Lancia Motor Club

The Aprilia made it here with the minimum of fuss - the only real hiccup was getting off the train in Narbonne - more in a moment !

Route was Norwich - Harwich , quick pitstop for a curry and then a truly excellent boat-ride to the Hook of Holland - arguably the best ferry trip I have ever made. Modern, spacious and very comfortable.

PGY ran very well once warm but as we approached Harwich she took on kangaroo tendencies, never quite stopping but she did appear to have significant fuel starvation. Paul had suggested blowing through the carb castings and jets as he had had previous problems, but unfortunately I did not have time to do it. Anyway, it didn't feel like blocked jets because it was worse on inclines and after longish periods of constant throttle openings, but after 30 seconds rest, started and ran perfectly again.

Once in Holland, she ran well for a while and then Skippy was back. After a bit more thought we cut the cruising speed (idea now that some kind of fuel insufficiency) to 85kph and she ran like a dream all the way to Dusseldorf and the train.

There is an excellent service from Dusseldorf to Narbonne, inexpensive but infrequent

There was a certain "manana" attitude on arrival in the south of France, the train arrived on time but because of some track repairs they could not shunt the car carriages across the station for disembarkation, so we waited and we waited and eventually, 2 hrs later, some-one found a way to get the carriages across ! Then to add insult to injury, the Aprilia started, ran for 5 minutes and then spluttered to a stop - whilst still on the train. Obviously not the first time for them because the rail staff arrived and pushed us along the full length of the train so we could clear the way for the cars and bikes behind us.

After checking all the obvious, it became clear that the problem was a terminal petrol tank blockage probably caused by rust in the tank. The vibration of the train ride separated the rust and "viola" !

So my long suffering wife arrived with a length of petrol pipe and a can of petrol, so I bypassed the fuel tank leaving Barrie (passenger) with 5 litres of petrol between his feet and his arm out of the window making sure the bonnet didn't flip open. 20 minutes later PGY arrived at her new home and met her "flatmates" for the first time - 3 Renault 4's, a Moto Guzzi, and a Velo Solex

So first job on the list is clean and "slosh-tank" the fuel reservoir

Oh the joys of motoring !

Excellent and well done!

Love the R4 (?) on its side....

Tim

Brilliant Simon, and a bit like the adventures of TIn Tin, perhaps you've just aquired a new nickname ;D

Brian
8227 8)

Wonderful read and well done......great to see them out and about and being used!


P

Hooray!!

Now how many cases of wine go in an Aprilia boot...

David

As a temporary fix for your fuelling problem you might consider what I did some years ago now  (so  much for temporary!)
Drain the fuel out maybe siphoning as much as poss then unscrewing the drain plug. This plug has a cylindrical mesh filter soldered to it into which the pick-up end of the fuel pipe dips. The mesh is propably knackered and even if you clean it it is liable to block up again. I have simply chopped it off and bent the fuel pipe upwards so that it draws petrol from well above the debris level,in effect sacrificing the bottom couple of gallons of tank capacity. As it holds about 10 gallons this is no big deal provided you dont forget you have done it.
This is much less hassle than taking the tank apart to clean it. Also I would be very dubious about using one of these pour-in sealants with the impending increase of ethanol in the fuel.

Ben
Thanks for your comments. Could you enlighten me as to why the increased ethanol is a problem with the tank sealants, I have used them before very successfully - it was the only way I could get the Aurelia to run properly !

Tim
The R4 on its side is an F4 4x4 built under license by Sinpar - 850 cc and very much in the Panda 4WD mould, a go-anywhere work horse ! Unfortunately they rust - sounds familiar ?

Is there an inline filter?

As for your/my/Kennedy Aurelia...

...in the end I got an alloy tank made   :(

...and sold the original for a tidy sum to Italy  ;D

David

I may be unnecessarily twitchy about the tank sealant and its compatability with ethanol as I cannot remember where the concern arose but suspect it was from a vintage motor-cyclist source. I am pretty sure fibre-glass tanks are a no-no with ethanol and this may read across to the resins used in some tank sealants.
I would certainly want re-assurance from the suppliers/manufacturers of such products before using them.
                                                                                                                                                                Ben

PS   Have you got a spare carb for an 1108cc R4?  Mine wont run properly. Idles ok and goes on full throttle but has an enormous flat spot in between. I've cleaned all the jets I can find with no improvement. To get any acceleration I have to keep the choke out a bit!

Ben

Will send you a pm because I suspect the Lancia community are not that interested in R4s ! But I think it may not be your carb !

Spot on.....a blooming disgrace to see RENAULTS being mentioned on this hallowed forum.....;).....:)


P

I have an electric pump in the boot (with an inbuilt filter) which feeds into a pressure regulator with a bowl filter.  I got fed up with cleaning the one in the pump and with bits in the carb so have fitted an inline filter before the pump and another before the carbs,  It works!  Perhaps you cannot have too many filters (providing they are big enough).

David
The electric pump you have fitted, do you know the pressure it gives or the volume it shifts ? I have found a couple of discrete, quiet and  low pressure units here.

My gut feel is that if you keep the original pump, a low pressure unit (2.5-4.5 psi pump) should be sufficient

Certainly I will add some kind of filter . Where and what type yet to be decided

Ben
Also having read up on the "slosh-tank" solutions, it appears that the formula has been changed to resist 80% ethanol concentrations, so I will probably go that route as well

Hopefully a belt and braces approach will prevent re-occurrence of afore mentioned kangaroo tendencies

I don't but it was the only 6 volt one I could find - a Bellows Electric Fuel Pump - many years ago.  It is a non adjustable one but the literature says that the alternative, adjustable one, is set to 2 1/2 psi at the factory so I guess that goes for both.  I have fitted a Filter King filter and pressure regulator in line with it and these are still available, with a pressure gauge as an extra should you so wish (see below).  With my twin carb (Nardi) set up it requires quite a lot of pump first thing in the morning and would doubtless flatten the battery with the mechanical pump.   The whole keeps up with the enhanced performance of the car (70mph and 35mpg on the motorway) and the other two inline filters I have fitted, one before the pump and one up front before the carbs. (Incidentally, did you know that 2CV mechanical petrol pumps fit with minimal modification?)

http://www.fuelpumpsonline.co.uk/malpassi-filter-king-fuel-pressure-regulator-85mm-clear-or-alloy-36-p.asping

Thanks David

I should be able to find a 2CV pump down here ! Taking the tank out later today so let's see what horrors lurk under there.

PS would love to see a picture of the double carb setup !

Voila.
$0 years ago I returned with my young family in our tatty Aprilia to my old stamping ground of Lymington.  Whilst there I though we would look up a chap called Julian Bolton in nearby Boldre.  As we arrived in the Aprilia, Julian rushed out as he was attempting to time a Nardi series II Aprilia engine he had installed in his @Nash (it had come from a Farina tourer).  I timed it for him and he made me an exhaust system and we sealed a friendship that continues to this day.  A few years later I bought the engine from him and much later fitted it in the Aprilia .  Firstly water poured out of the exhaust so I installed the new head and valve gear I had bought from Autoricambi wotsit in Torino in 1971 and then it rattled and burned oil so was evidently clapped so I took the 1300 engine I had sent to Harry in 1970 ish for a shell bearing conversion and new white metal mains, sent it to Serdi UK who  made new rods (beautiful but 800g instead of 600g of the originals) and bored it to fit the Nardi pistons, put it together and took it to Vibration Free who tamed it from "nearly leapt off the rig" to smoooothness and put it all together last year.
Goes very well.

Now, that is rather nice ... I bet it goes well and sounds lovely !

...and does the story of the plug leads go back 40 years as well?

David

If you mean "Bang, tinkle, cabin fills with smoke"  no, that is only a couple of years.  Now that I have sheathed the metal connectors in hose pipe it no longer happens.