1978 Matra-Simca Rancho

[hezekiel]

Getting to know the car better every day and making small fixes along the way... The driver's door lock also acted up: If the door had been locked, it wouldn't open until maybe 30 sec or a minute after turning the key No black magic there, though. The mechanism was just so full of gunk that one little spring in there took a long time to move the lever which allows the handles to open the door. So, both sides are serviced now.


There is a nasty exhaust resonance tone around 2000-2500 rpm. The silencer and end pipe look almost new but maybe the muffler is just curse word quality. I had a suitably sized, little used absorption silencer at hand, so I cut a length of pipe off and welded it there (the one towards right). The tone did not disappear but it's much more bearable now.


While doing the exhaust, noticed I had almost run out of shielding gas. There are very few shops around that refill bottles while waiting. Most just swap rented bottles. In this place there is a sequence of bottles, their pressure ascending. Guess which is mine ;D The receiving bottle is circulated through all of them and ½ hour later I have a warm bottle with 200 bar worth of Argon-CO₂, thank you very much!


The car had a period Blaupunkt "binocular shape" radio / cassette player, which even worked but the sound was hideous and the volume fluctuated a lot. I thought it was easy to swap in a modern unit which happened to be floating around, but actually the radio opening had to be opened up quite a lot. There was just enough space, I had to chamfer the upper corners of the surrounding bezel. Even worse, the back of the head unit hit the bulkhead well before the correct assembly depth. I had to bolt it to the mounting frame so that it sits about 1" proud, but it's not too bad due to the shape of the console.


At the local weekly retro car meeting. There were actually more than 6 cars, but not nearly as much as the best days of last summer, because it was absolutely %#¤& freezing, and it's almost July!

[richardmoss]

I love ranchos - very jealous.

[Siert]

Great! I remember reading about this car in "Mobilisti" not that long ago.

[hezekiel]

Siert: Correct, this car was featured in Mobilisti (a popular magazine for Classic Cars in Finland) about 2 years ago.

The radio I installed a couple of weeks ago seems to drain the battery... It has a separate transformer or power source which draws current even when the unit is switched off. Both the red and yellow wire are connected to +30. Perhaps I should find a position for switched power (+15) and use that for the yellow wire insted. Not feeling motivated to do that right now, I took the radio fuses out for the time being.

Despite patching up two positions under the wiper panel to cure water ingress in the scuttle area, water still enters to the front parcel shelf and also around the tailgate hinges. OK, it has been raining heavily but I still sort of dislike the condition... Need to have a closer look but it will most probably have to wait until the holiday is over everybody else in the family and mine resumes

[hezekiel]

A small update: Managed to find a pair of NOS rear light lenses. Came together with new stainless fixing screws.

The old lens had cracks and the colour was flaking. I deemed that polishing could not do the job any more...

Two thirds of my summer rides, the Golf seems to be about 2 feet lower...

[Siert]

You have a Scimitar GTE in Finland? I was considering (i.e. dreaming about) importing one before I found my GS. Is yours the same one that was at Lahden Classic Motorshow last year? There can't be to many of them around.

[hezekiel]

Siert, my Scimitar has been in my garage for 3 years, trying to find the time to repaint it. There are 3 GTE's in Finland AFAIK, that Lahti example is the most presentable (do you have a link to any pictures BTW?) as mine and the other one in Imatra are in pieces.

[shywitness]

these were really ahead of they're time in my opinion.

with reguards room inside/visability/kind of people carrierness lol.

as a few have said already.i also had a toy car or 2 of these...............and there was brown and gold two tone one thats was on the roads for years local too me.

interesting car............and i'm sure very very rare these days

[hezekiel]

I installed a wideband lambda AFR gauge the other day. The readings were quite interesting, revealing that the engine was running pig rich most of the time. I had tuned the idle mixture by ear and it was too rich. Even after turning it quite lean (AFR 15...16:1 at idle) the mixture remains excessively rich at low-moderate load and rpm. Full throttle seems to be quite OK. So, it was time to remove the offending article for a quick overhaul.


Yuck, that's filthy! There was a liberal coat of very stubborn and chemical resistant grease on the linkages. I scraped most of it off with a small wooden stick and let an ultrasonic cleaner take it from there. After a couple of hours and changing the water several times, it came out quite nice (yes I did take it apart and not just clean it as a whole unit).


Wonder how many extra hp I can make by installing Maserati Biturbo parts? ;D The cheapest rebuild kit I could find was for a Weber DCNVH, and not DCNVA which this car has. Everything fit well except for a small vacuum diaphragm (power valve) which my carb didn't have, so it wasn't used.


Now that's better! I didn't find anything seriously wrong with the carburettor, just the float level was maybe 1-2mm off and the float needle valve was worn. It had quite a big step in the middle of the conical sealing surface. Having driven some 10 miles after the overhaul, there seems to be no big difference in how it drives, or the mixtures. I'm thinking maybe it could work if I started using RE85 fuel instead (85% ethanol, 15% petrol). It costs 1.00€/litre whereas regular fuel is around 1.65€. The seller of the carb rebuild kit claimed the parts are ethanol resistant so maybe I should just refuel with that stuff and see where it breaks next

[65mustang]

I would be carefull with E85, its not wise to use it in a classic. Fuel lines, Fuel pump etc.. al kind of parts wich are common to fail when you use E85. If you are going to try it keep a good eye on your fuel system for leaks etc.

[hezekiel]

Running with E85 since monday! The nearest station selling that stuff is some 10 miles from me, I filled up some 45 litres and drove home with the choke slightly on. After some test runs, it seems to work as good as previously with the idle jets bored from 42 to 50 and mains from 135 to 150. On top of that I soldered the topmost emulsion tube holes shut to try and cure a lean spot at 2000 rpm and light throttle. OK, the mixtures are not perfect but guess I shouldn't expect Closed Loop EFI performance from a 35 year old carb

Yes, I'm aware of the fact that E85 does not work with all types of plastic and rubber. Need to keep an eye on the system.

[hezekiel]

Nothing broken yet with the ethanol fuel. Seems that the accelerator pump delivery is not enough fo this fuel, should perhaps try to reshape the cam plate that operates the pump.

Yesterday was MOT time. I didn't do any particular checks or repairs beforehand, and the first "gotcha" happened before the inspector even started the car: Steering lock wasn't engaging with the keys removed. On the brake dyno it was discovered that left rear brake was not working at all, zero. Well, that's not too long a list for a 34 year old french car... I rushed back home, opened the rear brake, freed the seized pistons and lubed the ignition lock barrel. Returned to the station immediately and got my 16 months of MOT.

Due to the fact that there are 8 cars in my front yard and one in the garage, I will be taking this to the winter storage today. The Rancho will be replaced as a daily driver by a Pug 206 Roland Garros.

[owen]

Funky old bus is it weird to like them. Remember my dad had one when i was a kid it was
Beige in color and it was the only one around our area. Loved it

[luckygti]

That is fantastic, what a great find. I think I'm like everyone else on here and have loved these from when they were new as a kid. Glad to hear that it's running ok and in good condition.

[scmick]

I'm told by Rancho owners that the front pillars often rust worse thahn the SIMCA/Taalbot 1100 Pickup they are based on (see my thread elsewhere on here) because of the screws holding the plastic roof rack to the SIMCA metal structure. They had found water found its way down the screw holes and into the pillar...the last thing the already rust prone SIMCA needs. Great car though. There are very few on the road here in the UK.

[coop]

My parents had quite a few, a gold, terracotta, red and a white one. When one broke or rusted beyond repair my dad would get mum another one. He was always on a never ending quest to get a carb that actually worked as it should. I remember ours having tartan centred seats though and search lights on the scuttle panel, normally rusted solid and never turned like they should. I still have my matchbox toys from back then too. Excellent to see a survivor

[hezekiel]

scmick: Thanks for the water ingress tip. It is possible that the water appearing on the dash parcel shelf comes from the a-pillars since I think every other passage is inspected and blocked by now.

automatix: That's a neat Rancho and a rare colour for the car. I take it that the picture is quite old already? Love the spare wheel on the roof feature

[mikeymk]

Way too far ahead of their time to reach their potential.

[DWDarkWheels]

Sept 9, 2012 15:47:15 GMT mikeymk said:

Way too far ahead of their time to reach their potential.

You might be right, there.

It's strange how so many of us have a soft spot for this. I remember seeing one when I was at primary school and have always remembered how rufty-tufty and ready-for-action it seemed. The styling still says the same now.

[hezekiel]

Season 2013 has begun. Charged the battery, cranked for a while and it started with no drama at all. Despite the horror stories, E85 fuel had not eaten the fuel lines etc. Drove some 30 miles today, the only engine related issue was that the mixture is still not good (a little rich under normal cruise, leans out when accelerated lightly). Need to tinker with the emulsion tubes maybe?

The front brakes started to bind after a mile or two down the road. Came loose after they cooled down a bit. Think they did this once or twice last year, too. Master cylinder or calipers? Need to investigate...