Modestine

[neil-yaj396]

Well done again Robin, you will be needing a trophy cabinet in that nice garage of yours soon!

[JohnMillham]

RAC Midsummer Drive-In 2012 RAC Club Woodcote Park Epsom Downs.

I Coupled undoubtedly with the fact that one of the judges owns a rare Lambda with a racing history!

Congratulations Robin, and who was the Judge with the racing history Lambda? A club member?
 Regards, John

[Dilambdaman]

Hi John,

His name is Barry Baxter and he's the chap without a tie on the right of the photo looking at the Oldsmobile Runabout. Not a club member although he has been asked to join in the past.

Robin.   

[JohnMillham]

Mr Baxter is on the VSCC computer as having two Lambdas, one registered (1929, K xxx) and the other without a registration number. I couldn't find details of either car, as they don't seem to have buff ( or even blue) forms. I hope he can be persuaded to join the LMC. I'd love to know more about his Lambdas.
Regards, John

[Dilambdaman]

Steering Wheel Shake.

Off and on over the past few years Modestine has suffered from mild to severe steering wheel shake at around 25-30mph on uneven road surfaces. Latterly this has been a very real problem and all attempts to rectify it have failed. Years ago Arthur Keeling fitted a steering damper to his Dilambda to overcome this problem and indeed, the set up was still on his car when I saw it in Italy in 2002. See picture - sorry about the poor quality.

Morris Parry suggested that I try a similar thing and during my research I turned up a steering damper kit on offer for a Land Rover Discovery to aid serious off road use. So, I purchased the damper and the track rod bracket but not the chassis fixing it not  being adaptable to the Dilambda. Made a suitable chassis bracket and bolted it to the chassis. Pictures 2 & 3.

Result? Steering shake totally eradicated. The car now behaves perfectly and is a delight to drive. Perhaps the steering feels just a tad dead but that's a small price to pay.

Next?!! I'll get there one day!

Robin.

[fay66]

Robin,
congratulations on finally erradicating the steering problem, it's been a long hard road, and it's about time your luck with Modestine changed

Brian
8227

[Dilambdaman]

Just back from 1000 mile jaunt to collect Margaret and Dibble the cat from our house in the Vendee France and Modestine was a delight - almost! Great weather, roads in excellent condition and very little traffic - heaven!

The only blip was that on one morning she refused to start. Thought that it was petrol so stripped the carb but found nothing. Tinkered around with the wiring and fuses and she burst into life so assume it was a poor connection somewhere. Do hate it when no obvious cause is found.

Robin.

[fay66]

Just back from 1000 mile jaunt to collect Margaret and Dibble the cat from our house in the Vendee France and Modestine was a delight - almost! Great weather, roads in excellent condition and very little traffic - heaven!

The only blip was that on one morning she refused to start. Thought that it was petrol so stripped the carb but found nothing. Tinkered around with the wiring and fuses and she burst into life so assume it was a poor connection somewhere. Do hate it when no obvious cause is found.

Robin.

Great Stuff Robin,
pleased to hear Modestine is being a perfect lady, almost, last photo onboard looks a bit threatening with all the Camions.

Brian
8227 

[the.cern]

"Do hate it when no obvious cause is found"

I agree absolutely Robin, it is so unsettling, you never know if/when it might strike again.

Glad you had a great trip to France. I do enjoy your contributions to the forum, a sort of  'everyday story of Lancia folk' !!

Best wishes,

                Andy

[davidwheeler]

...but what a lovely place to strip bits of a Lancia.

[Dilambdaman]

Whilst grappling with the electronic ignition failure on the Sliding Pillar Rally it was suggested that I try and find a refurbished distributor fitted with points to carry as a spare. Peter Renou from Australia mentioned that he had one if I was interested and having discovered how rare the Bosch VF8 is (only one turned up on search and that on American Ebay at a very unrealistic price) I e-mailed Peter to accept his kind offer.

A very fair price was agreed and I collected it today from his daughter Meg and her husband who were passing through Gatwick Airport on a short  European tour.

It is in spanking condition looking as though it may never have been on a car and we shall see whether I continue with the electronic ignition or eventually revert to points.

Many, many thanks to Peter for his generosity and Meg for bringing it over.

Amusing aside: I found a BMW Isetta engine recently and sold it on Ebay delivering it to the buyer's father also today who lives 5 miles from me. And guess where it is going to? Yep, Melbourne Australia where Peter lives! Funny old world!

Robin.

[the.cern]

If you're quick, you may be able to get in touch with Meg, arrange another meeting at Gatwick when she is on her way home and she could take it as hand luggage !! So neat !!!

                       Andy

[Dilambdaman]

As reported in the LMC AGM thread, having behaved herself faultlessly over the weekend Modestine disgraced herself by refusing to start on the Monday morning after over nighting with friends in Shrewsbury.

I spent two hours trying to get the engine to fire and with a further hour with the AA patrol man yielding nothing it was home on the transporter again. Or rather thee transporters as we had to make two changes due to drivers running out of taco time. Very frustrating, although it did save £60 worth of petrol!

The problem appeared to be the same as that experienced in France  a few weeks previously when having found no obvious cause she suddenly burst into life. Tried everything last week including abandoning the electronic ignition and fitting the 'Peter Renou' contact breaker distributor. Big fat nothing until once again she fired up and has run perfectly since.

So, I'll run on the points dizzy for a while and wait to see if the fault appears again, although I'm not sure that Margaret will be travelling with me in the near future!

Next project is to raise the ride height at the rear, firstly by having the springs reset and if that doesn't work to lift the body on the chassis. However, this may be put on the back burner as son Jonathan has got the bug again and is set on having the Fanalone at Fulvia 50 next May! Better start a new thread in the Fulvia section me thinks.

Robin.

[lancialulu]

these faults are really annoying (i mean realy annoying!). our fulvia sport died on us on our first rally abroad, and eciding the only cause could be the condenser in the distrubutor I cahnged it from the spare distributor I was carrying ( seems a Lancia habit!!) and she fired up and did not to stop since. However when I got home I found there was nothing wrong with the condenser.!! I subsequently re fitted the luminition system that came with the car having had good experience with the same system on my HF.

Tim

[Dilambdaman]

Poor old Modestine, had to take a back seat to the Fanalone rebuild since last October! However, in truth, she's been pretty reliable and in regular use. Took her to the Lambda Winter Lunch in London in January and various other outings up to and including Fulvia 50.

The return to contact breaker ignition has proved successful and she has started and run very well. Until that is just before Fulvia 50 when she developed a horrendous backfire! It was bad and I just couldn't find the time to investigate until after that event. But with the Sliding Pillar rally in France a couple of weeks away something had to be done. Ran her with the brake servo disconnected, no improvement, checked through the exhaust system to ensure no air was being drawn in, no improvement. Finally fitted a fuel pressure reducing valve to bring the pressure down to 1psi, adjusted the points which were a tad closed up and hey presto! no backfire. So, which of those two things was the problem I'll never know.

Last October I said that i would sort out the rear wings and valance to give more ground clearance and stop knocking off the number plate. So, the week before the SPR I removed the back wings, modified them to allow me to raise the trailing edge whilst leaving the front edge connected to the rear of the running board and thus increase the ground clearance by nearly 5 inches. Had to have the wings and valance re-painted but well worth it as she now not only doesn't drag her bum but looks so much better.

Off to the SPR and what a great event until that approaching a crossroads some 100 miles south of Calsis on the return journey, drop the clutch and tinkle tinkle clonk, pedel to the floor. Peeing with rain and lunch time  but a restaurant on the opposite corner which Margaret insists is the place to be. Following a more than acceptable lunch investigation shows that it's not the external linkage that's failed but something in the innards. Ring Footman James Recovery who send a truck inside the hour and wisk us off to the local garage.

Two hour wait during which negotiations result in us setting off for the port to be loaded onto the ferry the next morning having met up with our fellow travelling companions for the overnight stop. Arrive at the port 21.00 only to be told that we can't leave the car there and that whats more we can't be loaded as the Dilambda doesn't have a towing eye! Eventually do get towed on with a strap having given assurances that a recovery truck will be at Dover at mid-night to take us off. Arrive Dover, no tow truck but towed off with no problem. French bureaucracy eh!?

Recovery truck arrives 2am but will only take us to Maidstone where we are loaded onto another transporter and arrive home at 4.30am. However, must say, that FJ performed well for a second time for us when stranded in France (Fanalone gearbox on the way to Classic Le Mans last time) and to be home with the car some 14 hours after braking down was pretty impressive.

Strip the clutch out later that day to find that for a second time the clutch release bearing carrier has failed. So, Jonathan makes a new one out of steel and she's up and running again.

RAC 'Summer Drive In' at their Woodcote Park mansion at Epsom as the guest of Dilambda owner Elaine Moore this evening and the AGM at Newbury for this weekend. Hopefully!

OK, up to date. 

Robin.