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...

[High Jetter]

39 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Took TWC to a show 30 miles away today. Bear in mind that in the previous year she'd only done 100 miles. I think I've done more than that in the past week as I wanted some miles covered before driving further from home.

Lots of attention as ever. A car that truly makes people smile. Unless they're behind me on a hill...

Looking great. Smart Riley too.

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Took TWC to a show 30 miles away today. Bear in mind that in the previous year she'd only done 100 miles. I think I've done more than that in the past week as I wanted some miles covered before driving further from home.

yeah I missed the live stream but I watched it afterwards just for the TWC content   shame I missed it as I could of gone full Nerd on the "Passenger carrying is forbidden" plaque for you when that subject came up  very much looking forward to the fleet update/digging out of TWC video

2 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Lots of attention as ever. A car that truly makes people smile. Unless they're behind me on a hill...

reminds me of the time I was elephant racing past a Lorry on one of my motorway trips, only for a slight incline to knock me back, but not wanting to lose valuable momentum I am keeping at it, but I have this large silver car up my chuff and I am thinking "just pass FFS the 3rd lane is perfectly clear" eventually he flashes his lights at me so, I figure alright-alright-alright-fine I drop back and pull in behind the lorry to let him go past, and then I see he was the chap towing a trailer I passed earlier in the trip (who legally could not go into lane 3 to pass me) so my apologies to whoever that was, if I had realised that it was someone towing a trailer sooner I would of pulled in sooner, I do try and be considerate where I can!

although I admit I do get a kick of schadenfreude when I do overtake a lorry and watch as everyone who comes up behind me then has to try and funnel themselves into lane 3 (or wait behind me), who needs variable speed limits to even out traffic flow when you just have a 56mph restricted lorries and a mad man in an Invacar  

 

[Andrew353w]

9 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

However its sounding a bit like its not wanting to go into gear cleanly, but not sure if idle speed needs tweaking down (if its too high the clutch shoes will engage prematurely)  or if the clutch shoes need some tweaking, (I know from when someone else had their clutch shoes relined they had problems with high spots in the new material causing the shoes to bind/engage prematurely) but hopefully just the idle speed that needs tweaking down, as the aforementioned clutch-shoe tweaking would mean dropping the engine or gearbox again, and im sure Andyrew would love* to that again (in out-in-out-shake-it-all-about?) 

It's not only the tick-over speed that needs to be watched in a vehicle with a centrifugal clutch, but the smoothness of the tick-over. This is particularly so with a 2-cylinder engine. If the tick-over is uneven the "pulse" when the cylinder fires causes an increase in the idle speed for a second, causing the clutch to engage, thus preventing a smooth gear engagement. Having tuned more Dafs than I care to remember I know this only too well! Adjust the idle and mixture screws to obtain a smooth, low tick over and your gear selection should be perfect! It can take a bit of time and effort but it's worth it. Good luck! 

[LightBulbFun]

On 27/07/2025 at 23:27, dollywobbler said:

I think I've done more than that in the past week as I wanted some miles covered before driving further from home.

have watched the most recent video on TWC  Awesome to see TWC out n about  

I noticed a bit of shunting/"hopping" on moving off there at the 38:26 mark,  you might want to keep an eye on that, as looking back on how REV behaved before the drive-belt let go, it was clear shunting was getting progressively worse before the belt let go all together, and once I fitted the new belt the shunting went away all together.

so I would say keep an eye on that shunting/judder and if you feel/notice it getting worse, preemptively put a new belt on there  

(also as an aside in your preflight checks did yah check tyre pressures? especially the front tyre pressure can make a big difference to the effort/feel of the steering, so thats worth keeping an eye on, especially with TWC being on Dunlop LP591 wheels which IIRC are a riveted construction rim and I dont think you have tubes installed? pressures are 17 front 22 rear for reference ) 

[dollywobbler]

Yes, pressures were checked.

The shunting doesn't seem to have got worse but the belt is squeaking a lot. That belt has been on for 6 years and probably 2000 miles or so. Pulley gap has been checked. 

One thing with gear selection. If you rev the engine, it takes a very long time for the gearbox internals to stop, which means you won't get into gear without a crunch for ages. This is why I have a bungee to hold it in Forward because if it does pop out while driving, you lose forward power for an annoyingly long time and have to come to a stop. And wait. And wait...

I presume this is why the DAF advice was always to try and start "in gear". 

[LightBulbFun]

6 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

One thing with gear selection. If you rev the engine, it takes a very long time for the gearbox internals to stop, which means you won't get into gear without a crunch for ages. This is why I have a bungee to hold it in Forward because if it does pop out while driving, you lose forward power for an annoyingly long time and have to come to a stop. And wait. And wait...

Yeah, seen a few people I have chucked REV into get caught out by that, I always tell them if you end up giving it revs in neutral, wait for the internals of the gearbox to spin down first before attempting to engage drive! I have never had REV jump out of gear under normal circumstances (only time I have had that happen was once when I was still driving about with the bent gear selector rod)

6 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

I presume this is why the DAF advice was always to try and start "in gear". 

and thats terrifying because you do that in a Model 70 at least and it will try and drive itself off into the sunset (or the nearest wall, or the nearest other Model 70 you have parked near by) especially if you have choke on and forget to set the handbrake (and even with the handbrake engaged, you will then be slipping the clutch shoes which probably wont do them or the drum any favours!)

I do notice with TWC you seemed to be able to change gear even with the choke still on somewhat tho, which is quite interesting as theres not a snow balls chance in hell I could do that with REV, she needs to be firmly off choke and idling before I can engage drive or change drive directions, or she will go *crunch* otherwise!

so thats rather curious, be interesting to see if the behaviour is any different with REV's new set of clutch shoes  

[dollywobbler]

I guess after this long I know what the safe revs sound like. Mental rev counter! 

[Christine]

Oh , wrong thread  

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

I guess after this long I know what the safe revs sound like. Mental rev counter! 

what I mean is that you seem to be able to get away with more engine revs and still be able to engage drive, compared to My Model 70, where if your anywhere near the throttle or choke, the clutch will engage and prevent you from going into drive, very much has to be off choke and idling to go into gear, and the idle speed has to be just right, but with TWC it looked like you where able to put her into reverse while the choke was still partly engaged and engine speed was above idle?

according to the workshop manual the clutch should start to engage at 1200 rpm and be fully engaged by 1500 RPM, would be interesting to put a tachometer on the engine and see how that tallies up in real life  I have also always wanted to see someone stick a tach on a Model 70 to see how the engine revs behave in different driving scenarios 

[Andrew353w]

22 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

I presume this is why the DAF advice was always to try and start "in gear". 

Yes, Dafs should be started in gear. The neutral position's only really needed by a mechanic working on the engine. If the engine's set up properly (ignition & tuning set correctly) the engine should fire without much (or any!) choke even from cold. I remember when I used another 33 for my daily commute from Barnet to Heathrow for a year it would start "on the button" even in freezing weather and hardly ever needed any choke. The tick-over was uneven until I'd driven about half a mile, but it never stalled. 

[doug]

Spotted on Facebook. Celtic park apparently. Can just make out the first 2 letters of the reg.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, doug said:

Spotted on Facebook. Celtic park apparently. Can just make out the first 2 letters of the reg.

tis RAR88R the full picture can be seen here  

https://www.thecelticwiki.com/legends-and-supporters/supporters-disabled-supporters/

[All-Cisterns-Go]

59 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

tis RAR88R the full picture can be seen here  

https://www.thecelticwiki.com/legends-and-supporters/supporters-disabled-supporters/

 & pound to a penny that car was known as "Rah-Rah" at some time in its life...

[Snake Charmer]

3 hours ago, All-Cisterns-Go said:

 & pound to a penny that car was known as "Rah-Rah" at some time in its life...

Rasputin after 1978?