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...

[Snake Charmer]

1 hour ago, Mr Pastry said:

That sounds perfectly normal.  It's a hydraulic damper which contains a gas cell IIRC so the damper itself isn't pressurised.  If you turn the adjusting screw you will find it clicks around and you can alter the resistance, clockwise for harder.    I wonder how interchangeable they are with stock Fiat 126 dampers?

I was considering the adjuster position and I think they are twin tube gas filled so the gas may have settled in storage as opposed to mono tube which have a separate piston with gas behind. I have a couple of dead Spax here so I might cut one open out of curiosity. 

The yellow tape/shrink-wrap is interesting, not seen that before and may have been added at Spax to cover the adjusters so they come preset for the application. Possibly modified Fiat 126 to suit the lighter Model 70? The wording "SPECIAL" on the box within the part numbers might be a clue. A call to Spax might yield some information. 

[Mr Pastry]

40 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

I was considering the adjuster position and I think they are twin tube gas filled so the gas may have settled in storage as opposed to mono tube which have a separate piston with gas behind. I have a couple of dead Spax here so I might cut one open out of curiosity. 

It would be interesting to know.  It's a long time ago but I used to fit a lot, I may be wrong but ISTR that you could close them up and they would stay closed.

 

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

That sounds perfectly normal.  It's a hydraulic damper which contains a gas cell IIRC so the damper itself isn't pressurised.  If you turn the adjusting screw you will find it clicks around and you can alter the resistance, clockwise for harder.    I wonder how interchangeable they are with stock Fiat 126 dampers?

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

I was considering the adjuster position and I think they are twin tube gas filled so the gas may have settled in storage as opposed to mono tube which have a separate piston with gas behind. I have a couple of dead Spax here so I might cut one open out of curiosity. 

The yellow tape/shrink-wrap is interesting, not seen that before and may have been added at Spax to cover the adjusters so they come preset for the application. Possibly modified Fiat 126 to suit the lighter Model 70? The wording "SPECIAL" on the box within the part numbers might be a clue. A call to Spax might yield some information. 

interesting  mine sadly did not come with it, but they would have been accompanied by this letter, indeed they do come pre-set and are explicitly not supposed to be adjusted unless under special circumstances, so I assume the wrap is to stop people from messing with it LOL

I am curious what exactly does the adjusting screw adjust/change inside the shock? I seem to have this thing in my head that its some sort of valve that controls the flow inside the shock, but I dont actually know where I have that idea from LOL

3 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

  I wonder how interchangeable they are with stock Fiat 126 dampers?

I have wondered about this myself more so, about how suitable/unsuitable would Fiat shocks in a Model 70, I know they will physically fit, Adam fitted a pair of cheap Fiat 500 shocks off eBay to KPL, but I do raise an eyebrow to that, are the damping rates going to match up? especially given the weight differences, but I guess its better then no shocks! 

although saying that, the Harper Mk6 never had any at all on the rear LOL (it was apparently a bit infamous for that) 

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

A call to Spax might yield some information. 

speaking to the seller about these, he did say when he ended up with a bunch of these 15 years ago he called spax at the time to try and figure out what they where for and spax said they where special order and had no clue what they where for!

and so had no clue until when listing this pair he googled the part numbers and found this very thread  more recently @AdgeCutler did try and call Spax about the shocks and shocks in general (with regards to replacing the failed units on his Mk12E) and I dont think they where very helpful at all sadly

1 hour ago, Snake Charmer said:

I was considering the adjuster position and I think they are twin tube gas filled so the gas may have settled in storage as opposed to mono tube which have a separate piston with gas behind. I have a couple of dead Spax here so I might cut one open out of curiosity. 

58 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

It would be interesting to know.  It's a long time ago but I used to fit a lot, I may be wrong but ISTR that you could close them up and they would stay closed.

for what its worth in this regard it says on the shock "this unit is not pressurised" 

 

 

 

 

[Mr Pastry]

That's an interesting letter and I note that it mentions an earlier Armstrong part, which would probably not have been adjustable.  

As you say any dampers are better than none,  as long as they are not too stiff, but to get the best results they need to be tailored to the vehicle.  The Fiat ones are likely near enough.  The adjuster varies the opening of a valve which restricts the oil flow.  Forcing oil repeatedly through a small hole of course produces heat, and dampers get quite hot in operation.  This thins the oil, which reduces the damping effect.   Add some inert gas and this will expand when heated, which pressurises the system and compensates for the thinning of the oil.  It's not at all as simple as that, but you get the idea.

 

[Snake Charmer]

😄 a letter from the Benefits Agency about Spax dampers!

[quicksilver]

You've probably seen it before but this popped up on Facebook. Fred Drane's garage in Tattingstone, Suffolk apparently, and the Harper seems to be causing a lot of confusion - so far it's been misidentified as a Goggomobil and a Frisky

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, quicksilver said:

You've probably seen it before but this popped up on Facebook. Fred Drane's garage in Tattingstone, Suffolk apparently, and the Harper seems to be causing a lot of confusion - so far it's been misidentified as a Goggomobil and a Frisky

Hah! I have seen a few people mention the Frisky looks, but the Harper Mk6 came first so if anyone was ripping off anyone, it was Frisky ripping off Stanley/Harper!

indeed I have seen 102HPA before  

 

On 9/26/2020 at 2:28 AM, LightBulbFun said:

got tipped off by @keef about this neat period picture of a Harper Mk6  

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=140&t=1807882&i=3600

 

 

if the registration looks familiar its probably because of this one  

 

 

also for completeness sake here is another xxxHPA Harper  

[Mrs6C]

Have you seen this one, hand-built in Pennsylvania in 1935?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203661118821

 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

Have you seen this one, hand-built in Pennsylvania in 1935?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203661118821

very cool I had not seen it before, I wonder what became of it, ima tag @barrettsince this sort o thing feels right up his street

it reminds me of the similarly home built greek invalid carriage

https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-lightbulbfuns-invacar-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-survivors-lists-on-pages-24134-adgecutlers-invacar-mk12-restoration-from-page-186-onwards-still-harping-on/page/304/#comment-2726010

 

[D.E]

AC?

[RichardK]

On 9/25/2023 at 1:28 PM, Snake Charmer said:

😄 a letter from the Benefits Agency about Spax dampers!

As a child of the 70s-80s and very aware of the derogatory terms flying around (up until b3ta's 'hacker or ...' flash quiz game) - couldn't they have gone with ANY other brand?!

[Christine]

29 minutes ago, RichardK said:

As a child of the 70s-80s and very aware of the derogatory terms flying around (up until b3ta's 'hacker or ...' flash quiz game) - couldn't they have gone with ANY other brand?!

There was  Monroe  ,   but it too , sounded  like something else  derogatory 

[horriblemercedes]

7 hours ago, RichardK said:

As a child of the 70s-80s and very aware of the derogatory terms flying around (up until b3ta's 'hacker or ...' flash quiz game) - couldn't they have gone with ANY other brand?!

I was thinking that! I'm sure that someone must have pointed it out at the time....

[Snake Charmer]

Armstrong too derogatory?  Koni? Delco......😁

  

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Armstrong too derogatory?  Koni? Delco......😁

  

You sure that's for a car? 🤣

[Remspoor]

On 9/27/2023 at 9:12 AM, RichardK said:

As a child of the 70s-80s and very aware of the derogatory terms flying around (up until b3ta's 'hacker or ...' flash quiz game) - couldn't they have gone with ANY other brand?!

 

22 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I was thinking that! I'm sure that someone must have pointed it out at the time....

 

https://spaxperformance.com/custom-shocks/about spax.html

Quote

The History of Spax Dampers
SPAX was founded in 1951 by Norman Butcher, who lived in a Somerset village called Spaxton. The name of the company comes from the name of that village. The original product was a car fog lamp and shortly after, the rebuilding of lever arm and other dampers was added.

 

 

[adw1977]

https://fb.watch/ntxN88uEtV/

This video of 1960s London popped up on my Facebook feed.   I dare say you have seen it before LBF, but just in case you haven't...

[LightBulbFun]

heres one thats got me scratching my head somewhat, nice photo

https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/an-invacar-parked-on-the-sea-front-at-brighton-with-news-photo/1686462009

but confusing in that I cant work out what control scheme it has, at the risk of adding confirmation bias to it all, it almost looks like the user is controlling it with their foot! but its a bit of an odd shape for someones foot, and I also note it does look like it has a standard dashboard handbrake pull, which would would be odd for a foot controlled machine, you would expect it to have a foot pedal operated parking brake...

but if you look bellow the interior door handle there are a couple items/knobs? which are not normally present in a Model 70, so go figure!

unless its all just weird reflections! 

 

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1686462009/photo/brighton-1985-photo-by-patrick-ford-hulton-archive.jpg?s=2048x2048&w=gi&k=20&c=fw6pX0xK5-ZedluxII4QpbEGK957S69UwZxlp_34Ojw=

a high res version of the photo can be found in the link above

 

[AdgeCutler]

Looks like he's holding binoculars and has a newspaper or suchlike resting over the controls?

[New POD]

1 hour ago, AdgeCutler said:

Looks like he's holding binoculars and has a newspaper or suchlike resting over the controls?

are you all blind ? 

It's a wheelchair. 

[Christine]

5 hours ago, New POD said:

are you all blind ? 

It's a wheelchair. 

Good spot pod !  I thought he was a perv , looking at kids , and hiding a stiffy under the paper ! 

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, New POD said:

are you all blind ? 

It's a wheelchair. 

interesting thought, but I dont think its a wheelchair, this is what a Model 70's wheelchair would of looked like

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co127502/model-8-folding-wheelchair-england-1953-1963-wheelchair

and that does not seem to match up with whats in the picture

[Mrs6C]

It does look more like something placed inside the cabin, though, rather than it being a part of the vehicle.

It could be a folding canvas chair, like those used for camping. Something like the one in the link below would match up pretty well. The two round 'knobs' that can be seen would correspond well to the tops of the back rest uprights, while if the canvas seat were folded upwards, that would give the 'folded newspaper' effect that has been noted already.

https://www.design-market.co/272804-vintage-metal-and-fabric-folding-camping-chair-1960-1970.html

[Spottedlaurel]

Hey @LightBulbFun, seen this one? https://flic.kr/p/2p6V3ry

 

[LightBulbFun]

16 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Hey @LightBulbFun, seen this one? https://flic.kr/p/2p6V3ry

Oh very cool not seen that picture before GPG759K is a quite early Model 70, 149th off the production line to be exact  

 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

2 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Oh very cool not seen that picture before GPG759K is a quite early Model 70, 159th off the production line to be exact

It was the Norfolk-registered Micra that caught my eye...

[Mrs6C]

The buildings have changed a little bit, but not much...

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5502434,-0.1149293,3a,85.6y,220.02h,97.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbdWSNQTan8sRDbFGJd4Yfw!2e0!5s20220701T000000!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[AdgeCutler]

A little Brian news for those interested.

From the get go I have had issues with the exhaust down pipe becoming loose every so often, and I finally accepted that this is due to slight misalignment between it and the heat exchanger. I have taken the system off and cut the exchanger inlet stub out, then replaced it all and re welded the stub back in its relaxed position. Hopefully that resolved this issue.

Next, very recently I stopped driving the car as I’d noticed there seemed to be more noise than usual coming from the primary drive casing, upon removal it became evident why. Two of the chain rollers have portions broken off of them, luckily no harm came from this. Owing to lack of funds during the rebuild I did reuse the best of the old chains I had, it seems that was a poor choice. Anyhow I’ve had over 1330 miles from that chain and a new one will be ordered tomorrow.

[egg]

just checkin'.  Stamford Bridge, the infamous Shed End.

[LightBulbFun]

in other Invalid Carriage news, Stuart has managed to end up with a Stanley Argson Runnymede in flatpack form! story goes the previous owner got it in the mid 1970's and disassembled it to make it easier to store, and then just never got round to do anything with it, so put it on eBay where Stuart won it for £5  (and then the seller very kindly let him have it for free when he learnt who Stuart was)

I initially thought it was a brave project to take on, but subsequent photos does show it to be surprisingly all there, even if some assembly is required! 

(and it did come with an engine/gearbox and Stuart has some spare Argson front wheels)

so this will be quite the  interesting project to follow!  Stuart has good form for being able to restore these machines, if one recalls the 2 Harding's he brought back from the dead  

 

 

and speaking of interesting projects, Stuart has put his Comtesse up for sale, as theres another rather exciting new project in bound that I am very much looking forward to posting about here once it lands

https://www.facebook.com/groups/950689934973969/posts/6735739556468949/