August 2022

 

August 2022

 

I did a lot of bits and pieces in July and I forgot to mention after taking the engine on the El Cid I found the air horns were not working. I replaced them and did a bit of rewiring of the relay so it was no longer wired into the ignition. After replacing everything I checked the compressor and it still worked. What did not work was the relay for some reason the secondary contact was not making a connection. After giving it a clean it now does. I have retained the bits for future use.

August is MOT time for the Kawasaki with an advisory of a worn upper rear suspension bush from the last MOT. I have received a number of these and I thought it was time to do something about.  I ordered the part the Traxden Motorcycles who also fitted it within minutes. Nice to have the proper tools for the job and I was on my way within an hour. The old bush had some play in it but also there was movement in the bolt that secured it to the frame. The play was magnified by the presence of a rubber seal on the bolt and the shaft of the bolt to be able to assemble it. There would always be some movement so I had achieved the best fit from what I had got.  I booked the MOT with Jack Lilleys now West London Triumph and after fighting my way through heavy traffic making me late but they still did the MOT. It passed with a couple of new advisories. Rear chain adjustment and cracked number plate.  Both of which are easily fixed.

The El Cid required other work from doing so many miles. One of the rear drums was making a groaning sound on light braking. The brakes worked but the sound was annoying. I had two spare drums attached to the old suspension from the van. I removed these with the enormous tool I bought from ECAS at the National 2CV rally over Easter. The state of them was not good and needed machining to rejuvenate the friction surface. The machining was done at my friend Bob’s place. One hub came up nicely the other would not stay on the lathe and on close examination proved to have a fatal crack in it and was scrap. On this trip to Bob’s I used the Burton and had a few problems on the journey. To begin with the drivers door opened nicely for me to adjust the mirror but on closing the retaining plate jettisoned itself onto the ground. I would not be able to secure it for the drive. I have since used the one from the van until I can get this one repaired. The engine started fine but within a few miles would not tick over. I diagnosed a blocked pilot jet and removed, cleaned and replaced at Bob’s. Fine going home but the next time I tried to start the Burton it did not want to know. There was no fuel getting to the carb, not even down the fuel line. I have to remove the fuel tank to get to the connector pipe that links the fuel tank outlet to the main nylon fuel line that runs the length of the car to see what the problem is. Too much of a job to do quickly and as I had to do it outside the weather was a factor.  On a fine day I removed the fuel tank shield, dropped the tank to get to the offending pipe that had been rubbing on the body work and had a hole in it. Pipe replaced and repositioned, tank refitted but the filler neck connector had cracks in it and needed replacing.

 I had to wait a couple of days to get a replacement part from ECAS who said they were closed as the whole team was off to Snetterton for the 2CV 24 hour race with their competition cars. Good fun, I was there last year. I must have caught them before they left as the part unexpectedly arrived on the Thursday before the Bank Holiday. Now it has been fitted and the car starts and runs much better ready for a long trip.