Despite having a day off I tend to feel that it's necessary to achieve something in a day, even if it's something small. Having a new set of Invacar pulleys sitting in front of me it was obvious what this afternoon was going to involve.
While the secondary pulley was ready "out of the box" so to speak, the primary one needed a quick clean up first to deal with some aluminium oxide on the running surface.
Five minutes with the wire brush later it was much better.
For those playing along at home, here's a clear photo of the markings on the new primary pulley.
Getting the primary pulley off was precisely as much of a pain as I'd expected it to be. Simple reason: there is no easy way to lock the thing in place while you try to crack the retaining nut off. After snapping one large screwdriver and bending another, I finally managed to get it to cooperate.
Yes, that is a crowbar wedging the pulley in place. It later came into its own again while I battered it with a hammer to get the pulley off the shaft. The secondary one slid off pretty easily once unbolted, the primary was really quite a snug fit.
With it off it immediately became apparent that something wasn't right. The reason it rattled was because it appears to be completely devoid of any springs.
It never ceases to amaze me how knackered this sort of setup can be while still working to at least some degree...this felt absolutely fine anywhere below about 40mph!
The new secondary pulley looks to be a different type...but given the source I'm going to give it a shot.
Belt tension was checked after I'd rolled the car up and down the driveway a couple of times (yay...it no longer goes *click-squeak...click-squeak...click-squeak...* while moving at low speed. Seems reasonable.
Was only able to get out for a ten minute test drive this evening before dinner, but immediate impressions:
[] At low speeds the noise levels are hugely reduced. The actual noise you can mostly hear now is nice subdued tuneful transmission whine rather than howling belt.
[] Low speed responsiveness is slightly better. Though I think the tension is a little loose as it's a bit snatchy moving off.
[] Only did one higher speed run, but at 40mph plus things seem massively improved. I'm used to being able to just about hit 40mph between the one roundabout and our turnoff. Today an indicated 62mph (which I imagine is somewhat optimistic) was achieved with less than full throttle and leaving me plenty of time to brake.
Hopefully I'll have the chance to do a better test tomorrow. Initial impressions though are that it's improved things.
Oh, and while halfway round a roundabout the brake fluid warning light which I'd lost was spotted skittering across the floor. It has now been safely stuck in the box of random Invacar bits.
Reassembly was relatively painless, only slightly awkward discovery was that the keyway cutout in the new primary was shallower than on the old one, requiring a rectangular rather than square key. Luckily I've quite a few random shaft keys in the "drawer of random fasteners and similar stuff" and was able to find one that was a perfect fit in a couple of minutes.
Looking forward to a proper test drive tomorrow...after I've cleaned the windows! I did wipe them down briefly...but obviously not very well, and I totally forgot about the wing mirror.
Will 70mph be doable? Let's find out. Not worrying too much about breaking the belt in. Just isn't practical to drive gently for more than a couple of miles here...it's 20-30mph in housing estates or busy distributor roads where you need really to be able to get up to 50mph or so pretty rapidly if you don't want to be flattened.
Do have to wonder what anyone who saw me on the test run thought given the current cosmetic state of the car!
