Dollywobbler's Consolidated Tat Thread

[hairnet]

coventroy?

anything interesting?

 

[LightBulbFun]

  On 16/12/2020 at 22:30, hairnet said:

coventroy?

anything interesting?

 

Expand  

the very last Model 70 in Ministry service is at the Coventry motor museum  

  On 23/02/2019 at 12:15, LightBulbFun said:

TJN352R, Invacar, Date of first registration: 29 July 1977, Current status: in coventry motor museum, SORN, no MOT 1 MOT in 2019, Date of last V5C (logbook) issued, 15 November 2010, notable for being Mrs webb's Model 70, and being the last Model 70 in ministry service

Expand  

 

[dollywobbler]

I had a good nose around the Coventry one last year. Wrong colour, but they've got it road legal and often drive it to shows.

[Noel Tidybeard]

the way the ministry works there probably was no wrong colour! lol

[dollywobbler]

Rover stopped charging on the way to Coventry, so got recovered by AutoAid. Once off the recovery truck, it started charging again, so I drove home. I got about 15 miles before it stopped charging again, but I carried on with great range anxiety. Stopped at a friend's for more electricity after about 80 miles. Rain made life tricky! I reckon the regulator is goosed.

With the 2CV in bits, the Fox out of test, the Invacar still broken and the GSA hiding from the salt and endless rain, I'm left with the Matiz and Charade for a rather pitiful two out of nine useable cars. Oh well. Lockdown means nowhere to drive.

 

[Cord Fourteener]

I've signed up with AutoAid now, they seem to treat you well enough for few enough doubloons.

I hope you get it sorted, though as you say there's nowhere to drive now fruit a while.

[wuvvum]

I feel your pain.  Welcome to the wonderful world of non-charging alternators...

[Zelandeth]

Sounds familiar...Jag randomly stopped charging the other day (that's twice now I've had my bacon saved by having a voltmeter on the dash as the fault didn't bring on the warning light)...but once home it behaved again.   Thus far it's refused to do it again.  Thankfully in my case I was all of a mile from home when I noticed the voltmeter showing we were off charge.  Not what you want when you've got the headlights and windscreen demister on though...blower motors take 30A *each* on full!  Was definitely a "drop windows, turn everything aside from the headlights off, boot it for home..." moment.

Saab had an episode of doing this for a few weeks which we reckon was the brushes sticking in the holder as the initial time it happened (middle of nowhere, we became aware of it when the headlights started to go out and the fuel pump started to cut out) whacking the alternator suddenly sorted it.

I was always planning to pull it and change them but after a couple of weeks and two or three glitches it never did it again...so I think the new brushes were still in the glove box when I passed the car on.

If the Jag does it again I reckon it'll just be new alternator time as given the access issues I am NOT going to want to have to go back in there again.  Being a pretty modern car I'm guessing access is similarly awkward on the 75...though I have to admit to having never even looked under the bonnet of one.

[dollywobbler]

Apparently it's possible to replace the regulator and brushes without removing the alternator, which is obviously buried. Have ordered the bits - £30 - but festive post means I doubt they'll arrive for a fair while.

[dollywobbler]

SPOILER ALERT. Have been working on the 2CV for a fair while, after it refused to start and then blew a hole in the manifold. Won't get into the detail as it'll all be in a future video, but decided to use the 2CV to grab the PO Box mail today. Sadly it rained, and the wipers packed up AGAIN. Thankfully, because I don't have the parking switch wired up, I can remove power from the jammed-up motor instantly. But something broke and now the wipers flop around and it's clear the linkage is no longer attached to the motor...

So the 2CV is now out of action as well. I'm not having a good run at the moment. At least we haven't got to go anywhere! All Christmas shopping completed. Charade and Matiz seem willing (albeit the Matiz has a shite heater, so I need to do something about that) if we do need to go somewhere.

[MJK 24]

I couldn’t cope with the thoughts of all the ever mounting jobs on all the cars you have.  It would make me unwell 😂

 

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the Yugo and Oltcit returned to the road however so struggle onwards, please!

[Sham]

Indeed. Sounds like you need another car.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[dave j]

Re: the Matiz heater. Has it got a pollen filter? If it has and it hasn't been changed for a long time that can affect the output from the blowers. I had this on a mk4 Golf and changing the filter made it much better! 

[OM646]

Also checking the heat exchanger might be a good idea, as long as it isn't built like an Audi 80 where you have to take the dash apart to get to it

[dollywobbler]

I suspect the matrix is clogged on the Matiz. Air output is ok, but the heat is terrible. Previous owner used Radweld in it... Didn't help with the hole in a rubber hose funnily enough.

I have a plan to acquire a vehicle, maybe two in the New Year, but will just sit tight over the festive period. My love for the Rover has expired somewhat. It's that age of vehicle I just really can't be arsed with when it comes to working on it. 

[Mally]

  On 21/12/2020 at 08:08, dollywobbler said:

Apparently it's possible to replace the regulator and brushes without removing the alternator, which is obviously buried. Have ordered the bits - £30 - but festive post means I doubt they'll arrive for a fair while.

Expand  

I've done that. It's difficult to find the screw locations, and awkward to know when you have the brushes located correctly.  

Also Impossible to clean the commutator up.

 Once you get the hang of how to do it the next one would be easy.

However, mine still didn't work (90% success rate or something)

I bought a scrapyard alternator for £20, fitted the new brushes to that.

If you end up taking the alternator off, I did mine quite easily from the bottom, but I have a pit.

They tend to recommend doing it from the top, but it looked hard work to me.

Edit,

The beauty about taking it off is you can change the belts. The tensioner  Hex ,15/16" ? is very thin and likely already rounded off.

[wuvvum]

The tensioner on a diesel 75 is an absolute twat.  Impossible to get a normal spanner up between the inner wing and the tensioner bolt.  They did a special tool for it but good luck finding one of those now.

I'd imagine you want to take the belt off before removing the alternator though, otherwise as soon as the bolts are undone the tension in the belt will sling it across the unit.

[Six-cylinder]

Sorry Dollywobbler, this advert just made me think of you!

[Mally]

  On 22/12/2020 at 16:16, wuvvum said:

The tensioner on a diesel 75 is an absolute twat.  Impossible to get a normal spanner up between the inner wing and the tensioner bolt.  They did a special tool for it but good luck finding one of those now.

 

Expand  

I used a combination with hardly any crank in it. Used the ring end as flats on tensioner were damaged. Ground the ring end on the outside of the circle, and thinned it as you say.

When you get the tension on  tie the spanner to the sub frame.

Took me an hour and a half, I was well impressed with myself.

[wuvvum]

I tried that, but ground a bit too much off the ring and the spanner now won't get a proper grip on the bolt.  I need to buy another one and have another go, which is a pain as 24mm spanners that length are not cheap.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

My first summer job at age 13 was peeling potatoes in that chip shop on the corner. The owner had a brand new S reg BMW 525, which was impossibly exotic to me and quite possibly the only BMW in Ceredigion at the time.

 

[dollywobbler]

My desire to tackle this alternator job is wilting readily. Meh.

[Split_Pin]

  On 22/12/2020 at 16:16, wuvvum said:

The tensioner on a diesel 75 is an absolute twat.  Impossible to get a normal spanner up between the inner wing and the tensioner bolt.  They did a special tool for it but good luck finding one of those now.

I'd imagine you want to take the belt off before removing the alternator though, otherwise as soon as the bolts are undone the tension in the belt will sling it across the unit.

Expand  

@rml2345 might be able to advise as he replaced the PAS pump on one of his 75s which necessitated removing the belt.

Personally, if funds allow,  I'd farm this one out to a garage, I pick and choose what jobs I'm willing to tackle these days, this isn't one of them. I had the alternator belt replaced at a garage on my old 172 back in March because even the bumper had to come off to do it.

[Mally]

Hardest bit to me was getting the belt round the pulleys in the right directions.

Then it didn't work because I hadn't pushed the plug on the wires in far enough. Sigh of relief when I found that.

[SiC]

I'm personally of the opinion that odd jobs on the daily drivers need to be farmed out. Firstly as it keeps an ever increasing backlog down. Secondly doing jobs because they are essential to be done to keep your transportation open, wears the sole down and looses mojo. 

Personally I'm always of the opinion that one car in a fleet should always be a reliable driver that isn't needy while being a comfortable load lugger. Usually that means Japanese. E.g. Accord, Avensis, etc. This allows less distraction from the project cars and no grief when they fail. That car will get boring quick, but like any good relationship, the best ones are the ones that outlive the honeymoon period. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I wish I had a Dollywobbler-type character living near me that I could do some spannering for. I enjoy the 'fixing' bit but the ownership bit, (sorting storage/workshop space, responsibility for general upkeep, paperwork etc) not so much!!!!

[Cord Fourteener]

  On 23/12/2020 at 13:22, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I wish I had a Dollywobbler-type character living near me that I could do some spannering for. I enjoy the 'fixing' bit but the ownership bit, (sorting storage/workshop space, responsibility for general upkeep, paperwork etc) not so much!!!!

Expand  

If you're anywhere near North Wales then you're welcome to come and fix things here!

😅

[beko1987]

  On 23/12/2020 at 13:22, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I wish I had a Dollywobbler-type character living near me that I could do some spannering for. I enjoy the 'fixing' bit but the ownership bit, (sorting storage/workshop space, responsibility for general upkeep, paperwork etc) not so much!!!!

Expand  

See that's what I did with vacuums. Doing a nice turn in refurbing other people's vacs. All the fun of playing with them and working out how they work with none* of the storage

What actually happened is I've got about 40 here that aren't mine in various stages of done-Ness and all the ones I own that I want rid of don't get a look in cos their not jobs. 

Its a slippery slope

[Six-cylinder]

  On 23/12/2020 at 13:22, Mr_Bo11ox said:

I wish I had a Dollywobbler-type character living near me that I could do some spannering for. I enjoy the 'fixing' bit but the ownership bit, (sorting storage/workshop space, responsibility for general upkeep, paperwork etc) not so much!!!!

Expand  

Where are you now, how far is Buckingham? 

There is a choice of things to fix here.

Outside at the moment but come later 2021 we should have under cover barn space built.

We have open weekends but access can be given at any time to trusted shiters.

Cars, mopeds, dumpers, digger, trailers and 1972 horticultural truck.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah I'm miles away in Derbyshire!!!!