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

Post pictures and stories about your cars both present and past. Also post up "blogs" on your restoration projects - the more pictures the better! Note: blog-type threads often get few replies, but are often read by many members, and provide interest and motivation to other enthusiasts so don't be disappointed if you don't get many replies.
Message
Author
User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#421 Post by Zelandeth » Thu Nov 21, 2019 12:37 pm

Must have been an interesting trade to be in around that time with how quickly computers were evolving at the time.

Doesn't surprise me that this thing is suffering from a bunch of dodgy contacts given that the card cage sits virtually on top of the vacuum pump. Unsurprisingly this causes quite a bit of vibration - to the extent that in normal use the card removal tabs "dance" when the machine is running. If that's not a recipe for ICs to work their way out of sockets I don't know what is.

Still, better than the CNC milling machine which arrived at a mate's workshop with half the ROM rattling around in the bottom of the case I guess...
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#422 Post by Zelandeth » Sat Nov 23, 2019 1:45 am

Today I picked up a couple of the correct F30WT12 tubes for the lit sign on the Sun 1215.

While T8 tubes physically fit and will work, the electrical specs are quite different. The T12 3' tube dates back to the original set of designs from the earliest days of fluorescent tech, whereas the T8 is a far later design which operates at a far higher voltage but lower current. As such an F30WT8 in this application would be overdriven, running at around 45W rather than the correct 30W, so wouldn't last long.

These however will be perfect. They're hard to find here as this size were never popular in the UK. These are new old stock circa 1993, so goodness knows where they've been hiding since then.

Image

Replacement took all of about 30 seconds.

Image

I remembered to check and clean both the reflector and inside of the diffuser this time. They were distinctly grubby.

Image

Everything back together. You really can't see any difference externally to be honest.

Image

As it's not the sort of equipment a lot of people will have used and it seems to have generated quite a bit of interest I thought I'd try to write up a bit of a guide to the basic startup and configuration of the machine. Figured some of you might find it interesting.

This isn't a full user guide...just a quick run through of the real basics from what I remember of using the one a mate had about 20 years ago and what I've seen messing around with this one.

Hopefully this will demystify all those buttons a bit.

When first powered on the machine shows a message informing you that it has started its warmup phase and gives a countdown (starting from fifteen minutes) to when it will be ready to use.

Image

You can bypass this delay at any point by pressing #, but there's obviously a greater chance of the accuracy of the machine may drift as it warms up. The fifteen minute delay helps ensure that everything is stable before you put it into use.

The # button basically functions as the "next page" control throughout.

Image

At the completion of the countdown, the machine waits for you to press # to continue before it will move on to the self test/calibration screen.

Image

This takes a minute or so to run through...and obviously has a few errors reported in the case of my machine... hopefully these will disappear as time goes on and I work through things.

Image

Next page is the program setup screen where things start to get a little more interesting.

Image

The "set ignition selector" relates to two modes that the ignition side of things can run in. There's a table in the operator's manual telling you which cars which setting should be used with.

This is selected using this button.

Image

Shown above in mode 1, and below in mode 2. Yes, this is a bit of an excuse to show off the flipdot indicators...even if they are a bit grubby at this stage.

Image

"Set 2 or 4 cycle" is asking you to select whether the engine is a two or four stroke. There's a dedicated button for this, which like the ignition selector has an indicator built into the button itself.

Image

Self explanatory really...4 for a four stroke and 2 for a two stroke.

Image

The number of cylinders is then set using the left of the three buttons below. These have different functions in different program modes hence having several legends, it's less confusing than it initially looks.

Image

The selection starts at 0 by default, and pressing the button cycles through 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 then loops back to 2.

The last thing on this section is the timing offset. This is only needed I believe where the car uses a magnetic pickup to fire the ignition, this is usually offset a few degrees before or after TDC. You need to dial this in here.

Pressing "number select" initially changes the sign to + or - to reflect whether the offset is before or after TDC, then "cursor advance" moves to the first digit, with "number select" used to advance the number. This process is repeated until you've dialled in the correct offset.

The screen below is an example which would have been used on my old Saab from memory, you can see the cursor showing which digit is being entered.

Image

Once you have advanced to the last digit it will tell you to press # to the next page. It won't let you proceed if there are things you've missed.

Image

This brings you up to the "Cranking/Pinpoint Tests" page.

Image

This gives you quite a bit of information on what's going on. However this is only half the information it can show you. An additional page is accessible using the "short" button on the control panel. This appears to indicate "short-cut" rather than that it shorts anything out to kill the ignition system or anything.

Here it's shown activated, hence the vivid orange indicator shown.

Image

All of the buttons - even those which are purely momentary - have the indicators in them. Utterly unnecessary, but a nice touch.

This screen gives you some really quite clever diagnostic information.

Image

This shows you the difference in engine speed, starter motor current draw as the engine spins over each cylinder. This can be helpful in showing if one or more cylinders has a significantly lower compression ratio than the others.

You might need to actually stop the engine from starting to get solid data from this test, and there's a control to disable the ignition system labelled as "engine kill."

Image

Pressing this toggles the kill, and when it's enabled a flashing "engine kill" warning is shown on the display to warn the user. Having this feature on hand is obviously useful from a safety perspective as well.

The "Short" button latches, so pressing it again will drop you back to the Cranking/pinpoint Tests page.

Once you're done with that, pressing # will advance you to the main running test page.

Image

This shows you pretty much everything you need to know. The displays look to update pretty rapidly, at least a few times a second. If wanted, you can pause the data on screen with the "Display Hold" button. This is directly below the # button.

Image

When this is enabled a "hold" message flashes at the upper right of the screen to warn the user that live data isn't being shown.

A useful feature of this as well is that in the main screen above, when the display hold control is released, the original data is left in the screen with a new column being put up for the live data. This allows you two "old" readings to be shown along with the live data. This could be really useful if you're making small tweaks and wanting to double check what effect it's had.

The below display shows a "full" page with two columns of held data shown.

Image

The live data is always shown on the leftmost column.

That's as far into the running of this unit as I've gone...but it gives you a basic rundown of how the computer works. Shows how it does a pretty good job of guiding you through everything...which in the mid 80s really wasn't a given!

Probably the most daunting looking controls relate to the scope...though I've never really done enough work with that to be able to talk through it from memory.

Image

The Short button being grouped here rather than with the computer controls is just to keep you on your toes.

I'll try someday to write a bit of a how to for this too...I'll need to learn to drive it a bit better first though.

Likewise some of the advanced features of the computer...there's a whole additional layer in there I think.

For the sake of convenience there's a remote control which duplicates a number of buttons from the front panel to make life easier for the technician. #, Display Hold, Short and Engine Kill being those controls.

Image

The "Print" button would trigger the optional printer. No timestamps or anything, it would just literally print a copy of what's shown on the screen. Sadly I don't have the printer, though I do have the interface card (found in the base cabinet) should I ever come across one.

This has been probably horribly tedious to most of you, but hopefully it's vaguely interesting to you if you're into old tech and want to see what would be happening when you're blindly mashing buttons to see what makes it tick.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#423 Post by Zelandeth » Sun Nov 24, 2019 1:10 am

Because I'm me and find them far more interesting than I probably should, here are a couple of additional photos of the ridiculously overcomplicated status indicators built into the buttons.

It surprises me that they went to the lengths of building them into even just the momentary controls. You never actually *see* this one as the control is actually latched on software...the orange announciator in the button is normally hidden by your finger.

Image

The actual indicator that this is active is a message that flashes at the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Image

There is apparently a volts/ohms measurement capacity in there somewhere (which I've yet to figure out how to access), which is switched between the two modes using this control. Here it is in volts mode...

Image

...and ohms mode.

Image

Just surprises me this wasn't just done either on screen or using a status LED next to the control. I remember looking at this sort of control when I was building a power supply a few years back, and these things were *expensive* - even basic ones without legends like this. "We spared no expense" seems to be a running theme with this machine.

I've got a slightly more sane (though still offset) temperature reading now I've actually got the thermocouple plugged into it rather than a hall effect sensor!

I wanted to have a look at all the analogue cards to check for any additional socketed components, dirty contacts or dry joints.

Started out with the volts/ohms board as I know there are issues with that subsystem.

Image

Had a brief "Ah ha!" moment when I spotted that toasty looking resistor...but checking it shows it to measure precisely the value that's stamped on the side of it. Nothing else obviously amiss.

The next board is the trigger control board.

Image

This is quite important in that what it does is essentially listen for the ignition pulse firing on cylinder number 1, as that is the timing reference to which everything on the machine is slaved. Nothing amiss here that I can see.

Unsurprisingly, the next board along from that is the main timing board - this basically keeps everything in sync with the signal tracked by the trigger control board.

Image

One of the more densely packed boards.

I initially thought that the next board (labelled "AMP" on the card cage) was going to handle a lot of signal amplification...but it actually appears to be the signal processing for the amps and temperature sensors.

Image

This board does have a couple of dry joints that I'll give a tickle with the soldering iron tomorrow.

"CAL" is the next one, which I'm assuming given the precense of several relays, physically connects loads of known values across the inputs to undertake the calibration self test.

Image

Again some of the soldering isn't great looking, but I couldn't actually see any dry joints...I may well reflow some of the heavier connections though as they could be better.

The fact that the only systems which are consistently failing the self calibration are the HC and CO meters is one of the reasons I want to have a really good look at the wiring from the I/O backplane to the sockets at the end of the boom.

Speaking of I/O, that's what the next board is tasked with dealing with.

Image

Nothing wrong with this one that I could see.

Next up is the vertical pre-amplifier board, I believe this relates to the scope.

Image

Quite obvious from the lovely old school hand routed traces that this one and the trigger control board are quite a bit older in design to the majority, though the date codes show they were actually made at the same time as the others.

"Logic Board No. 2" is next...though I don't recall seeing a number 1 anywhere!

Image

I'm guessing a bit, but based on the hardware present that this is just handling some low level buffering or such like they didn't have room for in the main computer cage.

No signs of trouble anyway.

Finally we have an identical pair of cards containing quite beefy deflection amplifiers to drive the CRT (one card handles horizontal, the other vertical).

Image

All of these boards could do with a good clean, as do the digital boards (which I'll grab proper photos of soon too) due to the close proximity of the cooling fan. Shame Sun didn't feel it worthwhile to fit a filter to it.

So nothing nothing obviously amiss there, aside from one resistor which has got a bit warm at some point and one capacitor on the amp/temp board that's got dry joints. I really did want to get them all out for a proper check over though. No socketed ICs or anything like that (which was responsible for the original display issue) in need of attention, but it was worth checking.

Looks like I might actually get a few hours free tomorrow afternoon, if so I'll hopefully get a bit more stuck into trying to work out what's going on with the faults.

The biggest irritation there really is that there don't seem to be many labelled test points, which would make checking to see if all the power supply rails are present and correct (there are a load of them!) a lot easier. Obviously given the card based construction it's a bit tricky to probe a lot of the machine when it's running as the cards are quite tightly packed together.

The other thing I wanted to check these cards for was whether they were hiding any more tantalum capacitors like I've seen on at least one or two of the digital boards, as once I've ascertained how many of them there are they will be getting replaced on mass. Wouldn't surprise me if that alone sorted a lot of the issues based on prior experience.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#424 Post by Zelandeth » Sun Nov 24, 2019 10:58 pm

Today was the day to get all the digital cards out for a check over and to get everything reseated.

So here are the digital boards, from left to right.

"CRT" - This is responsible for taking the data from the computer and converting it into a composite video signal which is fed to the monitor.

Image

"MUX" - Handles all the analogue to digital conversion, signal processing and such like. Initially I thought "oh my god bodge wires" when I saw this, before realising those wires are all shielded coax, so they have just decided it's a more reliable way of getting a clean signal across the board than using PCB traces. Even if it does look a bit shonky.

Image

The whole machine is astonishingly free of bodge wires actually...especially for a design from the late 70s where they usually would find *something* after the board's had gone to be made...

Lovely white ceramic package on the ADC.

"I/O" - No great surprise, does most of the heavy lifting with regards to the actual I/O side of things.

Image

"CPU" - Unsurprisingly, contains the CPU and the 64kB of RAM it makes use of.

Image

"MEM1" - Basically all the ROM. Interesting to see that while these initially all look to be EPROMS, they're not. While there are some, there are also a shedload of character generators. My guess is they're using this to give greater control over the display without going to the lengths of full bitmap control.

Image

"PP" - Pre-Processor. Not actually entirely sure what this does, though I have to assume basically just does some general housekeeping which we would normally expect to be handled directly by the CPU these days... purely a guess though.

Image

The EPROM here was losing its label, so a bit of black tape was applied to help keep the data safe.

Probably the main reason I would love to find an actual service manual for this (VERY unlikely as Sun kept really quite tight control over) is that it would probably give me a really good breakdown of the actual system architecture - sadly there's a lot of hardware in here I've never worked with before, so there's a learning process involved.

All of the socketed components on these boards were reseated while I had them out, as I knew this had already sorted one problem.

Turns out that while it's not fixed everything (the gas analyser is still failing the self test), it has definitely helped. Previously we had complete nonsense shown on the voltage readout. Now however we seem to have sensible data shown.

Image

The column on the right is showing the data from when I had a car battery connected to the voltage measurement lead, the one on the left is with the leads shorted together. Had to do that as it's smart enough to know when there's nothing connected and will just blank the display for that measurement. Helpful in the real world...but slightly awkward during testing!

Not worrying too much about a 0.2V offset at zero for an instrument of this type, the reading with a load connected was spot on...multimeter was showing 12.23V.

Worth noting that we appear to have more sane readings on the vacuum gauge as well now, that was tending to wander around quite a bit at rest too.

Definitely progress.

Know this is repeating myself to some folks I've spoken to about this, but I figure it's worth mentioning one of my plans for this thing long term to the world at large. One of the useful things about the monitor the computer is that it's simply a self-contained composite unit. The signal from the computer to it is simply carried by a twisted pair of wires. So it would be a truly trivial task to cut into that and introduce a switchable video source.

My intention here is to fit a small self contained computer (probably a Raspberry Pi because I know I can just throw Debian at it rather than having to muck around with it) somewhere in the case. This would then allow me to use the monitor there to view manuals, data sheets, instructional videos etc in the garage on something a bit more user friendly than a tiny phone screen. It's a really nice sharp screen so should do just fine.

I'll do doing nothing which cannot be reversed easily. The only thing I'll need to fit to the outside of the case will be a switch to change video sources. Luckily I won't even need to drill a hole for that as there's a convenient rubber bung by the remote control input for an option port...so I can just put a hole into that rubber bung rather than drilling a hole in the actual case.

Image

Just seems a really nice way to bring it functionally into the 21st century somewhat to help it perform the sort of tasks it was originally designed for. Quite often I find myself in the garage with a wiring diagram of something open on my phone and getting really fed up with the screen turning off every five seconds...so having a fixed screen which I can't drop under the car will be most appreciated.

So that's what will be getting done to improve it in addition to the actual service and repair work.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#425 Post by Zelandeth » Tue Nov 26, 2019 2:09 am

Is this the point where I should cue the classic mad scientist manic laughter?

Image

The display is actually a lot sharper than it looks there, my camera is unsurprisingly not too keen of taking photos of an interlaced CRT display. While it's not exactly a 1080p TFT screen, it's perfectly usable and will be more than good enough for looking up the odd bit of information or watching instructional videos on.

There is a little screen burn, but it's really not noticeable in person unless you were actually looking for it. The camera makes it look far worse than it really is.

Test video to see how that looked was of course Aussie50's infamous washing machine destruction video where there really did look to be - as he himself put it, "a real life physics engine malfunction" at one point.

Image

If you want to see what happens when you throw a few kilograms of unbalanced weight into a washing machine which has has the counterweights removed and had the motor hard wired to the mains, the video is over here on YouTube.

Definitely shows that the idea to use the display for dual purposes isn't a bad one. Sure there will be more to follow on that project at a later date.

Edit: Earlier in the evening I was out in the garage executing boring household tasks, namely extracting some stuff from the chest freezer that's been in there for years and is obviously never going to be used. Once I was done with that I figured it was really about time that I gave TPA at least a brief run as I don't think she's been started since I had the wheel stud snap. Decided that while I was at it, I may as well stick the camera recording...the result was a 15 minute or so ramble about the fleet in general and my tip of a garage with some Invacar noises in the middle.

Video is over here on YouTube if anyone wants to watch.

Apologies for the portrait format. I realised I'd made that mistake about five minutes in but really didn't want to start over or have to mess around editing two videos together for what was meant to be a really quick job. Will try to do better next time.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#426 Post by Zelandeth » Wed Nov 27, 2019 5:03 pm

Well that's maddeningly unhelpful.

Image

Car was last running a few days ago. Battery is less than a year old.

Image

Currently on the charger, though then I need to find out why it's flat. Really hoping the alternator isn't having issues, as having to replace that in addition to all the other work that's coming up really might be the straw that broke the camel's back. Especially as it looks like it will be a royal pain to change due to poor access.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#427 Post by Zelandeth » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:31 pm

Alternator seems to be charging okay and so far the battery has behaved after a proper charge. I'll probably look to get it changed under warranty in the near future though as it really shouldn't have died like that and having been that deeply discharged is unlikely to ever be quite 100% again. Probably be a bit of a while until I have time to get to it though.

Today I've got it booked in to get new tyres fitted on Monday. Full set of Uniroyal RainExpert 3. Unsurprisingly they didn't have any 205/60 R15s in stock. Formula 1 are asking £83 apiece, which isn't unreasonable. The best I found online was £73 I think including fitting, and I'll happily pay a few quid more to support a local business. Not like when I was looking for tyres for the Invacar and it was like £44 online Vs £79 there...I wasn't willing to stand for that.

We'll have a look while on the ramp to see if we can do anything with the exhaust...the tailpipe is definitely past it, but can probably be bodged for the MOT, allowing me to investigate that in the near future. Likewise she could really do with a set of corner spheres...but they'll have to wait until the financial dent this next couple of weeks is making has recovered a bit first!

She's also booked into BL Autos on Thursday to have the front end sorted out.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#428 Post by Zelandeth » Sun Dec 01, 2019 12:52 am

This afternoon an envelope containing four 3/8" BSF bolts dropped through my door.

The big question of course was whether they would fit the hub of the Invacar, given the hassle we've had on that count so far.

Image

Yaaaaaay!

I can now confirm that the threads in the hub are 3/8" BSF.

With a little fermangling the old wheel nuts (which mostly had somewhat mangled threads) were drilled out to act as conical washers for the time being.

Image

These were destined only for the bin so I had no worries about messing with them.

This meant that for the first time since September I was able to attach the wheel to the car again.

Image

...Which meant the car is actually sitting on its wheels again rather than axle stands.

Image

Obviously won't be getting driven on the road like this, especially with the remains of the original stud still being in there. However it will mean that I can at least move the car in and out of the garage until such time as the replacement hub turns up. Given that I need to shift it to get the Crypton machine out of there...that was getting kind of important.

While I was in the garage I figured it was time to have a better look at the booster fan for the heater.

Bit of experimentation was needed, but eventually found somewhere to put it where it was out of the way.

Image

I hadn't been successful in tracking down the correct reducer to attach the ducting straight to the fan housing...so out with the duct tape. Not pretty but it's air tight.

Image

The messy assembly was stuffed back in the corner.

Image

It will be bolted onto the top of that rear wheel tub. Currently it sticks out like a sore thumb. It will however be getting painted in hammered black before I'm done which should make it blend in and look like it's meant to be there.

The airflow isn't fantastic, but is far better than the original setup was unless you were going flat out. Plus you can switch it off...which couldn't reliably be said originally.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#429 Post by Zelandeth » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:07 pm

Xantia is now wearing a nice new set of Uniroyal RainExpert 3 tyres.

Image

Tell you what I wasn't expecting...that changing the tyres has reduced road noise by what feels like about 70%. It's not something I was expecting at all, so took me a good few seconds to figure out what had changed.

I'm glad to be back on these tyres to be honest. Have been on others for a few years now down to availability and what cars came with...but the RainExpert has been my tyre of choice going back pretty much to the start of me driving back in 2003.

Annoyingly she will definitely be wanting rear discs for the MOT as they've only been working on a small portion of the rear of the disc - quite likely due to the usual Xantia issue of the caliper alignment being screwed up by dissimilar metal corrosion between the axle and caliper.

Deceptive this problem as the rear brakes don't do much in the Xantia unless you've a lot of weight onboard - the brakes in this one feel quite capable of stopping the rotation of the planet itself as they are.

Front discs will do a bit yet, but the pads are definitely getting towards due for a change.

Image

Couple of weeks over two years and ~20K miles.

The exhaust has also decided to be annoying, having somehow managed to part company with the rearmost hanger.

Image

Still not quite sure how it's managed this...though the whole system appears to have managed to get twisted somehow and this is the first day it's not rattled in several months. Will see if I can convince it to behave tomorrow.

If I can get this exhaust through the MOT I'll be happy...as I'd really rather not have to add another hundred or two onto the bill (and finding systems that actually fit well for the Xantia is a pain at the best of the time, irrespective of price). I'd like to get a stainless system made...but I could do with a chance to recover from the work about to be done before having to pay for that too!
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

User avatar
Zelandeth
Posts: 1126
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2017 9:11 pm
Location: Milton Keynes
Contact:

Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70

#430 Post by Zelandeth » Fri Dec 06, 2019 12:56 am

Well that was a waste of a morning.

Turns out the last email I sent to BL Autos never got through, vanishing into the aether somewhere...so they weren't expecting me to appear this morning as they'd never had the message from me saying I'd be there today. This meant that they had nowhere to put the car and their courtesy car was unavailable. So I was left with no option other than to drive back home and book it back in for the tenth.

Not their fault by any means...just annoying. Could have proven really awkward if I'd got pulled over on the way there for driving with no MOT too as the garage wouldn't have had any idea I was on the way. Luckily that didn't happen.

On the plus side it gives me the opportunity to clean the car up a bit before it goes in. I've removed a load of detritus from the door pockets and boot, and will be able to give it a wash to get the moss out of the window rubbers.

The exhaust was reattached to the rearmost hanger (again) and removed the demountable tow bar having smacked my shins on it for about the 78274638th time.

Image

Just a bit of salt on the roads today...

Image

Turning my attention to the van briefly I wanted to address one of the biggest shortcomings of the saloon heater. Most notably that this is it notionally "off."

Image

The controller stays on so long as there's power. This is hooked directly into the leisure battery so doesn't shut off when the DC stuff in the back is turned off at the control panel. This won't be a huge issue long term as a proper controller will be replacing this piece of tat at some point (the controller is where they skimped most on the production costs), but for now I'd like to be able to turn it off.

Half an hour later this was sorted.

Image

Image

So it's now possible to turn it properly off without having to stand on my head in the side locker to remove the fuse every time.

Obviously you need to wait for the heat exchanger to cool and the fan to stop before you can power it down though or you'll damage it.

Yes it does mean the clock resets to 00:00 every time you turn things back on...but as the clock keeps laughably poor time (loses about five minutes a day!) that's not really an issue.

... I'm trying to resist the very strong urge to reposition the controller so it's level given it will be getting replaced and be returned to the original location on the wall...but it's really bugging me.
My website - aka. My *other* waste of time
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 88 Renault 25 Monaco. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests