I need to drive a poorly car but none of the route planners seem to have options for either restricted speed or restricted gradients. Ideally I want the flattest and slower speed roads I can find that will give it the least amount of bother.
Alternatively are those flashy orange lights easy to get hold of as one of those stuck to the car might at least let people know I'm not mimsing on purpose :)
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Just stick your rear foglights on so you can be seen, and who cares what they think :)
How far are you going, and at what speed? I assume it's quite a long way, if you need a route planner.
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No rear fog lights sadly!
Not that far, 20 miles or so, but choice of several routes and trying to work out the least hilly. Normal route is along fast and busy NSL and 50 limit dual carriageways but it seems unwise when top speed of car is about 40mph at a push at the moment....
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Looking at the thread title made me immediately think it was a request from Rattle...
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Would an Ordnance Survey map not do the job?
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Ordnance survey don't have a suitable route planner that I can see.
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But it does have a map :).
Heck I have a Tom Tom, I have sat navs on both my mobile phones, so on an average trip I have three sat navs with me, but I still much much prefer to plan my journeys using a map.
Use a map and then program the sat nav to go via that route.
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Some planner with an average and peak gradient would be very useful :)
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It would be fascinating to know what sort of car it is, Teabelly!
A question like this is very good to see, as it reminds us that the answers would all be on a good old-fashioned Ordnance Survey one-inch map. No sat-nav or atlas can ever beat the amount of detail on these, never at the expense of clarity or legibility.
(Edit - great minds think alike, Rattle!)
Last edited by: Avant on Mon 3 Oct 11 at 22:16
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It's an old triumph vitesse with gummed up carbs so it doesn't do hills well at all!
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How about pretending you're a cyclist?
www.cyclestreets.net/
Obviously keep to the road as the planner does prefer cycle paths, but having tested it on a local journey, it's not bad. True the hill one needs is steep, but no-one goes up it at any speed anyway. The fast road though is avoided.
Enter your postcodes and see.
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Part of the fun of it is to plan the route yourself with the map. If you're able to take someone with you that would be ideal, both to read the map for you and to keep you company if the car breaks down.
Possibility as it's an old Triumph - put some 3-in-1 oil into the carburettor dashpots.
Last edited by: Avant on Mon 3 Oct 11 at 22:22
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Yeah I love it :). Even if a train is driving me, I still have to know where I am going on a map :D
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Dash pots are fine. It's evaporated petrol I think. Need to get some stabiliser or some such stuff. Thought the millers vsp would stop it gumming but it doesn't seem to have. Also could be knacked diaphragms.
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i was in a similar situation a few years ago, but i had a worn clutch.... tho meticulous planning was required where hills were concerned
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Yup, OS map is the key, it has contour lines and embankment markings, so that is your weapon of best choice. You can plan the route to avoid stops, gradients and also take care to choose your time of day.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 3 Oct 11 at 22:39
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Stuck with time of day unfortunately.
The cycling route is showing the same 3 routes as google maps show. All have fairly similar gradients so it's going to be a pain whichever way I go. Drat.
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Why not sort it before you start? How much are Stromberg diaphragms? It's only a five minute job to change them, as long as the screw heads aren't chewed (been there, done that, got the t-shirt ;>( )
I'm jealous you've got your hands on a Vitesse. 1.6 or 2.0, swing arms or lower link?
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>> Why not sort it before you start?
Or hire a man with a small car transporter - those Ford Transit sized ones.
Alternately, if you're with a breakdown company, instigate a non repairable fault and get them to take you onward to the destination of your choice.
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Vitesse... that's interesting. I've been half seriously looking at ads for Vitesse, GT6 & Stag for most of this year on and off. Looked round a mint Triumph 2000 Mk.I at a local eatery this Sunday too.
Need to find out what spare garage space I have when we move soon before taking the plunge though.
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Presumably the lights work, couldn't you do the journey after midnight in the small hours, then you can go the most direct route even if it means a hill or two.
The few vehicles on the road will most likely be trucks.
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>> How about one of these?
>>
>> www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-633728-Revolving-Amber-Light/dp/B000LFYKH8
>>
Would be perfect. Shame my vitesse doesn't have a cigarette lighter socket! Was always going to get one fitted and upgrade the alternator but never got round to it.
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>> Would be perfect. Shame my vitesse doesn't have a cigarette lighter socket! Was always going
>> to get one fitted and upgrade the alternator but never got round to it.
>>
www.amazon.co.uk/streetwise-Adapt-It-4/dp/B002ZCMGL2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317716079&sr=8-1
:-)
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>> How about one of these?
>>
>> www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-633728-Revolving-Amber-Light/dp/B000LFYKH8
Ok for a short journey I guess, say 5 minutes?
"It lasted at least 5 minutes before failing to work ever again. It was very cheap and poorly finished. The lamp was replaced and the wires were twiddled with but it never came back to life."
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>> Ok for a short journey I guess, say 5 minutes?
>>
>> "It lasted at least 5 minutes before failing to work ever again. It was very
>> cheap and poorly finished. The lamp was replaced and the wires were twiddled with but
>> it never came back to life."
>>
Exactly, Z, a cheap solution to a one off journey, there are plenty of more expensive ways around it, all the way up to a flatbed truck to transport the Vitesse.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 4 Oct 11 at 09:21
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OS map is the thing. The 1" or whatever it is now will show everything you need - size of road, contours, steep hills < or <<, etc.
I did exactly what you are doing once to bring home a Saab 95 I had bought for £50 for spares. It would run, but only at one speed. The car was a wreck and had been under a hedge for years, but unbelievably, started up, so I decided to drive rather than tow.
15 miles on tiny local roads, no tax, MOT or insurance, car dangerously unroadworthy.
I'm more cautious now. :)
Good luck with the car. The Vitesse is lovely, and should go like a bomb when fixed. Especially if it has the 2000 engine.
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>> Vitesse... that's interesting. I've been half seriously looking at ads for Vitesse, GT6 & Stag
>> for most of this year on and off. Looked round a mint Triumph 2000 Mk.I
>> at a local eatery this Sunday too.
>>
>> Need to find out what spare garage space I have when we move soon before
>> taking the plunge though.
>>
Once it is fixed up it will be for sale.... reluctant sale I may add.
It is mk1 2 litre and did go like stink. Used to annoy quite a few people in big heavy expensive cars at lights as it weighs virtually nothing. It was especially quick while the clutch hydraulics were dodgy as it was an on off clutch!
I have sort of worked out a route in my head which is probably the lesser of potential evils. If I can get up the second hill at all then it will be plain sailing I think!
I am in a breakdown thing but I'm not sure how good they are as it is specifically on this car. Greenflag have an age limit on their 'all cars' cover which I found out when I took it home. As long as I can get it a few miles away from home then it should be ok.
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google street view would allow you to travel the roads and see some gradients.
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>> google street view would allow you to travel the roads and see some gradients.
>>
I have been using that. Proved very useful :)
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Just as well you do not have this type of urban road en route.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14962774
I have driven up this road a couple of times and it is quite " interesting"
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>> Why not sort it before you start? How much are Stromberg diaphragms? It's only a
>> five minute job to change them, as long as the screw heads aren't chewed (been
>> there, done that, got the t-shirt ;>( )
>>
Second that. If it packs up en route you could be totally stuffed. Either fix the beast or fit it with a trailer and tow it.
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I want to see a sat nav which will warn about single track roads!
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I'm driving it to a garage. I don't have the luxury of deep pockets to trailer it there as I am having to sort the car out to sell it! Don't have a car with a towing hitch either.
Changing carb things is beyond me frankly.
Ill car is back home. It made it up the first hill fine then decided it was going to start cutting out randomly on the flat so I abandoned the trip. Breakdown service turned out to be useless as they would only recover it back home and not to a garage as back home was closer. I'm back to square one. They also misquoted recovery costs as I would have stumped up 80 to get it where I wanted it to go and not the £140 they suddenly said later. Told them no. Absolute shysters.
Actual recovery chap that turned up was helpful and decent and did get it going a bit better but it is running too rich now I think.
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Teabelly: While fully supportive, nay envious, of your hands-on effort to get a fairly interesting old motor going, I can't help thinking you are going about this the hard way.
Take the carbs off and carry them to a carburettor specialist. I'm sure there must still be some. They will repair, clean and rebuild them. In the absence of a specialist, there will surely be some cunning old former carb specialist with a small garage somewhere. Driving a car that won't run properly is a nightmare if you have to go more than a mile or so.
And if the membranes are leaking the car may be running too lean, not too rich. That in turn could burn the exhaust valves.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 4 Oct 11 at 15:13
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Would it be worth getting a 'hometune' type of outfit to your place to sort it?
There's an old Dog of one knocking around that may not be adverse to a few quid, tax free.
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Getting the carbs off myself is beyond me frankly. And they'd still need setting up on the car to work properly. If I could get them off without a hitch and put them back on I'd be cleaning them up and setting them up myself :-)
Local garages don't look promising. I have looked. It's a minefield to find a decent one that doesn't charge the earth and is actually any good.
Looked at mobile mechanic types but the ones I found didn't seem very promising as fiddling around with carbs is not something they tend to do. Hence choice of nearest garage 20 miles away which does actually look after two others like mine and they're in my parents' town so makes life a bit easier. I don't want to pay some mobile mechanic to sort it out the discover they haven't fixed it then I've still got a poorly car and a lighter pocket!
I did try to change the diaphragms but I couldn't undo the screws that hold the tops of the carbs on.
This is another reason to sell the car as I have not got the ability nor interest in fiddling about with oily bits any more. But I have to get it as well as I can get it with minimal outlay and optimal return.
I have considered all options and the limping it there in hope was the best of a carp bunch.
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Where are you located, perhaps one of us may be able to help?
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It's ok. Plan B has kicked in. Pater with a borrowed trailer/tow bar. Last resort as I know the amount of swearing that will ensue!
Found some site to do transport quotes but they're silly money.
Also now looking at halfords to see if you can get rigid tow bar thingies for reasonable money.
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You are probably hundreds of miles away from west wales otherwise I'd be itching to have a go. I know these Strombergs from a Triumph 2000, and they are basically very simple and straightforward.
1) 4 screws won't undo: presumably the phillips heads have rounded. Make a hacksaw cut and use a large ordinary screwdriver. Lean hard on it.
2) Diaphrams - very easy to replace. Just get the rubber lugs properly located before tightening
3) Float chamber valve probably sticking. Drop the chamber from underneath. Clean it out, unscrew the valve, blow through it and re-seat.
4) Centralise the jet. Loosen the tightening nut, raise the piston and let the needle drop. retighten. The piston should fall with a satisfying clunk onto the bridge.
If it was working before then the basic settings must be about right.
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You make it sound so simple!
Have found another garage that I didn't know existed. Going to check them out as they're mostly downhill and under 2 miles away.
I have checked the air pistons. They both fall with a clunk. I'm often unable to undo nuts/screws etc that other people can. The carbs were new on the car just before I got it. New old stock I think so the screws shouldn't have rounded and do look ok.
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>> Have found another garage that I didn't know existed. Going to check them out as
>> they're mostly downhill and under 2 miles away.
Remember though, if they can't fix it, then it'll be mostly uphill on the return journey.
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I wasn't going to take the poorly car on spec. Was going to talk to them first :-)
Anyway. Pater has found a decent garage local to him with a suitably aged owner who is coming over here to look at it. They also offer decently priced towing services. Think that will be the best option all round with minimal swearing...
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Any links to some photos of the car? Be really interested to see it.
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I haven't got any recent ones at the moment. Will do some once it is working and I've had a chance to give it a good clean and polish :)
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Route planner with hill avoidance! - Dave_
