CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[Stickyfinger]

£5k + rust = OUCH !

Thanks on the charger

(I had hoped I would get a Dodge one back )

[CitroJim]

Thanks on the charger

(I had hoped I would get a Dodge one back )

No, just a dodgy one

[MattBLancs]

Something about "the bridge (rectifier) not needing further support" amuses me.


I used to drive past this fairly regularly

Temporary support

https://www.mabeyhire.co.uk/engineered- ... dge-strike

And it was not a very "Temporary" fix (at least a year I think from memory)

This lorry crash instigated the need for it:

Wallop

From
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=ht ... bme%2Ctrie

Surprisingly the driver was ok!

[CitroJim]

Oh gosh Pleased the driver was OK!

[xantia_v6]

I have a battery charger which is more than 100 years old. It is in NZ, so I can't take a photo right now, but it has a mains-synchronous vibrating reed rectifier.

It looks something like this American Valley Electric charger (but not the same model):



There are a couple of design tricks necessary with a mains synchronous reed rectifier, if the reed is excited directly by the 50 Hz AC, it will vibrate at 100 Hz which is useless for rectification, so IIRC the AC electormagnet acts against a permanent magnet to excite the reed at 50 Hz. The other issue is that the switching contact needs to vibrate 90° out of phase with the applied voltage, which requires a carefully tuned resonant system.

My dad got part way through restoring it about 50 years ago, and I believe that the transformer was OK, it just requires reassembly and tuning.

I will fish it out in a couple of months and take a closer look.

I am back in NZ and I dug out the old charger, which turns out to be in a worse state than I remembered. I last saw it 25 years ago, and my dad partly dismantled it 40 or 50 years ago....

Having see the name plate, I did a web search and there is an almost identical unit on ebay.com which is much more photogenic:

Now here is my sorry example:

I am now hoping that I find another box containing the ammeter and screws. I am not confident. The transformer on mine also needs rewinding....

It is interesting that mine was made in the USA for 230V 50Hz operation.

[CitroJim]

Wow Mike, that's magical and a great restoration project I'm sure yours will respond favourably and the ammeter should not be hard to replace, it looks a standard size...

Now that is interesting that it's US made for 230v 50Hz mains...

On a related topic, today I got a few minutes spare to have a look at the AX family spare alternator...

It's definitely badly worn brushes...

It's intriguing how one has worn much more than the other despite running on parallel slip rings...

Speaking of slip rings:

They will just about do another turn I think despite being worn.

Date codes suggest it's 30 years old so it's not done too badly...

New brushes are freely and cheaply available and I have two sets on order from the bay of E.

Those will allow me to test the alternator as it stands and get it back into working order and a viable spare...

The brush tails are soldered and the BoL only advises to attempt to DIY replace them if you are suitably skilled... I think I'll just about pass muster for that

The slip ring assembly is available as a spare part via Autodoc, as is the rectifier and regulator.

Next time I submit a big spares order, that'll be soon, I'll get some in stock.

[xantia_v6]

The weirdest thing is that the current eBay auction is the only hit on the internet for that make of charger, so I was very lucky to get the photos.

I have only hazy recollections of the charger before dad dismantled it but I think that the meter was present. A 15 0 15 meter was always a rare thing.

The transformer is only a bit burnt, I may get away with just rewinding the primary which is on the outside.

[Vic Evans]

I did bake a loaf, first and only one, when Covid was rife. Had some well out of date flour and yeast (several years out of date). Wasn't too bad.
Bought fresh flour, yeast and loaf tins. Found the loaf tins while digging in the oven a few weeks ago, long forgotten and unused.

I love baking my own Steve, and to my tastes, it beats any shop-bought. It takes a while and needs a bit of practice and 'feel' to be 100% consistent but well worth it. Time-wise, it take around four hours but most of that is waiting on the dough to prove and then rise. You can be doing other things whilst that happens.

Against that, it likely costs a lot more than a supermarket 'Chorleywood Special' when given the cost of running the oven although I try to combine it with the baking of a batch of scones, flapjacks or a cake and thus make best use of the oven being hot.

The big upside for me is that I know exactly what goes into my bread and I know it has no potentially worrisome additives. And the taste and texture is sublime

Same here. Toasted thick slices of home made bread with nice local butter & cheese are my go to breakfast with easy to make toasted Hot Buns (no X) as a special treat.
If you like slightly spicey things give 'em a go.

[CitroJim]

Yum That looks good Vic

[Vic Evans]

Yum That looks good Vic

Shout if you want the recipe I use.

[CitroJim]

Yum That looks good Vic

Shout if you want the recipe I use.

Yes please Vic! Thanks, that'll be appreciated

[Vic Evans]

Yum That looks good Vic

Shout if you want the recipe I use.

Yes please Vic! Thanks, that'll be appreciated

Here you go

I mix in breadmaker as it's a mucky mix
I start off yeast in cup with a little sugar & some of the warm milk.
More flour generally needed
I don't use glaze or X stuff as this is for show & doesn't toast well
AllSpice is equal quantities of spices shown.
Tray I use is more like 15" x 12"
It rises slowly so patience needed.
After forming buns & 2nd rise they'll rise again when heat hits them
I weigh mix & divide by 12 to help me make 12 equal size buns
any questions ask
Bon appetite

[CitroJim]

Thanks Vic I'm looking forward to baking that! I will let you know, likely next week now, how I got on.

I can do the mix in my vintage Kenwood Chef - one thing in my kitchen I just couldn't live without...

I have a bread maker but rarely use it, I prefer to do it in ten old traditional way and thus maintain control of the process...

[Vic Evans]

Thanks Vic I'm looking forward to baking that! I will let you know, likely next week now, how I got on.

I can do the mix in my vintage Kenwood Chef - one thing in my kitchen I just couldn't live without...

I have a bread maker but rarely use it, I prefer to do it in ten old traditional way and thus maintain control of the process...

Good luck.
I use the bread maker as a mixer mostly & very occasionally to actually make bread when I want a regular box shape to put through our slicer for regular thin sliced sandwich bread.
One of these things is invaluable for buns etc. https://www.amazon.com/Telescopic-Recta ... 9FRD9?th=1

[CitroJim]

A very busy automotive day today

After a 10K run, I fired up the Diagbox laptop and all was good. I ran a Win 10 disk scan and it found a few problems although successfully repaired them. It's been on all day and is still running well... I'll try it again next week and do a further disk scan on it. I'm thinking the disk errors may have been from last time when it was very unhappy...

I removed the old brushes from the alternator regulator body... Not only are they soldered in but also crimped in tubes at the top of the pads on which they sit. That made the old ones a bit hard to remove. To get at one of them, it was necessary to cut back a little of the pink potting compound.

That done, it can be seen just how well worn the old brushes are:

Then, around midday, the new brushes arrived... See the difference in length!

A while back, I noticed back box rubber hangers on Strawberry were very badly perished and about to let go...

I fitted new ones...

Despite looking a bit grotty under there. it's all an illusion: She's absolutely rock solid and what makes it look rough under there is the rustproofing goo...

These were the knackered old hangers:

Then I pulled Bluebell out of the garage and took her for a drive. After her carburettor overhaul she drives like a different car Getting all that muck out of her float chamber, clearing her jets and getting her accelerator pump working properly again has made an amazing difference... She now goes like a scalded cat on steroids

And my tracking adjustments has put her steering wheel almost in the correct straight-ahead position

Then I had her driver's side door card off to check on her electric window components...

There's not much to it really. I found the grease on the drive rack a bit gooey so cleaned it up and put some fresh grease on it...

Whilst I've got the door card off, I'll get some spray glue tomorrow so I can glue back the detached/loose fabric covering and make it look tidy again.

My last job before going to the railway station to collect the family was to replace the blown bulb in Strawberry's heater panel... After seeing Alasdair had done the same on his sinker heater panel, I was inspired to do the same!

Today was Robyn's birthday and she, Greg and Autumn enjoyed a couple of days in London. It was Autumn's first time on a train, on a tube and generally, she experienced a lot of other 'firsts' too... She absolutely loved it, as did Robyn

My trip to collect them was in the MK Rush Hour... No way would I do that drive for anybody except those I love

Tomorrow I'll get the alternator back together and tested - on Bluebell most likely - and replace the blown bulbs in Strawberry's instrument panel.

Then, the door card glue should have set so I can reassemble and then look at the central locking fault on Bluebell's passenger door, now I know how to pop door cards on and off. I'll also re-grease the window mechanism and do the same as I did on her driver's door and spray a bit of Bilt Hamber in there. I was pleased to see rust-wise, Bluebell's driver's door is perfect