New Stereo

Hi All, While waiting for my new brake cylinder I also ordered some other goodies, including a new stereo. Due to the vagaries of USPS and EmPost the brake cylinder still wasn't here so we're off the road still. So in order to cheer myself up I thought I'd fit the stereo. There was an original British Leyland twin knob one fitted but somebody had snapped the aerial and it was AM only so it's pointless. (Sorry about the focus, this is a crop from another photo. MUST remember to take photos before I start next project !) Once out it's no great surprise it didn’t work well. This is the new unit, specially designed for old cars. It’s a RetroSound Classic model. As it's designed for old cars the centre body is small, so no CD, however there is jack on front for iPod and also a media card reader. You can adjust and position the control knobs where ever you like, so a bit of assembly needed to get this far. Cropped off the DIN harness connections and soldered on a Lucas style bullet and then as I'll not be running permanent power (Battery Isolator fitted) I twined both powers together. Then a nice big eye for earth, a proper crimping tool was a recent purchase and works nicely. The antenna runs inside the wing, partly through a cut out from inside the bonnet and partly inside void accessed via a removable mud panel in the wheel well. The old speaker was a single coil 4 ohm speaker mounted directly to the trim in the passenger foot well. I've gone for the same location but I am using a dual coil 4+4 ohm speaker so will be louder. I've also done the job properly and mounted it with proper brackets so it's not just dangling on plastic trim. This is the new unit in the hole in the steel support structure behind the dash, all wired and connected. However the unit relies on the being bolted from the front to the dashboard. There is a replacement facia that comes supplied and took me a long time to figure out that I would have to glue this to the dash. Sadly the instruction manual just refers to "multiple options for custom mounting" and no clear instructions. In case you've goggled and ended up here, this is how I did it. Now on all in, tested and working, just to put it all back together ! Foot well lining with speaker, the grill is original. Media card reader, USB and jack input sockets all nicely mounted out of the way in the glove box. And all finished. Doesn’t look that different really, but guess that's the point. But it does work and sounds great, not sure for 120 kph but certainly enough for cruising around town. Any comments, questions or other abuse please leave a comment. Cheers, Richard B. Next . . . . . Hopefully the master cylinder to get back on the road.

Power Probe III - aka Light Sabre

It has been often said that Lucas is the "Prince of Darkness" and in the battle agains the "Dark Side" I have got a new Light Sabre. A few weeks ago I spent a very fruitless evening with my head under the dash and in the boot trying to trace a faulty rear indicator. Multi meter, scotch pad, electra clean all in hand and let battle commence, of to trace the green and red wire ! Bulb looks okay. Wiggle wiggle, maybe a bad ground, typical with old british electrics, a bit of a clean up and ground "okay". In with the Multi-Meter I've got 12V to the bulb, what's going on. Lots more checking, swapping bulbs etc, still got 12V but no light ! After a lot more checking, wiggling, including removing the bodged remains of an old alarm I give up for the evening and resort to the font of all knowledge . . . . . . . the WWW. Yes I know your all screaming the answer at me . . . . . . AMPS, I need Voltage and Current. I should have used a test lamp to trace as it creates a load. Well I did but I have a cr4ppy one from Speedex and is less reliable than Lucas electrics so binned it and it was off to Amazon. Hence this is my latest toy... PowerProbe III It is a specifically designed meter for automotive electics (6-24v only). Connect it directly to the battery to ensure good power and ground. Testing, check to positive, 12.3V Positive Testing, check to negative, 0V Negative The best bit is that at a flick of the switch you can then supply a good power (or ground) to test the circuits. You can also directly ground and load a positive supply and this will casue the inbuilt break to trip after a second if a good supply. For the audio boys if you touch a speaker cable it will play the music over the inbuilt speaker and also hear ponints in a distributor. There is also automatic max and min voltages for tracing intermitent and starting issues.

Supplying Power Supplying a ground And the offending article tonight was . . . . . . a broken 4 way female bullet connector. So far I'm very impressed and hopefully this will give me good service fighting the good fight.

Only down side, not availible here ! WWW and then Aramex Shop & Ship. Here is the manufacturers site. http://www.powerprobe.com/powerprobe/Home.html Cheers, Richard B.

Next . . . . refitting the master cylinder, when it arrived.

Pedal Power

Hi All, Okay, change a master cylinder, Two bolts and a clevis pin to the pedal, sounds as if it should be simple. . . . WRONG the instruction manual says "Remove pedal box complete". No way I thought, but after a couple hours of removing the skin off my knuckles I gave up hit the WWW and went back the next night and in an hour pedal box out. Only drawback is that I'll now need to rebleed the clutch, but given all the cursing at first attempt it’s worth it. Once I got the pedal box out turns out that this was an old problem for the Prior Owner and the firewall and pedal box were all worse for wear from long time leaks. However on plus side looks like the clutch cylinder is new, even had a cable tie label still on. I've been flimflam'ing on how to fix, either complete cylinder or just rebuild kit. Original thoughts were change complete but MOSS were out of stock, so then thought rebuild, but then changed again when I saw the state of neglect inside of the pedal box. So thanks to Basil Adams a new TRW/Lucas cylinder is on the way over from the states. (Basil also passed on top tip about year of build. She has an 18V series engine which was only fitted from 72, so she is probably a 72 series but built in 71 knowing sale would only be in 72. MUST watch out for that when ordering parts.) Here they all are tucked away in the corner. Quick look under and this isn't a new problem ! Clutch master cylinder, looks new. The ofending article, brake master cylinder. And this is where it all sat, nice isn't it, NOT ! Pedals Cleaned and prepped. Main pedal hanger, also cleaned. No paint stripped was used, just shows how much / long the leak has been ! All Primed and ready for top coat. Reseviour cleaned and ready for re-use. New cylinder but will try and re-use this. Pedal box top coated. All finished, now wait for the postman with presents from America and then boxing it all back up ! After that more begging to get the wife to help me bleed it all, AGAIN. Cheers, Richard B.