Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Gibbo2286]

Plenty in the charity shops.

[myglaren]

Not a place I would have considered.

[Gibbo2286]

I have an old friend who is a charity shop addict, she's always looking for support tights but in general the ones on offer are more in the fine fashion bracket.

[Zelandeth]

I do not handle heat well. Anything north of low 20s C, I'll be hiding in an air conditioned room please. I'm from Aberdeen. I wasn't built for heat.



Perfect day for working on a car then.

In we go.





Simple enough, couple of the nuts on the underside of the manifold were a bit of a pain to get to, especially the one directly above the generator, but nothing too bad. Helpfully all those involved are sizes which match metric, so I could use the less clunky tools.

The front lower nut holding the carb onto the manifold though still tried my patience. I really need to get a stubby spanner for that one as the brake servo and it's bracketry gets right in the way.

Thankfully everything unscrewed without any protest - I was slightly concerned about the hazard of studs breaking, but no worries there. About a third of them unscrewed from the head rather than the nut coming off, but I'll take that over a struggle any day. I kind of wish they had all done that as it would have made scraping the gasket off a heck of a lot less fiddly.

My theory was that the gasket had failed around the rearmost lower coolant passage, so finding this was a bit of a morale boost.



What then followed was the best part of two hours of scraping.

Shown here at about the 80% stage I think.





Obviously I dug as much of the gunk out of the head and manifold as I could, but there really wasn't much to be honest for a car of this age. Few bits of flaky crud, but nothing too bad.

I was originally planning to leave it ready to put back together and call it a day today. However then bloody mindedness, mindless determination, stupidity (delete as you think appropriate) took over.

Roughly an hour later.



I reckon at least half of that time was spent bolting the carb back on. That one nut is absolutely incredibly fluffing awkward to get to.

I got everything back together and had time to get the cooling system bled, up to temperature and a quick test run round the block.

Result?



I'll take that. We had two oil leaks pretty immediately evident. One (which you can see there) was from the filter housing retaining bolt on the oil filter.



Which after being tightened up a smidge further seems to have stopped.

The other one is I'm 90% certain is just coming from the rear of the exhaust valve tappet cover which I'm waiting on a new gasket for.

After the car had been sitting for about 15 minutes there was one drip from the rear of the engine which looks to be oil rather than coolant - and on a 60 year old Rover I'll call that entirely acceptable I think.

We'll only really be able to tell properly after I get the car out for a proper run, but initially things look hopeful at least.



This took me basically the whole afternoon - and I now am utterly broken. I really ought to have been hiding inside rather than messing around with this nonsense on a day this stupidly hot.

[mickthemaverick]

Perseverance personified!! Well done and a decent result by the look of it!

[CitroJim]

Excellent work Zel, especially in the prevailing conditions

[Zelandeth]

Had the Rover out this afternoon for about an hour or so of bumbling around running errands.

Good news, it's no longer peeing oil everywhere now the oil filter housing bolt was nipped up. It's also no longer peeing coolant out.

There is however still a coolant weep in that general area - it's not enough to be an issue I reckon as the amount of scale in the general area suggests it's been weeping for years if not decades. Plus before it started pouring out of that blown gasket there didn't seem to be any excessive water usage.



Pretty sure the only reasons we would be seeing water creeping out there is either a crack or porosity issue in the block. I can't *feel* anything, but the water appearing there (it never actually drips, even after the engine is stopped) tells me there has to be something there.

Given this is a wet liner engine and has a cooling system capacity somewhere in the region of 15 litres, so provided the loss doesn't become an issue from either a manageability or environmental standpoint I'm just not going to worry about it. Doesn't strike me as the sort of issue that's likely to suddenly get worse overnight. Just keep an eye on it I reckon.

Couple of folks have pointed out that this is exactly the sort of engine and sort of issue that old school Radweld was really designed for...I mean it's not like this thing has a microchannel radiator or anything like that like on a modern car for it to clog up.

I usually run a mile from the stuff, but then again that's because I've usually been trying to dig it's residue out of 80s and 90s cars where someone has stuck in stuff like that to try to fix a totally stuffed radiator or water pump...this is a slightly different animal.

PS. Yes the sealant is a horrible mess. It was so hot that it was basically setting the moment it touched the metal making it really hard to get as thin and even a layer as I wanted. I used a bit because the bottom of the manifold was quite pitted in a few areas so figured it was warranted. It's tidy up top where you can see it...I didn't have the patience to get in there with a rag and solvents to clean underneath the manifold

[CitroJim]

Pleased to see all is massively improved Zel Now is the time to get stuck into the Renault now the weather has turned horribly cold again

I'm not about this week but happy to help as and when I can...

[Zelandeth]

Pleased to see all is massively improved Zel Now is the time to get stuck into the Renault now the weather has turned horribly cold again

I'm not about this week but happy to help as and when I can...

Sadly Autodoc haven't even dispatched any of the parts yet!

[CitroJim]

Sadly Autodoc haven't even dispatched any of the parts yet!

That's unusual. When did you submit the order?

[Rp0thejester]

Online Automotive are really quick delivering parts within 2 days. They advised me that I ordered the wrong springs and rather than them send and be returned they contacted. Great service. If looking to get parts quick I would definitely recommend. Also, when dealing with insurance companies, my friend totaled his C8, they paid out and he bought it back off them at a reduced price to sell for parts. Would that of been an option for your VW Bus?

[Zelandeth]

Sadly Autodoc haven't even dispatched any of the parts yet!

That's unusual. When did you submit the order?

Has been the same last couple of times I've done larger orders, has taken them a few days to dispatch anything.

-- -- --

Something I'd been wanting to check on the Rover was the timing, especially since I'd had the distributor off and had set it back using naught but Mk I Eyeball and confirming it sounded happy enough.

The actual timing mark on this engine is on the flywheel according to the manual...not interested in even trying to see that.

Number 1 plug out, use a screwdriver to show me when the piston is at TDC, then out with the paint marker.



Things are correctly lined up when viewed in line with the edge of the fan shroud.

Yes that's the outside of the harmonic balancer (no idea if it's got a rubber damper in), but we're not using this to set up anything critical - I just want to see what it's set to, confirm the mechanical advance is working properly and tweak it a bit if need be. It's not like I'm setting up the cam timing after having the engine apart or anything like that.

This is what the plug looks like. Seems healthy enough to me.



Hooking these leads up this way around felt so, so wrong.



This is where I ran into problems. Specifically that my timing light appears to have died. It's still firing, but the advance control does precisely nothing.



The shown timing is all over the shop too... though that seems to be the equipment rather than the car. I checked the Renault too for reference and it was similarly showing me to have just over 60 degrees +/- 20 advance at idle...which I know is utter nonsense.

I know I have another older, better quality timing light buried in the garage somewhere - however the where is a very valid question! Of course this is exactly the sort of job the Sun motor tester would be ideal for if it were within range of the garage rather than still sitting in my conservatory. That would let me see what the dwell angle is as well and if it's stable - which given how smoothly the engine idles I reckon it must be.

I'll see if I have a chance to have a rummage later in the week and will take another look if the other timing light turns up. Just irritating when tools you've only used a handful of times go faulty. I'll obviously pull this one apart and see if it's fixable - if it's just the potentiometer having gone open or something like that it shouldn't be hard.

Have to run up to Leicester for the dentist tomorrow, and am seriously considering taking the Rover. Would be nice to get it out on a reasonable run since (hopefully) fixing several leaks to get a bit of confidence built up again.

[CitroJim]

I think I may still have a timing light Zel...

All best for the dentist trip and may both car and teeth be good

[CitroJim]

Meant to say, mixture looks good and on an engine like the Rover's it's quite reasonable to set the timing by ear. If you find it tends to detonate (pink) accellerating under heavy load then retard it a bit...

[Zelandeth]

Meant to say, mixture looks good and on an engine like the Rover's it's quite reasonable to set the timing by ear. If you find it tends to detonate (pink) accellerating under heavy load then retard it a bit...

Yeah, it's more I'm just curious to see what it's actually set to and to get a proper look at how stable it is and whether the advance mech is working properly given there's sign of a bit of wear in the distributor. To be fair, there's sign of wear just about everywhere on this car!

With a dentist appointment this morning (finally caught back up with issues that arose during the missed checkups during lockdown!) obviously being something I didn't want to risk missing I didn't want to take chances. So the obvious thing to do was to take the Caddy.



Yeah we all saw that coming didn't we?

I figured it was about time we did a bit of an acid test for this car. Generally besides the occasional moment of darting out of a busy junction and getting myself under way quickly I'd been being pretty gentle with her. I reckoned with the amount of leaks and such I've now sorted, and the ignition system seeming to be happy enough now it was time to take the kid gloves off. So we went up the motorway, but we *properly* went up the motorway, not sitting behind a lorry at 56mph, no, we were going to properly make progress.

In all about 120 miles done today, and especially on the way back we were getting a good bit of a hussle on as the traffic was lighter. Trip was showing 2.6 miles or thereabouts when I set out.



Coolant level once we were back home and things had cooled down a bit?



Right where it should be. Oil likewise hasn't moved, despite my knowing there is still a bit of a leak there from the exhaust tappet cover.

I'll take that as a result.

An observation too. Given how old the design of this thing is, she has absolutely no business whatsoever being so happy at modern motorway speeds. Wind noise really is the only thing which intrudes into the impression of effortless progress. No vibration or anything, temperature sat rock steady where it always does...She's quite happy to howl along in juggernaut mode.

Next task: Try to secure the bleeping wing mirrors so overtakes aren't quite such a hassle. Oh, and service the speedometer (the issue is hardened grease in the trip counter drive) so it doesn't wobble so much. Those are both relatively minor things which will provide a decent quality of life improvement I think.

The capacitors I ordered a couple of days ago for the Toshiba T1600 arrived today...in a far, far bigger box than I expected. Turns out I made a bit of a silly blunder.

This is what I was *expecting* in the delivery plus a bottle of contact cleaner.



Last time I was working on one of these computers I was lamenting my lack of a decent soldering station (again). So was looking at a few options - and had stuck what basically seemed to be the yardstick to which most of the options were being compared in my basket on CPC so I didn't forget what it was.

Yeah...it was still in my basket when I checked out yesterday wasn't it? And I just clicked through the checkout screen on autopilot as it's a seller I use all the time and it was just a few quid worth of caps.

So in addition to the caps this was also in the box.



Oops.

Oh well, that's one way to make the decision for myself and stop procrastinating about it!

Also yes, that is indeed a random Sinclair Microdrive just sitting on my dining table. Why wouldn't there be one there?

Will need to find a proper place for it on the desk obviously.



Fisher Price colour scheme aside, it actually feels really nicely made and immediately I'm kicking myself for not buying it about ten years sooner. The little Iroda gas iron I've had since about 2003 is way less clunky than your average mains iron, but this thing is several orders of magnitude lighter and easier to manipulate - the lead is to light and flexible that you basically don't know it's there.

Documentation that comes with it contains a *complete* spare parts listing...yep, this is definitely a cut above the £30 Amazon specials.

Got about halfway through recapping the PSU board this evening before running out of brain power. Yes the new iron definitely helps, but these boards are still an utter pain to work on. The capacitor leakage seems to completely delete any ability to get things to take solder properly, including the existing solder so even getting existing stuff off the board is a chore. Especially as there are a bunch of SMD components on the underside of this thing so you need to be bloody careful not to break something with a tiny slip of the iron.

Hopefully get it finished tomorrow. Then I can actually at least *attempt* to power up a T1600 for the first time. I'll then have to see if I can make one more working supply out of the several broken ones I've got. I do have one which hasn't blown up but is massively corroded...so I *might* be able to cannibalise that one for parts. I've got six of the bloody things here...and the power supply is the only real headache on them*.

* Well aside from the weird ass JVC hard disks - though the T1600 also came in a variant using a standard Conner IDE drive, just used a different plug in disk controller. I've got two of those and four of the JVC ones, so if I get stuck I can throw one of the Conner drives in. I'd rather use the JVC ones though as they make a very particular noise during activity, plus the spindle motor is far less grating at idle than on the Conner ones which all sound like they have bearings made of gravel. Though I do have to give them credit for being pretty damned dependable...hence the fact I've got a small pile of spares.