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

[Zelandeth]

Which suspension bushes are you after?

I get a lot of aftermarket parts from PFV Online - they specialise in Volvo parts, and have a sister site for Saab.

This is where my still learning my way around the car hampers me a bit. I *think* it's item number 10 in the diagram here: Link.

Not saying I'd be getting bushes from there - but it was just somewhere with a convenient list of what bushes go where in one place.

I need to have a closer look to get a better picture in my head anyway of what's on the car as there are quite a lot more bars, links and such than I'm used to - and from memory the diagram there doesn't really look right.

[Luxobarge]

Ah right thanks, a different setup from the phase 1 cars like mine. PFV Online probably sell the part you need. Just ordered some Meyle engine mounts for mine from them today....

[Zelandeth]

Finally got this little rattle box out for a run today.







Can't believe it's been nine months since she last left the drive. Still makes me smile to drive though.



Given the issues I've had with those fuel filters on the Rover that one will be getting binned and replaced with a better quality one shortly.

Just five miles or so running about locally with no real destination in mine, just enough to blow the cobwebs out and get things properly warmed through.



Brakes are a lot better than I remember, and while still unavoidably bouncy given the small wheels and light weight the ride is surprisingly compliant. The Trabant definitely shakes you around a lot more as a passenger.

I'm holding off making direct performance comparisons yet given I now know how many issues that engine had so it wouldn't really be fair. Once there's a healthy unit installed I'll be able to make more meaningful comparisons there I think.

The Trabant definitely feels orders of magnitude more solidly put together though. The fact the Invacar's body is just an unstressed fibreglass box on top of an (admittedly quite sturdy) platform chassis rather than part of a body frame which encompasses the whole cabin is very much obvious when driving. The impression I get as well is that while they're both fibre reinforced plastics, Duroplast has quite different characteristics to fibreglass in some ways - I reckon it's a good bit less flexible for one. Skinny, bendy indicator stalk aside it's surprised me from square one how fragile the Trabant *doesn't* feel. Especially given the reputation they seem to have.

I do try not to end up making too many direct comparisons between the Invacar and Trabant given that they're really very different cars, made for very different purposes, with very different price tags.  However both being lightweight, plastic bodied, air cooled two cylinder cars it's a bit hard not to.

Still want to give TPA a proper end-to-end inspection and a service before going too much further, but glad she's made it out of the garage at least!

[Zelandeth]

Probably the most obvious thing which ages the Volvo is the somewhat cloudy headlights.



Evidently these are made of rather harder plastic than the last ones I polished (on my much missed Cappuccino), as it's taking forever. We're getting there though.





The rear marker lights on the V70 are LED based.



I'd assumed the front ones would be the same, but peering more closely at them shows there's a W5W incandescent lamp hiding in there.



Gave the engine bay a quick wipe down, mainly to clean up the fine mist of polish I'd managed to cover everything in the immediate vicinity in.



While in there I noticed that a bit of sound deadening was hanging loose on the offside of the engine bay. After scratching my head a bit I figured out that there were no clips involved - there was a self adhesive strips on it. From which the protective backing had obviously never been removed 17 years ago.



With that removed I was able to properly stick the panel back in place. Hopefully it won't be in danger of getting caught in the pulleys or anything like that now.



If only all fixes were that easy!

Had a bit of a crawl around the back of the car and have identified the bush that's definitely in need of replacement. This one.



Which has been booked into the garage to have done. I think this is a job which could be DIYable, but given the fun and games potentially involved in getting those bolts out I think that can be someone else's problem - someone with a proper lift. Just a shame they're booking five weeks out!

[Zelandeth]

It's been very quiet for the most part in terms of the fleet lately. Waiting for a couple of house tasks to be sorted and paid for before I chuck money at the Trabant & source a new radiator for the Rover. Volvo goes into the garage to have the rear suspension bushes changed tomorrow. Just for variety, TPA was out and about again today.



In a bit of a change of pace she did get a bit of attention today. Just due an oil and filter change, nothing exactly groundbreaking.



I do appreciate having the separate drain for the filter housing as that allows a completely drip free change to take place despite the inverted filter.



No metal whatsoever on the magnet this time round.

Topped back up and good for another while little while. All 1.75 litres it takes to refill from empty.



Been good to get some use out of this car again today. Has been too long since she was out regularly.

[rich.]

It's great to see you're driving tpo again! I recently went to Gloucester car show.. it was good to see Ferraris Porsche etc but I really enjoyed seeing the cars that were once everywhere but are now all gone.. I even saw a tidy nissan prairie!!

[Zelandeth]

It's great to see you're driving tpo again! I recently went to Gloucester car show.. it was good to see Ferraris Porsche etc but I really enjoyed seeing the cars that were once everywhere but are now all gone.. I even saw a tidy nissan prairie!!

Absolutely the same for me. Most of the really exotic cars I'll usually end up walking straight past save for some of the 50s and 60s Americana because they are so often such an occasion to see.

I never really saw Invacars as such a piece of street furniture because I was brought up in the middle of nowhere, but I do hear stories from plenty of people who do.

-- -- --

As it was a pleasant day and I was "off the clock" for want of a better term, I pulled TPA out for the errand run today.





This was actually meant to be a quick run as I only had a couple of things on the list - but somehow I ended up having wandered around for somewhere around 40 or 50 miles by the time I arrived back home.

Two niggles turned up. One occasion she cut out. This was immediate, with no warning, and immediately restarted. I'm pretty sure this was down to scratchy contacts in the ignition switch as you can very visibly make the lights on the dash flicker by wiggling the key. Think some contact cleaner may be in its future. Failing that I'm at least 50% sure I have a spare floating around somewhere.

Second was an odd clicking noise coming from the front now and then after traversing a bump. This wasn't too hard to track down.



The mud guard has come detached at the rear edge. The noise was it bouncing around. This guard has quite a bit of corrosion at the rear edge and the bolt has just pulled through it. Given that this does also actually as a brace for the front of the shell it does want properly sorting. For now though I've gone with a very low tech solution and secured it with a cable tie.



Has been really nice to get this car out for a proper run again.

[Zelandeth]

It's been a while since I did any silly size comparison photos of an Invacar in the wild. So here's a picture of a Mini and a small car.



And next to my other small, two cylinder air cooled car. Not words I ever expected to be saying.

[rich.]

Any luck with the engine rebuild?

[Zelandeth]

Any luck with the engine rebuild?

Waiting patiently.

We've had a couple of big household bills arrive so collecting parts for this has been on hold for a bit. I *do* have a bit of money coming my way from some inheritance, though that's stuck in administrative Hell at the moment as despite my Nan having all of her ducks in a row and neatly labelled, it's taking absolutely forever to get the probate sorted to the satisfaction of Barclay's (we're five months in and counting at this point). Once that arrives I'll be pushing the button on getting a replacement power unit ordered.

Trying to rebuild the original just was a non starter. Not least because once you remove the damaged/worn out bits, you're left basically with the lower crankcase half, one cylinder head and the con rods (which given that it seems that there's little to no chance of getting the crank assembly rebuilt in the UK any more is kinda irrelevant). In the interests of not having this turn into a longer and more drawn out project than it already has, I'd really like to just get a unit in that I can just bolt my ancillary components on to and drop into the car and go. Yes it's a more expensive option, but I have a horrible feeling that if I end up trying to source all the individual bits myself I'll still be sitting here with a box of bits in the conservatory and a broken car at the same time next year.