Stress Puppy

Ferrari to Grimaldi today. 

I almost cried when I started the car. It was terrible - would I make it ? I decided to give it a go - pop and bang all the way to the petrol station. Filling it up I had to wait behind a car but it was ticking over ok. So a good omen.

Then as I accelerated away it was backfiring again and down went the blackness - but it seemed to settle down. Then the same happened again as I accelerated on the A12 but seemed to settle in the end.

It was very tense run but I relaxed a bit by the end. The car dropped on to 7 and a half cylinders after a few miles but kept going and we arrived safely.

Steve thought it was the same plug as before #8, but Roberto said #4 last time. They have also fitted several with out other reports and problems - so am I just unlucky ? Here it is with the dead one top right.

After an hour of them working it was fired up and was almost as bad. I took a deep breath. Then after checking (and correcting the leads) it was better - but still not right. My heart sank.

They cleaned the effected plug a bit more - better but still a bit rough. However changing the plugs to a new set brought the result. Smooth tick over and clean revving. Smiles all round.

The run back was good - the car was car back to its old self - how many times have I said that in the last two years. 

So there we are. It really needs a clean again before I put it away for the Winter but we'll see.

What next ? To celebrate I took the Aston out on a run to save the planet - just like old times.

I noticed the splitter was home to several Ladybirds - odd.

I can only assume they liked the warmth.

So two down and one to go.

Next Patient Please

First task was to check Grange actually did fit four tyres.

Indeed they did. Also having looked at the (brief) guide to the Carplay integration I decided not to bother as it was a bit basic. Better to spend the money on Summer tyres.

Then back to the Ferrari and cleaning the lead (came up well) and cap (not so well). 

Start to finish about 45 mins. 

We’ll see how we get on tomorrow when I run the car over to Grimaldi. I did leave the tools in the boot in case I need to do a road side repair too - call it extra insurance. 

Finally I checked and I’m almost out of fuel though - so that’s a small added complication. 

Next a run to Harkstead for jobs - it was almost dark at 3:00.

Then a hop to the Co-op too as I was feeling lazy.

The Beast Lives !

So did last night's prep work ? The clue is in the title.

Well at 6:20 am it was cold and foggy but the garage had the chill taken off it and the car had been warming since 5:00. I though I'd risk trying to start it after almost seven weeks (the last run was October 8th) and ... YES - with a ROAR I was told.

That saved a lot of stress and hassle. However the run down was stressful enough as the fog closed in and we had a frosty zero degrees on the road. I kept the speed down down at first but by the time the sun rose it was easier too see so I sped up and just pottered along in the heavy traffic. After the very early start I still only got to Grange just on 8:00 am.

What next. After yesterday's history focus I thought I'd continue and visit Barlby Road and do some research. After taking to long way there by tube and foot here we are.

Behind the building was a development on the factory grounds with a plaque saying the first brick was laid back in 1995 - with 'appropriate' road names too. Well tangentially. 

Then off to 'The London Archives' at Farringdon. An easy tube ride it turns out - direct from Ladbrook Grove. I registered and asked them to get me the 1932 Olympia Cars Show Autocar Review from storage.

Then I got a call from Grange - they did not not have the Airplay unit in stock and it is delayed - Dho ! Well back to dropping it off in December.

Returning to the records office I looked through the magazine ... thinking it's the one I have got. [Checking when I got home it was]. However it was an easy tube ride back on the Elizabeth line - I should have changed at Farringdon before to get to Barney Road as it turned out.

I picked up the car as dusk fell and had a very good run home. Was it just me or was it slightly less bumpy on the new tyres ? Er ... the three that they charged me for that was. I must tell them.

So here we are back home again.

One down and two to go.

History Man - with a 'Van'

So SAAB out first thing in a quite chilly 4 degrees - today's job was to collect 20+ box files from Sussex. The run down was OK - just under three hours with a quick stop

Here we are loaded up with the Talbot Archive. I'm sure that will keep me busy for the next few years.

The run back felt much slower and lots of traffic - especially trying to go North on the Dartford Bridge - but oddly took about the same time.

I then got the Aston ready for tomorrow, set the fan on a timer, got the charge pack ready and put a light in the garage.

Finally I unpacked the archive from the car and had a look at a box which had a colour picture of a green Talbot. 

I found it on the TOC web site but not the actual photo. So it's a Talbot AV 105 from 1931 with a BROOKLANDS TOURER body.

I was happy with that - adding value already.

It could be worse

I checked on the Aston in the morning - I'd hoped the battery would be a bit charged but no.

I had to fix the door lock though as it had moved again in the damp and would not lock.

The good news is that the tyres are now all in so I'll take the car down Wednesday for the work. For being so patient I've given it a treat. I'm upgrading the Satnav to Apple Car Play. Whatever that is !

I also sent Grimaldi the pictures of the distributor - he confirmed it's gone again but says to clean it out so it runs a bit better, get the car to him and he'll put an old OEM unit on. So that's more progress.

On the Talbot front Ian Potts has offered to help so I'll move that job forward when I can.

Finally I've also been following Ed and his XJS on the RAC rally - unfortunately he disappeared from the daily results and looking for him I spotted this.

Luckily the reports say he's ok though. So it could be worse on all fronts.

Burnt and Red (Faced ?)

It was a cold, wet and windy day which was not encouraging me to get out and work, but I put the fan on the Talbot first thing and eventually I dragged myself into the garage to look at the Ferrari. 

The bloody car alarm kept going off though - so loud in there. Anyway I took off the cover to get access to the leads and as planned I used the endoscope to get a clear(ish) view of the lead ends and distributor cap. 

I also thought I'd better label them as I went. 

I managed to get to five of the eight for a look. Here is plug lead 3 where I started vs plug lead 8 next to it. 

Spot the difference. Number 3 is clean and bright at both ends and number 8 is burnt out. Oh.

After that 'success' I started Talbot - a bit rough - it's not been running since early October - but settled down. I did notice the charge light did not go out though - so that pointed to a blown fuse.

Yes the fuse was blown but even with new fuses the charge light refused to go out. So have I bugged up the voltage regulator ? I did feel that I'd been there before but at least I can now move the car and put it away for Winter.

Finally a quick Harkstead run in the SAAB to computer jobs, followed by shopping an filling up with petrol for Tuesday's run.

Talbot Time - Again

So back to work early and into a very cold shed now I have the right type of diaphragm - well I hoped so.

It seemed obvious what I had to do - get the new diaphragm seated into the little notch inside the pump body - push and turn. Unfortunately every time I tried it didn’t seem to be in the right position. I decided to mark the top of the diaphragm with a couple of pencil marks - for zero and 90 degrees - to try and help me get it into place.

After a couple more frustrating failures I realised I had to keep the lever arm fixed so that I could push the inverter down into the hole and twist it. Twice it went in and I couldn’t turn it enough to clip under the rim of the fitting. Then of course it got stuck halfway in and then pinged it when I moved moving the lever up and down. This wasn’t gonna be as easy as I’d hoped.

I decided to experiment using the old diaphragm and see if I could get the technique. That just proved it was very difficult and then the old one got stuck again. Eventually after 20 minutes I realised it was irrevocably stuck so I was going to have to do something drastic to get it back out. I decided as it was broken anyway I would just have to cut the top off to give me access to the peg.

I put tape around the base of the pump to prevent any metal dust getting in to and grounded away gently with the Dremel. I managed to cut the top off the old one, but even that took 15 mins of very gentle work. Eventually I’d removed the top and could see the peg had jammed under the mechanism - with a little wiggle it was out. 

I then used the stump of the old diaphragm as a guide and realised I’d been pushing it in far too far. I clean everything inside and out again and went back to fitting the new diaphragm. Now knowing how far to push it was then easy to align and let it sit a little proud of the pump body.

Next I cleaned the threads of the machine screws and reassembled the unit. Making sure I did so in the right orientation having almost put it on back to front. I also added a tad of grease to the newly cleaned threads for good measure. The diagram kept moving in the pump so I put a couple of strips of tape to hold it in place while I got the first screws in. 

That done I went to remove the small tapes - well one of them. The second tape seemed to have disappeared. I looked at the floor and looked at my bench and I couldn’t see it anywhere. I thought then that it was going to interfere with the diaphragm so I looked more closely, only to find it hidden behind the bowl - so the pump came apart again. Third time lucky. I managed to align first one and then the second screw opposite and then proceeded to fit the rest quite successfully.

So all in all almost two hours to reassemble the pump body.

I then went back to the garage and re-fitted the pump to the block - that proved relative easy - I attached all the fuel lines, replaced the coil and even managing to do the nuts up myself. I then refilled the bowl using the priming leaver - that immediately felt different and far more positive. I felt for leaks but could find none so left it to settle for a while.

Later I returned to refit the interior - and job done. So did the car start ?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's exciting episode.

Ended the day with a SAAB run to Harkstead with tools for jobs, in the rain.