Aprilia Diary

[lancialulu]

Maybe you should have got the lady in the house to ask?? (as I did).

[stanley sweet]

Tim, here's the link to the organisation I had to go through. A bit hazy now but I think I downloaded forms from here and sent them back, then take whatever they send you to the local prefecture. Can't remember the fee but don't have any horrendous memories so must have been OK.

http://www.ffve.org/

[lancialulu]

Thanks Stan

Seems a bit confusing as to whether the vehicle needs to be 30 years old....I had thought 25???

Tim

[stanley sweet]

Are they saying 25 years if it was at least 25 years old before before October 15 2009, cars after that need to be 30?

[simonandjuliet]

Just going through the process with the Appia as well and FFVE currently says "at least 30 Yrs old"

Re petrol pumps, the new one I have fitted to the Appia looks as if it would fit an Aprilia as well - depending on the set up you have. My set up has spigots not banjos so cannot be 100% sure. However, I did offer it up to an early set up (with filter) and it seems to fit. Be worth looking at especially since they look the part and resist the increased pressure of an inline, low pressure, electric pump ..... should you have one

Lastly, at a local B&Q type place today , there was a 1902, UK reg "White" steam car !!!! No car rally, he seemed to be doing his shopping !

Bravo !

[lancialulu]

The White Steam car is probably my neighbour's in Saint Nazaire d'aude! Apparently his friend from Cornwall is visiting with his steam car. I am flying out tomorrow to hope to see them both....

[stanley sweet]

Wallet, car keys, phone, top hat..............

[Neil]

And umbrella...

[lancialulu]

Nope! Roof installed...on the French Car

[simonandjuliet]

No more steam cars ..... Aprilia maintenance today .... and a bit of rocker-porn for David

After cleaning the carb I still had a slight misfire and therefore decided to reset the timing because I last did it by guesswork at the side of the road in the rain !

I have had problems with a coil on an Aprilia before which gave a characteristic misfire especially when hot, so first thing was to fit a new one - a Lucas Sport coil (£23 delivered) but it was gold in colour so I rubbed it down and painted it black.

Once that was on, I started her up and checked the timing with a strobe. I couldn't see the timing mark suggesting that it was a bit advanced (the mark hidden by bell housing). Next was take the rocker cover off and check all OK and clean/gap the plugs.
The plugs on an Aprilia sit in a puddle of oil (one reason they sometime misfire if a head gasket has gone and there is water in the oil) and the "problem" is that when you remove the plugs a good glug of oil drops into the bore and causes the plug to foul or smoke when you come to restart.
Something I had not tried before was to suck the oil out of the well with a large syringe - seemed to work !
I am running NGK BP5HS and they seem perfect for my use, nice dark grey on inspection

Next was to remove the distributor, strip, clean, regrease , new condensor and points and re-assemble. A possible cause of misfire could also have been a small crack in the square insulator plate (LH one in the picture), but anyway it will not have helped.

I have been running with replacement plug extenders for several years (made by Omicron) and can recommend them. They are not 100% visually correct, but I think they look very acceptable and they work well. There is a plug-extender-chronology-picture which shows the very early type (please correct me) which just has the wire screwed onto the top followed by the 2 piece red type and then the later single piece black type. Final one is the "Omicron" style , with brass rod and separate top piece. Modified leads screw into this. The originals can be a pain because on the later types , cracks and condensation can cause misfiring. I have never used the early type.

With the strobe, the timing is at 1 tooth more advanced than standard (13° BTDC), but she starts very easily and no pinking and drives beautifully around the village, but I will have to wait and see how it is when I do a proper test - started to rain,  typical !

Hope you liked the rocker gear .....

[DavidLaver]

I'm almost as excited as Simon was when he realised I had the original Autocar artwork for a sectioned Aprilia engine in the spare room.  When I get a chance I'll take some pictures of it to post here - and for Jack.

The early type plug lead is new to me.

David

[davidwheeler]

I agree re. BP5HS, slightly hotter and they stay clean better (though if she has been standing for a while or subject to a few stops and starts I need to attach a 12v battery to brighten the spark).    Actually, it is not the crack in the plug connectors.    I used to run totally exposed metal rods (Peugeot plug connectors) to connect  mounted in some home made nylon plugs with no troubles at all - apart from the occasional explosion in the rocker cover (Bang, tinkle tinkle, puff of smoke).  I have now fitted bits of plastic hose over the rods and cured that one.     If you take the Lancia connectors apart you will see that there is a rod within which connects to a disc via a steel spring and it is here that the spark gets lost.   All the cracks seem to be in the vertical bit, not in the bit that fits into the rocker case cover, so there is no leakage of spark to the cover.
It's the Asperger's, sorry.

[simonandjuliet]

Indeed - my new "Omicron" style connectors have an exposed brass rod, not had any bang, tinkles yet !

On another subject, I have finally taken the plunge and gone French with the Aprilia. So, sorry no more PGY ..... Ultimately, a very straight forward process and if anyone is interested I will write up the procedure.

The rear plate fits well (just placed for the moment) but I am going to try and get away with the Italian sized front one and do away with the central one.

To that end , does anyone have a picture of the original(?) mounting brackets for holding it in this position ?

Lastly, I have got several new,  original "Lancia" rear numberplate light lenses - but no "Aprilia" lenses. Anyone interested in a swap ??

[Sliding Pillar]

Cavalitto supply the Italian style front number plate holders http://www.oldlanciaspares.com/aureliab24/carrozzeria.php

[Sliding Pillar]

Or you could even get your French plates made up in the proper Italian style, not cheap, and not legal either, but they do look good! http://www.licenseplates.tv/antique-italy-plates.html?=