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

[CitroJim]

Zel, it might be worth taking a trip up to see Pleiades for your needs... They're in Sawtry, just off the A1M by the old RAF Alconbury and it's a nice easy trip from our parish...

Pleiades has loads of BX experience and can likely knock you up exactly what you need at a good price, plus they're very friendly there

[Hell Razor5543]

And, I imagine, once you get to know them they could make other pipes for other Citroens (such as an Activa), should they be needed.

[Zelandeth]

Today would have been a great day for getting work done on the cars...Instead I wound up spending the entire day faffing around replacing the weatherproofing on our shed roof.



Would have liked to get it a bit flatter, but despite messing about for well over an hour this was the best I could get it. The whole structure isn't entirely square which doesn't help.

The old roofing felt had started peeling off last time we had any real wind (having been patched a couple of times already), so it needed done. Have put an EPDM membrane on there now, so it shouldn't need touching again in the remaining life of the building.

[CitroJim]

Good work Zel Got to make the most of the excellent weather and get these jobs done now, thus freeing you up for car work without the nagging feeling you have other work to do and distracting you

[Gibbo2286]

My shed roof is in the same need, the gales earlier tore most of the felt off,

I have a flat roof on my workshop and reroofed it about ten years ago with Firestone EPDM so I reckon that's a job for the shed when the weather gets a bit more friendly.

[Zelandeth]

I do love this car, the fuel economy however still makes me wince!

Average over the last 1500 or so miles.

Do I actually care? Not really!

[white exec]

17-18 was my worst, on a P5 3L Rover, driven in anger, but at 4gals to the £ then, not an issue.
Even the 3600S returned 24+.

[Zelandeth]

Had a little excitement this evening on the way back from collecting a grocery order.

Had taken the Jag out for a gentle amble. Taking it easy as she's got a few things needing sorted, but with a bit of mechanical sympathy and common sense no problem, and I'd rather not have to deal with sticky brakes etc. These aren't cars that like to sit.

Driving along at 50 - which was the limit where I was, and a lorry decided that sitting on his 56mph limiter was a better speed limit so overtook me.

His outside rear nearside tyre blew out - right as said wheel was level with my open driver's window. Well that's what I figured out had happened a few minutes later anyway!

I honestly (and I'm not kidding) thought I'd been shot. Fight or flight reflex defaulted to "flight" and I buried the right foot, ducked as far as I could and traversed the immediately following roundabout somewhat sideways before I found somewhere that felt safe to pull over and figure out what the hell had just happened.

Thankfully no visible damage to the car, though finding bits of tyre on the passenger seat clued me into what had actually happened. The lorry pulled into the same layby about 30 seconds after I did, driver wanting to check I was okay. I definitely got hit by something, two chunks of rubber were found in the hood of my sweater, which backs up what I felt.

This was about 1900, my right ear has just about stopped ringing.

Uh...so if you got cut up by a black XJ-S earlier this evening in MK, sorry! You now know why!

[Armidillo]

Wow - not an experience I would want! I once had a bicycle tyre go bang in, of all places, a lift! Made a startlingly loud report, and like you I was initially convinced that something far more dangerous had occurred. In fact I could have sworn that for a moment my heart stopped in fright!

(Yes, I am aware that going up in a lift causes a drop in air pressure, allowing tyres to expand etc., but this was only 1 or 2 floors!)

[CitroJim]

Gosh! That really must have been terrifying Zel

[Hell Razor5543]

Bl00dy hell, Zel! You were lucky not to be physically injured (your nerves must be feeling a bit 'tender'). I take it you did not look at the speedo to see how fast you were going once you gave the Jag her head?

However, allowing the Jag to really shift possibly IMPROVED the fuel economy, as she probably was running at her optimal engine performance!

[Zelandeth]

It made absolutely sure that I was fully awake that's for sure! No damage I can see. Luckily it just seemed to be the sidewall that had basically atomised, the tread by and large was still attached to the carcass of the tyre.

Out and about again today.

Modern cars are just so ridiculously huge aren't they?





Stopped to grab a couple of better photos on the way home as I've been wanting to grab a couple for profile picture type applications for the web page etc.



The curse of that streetlight strikes again - got a shadow on the roof this time.

...And reflection on the lens from the back of the phone case in the other photo.



I'd honestly forgotten that I'd ordered a replacement for the horn that I fitted way back when I first resurrected her as it's proven very intermittent. Fact is the electrical system just isn't up to an air horn...It'll work fine if you're blatting along at 60, but trundling along at 30 it's 50/50 whether the compressor will run fast enough to actually sound the horn or just make pathetic croaking noises.

Arrived with a load of needless plastic tat over it to try to make it look "modern" I assume.



Thirty seconds of levering with a screwdriver later...



Far better! Will get that fitted next time I'm in the garage. Half the size and about a quarter of the weight of what's in there just now.

Yes, I could have taken the Xantia today, could have taken the Jag...Nope, I wanted to take TPA because we're honestly at a stage now where she's just a fun little car to drive.

Overtook several cars on the A5 on the way back home - much to the surprise of the drivers! I was making a deliberate point of holding her at an indicated 70 (honest...) for a good few minutes as I wanted to see what the temperature did. On a very slight uphill gradient (which let's face it is about the best we can expect her to maintain it on...The fact this car can DO 70 is enough of a surprise for most people) it peaked at 165C, which is pretty much smack on 1/2 way on the gauge - which I'm absolutely happy with. I'm measuring this from the left hand cylinder head, which being shaded by the oil cooler should always be the hot one. Given blatting down roads at motorway speeds wasn't really in this car's design brief was why I wanted to make sure the temperature wasn't slowly creeping up when travelling at higher speeds.

[Zelandeth]

Brief interlude...

I may have had a moment of weakness on eBay a few days ago...



Been a long while since I last saw one, but it popped up in one of eBay's "we think you might like..." emails which have been increasingly dangerous lately since I went on a buying spree of ancient calculators a couple of months ago.

Still want to add an NC200 to the collection at some point, a friend had one while I was in secondary school and I always greatly coveted it. Just haven't seen one at a price I'm willing to pay yet. This was less than £50 including shipping though which I was quite happy with.

Hard to believe there's only four years between these two when you look at how much more of a coherent, polished looking product the NC100 is than the PPC which honestly looks like someone found a bunch of bits in a surplus warehouse and bolted them together (which *is* basically what they did!)...



Though from a purely architectural point of view, the NC100 is arguably more old fashioned, being Z80 based rather than 8086 (well, a clone thereof anyway, NEC V30) for the PPC512.

They also share one major gripe...lack of a display backlight!

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes, I could have taken the Xantia today, could have taken the Jag...Nope, I wanted to take TPA because we're honestly at a stage now where she's just a fun little car to drive.

The Invacar with the 70 ish capability obviously tops out the 28mph top speed of the new Citroen Ami Quadricycle, but maybe "small is fun" in Citroen's new love it or hate it offering. Even a dyed in the wool everyday classic man like hubnut, couldn't help himself enjoying driving the new Ami around Coventry.

viewtopic.php?p=680148#p680148

Regards Neil

[Zelandeth]

Yes, I could have taken the Xantia today, could have taken the Jag...Nope, I wanted to take TPA because we're honestly at a stage now where she's just a fun little car to drive.

The Invacar with the 70 ish capability obviously tops out the 28mph top speed of the new Citroen Ami Quadricycle, but maybe "small is fun" in Citroen's new love it or hate it offering. Even a dyed in the wool everyday classic man like hubnut, couldn't help himself enjoying driving the new Ami around Coventry.

viewtopic.php?p=680148#p680148

Regards Neil

I love the *idea* of the new Ami, but the killer to my mind is the 28mph top speed...Even in a 30mph zone around here that's going to lead to you having an Audi parked halfway into the cabin pushing you along the road to speed you up. 50mph max, then I'd say it was actually usable...but not even actually able to do 30?

-- -- --

Finally got around to sorting something today on TPA which has been making my teeth itch for over a year now.

Spot the difference.

(Aside from the distributor cap.)

Before:



After:



Yes... finally dealt with this horrific bodgefest.



These are the original battery hold downs. Sadly as I was completely unable to find the original form factor battery (or indeed what type it even was), they're basically useless.



Oh, and here's a reminder why bungee cords and cable ties are not a permanent solution.



That had been pinched between the rear wheel tub and the chassis rail and had rubbed about 2/3rds of the way through.

My solution has been to cut a couple of bits of M8 threaded rod to roughly the right length (a little over 6") and fasten a bit of webbing between them - this is a bit of seatbelt originally from KPL I think where the buckles had completely rotted away to nothing.

I heated a metal rod up to red hot before using it as a punch to make two holes. This melts the fibres together and prevents anything from fraying.



Not too worried about that anyway. Ever tried to tear a seatbelt, even if it's already frayed halfway through?

Finished article...



It's tightened up sufficiently that the battery is completely secure. If I have issues with it ovalling the holes out I'll replace it with a strip of angled steel instead - but I'd really rather avoid the need for metal across the top of the battery if I can avoid it given the layout. I might go back and bolt a lip onto the tray though just so there's then *absolutely* no way it could conceivably slide free then. It can't go anywhere the other direction as the wheel tub is in the way. Probably overkill...but I'm a fan of doing what I can to keep Murphy's Law at bay. It's really not a heavy battery either, probably half the weight of your average car one.

I had someone ask me on another forum what the labels on the slam panel were all about - the answer is "me getting fed up of realising I need to consult the manual in the middle of a service one time too many."



Couple of photos from while she was out in the sun today just for good measure too.





Really need to remember to paint that rear wheel arch...I just can't see it from in the garage so keep forgetting there are still white filler spots visible there.

Noticed I've got a drip from the sump plug... that's what I get for being a cheapskate and not just replacing the copper washer (which I noted was well mangled originally). No idea why I didn't just change it given I have them in stock. Oh well...on the plus side at least I'm not dropping a huge amount of oil to change it!