Calvin and Hobbes for March 20, 2016
22nd March 2016 08:26
Lubricating 2CV suspension cylinders
20th March 2016 18:19The suspension cylinders of a 2CV are key to the interlinked front and rear system that provides such a good ride over uneven surfaces. Like most moving parts on a car they benefit from lubrication. Given there are rubber seals in the cylinders that maintain the seals that enable the transfer of movement from front to rear spring, it’s necessary to use a non-mineral oil that won’t cause them to perish. Some form of vegetable oil is normally used – caster oil being the traditional family choice as it’s quite viscous at ambient temperatures.
Back when Judith was fresh out of the factory it was possible to buy caster oil from the village chemists, these days it’s available as a cosmetic item from on-line retailers. The retailer I chose was also able to provide a suitably sized syringe and tubing.
To get the oil into the right place, the rubber gaiter on the suspension pull rod needs to be pulled back and the tube inserted as far as it will go as the seals are in the middle of the cylinder.
This process needs to be repeated four times: front and rear on the left and right cylinders.
As I didn’t know when this had last been done I put about 50ml into each side of each cylinders which is about as much as they would take.
After completing this it’s best to take the car our for a drive over some bumpy roads to work the oil into the seals.
Calvin and Hobbes for March 19, 2016
19th March 2016 20:30
Replacing a 2CV fuel pump
18:02In the first couple of outings after the winter I noticed there were some fuel starvation issues, especially at low revs. Suspecting a tired fuel pump I set about replacing it with a brand new one.
Having already taken the fuel pump out to renew the hoses there wasn’t much to add to the process outlined there. However, this time I did take the fan off and get access from the front of the engine which made things significantly easier – especially locating the mounting bolts.
Whilst I had the pump out I took out the actuator rod and cleaned it. This rod is driven by the crankshaft and mechanically activates the fuel pump. With the spacer block removed it’s not too difficult to tease the rod out as access is quite good.
After a clean and a fresh coating of grease, refitting was the reverse of removal.
A nice long shakedown run (starting by staying close to home) showed a significant improvement in the fuel delivery but there was still the odd niggle that warrants further investigation – either another split fuel hose or a carb issue seem the most likely.
Torchwood Edinburgh
17th March 2016 13:46
Hiding in plain sight.
Comic: Magnets
11:01Original source
New Comic: Magnets
News Post: The Didactic Order
15th March 2016 08:30Original source
Tycho: There was a time when you could use exaggeration to communicate – you could leverage dark imagery with the presumption that your audience would understand that you did not mean it literally, but were instead utilizing a rhetorical device to describe feelings outside the boundaries of the acceptable and potentially even amuse a person precisely with the extent of the disparity between reality and the metaphor. Weren’t those cool times? That is what we must always keep in mind. Thus, we allow our enemies to disarm us. You might have heard that Hulk Hogan was suing…
In response to his friend’s outrage at the new GHOSTBUSTERS trailer…
12th March 2016 09:31
Replaced bolt
11th March 2016 23:32Whilst cleaning out the inside of the car I noticed one of the bolts holding the near side rear door retaining strap was missing.
As fixes go they don’t get much simpler than this: adding a new nut and bolt. (And also cleaning up some rust, old grease and dirt before re-lubricating.)
Battery isolator
10th March 2016 18:07Disconnecting the battery is a common occurrence on Judith as I do it for storage and as a safety measure when working on anything that doesn’t require the electrical system (which, on a 2CV is most things).
As connecting and disconnecting the negative terminal requires a 10mm spanner and puts stress on the wires I wanted a better and more convenient solution: a battery isolator. Looking around there are various options but, as the secondary earth wire is cast into the negative terminal connector I didn’t really want to use an isolator that required replacing the connector. The one I’ve settled on has both male and female connectors so sits inline with no modifications required.
It consists of two metal plates separated by an isolator and a brass screw. When screwed down the bottom of the nut contacts the top plate and the thread contacts the lower plate completing the circuit.
Fitting to the car was as simple as it looks but I might try and replace the pinch bolt, whilst it shouldn’t need removing very often it does seem to be made of soft steel and the nut sits somewhere between my 12mm and 13mm spanners – the price of a decent replacement is worth the piece of mind.