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

[mickeymoon]

I've got an ancient torch/floodlight thing that used to belong to my granddad that uses a PP9.

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[CitroJim]

I've got an ancient torch/floodlight thing that used to belong to my granddad that uses a PP9.

That bears out the CPC Farnell catalogue blurb that advertises a PP9 along with the PJ996 as 'Lantern Batteries'

The thing is that the PP9 is intended to supply a small current for a very long time (such as a transistor radio) and this is not the ideal sort of power source for a torch. the PJ996 on the other hand is a beefy 6V battery designed to deliver a high current especially for powerful lanterns...

I'd be interested to know more of the torch you have that uses a PP9 Mickey... It would help complete my education

[bobins]

Anyone know where I can get a 'D' sized battery that can supply 6V ? I've got a lovely old radiation monitor that uses such a battery. It's got an old MOD issue one in it, but it's as flat as a pancake now I fear the only solution might be to bandage four AAAs together and work from that. Clearance is just too tight to put four AAs in.

[elma]

I don't have time to look right now but there are a lot of odd sized batteries out there (2/3 AA for example). If you look around you'll maybe find something you can stack up to D size at 6v, possibly even big button cells. I'll look this evening if I remember.

[white exec]

Or squeeze in a PP3 and a 6v regulator alongside it, if stuck, and the current drain isn't too vast.

[CitroJim]

Many 'substitute' batteries are being made nowadays for vintage radio where the originals are no longer available.

Some go to enormous lengths to make their batteries look just like the originals....

Chris, I like your idea a lot but if the original is D sized than a group of 4 AAA cells should fit in a plastic tube of D size and end caps with contacts can be made for it...

Look at this thread http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/show ... p?t=109240 and that may even lead you to a scan of the original battery label to make it look really authentic!

[Zelandeth]

Very minor update on the Riva TBi conversion.

Crankshaft position sensor is indeed still available from Lada for the grand sum of £20 (more than most stuff, but you kinda expect that for injection bits!), as is the timing chain cover with the boss cast into it for said sensor. Just waiting to find out if the injection crankshaft pulley is still available before I put the order in for those bits. I imagine that it's the same part as is used for the (still current!!!) Niva with the multipoint injection as well, so hopefully still will be readily available. Need to add rocker cover gasket to my list too...forgotten that twice now!

Haven't yet been able to coax the fuel pump back into life (may well be what took the donor car off the road, will probably never know), but will do further battle with it shortly.

My other plan is to use the one that I took out of the Saab shortly after I got it - which had been rolling around in the storage compartment under the boot floor for years until relatively recently when I tidied it away. Of course I now can't for the life of me remember where the heck I put it...Had a few boxes in the garage that I thought were prime candidates, but apparently I was wrong...so need to take the rest of the house apart!

Once the CPS, its bracket, and the pulley have turned up and I find my fuel pump I can really make a start on this!

Plan of action is roughly as follows:

1. Take photographs of all the bits I have and document them.
2. Examine the wiring diagrams to ascertain which wires I have cut, need to repair and feeds that don't exist on my car that I'll need to make. I salvaged the relays which feed the fuel pump, ECU and manifold heater, but I don't think the actual supply they are tapped off will be there in the Riva.
3. Clean all the bits I've got so they're ready to go.
4. Pick up an auxiliary fuse box for the new supplies I need to wire in. May well get that installed sooner rather than later.

5. Install CPS and crankshaft pulley. With that in place and some temporary supply cabling lashed up I should be able to prove that my injector, coil pack and ECU are functional and if I can track down an interface adaptor could even read some live data out to see if I had sensible readings from the sensors.

Assuming good news, next steps would be...


6. Drain cooling system and rip out the maze of hoses providing feeds to the auto choke assembly, carb heater, inlet manifold heater and emission control system thermovalves. I'll only need a single tap running off the heater hose feed to the inlet manifold in future. ...That should free me up about 1/4 of the offside of the engine bay. Likewise pull off all the existing fuel hoses.

7. Remove inlet manifold. Take the opportunity to clean up some of the inevitable gunk down that side of the engine - not that I'll be able to get to a massive amount extra as the exhaust will still be in the way...but it'll help!

8. Switch out lambda sensor - still crossing my fingers the threads are the same...Haven't been able to confirm. Worst case, I need to go to an exhaust specialist and have them make up a new downpipe for me with the right boss in.

9. Change front top radiator hose elbow for new one which has the boss for the coolant temperature sensor.

10. New inlet manifold on.

11. TBi Unit on.

12. Remove distributor and fuel pump, replace with blanking plate and ignition coil pack.

13. Connect up wiring harness "in test mode." - but with ECU unplugged. MAP sensor and air intake temperature sensors connected up but just floating around for now...MAP sensor can be tidied up later, and the air intake temperature sensor secures into the base of the air cleaner which we'll fit later, restricts access too much at this stage.

14. Test fuel pump to make sure we have good flow, the system purged good return flow to the tank, and no leaks.

15. Get the meter and make sure that the correct ECU connector pins have volts (or not) on them so I don't blow anything up.

16. Connect ECU.

17. Cross fingers and see if the car will start.

18. If no...start debugging.

19. If yes, tidy up! That will largely be a case of things like finding homes for the MAP sensor, where the ECU will actually live (behind the glove box is my current plan), wiring in the check engine light in the dash, removing the ignition coil, ignition amplifier etc, old AFR unit and stuff that's no longer needed. Then just attacking the new loom with cable ties to finish things off.

20. Have a chat with my local garage and see about borrowing their exhaust gas analyser for five minutes to see how much cleaner it's running!

Make no mistake...this engine and this setup can run very clean...here's basically what my Niva used to record consistently every year at MOT time.



Not bad I reckon for a system that everyone said was "horribly crude." Seems to be doing a pretty good job there I think...Fingers crossed we'll see similar results from my Riva soon!

[xantia_v6]

You should not need to change the lamda sensor, with the exception of wideband sensors (which are not commonly used) they are all the same chemistry nd output. Whether they need a heater or not is primarily determined by their position in the exhauset system, which you are not changing.

[Zelandeth]

Technically I probably don't need to change it - but retaining the existing one would require wiring modification as the connections are completely different (current one has a two pin connector plus a flying lead, new one has a four pin connector), and I'm not convinced of the condition of the one on the car, and replacements are no longer available.

I'm making a deliberate point of avoiding wiring hackery during this project if I can in the interests of long-term reliability - which is actually one of the main reasons I'm attempting this whole project in the first place.

[CitroJim]

That's a tremendous emission test result Zel That system should make the car positively purr...

[Zelandeth]

Correct Lambda sensor has now arrived - rather than the cheapie Chinese clone that the first one obviously was (and was returned) once I took it out of the box.



One step closer to getting properly started...

[CitroJim]

Excellent proper Bosch ones last well...

[Zelandeth]

Tom at Lada Parts UK has come up trumps again. The 1.7i Niva Monopoint crankshaft pulley isn't available any more from new (hardly surprising, the monopoint system has been out of production for aaaaaages, and they're just cast iron pulleys, so not as though they fail!), and is different to the current multipoint ones (they have continuous teeth around the edge to provide the ECU with a more accurate timing pulse). The Monopoint pulley just has a notch for the top of the stroke for each cylinder and a double one for TDC.

Tom however remembered that he had one floating around in his own spares stash somewhere, and went to the time and effort to find it and dig it out.

So once that little shipment of bits arrives the only thing I'll be needing is to figure out where the blazes my fuel pump is! ...Or buy a cheapie off eBay or similar. ...I'd trust the old Saab (Bosch) one further than some £20 eBay tat though...

[CitroJim]

Excellent! Looks like the Lada community is a wonderful one Zel, not unlike the old Citroen community

[Zelandeth]

So the second care package arrived from Tom at Lada today. This contained a crankshaft position sensor, crankshaft pulley (and it's woodruff key), the later style timing chain cover, crankshaft oil seal, timing cover gasket, a new rocker cover gasket and a set of brake shoes.

Forgot to add indicator repeaters didn't I...

Importantly though this means that I've got very nearly everything I need now to start the injection conversion. Only thing I still need is a fuel pump (the one from the parts donor is seized) - my Saab's old one has turned up though - in the boot of the 306 up in Aberdeenshire! It will be on its way down to me in the next couple of days, then we can get cracking.

I'll be very carefully documenting the process and taking a load of photos along the way. Don't know whether it would interest them, but may send the resulting blurb the way of Practical Classics. Know there are at least two Lada fans among them...