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Good to see you progress within the constraints of terrible customer service (remember a stallion services a mare too, on a dude ranch) Saw a bunch of colourful Cantas, one very cool variation, and a NEW Canta. Hope you don’t mind the thread interjecting New Canta, check their prices. Cool variant. And a pickup. No relation Oooopppps
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Oct 28, 2023 14:37:11 GMT
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Speak about retaining their value. 11 year old, 200cc engine, maybe, and still selling for pretty much ÂŁ7000.00
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Winter is coming…….. Find the Canta I am guessing life is keeping you busy Glen. Weather not helping either.
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Last Edit: Nov 14, 2023 7:39:13 GMT by grizz
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Nov 14, 2023 12:30:31 GMT
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Yeah, life and weather is pretty much stopping play at the moment.
I have had more belt progress though.
Turns out that the "right" belt for Dutch market Cantas is the wrong one for the three UK ones. The bigger engine means the pulleys are further apart, so the belt needs to be longer. Something that's quite obvious once you actually start properly looking at it. Doh.
This means a couple of things. Firstly, the non-appearing belts from the Dutch supplier wouldn't have fitted anyway (they have finally confirmed that they have my money, and have cancelled the sale, but have applied a credit to my account rather than a refund. I am now attempting to get said refund rather than having credit at a shop with nothing I want to buy in it). Secondly, the two belts I got from the supplier in the US don't fit either.
There's no adjustment on these. Pulley centres are meant to be fixed, and belt length is critical.
This is where it gets complicated. For the system we have, stock pulley centres are, from memory*, 10" and 13". Typically, on here we have 12", and no means of adjusting it.
I am pretty sure that the reason for this is that there simply isn't room to move the bigger engine any further than it currently sits from the gearbox input without hitting either structure or bodywork. This means the factory probably made the decision to compromise and use a non-standard belt. Guess what? The belt that I need is a Comet 704146... the same size as was originally fitted. Closer examination of that old belt shows that it's significantly worn; particularly on its width, which explains why it seemed so slack.
So. I now have two new belts in my posession that are too small, that I am hoping I can recoup the bulk of their purchase cost by selling them via the Canta facebook page, and about 70 euros credit at a Dutch parts place that I am trying to get refunded to my account.
Helpfully though, Belt Palace in Warsaw, Indiana, have come up trumps again with the right size belts, that they shipped out to me earlier this week. Obviously, I have had to pay freight and will no doubt get stung for customs fees, but at least there appears to be light at the end of the belt tunnel at last.
I need to survey the door lock barrel setup so I can make a decision about ignition locks. Ideally, I would like the doors and ignition all on one key if I can, so buying a lock set for a Berlingo/Partner looks to be the way to go, provided the door barrels look comparable.
More as it happens.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,043
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Nov 14, 2023 12:37:14 GMT
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Nicely done Sherlock đź‘Ť
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Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour![](https://jlawson.co.uk/images/Jimisig04.jpg)
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Nov 14, 2023 12:51:46 GMT
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So you have the correct belt en-route. Frankenhealey may have had answers too. But in the mean time I guess, like me, the rain is a pest.
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,878
Club RR Member Number: 15
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Nov 14, 2023 13:08:18 GMT
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Yeah, life and weather is pretty much stopping play at the moment. Closer examination of that old belt shows that it's significantly worn; particularly on its width, which explains why it seemed so slack. More as it happens. These are friction drives where the belt only drives on its angled flanks. As it is used it wears on those angled flanks and narrows.
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Nov 14, 2023 14:11:36 GMT
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These are friction drives where the belt only drives on its angled flanks. As it is used it wears on those angled flanks and narrows. Yeah. I suspect that they're pretty hard on the belts anyway, given that the belt itself is effectively the friction surface that takes up the drive, but I would think that the brief period of being ragged senseless around a field after its prolonged layup probably took a belt that was just about hanging in there and turned it to scrap in a few hours. The old belt still bears its Comet branding and numbers, and given the car's low mileage, it's probably the original from when the car was new 23 years ago. Driving on its edges, as you say, means it sits in the vee of the pulleys, so given that this one is worn to about 2/3 of its original thickness, that's why it is now so slack. In use, the belt is supposed to be just slack enough to allow the drive pulley to spin freely then, as the revs rise and the top pulley closes up, it grabs the belt just above tickover and off you go. Because the original is now so slack, it doesn't grab the belt until the engine is revving pretty hard, which is why takeup is so hard and snatchy. The Dutch report belt life of up to 20,000km, but that's in a country where hill starts are going to be much less of an issue than the UK, particularly where I live. It's a system that's probably way better suited to go-karts and golf buggies than a road car in the UK, but we will just have to see how well it stands up once it's back on the road. Hopefully, driven sympathetically, I will see a reasonable life in terms of time as I am only needing to do 1000 miles a year on my commute, so if I can get 2-3 years out of a ÂŁ50 belt I'll be happy enough. I think Zelandeth has a similar system on his Invacar, so I would anticipate similar belt life once everything has polished itself up again.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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Nov 14, 2023 18:53:47 GMT
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These are friction drives where the belt only drives on its angled flanks. As it is used it wears on those angled flanks and narrows. Yeah. I suspect that they're pretty hard on the belts anyway, given that the belt itself is effectively the friction surface that takes up the drive, but I would think that the brief period of being ragged senseless around a field after its prolonged layup probably took a belt that was just about hanging in there and turned it to scrap in a few hours. The old belt still bears its Comet branding and numbers, and given the car's low mileage, it's probably the original from when the car was new 23 years ago. Driving on its edges, as you say, means it sits in the vee of the pulleys, so given that this one is worn to about 2/3 of its original thickness, that's why it is now so slack. In use, the belt is supposed to be just slack enough to allow the drive pulley to spin freely then, as the revs rise and the top pulley closes up, it grabs the belt just above tickover and off you go. Because the original is now so slack, it doesn't grab the belt until the engine is revving pretty hard, which is why takeup is so hard and snatchy. The Dutch report belt life of up to 20,000km, but that's in a country where hill starts are going to be much less of an issue than the UK, particularly where I live. It's a system that's probably way better suited to go-karts and golf buggies than a road car in the UK, but we will just have to see how well it stands up once it's back on the road. Hopefully, driven sympathetically, I will see a reasonable life in terms of time as I am only needing to do 1000 miles a year on my commute, so if I can get 2-3 years out of a ÂŁ50 belt I'll be happy enough. I think Zelandeth has a similar system on his Invacar, so I would anticipate similar belt life once everything has polished itself up again. I remember a not insignificant amount of head scratching when I first tried to find a replacement belt for the Invacar before we figured out that the Dayco HP2020 is near millimetre identical to the original. Invacar does probably let the belt lead a slightly easier life as it does at least stop the pulleys when you're stationary via a centrifugal clutch on the flywheel, whereas if my understanding of these is right they just rely on there being enough slack at idle that the belt can slip, as per a bunch of ATVs, go karts etc. I'm prepared to be proven wrong there, I've never so much as seen one of these in the metal, much less know anything about them. Would be curious to compare to the Invacar though. The initial impression just to look at one though is that they *look* terrifyingly unstable...even with four wheels!
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,878
Club RR Member Number: 15
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Nov 14, 2023 20:26:51 GMT
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Would be curious to compare to the Invacar though. The initial impression just to look at one though is that they *look* terrifyingly unstable...even with four wheels! Head to head at the Weekender in '24? ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here
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Nov 14, 2023 22:13:29 GMT
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Not impossible! Wouldn't exactly be a run to the shops, probably a 3 hour drive from here, but not impossible.
Traditionally I'm otherwise involved that weekend, but it's looking like that's probably not going to be the case this year on account of hotel prices at my usual event having gone a bit nuts.
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Nov 21, 2023 16:28:04 GMT
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Yeah, there’s no “clutch” beyond slipping the belt. Speaking of which… a parcel from America arrived Friday. Gives a better idea of just how badly worn the original one is.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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Nov 21, 2023 19:03:03 GMT
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Brilliant news Glen. No need for one of these
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Frankenhealey
Club Retro Rides Member
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death
Posts: 3,878
Club RR Member Number: 15
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Nov 21, 2023 20:06:42 GMT
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Yeah, there’s no “clutch” beyond slipping the belt. Speaking of which… a parcel from America arrived Friday. Gives a better idea of just how badly worn the original one is. There's a technical term in the trade for such a belt. It's SHAAAAAGGGED ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png)
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Tales of the Volcano Lair hereFrankenBug - Vulcan Power hereThe Frankenhealey here
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Nov 21, 2023 22:02:20 GMT
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Also rucked and footed Ian.
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Got this delivered the other day. ![](https://img.retro-rides.org/i/v/glenanderson/71cd291c4b4f.jpg) Which is an ignition switch for a Peugeot 205. I picked this out from the many similar Valeo alternatives simply because it had the longest leads. Plugs are different, but the functions are the same. I should be able to swap the plugs onto it from the original switch. đź‘Ť
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Feb 21, 2024 19:39:51 GMT
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No progress to report, but the boy’s D of E requirements mean that permission work on it has been granted by the boss for next Sunday. Hopefully I can get the lad set to cleaning and painting the rear suspension on one side, and we can have a measure up for a spacer plate on the stub axle mount to give us clearance for the bigger tyres.
However, discussions with the lad have resulted in the somewhat surprising statement that he would prefer to have us put our efforts long term into keeping the Austin lorry than the Canta… so, it might make more sense to just sling four cheap 4.00x10 crossplies and save ourselves the hassle of making the bigger tyres fit if we’re only going to be moving it on…
So, the current plan is to get it running properly, converted to conventional controls, MoT’d and then move it on to a new owner. If anyone thinks that they are tempted, then please drop me a message. I would far prefer it to go to a fellow RetroRider than muck about on eBay.
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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braaap
Posted a lot
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png) ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png)
Posts: 2,666
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Feb 21, 2024 19:59:01 GMT
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Wasn't craigk interested, too?
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Oh wow, so rolling coal in the Austin by the summer then?
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glenanderson
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,243
Club RR Member Number: 64
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Oh wow, so rolling coal in the Austin by the summer then? I don’t know about that 🤣
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My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...
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