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

[Hell Razor5543]

There's a little lever down to the left of where the seat should be which simply has D N R positions.

Ah no, that's what the previous owner put on it - it stands for Do Not Resuscitate.


....Sorry Zel, couldn't resist

Nope, it stood for (but is no longer true) Does Not Run.

[Zelandeth]

Well it didn't *want* to run earlier...but that was because some idiot had forgotten to put the choke on!

Have to wonder what they made the HT leads of back on these things... they're ancient, but didn't seem to care in the slightest about getting blasted with the pressure washer!

Likewise all the wiring seems to be of really good quality - just a shame it's been butchered so much. No fraying, cracking or discolouration - even outside where it's been exposed to the elements forever.

[Zelandeth]

Been feeling a bit under the weather today thanks to having had very little sleep over the last few days...always fun.

Did however get a bit done. Scrubbed a bit more of the gunk off the roof and engine cover - I really do need to get a proper rotary polishing mop and some decent cutting compound for this I think or it's going to take forever...

Didn't get any photos today, but here's a snap I took a couple of days back when I first thought to attack a corner of the engine cover with the cutting paste - there's definitely a finish of sorts left here under all the grime. Main test though was to see whether the black grime would come off though.

On the subject of cleaning, I also attacked the outside of the carb so I can now actually see it rather than it just being an unidentifiable black blob. I also established that the sticky choke flap isn't actually the fault of the carb - the cable has seized to the liner. For now I've disconnected it and a clothes peg has become a critical part of the cold start procedure to hold the choke closed (it's spring loaded). Was then an absolute sod to start due to the amount of carb cleaner that had been ingested.

Having cleaned it up though does seem to have resolved the sticky throttle problem, and it's now idling somewhere south of 1000rpm. This means there's plenty of headroom between that and where the clutch starts to engage drive, the horrible "CH-THUNK!" that was always present before on selecting drive or reverse is now gone. The carb will still need to come apart to be internally cleaned - but even just this has helped as it's helped a lot of the linkages free off.

I did have a brief non-start problem this evening though. Turning the key suddenly resulted in nothing happening. No clunk from the starter solenoid, nothing. Discovering that the solenoid has just been wedged against one of the chassis legs however I think may explain that - I don't see a separate earth connection on the wiring diagram, so suspect the ground for the solenoid coil is just via the casing. Either way...I scraped it against where it had been wedged a bit and it behaved afterwards...I'll clean up the contact area and bolt it in place tomorrow. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a plethora of electrical gremlins with this car...

There was a milestone reached this evening though, in that when I was putting stuff away for the evening, it drove into its space in the garage under its own power for the first time. That's something isn't it?

If time permits this weekend I think my main tasks will be to try to get the brake master cylinder changed and to start having a look at the drums. I don't even know whether there's anything in them at the moment! Expecting to have to replace all the wheel cylinders to be honest, but have got more than a full set of serviceable shoes in boxes. Never know, they might free off without protest, but I doubt it!

EDIT: Spot my deliberate mistake earlier - the gear selector is to the RIGHT of the seat, not the left.

[CitroJim]

Cracking work Zel

Sadly, illness, work, daughters and other random commitments have kept me far from your area of town this past week

At this rate, by the time I get to see your Invacar it's going to be all done and finished

[Zelandeth]

No worries Jim. The door's always open whenever you're able to make it.

Imagine things will slow down quite a bit now, the initial resurrection is usually pretty quick I find - getting engines that haven't run in ages going seems to be something I'm pretty good at.

Now we're into the realms of getting welding done (weather sensitive of course) and getting to the point where I'll be needing to order spare parts and such things will probably slow up a bit.

Brakes definitely need to be high on the list though - and will probably remain above the floor rebuild, as that will make it far easier to move the thing around under its own power - as it's mildly terrifying at the moment!

...I just have visions of the throttle sticking open and me suddenly finding myself being blasted down Portway with all 19.3bhp uncontrollably propelling me along!

Have noticed when moving it around that it seems to be really softly sprung and there's a frankly absurd level of suspension travel...might actually ride quite comfortably despite the 10" wheels...

Cannot help but think that given how sturdy the chassis is and with the engine being a flat twin hung right down between the rear wheels, that the centre of gravity in this thing may well be rather more stable than the rumours may well suggest. At low speeds anyway - at speed I think just outright lack of weight will be the biggest challenge.

[CitroJim]

Have noticed when moving it around that it seems to be really softly sprung and there's a frankly absurd level of suspension travel...might actually ride quite comfortably despite the 10" wheels...

That seems wise as the car was designed for those with conditions where a hard, jarring ride might well have made things worse... They knew what they were doing in those days

this thing may well be rather more stable than the rumours may well suggest. At low speeds anyway - at speed I think just outright lack of weight will be the biggest challenge.

If my experiences of racing karts is anything to go by then it'll be hard to tip but at the ragged edge it'll just spin around in a small circle

I reckon it would make a cracking little vehicle for travelling along the MK Redways. Shame it's not legal to drive it on them...

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder how easy it would be to add hydro-pneumatic suspension?

[CitroJim]

I wonder how easy it would be to add hydro-pneumatic suspension?

I have enough bits here if you fancy trying Zel

[Hell Razor5543]

I wonder how easy it would be to add hydro-pneumatic suspension?

I have enough bits here if you fancy trying Zel

Are there enough Activa bits to really make the suspension special, Jim?

[Zelandeth]

Probably going to head out and have a fiddle around with the brakes in a minute.

The suspension will be remaining as the designers intended - the simplicity of this vehicle is one of its key features!

Managed to spend pretty much the entire morning attaching this thing to the bedroom wall for Abby.

What a faff!

On account of the way this place was constructed, the walls here don't have studs in for the most part in the case of the upstairs bedrooms. Instead they're double-layered plasterboard with a dense fibre backing that were installed as single prefabricated units. The backing is very dense, and the board itself is well over an inch thick at least. So had to go out and get suitable fasteners. Then discovered that thanks to Samsung recessing the attachment points way back in the set itself that the bolts that came with the wall mount weren't long enough to reach the threaded insert...Back out to get longer bolts. Then find that they're TOO long and are loose on the bracket...so back out AGAIN to get washers. I had a plethora to choose from, but the largest I could find were M6...and the bolts concerned were of course M8. Cue profanities!

That's what I get for expecting it to be a simple job.

Personally I couldn't care less whether there's a TV in there, but if it makes everyone else happy, I'll do the work. Next task will be rerouting the cabling from the satellite dish to the room - right from the far side of the house via two loft spaces. That can wait till a later date though!

Well, on the plus side I'm now well armed if we need to attach anything else heavy to the walls!

EDIT:

Well that was depressing - Just got out there when it was sunny and just started to get one wheel off when suddenly it was as though someone turned the lights off, and it started sleeting. Heavily. Abruptly got back inside and called that a day!

If you're about this week Jim just let me know. Monday or Tuesday are the days when I've got the place to myself so can make pretty much anything work time-wise.

[Zelandeth]

Right...the utterly knackered brake master cylinder is coming off after lunch, one way or another. Angle grinder to the bolts is currently looking favourite.

I'll then see if the spare one is any more willing to un-seize today, if not will look at getting a replacement ordered.

[Zelandeth]

So...what did we get done today?

First off, we wasted probably the best part of an hour because the stubborn little menace decided it was only going to run on one cylinder. This situation persisted until I got the flooded plug out of the offside cylinder and attacked it with the blowtorch. In fairness, I'd never had either of them out before, so it was surprising that the thing started in the first place. The plugs are quite crusty so I'll get a new pair ordered in (I'm guessing that my usual local sources might struggle).

While the spark plugs were cooking, I proceeded to do something utterly pointless. I painted the exhaust. This happened purely because I stumbled across a nearly empty tin of black high temperature paint when I was looking for the blowtorch...and it looks better than rust.

On the plus side I've for the first time actually got the thing idling consistently. Discovered that the excess cable beyond the clamp on the throttle cable was twisted around and was effectively acting as a spring keeping the throttle slightly open. Snipping about 5mm off the end of the cable has resolved this.

Don't know if it's just me, but there seems to be something particularly satisfying about the sound flat configuration air cooled engines make at idle...



Next up was to replace the utterly knackered brake master cylinder. I didn't even bother trying to argue with the existing fittings...They'd been open to the elements for a minimum of 12 years, and were an annoying imperial size anyway. So I attacked them with the angle grinder. Much quicker and less hassle. High tensile M8 bolts replaced them.

New cylinder on, and quite happily freed off after its overnight soak.

I've bled it through as far as the first union on the system, so can confirm it's pumping fluid. Given that none of the drums currently have shoes in, I've not gone any further than that. I need to spend a bit of time studying the diagram of how the logic puzzle that is the combination of springs, clips and shoes is meant to fit together under the drums. That sorted out, hopefully I'll find out tomorrow what wants to move and what doesn't.

Even if I could get brakes working on one wheel, it would make moving the thing around a lot less unnerving!

By far the most annoying part of the jobs today was getting the blasted split pin out of the link between the handlebars and the master cylinder pushrod. That must have taken me a good half an hour of swearing at it while standing on my head - the whole process made significantly more difficult by the fact that the car currently has no floor.

With a bit of luck, we might have brakes tomorrow...or at least know what in terms of braking kit works and what doesn't.

My other plan is to run a fuel line to the front of the car - I can't actually fit the tank yet as I've not gone back to pick it up yet, but at least I can route the line to where it will be - and I can then have the open can of fuel sitting somewhere not right next to a really hot exhaust.

[CitroJim]

Can't wait to see the Invacar later today Zel, and the transformation that's taken place A few days ago it looked little more than a pile of scrap and now... Incredible

That master cylinder looks very familiar... Is it a standard 70s vintage one seen as a clutch master on such things as Morris Marinas and the like?

[Zelandeth]

Correct Jim. Pretty much everything on the car aside from the body and chassis has been assembled by raiding someone's parts bin - mostly BMC for the actual car bits, Lucas/Bosch for the electrics and Girling for the hydraulic bits. There are a few Fiat parts about as well - entire back axle for one.

Jim dropped by today to have a look at the little blue menace - it immediately got stage fright and refused to run on both cylinders again.

Jim quite rightly pointed out that it's entirely likely that I've got a less than perfectly seating inlet valve because the head(s) could do with a decoke. Given the fact that I know that this car was used for quite some time as essentially a shunter for shifting caravans around that makes it seem all the more likely.

Once I unearth the compression tester I'll see if that has anything to say. I'm somewhat reluctant to start doing things like taking heads off at this stage unless it's clearly necessary - main reason being that the exhaust downpipe to head nuts have been in there for 43 years and probably don't want to move - and I really don't want to go and snap a stud.

I have had the colortune on it - and it's definitely leaning out when the throttle is applied on both cylinders (more than I'd expect it to), so carb strip down and clean will be first on the list.

I think Jim much as I was when I started looking at them, was quite surprised at how robustly built the thing is, and despite the initial appearance of being something that's very old fashioned, how sophisticated the engineering in a lot of ways actually is.

This morning I'd just got the first brake reassembled when Jim appeared, and I went back later today and reassembled the front one as well.

Note: I've not cleaned everything up or lubricated the sliding surfaces here - I'm fully expecting to have to take this all apart again to replace the wheel cylinders, I'm just giving the components the opportunity to surprise me and prove themselves good first.

Not actually too hard to be honest, though there's a very specific sequence that you need to do things in, and failure to follow that sequence can rapidly result in a descent into madness I suspect. The awkward part is that unlike with most drum brakes where you can stick the springs on the shoes first, then slot them into place, you can't do that here. The springs physically won't fit through the space between the adjuster/wheel cylinder and the hub. So you HAVE to attach the springs to the second shoe actually on the car. This is a bit of a three dimensional logic puzzle, but is doable.

Moving onto the third wheel however I discovered a slight problem. Notably that I only appear to have two and a third brakes worth of components. No matter how many times I went through my boxes and bag of bits, I couldn't find the upper shoe return spring or the shoe retaining clips. This is highly annoying. Not hard to source, just annoying that I somehow managed to not end up with a full set of bits...I know we picked them all up, I have to assume they escaped during transit.

I figured there was no reason I couldn't see if the two complete brakes would work though, so clamped off the flexi to the not yet built wheel. Nearside rear bled through just fine - and definitely was doing something. However as soon as I closed the bleed screw there and moved on to the front, the sound of a pipe blowing out stopped play. The metal line running to the nearside rear has burst just before the connection to the flexi. Bother.

Time to dig out the pipe flaring kit and figure out where I put that reel of brake pipe then!

This wasn't really unexpected to be honest - I'm expecting to have to replace all the under-vehicle pipework anyway, just would have been nice for it to be a case of "replacing it for the MOT and peace of mind" rather than "replacing it because it doesn't work!" if you know what I mean.

Think I might have a go at the carb tomorrow...

[CitroJim]

Great to see you and the Invacar today Zel What a remarkable car it is... It really does belie its outward appearance...

Fragile it is certainly not and well-built it surely is. Built like a tank comes to mind... AC clearly put a lot of thought and trouble into it...

And when running on its full complement of pots that engine sounds so sweet...

A carb overhaul is a good thing to do... What is it? I forgot to look closely... I thought I might have seen the Weber symbol on it...

Also give the valve clearances a check.. They will be critical on such an engine...