1985 Lap Rialto 2 (hopefully a more concise version of it) - this may take me time to update it.

Post by jessejazza on 15th August 2012

phade wrote:

The engine was very slowly revved up and down when the car was stationary (engine under no load, car in neutral). I would expect the vacuum gauge to be fairly steady under those conditions.

Having said that, I would expect the vacuum gauge to sharply dip when the car is accelerating and/or the engine is under load (eg. car going uphill).

The main thing I was trying to do was to get rid of the hunting when the engine was being slowly revved up (I'm guessing up to about 4,000 RPM by listening to it as I know that 1,700 RPM is approx middle C on a piano, ledger line between the bass clef and treble clef staffs).

I may get round to re-instating the Velleman ignition amplifier and refitting the O/S engine cover this morning if I manage to get time to do it.

Well it would be but the video sounded as if the engine was being revved and the needle barely moved

15th August 2012

A minor update...

Hi everyone, I have re-instated the Velleman ignition amplifier and the engine still runs smoothly (I only ran it for about 30 seconds from cold).

The next thing I'll be doing is to make up a new (shorter) wiring loom for the ignition amplifier and I'll be using a cable restraint (secured to the body) to secure the wiring loom to the body before I drive the car on the road (I'd rather be safe than sorry).

Post by Wrighty 15th August 2012

Do you have a pic of the the amplifier?

15th August 2012

This is where I have installed the Velleman ignition amplifier that I bought from Madblokey. I used industrial velcro to make sure that it does not move.

The kit its self requires assembly and you will also need to get a suitable waterproof box for it:-




This is how the Velleman kit is supplied (the pic is what it looks like after it has been assembled):-




and the link to that kit is on here http://www.maplin.co.uk/ignition-amplifier-kit-3162 . An ABS box, AquaStop, suitable connectors, wire and glue-lined heatshrink (t0 make up a tough outer cable jacket) can be bought separately.

Posts by others on 15th August 2012

jessejazza

I think that's a really good idea how did you find the right size box enclosure?


str8lolly

Maplins sell the boxes as well.


jessejazza

[QUOTE'"str8lolly"]
Maplins sell the boxes as well.
[/QUOTE]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Posts by others on 16th August 2012

Wrighty

Nice


jessejazza

One thing i've noticed on this forum if someone has good idea they seldom get a thank you. Fifer gets lots of well earned praise.

17th August 2012

Velleman ignition amplifier's wiring tidied up today

I have now got round to tidying up the ignition amplifier's wiring to make the car safer. I drilled out one of the holes next to the ignition coil (it originally had a mercury tilt switch fitted to it) and fitted a no.8 plastic snap-in nut into it:-






Wiring secured by a plastic P-clip with a no.8 stainless self tapper and made to length. At least there's no danger of the ignition amplifier's wiring loom shorting out on the starter motor's solenoid.




At last ! My Rialto 2's engine bay is now complete (for the first time since the National Rally):-




I also ran it in the garage today. There's still a very small amount of hunting present (barely noticeable) but I am now thinking it's down to the 2 1/2 month old petrol that's still in it.

Posts by others 17th August 2012

Daniel Rodd

have you considered,i dont know,maybe taking it out of the garage and giving it a jolly good blast?


str8lolly

Daniel Rodd wrote:

have you considered,i dont know,maybe taking it out of the garage and giving it a jolly good blast?

Now theres a plan!

17th August 2012

I won't be for a few days yet as I will be camping from tomorrow.

Post by AzzY on 17th August 2012

Daniel Rodd wrote:

have you considered,i dont know,maybe taking it out of the garage and giving it a jolly good blast?

Thats taking it to extremes...

Posts by others on 19th August 2012

kevhallett

Looking good there Phil, hope it runs ok for you now


wheaters

Yes, an "Italian tune-up" some times does a lot of good.


Atodini

So, Phil, who will be going out for a blast first? You or me?

Put the Jaffa's body back on the chassis this weekend so a few hours work and should be good to go......

Except that I'll be taking time to tidy up odd wiring, sorting out a new throttle linkage as the new exhaust manifold has nowhere for the return spring to nchor, sourcing and fitting a shorter alternator as the LRA 100 is way too close to the new manifold, fitting the new (MGB) master cylinder etc. etc. etc.........

Reckon it'll be good and ready for Tamworth though!


kevhallett

Atodini wrote:

Reckon it'll be good and ready for Tamworth though!

John

Well done Sir, look forward to seeing it

27th August 2012

A minor update...

I haven't managed to take it out for a blast yet (I took my 1973 VW 1300 Beetle out for a drive yesterday). Having said that, I did replace the passenger's side window lifter as the passenger's side window did not want to stay in the old window lifter and I did not want lots of broken glass everywhere.

NOS window lifter and new window lifter rubber fitted (from sparesman, there's no more NOS ones left as far as I know):-

30th August 2012

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today......

Hi everyone,

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today. It does have a lot of acceleration when revved, but I still think it's hunting a bit/not running correctly on acceleration (despite filling it up with fresh petrol). I'll drive it back into the garage in a short bit, let the engine cool down and retorque the inlet/exhaust manifold nuts and possibly retorque the cylinder head (yet again after about 10 or so miles).

The good news is that it does not appear to overheat.

Posts by others on 30th August 2012

Wrighty

phade wrote:

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today......[/]b

Hi everyone,

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today. It does have a lot of acceleration when revved, but I still think it's hunting a bit/not running correctly on acceleration (despite filling it up with fresh petrol). I'll drive it back into the garage in a short bit, let the engine cool down and retorque the inlet/exhaust manifold nuts and possibly retorque the cylinder head (yet again after about 10 or so miles).

The good news is that it does not appear to overheat.

Phil, does the hunting go away when you pull the choke out a little when driving?


[b]kevhallett

phade wrote:

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today......

Hi everyone,

I managed to drive my Rialto 2 today. It does have a lot of acceleration when revved, but I still think it's hunting a bit/not running correctly on acceleration (despite filling it up with fresh petrol). I'll drive it back into the garage in a short bit, let the engine cool down and retorque the inlet/exhaust manifold nuts and possibly retorque the cylinder head (yet again
after about 10 or so miles).

The good news is that it does not appear to overheat.

What is your Air to Fuel Ratio?

30th August 2012

I think the cylinder head and/or inlet and exhaust manifolds will need to be retorqued as it started to run badly as soon as I got it into the garage. It did run well initially until 15 miles later.

When I put my finger inside the rocker cover, there's no evidence of water and oil mixing together.

30th August 2012

I may also have a look at the fuel filter as it's got 2 1/2 month old petrol in it (I did decide to top it up with fresh petrol today). It's just a bit odd that it wanted to suddenly hunt like mad and stall as I managed to get it into the garage.

Post by kevhallett 30th August 2012

phade wrote:

I may also have a look at the fuel filter as it's got 2 1/2 month old petrol in it (I did decide to top it up with fresh petrol today). It's just a bit odd that it wanted to suddenly hunt like mad and stall as I managed to get it into the garage.

Sounds like the car is being a bit of a Hunt (mis-spelled)

30th August 2012

It is to put it mildly.

When I get the chance, I'll have a quick look at the fuel filter first to see wether it's blocked up or not.

Posts by others on 30th August 2012

Wrighty

Funny little cars these 3 wheelers. They can cause lots of head scratching, but always turns out to be the obvious..

People seem to forget its near impossible to Diagnose a problem with a car over the net...Phil good luck with the car, my hunt went away when I advanced the ignition timing few degrees..


kevhallett

Wrighty wrote:

Funny little cars these 3 wheelers. They can cause lots of head scratching, but always turns out to be the obvious..

People seem to forget its near impossible to Diagnose a problem with a car over the net...Phil good luck with the car, my hunt went away when I advanced the ignition timing few degrees..

It's true, you tend to get tangled up in the Net.

2nd September 2012

Hi everyone,

I think I may have found a couple of causes of the hunting problem. I think it may have been down to slightly loose cylinder head and loose inlet/exhaust manifold nuts.

I didn't have to retorque the cylinder head nuts by much (barely 1/8th of a turn when doing the final few rounds of tightening them to 25 lbft in sequence). The inlet/exhaust manifold nuts however were fairly loose and most of them required approx 1/4 turn to retorque them to 15 lbft.

I also managed to reset the valve clearances (I had to do this twice after the number 4 adjuster broke) to approx 0.006" to 0.007" (7 thou gauge being a very tight fit), so hopefully after I have refitted everything all will be well.

The only thing I'll need to replace is the rocker cover gasket (it's been reused too often) and the rocker cover's fibre washers (all of which I have got).

On the plus side, there is no evidence of any oil/water mix at all.

Post by Wrighty 2nd September 2012

Nice one!

I need to sort the tappets out on my Rialto, they are way to loud..

14th September 2012

Hi everyone,


I managed to drive my Rialto 2 out on the road today and there are hardly any issues at all (once it has warmed up).


I only had one slight misfire (actually the engine did try to cut out) as I went over a pothole in the road at about 50 mph (it seemed to be electrical), so hopefully once I have replaced the Velleman kit's wiper motor push-lock connectors for bayonet type ones, it should cure that problem.

7th October 2012 (after the advice I got from str8lolly)


A minor update...

I found a fuel hose support bracket (that I didn't realise until yesterday was supposed to be fitted to the rocker cover) in the garage today and fitted it to my Rialto 2:-








I have also managed to get a 7 pin version of the 5 pin wiper motor connector (from Auto Sparks) and I will be fitting it to the spare Velleman ignition amplifier once I have built it. Thankfully, the 7 pin connector fits the 5 pin connector on the Velleman ignition amplifier's loom that I have already fitted to my Rialto 2.

21st October 2012

Fifer then let me know that I needed two brackets for my Rialto 2's fuel hose....

Fifer's post on 7th October 2012

Fifer wrote:

Phil , as far as I am aware that bracket is for the overflow hose and the petrol hose is clipped to the side of the cylinder head as per this old photo on the poxy robin just after I first got it and was checking all the faults



I wrote at that time ;

Distributor side of engine before cleaning
Note the orange hermetite I hope the previous owner has just smeared that round the outside to stop the oil leak from the rocker cover
Sadly it turned out that he had used Red Hermetite on the cylinder head gasket { and every other gasket }

I then took str8lolly's and fifer's advice and decided to try and source the cylinder head fuel hose bracket (I got a whole load of brackets from wheaters, which had the cylinder head fuel hose bracket with them).

Anyway, whilst I was waiting for the brackets to arrive, I decided to build the spare Velleman ignition amplifier.....

9th October 2012

Hi everyone,

I decided to start building my Rialto 2's spare Velleman ignition amplifier (so that I can do a very quick swap in case either of them fails) after my red VW 1600i Beetle's windscreen shattered. Anyway here are some pics of what I did:-


Velleman kit in it's box, Aquastop (the small tin) for protecting the Velleman PCB against moisture and a 7 pin version of the 5 pin wiper connector (it will fit the 5 pin wiper connector currently fitted to my Rialto 2's Velleman ignition amplifier). I could not use the enclosure as it's too small for the Velleman ignition amplifier's PCB:-




Velleman ignition amplifier's PCB assembled:-




Making up the wiring loom for the ignition amplifier with four wires and glue-lined heatshrink:-




Wiring loom soldered to the ignition amplifier's PCB:-




I hope to get a suitable enclosure from Maplin (stock code N73BQ) in Bromley (the Orpington store does not have any) tomorrow so that I can test the spare ignition amplifier tomorrow.

I then measured up the plastic enclosure on the Velleman ignition amplifier that I bought from Madblokey and realised that it's Maplin N75BQ, so I ordered one from Maplin's eBay shop and decided to have a look at my Rialto 2's existing Velleman ignition amplifier....