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

[Zelandeth]

Probably not as bad as you'd think. Dynastart units are still quite commonly used on things like golf carts and small plant engines. My guess is that it's more suited to repeated stop/start cycles as there's no ring gear or pinion wear to worry about.

[CitroJim]

Never realised that Zel... I thought they were long extinct...

Mind you, the modern stop/start systems on some cars I guess must use some form of Dynastart...

[Zelandeth]

Never realised that Zel... I thought they were long extinct...

Mind you, the modern stop/start systems on some cars I guess must use some form of Dynastart...

It doesn't seem that way Jim, all the VWs I've been in have had conventional sounding starters. The really odd thing with this is because it's coupled to the engine by a belt, there's no typical starter noise...The engine just cranks over seemingly silently. It's quite odd.

First task was reconnecting about 430594854398 chopped wires (here's just a small selection under the instrument panel).

Speaking of the instrument panel...it's rather more pleasant now it's clean(er).

At this point "connecting" up a battery (by connecting I mean holding the negative terminal on with a pair of vice-grips and the positive terminal by hand), we had the first sign of life...

...That's a working oil pressure light for those of you who don't know a Model 70 dash layout.

This also (albeit with some wonderful fireworks from the battery terminals) allowed me to prove the engine would spin on the Dynastart, and in doing so proved that we had oil pressure.

I paused at that point to go and buy some actual battery terminals and a couple of glass fuses as both of the ones in the fuse-box were missing. Yes...the car has *TWO* fuses is the vehicle fuse box. One addition one lives in-line with the charging circuit.

At this point I had no idea whether I had a spark or not...or whether it was timed anywhere near to where it had to be...however nothing there appeared to have been fiddled with - so I figured I'd give it a shot...and stuck some fuel down the throat of the carb and decided to see what would happen.



Okay, this wasn't the first start...That was actually quite anticlimatic and was a vague cough. This was after I'd fiddled with the (sticky) choke a bit, and had manually filled the float bowl, because the fuel pump currently isn't living up to the name. I'm guessing one of the valves is full of varnish as the filter gauze certainly was...Will try to pull it off tomorrow once I get a narrow ring spanner to get at it and have a look.

It was also a bit flooded as I'd accidentally scooshed a fair bit of fuel down the carb throat while filling the float bowl, but while cranking the engine didn't have a spare hand to operate the throttle with! She would have started instantly if it hadn't been for that.

To me it sounds like an extremely angry 2CV...and definitely seems to want to live.

So...Tasks for tomorrow:

[] See if I can make the fuel pump pump.
[] Investigate why I've had no life whatsoever yet from the charging circuit (including dash ignition lamp).
[] If I can get it running for more than 10 seconds at a time, see if the drive system actually works (I freed off the previously seized gear selector earlier today).

[Hell Razor5543]

I would check the dash light has not blown. If it has a standard alternator that bulb needs to be working for the exciter to work.

[Zelandeth]

Blown lamp or dodgy connections in the lampholder are entirely possible given how long the dash has been open to the elements. It's first on my list to check. To be honest I was surprised to see the oil pressure light appear without having to attack the ignition switch with contact cleaner.

I believe that the dash lamp is an essential part of the circuit for the charging side of the Dynastart unit just as it is for a conventional alternator judging from the wiring diagram.

[Zelandeth]

Quick lunchtime update.

Got the fuel pump off easy enough once I had a standard 11mm ring spanner on hand. Turned out that the pushrod was seized in place, hence the lack of pumping.

Dousing it in penetrating oil and exercising it (read: whack it with a hammer both ways until it moved) after about 15 minutes got it moving freely again.

Reattached to the car I reckon I've had it now running on fuel from the tank (well...can), briefly. Briefly because the fuel pump was doing a good impression of a fountain from the cover. This is particularly worrisome as the first thing the fuel dribbles onto beneath the tinware is the exhaust thanks to its position.

I've pulled the pump off again, cleaned up both the mating surfaces and put on a tiny smear of instant gasket (there should be a paper gasket in here it looks like), which is currently curing. I'll give it another shot after lunch.

This evening's task will be making a parts list of engine service items to order - which will include a proper fuel pump gasket.

Charging wise I've not investigated anything today yet. The front earthing point is now earthed (bolted to the fuel tank bracket holes in the front framework), but that hasn't made any difference, unsurprisingly. There is an in-line fuse holder with the red wire from my voltage reg (which is different to the wiring diagram which says it's in the yellow wire) with an intact ceramic fuse. I couldn't read the rating on it however. I had a very brief shot at getting the lamp out of the dash, before deciding that that's actually a really fiddly pain of a task so I'm going to check if there's voltage across it first.

[CitroJim]

That's some excellent progress Zel Sadly lots of work kept me home today but I'll be round your way on Thursday so if you're in I'd love to visit and see her running...

I know she will be

[Zelandeth]

So, as mentioned earlier my fuel pump at lunch time was doing a good impression of a lawn sprinkler all over the offside exhaust downpipe...Less than ideal!

Here's a picture of it from when it was first pulled apart earlier.

Glad to report that the instant gasket, while not a long-term solution is doing the job for now. The pump is now happily doing what its designer intended once more. This was good because it meant that I could actually run the engine for more than a few seconds at a time.

First up, charging system. I decided at this point to check properly whether it was *actually* charging, rather than assuming the system was dead based on one test in the half dark yesterday with the awful meter probes with which I couldn't get a proper connection.

Hey, would you look at that...it's charging! Still no light on the dash - though that looks like it might be a wiring fault as there's 12V on the brown wire with a yellow trace at the dash - but nothing on it at the voltage reg. So looks like there's an open circuit on that conductor somewhere. I've also figured out why the top fuse in the fuse box has been bypassed - that no amount of wiggling the fuse will get continuity across it. So the fuse box will come out shortly to be properly cleaned. I might actually just swap it out for a modern blade fuse box while I'm at it...I'm going to want to fuse more than two circuits at some point anyway, and you can't exactly get 25A and 35A glass fuses over the counter at your average motor factors these days...I'll go with a 20A and 30A blade fuse and just keep some spares in the car...

The carb is plainly not happy - any attempt to open the throttle sharply results in the mixture obviously leaning out excessively and all manner of backfiring through the carb - but given that I've literally not touched it yet that's hardly surprising. I'll pull it off shortly and give everything a good clean.

So...I knew the charging system was actually loading itself properly (and it looks like the voltage regulator is doing its job watching the meter), the fuel system was now fuel tight, and the engine sounded happy...time for another test! Does the drive system work?



Yep! It does indeed!

This test was carried out *very* carefully. This is primarily because the car currently has NO brakes whatsoever. Also as mentioned earlier, the carb is a bit sick, so the engine is currently struggling under any real load. The throttle is also sticking slightly which has resulted in a slightly high idle - hence the horrible crunchy noises at one point, as that's causing the clutch to drag a bit.

The only other issue I've discovered was that once the engine started to get a bit of heat into it, it started smoking like a cold Deltic!

Now, I reckon this exhaust silencer has been drowned in penetrating oil at some point, and the engine has sat for years with probably double the correct amount of oil in (not maybe a bad idea for it when in storage actually)...so this may well just burn off after a while. The oil that's in the engine just now is slightly too thin as well (20W-30 is recommended), so I'll change that out tomorrow and top it up correctly and set the engine to a fast idle for a while and see if it starts to clear at all.

I've come across a couple of bus engines in the past which have suffered from sticky rings after sitting in storage for years - quite often these will come good after being actually under load driving for a bit...so this may well just need a good old fashioned Italian Tune Up.

Planning to not spend too much time on this tomorrow as I do actually need to do some stuff around the house! However I know that temptation will get the better of me at some point!

High on the list is also attacking the crusty floor pan. On account of my discovering that it wasn't originally intended to be structural, I'm tempted to just throw some chequer plate in there in the short term on account of the fact that I can get hold of it quickly and easily locally and it will give me something to bolt a seat to. The current seat is knackered and having one that I can actually sit in will make moving the thing around easier!

Glad to report that there's plenty to show you when you do make it over Jim!

It's quite the interesting little vehicle to see - and hear. I really wasn't expecting it to sound half as good as it does...

[Michel]

I am in awe of you and your project Zel, absolutely brilliant!

[bobins]

Zel - I'm envious on two fronts. One - your determination and optimism. Two - you've got a garage you can get a car in and out of.

My various experimentations for cleaning out and reconditioning simple single cylinder engined carburettors have shown that dishwasher powder in the heated ultrasonic bath does an absolutely brilliant job after about 45 minutes of cooking. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me that's the last thing you should use...... but it's worked so far

[Hell Razor5543]

Right, first objective is to get it running properly and road legal. Then, see how feasible a Nitrous Oxide setup would be. Be fun watching that blow away a boy racer hot hatch from the lights!

[Zelandeth]

Feasible, yes...practical...not so much! It would probably shred the drive system. The governor is probably the weakest link in the system. I know there are a couple of these out there somewhere with Hyabusa bike engines in, not my style though!

Given the gearing and weight (410kgs) I reckon off the mark it can probably raise a few eyebrows as it stands. I believe this engine is more industrial than automotive in its origins, hence it's got a good chunk of torque for its size.

I'll keep in mind the tip about the dishwasher powder in the ultrasonic bath, could be handy! I'll start off just clearing the grime out of the float bowl and jets and see how it goes from there. If it needs significantly more in depth cleaning we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The garage has generally proven pretty useless for getting a car into as it's really narrow. The fact that this thing is so tiny was one of the major deciding factors in taking it on. Getting any of the "real" cars in there has never really been on the cards.

[CitroJim]

More very excellent progress Zel

It's coming along a perfect treat...

What is the situation regarding getting it road legal?

[Zelandeth]

This one already has a V5 present, so that's the hard bit (getting it "un-scrapped" essentially) already done by the former keeper.

I believe that all that needs to be done next is changing the taxation class from "disabled" to "historic" at a post office that handles vehicle tax. When I get to that stage anyway!

[CitroJim]

That's good on the road legal side of things Zel...

I would imagine that if the V5 was not present it would be a right old game to get one...