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...

18,408 · April 19

That was indeed typed on here, can't remember who by and if it has been suggested elsewhere

23,688 · April 21

had an evening out-n-about in the VDP, picked up mum from an appointment and took her to a place-that-serves-nice-food with my brother for an occasion

*touches wooden dashboard* ol girl still doing very well, despite not seeing any use the past 3 weeks, fired up and performed without a hitch

18,408 · April 21

Happy Birthday?

1,218 · April 22

On 18/04/2026 at 21:28, lesapandre said:

24 hours 7 days if it's the Brick Lane Bakery.

A decent spot if you are ever out late in London - just round the corner from Shoreditch High Street Station and known by every cabby. Do filled beigels too. 😋

Salt beef beigel is my favourite 😋

5,534 · April 22

23,688 · April 23

had an evening out with REV today

my brother had another card game thing he was eager to try out so I got called in as a 3rd player, traffic was a bit gnarly so it was via the back roads of the city square mile around bishops gate (I confused a whole bunch of pub crowds in these narrow streets LOL) and up via southwark bridge

they take a while these games, but eventually home again, back via my more normal route over tower bridge

I have noticed REV's idle is still AWOL, it will sometimes hang around for a few 10's of seconds before dying off, theres bit of extra going "TUC!" sometimes at light throttle but otherwise idle issue aside, still performing fine still, its a bit amusing the last time I did a big epic drive up the M40 & Down again, I also lost my idle!, until @Zelandeth worked magic fingers on the carburettor, the only thing outwardly found at fault at that point in time was a failed float, so dont know if the replacement itself has gone bad or was/is another issue at play (thats come back again?)

18,408 · April 23

20 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

via the back roads of the city square mile around bishops gate

Are you doing The Knowledge on the quiet? 😀

30,969 · April 23

34 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

had an evening out with REV today

my brother had another card game thing he was eager to try out so I got called in as a 3rd player, traffic was a bit gnarly so it was via the back roads of the city square mile around bishops gate (I confused a whole bunch of pub crowds in these narrow streets LOL) and up via southwark bridge

they take a while these games, but eventually home again, back via my more normal route over tower bridge

I have noticed REV's idle is still AWOL, it will sometimes hang around for a few 10's of seconds before dying off, theres bit of extra going "TUC!" sometimes at light throttle but otherwise idle issue aside, still performing fine still, its a bit amusing the last time I did a big epic drive up the M40 & Down again, I also lost my idle!, until @Zelandeth worked magic fingers on the carburettor, the only thing outwardly found at fault at that point in time was a failed float, so dont know if the replacement itself has gone bad or was/is another issue at play (thats come back again?)

Hmm. It's not impossible the float has failed again, no idea if it's something these carbs are prone to.

Would be useful to know whether the mixture is going lean or weak when the idle fails as that would help point at a float issue or possibly a bit of gunk getting in somewhere again. I can't remember off the top of my head - you do have a filter in the fuel supply line don't you?

23,688 · April 23

Just now, Zelandeth said:

Hmm. It's not impossible the float has failed again, no idea if it's something these carbs are prone to.

Would be useful to know whether the mixture is going lean or weak when the idle fails as that would help point at a float issue or possibly a bit of gunk getting in somewhere again. I can't remember off the top of my head - you do have a filter in the fuel supply line don't you?

whats the best way of knowing if its going lean or weak? it appears to just petter out, ie it will slow down until it stops running, like if someone was screwing in the idle speed adjustment screw until the engine came to a halt (ill try and make a recording when im next out and about)

I do have a fuel filter inline at the fuel tank. which I recall last time i checked it looked clear/clean

tho its worth mentioning a few weeks ago back after she had sat a few weeks more then she normally does she had an issue with randomly coughing and spluttering to a halt at speed (30-50Mph) after which where it would idle, and respond to the accelerator pump but the main circuit seemed to be upset/not-working properly, turning the engine off and restarting it would clear it for a brief amount of time, sticking my hand over the carb at Lots-of-revs a few times appears to have cleared it, (See recent 200 mile trip up-n-down the M40 which was done without issue) but maybe its now sucked some crap into the idle circuits instead...

7,989 · April 24

8 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Are you getting a job on the quiet? 😀

3,615 · April 24

10 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I do have a fuel filter inline at the fuel tank. which I recall last time i checked it looked clear/clean

Check the filter flow direction is correct, l have found them fitted the wrong way and look clean with all the crap hidden inside.

1,218 · April 24

6 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Check the filter flow direction is correct, l have found them fitted the wrong way and look clean with all the crap hidden inside.

I'm loathe to start that "I was today years old" bollocks, but please someone tell me I'm not the only one who wondered why those inline fuel filters are directional. Please. Anyone?!?

23,968 · April 24

18 minutes ago, MrBig said:

I'm loathe to start that "I was today years old" bollocks, but please someone tell me I'm not the only one who wondered why those inline fuel filters are directional. Please. Anyone?!?

I've bought a couple of motors from decent shiters and one of the had the fuel filter accidentally fitted the wrong way. It split on my journey home and pissed fuel everywhere. Definitely one to check!

23,688 · April 24

16 minutes ago, MrBig said:

I'm loathe to start that "I was today years old" bollocks, but please someone tell me I'm not the only one who wondered why those inline fuel filters are directional. Please. Anyone?!?

well I always knew they where directional, but I always figured it was for flow reasons, ie that they might not flow/filter properly if fitted the wrong way around, but I did wonder what the exact mechanisms at play was, so @Snake Charmer comment that is interesting indeed, the "filling up with crap out of sight" was not an angle I had thought about before hand

I am pretty sure REV's are the right way around, but ill try and double check next time I have my head down there

30,969 · April 24

17 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

whats the best way of knowing if its going lean or weak? it appears to just petter out, ie it will slow down until it stops running, like if someone was screwing in the idle speed adjustment screw until the engine came to a halt (ill try and make a recording when im next out and about)

Add fuel - apply a bit of choke and see if it picks up. If it does you're suffering from a lack of fuel.

If it was stalling out because it was too rich I'd expect you to need quite a lot of throttle to restart the engine and noticeable black smoke though.

Worth just grabbing a screwdriver and making sure the screws holding the lid on the carb haven't worked loose though as that will introduce an air leak into the idle circuit - and I swear mine keep undoing themselves (guessing the spring washers aren't as springy as they once were) as I've definitely had to tighten them more times than the carb lid has been off! Worth checking the carb isn't loose on the manifold while you're in there.

23,688 · April 24

8 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Add fuel - apply a bit of choke and see if it picks up. If it does you're suffering from a lack of fuel.

for what its worth if I crack the throttle open a touch, it will keep "idling" just fine, it only gradually dies off over a period of 5-20 seconds if I keep the throttle closed/hands off the twist grip

7 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Worth just grabbing a screwdriver and making sure the screws holding the lid on the carb haven't worked loose though as that will introduce an air leak into the idle circuit - and I swear mine keep undoing themselves (guessing the spring washers aren't as springy as they once were) as I've definitely had to tighten them more times than the carb lid has been off! Worth checking the carb isn't loose on the manifold while you're in there.

yeah Ill double check that! I do check for it fairly often, because I did once (back with the failed float) find them loose, tho they have not tried to loosen themselves again so far...

I also need to poke Haflinger-Technik and see what general supply of spare carb parts is "locally"

3,850 · April 24

On 19/04/2026 at 12:18, LightBulbFun said:

I have often thought about giving the Invacar Wikipedia page a much needed editing

Have you thought about making your own website? We all know you could do it.

1,218 · April 24

10 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

well I always knew they where directional, but I always figured it was for flow reasons, ie that they might not flow/filter properly if fitted the wrong way around, but I did wonder what the exact mechanisms at play was, so @Snake Charmer comment that is interesting indeed, the "filling up with crap out of sight" was not an angle I had thought about before hand

Same. Just assumed it was about different layers of filter media.

23,688 · April 24

24 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

Have you thought about making your own website? We all know you could do it.

@Zelandeth has already done a fantastic write-up/FAQ which is what I direct most people too, if they want to see more details etc

https://zelandeth.org/cars/ac-model-70/index.htm

https://zelandeth.org/cars/ac-model-70/FAQ/faq.htm

1,218 · April 24

Well look what's turned up on eBay today...

Not sure about the price though! 🤐

Invacar 1975 Cobra 500 Blue | eBay UK

23,688 · April 24

9 minutes ago, MrBig said:

Well look what's turned up on eBay today...

Not sure about the price though! 🤐

Invacar 1975 Cobra 500 Blue | eBay UK

Oh its "Only" £5000 on eBay LOL, its currently also C&C for £10K LOL, here are my thoughts on it from the recent pages of the eBay Tat thread

21 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

the sad thing is also the over-restoration which JPA268N has had, which as I understand was "all fur coat and no nickers", not just in the sad things done to the mould lines that are some of the fine details that differentiate an AC Model 70 from an Invacar Model 70, the wheels and shit number plates, shit headlights and shit mirrors

but on a more serious general matter, beyond just my rivet counting/personal taste matters.

in the past someone I know did go to look at buying that one back when the original person who over-restored it and converted it to steering wheel control, was selling it, and apparently some bits in the steering wheel conversation where done in a dangerous manner that caused one person who did briefly buy the car, to send it back!

I cant speak of the exact details myself as I have not seen the car in person/and its been a while since I last discussed it with others in the know,, but there are certainly visible details that the restoration was done without all that much understanding/or care for the fine details, take for example the rubber flooring which was replaced, notice they have it with the rubber lines going lengthways

rather then horizontally across the car from door to door, its meant to be horizontally across the car so any water that happens to pool, can drain out the doors and provide and I think you would want it horizontally also to provide good grip against someone putting their feet down against it

so I would certainly recommend any prospecting buyer to go in with their eyes wide open and go over the vehicle with a fine tooth comb...

(im glad to see at least the original handle bar hardware survives with the car so it can be restored back to original configuration, it was not always a steerring wheel car, sadly it was converted to steering wheel, by the person who over-restored it, for all of the 500 miles he actually did with the thing, sadly its not the last time he did something like this VES108S/XEV88S was a very rare single handed tiller control machine, which got converted to handle bars and then sold! like FFS,, I could understand changing the control scheme to suit if you where going to seriously use the vehicle, but if its just going to sit around/not get used and just get sold, leave it alone...)

its certainly not a £10K car by any stretch of the imagination!

1,914 · April 24

Nonetheless, considering I can actually see my house in the background of the photos, I'm tempted to get in touch with the seller and see if his expectations can be managed.

1,218 · April 24

28 minutes ago, Mr Livered said:

Nonetheless, considering I can actually see my house in the background of the photos, I'm tempted to get in touch with the seller and see if his expectations can be managed.

Probably not, except maybe with a 2x4".

Shaldon pricing for you. Cross the bridge and everything is 3x more expensive!

23,688 · April 24

1 hour ago, Mr Livered said:

Nonetheless, considering I can actually see my house in the background of the photos, I'm tempted to get in touch with the seller and see if his expectations can be managed.

if you can get the price down to a more sane level, buy it, and least stick a proper set of retroreflective plates & wheels on it, (and converting it back to handle bars) I am all for that!

23,688 · April 24

also I noticed theres an actual video of it being driven in the eBay advert my first thoughts where "oh cool a video of it in action" then seconds later "oh fuck me he actually calls it a Cobra..."

I thought he just put Cobra in the title for click-bait reasons... (or on C&C that its listed as that since theres no "Model 70" option under "AC")

30,969 · April 25

23 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

for what its worth if I crack the throttle open a touch, it will keep "idling" just fine, it only gradually dies off over a period of 5-20 seconds if I keep the throttle closed/hands off the twist grip

yeah Ill double check that! I do check for it fairly often, because I did once (back with the failed float) find them loose, tho they have not tried to loosen themselves again so far...

I also need to poke Haflinger-Technik and see what general supply of spare carb parts is "locally"

That does sound a lot like crud in the idle circuit to me.

23,688 · April 25

had a fair day out in REV today, to attend the Anual general meeting of the Routemasters Owners and operators association, it had been almost 20 years since I went to one last time, and this time it was at the London Transport Museum Acton Depot where they gave a free tour (more just let us loose ) traffic was quite gnarly both ways (A40 was quite buggered in particular), & REV's idle completely left the chat, tho i found by opening the choke a bit i could keep her ticking over, but I managed to get there and back without issue otherwise

heres a bunch of photos in no particular order

CUC192 was fun to see, theres a fun website that has a list of all of London Transports Non-bus vehicles, all the support vehicles, and I had read about this one on there I think this was the website https://www.ltsv.com/

FRM1, the rear-engined-front-entrance Routemaster Prototype, I have often wondered how things might of turned out if the built a load of these instead of the unsuitable DMS's

RM2, the second Routemaster Prototype, apparently it had a FTP at RM70 and its been worked on since, not sure what went wrong but I see evidence of recent work on the cooling system I think

Leyland Titan, if I was to have a 1980's bus, it would be one of these

something normally unloved and small, so ill tag @Inspector Morose

I wonder what the story is behind this TX1, its not like its the first or an early one like that or anything

the chassis of something very old, and curiously petrol-electric by the look of things?

a Leyland Cub, was quite fascinating to see one of these in person, and see all the details I had not noticed before now, like the Central mounted fog lamp, and big filler cap

the info sheet on the bike says its number one but it says number 10 on the side so i am confused LOL

inside a Red Arrow single-decker

I could not help but notice the juxtaposition of the war-time black out headlights/mudguards and a modern QR code...

a Q type, fascinating buses way ahead of their time, how I wish some of the double-decker ones survived

a couple number plate close-ups

the arse of DMS1 and the front of FRM1

a 'Diddler' trolly bus I wonder if @Inspector Morose has driven this one? I wonder whats under the "bonnet" side of the half cab...

looking into the DMS

trade plate and their quirky triangular tax disk

I like the dedicated Green-line grill badge this had

Brown and Beige wonder if they would lend it to a Shitefest... I have always thought the pneumatic tyres on this one looked a bit incongruously/oddly chunky, like they should be a bit skinnier...

a very shiny Metrocab, just for @warren t claim & @wuvvum

very big motor or generator looking thing

a couple broad shots of the tube-train side of things

looks a bit cosy...

inside some I wanna say 1938 stock, sadly all fitted with LED bulbs *sad face*

battery powered tube train-locomotive for when they dont have an exact fair of 20p for the electric meter...

some very old looking carriages

and finally, some proper incandescent lighting!

I also managed to find the Wagon the museum keeps all its spare fluorescent tubes/lightbulbs in, how I would love have a good rummage through it and take home a few souvenirs!

they had also removed all the tubes from the 1972 stock for some reason

but can you spot the odd one out?

yeah see the one without pins? I really-really-really want to know what thats doing there and where thats come form, because thats an American high-output fluorescent tube (different from the American Slimline tubes found in 1990's Trasnmatic lighting that found its way into many 1990's buses and refurbished RMLs), seeing that tube there is like seeing a Row of FX4's at a taxi rank and randomly in the middle of it is a full New York spec/Livery checker cab in the middle!

finally a couple shots of REV outside the depot

then headed home, got some petrol, 44Mpg, which given the horrible traffic REV has had to slog through since last fill up, ill take that!

stopped via the bakery

then finally home

all in all a good day, if not a bit longer then I expected! was lots of fun being allowed to just run around the depot

23,688 · April 25

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

That does sound a lot like crud in the idle circuit to me.

heres a video of it playing up, only way I could keep the engine ticking over, was via a fair application of choke, I checked for loose things on the exterior of the carb and nothing seemed loose, but I have not yet gone spraying things with break cleaner or the such like to try and see if theres an air leak somewhere...

for what its worth I noticed that the left hand connection of the exhaust to the intake manifold, was much cooler then one on the right side, I dont know if this means anything but given the difference i thought i'd note it!

I also double checked the fuel filter and it looks good I think?

22,823 · April 25

Acton shed is so much better than the actual LT museum mainly because it's not set out as a museum at all. It's kind of the overflow storage for the museum. It's usually only open to the public a couple of times a year.

Here's a few from some of my previous visits.

This is Mrs Yoss being taught how to not crash Underground trains.

Very art deco poster.

A row of RM grilles, but proper original grilles with stainless trim and badges that always got stolen. And one can only imagine what is in those cabinets.

Random furniture.

A row of engines all palleted up ready to go should one of the museums fleet of buses need them.

Some fantastic models in there too. This is a cut away of an Underground station, I forget which one. Shows how all the passenger and train tunnels link together

And this is a very small scale model of Aldenham works. If you look carefully you can see some tiny buses which show how absolutely massive the place was. It appears to be the size of a small town.

23,476 · April 25

Nothing to lose by replacing the fuel filter to see if there is any improvement- cheap and cheerful fix. 😊 Just check the air filter too for any debris. Sounds like crud in the carb - but try the easy stuff first.

Marathon tomorrow probably why London was busy getting stuff done before the city closes down in the morning.

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...

Recommended Posts

High Jetter

LightBulbFun

High Jetter

MrBig

Weird Car

LightBulbFun

High Jetter

Zelandeth

LightBulbFun

Amishtat

Snake Charmer

MrBig

Dick Cheeseburger

LightBulbFun

Zelandeth

LightBulbFun

lisbon_road

MrBig

LightBulbFun

MrBig

LightBulbFun

Mr Livered

MrBig

LightBulbFun

LightBulbFun

Zelandeth

LightBulbFun

LightBulbFun

Yoss

lesapandre

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Similar Content

My British and European motorsport venue check list and general ramblings plus nostalgia..... 1 2

Subaru surgery, Alternator saga from the Grumpy thread figured out (page 3) weird fault uncovered...... 1 2 3

Browse Forums

Activity