Aprilia Diary

[lancialulu]

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?=

Not legal?? This is a very grey area in the UK made clearer by my MOT man that said the rules governing this can be summarised as can you read it from a suitable distance. This applies to cars that were made with smaller number plate surrounds in other countries like Italy and applies to pre reflective legistlation..... I still keep the UK size in the boot just in case I meet another interpretation along the way.

For mounting on an Aprilia see Dec 2011 VL front cover. Admittedly this required a hole in the underside of the front bumper (by previous owner)......

[Sliding Pillar]

Tim, I have a small number plate on the front of my car too, but it is in the English style, if you were to put on plates in the Italian style, even if it is the correct number, I am certain they wouldn't be legal.

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks, the support from Cavilitto would still need to be attached (screwed/bolted) to the bumper I think. I wondered if there was anything that uses the mounting bolts ?? I suspect that I will have to make something

I have had the French number plate made up in the Italian size (15 euros from monancienne) and it is illegal in France, but I'll keep the standard one in the car ....

Still don't like the new format with hyphens, especially the square plate

[lancialulu]

I have the "cavillito" surround actually bought through Subito as much cheaper. They are profiled to hang off a 50/60's front bumper. I have one on my Flavia, Fulvia Sport, and turned upside down and tweaked onto the front valance for my bumperless HF. Yes UK "trials bike size" lettering from Tippers and never considered Italian style.

[ben]

Back to the subject of leaky aprilia plug connectors I thought you might be interested in my test rig for them.
Instead of the connector feeding a normal plug it feeds straight through to a modified plug with an adjustable gap.
Increasing the gap puts increasing pressure on the insulating capacity of the connector.

I have tested all 13 of my connectors and they were all capable of transmitting a half inch (13 mm) spark.which greatly surprised me.
As I am aware that the engine miss-fires tend not to develop until the engine has warmed up I then tested the connectors after heating them up in a pan of hot oil---generally at about 80 degrees C. And got a very different result. Only two of them could deliver the 1/2inch spark.All the others started to leak with the gap at less than half that.
Interestingly I found that at the cold test conditions transmission of the spark finally failed with a fairly spectacular spark jumping from the bottom of the connector across to the rim of the plug recess in the head.
In the hot tests the route of the leak was not evident---no crackling and no evidence of a spark anywhere.My investigations are continuing but I believe the current tracks around the surface of the connector and into the cam cover. Either that or the basic insulation property of the (bakelite?) connector deteriorates as it gets hot.
 Either way it can only leak into the cam cover around the bayonet neck as there is nowhere else for it to go.   

[ben]

Hopefully this is a better picture of the adjustable gap.

[davidwheeler]

That's me put in my place!

[simonandjuliet]

Heath Robinson , eat your heart out - love it !  Ben, are you going to do a cut-away for the rest of the engine

Looking forward to further test results

[Sebastien]

I have no Aprilia, nor a Peugeot 203, so no personal knowledge of the long spark plug connectors. I just remember reading that piece, by an old Aprilia owner, which might be helpful:

http://viva-lancia.com/snippet/snippet7.htm

Another thing to check, at the other end, maybe?

At least I enjoyed reading it...

[davidwheeler]

I have a piece of Bowden cable inner tethering the oil cap to the earth connection but have not had a Bang, Tinkle etc for some time now.

[ben]

Hopefully I have uploaded a picture of a regular type of Aprilia plug connector that I have drawn.

I think the explosions that Paul Vellacot writes about and David has experienced are due to failure of the spring.I have dismantled a couple where the reduced diameter section at the top has rusted away so that to reach earth via the plug a second  spark has to jump from the end of the steel in the centre to the coil at the full diameter and possibly even further if the spring has rusted to the point where it no longer fills the space and pushes the cup down onto the plug top.

Apart from causing explosions any gaps that the electricity has to jump to reach the plug mean that the voltage must rise to a higher value to make the jump and therefore the higher the possibility of it leaking out before it gets that far.
As I said before I therefore think that when the dreaded miss-fires occur it is because an easier path for the current develops,particularly when everything gets hot, around the bayonet fit into the cam cover.

However, David, please note it only a theory!! 
            Ben

[davidwheeler]

The explosions actually happened with my Peugeot bare  connectors with no gaps in them, I can only think the spark leapt from the connector to some nearby piece of valve gear.   Since I shrouded them with plastic water hose there have been no more bangs.

[simonandjuliet]

A bit of Aprilia time today whilst waiting for some Appia brake parts to arrive.

Main job was to fit the new front number plate. I have a couple of spare Appia front number plate frames that I found in a box, however on close inspection I didn't feel they could be made to fit without damaging the bumper.

The solution was a 3-4 mm thick piece of aluminium plate, cut and bent to shape, drilled and bolted to the bumper irons.

I decided on a single stay and will see if the plate bends, but because I have gone with the small plate I think it will be OK. Time and local Gendarmes will tell !

Tomorrow, Dog will start replacing the front floors. They have been patched a couple of times over the years and are a bit messy. I asked Bill Lewis to make a couple up last year, so it is time ....

[Mic]

I am a bit late joining the number plate debate but have just caught up.  Bear in mind the plates on my Aprilia are correct for Portugal pre-war but the fixings are relevant.  From the poor photos you should  be able to make out that the plates are bolted through the bumper into the mounting irons - heavy those irons aren't they?  You can also see the flasher clipped on to the iron.  If anyone wants better photos let me know and I'll have a crawl to get better shot.

[simonandjuliet]

All very neat Mic, and so clean !

Started on the passenger floor, so first job for me was to set her up on ramps/axle stands, remove the petrol pipe, exhaust, heat shield and disconnect the battery (I usually do when I am electric welding .... any other points of view on this one ??).

I took out all the seats, rubber mats and carpets but we have covered the door panels.

Next job for us was to inspect the original floor so we can recreate it as accurately as possible, as Andy has found, there are sometimes layers of "repairs" that hide the original. Fortunately I have a very unmolested car so it is relatively straight forward. Some of the front "chassis" section is made from very thick plate, must be 2mm thick.

Dog has peeled off the old floor and drilled the spot welds leaving a large hole .....leaving space for a good look

Especially interesting for me was to see how the sill/floor junction worked. The lower sill box section extends into the floor-well by about 1/2" to provide a ledge for the floor panel.

A bit of cleaning up to do but no nasty surprises yet, more tomorrow .....

Chugga, do you replace the extra re-enforcement plate on the floor panels - or view it as a future rust trap ? I haven't got a decent photo, so will try and rectify that later