Vulgalour's Vehicles - 10/03 Ignition Switch Woe

[vulgalour]

Bizarre: 1950s Datsun Bluebird estate, Hyundai Pony pick up, Nissan Cherry Europe GTi/Alfa Arna, Nissan Prairie... that's the ones I can remember.

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Today I have finished using the rhubarb and custard machine and got the Orange Slice packed away ready to weigh in. First, some more rust I found.

To the left is the usual boot floor corner rot, slightly to the right is a hole where the rear brake flexi bracket was held on by rust bugs holding hands and just by the bumpstop you can see the rot appearing in the chassis/cross-member that was covered with lots of underseal and some filler.


On the other side, the rust was so bad I could almost pull the bumpstop off by hand, it was held in with a mouse nest and a big chunk of fibreglass applied over the old underseal with new underseal put on top. Rot is otherwise not as advanced this side but still worse than the beige car.


Petrol tank is utterly knackered. You can see through it in several places and the metal has the consistency of tissue paper.


After some proper grunt work I'd got the floor pan out, the other sill off and the back end chopped up. The hard standing was then swept clean for the first time since I got the red car and everything put away tidily. Don't be fooled by this picture, the remains of the Orange Slice were very difficult to move.


Ready for tomorrow.


My pile of spares already removed. Full rear axle on spare wheels, full roof panel most of the rear valance (going to use this for repairs mine might need), fuel filler flap and pocket, both B pillars, both sills and the middle and rear sections of the exhaust which were surprisingly solid.



After much deliberation, the beige car is now in temporary hibernation while I sort out all the MoT problems and some problems that aren't MoT issues over the course of the next month or so. In the meantime, I'll get the red car sorted out for its MoT and use it as my daily until it goes to its new owner, giving me chance to iron out any issues it might have so it's good for the trek over to Wales.

[vulgalour]

Sometimes it's the simple things that are the problem and you miss the obvious. Turns out the overfuelling issue was just that.

As you may recall, I've been having issues getting the car to run without throwing a lot of fuel straight out of the air filter. I'd already cleaned out the carb twice, the first time replacing the needle valve and valve seat. After running the fuel in the tank through the system it got gunged up and I had to clean it a third time but the sodding thing just wouldn't run and kept throwing fuel everywhere which was not an ideal situation.

Today, took the carb apart again and found the float had jammed in place with sediment, presumably pulled up from the tank. Cleaned it out, checked the float was okay and working, rebuilt and put it back on the car which ran lovely from a jerry can of fresh fuel for a few seconds and then overfuelled massively. Remove the carb, check the float clearance which needed a little tweak, since we were running from a fresh fuel supply there was nothing in the carb that shouldn't be there so plumbed it all in and tried again to the same result.

Checked the spark plug gaps, which were spot on, and the timing which needed a little tweak. Checked the points, rotor arm and distributor cap all of which were healthy. Good spark, no arcing in the leads, battery healthy, no issues with alternator or starter motor and all fuses still good, so the electricity side eliminated as the culprit at this point.

Back to the fuel side of things, suspected the mechanical pump may be pumping at too high a pressure so used the lower pressure electric pump to the same result. Removed the carb yet again and inspected it to find all was as it should be and still lovely and clean inside. Topped up the squelch pot and then noticed the problem.



The above illustrates the carb correctly plumbed, I'd put the vent and inlet the wrong way around. Of all the things it could be! I could have fixed this problem ages ago had I realised this, but at least now the carb is spotless inside. Fired the car up and it ran very nicely with no horrible smells or noises. Tried to adjust the choke a little and found it was very stiff and then wouldn't move but I was at least happy the engine was running and sounded pretty good.

Investigated the choke cable next, I had a very good one liberated from the orange car so when I saw this I wasn't too worried.


Easy way to do this is to undo the steering column cowl, unplug the relevant bit of wiring and pull the choke cable through into the cabin once you've disconnected it from the carb. Slightly tricky to rethread because you can't really see what you're doing, but with the factory choke cable being bright red you can leave it partially threaded so you can find the relevant bulkhead hole to thread the new one through from under the dash.


Emerges from just beside the brake master cylinder, pretty fiddly location.


Thread back into the carb, tighten up and then put the airbox back on now I feel comfortable I don't have to remove the carb again. Next big fuel related job is to drop the petrol tank to clean it out and I'll use the electric pump to pull fresh fuel through the line and into a separate container so I know it's as clean as I can make it here before reconnecting the engine to the fuel tank.


Last thing was to put some water in the system. I know the radiator leaks and now I know exactly where from: top hose joint. I'm not sure if the leak is from where the metal pipe joins the radiator, the rubber hose or a bit of both so I'll carefully remove the top hose to check. If need be I have what appears to be a good spare radiator and top hose from the orange car to use.


Today went okay.

[tractorman]

If it was my car, I'd get rid of the wire hose clips and put Jubilee clips on instead! However, I appreciate that the horrible wire things score points in shows!

Certainly the clip on the leaking joint seems to be fully tightened - so it may have cut far enough into the hose that it no longer provides a good "seal".

[TerryG]

That radiator looks pretty close to end of life. is the connector for the hose in good order? it could be leaking because of corrosion on that.

[vulgalour]

Whenever I need to disturb a wire clip I always replace with jubilees, I've just not disturbed this one yet. This is definitely not a show car. The rad doesn't look great but as long as it does the job it needs to do I'm regarding it as not my problem Mostly, this rad looks worse than it is due to this side having the water leak and causing that staining and corrosion and the fact the car has been off the road for the better part of 17 years. I've got two spare rads, one's better and one is worse to look at than the one fitted and at least two spare top hoses of which one looks healthier than the one fitted.

Jobs to do that I know about:
bleed brakes
bleed clutch hydraulics
investigate rad/top hose leak
fix earth on dashboard
fit new TREs
drop, flush and refit petrol tank
change oil and filter
fit better tyres

Then it might just be MoT time, possibly.

[TerryG]

Fingers crossed this week stays dry and you could have another car on the road for the bank holiday

[rich.]

Bizarre: 1950s Datsun Bluebird estate, Hyundai Pony pick up, Nissan Cherry Europe GTi/Alfa Arna, Nissan Prairie... that's the ones I can remember.

thats a list of very desirable cars... i had a hyundai pony saloon & alfa arna thing

[vulgalour]

Got the replacement track rod ends fitted to the red Princess today. I knew the passenger side one was ruined and it was making the wheel sit very strangely indeed. I wasn't expecting it to come apart in my hand on removal, nor for it to be quite so easy to remove!


New one went on very easily.


Driver's side came undone easily enough, but required judicious application of a hammer and balljoint splitter to unseat the old one, refitting the new TRE went very easily indeed. Checked the wheels for play, which there appears to be none of, and I'm happy that we're probably okay up front now. There is an oil leak from somewhere underneath the engine, but it's not clear exactly where, nothing particularly serious just the odd drip.

Interestingly, the brake fluid looks really clean and the calipers on the front look like the bleed nipples have been disturbed in the not too distant past so I wonder if they've already been bled through. I'm going to bleed them again anyway as I did fit a new rear brake hose so there's probably air in the system but the front discs and pads looked meaty enough and I know the rear brakes work quite well. I'll bleed the clutch fluid too, just to be sure. I've pencilled this in as my job for tomorrow, if I get more done than that I'll be happy but I'm not pushing myself too hard with this now.

Jobs:
Flush fuel tank and replace hoses/filter
Bleed brakes and clutch
Resolve radiator leak/replace radiator
Earth dashboard
Fit legal tyres
Fit one rebound strap

There might be more, I'm struggling to think of things it needs for its MoT so I must be nearly done.

[SirTainleyBarking]

Got the replacement track rod ends fitted to the red Princess today. I knew the passenger side one was ruined and it was making the wheel sit very strangely indeed. I wasn't expecting it to come apart in my hand on removal, nor for it to be quite so easy to remove!


New one went on very easily.

When you take off a part like that it's a combination of shock and relief. The state of the U/J's I replaced on the front prop of my series 3 were in a similar state, and only really apparent when the prop was off. If the front had dropped....... well thankfully I never discovered if 3.5 tonnes of 109 could pole vault doing 60 down the motorway

[rich.]

my mate had a track rod end snap on his 2.0 capri laser (he swapped it with me for a rusty sierra) he went through the fence of the local pub.. the landlady went mad until he mentioned my name & i got the job of dragging the car home & then repairing the fence.. i still remember the young lady i was with trying to lift the car off the fence post...