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

[Zelandeth]

That certainly is a well thought out vehicle. Bit bulky for the UK perhaps?

A good European version might be an early C4 Picasso. It will tick most, if not all, of the boxes the Chevvy does...

You know me, I'm a great fan of proper MPVs I mourn the fact that none are really sensibly available these days

The footprint is definitely on the larger side in car terms - at least in 1998 terms if not necessarily today! The footprint is basically identical to that of a SWB Transit of the same era, I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually shorter than the Volvo. Definitely be easier to park than the Volvo as there's not a mile and a half of bonnet that you can't see in front of you. Doesn't have the turning circle of the QE2 either which is definitely a failing of my particular model of Volvo.

It's definitely a different beast to the likes of the C4 Picasso - the amount of usable interior volume for one. The fact that you can have three rows of seats in AND still have a usable load area is one big one - and where the VW Multivan that Chris currently has really falls down and means that the rearmost two seats are permanent, bulky residents in our conservatory that I'm sick of tripping over as with them in the boot is about the size of the one in a Pug 107. The fact that there isn't ten miles of dashboard stretching out in front of the driver before you get to the windscreen I reckon is where that space is really saved - the engine sits pretty much in between the driver and passenger's legs like on my old Merc camper. The mechanicals are very different as well - this is based around a pretty much bulletproof commercial platform which has been taken and had things like the spring and damper rates adjusted accordingly and with a bunch of extra sound dampening rather than a car which has been stretched in Photoshop. So they're tough as old boots (the number of this generation you still see especially in panel van form still earning their keep in the US today is testament to that), and the fact that they made about seven billion of them means that parts availability isn't a problem. Especially the old V6 Vortec engine which has been used in everything from this to generators to power boats Wikipedia entry for this engine over here.

This example had 128K miles on the clock and despite the reputation that US vehicles seem to have for being shoddily built it drove like a brand new car - there wasn't a single knock, squeak, rattle, vibration or anything like that aside from a *tiny* bit of noise from one of the sliding doors on very badly corrugated road surfaces. Which was only really noticeable because it was otherwise so damned quiet.

Also I have to say that a C4 Picasso isn't even in the same league comfort wise. To get a seat in a Citroen that even comes close to as comfy as those chairs you'd need to go back to an early BX I reckon. They make the seats in the Volvo feel like park benches in comparison.

I’ve got a Renault Grand Espace initiale V6 automatic from early 2004 which does all these things too. Great van without actually feeling or looking like a van.

I think that's the thing which surprised me the most about this - how much it didn't feel like a van. GM clearly put a huge amount of effort into making it feel refined. The only really van like things you noticed from the driver's seat were that you were so high up and far forward - which honestly in this day of everyone having cars the size of a small planet is no bad thing as I might actually be able to see over the car next to me at junctions. There was none of the jittery ride or boominess to the interior which I tend to associate with van based vehicles - wind and road noise were both very much more subdued than I'd expected. Especially given the fairly crude by our standards suspension design.

The platform does have major advantages as well - like the whole engine surround coming off in about five minutes allowing access to pretty much everything from inside the cabin rather than everything being completely inaccessible under the windscreen scuttle, it's essentially built with commercial vehicle servicing needs in consideration. I've never done battle with one as new as yours, but I did help with a couple of jobs on the original version and have worked on a couple of other MPVs over the years - every time swearing never again because of how inaccessible essentially everything under the bonnet is. I won't argue though that a high spec early 00s Espace is indeed a very, very nice place to be. Never driven one but I was a passenger in one a while ago and it was indeed very plush.

[CitroJim]

I've had a bit of experience with the early MK1 Espace - The Matra designed one - superb vehicles

[mickthemaverick]

I ran a 2.0l TXE as the family car when the kids were at primary school, great for carting a bunch of them to Saturday swimming etc and for family camping holidays!!

An identical model to my Espace

[CitroJim]

And the original Espace still looks good to this day A design classic..

Loving the yellow 205 next to it

[RichardW]

By coincidence Eric O at South Main Auto put a couple of vids up recently about fixing an Astro. Not that easy to access the engine!

[Zelandeth]

By coincidence Eric O at South Main Auto put a couple of vids up recently about fixing an Astro. Not that easy to access the engine!

Reckon that's true of anything where the engine is inboard to at least some degree though. Even this was an absolute pain in the proverbial to get to some things despite looking like you can get to everything easily.

...Especially the thermostat. Which Mercedes had perfectly penned in between the rear engine mount and the exhaust and which caused massive amounts of swearing when I tried to change it.

Could be worse though, I can't remember which one it was but there's at least one of the MPV shaped vehicles from fairly recent production where replacing the air cleaner element requires wipers and the entire scuttle to come off for access. Which of course just means that it'll never get changed in many cases. I did think the access on the Astro was a bit better than that though - I guess being a longitudinally mounted V6 does mean it's kind of squashed in between the chassis rails. At least most of the things you'd be after routinely look *reasonably* accessible with a bit of swearing.

In all honesty, I think access on that is better than to absolutely anything relating to the exhaust side of the engine on the Volvo - I can't even anything of that even once the covers are off - I assume that it's either access from underneath or engine out time for pretty much anything regarding the exhaust/turbo/EGR/DPF side of things. I guess that's just a fact of life once you get towards 2010 or so - everything in any car is shoved so far back for crash safety and there's so much "stuff" surrounding the engine that anything beyond an oil change in most cases becomes a major headache. One of the main reasons I try to avoid working on anything modern if I can avoid it as it always seems that the entire car was built around whatever I'm trying to get to!

[MattBLancs]

Could be worse though, I can't remember which one it was but there's at least one of the MPV shaped vehicles from fairly recent production where replacing the air cleaner element requires wipers and the entire scuttle to come off for access. Which of course just means that it'll never get changed in many cases.

1.6 HDi has the air filter housing between cylinder head and bulkhead, it's awkward in a 206, worse in a mk 1 C4, so would guess the bigger windscreen (coming even further over the engine bay??) makes it even worse in a C4 Picasso / grand picasso / Space Tourer= so that'd be my guess as to which one

[RichardW]

You can do a MK2 C4 Picassos 1.6 Blue HDi with removing the scuttle - if you can get the boost solenoid pipe off the air box (or someone else has already broken it off) why PSA decided they needed to fit a clip that is different to all the others, and almost impossible to remove I have no idea! Can't remember if I can do the 3008 with the wipers etc on, but it doesn't take long to whip it off. Still more difficult than it needs to be - although I recall Light posting that to do a pollen filter on a RHD manual Renault of some sort, you had to unbolt the clutch pedal FFS!!

[CitroJim]

Surprisingly, except for the boost solenoid pipe you mention Richard, the job is not too bad in the C3 Picasso. Certainly not the dockyard job Mick and I found it was in the C4!

[Zelandeth]

Over the last week the Trabant has been at the back of the stack on the driveway, and as I've been generally short on time I've not had the opportunity to shuffle cars to get it out. Plus I don't tend to drive it so much in the rain as I've still to sort the leak from the windscreen that completely unavoidably drips on my right knee. That understandably gets old in a hurry!

Despite that one day Chris was working in the office because it's so small I was able to sneak it out through the gap - after driving the Volvo for a week it felt incredibly light and nimble.

Also noticed the other day that when I adjusted the throttle cable I must not have had it fully seated at one end so there was a bunch of slack in it. Given the pretty small amount of travel a couple of millimetres equates to a fair difference at the carburettor slide. Having tweaked that has definitely made it feel more peppy - and around town in particular it wasn't feeling at all lacking in pep beforehand.

I think I have tracked down the source of one annoying clunk from the back of the car - which I've had three theories already that I was pretty certain were responsible for right up to the point I fix them! Well there are actually a couple which present themselves on really harsh bumps (the New Bradwell Asda carpark speed bumps are usually responsible as they are exceptionally aggressive - the Volvo drags all four mudflaps over them they're so tall). There should be some rubber feet under the rear seat frame. With them missing it's able to float a little and will crash to the floor in situations like that. The bootlid also flaps around a bit because the seal is knackered. Those are both easily identifiable noises though, rather than the "sounds like something rolling around in the boot" sort of noise from the offside rear corner which would sometimes happen at other times. Reckon I've got it!

The sealant between the rear quarter body panel and the rear panel has failed. It's still screwed to the frame at the top and bottom, but the middle is able to flex a fair bit along the join highlighted below.

I suspect when you apply forces in just the right way things are able to open and close that gap a bit - resulting in the sort of hollow knocking I'm hearing.

Easy enough to sort with a bit of Sikaflex (basically the modern version of what was originally used) squeezed into the join - can do it from inside to minimise mess. I'm not getting into removing the seven hundred screws - most of which probably need drilling out - from the top to fully remove the panel at this stage. That no doubt will unveil a veritable cornucopia of repairs needed to the wheel tub and probably the bottom of the B pillar given the age of the car and other owner's experiences. A body shop will be getting involved to sort the rear screen surround at some point. That will require removal of this panel - any horrors within can be dealt with then. I'm not actively going looking for trouble, especially when knowing "yes I'll need to sort that" really doesn't gain me anything as I'm budgeting for it anyway. If everything is surprisingly clean in there when the panel comes off that's just a bonus.

[CitroJim]

Good to see you've had a bit of fun in the Trabant Zel

And even better you've found the source of a noise!

[Zelandeth]

The noise I really need to fix is the bloody wiper switch...that is the loudest and most annoying thing in the cabin by several orders of magnitude.

I'm not calling this one fixed until it's gone given I've thought I've tracked it down several times now!

[Zelandeth]

Suffice to say that this thing has kind of put a halt on much car work going on.

Despite that I finally had a little bit of spare time yesterday afternoon when I both had a bit of energy and it wasn't chucking it down with rain.

Before:

After:

I only had half an hour so still a bunch to do, but the head is on and properly torqued down. At least it's not open to the elements now (rocker cover was sat in place before I tidied up). Hopefully one more session I'll have the engine running again with a bit of luck.

Of course I remembered to change the O ring which is sandwiched between the water pump casting and the bottom surface of the head. Which is often the reason the heads need to come off on these cars.

Hard to tell in the photo but the old one is crushed to about half the height of the new one.

Just glad I've actually done *something* with it for a change.

[CitroJim]

Great to see some Rover progress Zel

[Zelandeth]

Bit more progress has been made during the snippets of time I've had in the last couple of afternoons.

This is where we left off yesterday.



Almost looking like an engine again.

[] Head bolt torque values re checked. As expected things had settled a bit and there was a bit more travel available especially towards the centre.

[] Rocket shaft retainers properly tightened down (they don't need to be very tight - manual only calls for 12 lb/ft).

[] Distributor put back in place. Thankfully my timing quandary didn't come to anything as the shaft is keyed such that it can only go in two positions and I had a photo during strip down which let me see roughly where the rotor was pointing.

Before I put it back in place I spent a bit of time getting the vacuum advance unit moving again. Thankfully the diaphragm is fine and with a little penetrating oil and care I was able to get it moving again. I may need to replace it long term but we'll see.

[] Cylinder head oil feed line reconnected. The feed to the top end on this engine is external and connects to the head via a banjo bolt on the back of the head. I only dropped one of the copper washers down the back of the engine twice. Not difficult this one, just fiddly.

[] Coolant lines hooked back up. This is somewhere I've learned some things it seems to make my life a bit easier. The line which runs from the underside of the inlet manifold to the heater core is a royal faff to fit.



The reason is that this is actually two hoses - joined in the middle by a little metal stub bolted to the back of the manifold. Trying to get the hose clips fastened with it in situ is a massive pain as there's something in the way no matter which way you attack it.



Solution? Attach the two pipes to that awkward stub beforehand and then just put the one screw that holds the bracket in place.



I really wish I'd twigged that I could do that both of the last times I had this off - I must have spent the best part of an hour swearing at it when I put the new lines on here. This way took about five minutes.

[] Oil drained and changed. This took an age as it's cold, there's nearly 10 litres in there, and 20W50 doesn't exactly like to flow when it's cold. What came out wasn't horrible, but there definitely was some water contamination. It also smelled quite fuelly, though given the idle was absolutely stinking rich when the car arrived that doesn't particularly surprise me.

In terms of adding new oil I ran out of patience after a couple of minutes and just abandoned the can here.



That whole can juuuuuuust about gets it onto the dipstick. That's quite painful given this will be getting changed again after an hour or two of running given the cost of oil these days.

[] In a similar subject of ludicrous fluid capacities, the cooling system was filled up - that takes 14 litres! Ten just about covers the fins in the radiator, but I've not started bleeding anything yet and the heater core is the highest point in the system so it will drop a bunch once the engine starts I expect. I have done the best I can to flush the system and radiator out but we'll just have to see how clean the new coolant stays for how long.

[] Valve clearances roughly set - the inlet side needs to be done with the engine hot, so I've just made sure we *have* some clearance on all six rather than being massively too tight. Haven't touched the exhaust side yet (which of course haven't been messed with) but I'll do the lot properly once the engine has run.

This evening I managed to get a bit more done by the last dregs of daylight and before the rain arrived. Working in the rain by torch light is so much fun.



[] Carb refitted. After I un-mutilated the throttle return spring bracket (guessing it got pranged when the brake servo was being replaced). I don't actually have the correct return spring on hand but I'm sure I can find something that will work better than the current one which is vastly too long. The front nut is precisely as annoying as I remember - I really need to get a properly skinny 1/2" ring spanner for this as it would reduce the profanity level considerably.

[] Throttle linkage reattached. With a little bit of free play in - there was none before and this both made the throttle tend to hang just off idle, and made it waaay too sensitive at the low end making it near impossible to pull away smoothly.

[] Vacuum lines hooked back up, all two of them. Hugely complicated job that. There is one more that needs to be blocked off before the engine will run - that big one you can see at the top of the carb float chamber. That's normally fed from an orifice in the air cleaner ducting - so if that's not fitted you need to block that off or it will behave like a giant vacuum leak.

[] Wiring to temperature gauge sender and choke warning light thermoswitchs reconnected.

[] New rocker cover gasket and rubber seals on the retaining nuts replaced.

Between us and a test run I think there's just me sorting out the slightly mangled ignition coil bracket, installing that, connecting the distributor and hooking up the HT leads. Then *hopefully* we can go for a test run. The fan belt could do with adjusting as well. Which I kind of wish I'd realised before I put the head back on as the adjuster would be far easier to get at without all that being in the way.

The engine has rotated though (and spun over long enough to get oil pressure) and there weren't any untoward noises at least and we appear to have compression, so that seems a decent starting point. Plus since yesterday evening the coolant and oil have so far remained properly separated. Fingers crossed we'll have a running engine again soon.