Don't worry Dez. I said you'd get a shot of it and I fully intend to keep my word. If any sale happens, one of the conditions will be that I have an opportunity to get you up to have a drive around before it moves on.
Fumbler, I think the best way to describe it is as a good, solid, usable project car. It needs the wings changed (set are in the garage), some of the wiring and pipework for the EFi system needs to be tidied, the ECU needs to be bolted in place and the glovebox reinstated (plan is to screw it to the underside of the shelf under the dash). The Rotoflex coupling needs replaced (again, have the part) as it vibrates above 60, and it really wants a full exhaust. I think the timing is a bit retarded too.
However it's a car I'd no intention of selling...as such I was expecting it to be a project that I got stuff picked away at over a few years. I didn't even know if the injection conversion could be done when I started out on that mission!
Despite the list above though, I'd happily jump in it tomorrow and drive it from Wick to Land's End and back and know it would do it without missing a beat. She'll quite happily (if noisily) sit all day well in excess of the motorway speed limit, much to the confusion of fellow drivers as you sail past in the outside lane in a Lada.
She's done four hundred miles or so in the last month or so, open road and much city slogging and in some truly torrential rain... didn't phase her in the slightest. Just one of those cars that you can jump in and you know she'll start first touch and just get on with the job at hand.
Yes, the steering is comically vague. Yes it feels like it's set in concrete...likewise the brakes require a good shove and the release bearing in the clutch will grumble when it's cold. It's a flipping Lada!
If you think you might be interested please feel free to ask any questions you might have, or if you're in the neighborhood drop by and take a look - and more importantly have a drive. I'm not in a huge rush to make the sale so sure something could be arranged.
Back to today...
I wanted to do a bit of a driveway rearrangement.
Xantia needed off the lawn. Dez, this is why.
Makes a bloody mess, that's why. Not so much an issue in the summer, but when nothing dries out in the winter it makes a mess no matter how careful you are.
Firstly I needed to move the van. I knew the clutch was still playing up last time I had it out, thinking there was still some air in the new slave cylinder (there was) bleeding it properly seemed a sensible step.
That done, the clutch was still playing up - the clutch acting as though the pedal was being slowly released despite it being held at full travel. Sticking my head in the footwell, you can hear the pedal "hissing" as this happens. Bugger...that will be a new master cylinder needed then. Slave definitely needed changed anyway though (fluid was pissing out of it), so it wasn't wasted effort. I'll get a new master cylinder ordered. At least getting to it won't be a problem.
So we ended up with reversing out the drive being an undignified episode of bunny hopping, but we got there in the end.
It did mean I could finally answer one nagging question: could I actually fit the van and a car on the drive and still get the garage door open.
Yes. Just.
Puts my mind at rest a bit given that overnight the Lada will be boxed in by whatever modern VAG rubbish our housemate has as his current company car, and the van behind the Activa.
Speaking of the Activa, installing the new battery seems to have restored normality.
Old battery dated from 2010...Seems short lived to me, but folks keep telling me that 5-7 years is a normal expected lifespan for a car battery these days.
Moving on, I wanted to get at least something ticked off the Invacar's to do list. Today's target: the oil leak.
This was a bit of an odd one actually as the cause of the leak was the dipstick itself. There appeared to be a pinhole through the core between where the two ends of the loop that makes up the handle went through the cap. As a result the dipstick would continually "bleed" slightly whenever the engine was running.
Solution to this was a thorough degrease followed by the ugliest bit of brazing in the history of the world.
The engine had been running at a fast idle for about 20 minutes when that photo was taken...no signs of any oil seeping out. Will take that as a win. Will need to hit the tinware in that area with some carb cleaner to get rid of the existing oil film.
Was nice when opening the door after it was run for that period and found the interior to be nice and toasty warm...the heater apparently does indeed do what it says on the tin now.
The only remaining oil leak is this minor one:
Reckon it just needs a new copper washer on the sump plug, will deal with that when it gets the next oil change.
Someone elsewhere asked me precisely how the doors on the Invacar work - so I snapped a very brief video from a hopefully informative angle showing how they open/close.
Really need to tidy the damned garage up...
