time to coax Flopsy back into life

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time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 25 Apr 2011

hi all,

last Autumn, Flopsy failed her MOT (what a surprise :roll: ) and one of the
things she failed on was the hydrocarbons on the emissions test. For ages now
the car has stunk of unburnt fuel coming out of the exhuast, and has run like
a bag of poo, but no amount of twiddling and tweaking and throwing money at
the car has ever sorted it, and I've also been p'd off with getting less then 20mpg
when Phill, RichH, and everyone else seem to get mid-high 20's out of theirs.

One possibility, was that an injector was faulty, but today Phill did the 'jam jar'
test on all the injectors to check the spray pattern, (as suggested by RichH,
and they are all fueling fine, and delivering exactly the same amount of fuel,
so faulty injectors have been ruled out (which is good, as they aint cheap! lol).

I've been chatting to Jason Monk, and at his suggestion today I rang Tourettes
Tony, to ask his advice one what could be wrong (RichH unavailable at the mo).
Tony has given me a few good pointers and clear explanations as to his
reasoning. He's told me the correct set ups for the brass screws in the throttle
body based on the rest of my engine set up, and has also advised on where to
adjust the CO to (picking up a new exhaust gas analyser tomorrow). He also
advised on a good service, including using 20W50 oil as its thicker and more
suited to older engines, unlike the modern synthetic oils.

I will keep you all posted as to how things go, but all being well I'll finally, after
9 years of ownership, have the car running right - if not, I'll be back to square
one and going ahead with my plan to change the whole engine lol.

some piccies:

Prior to starting work (next to another project, a 1986 Talbot Samba Cabriolet)
[Image: 200320113067.jpg]

today:

result of injector test (dont old baby food jars come in handy ! lol)
[Image: IMAG0048.jpg]

Injectors back in, next job a full service and proper tweaking
[Image: 250420113395.jpg]

Scribbled down notes taken whilst talking to Tony Smile

At the end of the day, all I want is a car that runs right, and does slightly more
then 17mpg - after 9 years of ownership, is that really too much to ask? :roll:

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Chris P - 25 Apr 2011

Hi Claire, it might be worth having a "quick" chat with Dave Howarth, he was telling me of a similar problem that vin 522 had back in 1985......when he nearly bought it! Faulty cold start valve that failed to turn off properly.

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Matt Clark - 25 Apr 2011

Guinney1971 Wrote:after 9 years of ownership

Ack. I remember you buying it! It can't be that long...!

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 26 Apr 2011

Thanks for the info Chris, will see about changing that and poss the CPR too.

Matt, I bought Flopsy 'spares or repairs' via Ebay from a chap in San Diego in July 2002,
and I picked her up from Tilbury Docks on 17 October 2002. She's been something
of a rolling resto ever since lol

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 01 May 2011

had a really good productive day today working on the car! Big Grin

I changed the oil and filter (used Wynns engine flush first), changed the oil
pressure switch, air filter and spark plugs and the engine is now running much
better, and doesnt 'hunt' like it did before.

We have found the source of the main oil leak, it looks like a camshaft oil seal
just behind the air con belt tensioner bracket, so although it looks fiddly, it
should be fairly easy to sort. Houston sell the oil seals for about 80p, so I should
be able to order one locally quite easily.

Basically, next job, is to use our new exhaust gas analyser and see what the
emissions are like - unfortunately we cant test the hydrocarbons, but at the
moment its not stinking of unburnt fuel like it did before.

Other jobs to do include sorting out some wiring (smoking from relay compartment
when fans on Shock

), clearing out all the crap from under the bonnet and
inside the car (its amazing how leaves get in every orifice on a car....), and
to re-instate my '4 brake lights', for some reason when it was a PJ Grady it was
put back together with just one light each side, which I think looks abit pants lol.

Oh, and the chassis..... OMG.... I'll post some pics up later, but the OS rear box
section is not pretty............ puff pastry anyone? Shock

However, all in all, I'm really pleased with what I got done today - it makes a
change for a job to go right on that car lol

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Nick H - 02 May 2011

Wish I had spotted this earlier Claire. I have a exhaust gas analyser. Your welcome to borrow it.
I used it once on LJH.
It sounds like it is the CO that is out on Flopsy. LJH was chucking lumps of coal out the back. 9% CO. It should be just less than 1%.

I got fed up with asking garages to sort the CO. They had not got a clue.
The procedure is in the workshop manual. It reads more complex than it is.
The results are great when you get the CO spot on. I was amazed how far the car will go on a tank :lol:
Remember to seal over the adjuster with tape or something as it needs to be airtight when you have finished, and don't adjust with the engine running. Those are the two main tips I remember for this job.

Regards
Nick H

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 02 May 2011

Hiya Nick, only saw your post tonight, after I'd already finished working on the car.

Ok, so today, I decided to do a test on Flopsy with the new gas analyser to see what
the CO was reading and make further adjustments as necessary.

I did everything as per the instructions, letting the car warm up, and then calibrating the
analyser before doing the test.

A few tweaks were required, but basically my car (with a DMCL Stage 1 upgrade
done in 2006) is now running very happily at 1.7% CO with the three brass screws
on the throttle body roughly 1.5 turns out from closed each. Now, just because
this setting seems to be good for my car, doesnt mean it will be right for every
car, and lets face it, after 30yrs, varying mileages and driving conditions, etc, every
car is probably going to be different in some way.

So, I'll ring the MOT man tomorrow and arrange to get Flopsy back in for MOT and
see if my labours this weekend have paid off. From reading the gas analyser manual,
the 'hunting' that my car was experiencing is a symptom of the mixture being too rich,
so if it no longer hunts, then theoretically the car isnt running too rich anymore
- I guess the proof of the pudding will be when I take her for MOT and we'll see
if the hydrocarbons are back down to MOT standard (MOT failure was at
1800ppm, limit is about 1200ppm).

Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble on, and thank you to everyone who has
offered words of advice and explanation, including RichH, Nick Hannaford and
Martin Gutkowski.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Nice new parts Smile

New airfilter
[Image: 010520113547.jpg]

Quite handy having a set of steps to hang the back end of the car off of! lol
[Image: 010520113543.jpg]

View of underneath the car - possibly another oil leak from the gearbox....
[Image: 010520113551.jpg]

Flaky pastry chassis section... not good!!
[Image: 010520113555.jpg]

Not entirely sure the undereath of the air filter box should look like this!
[Image: 010520113558.jpg]

Me removing the sump plug (just to prove I did do most of the work lol)
[Image: IMAG0055.jpg]

Some of the crud that came out with the used engine oil
[Image: 010520113564.jpg]

Nice new oil filter in place
[Image: 010520113560.jpg]

Old oil pressure switch ready to come out
[Image: 010520113566.jpg]

Nice shiny new one fitted Smile

Old spark plug no.1
[Image: 010520113572.jpg]

Nice shiny new spark plug ready to replace it
[Image: 010520113573.jpg]

Me removing the spark plugs
[Image: 010520113574.jpg]

Service finished!
[Image: 010520113575.jpg]

Gas analyser connected up
[Image: 020520113582.jpg]

Gas analyser showing 1.6% CO (it settled at 1.7% CO)
[Image: 020520113583.jpg]

This afternoon I cleared about 4 tonnes of random rubbish and leaves out of the
car, so tomorrow if I get time I'll give it a wash (or I might just take it to the
local Lithuanian car wash on the way to the MOT lol - sometimes its not worth
getting your hands dirty for the sake of a fiver)

cheers,

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Domi - 03 May 2011

Great job, thanks for the pic!

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 03 May 2011

you are very welcome Domi Big Grin

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Chris Williams - 03 May 2011

Pahhhh, Staged photo's indeed... :wink: :wink: dont believe a bit of it. a woman getting her hands dirty indeed :wink: :wink:

cue, oily finger marks around my neck :lol:

Only kidding. glad your getting it sorted out

Chris

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 03 May 2011

lol, you come here and say that Chris!! I was covered in oil and crap on Sunday Mr Green

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 06 May 2011

well everyone, I am chuffed as nuts to report that today Flopsy passed her MOT!!!! Big Grin

However, in true Flopsy style, the day was not without its dramas, and she did
break down on the way to the MOT (I didnt even make it out of the village lol).

She was very spluttery going down the road, which I put down to being low on
fuel (only had about a gallon in the tank). I stopped at the Post Office to drop
my parcels off, and when I came back out she wouldnt start. Turning over fine,
just not firing. So, I got my RAC card out, and rang them, and they were great
and were with me very quickly (as I had Kez in the car with me).
Patrolman decided to get some fuel and see if that would coax it into life, but no joy.

Tested for a spark, and there was indeed a very healthy spark. Tried jumping the
fuel pump relay, still no good. So, he made up some connecting wires, and put
those between a battery and the fuel pump wires, and hey presto, the car
started straight away. Hmm... so there's no power from the relay to the pump.

Time to check the fuses, and low and behold, a 20 amp fuse was looking rather
sorry for itself. Changed the fuse, and Flopsy burst into life on the first turn of
the key.

The original MOT station didnt have a replacement slot for me, so I decided to
try the Halfords service centre in Derby as I had a half price MOT voucher for there.

To my surprise, they could fit me in, so I drove over to Derby (via the petrol
station - major ouch!!), and presented the car, somewhat nervously, for test.

Just after 5pm, the test was done, and I wondered how she'd done. To my
utter delight, she'd passed, with only a couple of small advisories Big Grin

I checked the emissions test from the last MOT fail back in September, and it
showed 0.2% CO, and 1554ppm of hydrocarbons (limit 1200ppm) - although on
test it had got as high as 1800!! Today, the CO was at 0.5%, and the hydrocarbons
were just 108ppm - that meant we'd shaved an amazing 1446ppm off the
hydrocarbons reading!! This was also with the cooling fans running.

To say that I am over the moon that the fruits of my labours have paid off is
something of an understatement, and the car is going to shows all this weekend
to celebrate Big Grin

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Bandit - 05 Apr 2012

My tester has never even bothered with the emissions on mine, he does'nt even check them.

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 05 Apr 2012

I know where to go for MOT's then !! lol :lol:

Re: time to coax Flopsy back into life - Guinney1971 - 13 Apr 2012

well its that time of year again, time to get #2292 ready for another show season, however
this year she needs abit more work then just tweaking the emissions and the handbrake for
the MOT.......

Anyway, as some of you may know, 'Flopsy' was hit up the back last summer on the way back
from an event (long story), and as a result, the crank pulley was bent. I monitored it for the
rest of the summer, but I dont want to risk long term engine damage, so the time has come
to tackle the issue.

I've had no luck soucing a pulley (and I'm not gonna spend stupid amounts of money buying one
from the USA), and I've gone off the idea of changing the whole engine (yet).

Thanks to RichH, I'm hopfully having a new pulley made by an engineering company run by a
friend of his - not sure on price or timescale yet, but hopefully they will be favourable.

So, the task this weekend, is to remove the old crank pulley, we've bought a new socket to
do the job, lets just hope our muscles are up to removing the crank pulley nut (and the weather
is on our side :? )

Watch this space! :wink: