Cedric's New Home

[Skirrow]

Sorry for all you guys who were interested but Cedric came to his new home this morning.

He's fully registered as freestyle & was SVA'd on 1st July, not been on the road since 2006, been used around farm land & you can tell by the amount of Staffordshire mud I brought back with me. It's either a late ABS or an early Smart buggy, the radius's of the top rail are of the older kind, it also has a crossbar that I have never seen on another buggy (see picture below).

For those that have been around the forum for a while will probably remember Ben Waine, it was his. It hasn't been used for a couple of years, Dave (Ben's father) was unsure as to why, but thought theree was a problem keeping the engine running & that there was no drive through the gearbox.

So here it arrives at home

This is what I meant about the 2nd crossbar, it actually makes the steering column very rigid

It must have been a very good build when it was originally done.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Been out to Cedric tonight to have a look at the wiring, it all looked very good, so tried to work out what was what & put a set of jump leads on from the Lag, first test all the rear lights work, including brakes & indicators. But no headlights, after a look a bit further found a pair of leads dangling in mid air, put them to earth after a quick test & he now has headlights. All that's missing is the front indicators & repeaters, obviously not there are there are no front wheel arches, but I have the wiring in the nose for them once fitted.

Well as the jump leads were connected, you've got to try haven't you!! So I turned the key & he turned over, good start, turned it over a little more but that's all that happened. Kev from up the road was with me & said 'Well it looks like it's pulling fuel into the filter' there's no choke cable so I showed him how to hold the choke on & gave him another go, well bugger me if he didn't fire up into life, running a bit rough but running.

In for a penny in for a pound, if the engine works what about the gearbox, so after cleaning out the seating to be able to get in I put my foot on the clutch & went for first gear, went in okay, started to ease my foot off the clutch & he leaped forward, just managed to jam in the clutch & hit the breaks before hitting the Lag. Put it in second & eased out the clutch, lot nicer movement this time & it took up drive, so dipped clutch, then tried third, fourth & reverse, all appeared to work. Then the engine cut out, turning it over, nothing, then Kev noticed the fuel filter was empty we'd run out of what little petrol was in there & had no more to put in to try. Never mind one happy camper, I'll get some fuel tomorrow & see if we can go up the road.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Really didn't get chance to play over the weekend I was told I had to do boring gardening, tidying patio stuff etc.

But late on Saturday I managed to get 30 minutes to have a little look. Wired a battery up temporarily & tried to drive up the road, that's when the problems with the gearbox raised their head. It was possible to get 1st & 3rd but no way would it go into 2nd or 4th, if was fun trying to get reverse at the top of the road but eventually I managed it. Bought it back & I think I found the problem, the OS engine mount is sheared, allowing the engine to move backwards & forwards. So ordered a couple of new ones, we'll see what happens when I get them fitted.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Good call Max, although the engine mount hadn't completely collapse it was stuffed & it did need changing

But the real reason that the engine was moving was the bottom steady has come away from the subframe.

Good news is I managed to get a new engine mount fitted, so next job will be to make a bracket to fasten it back.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Well progress has been slow as it was Newark last weekend & this week I had another skip to remove the rockery from the back garden. So today I gave Jill no options & told her I was spending the day on Cedric. However best laid plans & all that, the son went out last night & was set upon by a group of lads in a pub. So he spent from 2:45-06:00 in A&E only to bee told to come back at 09:00, so I had to take him back & stayed with hi a while, but eventually came away as nothing was happening, he eventually saw a Doctor for 5 minutes at 14:30, 7 1/2 hours waiting.

Anyway enough of that.

Didn't get much done, it was actually tooooo warm outside, but I got the new rearward facing engine steady on, repaired the forward facing one, took it for a quick spin up the road & all appears to be good, it crunches a bit into reverse but it will do for now. I then repaired the broken exhaust bracket, tightened up the exhaust manifold, may need a new manifold gasket but we'll see. Then adjusted the handbrake which actually now seems pretty dam good. I'm going to try to get the front arch brackets repaired this week in the evening & possibly get it to a MOT next Saturday, but that might be a bit optimistic.

New & repaired brackets

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Chipping away for a little each night, both front arch brackets repaired & a little more strength put in

Looks like I need to order a couple of lights.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

So I think he's ready for MOT apart from OSR wheel bearing needs nipping up a little feels fine just a nit of play & the front number plate, there was one but buggered if I can find it. Took him up the road yesterday to make sure everything was alright & it was almost undrivable, the front end was solid & bouncing all over the place it was scary above 20mph, didn't have time to look so put him straight back in the garage. Good news is all the gears are where they should be & the engine pulls like a train.

So tonight I took the nose cone back off to look at the springs & shocks, I stood on the front, jumped up & down, the suspension moved about 10mm. When I looked at the Spax shocks they were wound up to the hardest setting possible, I backed them off to the softest setting & at least now I have some suspension travel. Again short on time so will try to have a drive tomorrow.

So here's just a few random pictures.

Alan...

 

[Phaeton]

Took Cedric down for an MOT this morning, he was given a good going over & came away with a FAIL!!!!!

Head light aim incorrect on both lamps
Offside Brake light inoperative (was working 2 days ago)
No rear reflector on Nearside

So whilst we were there headlights readjusted, bulb stolen from the garage so 2 out of 3 done, also changed the mixture as it was running very lean, still a bit lumpy at tickover but that could be the cam that's fitted.

Drove him back home & jumped into the Laguna & went down to Motorworld for a new reflector.

Came back, fitted it & went back down.

Now have on my hand a MOT ticket for 12 months

Alan...