Recent Posts

Yeah, life and weather is pretty much stopping play at the moment.


I have had more belt progress though.

Turns out that the "right" belt for Dutch market Cantas is the wrong one for the three UK ones. The bigger engine means the pulleys are further apart, so the belt needs to be longer. Something that's quite obvious once you actually start properly looking at it. Doh.


This means a couple of things. Firstly, the non-appearing belts from the Dutch supplier wouldn't have fitted anyway (they have finally confirmed that they have my money, and have cancelled the sale, but have applied a credit to my account rather than a refund. I am now attempting to get said refund rather than having credit at a shop with nothing I want to buy in it). Secondly, the two belts I got from the supplier in the US don't fit either.


There's no adjustment on these. Pulley centres are meant to be fixed, and belt length is critical.


This is where it gets complicated. For the system we have, stock pulley centres are, from memory*, 10" and 13". Typically, on here we have 12", and no means of adjusting it.

I am pretty sure that the reason for this is that there simply isn't room to move the bigger engine any further than it currently sits from the gearbox input without hitting either structure or bodywork. This means the factory probably made the decision to compromise and use a non-standard belt. Guess what? The belt that I need is a Comet 704146... the same size as was originally fitted. Closer examination of that old belt shows that it's significantly worn; particularly on its width, which explains why it seemed so slack.

So. I now have two new belts in my posession that are too small, that I am hoping I can recoup the bulk of their purchase cost by selling them via the Canta facebook page, and about 70 euros credit at a Dutch parts place that I am trying to get refunded to my account.

Helpfully though, Belt Palace in Warsaw, Indiana, have come up trumps again with the right size belts, that they shipped out to me earlier this week. Obviously, I have had to pay freight and will no doubt get stung for customs fees, but at least there appears to be light at the end of the belt tunnel at last.

I need to survey the door lock barrel setup so I can make a decision about ignition locks. Ideally, I would like the doors and ignition all on one key if I can, so buying a lock set for a Berlingo/Partner looks to be the way to go, provided the door barrels look comparable.

More as it happens.

I know what my wife would say if I bought that home with a bow on it for her… 🤣

I hadn't spotted that somewhat significant fact. 

I'm not necessarily looking forward to retirement, but I am looking forward to working to my own schedule rather than someone else's. 

That and not having to get up at 03:00 for an early shift. 

Excellent.

Hopefully you don’t lose it now. 😉

Really nice work. 👍

I wish I could match your progress. Most of the time I am just too tired after work to even start.

Result! 👍👍

Me neither. Although my apprenticeship was a bit later, 85-89, I’m fairly sure the machinery was the same. 😃👍

I’m a bit (completely) out of my depth with auto boxes, but it sounds plausible.

Can’t hurt.

Puts me in mind of a problem with the magneto on a bike I used to have. I rebuilt it several times, but only actually cured the problem by replacing it with a completely different one. I suspect that the main casing must have had a flaw that was undetectable to the naked eye.