Zel's Fleet Blog...Rover, Renault, Peugeot, Trabant, Invacar & Sinclair C5

[Dick]

Where are you based? My family is mostly in the building trade. If you're anywhere near Gloucester I'm sure we can sort out your roof... though a ridge missing since the 90's isn't a good sign...

[Zelandeth]

Where are you based? My family is mostly in the building trade. If you're anywhere near Gloucester I'm sure we can sort out your roof... though a ridge missing since the 90's isn't a good sign...

Milton Keynes, so a couple of hours away sadly.

It's something we'd have spotted way sooner (probably before we bought the place...and then wouldn't have!) if you could actually see the roof from anywhere. However because of the shallow pitch and layout you don't have line of sight of it from anywhere. You can't see anything further up than the gutters basically.

[Zelandeth]

The oil pressure test gauge turned up this morning.



Time to (hopefully!) confirm that the oil pressure light in the Caddy is telling lies.

Cold startup suggests yes.



Shot up to about 80psi before settling down to a smidge under 60.

While out and about driving it seems to sit right around 70psi which seems to be where the pressure relief valve is set.



Hot idle is about 19psi - though there doesn't look to an actual idle pressure listed - minimum quoted allowed pressure is 30psi at 2000rpm - at which point we have around 60psi. The oil pressure light will actually never be triggered below 2000rpm...which seems like a really strange arrangement to me...but apparently VW thought it was a good idea.

Long story short - there's nothing wrong with the oil pressure. I'll get a new pressure switch ordered and hopefully that will put a stop to it scaring the living daylights out of me.

-- -- --

Got a little more glass fibre laid down on the repair on the Invacar then attacked the corner with some paint. It's astonishing what sins you can hide in shadows with a bit of matt black paint!



Fluids etc have all been checked. Tomorrow I'll give the car a quick clean, remove anything that doesn't absolutely need to be onboard (as the car park I'll be in doesn't have the best reputation for security and we all know how secure the cabin is), then be on my way.

My brain is making this seem a far longer trip than it is...it's like an hour, and I've regularly been out bumbling around for entire afternoons. Nevertheless, it's the furthest I've ever gone in one direction so feels like quite a big milestone.

Really hoping it's less windy tomorrow as it has been quite breezy today and if that continues it'll be a very wobbly journey...

[Zelandeth]

As usual my plans to have everything ready yesterday never worked out. So this morning TPA was treated to what absolutely definitely wasn't the first wash she's had since returning to the road two years ago.

Yes I do feel guilty. The amount of grime that came off was horrific. The engine cover regularly being used as a workbench probably didn't help.



I ordered a set of new window latches last week...and received a package containing *one* window latch on Monday. Of course the one in the package was the only one on the car which worked properly!

Thankfully the rest of them arrived today, about 10 minutes before I originally intended to leave...so I delayed myself a few minutes to fit them.

You'll understand why I wasn't too enthusiastic about parking this overnight somewhere public with latches in this state securing three out of the four sliding window sections.



This one actually fell off on a regular basis.

Much better with a full new set.



Then it was time to hit the road. An hour and a half later Birmingham was achieved.





Was a pretty relaxed drive to be honest. We had a HGV in front of us for most of the drive, and I was quite content to bumble along at their pace. I did note that she started to miss occasionally on light throttle towards the end of the journey, but nothing bad. I've noted this to be an intermittent issue for a while, and it always seems to be towards the end of trips, so I wonder if there's something suffering heat soak problems - coil would probably be my first suspect (it's never been touched) as it does run quite warm. It's also an easy thing to test by substitution.

Parked a couple of spaces away from some rather nice motors. Couldn't help but be drawn to this!



Not a bad view from my hotel window really compared to a lot.



Though it improved after dark.



So the car show part of our event runs from 1200 to 1500 tomorrow, and if the car park is anything to go by there's going to be quite an interesting variety there. I'll obviously share the highlights here.

Better remember to get a couple of my own car there...I always forget that!

Another big milestone passed today - about halfway through the trip over here TPA ticked over 3,000 miles since revival. Hard to believe really when you look back to June 2018.

[Zelandeth]

A very well packaged parcel arrived a couple of days ago containing a replacement air conditioning compressor for the Caddy.



I just need to find someone to recover the charge now who's not going to charge me through the nose for the privilege. If I can find a garage who also do AC work may just get them to sort the whole lot together. Only place I've tried so far didn't want the work because they're too busy.

This morning I had to do something that I despise and which always gives me massive anxiety: Leave a vehicle unattended at a garage for an MOT. I hate not being present for the test, but wasn't given any choice in the matter unless I wanted to stand around for about six hours.

Then had to get the bus back home...a trip of around five miles. It takes well over an hour by bus, and I would have just walked if it wasn't raining. Would have been about 20 minutes quicker.

Last stretch (as the nearest bus stop is a 20 minute walk past home) was done by e-scooter. First time I've used one of the new Lime ones, they've really upped the game with them. Bigger wheels, better suspension and better brakes. All round just far nicer to ride than the old ones.



I hate leaving cars to be tested, never mind a 32 year old camper van of a model reputed for its ability to turn from solid metal to iron oxide faster than you can blink. Nevertheless the end result:



Nice. Something else I don't need to worry about until next year.

Advisories have all been there forever aside from the one about a power steering pipe...it doesn't *have* power steering. I'm assuming they're just meaning the steering box is weeping oil a bit, which it does and has done as long as I've had the van. Not worried about it.

Quite surprised the tyres didn't get a mention as the perishing is quite visible on a couple of them. I'll probably get them changed in the next couple of months just for peace of mind. Shame as the tread is still basically unworn (probably because they're commercial rated so the rubber compound is harder than concrete).

Had a rather special visitor today. Wonder when the last photo of these two models side by side was taken.





Fascinating car to have a look at. Really had never had a chance to look at one up close before. Really quite comfy, though oddly short geared. I do wonder if that is something that is quite common to PSA vehicles as I remember my 306 Sedan feeling way under geared too - on a dual carriageway I repeatedly found myself second guessing if I had actually changed up out of fourth.

They very kindly gave me a lift to go collect the van from the MOT too saving me another hour on the bus which was most appreciated.

I was really happy to find this on the shelf in my local motor factor again.



It's easily the best fluid of its type I've used and I've been lamenting not being able to find it for ages, until today. Suffice to say I bought several cans!

[Zelandeth]

"Occasional Distraction" time!

A friend was kind enough to drop this box of goodies off a couple of days ago.



This is well timed as me (and the entire family) have come down with COVID, and I have about as much available energy as a 97 year old who's just run a marathon - so a distraction I could pick away at on and off requiring relatively little physical effort was very welcome.

Inside that box there is a Commodore 64, matching data cassette deck, power supply, couple of games, two joysticks, an original 48K Spectrum and a bunch of cables plus two microphones that are nothing to do with the computers.

I've had a Spectrum for going on 30 years, however it's one that was upgraded with an aftermarket case (and more importantly a real keyboard!) back early in its lifetime. So it doesn't look like a Spectrum. So a factory original one has been on my list for a while.

The Spectrum came up fine with just a wipe down. It's pictured here next to my original one. This wasn't an uncommon retrofit case back in the day, though I can't remember the name of the company that made them right now to save my life.



I always forget when it's been a while since I saw one is how tiny the Spectrum is. The fact that they managed to cram as much capability into such a small unit priced as it was really was quite an achievement at the time I reckon. My original one has a larger case both because it was designed to also house the power supply.

Internally it's a very clean machine. No signs of previous hackery or damage.



Based on the latest date code I can find on anything it looks like this is a machine from the late end of 1984, quite possibly bought as a Christmas gift or in the Boxing day sales.



There are a few scratches on the case but it's perfectly presentable. I like to see all of my machines actually used so I'd rather have one that's presentable but not immaculate to that end. Still an iconic looking thing.



It's the first time I've had a look at a stock machine in forever...I'd not realised that there are several key items on the upgraded keyboard (aside from not feeling as though you're typing on a cheap TV remote) to make your life easier.



First up are dedicated delete, period and comma keys. Those all require shift combinations on the stock one. Likewise dedicated arrow keys, which similarly require a shkft combination normally. Having the symbol shift key duplicated on both sides of the keyboard is useful too. Oh...and an actual space bar, where your brain expects it to be. Still, could be worse - see also ZX80/81 or the sea to TicTacs on the Oric-1.

I've not had a chance to test the Spectrum yet as it didn't come with a power supply and my bench top one currently needs repair due to a duff power switch. I don't have the energy just now to go spelunking in the Box o' Cables (TM) to try to find an alternative 9V DC supply. Will make sure to get it tested soon though.

While the Spectrum was just a little dusty and responded fine to just a good wipe down the C64 was a different story. It was both filthy in general and covered in pen marks. So it was almost immediately pulled apart for cleaning.

Internally it looks to be fine, dusty and there's a little surface rust on the RF modulator case but nothing that concerns me.



Sorry, I totally forgot to get a proper "before" photo so you'll have to make do with ones from just after I'd emptied the case.







The case was then treated to a run though the specialised "parts washer" to get rid of that grime.



Results speak for themselves really. I haven't been able to (even after attacking it with IPA) completely remove the permanent marker line from around the keyboard but it's vastly improved.



A replacement for the missing badge on the case is already on the way.

I would have quite liked to give the key caps the same treatment, however haven't done that for two reasons. Firstly is that they really don't seem inclined to come off. Secondly is that I'm not entirely sure that the silk screened legends for the graphics symbols on the front of the key caps would survive that. So I've just hoovered all the dust out and given it an external scrub down as best I could.

My attention then turned to the cassette recorder. While not as bad as the computer itself it was still pretty grubby.



Especially if you looked closely around the tape counter and the control keys.





The mechanism was a bit dusty and the heads needed a clean but I couldn't see anything wrong. Belts even seem to be absolutely fine. Quite a substantial one compared to anything you'll find these days.



Heads, capstan and pinch roller were given a clean while the case took its turn in the wash.





The grease still seemed to be of the correct consistency so I chose to leave it well alone, just removing any excess lint build up that was stuck to it here and there.

Reassembly was slightly more tricky as it required three tiny little springs and an equally tiny circlip to be put back into their homes, but nothing too drastic.

Cleaned up pretty well.



This is why I tend towards this method for cleaning things where it's viable. There's no way I could ever have got the little recesses like this as clean as this by hand.





The power supply brick will just have to make do with a wipe down as due to the way it's constructed there's no way to disassemble it for a wet clean. A test confirmed that the right voltages were present so we were good to do a test of the system.



Good start. I'm pretty convinced now that there's something amiss with the tuner in this TV as this is the third thing I've fed it an RF signal from in the last few weeks and been rewarded with very poor reception. I'll need to investigate that at a later date. Switching to the composite output run into a monitor via a converter showed a far better image.



Though obviously this is never going to look right on an LCD, it's better than the snowy mess I had before.

Two problems became very quickly apparent. One was that you could crash the system pretty much by breathing anywhere near the power input socket, leading me to believe we had a dry joint on the PCB where the socket attaches. The second problem was that sever keys required several attempts to get to register, the space bar being totally inoperable.

With the symbol shift switch desoldered and around 7500 tiny screws removed it was possible to get into the back of the keyboard. I was quite surprised to find a setup using contact pads on the PCB and conductive rubber pads on the keys rather than a more conventional membrane setup. Not going to complain though as it is a far easier arrangement to clean.



The contacts for the space bar were definitely filthy. No surprise this wasn't working.



Half an hour or so of carefully cleaning the PCB and contact pads with IPA followed.



My suspicion of there being dry solder joints on the power connector was correct. Hard to tell, but there are no less than five in this photo, so they were all reflowed.



I had the sense to test to see if the keyboard was working properly before screwing the case back together.



Success! A fully working keyboard and a system which no longer prone to falling over if you walk across the floor too quickly.

I don't have any C64 software floating around here but there were helpfully two tapes in the box, which both loaded up just fine... though I think I'm going to need something more my speed to do some soak testing.



However I think in the mean time I can declare this system now to be fully working.



My plan is to run a vintage and retro computing panel at an event next year, and thanks to the arrival of these and the BBC Micro a few weeks ago I'm getting pretty close to having most of the machines I'd want to take along in my possession.  Some of the calculators and some of the other gear would probably come along too...but the main exhibits will be (Production introduction year in brackets - I can't remember exactly when all mine date from off the top of my head):

[] Apple II (1977).

[] Apple Macintosh SE (1987).

[] BBC Micro (1981).

[] Acorn Electron (1983).

[] Acorn Archimedes A5000 or 7000 - A3000 instead if I can revive it (1991, 1995, 1987).

[] Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K (1982).

[] Commodore 64 (1982).

[] Amiga A1200 (1992).

[] Toshiba T1200 (1987).

[] Toshiba T3200 (1987).

[] Toshiba T5200 - probably take the T3100e too as the plasma machines always seem to draw a crowd (1991, 1988).

[] Atari ST...there are some numbers there but they could be anything. (Early 90s).

[] Amstrad PPC-512.  Because it's just such a bonkers design (1988).

[] Amstrad NC-100 (1992).

[] Psion Series-5 (1997).

[] IBM PS/ValuePoint 433DX/Si - if I rebuild it in time (????).

[] Compaq Deskpro 386S (I think, reading a very fuzzy photo - haven't collected it yet).

[] Compaq Deskpro P100 - which will likely be hooked up to a mid 90s era projector running a computing history slideshow made in the earliest usable version of PowerPoint I can find.  Or I may use the IBM for that - though I'd quite like to have that running OS/2.

There are a couple I'd really like to add to that list that I don't currently own.  

[] Sinclair ZX81 - because I sure ain't paying the going rate for a ZX80 these days.

[] Sinclair QL.  I've never actually even seen one in person and I doubt I'm the only one.  So likely to draw interest.  It would be nice to have Sinclair Computers more or less spanning their home computer timeline.  Yes I know the QL was more market at businesses, but ya get the idea.

[] Commodore PET.  Never going to happen given what they usually go for unless I'm *seriously* lucky.  The Apple II is only coming on the scene because a friend has been incredibly generous.

From the calculator side I'd probably bring:

[] CompuCorp 324G Scientist.  Sadly non-working, but it's still a real talking point and bloody rare so not many people have seen one (1971).

[] Sharp EL-805 (1973).

[] Sinclair Sovereign (1976).

[] HP 11C and 12C (1981).

[] Texas Instruments TI-66 (1983).

[] Casio PF-3000 (1983).

[] Texas Instruments TI-30 (1976).

[] Sharp EL-8130A (1977).

May just grab a handful more at the time - they at least don't take up too much room.

[Zelandeth]

Continuing the "Zel has COVID and feels too awful to do anything involving more than 30 seconds of physical effort, today was the turn of the Spectrum to be tested. Though before I could do that I needed to either dig out a 9V power supply (remembering of course that Sinclair used a centre negative connector just to make it more likely to get blown up) or sort my bench top supply.



I decided dealing with that was easier than going digging through the Box o' Cables for a suitable adaptor.

I also switched out display devices. Knowing the TV I had been using had something amiss with the tuner I swapped it for another portable. This one thankfully has a properly working RF stage.



It also includes a cassette deck...which would potentially be really handy for program loading. If the belt hadn't long since given up the ghost anyway. I did pull the cover off to see how difficult to change it would be.



The answer appears to be "very."

This is precisely all I can see of the back of the cassette mech.



I think replacement of the belt would require me to dismantle approximately 98% of the unit, and it's not the sort of thing that was ever designed to be dismantled. It would have been nice to sort it but that's not happening.

Unsurprisingly the Spectrum worked just fine.





That display is an absolute pain to photograph. It's really not the best for this sort of things as with many small colour displays from back then as the phosphor stripes (so essentially the "pixel" size) is just the same as on a normally sized screen, so the definition really isn't great. Just fine for this sort of testing though.

Long term I'll need to find a power supply that cost less than the computer when it was new.

This corner is very much evidence of what I've been up to this week.



Something I had never tried before was loading software onto a Spectrum from another computer. This turned out to be a massive faff and took hours to get to work...eventually involving cables stretching the whole way across the room. At least I seem to have a solution that works reliably now... I'll need to do a bit of experimentation to see if I can get a portable device to do the job as that would be a real bonus.

Had to boot up the game which on the Spectrum which wasted the largest number of hours when I was messing about with my original one.

This actually looked far better in person - it's really hard to photograph this screen.



Our of curiousity I pulled the cover off my original one as I had a vague memory of it having a slightly earlier board revision.



I had actually done a bit of work in there today too. This machine has always been very unstable, and last time I had it out the transformer was getting really hot. The smoothing capacitor doing a good impression of a 30 ohm resistor seemed to have a lot to do with that.

Definitely an earlier board, Issue 2 it looks like, so definitely earlier than the Issue 4S in the other one.





I'll probably do a bit of poking about with it tomorrow. I'd like to get a program loading solution that works without me needing to use 96 feet of cable. Given I'm still feeling absolutely awful I can't see me doing much more physical than that.

[JPB]

Here's hoping that you're soon back to full health.

All of your many bits of vintage computer tech fascinate me, but the real "Phwoooaarrgghhh" (sp?) moment when I read of your latest exploits has to be the Alpine.
Now find yourself a Tagora and the entire world of weird, older or just plain unexpected motor vehicles will surely carry you through the entire field at next year's festival of the unexceptional in a sedan chair as the waiting crowds applaud.

[Zelandeth]

Here's hoping that you're soon back to full health.

All of your many bits of vintage computer tech fascinate me, but the real "Phwoooaarrgghhh" (sp?) moment when I read of your latest exploits has to be the Alpine.
Now find yourself a Tagora and the entire world of weird, older or just plain unexpected motor vehicles will surely carry you through the entire field at next year's festival of the unexceptional in a sedan chair as the waiting crowds applaud.

A really interesting car, and one that I really feel is quite underappreciated by the masses. This one has landed on its feet though. The current owner loves it, and to that end has recently had £3K spent on a major engine rebuild. So it will not be wanting for anything that one.

-- -- --

Hey look a package! That was quick.



Oh why can't all sellers on eBay package things this well? This was after I'd taken the bundle filling the void in the box out.



Everything nicely individually wrapped inside a sturdy box with a decent amount of padding round the outside (keeping in mind that the contents aren't exactly heavy).



They had even put a bit of bubble wrap *inside* the tape boxes to make sure they couldn't rattle around too much.

Sure you recognise through the bubble wrap what's in there.



Perfect companion for the Spectrum that arrived last week.





Only done a very quick bit of testing, but it does indeed work.



I had only used one of these once before and it was a long time ago. The keyboard however is precisely as awful as I remembered. It's like trying to type on the control panel of our microwave.



In fact it's worse than the microwave...the microwave beeps when you press a key, so you have some feedback to confirm that it has registered the key press. This thing on the other have provides no feedback. Nothing, none, zip. There is no physical give in the key, nor anything from the machine. The Spectrum has a pretty awful keyboard in terms of tactile feedback, but it does at least provide an audible "click" through the speaker to let you know it's registered the keystroke.

This thing though is just an absolute abomination of a user input device. You can't type without looking at the keyboard as it is completely flat. There's no way to position your fingers by touch. However you need to watch the screen to confirm it's registered the key stroke because it's like typing on a sheet of solid plastic.

Speaking of questionable design decisions...the power supply connector on the ZX81 is 3.5mm jack, exactly the sort used for the ear and mic connections...note also *where* the power socket is.



Now remember that this thing has no power switch nor means to reboot it without removing and reapplying power. There is no switch on the power supply itself either. 99.9% of the time I reckon it will have been done by physically pulling out the power supply plug in the side of the machine.

Given Sinclair's approach to cost saving I rather doubt they included the necessary protection to ensure that blasting 9V into the ear or mic socket won't nuke the heck out of the ULA...

Also from the desire to cut costs the ZX81 has very limited onboard memory, making the 16K RAM expansion pack basically necessary hardware. This little pack was a lot heavier than I had expected so I had to investigate what was inside it.



Given I was expecting a single PCB, a handful of memory ICs and possibly a bit of buffering this was quite a bit busier than I'd expected.

I've confirmed that software loads correctly but that's all I've had the opportunity to ascertain so far. Will have to have a play around with it later in the week...given we're seeing 33C forecast on the weather for Friday I'm going to be hiding in here with the air conditioner, so it's going to be a good opportunity for it.

It sounds like someone on another forum *may* have a QL gathering dust in their loft...if that does turn out to be true that would be great as that would be a really nice one to tick off...plus having done some reading on them lately I'm really wanting to have a shot at using one now.

In the interests of completeness I'd *like* a ZX80 so we could have a complete lineup of the in house Sinclair machines prior to the Amstrad takeover...but I'm sure as heck not paying £400+ for one! So unless one turns up in someone's loft who's more interested in making a collector happy than making a quick buck that's not happening.

Kind of under the same heading as basically anything with an Amiga badge on that I don't already own nowadays. Prices for what they are are just daft. Especially as the ZX80 really is just a curiosity...it's really not something you're going to do anything useful with. Would just be nice to have the original range all together. That's on the "keep an eye open" list though, not something I'm actively going looking for.

[Zelandeth]

Been a while since I've had to wave any tools at the van.

Starting to get back into a functional state for my part again I figured that starting to tick off a few things on the to do list on it wasn't a bad idea. One of these has been changing the thermostat. Pretty certain it's never fully closed as long as I've had the vehicle.

I've generally found the van bits of this vehicle to be very easy to work on, though the coach built bits have tended to make up for it.

It appears that the thermostat however is the exception that proves the rule and is going to be a bit of a faff to change. Was a bit of a faff to *find* never mind change!

Conventional wisdom places it where the top radiator hose emerges from the head. That's not even visible from under the bonnet, so passenger seat and the engine cover were removed.

The top hose is just about visible buried under the fuel system here, though anything that looks removable that's big enough to contain the thermostat is conspicuously absent.







A bit of head scratching and standing on my head appears to have located it, rather oddly kit seems to be at the engine end of the *bottom* radiator hose.









Odd setup...and not exactly easy to get to. It's sandwiched between the exhaust manifold and offside engine mount, tucked behind the alternator which precludes any thoughts of access from the front.

Near as makes no odds the lowest point in the system too so definitely be a coolant drain as step one... inevitably I'm going to end up with several litres of coolant in the face doing this job though. The coolant is due a change anyway so I don't mind having to drain it...just don't particularly want to wear it.

May end up being a case of "screw this, a garage can do it!" depending on how awkward access ends up really being when I try to get tools onto it.

Need to clean the whole area up too as the timing cover gasket appears to be leaking to no small amount...again.



Will probably blast this area down with degreaser then hit it with the pressure washer first though as I'd like to confirm if this is coming from the timing cover or oil filler neck extension (bolted to the timing chain cover as in the van application the normal filler is inaccessible) before I go blowing £30 on another gasket for the timing cover.

That combined with running several errands however has consumed my available energy reserves (and patience with being eaten alive by ants), so back hiding in the air conditioning for now.