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What did you do to your car today?
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
Posts: 3785
Location: The Somerset Levels

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 1:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jacked up the front end of the Commer this morning, we have stripped and cleaned the front hubs, brake shoes are fine with plenty of life left in them. The brake hoses need replacing so I will now check through my parts lists to source replacements.
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a pain this electric fuel pump is becoming. I've taken the decision to swap all the rubber fuel hose for R9 spec hose in anticipation of E10 petrol, so I bought 1m of it with the intention of doing both cars eventually.

Some may remember that I broke down on the way back from the first show with this car, and it turned out to be because the fuel hose clips weren't gripping properly, allowing the pump to suck air. So I bought new hose clips and fitted them, along with a few other improvements. But, the new fuel hose is slightly bigger diameter and the new ones won't fit on it, so I've had to swap them all back again. Also, because it's got thicker walls, it's much less flexible and much more difficult to push onto things like fuel filters, the pump unions, and pretty much everywhere. I've spent the entire day doing this and it's still not quite ready.

And, to cap it all, top-quality fuel pump supplier Facet supply an earth wire with red insulation, and an integral power supply line with black insulation! And no, I haven't bought a positive earth pump by mistake.
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1976 Vauxhall HP Firenza, 1976 Vauxhall Sportshatch (x2), 1986 Audi coupe quattro, 2000 Audi TT
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
And, to cap it all, top-quality fuel pump supplier Facet supply an earth wire with red insulation, and an integral power supply line with black insulation! And no, I haven't bought a positive earth pump by mistake.


Of the four Facet pumps in my spares box, two have wires, both the same colour.
One even has some sort of round disc like electrical component [like capacitor to look at?] screwed to the side....
Pos earth? Neg earth? AC/ DC?
It clicks, it thumps, and fuel flows!!
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apparently, this is because Facet are an American company, and they use black for the power supply line.
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1976 Vauxhall HP Firenza, 1976 Vauxhall Sportshatch (x2), 1986 Audi coupe quattro, 2000 Audi TT
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Facet were aligned with Purolator, and both companies have been bought & sold over the years.

For a time, Facet was the trade name for these pumps in UK/Europe, but they were made/sold under another name in the USA.....I cannot recall what this US name was {without digging out one of the US pumps I acquired, cleaning it up and looking? Smile }

I'm not certain, but I understood Facet to have started out as a European maker?
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, everything is connected up, the fuel pump is pumping and it's getting through the fuel filter OK, so it must be coming through the pressure regulator. Nothing appears to be leaking. But, it won't start. I've charged the battery but it just cranks over.

At the weekend I'll probably try to get it out of the shed and run through some other checks. It's always a bit reluctant to start after being left for a while, somehow I was hoping the electric pump might help with that. It'll be something little, I hope. The points have closed up before now, so they need checking.
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lowdrag



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 1585
Location: Le Mans

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, of the three apostles, you have at least one then. You have fuel, but air and spark perhaps not. Timing? Are the plugs wet? And we still seem to have plenty of air.

I changed the tyres this week, and they were in a shocking state. Not worn out but old and very deformed. Car wanted to steer right all the time, and just before I got to the garage I could hear a noise from the front offside. It was one huge blister touching the caliper. They had turned out to be 10-years old whereas I'd have bet against that, but one forgets I suppose. They were fine up until I put the car away for the winter so just one of those things. Anyway, the road home was as if power steering had been added, and the car tracked dead straight. Whatever, a good result.
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alastairq



Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1950
Location: East Yorkshire

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The other day, I decided the Dellow needed a bit of a ''seeing-to.''
Aside from one float chamber deciding to flood itself, which was soon cured by a bit of cleaning and 'adjustment.'
I noted that the replacement floats I had, in plastic [with the moulded-in fixings and 'stops']....allowed the float to travel a bit higher up [IE a higher fuel level. Not a bad thing with today's petrol]..On this one particular float chamber, the float would occasionally jam under the lid....so I reverted everything back to the old school system.

[New plastic floats not really ''adjustable'']

Anyway, whilst at it, I decided to try a lighter spring on one of the distributor bobweights...se if I couldn't get the advance to get 'all in' a bit sooner? Seeing as the car weighs a fraction of what a Ford Pop does?

All went well, until it came to starting!
Much banging back [trying to set fire to my sleeves]...but essentially, not a sausage.
I checked the timing marks, etc. Then the log hit my head. I had managed to insert the spindle that pivoted the bob weights, back in 180 degrees out.

So the rotor arm was 180 degrees out!

I wasn't actually aware this could happen [on a Ford-cum-Lucas distributor]

10 minutes spent swapping all the plug leads around...a bind because they were held in by plastic screw caps.....and the old beast fired up, sweet as a nut!
The upside is, the plug leads are now in a much better location than before.

An odd but basic mistake. I mean, how could the timing get 180 degrees out, without actually moving anything??? D'oh!
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.
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Penguin45



Joined: 28 Jul 2014
Posts: 381
Location: Padiham

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Perhaps it wasn't you? After all these years, you may have put it back the right way round! Cool
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Had another go at starting the hatch today, it's trying now but not quite there yet. I've checked the points gap, I've put my spark tester on it which shows a weak spark (or it might be that it just looks weak), tried a couple of different coils, swapped the king lead, and stuck four new spark plugs in.

I think another decent charge of the battery might get it going, but I still want to try to sort out why it's so reluctant. It might of course just be because it's only done a few hundred miles since the rebuild, but I don't remember the Firenza being so stubborn. That said, the Firenza has Lumenition and that rules out any points or condenser issues.
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lowdrag



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 1585
Location: Le Mans

PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I bought one of my cars 20 years ago it had Lumenition fitted. I was a bit doubtful because I'd never seen it before, but it has been a fit-and-forget system which has never let me down. It has one curious fault to watch out for though. It can happen, if the engine has stopped at just the right spot in the cycle, that on turning on the ignition the car will start itself. When warm of course, but I always make sure the car is in neutral now.
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got it running today, finally. Not by doing anything specific, unfortunately. I charged the battery while doing a job on the modern car, tried cranking it with no success, sprayed a bit of Easy Start, no different, then tried again and it just jumped into life. I do need to check a few things as it's not as smooth as it used to be, so perhaps something has shifted somehow.

Anyway, it ran up to warm, and then started again after a bit of a rest. But then it was always OK at that, it's starting after a few weeks that it has trouble with.

I'm just disappointed that I didn't find a problem and fix it. By the time I had got it running there wasn't time to move all the stuff in front of it in the shed and get it out.

Lowdrag, my Firenza had Lumenition fitted to it when I bought it in 1986, and it's been great other than one spell of unreliability which was down to a bad connection in the loom. I'm not used to points and condensers and things.

Job for this week is to re-arrange some stuff in the shed so that I can get the Crypton machine down to the car as I find that quite helpful in diagnosing stuff.
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2021 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Finally used the free welder that I picked up off the side of the road during lockdown II. My normal welder stopped feeding the wire, and rather than trying to sort it out I took that as a sign that I should use the "new" one. I had to stop using the roll of wire that was in it because it had rust spots and they were causing trouble. Seems OK, but I have to get used to the settings all over again as it's different to the previous one.
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
Posts: 3785
Location: The Somerset Levels

PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2021 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

With the help of a large forklift from the company next doir to our unit we managed to lift the wooden body off our Commer. The body looks ok but is pretty rotten throughout.

I think my carpentry skills will be called upon again soon...
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MikeEdwards



Joined: 25 May 2011
Posts: 2463
Location: South Cheshire

PostPosted: Fri May 21, 2021 6:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I finally got around to swapping the cars around, so the Audi is now temporarily on one side and covered up while I crack on with the Sportshatch project. The nearside seems in some areas to be better than the offside, but it's all a bit superficial. It's had a sill fitted, but it hasn't been done very well so it will have to come off. It's also got a lot of little patches fitted really badly and with up to 15mm thickness of filler over them. I broke the end off my chisel getting some of it off, so I've got a shorter chisel now.
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