A 2 part post

Part 1
Well, it's been an exciting afternoon for Belinda and I because we've been to see the nice kind MOT man!! I've used the same garage as Mark Dunmore as he's a Citroen specialist and I think he's been there about 20 years. What's more, he's a thoroughly nice chap.

Anyway what I'm guessing is that you all want to know how she got on? Well she has failed, but only on 2 points:

Headlamp aim too high. This wasn't unexpected as I only set them up roughly using my Peugeot as a guide.

Apparently the steering column locking collar is fouling ever so slightly on the bulkhead, so I'll have to have a look at that.

So that's that, she's booked back in for next Weds afternoon and all's looking well for the National

Another couple of little points were:

The tester needs to know the unladen kerbweight of my particular car to work out the handbrake performance figures or something? He said it won't fail but it's something to do with the peculiarities of the A series handbrake system.

He advised of a chip in the windscreen but which isn't a fail and also said that the engine needs the valve clearances looking at. I'm sure I checked them whilst the engine was on the bench, but the engine does sound a bit tappity (is that the phrase?).

Part 2
So there's Belinda and I feeling pretty pleased with ourselves and driving merrily through the village of Kirby-on-Bain on the way back home when she starts to splutter and then stops. I coast to the side of the road and try restarting. I look at the fuel gauge and there's just over half a tank. Remembering what I've read about hot running etc, I thought that it might be the coil. Leaving it to cool down, I'm sitting in the back of the car looking out of the tailgate when a D REG RED 2CV SPECIAL drives past, a lady in the drivers seat and a man as passenger, both middle aged. And they kept driving!!! When I looked back at the car, the boot was full of stickers, indicating that they're enthusiasts but unfortunately, it confirms that not a lot of people know what a Bedouin is

Back to the breakdown anyway, and then I thought "what if the fuel gauge is stuck and she's run out of petrol, because the gauge hadn't moved since I'd got the engine running and I'd been running her quite a lot". A tap on the fuel tank confirmed this and a friend was quickly phoned to bring me some fuel.

So that's another job I've got to do.

So all in all I'm quite chuffed with today and with the pressure off to get her roadworthy, I can relax a little, take my time and enjoy my time restoring Belinda a little more now

well done bertie!

congratulations! you had a deadline in mind & you worked to it - that's impressive in itself. all the hard graft's now done you can start having real fun now. Looking forward to seeing it at the INTERnational!

A tappy tappet is a happy tappet.

Thanks for the encouragement Neil. I couldn't have done it (certainly not in the timescale) if it wasn't for people such as yourself.

As for the National, well that has been the subject of many a debate and I refer to it as the national simply because it is advertised as that

After our little trip out yesterday, I decided to have a quick look at the steering column clamp and it turns out that it's down to the idiot that refitted the steering column and nothing to do with the bulkhead. A quick loosen of the clamp, a tap at the top of the column, a downwards shift of a few millimeters and a new nut, bolt and washer saw the clamp refitted so that clearance is now satisfactory. It's a pity that I can't get the car back in before next Weds but that's life I suppose and it does give me chance to get a few more little jobs done.

One of those other little jobs was to sort the rear exhaust hanger out. When fitting the exhaust I had decided to go the van-style short route and this type of exhaust arrangement has encouraged a few posts on the forum about the subject. I had used the temporary ty-wrap method of restricting sideways movement from the rear hangar but when I looked at a picture of the proper van bracket that Ken Hanna provided, I thought that it was something I could easily knock up. I initially tried using a nice thick piece of aluminium cut into shape, but when I tried to bend it, it fractured so I decided two pieces of metal welded were better than one folded. I'd already made my own bracket to hang the rear hanger from so using that as a template, I made a slightly smaller one with which to mount the "guide" onto. I couldn't find a suitably thick enough piece of metal to hold the rear rubber so instead I used a thick piece of metal rod (an offcut from the rod used for my bonnet stay). Although it does work quite effectively, I feel that it is a bit of a bodge and will be looking to fabricate something more permanent in future.

this is very true. i've always known it as the International, so that's how i like to refer to it. It's a preference thing!

As the MOT tester had commented on the tappety nature of the engine when Belinda was tested last week, I decided to check the valve clearances again last night, despite having done it when the engine was on the bench. As I'd also noticed a slight oil leak coming from one of the rocker covers it was a good time to replace that as well. Having removed the offending cover, a quick inspection revealed that inside, there were 2 marks corresonding to the position of the tappet adjustment screws, indicating that the rocker cover had been over tightened at some point, either by myself or a previous owner.



Could the screws hitting the inside of the cover be the cause of a tappety noise rather than the tappets themselves?

I know you all have preferences for valve clearances and the general consensus seems to be that it's better to have them larger than smaller, but I spent a lot of time last night getting them between the recommended .15 & .2mm stated in the Haynes Manual. It certainly seems to have quietened the engine a lot but I'll see how it goes and I can always adjust them again. The good thing about the Bedouin is I can do it without having to remove the wings as the wheel arches are clear of the rocker covers.

After my little "fuel starvation" episode last week, the engine had been reluctant to idle smoothly so after reading other posts about rough idling, I cleaned the idle jet and had a go at tweaking the idle mixture & speed screws. It took a while to identify my carb and then locate the components, but once done was very easy to do.

Bertie,
a quick way to check if a rocker cover's been distorted by ham-fisted spannering is to check how much of the thread on the stud projects through the cover with it held onto the head.
Under 10mm is probably OK, but if it's closer to 15mm or more, you need to deploy the rubber/nylon mallet and a sandbag to restore the correct amount of dishing.

There's a more accurate check, involving 'dippping' the cover, but that shouldn't be necessary unless a previous owner has shortened the holding down studs, using the same sort of twisted logic which has also resulted in A series dipsticks being shortened.

Btw, unless the culprit has wound the cover in as far as he/she could, it's only at high rpm that the tappets will hit the cover, not at tickover.

I'm disappointed that you've ignored my advice on valve clearances in a recent 2CVGB 'ask the anorak' article.
Unless you're going to be 'liberating' some Avgas to supplement Belinda's diet of unleaded, of course...

ken

Ken, I had set them according to your advice when it was on the bench, but the engine did sound overly tappety when the MOT tester commented on it, and I'd like to keep him happy tomorrow . I'll be changing the oil again before I know it so I can always set them bigger again then.

I wouldn't deliberately ignore you