Saturday 31 October 2009

Fanbelt joys

The fanbelt went today... I think it had been slipping a little for a while, as I've seen occasional flickers from the warning lights for a couple of weeks...

After a certain amount of head scratching, I piggybacked a pile of cable ties, to keep the water pump in motion... which worked better than I expected.

I'd no idea where the belt I had came from, but it seems that a normal 2.5N/a belt fits fine, indeed if anything it is a better fit than the previous one... the alternator is no-longer bang next to the chassis rail.

Thursday 29 October 2009

A parcel has arrived...

And in it is a shiney new facet pump and a door top...

I can see the glazing of said doortop proving fun, but I'm quite looking forward to not getting a wet right arm when its raining.

I'll have to bob round the supplies of such things tomorrow to buy some thread adaptors to get the pump to take 1/4bsp unions, and then I'll be able to give the waste oil a decent go...

Monday 26 October 2009

The fuel lift pump packed it in on Saturday. It thoughtfully did so about 1/2 a mile from the farm, and I managed to get her to crawl home in short burst of tickover in 1st gear. (it seems that a Tdi injector pump sucks fuel from the tank fast enought for this result...).

I nicked NOG's facet electric fuel pump as a short term fix, good job I keep a selection of 1/4 BSP hose tail fittings in stock. I'm rather a fan of electrical lift pumps, so rather than replace the Tdi pump, I've ordered NOG a new Facet - £35 from Paddocks.

Bleeding the system is now really simple - open fuel bleed screws, turn the ignition on, wait for fuel to emerge, turn key off, close bleed screw. Talk about civilised.

I've also fitted a second fuel filter assembly, with a coolant driven heat exchanger attached - the idea is for this is to be part of the waste oil system. When I've got two Facet pumps, before I fit NOG's new one, I may trial running the waste oil system with its own pump - in the long term, that is probably the best way forward, as it should remove all the problems I've been having with fuel starvation and air leaks from suction pipes. If that works, I can always buy NOG another pump...

I'm supposed to be collecting a major part of a new project a week today - a "new" chassis for the cammo contraption. The plan is for this to get a speed rebuild, pass an MOT, and then be flogged ASAP, in order to relive my bank account. At the current standing, it owes me about £500, so if I keep spending under control, I might actually make a profit. As a bonus, I might actually be able to get my workshop back - NOG is currently camped out inside, and the Cammo thing is in the only available place outside...

Monday 19 October 2009

On Tour

The "Bodgit and scarper" roadshow is coming to your town soon... well maybe.

Saturday I was performing in Penistone cinema, welding a rather rusty 88" for an MOT.(The cinema has been closed for years, and is currently a huge workshop... weird place part of it like a 28dl explore). Another performance is scheduled for tomorrow night, this being in Shaw, on the subject of pumbing up SWB brakes, then I've got to head to east Derbyshire at some point to fault find a 109" which has apparently lost all brakes without warning...

All this means I have done nothing to Bitsa for the past week, apart from drive her. I do need to get some antifreze in, as I'm not sure how much is in, and the nights are starting to get colder.

Sunday 11 October 2009

Update.

Its been a couple of busy weeks recently, so here is a brief update on the current state of the ratty old truck...

Roof is on for the winter. I've finally bolted it down "propperly" rather than with a token couple of bolts. Did you know that spring shackle bolts are ideal for going through the hood sticks bolt holes? Just need spreader plates back on the bottom.

In a (probably) vain effort to do somthing about the amount of oil scattered over the engine bay, I've finally fitted the later 2.25D inlet manifold I got in August. This takes the oil fumes from the oil breather, and hopfully lets it burn them, rather than throwing them all over the engine bay. While changing the inlet manifold, I found that the intake pipe had been chaffing one of the injector pipes, and had made a fair sized dent in it. ( I couldn't belive it - I really have seen it all now). I've put some rubber hose over the pipe in question, to try and protect it.

I'm still playing with waste oil, but its not proving entirely plain sailing. During a trip to Wales last weekend I was running with both tank fuel cock's open. The following morning I started her up, and she died after about 1/4 of a mile, refusing to do anything other than idle. On removal the fuel filer had rather a lot of congealed gunk in it. I'm comming to the conclusion that the stuff needs filtering before use - apparently sticking it through an old pair of jeans is the way to go, or so say the vegi fuel forums. I'm still working on an improved set-up - currently I'm trying to work out where to mount the second fuel filter, and to sort out the related plumbing... A electrical Facet pump is going to be fitted for the waste side - I'm not really keen on the arangement where I'm sucking both tanks with the same lift pump - it's asking for air problems.

The "original" drivers door that I found kicking about in 2006 when putting her together has finally been condemed. The final straw was when the bottom section of the frame fell off, leaving the door as a floating bit of doorskin and nothing else.
I've fitted a replacement door, in a tasteful shade of bright red. I've also fitted a new barrel to the lock of this new door... meaning I can actually lock it. Not that there is much point to locking it, until I've got round to buying a new door top.

The bad news is that, having finally got the transfer box sorted, I seem to have some main box issues instead. There is a rather nasty knocking sporadically evident in most gears, and very noticable in 4th over about 60mph. She is also throwing herself out of 4th rather erratically at motorway speeds - I'm not quite sure yet of the why's and wherefore's - its happened on over-run, while thrashing up the climb at the end of the eastbound M67, and while rolling along on part throttle at about 65mph. Answers on a postcard.
I've aquired a decent gearbox as an insurance policy, although rather less convinently its from a Series 3... I real prefer crash boxes. However beggar's can't be chosers, and it was free. If nothing else, it can be fitted while I rebuild one of my shot IIA boxes (I've a bit of a collection of them now).