Allegro Club International

[joelamont]

All this cold weather does no good. I came to RKB 143T after about 10 days to give her a turn. Well the battery was OK, turning the engine quite well, but there was no starting. I looked about and took the plugs out - they appeared quite dry with no smell of fuel. By this time the battery was pretty well spent so I cleaned the plugs and put them back and hooked the battery up to a trickle charger. I came back today and tried the car again and, hey presto, she starts immediately and proceeds to run well......there's no telling!
Anyhow we did a run out to get everything up to temperature and here we are in Comrie - the building behind is listed - one of Charles Rennie MacIntosh's quite rare domestic buildings. Cheers Joe

IMG_20200225_171806236_HDR by Joe Lamont, on Flickr

[Graham]

RKB is looking fantastic there Joe!
If I'd had more time on my last venture up to Scottish land, I would love to go visit the power station at Rannoch, such a fantastic building. I looked after some of their comms as part of my job. Some very interesting places up there for sure!
All the best!

[joelamont]

A bit of preparation has been going on with RKB 143T. Four new tyres have been fitted, and today we did a run to Perth to fill up with 4 star petrol (= BP Ultimate). On Monday the car goes in to have the rebound straps replaced (thank you Graham) and to see if we can trace the oil leak. Today was dry and we did the Perth run without wipers, and when we got back I washed the car down to get rid of the road grime. That was enough to start the rain so I had a wet car to put back in the garage. Anyhow a good 45 minutes was spent drying the car in the garage. Here we are just as the rain started - Vermilion and Fusion Blue is quite a striking match! cheers Joe

IMG_20200314_161935343 by Joe Lamont, on Flickr

[joelamont]

More biblical rain on Monday but RKB 143T went in for the new rebound straps to be fitted and to see if the oil leak could be identified. The straps were no problem, but the oil leak(s) were less easily sorted. The gearbox selector oil seal is one candidate and there are others but the prevalence of oil underneath the engine meant tracing them was difficult. Then general view is that this is nowhere near an MoT fail, so we can live with them a while longer. I am a bit tardy about spending a whole lot on this engine when I have RKB's original engine and refurbished gearbox ready to go back in. So no action for now and we'll see how it goes! Oh and another half hour and more drying the car off in the garage again! cheers Joe

[joelamont]

Well, after all this time with lockdown and the Covid epidemic, RKB143T has had an MoT. It should have been in June but was delayed until now. The good news is that she passed and there are one or two advisories which I will need to keep an eye on. Everything is running well and we need to keep going on the road. That gets a bit more difficult with the bad weather and I see the first applications of road salt going down....... Anyhow we will keep the wheels turning, Cheers.

[joelamont]

It concerned me a bit that one of the advisory notes on RKB143T's M-o-T referred to a fracture in the body shell, but said it did not seriously impair the overall structure. I had not seen this before because it is right underneath the car at the bottom of the B pillar on the passenger side. I took RKB143T to the local bodyshop who have done all the previous work on the car. Right enough they confirmed the fracture, just where the seat belt anchor is, and reckon that some welding and perhaps a bit of new metal should put matters right. So she is booked in for mid December and we hope to eliminate that advisory note on the M-o-T!

[joelamont]

One consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic is that I am now not permitted to travel to Stirling where I normally go for a Hydragas suspension top up. RKB143T is rather too low now, so I have taken the plunge and ordered a suspension pump and 5 litres of suspension fluid. The top up procedure looks quite straightforward....but we shall see! Here's hoping the pump and fluid arrive shortly! cheers Joe

[joelamont]

Well I duly assembled all the bits to do the suspension pump up. I'd got the Hydragas fluid (4litres) and I'd assembled the pump. Then we had a test run putting fluid through the pump - all was fine. Suitably encouraged I set about the passenger side hydragas pipe first. It went well - the pump connected up easily to the Schrader valve, no loss of fluid, and about 250psi in the system. A few hand pumps later we had 350psi and the suspension lifted the car to give the 37cm from the centre of the hub to the wheel arch. I thought this looks quite straightforward, but I didn't know what was coming next! I moved to the driver's side and carried out the same procedure. At first there was no movement, as if the Schrader valve had stuck. At the second attempt there was fluid and it came jetting out of the coupling between the low loss connector and the Schrader valve. I quickly shut it down to prevent too much fluid loss and then tried again. I soon identified the coupling as the weak point. The Schrader valve itself was working fine, but I could not get a tight enough union between the low loss connector and the Schrader valve. By this point I was getting tired and it was time for a break. I called on two locals just to see what they suggested and the second one said 'try TPFE tape' - basically a thread sealant. I bought a roll of the tape and set about trying to get it to adhere to the Schrader valve thread. It was a fiddle, but it was done, and the low loss connector duly attached. I got it as tight as I could by hand (I didn't want to use tools) Time for a test.....well it worked! There wasn't much pressure left in the system, so I just pumped, and gradually the pressure went up and the suspension went up. There was still a drip from the coupling, but when I disconnected the low loss connector, the Schrader valve held all the fluid with no leak. So the car now rides at the correct height! The problem with the Schrader valve thread looks like a long standing problem and perhaps it explains why one garage was saying to me that no suspension pump up was necessary......who knows? Anyhow the suspension seems to be holding up and all that's needed now is a test run! Cheers Joe

[joelamont]

Today RKB143T had the welding work completed to repair a fracture in the body shell under the B pillar on the passenger side. When I saw the original fractured piece of metal - it just looked as if a projectile had been fired at it causing a star shaped fracture. Anyhow a fresh piece of unfractured metal has been welded in and all is well. I was glad to hear that the rest of the underside of the car is in good order.

I had hoped the pump up of the suspension would eliminate some of the creaks from the chassis particular when turning and braking. Well, that hasn't really happened and I am beginning to suspect the steering rack. One of the M-o-T advisories related to the inner joint of the nearside track rod. At the moment I'm not quite sure how we'll get this put right. I see plenty of track rod ends advertised but no inner joints......a bit more research is needed! cheers Joe

[joelamont]

Well RKB143T went for an inspection on a ramp today. There was no indication of the occasional rubbing and creaking from the nearside front. However, the nearside wheel bearing was tightened, and the ball joints were lubricated. This has led to a great improvement - in fact my test run was very smooth and creak free. Sometimes the solution is quite simple!

[joelamont]

I don't usually take cars out in the snow but here is RKB143T out today on a 30 minute warm up. The starting was really very good considering how cold its been. So everything warmed up and some charge back in the battery (we hope!)

IMG_20210119_120247165_HDR by Joe Lamont, on Flickr

[joelamont]

RKB143T has had a good summer with quite a few miles under her wheels and now it is time to think about the coming M-o-T. The advisories from last time including an issue with the steering rack inner joints, front wheel bearing problems and various unspecified oil leaks. I have a new garage at Bridge of Earn who have particular skills with older cars and RKB is booked in there. I was fortunate enough to fall in with a newly reconditioned steering rack on Ebay, so about 6 months ago I parted with £120 for it, and now I'm glad I did! So I am hoping we can get a full clean bill of health on the M-o-T....time will tell, Cheers Joe

[joelamont]

RKB returns from the garage at Bridge of Earn with a new steering rack, two new oil seals and a fettled nearside front wheel bearing. All was well but the young lad who did the work fitted the steering wheel upside down - he reckoned it looked right. I suppose if you hadn't seen one before you might think that, but he happily refitted it right side up. RKB has been running well since and we filled up with the BP high octane fuel (the only type with just 5% ethanol these days) all for £1.60 per litre. The M-o-T is next week so fingers crossed.
Here is RKB at the old railway bridge at St Fillans station. The line was one of the last built in Scotland (1901-5) and one of the first closed (1951)......but sections of the track bed are now in use as footpaths - very good they are too.

IMG_20211101_150258277 by Joe Lamont, on Flickr

[joelamont]

The good news is that RKB passed her M-o-T with just one advisory for a Central Front oil leak. We had two oil seals replaced but obviously there must be something else. RKB had 33,033 miles on the clock at the M-o-T so we did around 800 miles last year. Whilst the car was in I had a new battery fitted. I still think of the one in the car as 'new' because I had it fitted, but that was 8 years ago! Just recently cold starting was very reluctant so the new battery should help. Here's to some dry sunny winter days to keep everything moving! cheers Joe

[Paul-V]

Always good to see your car on here, Joe: Vermilion and black is an excellent colour combination

Is your oil leak coming from the bottom end (gearbox area), or is it coming out higher up and slowly working its way down?