A Californian drying out in South Africa

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Jun 28, 2019 11:43 am

Do they issue the refund code with the same enthusiasm too?

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sun Jun 30, 2019 10:19 am

I couldn't afford even a secondhand Record vice for my shed-shop, so I bought this instead. Its shown with beech Jaws fitted, the proper ones were too rough for the job in hand.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sun Jun 30, 2019 10:38 am

Ah yes Ive heard of them, the Vice Squad??

I bought a small Record vice, its only a 4 1/2" one but its done just about all the jobs I needed it to do on the IMP with a bit of ingenuity, kingpins UJs, bushes etc so paid for itself, it was quite expensive, but might have been cheaper if I hadnt bought a more obscure brand beforehand where a chunk fell out of the jaws after a good pressing session

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 7:40 am

Saturday the 5th of July 2014 saw me drive into Bo-Kaap and find the address that Taleib Johnson had given me, that area has some quite steep roads, I found his address on the top of one of the hills.

The car when first seen looked quite bad, it looked worse as I look further.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:25 am

His other car next to it looks worst, no front or wing on it? and the MG has no back trimmings, the IMP looks the best of the lot in fact?

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:03 pm

Buts its all there and thats half the battle won when buying a classic, at least you have a pattern to what it should be like rather than nothing at all because its gone missing, still looks better than his other cars there even so.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sun Jul 07, 2019 9:30 am

With a long three core cable from the rear of the car I was able to test the new rev counter and view it in the car.

Looks great, I just need to mount it now and connect the wire loom that I ran to the front of the car some time back.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:19 pm

Our Impressions magazine editor Grahame posted an installation of his own Equus reve counter, he used a diffeternt type of base to my ashtray idea.

I wonder how it is made and stays in place?

If I had one would I have room for a clock like Grahame?

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:19 am

Fitting the tachometer to the Imps ash tray was simple enough, when the dash role was removed I was able to run the extended wire loom that I had made across to the correct position.

Some time back the existing wire loom had been added to for the amp meter, plus other posible conections so all I needed to do was fasten down the black ground wire, connect the red positive to the number 2 terminal on the key switch, then connect the white feed wire to the lights on the Lucas gauges just below, for a change it was easier than expected, I had done the hard part by running the green feed wire from the coil mind you.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Fri Jul 12, 2019 6:11 am

617sqn wrote:I think you've scared your engine it's obviously not used to such high revs and 8ts got in a panic !

Andy G

Yes, possibly some crap in the plugs escaping to freedom!

I will try another set once I have blasted them clean.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:39 pm

There was a recent comment on how well the carpets in the car looked.

After asking the auto trim shop to do a nice job, I think that they did

The under carpets are then covered by removable foot well carpets.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:39 pm

But you have to be wary because sometimes when these companies need to clear out all their old stuff they will say things like that, you won't find better, the new stuff we having coming in now isn't half as good etc etc, to persuade you to take it away so they don't have to chuck the surplus in the skip.

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:58 pm

Ditto.

Andy G

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:59 am

Ah. That's why it's leaking - it's a crankshaft pulley. How did you manage to get the driveshafts fitted to that ?

Andy G

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:26 pm

Finding the correct pictures took me a while.

Simple job really?

I know that Robin Human was offering Speedy Sleeves a while back.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:44 pm

My transaxle is not the original one which I removed due to it making a noise, as I remember it worked ok but the noise was getting me down some.

It was a guess which one to try next, I was lucky that my choice turned out to be the one I made, as it works well enough its years and while there is some noise it is accepatble.

I assume that the internal wear is small and that is one reason why and with the Speedy Sleeve fitted I have no leaks from the output spiders.

The lip seal to the input shaft was also changed as was the O ring to the selector shaft.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:59 pm

A spare Speedy Sleeve shows what thickness they are, 0.22mm, the one in the picture is not an Imp drive shaft spider one which needs to be deeper.

A spare spider reads to 18mm deep and 32mm inside diameter, it will be an imperial measurement required, so 3/4" deep and 1 / 1/4" inside .

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane · Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:17 pm

difficult to tell exactly but 2 and 3 look a bit rich , either that or 1 and 4 are weak

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 8:07 am

I am not sure where the flexible file came from, I have a few of them, they are not too course and do the job of cleaning points faces well.

The rotor is genuine Lucas, I think the points are as well?

johnh875 · Post by **johnh875** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:22 am

I'll have to have a play with that too, the blue car in my photo from last weekend hasn't been driven in something like 20 years and the drivers window is quite stiff - seems to be freeing up a bit with use (wind down to steer when pushing the car, wind up to wash etc).

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 7:47 am

For some time now I have really wanted to fit a square ( nearly ) number plate on the rear of my car, the reason is that to my eyes it will just look better.

They no longer produce a plate with a black background, I think that given the age of my car I am ok with displaying one?

I cannot buy one so I will make one from the spare alloy plate that I have

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 9:13 am

Paint it yourself, a little care with masking tape and you should be able to reproduce one with a black background I would think, the originals are only sprayed anyway arent they?

Bobbycham · Post by **Bobbycham** » Sat Jul 27, 2019 8:52 am

Can you tell what it is yet?
Bob

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Mon Jul 29, 2019 8:49 am

I. have an Equus tachometer fitted to the car, should I fit one of their Econometer's?

Tested it works, I think this is one of those long term projects, as when I am routing some other tube or wire from the rear to the front of the car I can run the required suction pipe?

It needs to be at least 4.5 meters long and 3mm in diameter, a hard pipe like the one that feeds the Smiths oil gauge, as it will suck flat otherwise?
An Equus service pack shows the tube as a clear one which is quite tightly coiled so that is all that is needed?

I assume that I can T off the vacuum pipe to the distributor advance and retard pipe?

oli · Post by **oli** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 7:10 am

Surely it has to be attached to read the drop in pressure in the inlet manifold?

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:40 am

If you want to know how hard a carburettor sucks, put your hand over the open end of the carb on an Austin A40, just on tick over.

Nearly broke my 17 year old fingers when I tested that in 1972.

Andy G

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:53 am

More than likely, Peter. I owned a nice black one back in the day, and traded it in for a Hillman Avenger 1500 GLS. Unbeknown to me for a few weeks following was that my sister-in-law bought my old A40 from the trader in a completely separate deal.

Andy G

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:23 pm

Noddy said this a while back.

So to summarise .

whatever the dwell angle is on tickover it shouldnt vary by more than 5˚ no matter how much you rev the engine - If your initial dwell angle is too high, the contact-breaker gap is too small. If it is too low, the gap is too wide.- if you have electronic ignition its set but still shouldnt vary when the engines revved.

Before you switch off the engine to adjust the gap, make the following checks. First ask someone ( maybe your beloved ) to press the accelerator to increase the engine speed slowly to about 2,000 rpm, then let it drop back to idling speed while you note the reading.

The angle should remain about the same, with no more than two or three degrees deviation.

Secondly, increase the engine speed quickly to about 3,500 rpm, then let it drop back to idling speed while you again note the reading.

The angle should again remain the same, fluctuating by no more than two or three degrees.

Carry out these two tests several times so that you can take an average of any differences in the readings.

If the reading constantly fluctuates more than two or three degrees, the distributor-shaft bearing or advance-retard plate may be worn, or the cam itself damaged.
Formally known as " Noddy "

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Thu Aug 29, 2019 3:20 pm

A compression test of my original bore engine has been discussed recently.

As I now have a nice new Equus compression tester I have just tested pistons number one and number two, I was expecting number two to show a lower pressure?

I was quite wrong as if anything it shows a very small increase over piston number one

The engine was run for just a short while to get some warmth into it, what is a good pressure supposed to be?

I will test piston three and four tomorrow.

One and two pistons read just over 800 Kpa on the scale.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sun Sep 01, 2019 11:04 am

Assembled in RSA could?? just mean they were put into the boxes there after the plugs were imported from China, assembled might not mean manufactured or even physically put together? By saying assembled might give them better sales as probably most folk would think, as you do, they are RSA put together and so not buying anything of doubtful quality from China, but in fact you might be?

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Mon Sep 02, 2019 7:23 am

For many years I had no heater control valve, the system was left connected winter and summer, the vent control closed or open as required?

I then fitted a VW control, it does work but looks a mess?

With my parts transfer from Eric for work done on his 1967 Hillman Imp Mk2 came a surprise by way of a decent looking heater control valve, the new oil pump also.

So my next upgrade on the Californian will be to fit the correct heater contol valve, the oil pump is not required on the cars engine right now.

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:17 pm

That looks like an Iridium jobbie. Yes, some manufacturers quote a particular plug covering multiple uses. In my opinion that can't be considered correct, otherwise all other manufacturers wouldn't bother developing and testing alternative plugs. One size does not fit all.

Andy G

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:31 pm

They're Bedford make Roy, the big one I use for the rear hub nuts, and the small one for the contact breakers.

Dave ' Linwood ' Lane · Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:48 pm

if its the wedge / self tapping screw effort youd be better off throwing it in the bin

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Fri Sep 13, 2019 6:58 am

Less is more?

In this case fitting an original style Imps heater valve, it is not a new one but looks to be in an ok condition.

It has taken some four years or more to find this valve , it was a nice gift for sure.

I did manage to fit one from the VW Golf, it worked but was a bit of an effort to fit to the correct position, I was able to use the existing mount holes though.

Grahame Pearson says the London taxi one works well, I am told so does the Landrover one, does anyone have a picture of either of them for me?

moose · Post by **moose** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 9:40 am

You need a timing light with a variable dial on it. Connect up to the car and read degrees at idle by turning dial on timing light to make the marks line up.

lets say you have 3 degrees

then set dial on timing light to 28 degree and rev engine to 4 k if the marks line up and the one on the crank does not go past then you have 28 deg all in.

you can then set the idle timing to 6 degrees and you should have 31 deg at 4k

test drive the car and see if it pulls better at top end. you may need to trim your idle speed and mixture for a smooth tickover as you have introduced some more advance.

I would not want to go to 36 degree unless engine is properly modified and on high octane petrol and 36 would be possibly too much for a race engine (depending on spec) 34 degree could be on edge of detonation taking into account petrol quality, condition and spec of engine.

so have a play set the upper limit at 32 deg do not get too hung up on the idle degrees unless it effects the initial pull from the car when setting off so if the book says 3 deg and you find the car runs better at top end at 7 degrees idle and you can adjust mixture and idle speed for a smooth idle then 7 is good despite what the manual says.

moose · Post by **moose** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 5:05 pm

Yes it is a possible way to do it keep adding advance until it pinks and then back off until you feel a drop in performance then advance up just to the point the performance picks up again i would use a marker pen on clamp plate to dizzy and mark the point of too much advance and then mark the point at which performance dips this way if you have say 6 mm between marks you know you only have to move 1 mm at a time to gently increase advance if 3mm gives performance back you know not to go any further as you are only 3 mm away from audible pinking. It could be pinking at 5 mm but you cannot hear it. Keep an eye on plug colour after you have achieved what you think is enough advance as you may have the mixture wrong now to suit the incorrect timing as it is now.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Thu Sep 19, 2019 10:19 am

With new bearings and piston rings, Erics spare motor reads to a higher compression than the engine in my car, plus today is the first time that the engine has turned with a starter motor since I rebuilt the motor in 2007.

It reads two bar over my own motor.

The pistons are a used set in used bores, they should bed in and we may see the compression go up some?

Standard camshaft, with a new timinng chain.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sun Sep 22, 2019 5:10 pm

They were either or, you could get both and you cant tell just with a casual look, especially if they're dirty as you had to remove the extension once the job was done and put a grub screw in the hole in the uj centre to seal it. If the extension is left in it can restrict the uj movement and can break off. Grease able are best if you can get them but the non grease able last ages if they're filled properly when fitting them.

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:32 am

Don't you wash it then ?

Andy G

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Wed Sep 25, 2019 9:18 am

I punch the welch washer so its nearly flat, that spreads it in the recess then stake it.

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Sun Sep 29, 2019 8:11 am

One job left until now was to fold over the rear hub lock nut tabs, I was able to reuse those on the car, the ones made here for me can wait for another day.

I can see that the mild steel wheel spacer will need painting and before it gets surface rust?

The extended wheel nut studs came from Ben Boult, they are very well made.

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Wed Oct 02, 2019 8:30 am

It must be quite easy to make a centralising tool that can position the jet before you insert the piston with needle, you just need a round bar the diameter of the piston bore minus a thou or 2 and a pointed pin on the end the size of the jet hole, Im sure thats how they must have been assembly at the factory?

African Imp · Post by **African Imp** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:38 am

Brass into alloy is not a good idea, I have put plenty of thread tape and silicone on the union, which may help some?

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 9:02 am

JB weld would have been even better ? Recently there has been some discussion about water pumps and the need to bed the graffite seals in by running the pump dry for a minute or two, otherwise they may leak for a few hundred miles even. Have you experienced this ?

Andy G

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 7:57 am

Some water spigots are steel. On heated manifolds anyway. The odd drilling plug maybe. Cant remember if the Imp has core plugs

Oh yes, clutch end ? Heater control ? That's about it.

Andy G

The Nun · Post by **The Nun** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:32 pm

If the pumps been assembled by hammering/drifting rather than careful pressing it together you coukd damaged the seals? Some folk only have a hammer and screwdriver in their tool kit.

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:39 pm

This is true : I once saw a bloke hammering in a wheel bearing in a field at National one year. And I don't mean gently either. And he once worked on aircraft too, apparently.

Andy G.

Stan

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sun Oct 13, 2019 9:22 am

Yes, Roy. I'm told that there are 2 or 3 different styles. Even the casings cannot be inter mixed. This makes it awkward for people repairing more than one pump en-mass as its better to keep each shell with its partner and shaft/impeller.

Andy G

617sqn · Post by **617sqn** » Sun Oct 13, 2019 7:06 pm

That post sticking up out of the sunroof isn't too aerodynamic is it ?

Andy G