frenchiemk2

Vey interesting.

As i struggled a lot with my "long time ago convereted to Bosch french PI", i'm very interested in this post.

i had a very bad experience with the Sytec (OTP44 -3044.1), I bought 1 and since the begining had the "-' pole moving but did not fail at ignition, then when in order to run, there was a fuel leak at succion😬! then after few hours, it couldn't keep pressure charge and fainted.

If i had an estate tank, i'd certainly try to install a pierburg immersed fuel pump (new hole and cap) with bag filter:  no leak, no distance succion or hose diameter  problems.

On more recent car, those pumps can feed distributors for longer cars, and the filters can be located just before metering units like Audi 100-200 Avant turbo. I know, the Bosch K-jet needs less pressure than the Lucas M.U. 

Now i have put a real 044 Bosch but I still wonder if it's working good enough ( i guess YES because I poped out the injectors and they sprayed nice).

Also, i think i will try a swirling pot (because on long left turns with low fuel, the Pi tank is not helping and if you know a bit France, we have not only turnig roads, but also those roundabouts on every f.road...). 

I saw nice mountings here with Dash connectors, but did not invest in those, maybe i should.

One question someone may answer is about positive pressure : 

- in the tank ?

- between the tank and the swirl pot/external fuel pump? i think putting a small facett just after the tank to pre-feed the pot.

15 hours ago, thescrapman said:

Throttle balance- did you clean the throttle bodies at all? They take quite a few miles for everything to get a good seal again. Mine took about 5k until they would balance well enough, mine were seized after many years of not being used so had no choice.

Distributor - does not look like it is fitted right. Is the drive 180 degrees out, it will engage enough to run car, but sits too high, and will suddenly slip after what can be 1000’s of miles. Mine did it in middle of a French town after about a year of me fitting it wrong.

take distributor off and open up clamp and make sure it is fully home against bottom of body.

May also be the wrong clamp of course, perhaps a 45 one or a delco one maybe. They can be bodged in sometimes.

Yes i cleaned the throttles before  the first start that was more than a year now. 

You're right about the distributor, 180° false, the reason why it didn't engage correctly, and the clam was bent so i fixed that, but still, not runing today (very cold outside). Ther's spark. I'll check again if there's fuel coming from the pump (new Bosch 044 which are supposed to be the best).

Martin from Millturn also answered me about the possible throttle issues and how to detect them.

Sometimes i feel like 5cyl Audi have less issues... and i know quite well they have, sometimes. Just for fun, imagine a 10V turbo 160-180Hp in a triumph with that peculiar sound...

Well... end of year was deceiving.

I went to a small garage nearby in which i know the owner for long to make oil changes on box and rear train + front engine mounts..

On the way to the garage, in a roundabout (we take them turn left here ) the car started to rattle a bit. At the garage we could do the job but the car seemed to turn on 5 cyl or whatever wrong.

At a moment we did not have any ignition because the ignitor disengaged from the insert (just like it's notenough engaged in) and that clamp seemed  faulty and sure the bolt thread was defective, that made the ignitor rotate... even with a new bolt it's not tightened enough. Did anyone enconutered this before? 

A mistake by G was to touch the settings i did on the throttles 😕 

I could reach back home but the engine ran worst eventhough i could help myself out by the side of the road.

I thought it could be air or particles in the fuel system or valves setting gone wrong.

Friday and saturday i have redone the fuel pump and filter Bosch in the trunk, checked all the injectors and they spray fine, checked valve adjustment again, just minor settings... at one moment i could set idle and get to 4500 RPM and then it failed again.

What the hell is wrong...

On the try to set the throttle back to an operant setting i noticed that 1st and 3rd throttle have a slight depression difference 1st inlet has more depression than the second and 5th has more than 6th (seems well balanced on 3rd-4th). As you imagine, i know no one in France able to check those or have them redone and in GB, takes veryyyy long + VAT and customs fees. 

7 hours ago, Richard B said:

It can be quite un-nerving the amount of lean. This is managed by the springs, not the dampers. Chris Witor sells the pieces to weld onto the Engine Cross-Member and the Drag-Struts if you want to convert your existing suspension.

I would note that the drag-strut strengtheners are also worth while if going down this route, as an anti-rollbar puts more load on the drag-struts.

Thanks for your advice... 

14 hours ago, Richard B said:

Depends if you find the car leaning excessively at the front when you go into fast bends?

The Estates have a higher CoG than the Saloons (due I am told to the amount of lead used in the body)

Yes. The car leaning a bit on direction changes and curves but suspensions are tired.

1st i put new struts to see how it behaves and then i will see if sway bar is needed to improve.

2 hours ago, iani said:

Chris Witor sells parts to fit Stag ARB to 2000, here's the link https://www.chriswitor.com/proddetail.php?prod=CADB20Z-2K

Cool.

Thanks for the link.

Always leading to CW...

I shouldn't pay :

- double vat

- added fees for transport companies like UPfuckS

- neither customs fees because parts made in england plus oldtimers parts cars.

40 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

Lots of people think it does, others don’t.

I found I much preferred stiffer springs, Chris Witor 200lb on front and 575lb  ( I think they were) on the rear.

All estates had an anti-roll bar, as did the 2.5S, with its soft suspension.

Thanks, i didn't know the estate ans the 2.5S had it

According to ordering in GB, i admit that i'm bored of double VAT + fees... but i'll have a look at the springs. Unfortunately i have no relatives in GB.

Hi

Does a swaybar improve the driving of rhe Pi and does the Stag one fit to the mk2 ? 

Thanks

Hi guys, 

I want to operate the transmission fluids maintenance on the Pi Mk2, but 1 info is missing about oil quality

I know the oil type is the same for raer axle and gearbox : SAE 90 but if you have other advice...

Rear axle oil capacity is 1.15l

gearbox oil capacity 1.42l.

Thanks

Succesful French MOT today.

Very happy after all that work.

Contrôle Technique (MOT) passed !  😁

Anyone knows what is this big black and white wire near the tank of my Pi saloon ? 

Step1 KONI at rear (really need front too)

 ☺️

KONIchiwa beauty 😉

26 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

The Terratrip 303 does average speed so won’t be suitable for many MSUK permitted events.

You would need the 202 Classic.

worth getting the wheel sensor as well, if likely to go anywhere without GPS signal (tunnels etc)

What do they need on those events?

4 hours ago, Tim Bancroft said:

Can you change the unit of measurement to Miles from Kilometers?

Yes on Both, TerraTrip and GPStrip

40 minutes ago, yorkshire_spam said:

Brilliant, I could really do with something like that for some of the events we do as the trip meters in both our Triumphs are rubbish.

Before we had it, we used this on smartphone, GPSTRIP which is very usefull ! We still use it at safety : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gpstrip&pcampaignid=web_share

News

Opened the fuel gauge unit sender and couldn't fix the light low fuel alert but the gauge is working... So i won't touch again.

Brakes issues in progress with re-tightening rear shoes as suggested + new front pads to balance forces. I have the car to pass the C.T again.

And i recently had an opportunity in 2nd hand sales for cheap : all functional Terratrip with GPS signal for the saloon Pi. A touch of sports for the car, and as my mate Philippe an I are participating to regional historical vehicles races, maybe ready for doing so or 2nd car ready. Easy to uninstall with no visible mount damage if i need to remove it

Installed a tripmaster for the saloon Pi. A touch of sports for the car, and as my mate Philippe an I are participating to regional historical vehicles races, maybe ready for doing so or 2nd car ready. Easy to uninstall with no visible mount damage.

Great opportunity 2nd hand sales for cheap. All functional with GPS signal.

OK, i could open (slighlty and not completely because of welds) the sender unit, it's plastic and metal

this scheme is what should be (i guess) : 2 parallel inner branches. 1 sliding on the copper wire to indicate level and secondary makes contact for low fuel.

So when the 2 branches (red on scheme) are full left, there should be light and gauge should indicate empty (am i correct?).

What i have :

- when the 2 branches are down and in contact pole, gauge says FULL, when moving them to the opposite, they indicate EMPTY

- alarm light never shuts/off

- branch sliding on copper wire makes scratches at some point

- outer lever can be moved away from the axle, not sure it's always tightened enough to the axle

So, to still get the level info, i put the sender unit on this position in order to have at least 1 correct information on gauge : fuel level in the tank

11 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

I’ve not messed with the saloon sender units specifically, but certainly it is possible to dismantle some of the sender units non-destructively if you are careful by unbending the tabs around the edge that hold the two halves together.

Herald/Vitesse ones for sure, some Spitfire ones maybe, though this one I just found on my bench…. (Which I think is a late Spitfire one…

……not so much as there other (welded) things holding it together as well.

Whether you can do anything useful once you are in there is debatable….. some very fine wires and also crimped connections that sometimes get corroded and don’t conduct anymore 

Do you know the position or orientation the seal plate should be in order to close the tank and the lever to operate?

1st i want to get the fuel level back on the gauge

2nd fix the alarm level red light 

I'm watching Youtube vids to find how to test the sender unit

On 15/10/2023 at 20:44, Nick Jones said:

As I remember, there is also a switch in the sensor assembly so it has 3 wires. One wire is the earth (black), one is for the gauge (green/black) and the last is for the low level warning light (green/orange). You need unplug the green/orange wire and see if the light goes out. If it does, there’s a problem with the switch in the tank. If it stays on, there’s a short circuit somewhere along that wire. To get access to the sensor, remove the cardboard panel at the back of boot.

I just checked. The problem is the switch in the tank.

At some moment moving the branch lever i noticed a slight difference in the light on the dash but never "switched off"

Do you know any tutorial about the hole thing because i don't think i can open the stuff to see inside.

During the operation the lever went off. And as there's no mark or position indication I'm a bit lost. I wish i had the tank full as the gauge says but i lnow it's nealy empty .🙄

15 hours ago, shenderson said:

Although the rear brakes are supposed to be self-adjusting, the mechanism is not very effective.

My procedure is to pump the pedal hard a few times to operate the self-adjusters as far as possible.

Then with the drum removed, lever the shoes apart until you hear the adjuster click three or four times.  Two large screwdrivers (or similar implement), one for each shoe is useful for this.  Try not to let the shoes move vertically when doing this, to keep them centralised.

Refit the drum and repeat the process until the brakes take no more adjustment while allowing the drum to rotate freely.

Then repeat the entire process for the brake on the other side of the car.

With high mileage, the teeth of the self-adjusters wear out and slip against each other.  Replacements are avaialble.

Thanks for the tip. That's what i almost tried to do so i will just have a look at the rear right side to tighten a bit.

I'm closed to succeed and i keep faith.

Luc

C.T failed today (french MOT).

Only brakes problem :

- front slight difference left 250 daN / right 210 daN

- rear significant difference left 205 daN / right 75 daN

- hanbrake good

rear brake cylinders are new, bled 5 times... shoe pads are nice and i sand paper them + drums cleaned

What could it be?