 

 

 

I do know Big Al has some throttle cables 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/109418819125/posts/10161214682519126/

and im quite tempted by the blue one with twist grip and built in oiler, as that is pretty much identical to what @Zelandeth has on TPA and we know that that obviously works well!

the problem is trying to fit it, and make sure its routed properly throughout the chassis etc, we need to get TPA or such up in the air and get some detailed underside photos taken!

[SiC]

I thought the twist grip would have been changed by now after completely giving up. That was pretty fubar when the cable snapped on me.

Did you ever get the tyres changed on this? I remember the canvas bulging out of the treads and sidewalls alarmingly.