Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[bobins]

This lot reckon to be able to make up old fuel tanks, but I dread to think what the price will be.
https://www.aaronradiator.co.uk/vintage-fuel-tanks/

[Zelandeth]

Cheers for that, gives me somewhere else to start out.

Within reason, not too bothered about the price. I'd rather have a job done right than cheap any day. It's a pig to get the tank in/out so I'd rather not have to faff with it again...

[Zelandeth]

That's *another* time waster with selling the Lada.

Really starting to wish I could find somewhere to dry store it over the winter and just come back to it after a few months with a fresh head.

Really need to make sorting the Activa a priority for next week. It's due the MOT shortly for one thing, and I'm going to need it first weekend in November as I'll be ferrying a bunch of stuff plus two passengers up to Livingston. Could in theory take the van, but given we'll be trying to travel in convoy for at least some of the trip, being able to comfortably do 70 would be useful.

Plus it's just all round the best motorway cruiser I've ever owned, by a long shot.

[Zelandeth]

Some of you may recall that the Lada had been periodically using a little brake fluid. Just enough to make the level light flicker every month or so. However I'd been unable to track down where the heck it was going.

Until a couple of days ago when the leak finally got worse when it decided to go through half a reservoir in a day. This meant that I could find the leak at least, the offside front caliper has become incontinent.

I'm not going to faff around trying to sort that. Based on my knowledge of Lada parts pricing, a pair of new calipers for the front will be on order soon to resolve that issue. The brakes have never felt the best (even by Lada standards) so not a bad idea anyhow. Have already got a full set of flexible hoses for it on hand too, so may as well do the lot at once.

Got to take this out for a spin today...

It's a good 15 years since I last drove one, and I was prepared to find that the driving experience had filled somewhat compared to my memory in that time. Nope...still just as I remember. Only differences in this case being due to that one being a few years newer and higher specced than mine. At 1984 this was one of the last Mk I Metros. Main difference that was obvious? The gearbox is waaaaaaay quieter than mine was.

Still feels like you're sitting in a go kart and changes direction in a way only the Activa can challenge.

For all they took a lot of stick for trying to be a replacement for the Mini and some typically BL build quality issues, they were fun little things to drive. Provided you're no taller than me anyway!

[CitroJim]

I love that Metro Zel

Brake fluid loss: I once had that on a Volvo 340... No obvious leaks... It was leaking into the servo through the master cylinder... Eventually white smoke on closed throttle (high vacuum) pointed to it...

[Hell Razor5543]

When I first tried to learn to drive it was in a Metro. Because I have long legs my knees were up around the steering wheel. That made using the indicators interesting.

[Zelandeth]

The Invacar now has the correct grade of oil in. Still smokes like a Deltic for the first few seconds the first time it's started after sitting overnight. Not going to worry too much though as it clears after a second, and the thing hasn't had a good run in a couple of decades so the rings are probably gummed up something rotten. I'd be well surprised if it doesn't run a heck of a lot better after a few miles actually on the road.

Have also started looking into the belt issue I've had with the Activa, which looks to be down to a stuffed crankshaft pulley - a first in my fleet - so shouldn't be a tough fix.

... especially once I had the brainwave of sticking my trolley jack under the driver I was using to hold the tensioner off. Made routing the belt actually easy. So hopefully it will be back on the road in the next couple of days.

[CitroJim]

Still smokes like a Deltic for the first few seconds the first time it's started after sitting overnight.

Nothing wrong with a good clagfest! It adds character All good railway locomotives do it!

Have also started looking into the belt issue I've had with the Activa, which looks to be down to a stuffed crankshaft pulley - a first in my fleet - so shouldn't be a tough fix.

Did the rubber bit between the inner and outer annuli break up Zel?

Are they still available new or are you having to look at having the old one refurbished?

[Zelandeth]

Did the rubber bit between the inner and outer annuli break up Zel?

Are they still available new or are you having to look at having the old one refurbished?

That's my current theory. The belt is running out of true and off the inboard end of the pulley on the alternator and hydraulic pump. It looks like the outer part of the crankshaft pulley has shifted and that's what's pulling it to one side.

I'll pull it off as soon as I get a chance and take a closer look.

At least the belt is a million times easier to get on/off than on an XUD as the tensioner is easy to get to.

[CitroJim]

TCT pulleys are well-known for this Zel, which is why the timing hole on the outer annulus is never to be trusted... I have a solid pulley for this purpose but unfortunately it is no good for regular use as it can only take a 3PK belt...

[Zelandeth]

No worries, a new one is on the way.

Really can't complain - aside from routine service consumables this is the only attention she's needed in nearly a full year and 5000 plus miles. It's impossible to complain at that.

The pulley has probably been going for a while, may even be why the original one squeaked at idle when I got the car for all I know.

[CitroJim]

Really can't complain - aside from routine service consumables this is the only attention she's needed in nearly a full year and 5000 plus miles. It's impossible to complain at that.

Ahh, she's a good 'un for sure Always well looked after - sort of!!!

I take it she went through the latest MOT without any issues?

The pulley has probably been going for a while, may even be why the original one squeaked at idle when I got the car for all I know.

Yes, squeaks are normally the first sign... I'd never have really noticed given the small amount of gentle use she got from me in the end...

A squeak when turning on the aircon can be a give-away too...

[Zelandeth]

She's done the "chirp" when the A/C first kicks in from nearly the day I picked her up. It was the incessant idle squeak which resulted in me changing the belt, which had no effect on the aforementioned chirp...did silence it at idle though. Never gave it a second glance beyond that, just having internally written that up to a lazy tensioner spring.

MOT will be booked as soon as this is sorted (tomorrow is actually the first day I could present her for the test without losing days), not expecting any issues though.

Need to look at the belt on the van, as it squeaks when the headlights or the fridge are on. Like the Xantia there's no adjustment as such, tension is controlled by a sprung tensioner.

Being totally honest, other than fixing (bodging) the throttle linkage, changing the oil and noting I need a cam cover gasket (now in stock) I've not really even looked at the engine...aside from one lazy tappet that takes a few minutes to pump up from a cold start sometimes it sounds and feels happy.

[myglaren]

Same symptoms my C5 had. Mechanics attempts to locate the problem failed every time until I took it to the Polish bloke I now use exclusively.

He heard the car coming in and knew before I had spoken to him what it was.
Fixed the following day - he did fit an OEM pulley, belt and the alternator clutch that had failed taking the crankshaft pulley along with it.

[Zelandeth]

Thankfully I don't have to worry about nonsense like alternator clutches, just an old school one on the air con compressor - which works fine.

The new pulley has now been dispatched, only coming from relatively locally so hopefully will arrive tomorrow.

Yesterday evening and this morning I distracted myself with this.

I have history with this machine. I built it back in 2008 or 9, and it's the one lemon I've ever created. It's just always refused to run stably, with Windows randomly blue screening with utterly unhelpful stop codes which basically translated to "something unspecified went wrong with a driver." Eventually it got stuffed in a corner when a new laptop replaced it.

Basically everything save for the motherboard and CPU had been robbed from it over the intervening couple of years, so it was reassembled using random bits and pieces I had laying around.

It's been running for nearly 24 hours now with everything flat out and hasn't fallen over yet... we'll see if it's actually sorted I guess. If it will behave, it's actually slightly more powerful than my current desktop I think, so some part swapping might then happen...