Spyder restoration - long time coming

[peteracs]

Hi Mark

Thanks, enjoyment will come, getting used to driving a car like this compared to moderns is going to be interesting. I had of course forgotten just how raw these were when compared to say my Saab convertible. The steering of course is another big difference, should help with the weight training, though the tyre choice will have helped to keep it manageable.

Peter

[squiglyzigly]

Wow, chapeau, Bravo, and many congrats to you.
Lovely sight and an admirable achievement

Enjoy
Ian

[betabuoy]

It’s been a long time coming but what an great achievement! It looks magnificent Peter and the attention to detail we’ve read about along the way is a real credit to you. Looking forward to seeing you out on the roads.
Chris

[Nigel]

Fantastic to see it Peter.
She looks really good, and yes, driving mine I had similar thoughts about
getting used to an old car again.

Well done, and all the best for the MOT.

Nigel

[peteracs]

Thanks everyone, going to try to get a few miles in each day, need to change the oil in engine and gearbox amongst the other few small jobs.

Peter

[mangocrazy]

That looks absolutely superb, Peter. The anthracite wheels really set off the white paint and the whole plot looks like it just rolled off the factory line, only better. Top work and well done you!

[peteracs]

Thanks Graham

A few more miles tonight, no dramas yet. MOT booked for Monday afternoon. Major concern is lights alignment and emissions. Will try a/f sensor if I get chance to see how it is looking over the Rev/load range.

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Thanks Graham

A few more miles tonight, no dramas yet. MOT booked for Monday afternoon. Major concern is lights alignment and emissions. Will try a/f sensor if I get chance to see how it is looking over the Rev/load range.

Peter

As you're running the standard carb, which has such narrow adjustment, I wouldn't have thought emissions would be a problem....

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

It will be interesting to see. When I asked about the subject of older cars and emissions, I was told there are dates where certain emissions are allowed and prior to a certain date (early 70s?) then no emissions are tested.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi All

A bit of revisiting LED lights. I wrote a section on using LED lights (not headlights…. yet!). All of the single filament replacements are working fine on the car, but I also replaced the dual filament 21/5W rear side/brake lights with some LED ones which I thought worked ok. However on running the car I noticed that when I applied the brakes the side lights came on! I traced this back to these rear dual lights, the feed from the brake circuit was leaking through to the side light and hence powering them on. Not quite what is required. I tested the bulbs and the way they appear to work is to light all the individual LEDs with the side light active and for the brake function to apply more voltage/current to make them brighter, ie they are not independent sections within the bulb. My solution is to add a diode to the side light input (yellow wire on my car) to both sides. This appears to resolve the problem.

In looking into this I also noted comments about these dual LEDs not having a great differential in brightness between side  and brake lights. The ones I have installed do appear to have a reasonable amount of change, so will stick with them for now.

[peteracs]

After playing with the lights, I managed a few more miles, partly with the other half as passenger and partly to assess the air/fuel mixture under running conditions. Other half gave it thumbs up, but would not want to be in it for a long journey, way too noisy for her. As to air/fuel mixture I get a reading of 12.x under most conditions (the odd 13.0) other than idle where it goes as high as 19. So the idle is no big deal, but the steady running seems a little high given it is almost as much as under acceleration. I am currently using Esso 99, so I may get different readings for more normal ethanol mix fuel, though loathe to try it yet as car will be stood for a while during mid Sept/early Oct.

I also managed to pull in a couple of other jobs as well. First up the aerial which is mounted on the passenger rear wing and although I am not using it, needs to be installed to stop water getting into the boot. Unfortunately the seal is missing, so used some of the butyl weather strip used elsewhere to form a seal which has worked well.

Next was to investigate the heater. On running I noticed that regardless of where the slider was a small or large amount of heat came out of the heater. I therefore checked that th valve was operating ok and have concluded the valve is not closing correctly, which is a right royal pain to sort as loads have to be removed to get to it I think. I will block off the pipe in the short term as heat is not currently required.

Oil change and MOT tomorrow……

[peteracs]

Hi All

Managed the engine and gearbox/diff oil change. Used Redline for the gearbox as per Eric’s recommendation and certainly it is quieter, though could not call it quiet. The gear change was pretty good so no noticeable change there. No obvious nasties in the oils which was a relief.

The MOT did not however go to plan. Arrived all happy and the guy seemed happy looking at the car, but when he tried to login to the DVSA it appears because the car has not been tested for so long it no longer exists (quite common apparently), so he needs the V5C to register the car which of course I did not have on me. So rebooked for Wednesday, TBC…..

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi Peter,

He could have used the VIN number for the MOT.
That's what my garage did when I imported the Mazda from the Channel Islands.

Hope it all goes well tomorrow.

Nigel

[alcarr]

Hello Peter,
Just been looking at your excellent example of Beta Spider on the Forum, a question please are the door mirrors new and are they readily available?

Regards Alan

[peteracs]

Hi Alan

The mirrors are not new and are hard to find. There were two styles on the early Spider/Coupe one has a flat back and these which are popular with the Stratos replica guys with the angled back plate.

I am sure Guy will be along to give you chapter and verse on them. One of these mirrors I bought from South Africa as unable to find one elsewhere at the time.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

He said he needed the V5 to get various information to fill in the DVSA entry. Anyway spent an enjoyable hour with the tester, nice helpful guy. He helped me adjust the lights, which I was hoping would happen. The car has passed which was great. There was one advisory and he got me under the car to show me and it is the steering rack. There is some back/forward movement in it where the steering arms bolt to the rack which he assumed was a failing bush. I had not done much to the rack apart from replace the rubber gaiter and refill with oil, so happy to sort it out, just not looking forward to taking it out now all the exhaust etc is in.

Anyway nothing to stop me driving it as it steers pretty well as is.

The only other issues raised during the test was that there was a nasty clanging noise on tickover which turned out that one of the bushes in the top tie rod has failed. It was ok when I put it together, but obviously was weak and 100 miles in has failed. The other issue is the mixture delivered by the carb. The car does appear to run a bit rich, but on tickover is actually weak. More investigation required on that one as adjusting the idle screw has limited effect.

So just getting my survival kit in the car for the Betameeta weekend and keeping fingers crossed no dramas on my way down there.

Peter

[smithymc]

More good news Peter. Great stuff.

Mark

[Nigel]

Great to hear it all went reasonably well Peter.

I'm looking forward to seeing it next weekend.

Oh, and I hope you didn't sell me your only good engine tie-bar!

Cheers, Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

I have another but that also has a suspect bush. As a temp fix I will try pushing out the good one to replace in my one, but suspect it will be a stop gap and need to source a modern version which will last longer term as all these are probably up to 40 years old.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi All

The stabiliser bar bush was a false alarm. Removed the bar and bush is ok if old, so must have been bolt moving in slotted bracket. Replaced and added some starred washers.

As it happens Mark has replacement bushes for the later bars.

Peter