Nods news , A fixorage happened

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Oh and the Zorst is fitted - not finished the job as yet but its on

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Its on , mounting bracket finished ( in stainless of course and all secure -I had to richen up the mixture two flats and advance the timing - after all a performance part only adds performance if you have to add a bit more fuel ( apparently )

[walshste]

The exhaust looks great. How does it sound? Not too loud I hope.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Sometimes you keep some random bits of junk for upwards of 25 years for no real reason .
Back in the dim distant past Janspeed zorsts has chrome plated tailpipes with a curled around end either pressed in or done actually on the pipe itself .
When the box on my first Imp gave up ( twas on my Stiletto ) i kept the tailpipe part .
Today it actually got used - i removed the curled around end and pressed it into the new tailpipe .
Finishes it of a treat and one tiny part of ARX 220J lives again

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Zorst note vid for walshste

[MattorMatty]

That exhaust is looking good and the Singer as always.

Matt

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

That exhaust is looking good and the Singer as always.

Matt

Thanks - i like the look of this - its different

[walshste]

Sounds good Dave. Nice and powerful. Purposeful. Lovely.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

There was a bit of a battle with a few bolts but eventually the Vuskys new roof rack is now fully dismembered ready for re-plating

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Rack now delivered to the platers - ready by the weekend hopefully

[ImpManiac]

Superb, Dave!

IM

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Roof rack is back from the platers.
Looks much as it would of done when new

[rhydian_mason]

Looks excellent. Is it rivetted or bolted together?

[Lars Hagermark]

Period looking and very nice!

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Just a random pic from todays 80 mile drive out in the Autumn sunshine

[The Nun]

Where's about is the location?

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Where's about is the location?

Tis ere

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Abbas
The school mentioned in wikipedia is HUGE

[The Nun]

Ah yes I have been that way, it's near the tol puddles and piddle isn't it.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

There was just one other thing I wanted to do on Frank Schoenbergers zorst - that is the main clamp.
Never liked the U bolt type as they can squish the pipe due to the very narrow contact area on the U part itself .
Much better to have a band type so today i knocked this up from some scrap - ends are doubled over and spot welded for strength and a spacer added so you cant overtighten it and muller the zorst - its made so it clamps the box perfectly but not too much .
Naturally the whole lot is stainless

[Lars Hagermark]

Attention to detail - as always.

[The Nun]

And of course you can always tell when something's been fitted with some thought, if you look at an exhaust fitted by one one the usual quick fitting places they just fit the clamp so the bolts hang down on the underside where they could get caught on low ground and rip the thing off, someone who's thought about that will position the clamp so the bolts are at the side or top so they cant catch up.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

This isnt relevant to very many as theres so few about but if your ever planning on getting an Imp van a few pointers .
1 , Reversing is problematic as vision isnt exactly wonderful
2, They are noisy inside , engines in with you and your all shoved in a big metal box with no soundproofing
3, They do drum and rattle a bit and this can be a bit annoying .
Anyway the Vusky has side windows so vision is as per Husky which of course has a bucket load of sound deadening and a roof lining so no drumming
The Vusky however does not have said headlining so its all a bit noisy , no way on gods green earth was i fitting a headlining nor was i going to stick sound deadening everywhere .
I did notice that vans only have one roof support so I added another from a scrapper years ago which did help ( not sure how manys on on Huskys )
Anyway the point is this strut is semi bonded to the roof skin and acts as a damper - the Vuskys roof started drumming again about a year ago and the roof rack just amplifies it .
So this evening i removed the original factory one for the very first time and the bonding was gone completely and the roof wasnt even touching the strut except at the very ends -I put some thick blobs of sikaflex on both sides of the strut about 6 inches apart to bond it back to the roof skin and it seems so much better .

[The Nun]

Sounds like a Roy fix, his info his have rubbed off on you more than you thought?

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Some of you will know I fitted one of Frank Schoenbergers zorst manifolds the other week , this did mean a slight retune of the engine - timing had to be advanced and the mixture richened - after all if you dont have to add more fuel your not going to gain anything ( apparently ),
Anyway these last few weeks ive been " tuning by driving " , just a tweak here and there - try weakening it a tad then see what it feels like - then richen it - timing back and forth etc etc until it felt " right "
Yes I could do a rolling road session but real world driving is more fun.
Last week I pretty much nailed it , starts instantly on choke when cold ( never without ) and instantly when hot without choke , pulls really clean and just feels right , tickover is smooth and even with a steady engine , revs clean even after extended idling .
Today i popped up my local friendly garage and stuck it on the CO meter just to see what settings make this engine happiest .
Looks a tad rich if im honest but its happier like this especially as winters coming , I may weaken it of a tiny bit come Summertime - something thats normal anyway .

[The Nun]

So do the readings in RED mean its out of limits? and if so what should it read to be GREEN? How far out is it basically?

I know if theyre trying to do it as a modern which supposed to have scented roses coming out of the back, an old car will never be anywhere near on carburettors and no engine management system?

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

So do the readings in RED mean its out of limits? and if so what should it read to be GREEN? How far out is it basically?

I know if theyre trying to do it as a modern which supposed to have scented roses coming out of the back, an old car will never be anywhere near on carburettors and no engine management system?

Red on this was set for modern limits so unless my CO was 0.30% or whatever it actually is its in red
The other red one is Lambda for cars with a cat fitted ,Limits are 0.97% to 1.03% so im lower than the lower limit im guessing the temperature one also in the red would be cat temperature -
Too high a lambda reading relates to too much oxygen. Too low a reading relates to too much fuel which is what this would mean had the Singer had a CAT fitted - it does tie in with the slightly over-rich idle mixture ive set it too..
Car bound to fail this whatever.
From the tinternet
Lambda is a calculated rather then directly measured value. It's used to demonstrate that the engine is running at near stoichiometric ratio, which the cat needs to operate properly. eg you could pass the other emissions if the engine was running lean, but then the cat would not be operating properly.
The greek letter lambda is used to signify the excess air ratio, and the higher the number, the weaker the mixture. However, if you have a cylinder which is partially or fully misfiring, the gas analyser will detect a mixture of gases which *wrongly* suggest a weakening of the mixture.

CO on a 65 Imp is not tested on the MOT but For vehicles registered between 1st August 1975 ( very late Imps have to pass this bit ) and 31st July 1986, the CO level must not exceed 4.5% by volume.Vehicles registered after 1st August 1992 must conform to the manufacturers specification . The carbon monoxide level is tested at two speeds; “idle” and “fast idle”. Although the specification varies between car models, the guidelines are generally 0.5% at idle and 0.3% at fast idle. So thats a massive fail by modern standards ,

HC limit For vehicles registered between 1st August 1975 and 31st July 1992, the HC emissions must not exceed 1200 ppm (parts per million).Vehicles registered after 1st August 1992 the specification varies between car models, the guidelines are generally no more than 200 ppm at fast idle.
So it passed the relavent HC test anyway.

[The Nun]

My Sport just missed the last date fortunately so all they had to do is comment on excess smoke for ours, if it's within reason they have to pass it

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

I weakened the mixture 1/2 a flat on each carb earlier today as 5.3% might be a tad rich - made no difference to the tickover but it is pulling slightly better when you hoof it one - , im guessing the CO is about 4.5% now - that will do for this year

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

As some of you know i moved the clip on aerial from the front passenger window onto the rear side window so my beloved could wind the window down.
Great success however the aerial came up at a strange leaning inwards angle - fully extended it also hit the garage door on the way in .
Anyway last Saturday I altered the angle - shortened each section and soldered and sleeved the bottom joint .
It now comes up straight and fully extended is below the garage door and wont clobber it anymore .
Some before and after shots

[ImpManiac]

Nice work, Dave.

IM

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I understand why you had to trim your ariel Dave.

I have a roof ariel on the Lotus which is a pain 'cos I have to push it flat before I can park it under the Clan,,,It takes all the pleasure out of having a remote controlled garage door when you have to get out to lower the ariel in the rain! Wondering if you can get stick on ariel strips for inside windscreens ..(then I can leave the original roof ariel in the flattened position..not going to fill in the hole and re-paint the roof anytime soon).

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Just a finishing touch to the roof rack - I believe the writing should be in red and sans the word Group but i just dont care - after all who would actually know this ( apart from the few who read this of course )

[Lars Hagermark]

Another 'magic touch'. Love to see the small - but great - improvements.

[colimp66]

That wee logo finishes of a really cool rack Dave, I like it. Good job all round .

Your updates are never boring, keep them coming.

Cheers
Col.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Roof rack maker has been found via a very good club member who also has the same rack
Never heard of them and know zero about them - anyone know anything ??

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Well seeing as I now had a make on said rack i bashed up a brass makers tag .

[Bobbycham]

Decent bit of Freehand stamping there Dave.
Bob

[Bobbycham]

Yes sounds a good idea but unfortunately stamps are not always produced so that letters\numbers are central to stamp bodyor at least in same position from base of stamp.
It's really a job that you need to be doing every week to keep on producing a decent final product.
Strange but some letters are harder to get positioning right.
Being a toolmaker (injection moulds) l used to do a lot of stamping but that is with reverse stamps which makes everything sdrawkcab.
Bob

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Im now perfectly happy with the twin SU retune after fitting the new Zorst slightly upset things -
After a bit of trial and error the difference was one and a smidge flat richer on each carb and a 4 degree advance on the ignition .
Its starting and running superb now - not that it wasnt before the new zorst upset things - the extra bit of fuel and the advance has made a difference to the performance especially over 4000 RPM .
Got carried away with the works letter stamps again and made up new carb ID labels and also added needle and spring spec labels as well .
Also changed the slightly knackered dash pot and float chamber screws for allen key ones as its easier using one of these on the rear carb if I ever need to .
Thread in case you were wondering the thread is 3/16th BSW .

[617sqn]

Is that 31/16ths ?

Andy G

[617sqn]

Just pulling your leg, Dave. I thought it was some odd way of expressing thread pitch or summat.

Andy G

[Lars Hagermark]

Those stamped brass labels have given me some ideas. Not that I didn't have any before but the aesthetics wouldn't come up as good.

[617sqn]

Haha, pity someone hadn't thought to give mine a stretch, back in the day ! I guess I should be grateful that they reach the ground

Andy G

[617sqn]

No, Peter. They'd be a far superior size to SU's, they're much too common don't you know.

Lord Snooty.

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

Been for a right old hoon about in the Singer tonight , the reason is that earlier I did notice something a bit strange .
Carb piston dampers on the Vusky are AUC 8114 and the Singers AUC 8103
After a bit of research it transpired that 8103s were early and were replaced by the 8114s to aid maximum speed .
Having a set spare meant i had to try them .
Bit more revvy and a slightly quicker rev drop to tickover .
Improvements just keep on coming
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/carbs/cb105.htm

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

It would seem the Singer is obese .
It weighs 760KG with half a tank of fuel
And thats with no underseal or soundproofing
All that luxury wood and carpet costs money and speed to cart about it would appear

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

True Pete - i have an urge now to rip bits out of it for a lighter / go faster / possibly save fuel result
Standard Chammys 711KG I think -

[The Nun]

You could do this like the racing guys do to theirs, especially behind the trim so once thats back the holes dont show, bit OTT but it would save a fair amount of weight if you were so inclined?
Probably take a little strength out but youve got the cage?

006.JPG

[Dave ' Linwood ' Lane]

It will probably stay as is - i really cant be doing with all that hole drilling

[moose]

time to copy all the nice brass and stainless bits with carbon fibre