The Current Driveway...

[High Jetter]

I haz parts catalogues, should you need numberz

[somewhatfoolish]

On 05/11/2024 at 11:36, TrabbieRonnie said:

Linseed oil update...

Still very red and very shiny.  Takes a loooooong time to dry, so not ideal for a car in daily use.  Apparently, if I'd mixed in a bit of thinners it would have dried quicker, and I'd have less dead flies stuck to it!  Also, it rained a bit that night, and it's quite damp in general here just now, I assume the summertime (or a nice warm dry garage) is best for this.

However, I will re-do it with these things in mind, as the colour and shine restoration is nothing short of miraculous, and for basically no money.

Owatrol or similar may dry quicker and possibly last longer between applications.

[TrabbieRonnie]

A bit of progress with the Rover...

I have corrected the steering geometry somewhat, and driving is much improved... May not be perfectly aligned, even though I used state of the art equipment  a length of box section and a tape measure, but still.

With the offside wheel straight, the nearside was turned slightly towards the right.  It never looked right to be honest, but I confirmed using the straight edge across the wheel and measuring the distance between the end of it and the chassis.  This point was just ahead of the rear wheels and nearly 100mm different to t'other side.

In practice, this meant steering constantly to the left slightly, and a propensity to wander.  Looking in the manual (a lovely thing in its own right, still in its card sleeve and box), I read that there is no adjustment provided for this, only toe in/out.  It states that any misalignment "must be the result of damage or excessive wear to one or more components".  

However, on looking underneath the old tank, I spied a non-standard adjustable steering rod on the nearside, where the aforementioned bible shows a fixed length one.  Even better, the locknuts undid without drama!

The metal stick and tape measure was used again, and a mere twirl of the adjustable rod had things parallel once more.  Now, there may be further adjustment required, I've yet to check the toe in/out...  I was keen to get her down off the jack and check I wasn't making things worse in some way whilst it was still light.  Another wee run up the lane was had and all's well.

Before all that I'd checked/cleaned/regreased and tightened up the front wheel bearings a wee bit, which could have also helped maybe?  I'll leave further alignments to the experts I think, once I've got new tyres fitted too.

The old brake servo is coming to work with me later, for a strip down on the bench before I decide what to do with it.

Another thing I plan to do is to try swapping the battery round (currently connected as negative earth), as per Johnathan Dyane's thread.  My heater fan and wipers aren't working, she's not charging very well, and I want to be sure she's not still positive earth really.  The previous owner, like myself just assumed it was right as that's how he got it I think, especially as it runs ok.

We shall see, I'm finding it all very interesting and different to the rest of the fleet, and the progress is very encouraging.  Speaking of the fleet, had a lovely run out in the Mazda yesterday... I do like to be beside the seaside!

Running well, new tyres are feeling good.  This was Findhorn, home of a huge eco-village/ community, so everyone hates the RX8...  All the other disposable PCP shitboxes are fine though, funny old thing.  Did like the Volvo in front mind, lovely car.

Cheers all.

 

 

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well good news I think on the P4 servo front.  After stripping down and cleaning it, there doesn't seem to be much wrong in there amazingly.

There was a lot of brake fluid in the air/vacuum pot, so one of the seals in the piston housing must be passing, but the large diaphragm etc. is all intact.

This means I can try the £12 seal kit available, and hopefully retain my original Girling servo.  If I'd needed the whole kit, they seem to be around the £160 mark... bringing it closer to the £300 required for a brand-new Lockheed job.

Anyway, in pics...

You can see there's a band clamp holding the two halves of the diaphragm chamber together, on mine this is welded/braised together with a wee steel pad at manufacture.  If you buy the whole seal kit, you get a new v-band clamp to replace this, as it will need to be cut off.

Never one to spend unnecessarily (except on an entirely too big fleet of old shite of course), I solutionised with the welder...

I'll clean it up a wee bit, but basically the clamp is now re-usable.

The innards were thus exposed...

Initially quite grim looking, but actually when cleaned up, nae bad!

So yeah, further disassembly of the piston/housing required to get at the five small seals within, followed (hopefully) by some power-assisted stopping once more.  If it works, £12 is a pretty good deal!  I couldn't believe how soft and supple (and whole) the rubber diaphragm still is after 65 years, made me wonder why we put up with such poor quality nowadays?!

 

Onwards.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Hello all,

That's the servo rebuilt (one snag though).  As you can see from the pics, t'was all a bit cruddy in there... I think my leaks stemmed from seals having to travel over rusty bits for the first time in maybe-a-very-long-time.

Quite a complicated wee beastie too.  The uppermost of the two pistons in the pic above is the control.  It was in a poor state, and almost trapped forever by the sealed plug just to the right of it.  This should just push out (nothing but o-ring stick-tion holds it in, as it cant get out when bolted up to the diaphragm assembly anyway), but it was wedged in there solidly.

It's eventual removal was a tough time for both of us...

My trusty drive-through screwdriver may* have seen some action.  This whole job has been a bit of a 'try and see' thing though, as I have the readily available Lockheed replacement servo to fall back on.  Hence the nonchalant butchery pictured.

I was however, able to re-use it... I ground off the damaged portion, and used M10 washers to take up the space and support the new o-ring.  A perfect fit, which was nice.

Everything else was cleaned up and re-sealed, before sticking it all back together.  This is not an easy process, getting the two spring-loaded halves of the diaphragm assembly held in position whilst attaching the clamping ring has left a few more grey hairs I fear.

I haven't any pics of the reassembly (too stressful), but right at the final furlong, I hit the aforementioned snag.

There's a pipe connecting the control piston port to the back side of the diaphragm, I assume to open it to atmosphere so that the thing can move forward using the vacuum supplied to the front.  This terminates on the metal casing in a very poorly designed rubber elbow, that relies on a connection to a plastic doodad on the inside.  Of course, at this point the rubber elbow disintegrated, 65 years is enough it seems.  It fell out, leaving the plastic doodad unsupported... if the diaphragm moved, it would fall in, disastrous as it would require re-splitting to solve!

It should just be a welded-on metal spigot pipe, allowing the easy connection of any rubber pipe with a clip.  Obviously.

Anyway, I managed to find a bit of clear plastic pipe in the shed, miraculously of the right bore.  When heated, it allowed itself to be pushed over the swage on the doodad, and even into a snug fit against the metal casing.  As it cooled, it has gripped hard, and the other end just slid over it's pipe perfectly.

This may need some silicon sealant-based help in operation, we'll see... seems alright just now though.

Took myself and the recalcitrant servo out to the car, but had a rethink prior to fitting it.  I removed the oil bath air filter to give me some more room, which exposed the fan belt and dynamo... as well as the chassis rail/inner wing area, which is covered in oily crud.  The fan belt is also a tad looser than I thought (I can pretty  easily turn the pulleys without turning it), and I have a nice new one in the boot, ordered with the oil filter etc.

So, I'll be attending to that first, silly not to.  Before all this servo nonsense, I had set about investigating the on-off battery charging.  After cleaning every visible electrical connection and earth point, as well as some switches behind the binnacle, I have been rewarded with brighter lights, a working main beam foot switch, a bit more puff from the heater fan and faster wipers, result! 

However, my charging lamp also now glows brighter than before, and the battery never shows more than 12 volts across the terminals.  It will drop to 11 with the lights and fan on, and recover to 12 when I switch them off, so something is happening at least.  Hopefully a new and tighter belt will help.

I should also say that my ammeter has become much more responsive, and confusing...!  It swings up to +25 amps with the headlamps on, when I'd have thought it would show a negative charge (battery discharge) when under high electrical demand?  Or is it showing me that it's supplying that much more current to replace what's being used?  At idle, with nothing on, it sits just above zero, ie slightly positive, which I thought was normal.  Normal dynamo-equipped ammeter operation tips would be very gratefully received!  This is my first non-alternator car... I wonder if she should be positive earth after all?

Anyway, that's all for now, off to catch up on your motoring shenanigans for a bit.

[TrabbieRonnie]

I'm still thinking...

Could it be that everything's working as it should be (the dynamo indeed having been 'flashed' over to run negative earth at some point), thus explaining the voltage readings across the battery terminals... but the wiring to the ammeter left alone, so that it now shows the opposite of what it should?  

I'll know more once I get the dynamo in better fettle I suppose, there's maybe too many variables just now!

[Surface Rust]

You could be right there. Mine is still positive earth and will sit slightly negative at idle, rising to positive with about +200 rpm. Lights and fans would pull it negative again unless you give it more beans.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Came home to a slightly festive old Rover tonight, I reckon if Santa drove a car...

 

Old jeep just about ready for its test now too...

[TrabbieRonnie]

Full OMGSNOKAOS here in the tropical north, after our first real snowfall yesterday.  The roads quickly became blocked with lorries, always the first casualties of the slippy hills hereabouts.

I found myself slithering home in the RX8, not the wisest car choice perhaps, although in my defence there was no snow when I left for work!... Turning the very aggressive traction control off, and letting the rear tyres down a wee bit got me home no bother though.

Took the A8 in this morning, and remembered how good the quattro actually is, just effortless.  

Anyway, home again.  Wish I had some undercover storage for the old lady, this seems cruel...

A comfortable retirement in a nice warm garage is unfortunately not within my means, at least the paint's protected a bit with the oil.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well, no progress on the Rover, due to this old thing's imminent date with the ministry...

Plenty of work has gone in of late, and a few nice-to-haves too.  The 'new' doors have been adorned with the stickers that were included with the big parts stash, as well as the wind deflectors.

The offside front caliper refused to play ball, and has been replaced... as have the discs and pads so stopping is now a smooth process.

The bonnet and roof are still impressively lacquer peeled, but we've gotten used to it.  Possibly a bit of boiled linseed oil action in its future.  Running and driving lovely though, 08:30 Monday morning will see her on the tester's ramps.

I'll update her status after that, and then leave my youngest shiter to report anything further.  This is his first car (don't ask how much the insurance is...), and he's done most of the work this time round.  He's ready to start his own thread on here, my work is done!

Cheers all.

[TrabbieRonnie]

Well, the old Toyota passed with only a failed numberplate lamp!

Emissions were spotless, and she's running great.  We'll get a set of rear shocks I think, to complete the mechanical refresh.

Not bad at all, and nice for my youngest to have all his hard work rewarded.  The Surf is now road legal once again, and it's solid and repairable nature gives me hope that she'll soldier on for a good while yet.

Eleven years on the fleet, two cambelts and a lot of fun.  It's a great feeling passing it on to my lad, he loves it and I know it will provide many new adventures for him.