Today I mostly .....

Any topics of general interest (not lada related), post them here.
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Tom.
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Today I mostly .....

Post by Tom. » Mon Sep 10, 2018 8:28 am

Bought a set of five UK dealer supplied alloy wheels I spotted on ebay.

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Needed sandblasting and powder coating.

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Should look OK on my 2104.

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:)
97 Niva 1.7i
2107 Riva Sport
2104 Estate 1500

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Zelandeth
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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Mon Sep 10, 2018 6:08 pm

Very nice! Well spotted.

Photos required once they're fitted.
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Sat Sep 15, 2018 10:08 pm

Had another episode of the self disassembling and reassembling exhaust on the van.

This time however I was on the open road at the time, and the increase in volume definitely came with an increase in available horsepower, lending credence to my theory that the system is choked up and/or poorly matched to the engine. It is narrower bore than the system on the Riva, which with a 2.3 litre engine breathing (or trying to) through it doesn't seem right.

Still find it amusing that I've been utterly unable to convince the joint in question to come apart when the vehicle is stationary, have to assume things shift a bit when torque gets involved (the rubber mounting blocks the exhaust system sits on are very firm - probably why the bracket on the front box has sheared off and it buzzes like mad at idle.

Stupidly over complicated system anyway...
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Mon Sep 17, 2018 3:07 pm

Yesterday stumbled across a classic car show virtually on my doorstep.

Glad I did as it meant I was able to capture this photo of my van and another that wouldn't have rolled off the production line all that much later.

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That's the first older Autotrail I've seen, fact that it was another T1 Merc of course being a major bonus. It's the really rare colour apparently too. Odd van base too, being a 210 - and automatic. So 2.5 petrol...shudder to think how many miles that doesn't do per gallon!
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:58 am

So ...far too long ago... you may recall that having transplanted my only slightly dodgy brake master cylinder from my spares Invacar, I'd attempted to bleed the brakes only to have one of the metal brake lines immediately pop. I'd also had to swap over one wheel cylinder following a bleed nipple snapping off.

Today I finally decided it was time to stop faffing around and sort the brakes. I knew from prior investigation that the unions on the central distributor T joint were already rounded before I got to them. All attempts to coerce the retaining bolt out failed. I'd hoped to get it off the car and see if I could extract the unions off the car. Not going to be a five minute task at least.

So my backup plan was to grab the same T piece off KP...it was equally disinterested in moving. Frustrated at this, I whipped the front out off KP. It's essentially the same thing but with an extra port with the brake light switch screwed into it. Will do to at least find out what bits of the brakes are working and what isn't, I'll introduce the one on the car to the angle grinder some time soon and sort it properly.

I decided to save some time at this point as I figured the main front to rear line was equally likely to need changing (it's quite hard to actually see as it's tucked up close to the floor and buried among a bundle containing the fuel line, wiring loom etc. KP has had a NOS pre-formed one fitted...however it's incredibly stiff and even with the floor pan and half the body missing was an utter pig to fit. So I decided to just use copper as it's so much easier to work with and I've a heap of it in stock.

It's currently just dangling under the car too...patience for carefully routing stuff was insufficient today, especially when it started raining.

I'm just going to clip it along one of the chassis rails I think. Yes it will be slightly less well protected, but in the same breath it will make the line far easier to give a visual inspection. The pipe on KP originally failed in a location that's totally impossible to see unless you have the car on a ramp or jacked up far enough to be fully underneath.

I was rather annoyed that the bleed nipple on the offside rear and front wheel are well stuck (I'm not reefing any harder on them for fear of shearing them off) despite them both having been open recently. Have soaked them in Plusgas again and will try again soon.

However the one wheel I've properly done hose easily, and I've done the front as far as the Flexi hose banjo bolt.

The result of this? I actually have brakes! Well...a brake anyway...but it's a start and is enough to make getting it back into the garage far less terrifying.

I'll hopefully be able to get the remaining pair of wheels properly bled tomorrow and then see which cylinders need changing. Oh, and it's nearly out of fuel again. Seriously considering adapting a 20l Jerry can as a temporary fuel tank (get a new one and braze on stubs for a fuel outlet and vent) as so far nobody has responded to my requests for a quote to make a new one.
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:46 am

First proper fuel up in the Riva today since sorting the vacuum leak...which has massively improved running and has dropped the natural idle CO level down to 0.003%, fast idle 0.001%.

Still only managed 21 odd MPG. Now I know it's no Prius, and MK is a sod as far as fuel economy is concerned - but I'd be hoping to see at the very least high 20s or low 30s. Heck, the van is managing mid 20s...

Think the next thing to check is the timing, as that being off can kill efficiency quite rapidly... can't see it being a coolant temperature sensor or similar because the CO reading at idle is so spot on.

Being able to read some real-time data at this point would be useful. It's obvious that whatever is amiss is fractional given how well the car is driving, which makes finding.it the old school way a bit tricky!
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Neil Chowney » Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:05 am

I averaged 30.49 mpg over 5000 miles in my 1.5E saloon. All this was local or fairly short journeys.

You sure you've taken the handbrake off? :-)
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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Geoff Stainer » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:20 pm

Funny you should ask Zel that. I asked him the same question when he was talking about the mpg from his former Niva under the General section. Although I referred to a possible handbrake malfunction.
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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:12 pm

Neil Chowney wrote:I averaged 30.49 mpg over 5000 miles in my 1.5E saloon. All this was local or fairly short journeys.

You sure you've taken the handbrake off? :-)
We'll it's the first chance I've really had to get a proper test on this. First off the carb was somewhat sick, then I had ECU issues with the injection setup for a long while, and I've just resolved a subsequent vacuum leak...so it's the first time it's really had a chance to do any better. Milton Keynes is legendary for rubbish economy because it's all 70mph dual carriageway interrupted by a roundabout every 0.9 miles...but even so, I'd hoped to be seeing around 30mpg.

Niva surprised me less averaging around 26mpg, given it had quite knobbly off road tyres on and I tended to drive it like I'd stolen it. Sitting for two hours a day in standstill Aberdeen traffic won't have helped either. This is also why I'm not in the slightest surprised to be seeing low 20s from the Activa..."spirited" driving in a car with an old school, heavily turbocharged engine = laughable mpg. Riva though isn't being driven that hard, so I've been surprised not to see better numbers.

Brakes are all free (first thing I checked), and tyres are correctly inflated, those were two obvious things to check right off the bat...
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Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Wed Sep 26, 2018 11:33 pm

Lada cooling fan today has decided not to kick in while I was stuck in traffic.

Thankfully due to the capacity of the system I was able to escape the queue before the gauge made it past 2/3 so hopefully no harm done. Car is considered immobile until I've had a chance to investigate. Apparently it decided I had too much free time and needed something else for the to do list.

Xantia is currently off the road courtesy of a broken and drive belt (dodgy tensioner), the Invacar only has one working brake and is still a ways from an MOT. So looks like the van will be on front line duty for the next few days!
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Thu Sep 27, 2018 9:10 pm

...Surprise surprise, the fan has decided to play ball again today.

It's an intermittent electrical issue in a Lada, so I've gone and given all the fuses a highly technical wiggle. Hopefully that will see it resolved. Hopefully will have time to properly test it at the weekend.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Tom. » Sun Sep 30, 2018 9:32 pm

Was amazed to still hear people talking on these.

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Came with some Lada stock and tools I bought a few weeks back, I'd forgotten about it until I spotted it yesterday in the garage. Probably just leave it in the Niva for the period look.
97 Niva 1.7i
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2104 Estate 1500

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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Andrew353w » Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:30 pm

Good grief! C.B. radio! I thought that had died decades ago. I'd be fascinated to use it again after .... well, several decades. Mine was fitted to a V.W. Golf back in the late 1970's & my "handle" was "Flying Dutchman"! :D
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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Geoff Stainer » Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:10 pm

When I was younger and still lived at home in the days before mobile phones I fitted a CB in my car, one each in my Dad's, brother's and sister's cars and a base station in the house. It was really helpful. I still have all the sets and antennae in storage at home, thirty years on! God knows why!
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Re: Today I mostly .....

Post by Zelandeth » Sat Oct 13, 2018 9:44 pm

Finally got a chance to look at the Activa to figure out why this is happening to the aux belt.

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First suspect was either the idler or tensioner pulley having died...however they seem fine. Everything is rotating freely and smoothly and there's no play in anything. It also doesn't make sense taking into account the direction of belt travel...a stuffed tensioner would make the belt try to walk off the crankshaft pulley...not the hydraulic pump.

After a bit of head scratching however I've come up with a theory.

I'm pretty sure I don't remember being able to see a shiny edge on the crankshaft pulley originally.

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It does look rather crusty too...

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I *think* what's happened is that the bonded rubber bit has failed and the outer section has started to walk off towards the inboard side, pulling the belt with it. Hopefully finding a new pulley won't be too huge a headache.
LOZ: Oddball cars, lighting information, and anything else I remember to upload!
Current fleet: 02 VW Caddy 1.9SDI, 90 Mercedes 208D Autotrail Navajo, 85 Sinclair C5, 78 Vauxhall Cavalier 1.6GL, 73 AC Model-70.

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