Rusted old wrecks

I think the CF had the VX490 engine in Petrol?

Setting the points on them (or should I say the dwell) only to find it moved when you tightened the clamp screw! The Petrol Toyota Hiace was even worse.

No wonder I'm grumpy

PS But to remember the valve clearance, is just to much information.

I worked with a guy and no matter what engine you were working on he would say "put 12 thou in the tappets".

"A loose 12 in the exhaust and a tight 12 in the inlet"

Tolerance is for losers, you have to be dead on!

There's allot to be said for fault codes
 
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The engines were the same but different. The engine type was stamped on the back and was visible when you removed the cover inside the van. Some were stamped 18L or 18H for 1800cc Low or High compression. The 2300's had 23L or 23H. The low compression models had a cyl head gasket that was about 3 times thicker than the high compressions.
When setting the points we used to take the dizzy out. A good 20 thou feeler did the trick although you could get pretty close by eye. 35 dwell on the older ones and 50 on the newer ones. The vacuum advance let you know the difference from the outside.
 
digdilem said:
Modern cars have no soul, but it is quite nice to have more than a 50% chance of them starting on a cold morning.
Click to expand...

Depends on your definition of modern... British-Leyland never ceased B-L design madness: even my 2004 MG carries so much of the B-L DNA to what might be classed as a "modern" car :LOL:

1) They put the engine in the wrong way round so you can only access it by removing the roof and half the interior trim
2) They stuck on an "auxiliary oil filler", which is so useless that even the manual recommends you don't really use it
3) Regardless of scraping, the windscreen takes over 20 minutes to de-ice and defrost, but fortunately they decided to make the rearview mirrors electrically heated so at least you can drive backwards within 2 minutes.
4) It is possible to lock the keys in the boot with no way of getting them out apart from a tin opener
5) It has 5 cam shafts and 3 cam belts for just 4 cylinders... And to change one of the belts you need to detach one of the rear wishbones!
6) It will ONLY work properly with ONE make and model of tyre (Goodyear GSD2) - any other tyre makes it handle like a pig.

But there are good things:
1) The tyre pressure section of the manual recommends separate tyre pressures for owners who spend significant time driving at more than 100mph (in an era when some manufacturers don't even quote 0-60 or top speed any more!!!)
2) The only way they made it quiet enough for EC legislation was to put a valve in the exhaust that shuts off one tailpipe at low revs... which every dealer then disconnected prior to delivery!

And soul? Well,

1) the door seals sometimes leak if you don't wind the passenger window down then up again after shutting the door,
2) Sometimes on the first turn of the key the dashboard turns into a Christmas tree of flashing lights and beeping, but on the second turn it's calmed down
3) If you lost the drift pins for the front brake pads, the only way you can get replacements is to phone AP Racing, where a nice man from the west country gives you the right number to ring for Caterpillar (the same one that makes diggers), who can then send you some more, sometimes for free (depending on who picks up the phone). That's racing cars AND diggers, just to get a small pin for the brakes!!!
 
Most CF Vans I worked on had worn out the plastic timing cover on the crank pulley,hence no timing marks...As for dwell angle the dizzie was usually worn out so you would get differing points gap on all 4 corners,baseplate wobbled about, used to fit flylead between baseplate and body to improve earthing..Happy days
 
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I think the run out CF had the same engine as the Mk 1 Cavalier RWD, didn't it?
A massive improvement. Bosch distributor!
John :)
 
kilovolt said:
Most CF Vans I worked on had worn out the plastic timing cover on the crank pulley,hence no timing marks...As for dwell angle the dizzie was usually worn out so you would get differing points gap on all 4 corners,baseplate wobbled about, used to fit flylead between baseplate and body to improve earthing..Happy days
Click to expand...

Did these dizzy's have a skew gear drive, so if you lifted the thing out for new points, you had to turn the rotor arm 90 deg so when it popped back in, it was in the correct position? :eek:
I don't know if I've dreamt this one, but if the oil pump drive is disturbed by lifting the dizzy out, it doesn't always reconnect.
John :)
 
Burnerman said:
I think the run out CF had the same engine as the Mk 1 Cavalier RWD, didn't it?
A massive improvement. Bosch distributor!
John :)
Click to expand...
The engine you are probably thinking about was a 2.1L Opel diesel which looked the same as the petrol one in the first Cavalier as it was a CIH engine too.
And yes, the dizzy drove the oil pump too on the slanted petrol engine.
 
Delco distributor the triumph 1850 had similar arrangment you knew you were in for a good time when you looked and could see the dizzy at the end of its slots and running like a pig because owners " mate" had had a go at it first....
 
What about Mini by-pass hoses ? - what a nightmare !. Also the rubber drive shaft couplings ?. Cortina and Sierra void bushes, DAF transmission drive belts, Viva and Chevette rocker arms where the push rod had punched straight through them, and Sunbeam Alpine ballast resistors. I suppose in years to come, mechanics will be talking about the old days of Renault coil failures, broken timing belts and crank sensors.
 
My wife had a Morris Minor. We went through a succession of engines in it for one reason or another. It got to the point where we could change an engine and gearbox in about 1 1/2 hours.

Other than that, Hillman (Chrysler) Imp that used to airlock the petrol feed to the carb. Not pleasant but a good suck on the petrol pipe cured that.
1.5 Allegro automatic. The pistons were so sloppy you had to get the engine hot before you could pull away in the morning. Eventually the suspension collapsed.
 
One thing I could never figure out was how to do the points on a Citroen GS - was that a flat four with the points in a cassette or something? :confused:
John :)
 
GS was a boxer with cassette points. I worked in a Citreon dealer for a while, I hated them but the old hand Citreon guys loved them.
You used to get something like 4.1 hrs for a 1st service on them and there next to nothing to do.
 
Weren't the points at the back of the engine? How did you set the gap, if you don't mind sharing a trade secret?
John :)
 
If I remember right they went behind the big fan at the front of the engine. I also seem to remember the gap being preset.
 
The very few gs models I saw had ducellier dizzy,a la renault / chrysler etc,take out top bearing plate,exposes points. later type renault cassette points adjusted through hole on side of dizzy.
 
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