Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[lancialulu]

Thanks Tim (good to see you this week !)
I wasn't planning on fitting silicon hoses, but interesting to hear what you say about the bands. Does that apply to jubilee clips as well ?

Jubilee clips with a microscopic radius out on the edge are fine with silicon. Old style (ie plain orthogonal edge) is not nor are those wire clips!!!.

While typing I dropped the tank of the Delta today to find the cause of the mega petrol leak everytime I filled up. Culprit was a crushed plastic over flow connection due to over zealous tightening of its jubilee clip when assembled from new. You can only get to this clip by dropping the tank. Purposely drove the tank to empty on the way from Dover as I thought I might need to drop it.......Sarah was a bit worried for the last 20miles with the orange light on. Still had c 10 litres to empty out....

[simonandjuliet]

Tim, very interesting , but can we have it in English please ?

[lancialulu]

Tim, very interesting , but can we have it in English please ?

Oui. Bien sur!

[DavidLaver]

I never knew the radiator shutter actuators came in different temperature ranges...

[simonandjuliet]

Firstly - HAPPY NEW YEAR, health , happiness and completed projects to everyone !

Just back in the garage after the Christmas travels, that included a trip to the Appia Consortium in Hartlepool. I also collected the leather and upholstery materials for the Aprilia, but that's a different story !

Refitting the radiator is taking a while because there is a surprising amount of detail. Lots of bits to strip clean and paint, rubbers to make and fit, gaskets etc plus the famous pipe clips

I have refitted the thermostat using hermetite and a standard 3/4" fibre washer instead of the original solder, let's see if it works !

The shutters are back in place, I was able to re-use one of the wires but replaced the other. Simple but effective system

New mounting rubbers were collected from the Consortium along with new 4lb cap and spring. I did a trial fit and lined up the Christmas tree and have started to fit the clips. They do look much better !

For reference, I used about 14" of metal for the 1 1/4" pipe and about 8" of metal for the 3/4" pipe. The metal is looped twice around the pipe, the end is reversed back into the split pin (using about 3/4" of overlap) and then rotated anti-clockwise to tighten

To rotate the pin I used a piece of squashed 10mm tube. I think that I will make a neater version later ......

Final picture shows the brass bolt that holds the Christmas tree in place - so careful not to over-tighten

[Parisien]

Moving it all on is very satisfying Simon, looking very good, great attention to detail too, cheers for the New Year good wishes, right back at you.


P

[lancialulu]

Love the squashed tube tool. Just how I would have done it if I had thought about!!!! Did you bend the other end to get some leverage??

[DavidLaver]

"Surprising amount of detail".  Am pleased to hear it can STILL surprise you as it delights the rest of us.

[simonandjuliet]

Tim, I welded the rod onto an old 1/4" drive socket (4mm for reference .....) so that I can use it with a handle and extensions. For the smaller clips I cut a slot in a 5 mm socket so it would work in the same way. Then I put some coloured heat-shrink around them so I can find them !

A fiddly day, but one with a positive outcome.

Once all the pipes were cut to length, pipe clips made and fitted, radiator fitted and filled , I tried to start the engine. It took an age and was finally achieved by heating the plugs in the oven for 10 minutes. She kept firing and running for a couple of seconds but wouldn't run. But hot plugs and a drop of fuel down the carb worked wonders. It is very cold here at the moment so that was probably the cause

Once the engine was running a couple of problems became apparent:

1/ An ominous noise from the back of the engine
2/ A leak at the bottom of the radiator
3/ Petrol leak from the carb

First up, the noise - it was only audible once the engine was running above a certain speed and was a loud whirring/knocking. I have heard something similar before with a stuck starter motor and this is what it turned out to be. The solenoid appears to be lazy and doesn't retract the pinion far enough or quickly enough. Fortunately I had a spare (albeit dirty !) motor so this cured the noise

Second, there was a small , invisible split where the bottom reservoir was soldered to the fin section. This may have been caused by little or no room under the rad once it was fitted on the new rubbers. So the rad was fixed with some plastic padding rad fix and an extra rubber spacer added

The leak from the carb was just a badly seated copper washer

However, all repaired and she runs like a dream ..... I tried to show this in the photo , but difficult ! Tomorrow I will put the wheels back on, refit the seat and drive her out of the garage

Lastly a couple of "detail" pictures for David !

[lancialulu]

Excellent work Simon. So satisfying ending an up and down day on a high. At first I thought the knocking noise was the Appia curse a la Andy Tait, but no just a sloppy rebuild on a starter motor. I am just sorry I will not see this fine work when next down your way as you will be in the UK!!!

[chriswgawne]

I love those hose clips. memo to self to get the required bits and make the appropriate tools ASAP.
Chris

[lancianut666]

re the long brass bolt to fasten the christmas tree onto the rad..we have some stainless steel ones down at the stores..
Clarkey

[simonandjuliet]

The furgoncino started much more easily today , and even ran for a while when I remembered to put the petrol pipe into a can of petrol !

Once she was warm enough I moved her back and forward under her own steam - not far, just a couple of yards, but little by little !

One small hiccough was selecting reverse, the 5 forward gears all selected and moved the car, but couldn't get reverse. It needed some ingenuity to move the lever and look behind the engine at the same time, but I eventually saw thet the speedo cable moved and jammed the selector .......

I have made my first ever and very short YouTube video which may or may not be available via this link !

https://youtu.be/XZUu9OakiB4

[Sebastien]

I agree with Chris and others:

The split plin hose clips you used look very nice!

Would love to use them to replace some modern ones on my Aurelia(s).
A list of european suppliers or sources would be excellent!

[lancialulu]

I have made my first ever and very short YouTube video which may or may not be available via this link !

https://youtu.be/XZUu9OakiB4

Sounds sweet enough to gas you and chop errant fingers off!!