Mrs Juular's popemobile - now with added combustions

[chaseracer]

10 minutes ago, Talbot said:

It's called "setting an example". 😁

Keep up the fine work.

[hairnet]

so its it getting a cappuchino or a zetec

 

[juular]

Mrs Juular has been embarking on a bit of a crash course on how everything works. I have been busy working on my own heaps so I've only got involved where there's a very stuck bolt or something needs two sets of hands to access or lift out of the way. A 70s Triumph is probably an ideal car to learn this stuff on because there's no ambiguity about where the bits are and how to take them off.

I see your problem.

That is exhibit A, and it's clearly fucking fucked m7.33429.

Exhibit B is the head, namely the stuck valve mid picture.

The oil pan and pistons were taken out, in a great example of "since we're here" reasoning.  It was worth checking the rings were OK given the compression test was so poor.

Not the best photo but you can see here the offending exhaust valve stuck open.

Although it was simple enough to get moving with a bit of lube and a soft mallet, most of the valves have seen better days and she suspects one of them is bent. It's not financial hardship to replace the valves completely so a full set has been ordered.

The head doesn't appear to be warped from the primitive check using a straight edge and feeler gauge, so it seems a decent decision to crack on and rebuild this engine.

In the meantime the head is getting stripped and cleaned up. Interestingly the valve springs are double-spring design which I'm not sure is normal. This engine is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, it has bits from various other Triumph engines bolted together.  Going by the part numbers, the head appears to be from a 1500, the block is a from a 1300 Spitfire overbored +0.30, the bottom end is from a 1300 Toledo but the crank is from a 1500 Spitfire but has been ground so oversized bearings are needed. Shrug.

The piston rings appear to be fine and are still sharp. The big ends are a bit tired so will be replaced.

So that's where the car is at.  It won't take long to put all this back together with a new gasket kit once the parts arrive, then hopefully the ungrateful bastard will behave for a while.

 

[juular]

Some photos of the rebuild.

Sludge filled pickup cleaned.

Pistons and big end bearings fitted.

Rebuilding the head.

New valve set being lapped in.

And replaced - she picked up a used spring compressor off ebay.

Head ready to go back on.

Deck cleaned up and new head gasket fitted.

On with its head.

The very broken exhaust manifold was replaced with one kindly supplied by @captain_70s off his recently arrived Dolomite engine. Cheers!

 

That's it for now. She hasn't refitted the rockers, sump or valve cover because there seems to be a bit of play in the big ends despite the bearings being +0.030 over.

Plastigauge has arrived so that can be checked over at the weekend and bigger bearings ordered if needed.

 

 

[captain_70s]

I think Spitfires got double springs on the head. My mk4 Spitfire 1300 lump had double springs, my two Dolly engines (1977 and 1982) didn't. 

[juular]

Bearings turned out to be spot on, so this got put back together, filled with new oil and coolant, and valve clearances set.  Compression when cold after being rebuilt showed 90 100 100 100, which is about as good as you could hope for. #1 may benefit from a minor tweak to the clearances, but meh. It's fine. Ignition timing is at around 10 BTDC which is above the 6 degrees in the manual, but given it's not running on two star nowadays, it's probably alright.

Starts brilliantly, sounds great. Mrs has worked wonders on this.

What have we learned?  

Effective communication in a relationship is key.

[juular]

Didn't actually drive this for ages, as we wanted a day where the weather was ok, the roads were quiet-ish and we had time to sort any niggles.

First niggle was that the throttle wouldn't return to closed when letting off the pedal.  The return spring was bodged in a really odd place, so a slightly better bodge was made using a long bolt and some nuts to stretch the spring out a little bit, which worked perfectly.

A short drive to the park to make sure it didn't blow up.  Deja vu here.

At this point it was sounding brilliant like a good, it had about 9283492384% more power than before and didn't spontaneously combust, so we decided to take it a longer run and kick fuck out of it just to see if it would die.

It didn't!  Hooooray.

There is still one small niggle in that the temperature really spikes when you come to a stop. It quickly drops down again when you start moving so we suspected an airlock.  A quick burping of the radiator was done and quite a lot of air came out, so hopefully that will fix the problem. Will test again soonish.

 

[juular]

Coolant problem sorted by getting the air out, so it's time to take this a drive to a friend's house.

 

Then a bimble down the coast.

What a fun wee car this is, both as a passenger and driver. The lack of anti-roll bar on these makes roundabouts hilarious.

I was allowed to drive this home afterwards, at which point it shit itself in a minor fashion.  On a long straight, after shifting into 4th it lost all power.  Pulled over, restarted (instantly) and it ran fine the rest of the trip. 

This felt like an ignition issue, so we thought let's have a look at the condenser and points.

What is this wizardry?

Evidently some sort of SPROTS arrangement, and to be honest at this point it's a magic box that neither of us understand. 

To be continued.

[juular]

So the ignition problem sort of came to a head. You can hear the misfire/hesitation at the top of the hill in this video. The car shut down shortly after.

A bit of learning how retrofit electronic ignition systems work was done, then we worked out that it hadn't quite been installed properly.  The ignition coil was of the ballasted type, but the ballast had been removed and so the coil was being fed straight 12-14V at all times.

So I did what any sensible person would do and took the coil out and hit it with a sledgehammer.

With the casing off it was clear that the coil had been overheating, which probably is what caused the ignition to start dying whenever under heavy load.

A rewire was done, with a new cable run straight from the switched side of the fusebox into a ballast resistor, and then into a new coil.  This basically fixed it.

But you already know this car likes to fling problem after problem right?

We were giving it a good test drive when the ball joint on the throttle linkage fell to bits.  @Lacquer Peelcalmly walked into a field next to where we broke down, picked up some plastic wrap stuff and this was the result.

It got us home at least!

One other minor upgrade that made a massive difference was to replace the top steering knuckle as it was utterly hanging. This was done the same time as changing the bush on the steering column where it goes through the bulkhead. Check out the oval shape that has been worn through the bracket!

 

This was welded into a better shape and a new poly bush fitted.

Result is steering that actually feels connected now. In fact, it drives really rather well.

I took it out for a 40 mile blast and it ran beautifully without a single hiccup, including getting ragged up several very steep hills and a decent long run at 60.

I did think this was finally the end of the issues, but Mrs has let me know that today it stalled at traffic lights and wouldn't restart.  I'm stumped on that one, as it literally has been running like a swiss watch.

[Talbot]

5 minutes ago, juular said:

today it stalled at traffic lights and wouldn't restart.

Isn't that how they were in the 70s?  IE, it's working perfectly.

[Matty]

3 hours ago, Talbot said:

Isn't that how they were in the 70s?  IE, it's working perfectly.

It made it to the traffic lights. Some days I dream of covering such a distance before failure sets in 😁

[juular]

Finally getting somewhere with the Toledo.

The stalling problem turned out to be as simple as the carb being set a little bit lean. Turning it up helped hugely, although I think we've still got a bit to go in pinning down the right mixture.  It has been occasionally bucking / juddering under low load / light throttle situations which again turned out to be the mix being too lean.  It's almost as if it has been winding itself back as it gets driven.  I managed to track down the lifting pin on the bottom of the carb, and have set the jet as it's supposed to be, ie: lifting the piston gives a slight increase in revs which returns to a steady idle. 

Regardless of the occasional teething problem, it drives really, really well and the engine sounds sweet.  

The suspension and corner lean is frankly hilarious. This is a video of it on what we now refer to as the 'caravan road', which every new (to us) car gets bounced along.

It also surprised me how competent it was on the motorway.  It's noisy as hell (must be doing, what, 4500rpm?)  but it will cruise at 75 and even has a turn of speed when you want to get past people.

 

We decided to take the car out a much longer drive on Sunday for Drive it Day, but unfortunately that was caped after around 25 miles as the sump started to leak, and we felt it wasn't a good idea to keep pushing on.  The sump will be getting refitted with some proper sealant as clearly the gasket alone isn't up to the job.

Still, that's over 250 miles put on the engine after the mini-rebuild, and it hasn't exploded.

[juular]

Sump gasket, begone. Replaced with a tube of sump goo.  This must be the neatest attempt at sump sealing I've ever laid eyes on.

It worked though.

We took it for coffee and Empire Linzer German Double biscuits.

With no real issues apparent we took it a (much) longer drive up to the Loch Tulla viewpoint (aka Hamburger Hill).

Daft artsy phone filter.

Really good fun on the windy roads.  Despite being hilariously underpowered, we spent most of the time being held up by everyone else.

And we couldn't resist that Lochearnhead garage setup.

So that's another 200 miles ticked off. FOTU is looking achievable.

[MrsJuular]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:59 PM, juular said:

Mrs Juular has been busy behind the scenes sorting this out. I keep encouraging her to sign up here and update her own progress, but for the moment I'll add this.

Sooo it has finally happened and here I am. A lot has happened since the last post so bear with me while I remember what I've done. Tbc.

[MrsJuular]

Since the car is deafening at anything above 60mph I wanted a sound system that I could definitely hear.

I started with a fusebox to which I added in a unit with a 12v socket, 2 usb's and a battrry voltage indicator.

I then added in a nice little bluetooth/ usb/ sd card amplifier.

Then found some old mini hifi speakers on ebay for £5.

I then removed the crappy 6w speakers and installed some with more power.

Wired it into the switched side of the fusebox in the car. Then made a frame out of pine, sprayed it black then wired in the fusebox.

Jammed the speakers in to the perfectly sized holes beneath the fake air holes then tada.... a nice looking functional retroish looking multipurpose unit.

The same with the drivers side.

For added keeping it original, I fixed the original radio.

[MrsJuular]

The interior of the car was a bit buggered.

So I decided to chance my luck and buy a vinyl interior off of ebay with one vague photo.

It arrived on a pallet with a few minority holes.

I decided to try and fix them using a sofa leather repair kit. The mixing of the tan colour required was somewhat difficult as I also had to make it lighter (as it dried darker) and dirtier (as the seats were pretty used).

I would say it turned out OK. Still noticible but I'm pleased with the result.

Ripped out the old interior and gave it a good hoover.

Stuck in the new seats.

Then added some home comforts.

With added traveling pet, Fred. Or as I call him, the ratnav.

And last but not least the dash ornaments.

[High Jetter]

OK, I'll say it. You're going for the rat look, then?

[MrsJuular]

Around a month ago the wee car got a run to meet others and let them have a go. It was running really well and put a smile on everyone's face. But on the way home it decided to have a strop.

It clearly wanted a lift home after a hard evening of entertaining a crowd.

Fuel was pissing out of the float bowl and having no tools to hand a hard dunt was given but it did not dislodge the float.

The next day I ripped out the whole fuel system and gave it a good thorough cleaning out.

The remnants of the bowl and pump looked bitty.

The small filter looked crunchy inside and had a large piece of rust lodged in the intake side. So replaced with a bigger one to catch more shit.

All was rebuilt and the car made it back into the good books. It then got its arsed kicked up the haul road to garelochhead with no issues (apart from squealing brakes).

[MrsJuular]

My handbrake decided to stop providing its only function. I thought some handbrake is better than none, so I ventured to the rear of the car for the first time to try and fix it.

The first thing I came across was finger tight and back to front wheel nuts. Tad scary thinking of all the what if scenarios.

Once the wheels were off, the drums came off without too much bother. I gave the innards a good cleaning up and everything seemed to look in good shape.

The handbrake cable was quite loose so I popped it off for further inspection. Both sides were full of gunk and seized solid.

Managed to get it all apart with a bit of persuasion and gave it a thourough cleaning.

Freed off the nut and cleaned the threads for easy adjustment.

Reassembled both sides then treated and undersealed some rusty/ none undersealed areas.

I now have a functioning handbrake and the wheels are now tight!

A few interesting finds while poking about the back:

-the car is missing a back box

-the back end is in surprisingly good shape

-the silencer has what looks like holes from afar but when you get closer they are perfectly round rusty circles (is that what it's meant to look like?!)

[Saabnut]

The circles will be where the baffles have been spot welded to the end plate during manufacture. The heat from the welds destroys the galvanising so it leaves rusty marks 

[MrsJuular]

7 hours ago, Saabnut said:

The circles will be where the baffles have been spot welded to the end plate during manufacture. The heat from the welds destroys the galvanising so it leaves rusty marks 

That makes much more sense that what was going on in my head. I thought maybe at one point someone measured and marked these holes with precision ready to mash a screwdriver through them 🤔

[320touring]

Can confirm this car is an absolute blast to drive and a credit to its owner 

 

Top darts😁

[MrsJuular]

The front brakes were requiring some attention due to an irritating squeal. It has been driving me crazy. I bought a brake fitting kit as a first step.

The discs and pads were in good condition.

Another problem revealed itself while I was trying to do something useful.

Both track rod ends have been on the car for 100 miles or so. A quick email to the supplier and I have a new set on the way.

So back to the brakes.....

Kits installed.

A few days later the track rod ends arrived so I quickly chucked them on too.

It took a week but I now have quiet well behaved brakes.

[MrsJuular]

At some point in the past month myself and @juular has been helping @captain_70s with an engine swap.

An emotional support triumph group (estg) should be a thing!

The toledo went over to encourage its friend out of hiding.

After some more poking all was looking promising.  They went for a chippy.

Then to a meet of many supportive and encouraging friends.

With the help of @blackboilersuit the boot sizes of the dolomite and toledo were compared for no other reason than because.

As the sunset, the support group session came to a close. l would say it went pretty well.

[MrsJuular]

Over the past few weeks I've been fixing some niggles and giving the car some (more) attention.

While driving the fuel gauge and the temperature gauge would randomly drop to empty or cold then right itself. After a poke around I found a faulty voltage stabilizer. Replaced and all is working well so far.

Another fun thing the car would do while I was driving was pop it's glass fuses out. I considered upgrading to a more robust fuse box but nah. Just bought a new old stock and shoved that in. The old one fell apart when I removed it so it was a good call.

The electronic ignition was a bit of a mess and was wired in a way where it wasn't getting a steady 12v. The car would randomly stop allowing you to accelerate (without any warning) and had to be restarted to get use of the accelerator again. It would run fine then just not. It got a bit tedious after restarting it around 30 times on a 5 minute journey (mostly motorway).  I rewired all the ignition and gave it a new coil (as the old one was destroyed from restarting it constantly) and a separate ballast resistor instead of the ballast wire.

I sprayed the rocker cover to match the car and made up some new HT leads (also to match).

The car got its first bath.

It's first polish. Thank-you @blackboilersuit for the loan of the polisher. Now all my panel's are all the same shade.

And lastly, some added decor to the already full collection of stickers it has (the car is well travelled and I would like that it was remembered in some way).

[MrsJuular]

I was determined to get the car to FOTU so I went round the car a million times to make sure everything was attached (and tight).

Gave the car some shiny new wheels (£2 rattle can) and they turned out not too shabby.

I desperately needed something to hold my bru cans and a phone for sat nav, so I installed fold away cup holders.

The car, along with its escort (emotional support) vehicle, set of on an epic journey.

One of its challenges was hartside summit and it made it! Look at the lovely mountains.

It got to park and stay overnight at a grand old house.

Then visit a vulcan.

It then meet up with the its Scottish pals @davidfowler2000 + woman, @blackboilersuit, @captain_70s + girlfriend and Welsh rep @Sunny Jim + Prif.

We had an amazing steak dinner and some nice conversation with lovely people.

Next day we convoyed to the FOTU through the lovely countryside and twisty roads.

It got a little too happy in the queue waiting to park beside its pals.

We made it!!!

It got to park beside its twinledo.

The famous autoshite representitve Prif (keeper of @Sunny Jim) kindly posed for a photo.

Before heading off myself and @blackboilersuit checked under the bonnet and did some fuel system related modifications.

My water pump had been leaking quite a bit and had sprayed everywhere it possibly could, so that got fixed. I also noticed a nice big crack on my alternator bracket (shit!). Maybe not too obvious in the photo but if that snaps I'm buggered.

A few nuts and bolts were tightened and a bit of wood was wedged so it didn't make to much of a bang if it snapped.

On its was home it made its sixty six thousand six hundred and sixty sixth birthday. (A bad omen?)

It made it home. The car used 3 litres of oil (a leak from the back of the sump), 4 litres of coolant and 120 litres of fuel. At 35ish mpg I'm well pleased.

The car got its arsed thoroughly kicked and it was very enjoyable.

826 miles with a top speed 86mph (so far) and then a trip to the supermarket. It still wants to do more. Looking forward to future adventures and more festivals.

[Sunny Jim]

Congratulations on all your work and a successful first sortie - hope it's the first of many adventures for you and the popemobile.

[GMcD]

It's great to see an auld car being used as intended. Brilliant job on all the work done!

[sdkrc]

Superb updates and top work @MrsJuular

[Matty]

Seriously impressive 👍