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

#751 Post by Zelandeth » Mon Nov 23, 2020 10:37 pm

Dick wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 7:49 pm
Pretty! Hijacking your thread here a bit.. my brother is restoring a y plate 5.3 like yours.. who do you recommend for parts please?
All I've generally needed so far are normal service items, so it's mainly just been been British Parts. For anything more involved, Rock Auto over in the US have somewhat to my surprise been both the cheapest and have generally got stuff to me faster than most UK based suppliers.

-- -- --

Decided it had been far too long since TPA had been out. Had intended to get her out last week but torrential rain ended up putting paid to that plan, mainly on account of the windscreen demister being pretty much useless. Issue is basically that because the duct is so long and narrow there just isn't enough airflow. The heater really needs a decent blower which can both shift a decent volume of air and also produce decent static pressure so it doesn't just get choked by the ductwork. That was the issue I had with the axial blower I tried originally...it shifted masses of air in the open but couldn't handle the back pressure from the heat exchanger and all the ducting.

It was obvious on start up that she wasn't happy. Just wouldn't idle properly, no matter what I did. Felt more like an ignition than fuelling issue to me so decided to go over the basics.

Gave the distributor cap a wipe down and the contacts a scrub up.

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Wasn't terrible but equally could be better. Given this is the cap which came with KPL and spent goodness knows how long open to the weather I really should just change it...

The rotor arm looked fine so just gave it a very gentle clean. That's not a dark spot by the way, there's just a polished spot where the centre contact sits and it's reflecting shadows.

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Pretty sure dirty points were to blame as there was a bit of oxidisation present. Gap was fine though once the contact surfaces had been given some attention with some fine Emery cloth.

While I was in the area I changed the somewhat ropey crimp terminal on the switched line from the coil.

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I have previously noted that I could stall the engine by wiggling that wire before so had been meaning to change it for a while.

I did note when testing that there's a bit more of an arc at the points as they open than I'd like. So I reckon the condenser is on the way out. May well be behind the original issues today.

Given how terrible the quality of most automotive replacements these days I'm not even going to bother with them. These condensers almost always seem to be in the 0.1-0.3uF range that I've seen values stamped on, so as I've got good quality polyester film caps in stock in 0.22uF/1kV I'll just be fitting one of these.

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I will probably gut the can of the original and stick it in there so it'll be a nearly invisible upgrade. This cap should essentially be a fit and forget solution as these caps don't tend to degrade appreciably and damp doesn't affect them as they're properly hermetically sealed.

I still keep expecting this engine to use oil for no really valid reason and it keeps surprising me when the oil level never moves.

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With the ignition system back together she started up first touch and idled properly again.

Reckon the points might have wanted a clean for a while as I'd swear it feels like we've got more low end torque now.

So off we went, first stop for the day was to pick up more dog food.

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Then off to pick up a few other essentials in a few different locations around town.

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Most of the travel between these locations wound up being straight up and down the A5 as town seemed to be really snarled up most of today for some reason. Sure I remember there being a time when "big" roads like that were something I generally tried to avoid wherever possible in this car...whereas now we're quite happy to use them and buzz along quite happily at a shade over 60. About 63 seems to be where she gets into a groove on roads like that for want of a better term.

Still find it somewhat amusing that the speed she hates doing the most is 30. To look at it you'd expect this to be most happily bumbling along at that sort of speed, not blasting along the open road at 60 plus change. The dissonance between the appearance and actual capabilities still makes my head spin a little and never ceases to amuse.

Glad to report that the adjustment of the nearside door front striker has both reduced the door rattle noticeably and has vastly reduced the draught which used to come in around the leading edge.
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.

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

#752 Post by Dick » Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:21 pm

Thanks for the info, ive passed it on .. :thumbs:

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

#753 Post by Zelandeth » Tue Nov 24, 2020 9:49 pm

No problem. Rock Auto are worth a look for any general maintenance parts as well. I was surprised to find that a few (brand name) service items for the Xantia were actually cheaper *including shipping* from there than they were from a lot of UK sellers.

-- -- --

While I used up most of my day's energy allotment trimming hedges today (the one was starting to encroach on the footway again despite having been done what felt like five minutes ago) I was determined to get at least one thing on the to do list ticked off...and sorting this on a permanent basis as a follow on from yesterday seemed a good target.

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Checking it on the meter the original condenser was doing a passable impression of a 600K ohm resistor with no reading given on the capacitance range on my meter. Yep, that'll be dead then.

The polypropylene film cap sitting next to it should be a "fit and forget" replacement as they're far more long lived.

The innards were gouged out from the open end of the can and a hole was drilled for one lead of the new capacitor to poke through.

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This was then soldered to the case (note that these capacitors are non polarised so it doesn't matter which side is ground).

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Not the tidiest job but I was running out of gas in the soldering iron so was trying to be quick. It's solid and has good continuity to the can. Those are the important points.

The new cap is a little longer so unfortunately will unavoidably poke out the bottom a little.

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Shouldn't be visible in-situ though unless you're peering at it.

Getting the wire (which is integrated into the insulating block which passes through the distributor wall at the other end) soldered to the cap lead was a major pain. Had to use quite a bit of heat and wound up shrinking the heat shrink I'd hoped to slide over this lead.

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I'll come back to that another day. It'll be fine for now with a bit if tape. Not as though the wire is long enough to go anywhere.

Especially as the void in the can has now been filled with hot glue to provide mechanical support to the cap.

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If I have problems with it going gooey due to heat I'll revisit things and use epoxy. I just don't have any in stock right now. Reckon it'll be fine though.

Back in place you wouldn't notice something was amiss unless you were specifically looking for it would you?

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Bit of tape has since been added to the coil connection wire to the cap just to ensure it can't short on the case. What I'll probably do as a proper solution there will be to add a crimped on terminal at the body end so I can properly get a bit of shrink wrap on there properly. If it hadn't got dark on me today I'd have done it then, just ran out of time though.

Glad to report that this was the result when I turned the key (note she's stone cold here).

Brief YouTube Video Link (in the dark)

Which is always reassuring given at least twice in the past I've resolved minor ignition issues on cars and then lost all spark until I spent an hour faffing around and swearing at them.

Not really expecting to notice any real difference on the road but we'll see when I next have her out and about.
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.

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

#754 Post by Zelandeth » Thu Nov 26, 2020 5:51 pm

Nobody spotted my deliberate mistake to see if you were paying attention then I see!

Um...yeah...of course it was deliberate. Definitely didn't happen simply because I'm a Blithering idiot.

While that capacitor came out of the drawer for the 0.22uF caps, it isn't one! It's a 0.022uF cap. D'oh! Now thinking about it, that should have been blindingly obvious based on size alone. The result of this was a car that would die the moment you even looked at the throttle.

Of course having turned that corner of the house upside down I can now confirm that I have a total of zero 0.22uF caps in stock.

Cue some bodging to get the car back up and running. This mess will just be getting cable tied to the side of the distributor.

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Once the correct capacitor is back in stock I'll set about making it pretty again. Based on testing on the drive this seems to have sorted things though. Couldn't really go out to do a test drive as by that point it had dropped below few point again...which in a vehicle with no really usable demister is less than ideal.

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That's definitely the biggest shortcoming of this car as a winter runaround I think.

Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to actually test things tomorrow.
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.

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

#755 Post by Dick » Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:13 pm

Nobody spotted my deliberate mistake to see if you were paying attention then I see...

Well i didnt like to say :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you show me the difference between the two please.. i thought you were making a tidy job.. cockups happens to us all.. :oops:

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

#756 Post by Zelandeth » Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:32 pm

Dick wrote:
Thu Nov 26, 2020 9:13 pm
Nobody spotted my deliberate mistake to see if you were paying attention then I see...

Well i didnt like to say :lol: :lol: :lol:
Can you show me the difference between the two please.. i thought you were making a tidy job.. cockups happens to us all.. :oops:
Once the caps arrive I'll do a side by side comparison - but the biggest difference is that the correct cap has a diameter of 20mm rather than 8mm for the one I originally fitted.
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.

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

#757 Post by gazza82 » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:55 pm

Still looks neat to me .. ;)
"If you're driving on the edge ... you're leaving too much room!"

Retirement Project: '59 Austin A35 2-door with 1330cc Midget engine and many upgrades
Said goodbye: got '98 Alfa Romeo 156 2.0 TSpark to 210K miles before tin worm struck

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

#758 Post by Zelandeth » Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:02 pm

Pretty it ain't. However it appears to work...at least as best I can tell without doing a proper test drive which I didn't have time for today.

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Yes I did at least trim the cable tie after the photo was taken. It's only going to be there until the correct capacitor arrives at least.

Yes the ground wire is just looped around that screw. I couldn't find a small enough ring terminal anywhere and going out just to get one seemed thoroughly irresponsible in the current situation so I just made do. See above, it won't be like that for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Yes...before you ask, I have since gone through the component drawers and made sure everything is in the correct place. In fairness I think it's moved house four times since that stuff went in there so I only have myself to blame...of course things had managed to get a bit mixed up.
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.

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

#759 Post by Zelandeth » Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:03 am

Towards the end of the summer the oil pressure warning light stopped working on the Jag. Given that the oil pressure gauge doesn't work this was less than ideal and was not something I was willing to leave unfixed.

By the standards of a V12 XJ-S it's not particularly difficult to get to at all.

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Thanks to the sheer amount of stuff in the way though even this did require full use of two extensions and a universal joint to get to it...but not too bad to be honest. Fiddly rather than difficult.

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The offending item.

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Once the new one was fitted (which by some miracle I managed *not* to drop down the back of the engine while fitting) correct operation of the oil pressure warning light was restored.

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Fingers crossed it lasts longer than the previous one which was only in there for about a year.

Earlier in the day I had reason to do a bit of an audit and clear out of the chest freezer in the back of the garage as we had a large delivery of frozen snacks etc for Christmas and New Year arriving today (basically when we found we could actually get a delivery slot from Iceland we grabbed it!). This meant backing TPA out, and while I had some room I decided to do a bit of a clear up. Not bothering about the piles of junk around the periphery...I just wanted to pick up all the bits of finely atomised rubber floor mats and and sweep up the year's worth of accumulated leaves - and omnipresent film of soda blasting media that I reckon I'll still be finding a couple of decades from now.

Looks a bit less unpleasant at least. Though the clutter still makes my skin crawl...I cannot emphasise enough how much I am looking forward to getting this place actually cleared up.

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Note the complete lack of any oil spots...Since I sorted the sump plug washer TPA's engine has remained completely oil tight. She weeps a bit of gearbox oil at speed from the gearbox top cover (reckon I'm missing a gasket), but that's it. Not bad for a 47 year old car. Bet if the engine was British she'd leak! Most of the discolouration of the concrete there was there from before we moved in. Aside from the stripe left to right near the door - that's spilled resin from when I was rebuilding the rear apron.

There will be a MAJOR clear out and rearrangement happening in the new year. Basically everything forward of the space the car parks in will be getting kitted out with ranks of shelving across the width of the garage (leaving just enough of a gap to be a walkway along the left hand side) to finally give me decent storage.

Getting rid of the clutter along the sides here will be a massive improvement as I'll be able to actually get to both sides of the car, and have the permanent equipment like the Sun engine analyser set up in an actual home.

It's a good thing for me that TPA isn't any wider or have conventional doors.

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The black paint at the threshold is an experimental test to see if I can stop the little bit of water that tends to get in from doing so. The garage door closes about 1/2" in from the edge of the concrete slab so water tends to "wick" its way under the door through the grain despite there being a slight downhill grade to it...so I want to see if the finish being less porous helps stop that. It's not a big issue, but I'd just like to sort it if I can. Especially as there will be a floor covering of some description going in at some point to make it a nicer place to work.

There's more clutter than usual in here at the moment as well as we've got a crew coming tomorrow to spend the week to permanently deal with the rampant bamboo in our back garden, so there's a bunch of garden furniture and cushions from it etc buried at the back too. By the way...if you're looking at a house where the previous owner has been daft enough to plant bamboo outside, not in a properly shielded container, run away. Getting it eliminated is going to be costing us the best part of £6000. Yes, six *thousand* pounds. The work does come with a ten year guarantee at least.

I've also made a bit of a change to my parking arrangements. The Xantia has now moved to the bit of ground under where that huge Spruce tree used to be. The ground there is really hard packed and there's no grass or anything there so it's not going to get churned up. Plus it's just scrub land so couldn't care less really if it did make a cosmetic mess of it. Unlike the bit of lawn right out the lounge window which I'd been using as the overflow space before. That wasn't too much of a problem A: In the summer when the ground is like concrete, or B: When the car there wasn't being used much. However with the ground now being flat and everything pretty much in regular use I was starting to chew the grass up. I also really, really didn't want the Jag parked long term in damp weather over grass given their tendency to rust. So the Xantia is now to the left of the driveway, the Jag has taken up the position behind the van, and nothing is on the lawn. Well, the Xantia will for a couple of days when the landscaping crew arrive tomorrow as they'll be using that space as their entry/egress into the rear garden, but not on a long term basis.

We might well actually extend the driveway over towards the fence, where the tree used to be as it should gain me two spaces - but that will involve quite a bit of ground work to remove the stump of the tree, to flatten it all out etc...so not a job for this year. I really would like to be able to actually park all my cars on proper spaces though...and not have to dump something on the street whenever I want to get TPA out of or into the garage as that wastes a lot of time - and basically means I can't do it between 0830-0930 and 1430-1530 every weekday due to the school rush.

Having the area beyond the driveway here available as a proper parking area would definitely be really useful.

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That bit of actual driveway is usually occupied by Chris' company car by the way...and it's not quite long enough to get two cars in one behind the other - which is annoying! At the very least we might extend the driveway back a few feet to the left in that photo as the fence there needs replacing anyhow...at least having the option to stick two cars one behind the other would be an improvement over the current arrangement even if still a bit more of a faff than having each one able to get in/out without needing to play automotive Tetris.
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.

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

#760 Post by Zelandeth » Thu Dec 03, 2020 1:49 pm

It's always fun when you take a car in for its first MOT in your ownership. Doubly so when you really haven't had time to check anything beyond that all the lights work. Though I did forget the fog lights.

Never mind when it's on a 35 year old British motor and the test is effectively six months late thanks to COVID (granted the car was off the road for the bulk of that time).

Anyhow...in we went.

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Twenty minutes later:

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I'll take that.

Usual issue noted with the daft steering rack mounting bushes meaning the whole rack can move, which I was already aware of. Might look to sticking some improved bushes in there at some point. That didn't go on as an advisory as it's more of a stupid design than a fault due to wear or age. Only other thing noted was a tiny bit of play in the lower pins in the rear hubs. Nothing major and I've always told my tester I'd rather he told me of any issues rather than just issue an "easy" pass.

Tester admitted to being pleasantly surprised by the overall condition of the car and was complimentary of the standard to which the usual welding repairs had been done.

Then straight back home to start hauling bits of felled trees into a skip. Right across the area where the patio used to be but is now a giant clay pit. In the pouring rain. I lasted about an hour before my arms and legs were utterly useless. Now resting up for a bit, will see if I feel like having another bash at it in an hour or so. Just seems sensible to use as much of the skip as possible given it's here until this evening and the contractors dealing with the bamboo only used about s third of the capacity. We did check and it was fine for us to throw anything in there.
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.

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