Zel's Eclectic Fleet Blog (Volvo, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & Occasional Distractions)

[Zelandeth]

Picked up the new clutch cylinder for the van.



Weighs a ton for how compact the part is...

Hopefully get that fitted tomorrow.

[Zelandeth]

Despite it pouring with rain, got the clutch slave cylinder fitted this afternoon.



Got to love the access working on this thing. Likewise the fact that fasteners by and large are of high quality so stuff doesn't put up a huge fight when you try to undo it.

Ten minutes start to finish.

Pedal still feels slightly odd so I reckon there's still a bit of air in there. Also not totally happy with the amount of tension left on the hose. I'll address both of these things at some point when it's not raining.

Xantia is still in the garage. Checked in today and confirmed (as I suspected) that it's putting up a fight and they're planning to pull the whole hub to separate things on the bench as required. Good demonstration of exactly why I decided to pay someone else to do it for me. I don't have a nice solidly mounted vice or access to an oxy acetylene torch.

MOT on the van is up tomorrow. I'm torn between just cracking on and getting it ready for a test and leaving it till spring and instead concentrating on the Invacar for a few weeks...

[JPB]

Can this be bled with the cylinders off the van, or gravity bled if not? Many's the time I've bled clutch hydraulics off the vehicle as that way, even the most awkward hydraulic clutch (miniMETRO with clutch damper whose purpose is to trap air and make the repairer swear in front of the customer - not that there's usually a queue ) cannot fail to bleed properly when the cylinders are off the vehicle and on the bench, especially when the master is under the floor and lower than the slave - as it is in late Reliant Rebels among other oddities - but the technique is also valid for a great many pendant style pedals with bulkhead mounted masters and it saves so much time.

[Zelandeth]

If it causes trouble I'll probably just unbolt the cylinder and rotate it so the bleed port is right at the top. Not expecting problems to be honest as it's already at the extreme upper edge - the only bleeding done so far was to open it and let a little fluid run through as it was tipping it down and I didn't have my bleeding kit to hand.

I do remember the one on the Metro being a particular nuisance...

[Zelandeth]

In a frankly bizarre turn of events I found myself with a spare hour this afternoon, so went and made one good door out of two knackered ones.



Previous door looked better but had a totally seized lock mechanism and someone had wrecked the frame around where the exterior handle is fastened to the interior frame when trying to free stuff off.

This one had everything working but had a knackered window frame. So transferred that over...simple enough save for the small detail of having to drill out every single screw involved.

Tomorrow I'll get the glass refitted and do the same on the offside (that door has a bunch of holes in and the skin has separated from the frame, as such is about as rigid as a piece of tissue paper).

[Zelandeth]

Today's achievement: one fully rebuilt and working door.



Refitting the glass single handedly was awkward but I mercifully managed it without dropping anything.

The doors on this thing are really odd in that they drop outwards at the top yet sit on a runner at the base, and slide forward to open. Further reducing the space needed to get in and out of what's already a tiny car. Slotting this into improbably tight spots in the supermarket car park and watching the SUV drivers seethe is going to be fun.

[Zelandeth]

Today I got the window and such stripped off the offside door from the Invacar (after drilling out another 8274662819 screws) and put the good door base on the car.



I'll hopefully get the window frame and glass reinstalled tomorrow. I'm slightly staggered by the whole concept of actually having two functional doors on the thing.

Ran out of patience with having to pump the front tyre up every single time I went to move the car, so finally dug out a spare wheel that actually holds air.



Still needs a full set of tyres before it goes near the road anyway but at least it won't go down in half an hour now! It turns out that it's totally impossible to steer a three wheeler with a flat front tyre...

[Zelandeth]

Had hoped that I'd have finished the Invacar door Rebuild today and would have been able to get the latches adjusted etc...

Decided I'd "save myself five minutes" by leaving the car in the garage.

Yeah...Absolutely stupid idea. Ended up spending far more time fishing tools back out from under the car when I dropped them and clambering around the car to get to stuff. Next time I just back the car out the garage. Ended up wasting so much time that I ended up just getting the frame done and not getting the glass back in.

I really do need to do a quick run around the car and just collect all the bits and pieces that have accumulated there. There are screws, nuts, bolts, tools, brackets, bits of brake pipe and such all over the bloody place and it's driving me mad.

I think the plan for tomorrow if time permits will be to finish reassembling that door then do a bit of a garage tidy as well as the whole right hand side is turning into something of a game of Jenga and I'd rather sort it out before it buries the Invacar. Also being able to open the nearside door will mean I can optimise things a bit.

Had the opportunity to show it to a couple of friends who have been visiting from the US this evening, suffice to say they were both amused and fascinated by it.

Really funny how getting a few jobs done can improve your mojo with a project.

I did have a good moment of inspiration earlier today with regards to sorting the bodywork. One of the biggest problems I've got is that some areas have quite large expanses of glass fibre just missing. The slightly mangled wheel arch and some general scratches and cracks are easy enough to sort. What I need for the larger areas though is - in the absence of an actual mould - is something to give some structure while I rebuild the areas in question. I'd experimented with some ally mesh, cardboard and chicken wire, but found they just didn't have enough strength and it was hard to get the precision I needed.

What I do have still sitting around from some earlier attempts at costume making are some nice chunks of high density closed cell foam. My plan is to sculpt a base to put behind the panel in question which I can then build the glass fibre over. Once there's a pretty thin shell there it's easy enough to actually build up layers over that for strength. Obviously the foam can just be removed once things are done.

Reckon it's got a better shot at working for the rebuilding of the "bumpers" than my previous approach.

[Zelandeth]

Both doors on the Invacar are now pretty much done and the seals have been refitted.

The latches etc will need to be adjusted, and the runners all need to be cleaned and greased etc...but they're mostly done.

Windscreen wiper is next on the agenda. The bolt holding the motor in doesn't want to come out, so I said to make absolutely sure that it's getting power before I faff around removing it... especially as the donor part is similarly disinterested in coming off the other car.

[Zelandeth]

[] Refitted now thoroughly cleaned front indicator lenses. Output is vastly improved now there are no longer insect nests in them.

[] Removed non-functional windscreen wiper mechanism and established the cable has seized inside the guide tube. Have left it soaking in penetrating oil overnight.

[] Rediscovered the fact I still need to properly wire in the new fuse box.

[] Answered the question of whether the dash needs to come out to inspect and if necessary repair any wiring.



That crusty bit of terminal strip is in the main live feed to the ignition switch. Oh, and I can see another terribly done crimp terminal on the ignition switch - through which every milliamp for everything aside from the headlights flows.

Needs properly sorting, especially given the "minimalist" approach to fusing in the car (two fuses total originally).

Should be a good opportunity to swap the dash for one that's not cracked on the top at least.