Robsey's Thread of Random Ramblings.

[3cav3]

Well they never had any development money.
Plenty of plans and ideas but no money to put them in motion.

It was the lack of money which led to models being produced far longer than they should have without replacement.

They came up with good ideas but by the time they got into production they were half a generation behind the competition.

The maestro was a very competitive package at launch in 1980 but fell behind the likes of the Peugeot 205 and the VW polo which launched just a few years later.

Very true, in 2006 I bought a 3 year old Rover 45 diesel, because it was not long after Rover went bust and they were almost being given away. Not a bad car, but I would never of purchased one when it was new as you could see it was really just a mid 90's Honda with a bit of fake wood. When compared to the competition it was so dated, yet was still in production 3 years later.

[btcctroy]

I'm astonished that they could afford to make one!

so true, lets face it was there anything good going for the meastro other than then cool instrument cluster

mk1 astra or mk2 cavalier sri would of been my choice

[Robsey]

Now you are talking...
Mk1 Astra GTE,
or
Mk2 Cavalier SRi
Stunning cars -

although I will always be biased towards any mk2 Cavalier - except the Calibre.
I could never get "into" the Calibre body kit.
and they always seemed to be a sea of red plastic.

[ilovedmymantas]

The working cluster looks really good. Nice mod, something to be proud of

I'm astonished that they could afford to make one!

I'm not really surprised.

Back in the good old days of the 70's - b.t. (before technology, i.e. anpr etc. - when you had a bit of leeway ) my friends dad worked at BL in Bathgate.
Nightshift for him consisted of four hours sleep in a quiet place & 4-6 hours leisurely production
No wonder they folded.

[cavalier1990]

Yep - the late Honda derived O series 2.0 EFIs were rapid for their time.

Was the 'O' Series Honda derived? Always thought it was the old 1.7 unit used in the Princess/Ambasador, upped to 2.0.

Didn't know austin made a straight six derived I think from the O series and plonked it the ozzie marina no less. not sure if it was in the p76 as well or that was rover v8.

I remember a guy I kicked about with for a while had a MG montego, very fast, although not the turbo.

[Robsey]

The Honda derived version is the 'O2'.
The 'O' was used on the older models.

[James McGrath]

The working cluster looks really good. Nice mod, something to be proud of

I'm astonished that they could afford to make one!

I'm not really surprised.

Back in the good old days of the 70's - b.t. (before technology, i.e. anpr etc. - when you had a bit of leeway ) my friends dad worked at BL in Bathgate.
Nightshift for him consisted of four hours sleep in a quiet place & 4-6 hours leisurely production
No wonder they folded.

Wow, that's madness.

I imagine that the government of the time had a bit to do with that.

They were determined to achieve zero unemployment.
As BL was government owned, I'm guessing that the management weren't able to cut staffing to match demand like other companies.

[Robsey]

Oh my lord, just seen my first set of Christmas lights.

It is three months and a week away for chuff's sake.!!

[ilovedmymantas]

I'd love to comment but there are so many things wrong with that photo, other than the time of year, I just can't!

B&M have got two aisles of christmas stock , bring back the sweeties

[3cav3]

Years ago my wife used to work in retail. From the middle of August people would start asking when they were having their Christmas cards in. By the middle of September the store would often start selling Xmas lights. One year the lights display didn't go out till the first week of October and some customers were actually starting to get verbally abusive to the staff over it!
My wife also remembers one Xmas Eve at about 5.55 ( 5 minutes before closing)that a woman came in and actually had a meltdown over the fact that the store had already returned their fairy lights to the central hub so she couldn't buy a set! I still take the view that the olden days were better, i.e the tree and decorations went on on Christmas Eve and you had 12 days of Xmas, and that was it! Bah humbug.

[Robsey]

I hear people say strange times about 2020.
But a garden party in September with a camp fire and Christmas lights.?

I saw this on my way home last night.
My house is literally 100 yards behind it.

Thankfully I overlook the back of the house, so there are much fewer lights at the back.

They should be careful, we live on the outer edge of the landing slope for Manchester Airport - lol.

[Robsey]

I still take the view that the olden days were better, i.e the tree and decorations went on on Christmas Eve and you had 12 days of Xmas, and that was it! Bah humbug.

I can out do you on the humbug scale.
We rarely put up decorations at Christmas.

We never had children, so all the extra faff of putting up the decorations, fixing dodgy fairy lights and stripping it all back down again seems lost on us.

Christmas for me is like any other time of year - except more expensive.

Amazingly though, my wife wakes me every year at 4:30 am to tell me that Santa has been and that we should get up and open the presents.
By 6:00 am it is all over and I can snooze in my armchair.
Christmas is sorted for another year.

All that fuss for 90 minutes.
No thank you - lol.

Double Bah Humbug!!

[iangsi]

Oh my lord, just seen my first set of Christmas lights.

It is three months and a week away for chuff's sake.!!

It's your house really don't try & fool us

[Robsey]

Don't get me wrong, I love the magic that can be the innocent scene of Santa and his sleigh in the snow.

I have even been to Lapland twice and Valkenburg in Holland.

Rovaniemi in the middle of December is hard to beat.

But this American commercialised pap that they call Christmas over here is just a sham, and it really does not interest me.


I am all too glad to get past the rediculous expense of buying gifts for friends and relatives that you have not seen from one year to the next...

For me, a UK Christmas is just like any other day of the year, but more expensive.
(Oops, I have already said that once... it must be true).

Now do you believe me when I say "Double Bah Humbug!!"

[Robsey]

Back to the digi dash stuff.

I sussed out that the illumination was working, but all three back lights had failed.

So I transferred some unused warning bulbs to the illumination points - and
ta da!! Working back lighting.
(Thermometer and petrol pump symbols)



And here is the dimmer function.



You will also note that I got the fuel gauge working - to a fashion.

For some reason the sender did not read high, or low enough.
Typical settings should be 33 ohms for full and 135 ohms for empty

I found that I need 0 ohms for full and open circuit for empty.

Here is the VW T25 fuel sender rub strip.



There are two definite rub lines across the tracks.

Also the Odometer does light up, but in standard clear bulb colour.
Maybe green LEDs would make a better finishing touch.

I have brought myself to the conclusion that this dash is simply not configured to work with VW / VDO parts.

1 - The speedo pulses cannot be replicated. I need to multiple by 7.45 pulses per revolution.

2 - That fuel gauge is just not accurate enough.

3 - I am not sure if a 3 watt charge light bulb will work with a VW alternator that normally uses a few resistors and an LED in the exciter / tell tale circuit.

The rest is doable. Very easily.

So it will probably all go up for sale when I have finished playing.

[Robsey]

you may ask about the Cavalier.
Well only two jobs done since fitting the head-lining all those weeks ago.

Recharged the battery a few times, and pumped up the front nearside tyre due to being almost flat.

Sorry not enough to qualify for the WIP thread.

[ilovedmymantas]

It's a pity the digi dash isn't working out, it does look good and would have been a nice tie in with your cavalier.

That said, I'm sure you'll put your unique stamp on it by the time it's completed

[Robsey]

Hmm - it would appear that the digi dash is proving of great interest.
Both my missus and Troy think it would be a nice feature to have in the van.

At the minute, the maths has given me a foggy head.

Pulses per mile for the speedo,
and the narrow resistance band of the fuel sender.
I will jiggle a few grey cells and see what comes to mind.

[Robsey]

Hmmmm...

14 inch wheel rim x25.4 = 355.6mm dia.
Tyre height = 185 x 85% x 2 = 314.5mm
Wheel dia = 355.6 + 314.5 = 670.1mm
Which is 26.38 inches dia
Circumf = 26.38 x 3.1416 = 82.88 inches.

1 mile = 63,360 inches

Rotations = 63,360 ÷ 82.88 = 765 revs per mile.

1mph = 765 ÷ 60 minutes = 12.74 rpm
60 mph = 765 rpm

I think we will need to put the austin rover "hall effect" speed transducer in Troy's lathe chuck, and read off the speedo readings compared to the lathe's reported rpm.

Should take all of 10 minutes to suss out the readings.
5 minutes of that will be wiring it all up - lol.

Then the next step is to verify the fuel gauge readings....
More thought required perhaps.

And then the temperature gauge via the Lucas ECU / choke control module.

[ilovedmymantas]

That's what I like to see.... A man possessed

You're really getting into it now

[Robsey]

possessed ?

More a matter of being indecisive,
liking a challenge...
And wanting to be sure that the missus likes the van.
Afterall, it will be hers when her mum finally gives her the V5 paperwork.

I can see some tell-tale bulbs being replaced with high brightness LEDs to match the voltages and resistances of the VWs warning circuit wiring.
Alternator light,
Oil pressure light (buzzer of doom)
And coolant temperature warning circuit.

[iangsi]

possessed ?

More a matter of being indecisive,
liking a challenge...
And wanting to be sure that the missus likes the van.
Afterall, it will be hers when her mum finally gives her the V5 paperwork.

I can see some tell-tale bulbs being replaced with high brightness LEDs to match the voltages and resistances of the VWs warning circuit wiring.
Alternator light,
Oil pressure light (buzzer of doom)
And coolant temperature warning circuit.

I'm sure you can sort it out, it all goes straight over my head I prefer plug & play even if that is boring & been done before by someone else.

[Robsey]

I thought about using the Cavalier light switch dimming rheostat to test the inputs that use an array of resistances to provide an understandable output on the gauges.

Unforunately, the rub strip has only a tiny resistance.
Approx 0.6 ohms on full brightness,
And approx 18.5 ohms on minimum brightness.

Okay for dimming the dash illumination bulbs on the cavalier,
but totally insufficient for anything else.

I will simply have to get a 1k ohm variable resistor for any further tests.

To be honest Ian.
1980s technology is uber basic.
No rocket science at all.

Just a matter of getting stuff to match the intended function.
Whether that is a temperature sensor, or fuel tank sender with the correct minimum and maximum resistance values...

Or a pulse pick-up and ABS ring with the correct number of teeth per rotation.

A lot of research and trial & error.
Hopefully without killing the electronics of the cluster.

[btcctroy]

Robsey just make it work, rambling on

[Robsey]

Robsey just make it work, rambling on

There is making it work...
And there is making it work properly.

I cannot do a half hearted job.
Just like you would not willingly do a bad body repair / welding job.


And as an update
The flamin' Cavalier battery has gone flat again.