1973 AC Model 70 Invacar, Visitors & Occasional Distractions

Every bit of progress continues to improve this little car.

You do this well.

While it was a bit breezy really for driving tiny three wheeler vehicles with a kerb weight roughly equal to that of a postage stamp today, I wasn't about to let that get in the way. I wanted to see if the last few jobs I'd done on TPA had any impact on the way she drove. So she was the chariot of choice for today's errands.



Short answer is yes.

I definitely wasn't getting quite full throttle before. Most noticeable when cruising at 60 now, there wasn't a huge amount of travel left (it was very mushy anywhere beyond about half throttle) whereas cracking it open at 60 now results in a very distinct additional bark from the intake and the pace being picked up quite a bit quicker. Wasn't doing any real higher speed testing though today as the roads were too busy and it was too windy.

She is definitely running smoother too...which is nice even though I didn't really realise there was any improvement to be made there beforehand.

By complete random chance when I pulled up back home today the odometer stopped showing 427 - appropriate for an AC built car!

Given my age, I remember these all too well. What I don't remember is ever seeing one go more than 20mph!

Also, when thinking back to the derogatory names used for these vehicles in those days, it really makes me smile to read your enjoyment of "blatting" around in this!

Finally got around to sorting something today on TPA which has been making my teeth itch for over a year now.

Spot the difference.

(Aside from the distributor cap.)

Before:



After:



Yes... finally dealt with this horrific bodgefest.



These are the original battery hold downs. Sadly as I was completely unable to find the original form factor battery (or indeed what type it even was), they're basically useless.



Oh, and here's a reminder why bungee cords and cable ties are not a permanent solution.



That had been pinched between the rear wheel tub and the chassis rail and had rubbed about 2/3rds of the way through.

My solution has been to cut a couple of bits of M8 threaded rod to roughly the right length (a little over 6") and fasten a bit of webbing between them - this is a bit of seatbelt originally from KPL I think where the buckles had completely rotted away to nothing.

I heated a metal rod up to red hot before using it as a punch to make two holes. This melts the fibres together and prevents anything from fraying.



Not too worried about that anyway. Ever tried to tear a seatbelt, even if it's already frayed halfway through?

Finished article...



It's tightened up sufficiently that the battery is completely secure. If I have issues with it ovalling the holes out I'll replace it with a strip of angled steel instead - but I'd really rather avoid the need for metal across the top of the battery if I can avoid it given the layout. I might go back and bolt a lip onto the tray though just so there's then *absolutely* no way it could conceivably slide free then. It can't go anywhere the other direction as the wheel tub is in the way. Probably overkill...but I'm a fan of doing what I can to keep Murphy's Law at bay. It's really not a heavy battery either, probably half the weight of your average car one.

I had someone ask me on another forum what the labels on the slam panel were all about - the answer is "me getting fed up of realising I need to consult the manual in the middle of a service one time too many."



Couple of photos from while she was out in the sun today just for good measure too.





Really need to remember to paint that rear wheel arch...I just can't see it from in the garage so keep forgetting there are still white filler spots visible there.

Noticed I've got a drip from the sump plug... that's what I get for being a cheapskate and not just replacing the copper washer (which I noted was well mangled originally). No idea why I didn't just change it given I have them in stock. Oh well...on the plus side at least I'm not dropping a huge amount of oil to change it!

Good idea on the webbing mount, might have to pinch that for the tractor !
James

As mentioned above, TPA has been marking her territory since the last oil change.



This is because the idiot doing the service for reasons utterly unknown decided to refit the rather dog eared copper washer rather than replacing it. Which would have required him to walk all of four feet to pull one out the box.

This has now been rectified.



On the plus side, the sump only holds 1.75 litres of oil so I haven't wasted much by changing it twice in 200 miles.

On the downside, the sump only holds 1.75 litres of oil, so you *really* want it to stay inside the engine.

While I'd got the sump empty (again) I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the sump strainer. I had been checking it religiously for the first few oil changes as quite a bit of sludge was initially washed out - but subsequent checks revealed nothing so I'd left it be for a while. Reckon it's probably been untouched for 650 miles or so now. Any slime present today?



Nope. Clean as a whistle (well, a very oily whistle...but you get the idea). The grainy looking bits at the far edge are attached to the gasket. No deposits in the basket at all.

I think with regular oil changes and the sort of driving I do I can probably drop pulling this out down the service interval list a bit. It's worth keeping an eye on, but definitely doesn't need to be pulled out with every oil change or anything like that from the looks of things.

Later in the afternoon I found five minutes to fit the new horn properly.



Aside from needing to fit the proper foam pads in the fuel tank frame (which I do now have in stock at long last) it's *almost* looking vaguely orderly under here now...



The spare belt got in the way of the catch for the hatch so has been relocated to in a bag under the seat for now. I'm probably going to attach a couple of the down points for said bag on the fuel tank supports when I have them out to fit the anti vibration pads so it can stay up front, but somewhere actually out of the way.

Corrosion protection.

Did a bit of sanding back today...and after about half an hour remembered precisely how little patience I have for that sort of thing and how much my back (which I'd already hacked off during a tip run earlier) hates it.

So quickly got to a stage of throwing my hands up in the air and saying "Sod it, that's good enough, throw some paint on it."



I didn't realise quite how much even this had improved things though until I looked at a couple of older photos though...



It'll do for now! Car has been in the garage without moving for long enough now. Plus I'm still planning somewhere down the line to A: Hopefully get some actual moulds made for the rear apron and B: Chuck it at a body shop to have a few things sorted out more professionally. So I'm not spending too long on this - dealing with the crack I'd had issues with on the nearside and keeping the car presentable from 30 paces is good enough for me.

How am I ever going to tell which car is mine out here...Oh...wait...



I get the impression that while it may have taken a while for us to tick over the first thousand miles the second one will take anywhere near as long...



That's just under 500 miles in two months.

One of the bits of trim fell off the inside of the offside door last time out, so today I decided to call time on the spray adhesive and got some old school goop involved.



The trim was then firmly wedged in place while that sets.



I reckon this will stay stuck a lot better. Can see me redoing most of these in the same way at some point. Summer will be the real tell when things get warm.

Also on the subject of doors...I completely randomly spotted today that the weatherstrip between the two sliding window panes on the nearside (the offside one is missing) was installed backwards...I apparently totally failed to notice that there was a plastic side and a felt side when I installed it. Does a far better job of stopping the draught when the window is closed now!



Only took me approximately two years to notice. Ten points for observation to me. Oops.


Annoyingly it appears that even with the level sorted that we do still have a slight oil leak. It looks like it *might* be actually coming from the oil pressure switch as the whole area around it looks a bit wet.



Have given the general area a good spray down with degreaser so we can have another look after the next trip out to see if it's the culprit. Would be nice as it's a cheap and easy part to change.



Not holding my breath though...My gut feeling is that we're looking at a leak from the crankshaft oil seal.

The belts are in a state as you can see too. They have been loose for a while now...but lately have been getting a bit ridiculous. Aside from the increasingly unhappy squeak every time the starter is operated from cold, it's never good when you can SEE how slack a belt is.



Yes, that is as floppy as it looks. Especially the one nearest the camera.



The reason I hadn't done something about this sooner was simple: I'd been completely and utterly unable thus far to shift the nut on the Dynastart pulley. The belt tension on this engine is adjusted (like on old VWs) by adding or removing shims between the pulley sheaves...so any tension adjustment involves removing that big nut. While there are two holes in the fan to allow you to wedge it in place - the nut was tight enough that these holes were ovalling out from the torque I was applying.

Right up until the point that I *finally* spent an hour turning the back of the garage upside down and unearthing the impact gun.

In approximately 0.3 seconds it buzzed it straight off without it seemed like any effort whatsoever...Didn't even have to lock the pulley...



Sometimes you just need the right tool for the job at hand.

It's not a tool you'll use for every job (and using it for the wrong one can cause you no end of headaches...), but really is an absolute godsend when presented with something like this or trying to get a wheel nut that's been done up by Kwik-Fit to 10,000,000,000 times more tightly than it needed to be. This was less than £50 and for the three jobs I've really used it for so far I reckon has already more than paid for itself in saved time, sweat and spilled blood. Just make sure if you get one to get a good quality set of sockets to go with it.



The other reason I wanted to get this lot apart was so that I could actually clean up the pulley running surfaces...After this engine had spent a good number of years sitting outside in the weather they were unsurprisingly in quite a state - I'm honestly surprised that the belts didn't just self destruct given the state these were in.



Definitely beyond the point of "self cleaning" at this point...so out with the carbide mop. Realistically I could do with a new set of pulley sheaves, but the heavy, rough pitting that will shred belts is gone at least.



The fan hub (which forms the rear face of the pulley) got the same treatment.



Again...It really has seen better days, but is a lot better than it was.

The belts will want replacement now as running on the pulleys in that state has unsurprisingly wrecked them. I'll grab a new pair next time I'm in the vicinity of Motorserv. They're not exotic or expensive so I'm not worried about that. They are at least properly tensioned now though (if anything a little over-tight in the case of the front belt).





Not really too worried - they'll be getting replaced shortly anyway - I'll spend a bit of time ensuring that the replacements are tensioned as close to as per the manual as possible.

Quick test revealed that the "chirp" on activating the starter is indeed now gone.



I had also completely failed to appreciate quite how much noise the belts were making at high engine speeds...The engine is SO much quieter and smoother when revved now. Will be interesting to see if that's at all obvious when on the move - though given that about 85% of the noise you're aware of is CVT and gearbox I rather doubt it.