Behold.


It's in for a bit of a baptism of fire, as the BX registered its disapproval at having to share a driveway with an air-cooled cousin by lunching a rear suspension canister yesterday on the way home from work. It's now VOR until I find a replacement can (can anyone help? Excuse the pun).....so the Dyane's being pressed into front-line service from the word go, at least for a few days.

Looks cool though, doesn't it?


This is not just patina. This is 'off road in a barn/garden since 1995' patina. And patina which I should like to preserve.



Even the roof's nicely worn-in.

The almost total lack of silencing ensures that this innocent-looking peashooter 'zorst sounds like The Apocalypse. When I backed it onto the drive my biker neighbour came flying out of the front door, looking for what he thought must be a BSA/Triumph twin.
;D

Plans? Well it's arrival's been hastened somewhat by the Bee-Arxe throwing its metaphorical dummy out, so there were one or two jobs I wanted to do before using it in anger. So next weekend will see it back at Chez Spanners whilst we have the heads off and re-seal them (look out for a how-to), and an oil change/greasing session....then once the BX is back in action the Dyane can have the living BeJesus slammed out of it, and I can then look forward to a summer of roadtrips/partying.

hip hip, Hooray!

Running report:

Days owned: 5
Miles covered: 200+
Bits fallen off: 0
MPG: 46
Grin factor: Infinite.

What a BRILLIANT car. I have to say I've not enjoyed the drive to work so much in years. Considering I've had to throw it in at the metaphorical deep end this week, its performance has been nothing short of amazing....especially seeing as it's STILL running on 1990-something oil.

Even in boiling temperatures and heavy traffic it's been marvellous, and has proved more than capable of keeping up with most things on the motorway too. Has regularly been driven at offtheclockmph.

Things to do:
Fresh oil/filter (for my peace of mind and to preserve that marvellous willing little engine)
Seal heads (I'm getting my smokers cough back and I quit 14 months ago)
Oil leak (before SWMBO notices....)
OSF headlight dim
It needs to go LOWER.

I kinda knew I wouldn't regret buying it, and so it's proved to be.

never realised how good dyanes look without front bumpers!.... why cant the 2cv look this good without them?

Phew

put the number plate over the chasis like bartje's car

They do.

Busy day today, 10am saw me heading up to Spanners Speed Shop in the rain and straight into the workshop.

Wiring unplugged, front end sheetmetal off, bonnet off, front doors off.


Inlet/exhaust manifolds off, carb off, fan off. Heater pipes off.


Heads off.....


Mating surfaces cleaned up with WD40 and an old cylinder barrel, in a manner similar to how you'd grind/lap new valves in.:


Heads fitted with ECAS copper gaskets to give a better seal:


Checked bores....excellent.


Yours Truly being well-mannered.


Heads back on, valve timing reset, tappet clearances set slightly slack because 'a slack tappet is a happy tappet' (on unleaded):


'Reassembly is the reverse of removal' ;D


Wanna hear it run with no exhausts?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf34oGLbqM4

Oil drained, engine flushed with 15W40, drained, filled again with 20W 50, new filter, new plugs.

Anyway, I drove it out of Sidewinder's shop at 8pm, and to say it's transformed it would be something of an understatement. No more low-speed fluffing, no more stuttering idle, 100% full throttle at last, and best of all...no more fumes. Plus the knowledge that that willing little flat-twin really is a good 'un. I already get the feeling that Hellbilly would drive me round the world if I wanted it to.
;D
Thanks to JC for putting up with my tirade of sick jokes and mong impressions (I feel useless with this gammy hand, I can't wait for my operation so I can hold stuff properly again) and to Rachael for the coffee and butties.

If you're wondering why it still looks a bit....lanky, we ran out of time to drop the suspension...plus with the abysmal weather we were stuck with it inside the shop. When the weather's better this bad boy's going down.

In other news....I filled the tank up on my way home. 169m on 14 litres of petrol. 54.8mpg. That appeals to the skinflint in me.....

nahh cos you got the racing spoiler thingy! they look ok... but i mean like... with nothing, no bumper brackets or anything... just nothing... 2cv's look wierd... but dyanes look great!

Ooops...

The torrential rain cleared this afternoon, SWMBO went up to the inlaws who live a mile away, and after catching up on some important internet business (www.bootywobblers.com or something,hur hur hur) I sallied forth to join her.

As I drove up towards theirs I thought it felt a bit hesitant but just put it down to being cold, and thought no more of it.

After shooting the breeze and partaking in tea/cakes for an hour I came out to come home and noticed a pool of something under the front. Oh bollocks. Oil (well at least thats what I thought it was) all over my in-laws block-paved drive. Not good. I shifted the car off the drive and after giving Pa-in-Law a hand to clear the mess up and ascertaining that there was plenty of oil in the sump I drove home v-e-r-y slowly.

So I got home, backed onto the drive and whacked a huge sheet of cardboard under the engine, then bent up another one to sit above the chassis rail under the left-hand cylinder head to see if I could ascertain where the oil was coming from (the NS chassis leg was covered, so it was hard to tell just by looking at that).

Strangely, there was none. Thinking back to how fragile the oil-feed pipes are that run up from the crankcase to the cylinder heads I started to panic. I phoned Spanners who said "Don't drive it, I'll be there in 30 minutes".

While I was waiting and looking underneath I traced a drip back not to the chassis, but to the fuel line that's clipped underneath it. Could it be possible that it was petrol, not oil? Certainly it smelled like good ol' BP Unleaded....but it was only a tiny drip. Cue me feeling like a bellend. (not hard...I am one). Phoned Jon again. "Ahhhhh....I'll bring some fuel line".

JC arrived with a huge roll of fuel pipe. We started it up again, and with me on the throttle the drip turned into an absolute torrent of Unleaded.. Switch off, jury-rig some fresh line on to catch the fuel, whip the length of pipe off.....

There be the problem. As the fuel pump demanded more fuel up from the tank, it was pissing out of that tiny split, all along the chassis rail, washing off the remnants of the oil we'd spilled on it yesterday. That was also causing the hesitancy I'd felt whilst driving up the hill to the inlaws.

Further examination of the pipe revealed:

Date of Manufacture: May 1981

No wonder. It's now got nice new neoprene fuel line, and all-new Jubilee clips.

Anyway, panic over, thanks again to Spanners and his good nature, and apologies to my inlaws.... ;D