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...

[Andyrew]

The gearbox mounts while hadn't failed they were tired and showing a wee bit of delamination, with some NOS in the parts stash It makes sense to fit them.  Interestingly both gearbox mount brackets were a little distorted. The nearside mount bracket has been rubbing against the bolt for the suspension with had worn a groove in the mount bracket. I cleaned the burring back and ground a little clearance in. Straightened the distortion out and gave them a quick splash or black just to make me feel better. 

Driveshafts were heavily corroded so a knock back with some 40 grit and a spray of some hammerite makes them marginally nicer.  

[Zelandeth]

I barely recognise that gearbox!  They do seem to like to attract an impressive case of greasy crap.  Attacking TPAs one with detergent and the pressure washer has been on my to do list for ages - especially as every one I've seen weeps to at least some extent from around the driveshafts.  50+ year old congealed EP90 is such fun to deal with isn't it!

I wouldn't worry too much about the scoring on the flywheel - TPA's looked way worse than that as I recall (not surprising given the drivetrain had apparently been getting used as a caravan park tug) but aside from a bit of judder when taking up drive which I reckon is actually on the belt side of things it's been absolutely fine.  Afraid I don't have a good photo of that it seems.

While you're in there check the driveshaft to hub bolts are tight!  All of TPAs had worked loose during the first 2000 or so miles - if you've got good access adding some locking washers would be a good shout.  There's nothing aside from the bolts holding the shaft to the hub, so if they come loose it's going to be Bad News.  There aren't many things on these cars which I would say is an outright bad design - but those rear hubs are one of them.  Between there being no proper coupling to the driveshafts and the utterly unobtanium wheel studs made of cheese they are just an utter pain.  Oh, and the wheel bearings which according to the manual that you need a dynamometer to set up properly, because yes everyone has one of those in the garage.  I sure don't - and so far "that feels about right" seems to have been okay at least!

I guess there *could* originally have been locking tabs/washers/thread lock on the driveshaft bolts - I was transferring secondhand parts over from one car to another so they could just have already been missing.  That's always the slight lottery when using secondhand parts.

[richardmorris]

Congrats. I actively avoid the m1.

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

I didn't take any before photo but the gearbox was absolutely covered in shite, the engine bay itself was pretty grubby so let's start with making it a bit nicer to work in. Some engine degreaser,, some tar  Remover and a bit of scrubbing later and we are looking better.

 

2 hours ago, Andyrew said:

The gearbox mounts while hadn't failed they were tired and showing a wee bit of delamination, with some NOS in the parts stash It makes sense to fit them.  Interestingly both gearbox mount brackets were a little distorted. The nearside mount bracket has been rubbing against the bolt for the suspension with had worn a groove in the mount bracket. I cleaned the burring back and ground a little clearance in. Straightened the distortion out and gave them a quick splash or black just to make me feel better. 

Driveshafts were heavily corroded so a knock back with some 40 grit and a spray of some hammerite makes them marginally nicer.  

Awesome stuff! as Zel says its strange seeing the gearbox so clean! I can actually see the drive-belt-adjuster mechanism clearly now, when I popped the drive the belt on the M25, and then replaced it and the pulley, I was most thankful I did not have to touch the adjuster in the end, because of how much sludge everything was covered in otherwise LOL

[Andyrew]

#stance yo

[Andyrew]

Little bit of time spent on REV today, I wanted to drop the shocks and springs out. Thankfully with a bit of oil and a wire brush the nuts didn't put up a fight.

I also wanted to have a nosey regarding straightening the gear selector rod. Both of these jobs would be made easier with the gearbox out the way so I dropped that out. Much heavier than I expected, unwieldy with the driveshafts. @Zelandeth was completely correct about half the drive flange bolts were indeed loose! 

This little shit put up way more fuss than it should. The R clip was rusted solid and broke the the clevis pin was stuck too.

Quite a bend it must be said, appears to have worn a slot into the body were it was pressed into it.

gearbox out, springs and shocks out.

Parts pile 

The engine covers hinges have basically ripped through the body, one side has previously had a large penny washer from breaking through.  I Think it's because the engine cover doesnt hinge up as high as you expect so gets lifted too far, I'd guess alot of them are damaged around this area. I have a solution in mind so should be an easy fix.

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Andyrew said:

I also wanted to have a nosey regarding straightening the gear selector rod. Both of these jobs would be made easier with the gearbox out the way so I dropped that out. Much heavier than I expected, unwieldy with the driveshafts. @Zelandeth was completely correct about half the drive flange bolts were indeed loose! 

Eeep! glad thats been caught, makes me wonder about other Model 70's on here, @dollywobbler and @AdgeCutler's etc

3 hours ago, Andyrew said:

 

Quite a bend it must be said, appears to have worn a slot into the body were it was pressed into it.

Blimey thats a bit more bent then I realised! I am pretty sure thats suppose to be just a straight linkage to the gearbox!  

 

 

as a general aside, I noticed in one of the pictures some stickers on the chassis below the ignition coil bracket, that I had never otherwise seen before!

and what they are is most interesting from my whole research into the history and development of the Model 70 perspective, they are ECE approval markings for fuel consumption/exhaust emissions (ECE R15) and electromagnetic emissions (ECE R10) I wonder what the "242" and "176.01" numbers mean?

all throughout the Model 70's production life, it was constantly being iterated on and improved, and I had read about the ECE compliance stuff, so its really cool to see actual physical evidence of it,

also for those wondering about the Crash pads, it turned out that those where not really required and actually made things worse when fitted

[lesapandre]

Absolutely fascinating detail. Not many more - if any cars - got that kind of Parliamentary scrutiny. 

[Zelandeth]

Those pins in the gear linkage were an utter menace to get apart on KPL as well - pretty sure there's a bolt and pair of lock nuts in place of one of the pins there.  The gear linkage rod should indeed just be completely straight.

[Andyrew]

New springs and shocks fitted, way more fiddly than I expected 

Gear linkage straightening also happened 

 

[LightBulbFun]

15 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

New springs and shocks fitted, way more fiddly than I expected 

Oooh shiny! and is she sitting level now?  I notice interestingly the 2 silver spacers(?) above the coil springs seem to be different thicknesses? 

 

the presence of such silver thingies, makes me think of this note from the DHSS Parts list, but REV is a pretty late Model 70, so I wonder if the 'distance piece' is something else entirely?

[Andyrew]

The (now quickly sprayed) silver things are metal spring cups that go over the rubber springs mounts.

Won't find out if it's level until there's an engine back in there. 

Without any weight  each time I jacked up one side the other lifted so I will double check everything is sitting correctly when it's a little heavier. 

[SiC]

On display at M-Shed Bristol