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

[Gibbo2286]

Decent car breakers will find you a good battery for twenty quid or so, I got one for the C5 when I first put it back together and it's still working fine.

[Zelandeth]

So first task of the day was to get the new belts fitted. Ten minute job, and the tension even seemed to be right off the bat, though obviously I expect that to change once the engine has run.

10x813 is the belt size in case you wondered.

Attempting to *do* that was foiled by the thing refusing to start again. I'm willing to bet money the offside cylinder has flooded and fouled the plug again. This seems to be an issue after a series of very short runs, and I'm hoping will resolve itself once I'm able to get it a proper run. I decided after it started on one cylinder to just file this under "come back to later as I've better things to do just now."


Next up, seat. Let's get this sorted out once and for all.

Here's where we ended up.

Doesn't look that different to things before does it? At a glance, no.

Here's the "before" shot in case you were wondering....

There's been a hell of a lot of planning, measuring, calculating and such involved to get to that point.

Originally I just had four huge U-bolts wrapped around the entire rails of the Xantia seat clamping it to the original seat's frame.

Now we've got an M8 bolt on each corner down through the original Xantia mounting points into the angle brackets you saw yesterday - which are then bolted to the original seat frame.

The rear ones are currently bolted through the original seat clamp onto the frame (hence there only being one bolt per side at present), whereas the front have had a pair of bolts through the seat frame.

I think given things have lined up in such a way to allow for it I'll probably drill a hole and add an additional bolt at the rear tomorrow.

They're lined up in such a way to help centralise the seat (the rails are offset to one side by an inch or so), and it seems to have worked.

Driving position now feels perfectly central rather than noticeably offset to the left as used to be the case.

There are some big additional features compared to the original seat "bodge" that I had in here though. All of the original adjustments available are now fully functional (as is the original left/right sliding setup from the original Invacar seat) - which allows an additional party trick...

Yep, with the seat slid fully forward and the backrest tilted forwards, it's possible to get the rear access cover in and out without removing the seat.

I did have one "oops" moment however when I realised that I couldn't get at the head of the big M8 bolt that I'd used to secure the seat down onto the brackets (which has a slot to allow me to fine tune the left/right position) to tighten them up.

Cue me getting inventive.

Take two nuts, screw onto the end of the threaded section and make a lock nut - then used that to stop the bolt rotating while tightening the nut holding the seat down up. Job done.

I was worried that it was going to be too flimsy a solution, but it seems to be perfectly fine. It's worth mentioning that the whole lot it depending on a few tiny screws and a pair of nylon rollers in a runner at the back to hold that side to the car anyway! So I get the feeling that this is probably over-engineered if anything...It's stood up perfectly fine to me (literally) jumping into the seat without moving a millimetre. Seatbelt isn't secured to the seat like on many modern cars - it's secured to the bulkhead at the top and to eye bolts secured to the chassis crossmember at the floor level. So the seat is purely something that you're sitting on, it's not involved in actually holding you in place.

Having a proper adjustable seat means I can get into a much more comfortable feeling driving position with my feet braced against the bulkhead, so I think this is a good result overall.

I'm somewhat amused at how close a colour match I seem to have randomly found in Halfords...

No that's not the "finish" I'm going for - that was purely a "let's see the colour" test. I need to trim the bottom of the panel back as well.

Speaking of paint - I'll be giving the brackets and such I've just added to the seat frame a coat of blue paint as well so they'll hopefully blend in with the original metalwork better.

Feels like a reasonable couple of hours work this evening and a decent step towards roadworthiness, see also the "stuff I orginally bodged together but need to do properly before she hits the road" list.

[CitroJim]

Cracking work Zel It truly is coming along a teat... Good to see a bit of Gabriel incorporated into the Invacar too

[Zelandeth]

It's surprising how well the seat seems to fit in the cabin, I was expecting it to look comically oversized compared to the tiny hospital bench which used to be in there.

Yesterday was one of those days where I acheived what looked like quite a bit of work in a relatively short time. Today was the opposite sort of day, where quite a bit of time was spent but it looks like there's very little to show for it - though it's actually quite a big step towards the car being roadworthy.

Step 1.

Spend the best part of an hour crawling around on the floor attempting (and eventually suceeding) in extricating this.

Two factors made this a pain. Firstly the fact that the T-piece (the bit I needed to reuse) was positioned directly above the handbrake linkage. This made getting at it difficult. Secondly was the fact that as with everything on this car it was held on with a bolt and non-captive nut. The other end of which I couldn't really get at with anything. Eventually though I managed to mangle the bracket enough to get a spanner onto it and got it undone.

Step 2.

Spend another hour wrestling the two remaining brake pipes out of it.

They *really* didn't want to come out - however eventually a combination of brute force and the MAPP Gas torch of persuasion were victorious.

Thankfully the threads all seem to be absolutely fine, so the T-piece with a fresh set of unions is ready to be used again.



Step 3.

Apply some forward thinking to the siting of the T-piece.

I'd already played getting new pipes onto that thing once on KP. Getting them off TP was equally as much of a royal pain. The way the brake pipes were all tucked up into the chassis made it tricky to carry out a visual inspection of them unless you were up on a ramp as well.

As such, I decided to move things a bit. The T-piece is now attached to the bodywork just below the service hatch, and the lines will run along there before heading off to the flexis going to the rear wheels. I'll install some P-clips along there to keep them in place (the original pipes just seem to by and large rely on luck from keeping them in place and preventing them rubbing through on stuff).

This will make future inspection and maintenance easier (as the whole of the brake piping setup from the T-piece to the wheels will then be visible with the service hatch open), and should keep stuff further away from road grime under the car hopefully.

It also means that I can do the actual connection of the brake lines to there while sitting in the car rather than contorted into horrifically uncomfortable positions underneath the car. Surely that's got to improve my chances at doing a decent job of it. The body of the T-piece will be secured in place while the unions are done up of course - I won't be applying all that torque to the tiny area of fibreglass it's currently bolted to.

I'm definitely not discounting the idea of at some point converting the braking system on this car to a dual circuit setup, so anything I can do to make it more user friendly in future has to be a good thing I reckon.

With a bit of luck tomorrow I should be able to get the actual lines connected up to this and we should be pretty close to being in business. At least I have a stock of unions in the garage now, so if I mangle the odd one here or there it's no big deal.

[daviemck2006]

And Gabriel is living on, just in hibernation just now

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

....the seat. ....a hell of a lot of planning, measuring, calculating and such involved to get to that point.

that's the thing others' often doesn't appreciate, isn't it, all the thought, planning and decision making...

...not to mention the 'starting a job, realising that for one small but very important reason it doesn't work'

and then giving it further thought whether to modify the plan or start again

Good to see you got yourself a result with the seat.

[Zelandeth]

Most of my jobs are 85% procrastination, 5% to plan, then the remainder fixing the problems I caused myself usually as things then mushroom beyond all recognition. Especially when I was working on the Saab.

Didn't have much time this afternoon once the day's duties were dispatched sadly.

Here are the crusty remains of the front to rear brake line.

This had been disconnected since quite soon after I got the car, but was only actually removed today. I'll save the in-line connector before binning the pipe as those connectors are actually nice quality ones so worth keeping.

New front to rear line is now in place (the temporary one I'd had just dangling under the car is visible to the right) and connected up at the front...

...and is just waiting for the axle connections at the rear.

Goes without saying that there will be a bunch of grommets, clips and bits of rubber sheathing installed to make sure it can't rub through on anything as this car has no shortage of rough edges.

Had hoped to get the whole lot piped up this evening so a bit irked I had to stop there as I quite enjoy this bit where it feels like you're actually getting somewhere.

While I was under there I doused the handbrake mechanism in penetrating oil and had a look at the chassis in general. No idea what they rust proofed these old crates with from new, but it's bloody effective! Forgot to get any photos but will correct that soon.

[CitroJim]

Most of my jobs are 85% procrastination, 5% to plan, then the remainder fixing the problems I caused myself usually as things then mushroom beyond all recognition.

You and us all Zel

But, having said that, progress is steady and always moving forward and that's the main thing... All these small jobs done will soon mushroom into a job complete and a trundle to the MOT station

[Zelandeth]

No progress to report today really. Wound up with a hospital appointment scheduled smack in the middle of the day today and then made the mistake of going out to pick up some brake fluid. Just as it started sleeting.

The roads were total and complete carnage as it seemed that every other driver thought it was lethal radioactive fallout raining from the sky not sleet which was occasionally tending towards very soggy snow.

Have to attend a dinner out this evening so have been forbidden going and making a mess of myself in the garage now...

Depending on how I'm feeling when we get back I might go steal an hour of my evening and see if I can finish piping things up. Only four short pipes to do.

Just hoping the union on the offside wheel cylinder will come off. I know I'll get it off on the bench...but I'd really rather not have to strip the drum down AGAIN if I don't have to. Especially that side as it's the difficult to get to side with the car parked in the garage...

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

lets just hope the Snowflake or two becomes a foot or two of the stuff, then with luck most 'll stop home and those of us who can cope with a bit of bad weather can go about our business unhindered. Strewth !

[Zelandeth]

It was gone 21:00 when we got back from our evening outing, so no real car update today.

I did however discover that unbeknown to me, my husband snapped a very flattering photo while I was working on the seat installation a couple of days ago.

In case you wanted to see some sort of scale for how compact an Invacar is, here you go.

Isn't working on cars such a glamorous passtime?

Having a completely flat floor without pedals in the way does make it slightly easier to do stuff like this, and in fact it wasn't even that uncomfortable once I was folded into that corner.

Getting back *out* of that corner on the other hand, that was a process which I will simply describe as "inelegant."

Will be visiting the gent making the fuel tank for me tomorrow to drop the sender unit off with him so he can trial fit it to the flange before that's TIG welded to the tank itself. With a bit of luck, will have the tank by the end of the week - and if they've done a nice job of it, will have a new entry for the recommended garages/services section. Fingers crossed.

[Zelandeth]

Courtesy of traffic today turning what should have been a two hour round trip into nearly five, and an absolutely splitting headache - no work done today.

However I can confirm that my new fuel tank does indeed exist. I've seen it and it looks excellent. It has been successfully pressure tested too, so it just awaiting the boss for the sender being attached and the breather hole to be drilled in the cap. They now have the gauge sender in hand so can confirm everything fits before welding stuff in place.

Had a brief chat about the exhaust too and they reckon that it's well within their capabilities to recreate in stainless though they'd want to take a look at it before talking money - sounds like an excuse for a drive over there once she's on the road.

Vintage Tyres are just down the road from us in Bicester, so if time permits tomorrow I might wander over there to see about getting myself some nice new Camac 145 R10 tyres as that's one of the big remaining things on the to do list.

Have definitely decided now that I am sticking with the 10" wheels (being a 1973 car she probably would have been on 12" wheels originally). Four reasons:

1. The higher profile of the 10" tyres over the 12" ones should help the ride quality.
2. Being the tyre size originally fitted to the Mini, they're readily and cheaply available.
3. Cosmetic preference. I reckon the wheels look much more in scale with the rest of the car with the 10s.
4. Hypothetical grip improvement. They 10" tyres have a wider profile, and I figure that given these cars seem to have a reputation for getting blown around, the more rubber in contact with the road the better I guess.

Oh...and I have three ten inch wheels in good order, all of the twelves need help to at least some extent...if I even still have them... can't remember if I sent them all off with KP now I think about it.

Ride comfort and looks are the main ones though.

[Zelandeth]

As hoped, I managed to get a couple of hours this afternoon to attack the to do list.

Getting the rear brakes actually connected up was of course the first order of business given how close to done that job was before.

Just need to fit a couple of clips to keep the pipes from rubbing against things.

Oh - and get the flexis changed. Though the rubber is actually in pretty good shape, I've tortured them pretty well and there's no real perishing to speak of and they've stood up quite happily to me literally hanging my entire weight on the handlebars without any bulging or anything. They'll still be changed as a matter of course - but I'm happy enough for that to be after the first test runs. The front one has been replaced already with a NOS part I got with KP.

At this point I figured I'd save myself some time by grabbing an Easibleed. I want to change the fluid in the van soon and that's going to be quite tedious the old fashioned way and they're hardly expensive.

...However they do not come with an adaptor in the box to fit the old Girling master cylinder. The largest one in the box is a good 1/2" too small. D'oh!

Fine, back to doing things the old fashioned way. The piping runs being pretty short at least mean that it doesn't take long to bleed the fluid through. Even if the offside one had to be done from the union onto the wheel cylinder as the bleed nipple on that side still isn't interested in moving.

All done and I have what feels like a reasonable "pedal" - there's still more free play than I'd like, though as I've mentioned already the handbrake mech needs freeing up - and I've not adjusted anything. Not faffing around trying to do that inside the garage where I've no room to move.

Time for some moving tests though...so let's clear the car of the accumulated junk (again), button the rear access panel back up and shift the van so I've got a bit of room to play with.

Took a surprising amount of time to empty this tiny space again...

I managed to ascertain that I do have brakes. Didn't have time to really ascertain much beyond that as the smell of petrol started to become obviously not just that from the open can out the back, but was Far More than I should be smelling...Immedialy obvious when I stopped the engine was the "Tssssshhh...Tsssssh..." of something dripping and evapourating from something hot.

That would be petrol dripping out of the fuel pump, onto the tinware and then straght onto the offside exhaust branch. Rather unnerving!

That hose was weeping about a week ago and I trimmed the last inch or so off the end of it - today though it's escaping from around the access cover on the top of the pump itself. Grrrr...Easy enough to sort at least, and I spotted it *before* the car had a chance to set fire to itself!

Will get that sorted out (I wanted to give the screen in the pump another clean anyway so not all bad) tomorrow and then give the brakes a bit more exercise on the driveway. Next up will probably be either swapping out the indicator switch to one that works more reliably or fashioning a heat shield of some sort to cover the exhaust until I can summon the willpower to fully rebuild the rear apron.

She's pretty much unburied though which is pretty rare these days!

[CitroJim]

That's a heck of a lot to have achieved in a couple of hours Zel I'm in awe!

On the Easibleed, I have an old one here - I think - and that may well have the right adaptor with it... You are welcome to it as long as you go in my workshop and search for it with me well out of the way! I can tell you roughly where it is!

You were lucky with the fuel leak! Just shows ghat liquid petrol is fairly hard to set fire to - unlike when it's vaporised and mixed with air in the correct proportions!

[Zelandeth]

May well take you up on that when I'm next over that way Jim. They're a useful tool to have, especially for getting that stubborn last bit of air that refuses to vacate a system using the old fashioned approach.

Petrol isn't that dire a problem provided it's not in too enclosed a space - the cooling fan probably kept the vapour concentration low while the engine was running. It vaporises so rapidly that it usually just flashes off when it hits something hot.

Brake fluid...now that's a totally different kettle of fish. It doesn't boil off readily at all, has an alarmingly low flash point and burns very hot. Have to wonder how many car fires it's been behind.

Today I simply confirmed that I really need to clear the garage up. Wound up wasting an epic amount of time when I dropped the cover plate from the fuel pump. It pinged off into a corner, and came to rest of all places, under the Crypton machine. Must have taken me half an hour to get to it and the same again to unbury the car from under everything I'd moved.

I have now ordered five metres of A1 marine grade fuel hose, so will get that all rerouted when it turns up. I have left the original piping in place so far so I can use it as a template for the correct routing.

Plans for tomorrow.

[] Test fuel system. Cross fingers it no longer leaks.
[] Hit the trim from above the windscreen with the carbide mop on the grinder to get rid of the old adhesive, then paint it.
[] Expose the handbrake pivot mechanism to excessive amounts of violence to convince it to move again.
[] Adjust and test brakes... possibly above walking pace for the first time ever... won't that be exciting...