No Going Back

There has always been a little bit of niggle with my car but never really an issue, but nice to sort out. The issue was that my car has always needed a few cranks to turn over before it fires up after standing for a while (weeks). I have spoken to the guys at Mustang Maniac who suggested a non return valve to stop the fuel draining away could be a quick fix. The long term would be a fuel pump and return line, a little bit of overkill what I was describing as an issue. They don’t actively sell the valves, but they gave me one of theirs that they sometimes fit for certain cars with my ‘issue’. This particular design is subtle and and not a big hulking beast in the middle of a fuel line which can look rather cumbersome and out of place. In fact the outside of the valve is just about the same size as the outside diameter of the fuel pipe. I now had a mini project to complete and was looking forward to this one, even though it was fuel related.

While I was at it fitting the valve I decided to clean out the inline fuel filter which was looking a bit grubby after sitting in the garage over the winter months. Where the hard line fuel pipe comes through the inner fender apron there is a rubber pipe that goes to the inlet of the mechanical fuel pump. My fuel filter sits on that line. Most filters are plastic, or more factory correct would be the large metal cylinder design. Mine is a glass (quite thick) and unscrews at each end to allow easy access for removing the filter itself.

I removed the jubilee clips at each end and removed the whole fuel line, to be safe I also capped of the hard fuel line as it comes through the inner apron (circled below right).

Important: When removing the fuel line, if you suspected that there is fuel in the pipe, be well prepared to catch it and temporarily block it off. You don’t want a gravity spewing the fuel all over the floor leaving you in a dangerous situation.

With the complete length removed, the old clips on the pipe and fuel filter were removed in order to start the cleaning and refit. The old pipe had lemon clips holding the filter in place and needed to be cut off. These clips would be replaced with new reusable low profile clips.

I had also gotten a new length of E10 fuel resistant hose, just for the sake of replacing it with a fresh piece of pipe. I only ever used E10 fuel once very early on in by restoration, and I won’t ever use it again. The reason was that the E10 fuel caused me issues, 1) the car ran like an asthmatic 7 cylinder with very rough running and idle, 2) it’s nasty and has a devastating toll for all the fuel components which the devils blood itself comes into contact with, nothing is spared; plastic, rubber or metal.

Fuel filters are of a single flow direction, make sure you get it right when fitting back to the car.

With the filter in bits I cleaned the filter itself with 99% isopropanol alcohol. The filter wasn’t that dirty to be fair, but there was a fuel particles which were removed with a small soft nylon brush. Once the filter was cleaned it dried very quickly and was ready for reassembly and fitting.

The glass case and end fittings were also cleaned with an isopropanol soaked non lint cloth. I also took the time to polish the metal end fittings as they clean up nicely. (Notice the big bold ‘IN’ and ‘OUT’ on each end.)

The total length of the original fuel line was measured, (the rubber either side of the filter, to the fuel pump and the apron). I made a the calculations to incorporate the non return valve, there now needed to be three lengths cut to the correct lengths instead of the two previous lengths. (Fuel pump to filter, filter to valve, valve to apron hard line.)

The picture here below, shows the filter ‘IN’ (notice the ‘N’ is back to front), and the direction flow of the non-return valve. This flow direction is critical to get the fuel filtered correctly and allow the fuel to flow to the carb.

The hose fasteners are of a new design being trialled from Mustang Maniac which are simply clipped into place. The clips just slip over the pipe and are pinched closed over a raised retaining ridge in the centre. Once they have been pinched closed enough the clip will just click and lock into place. To remove the clips you can use an awl or small screw driver to lever the clip back up from under the larger of the two raised ridges. The fastener will then just spring open again allowing removal.

You will need a very good pair of pliers to hold and grip the clip in order to close it enough without slipping. These fittings are a very, very tight fitting. They look the part, but I’m not sure I would use them again in a confined space. They are fine for connecting fittings like this fuel line when you have plenty of space to work and accessibility. Cut the lengths of hose allowing enough flexibility between each of the component parts.

I started measuring from the fuel pump and worked backwards towards the apron. The non return valve should be placed before the fuel filter, this would keep a reservoir of fuel within the filter.

The completed fuel line is completed. For each end of the new fuel line configuration I will used standard jubilee clips. This then allows for an easier fitting with a screw driver and easier access. More importantly it will allow me to loosen the the complete line without disturbing the clips. Once the line is loosened at each end I will be able to unscrew the filter and clean with the rest of the fuel line configuration in place.

With the new fuel line configuration in place it looks neat and now serves a dual purpose for filtering and non return.

The fuel flows and retains the fuel up to the carb allowing easier starting. The actual design of the non return valve is slightly irrelevant, but its functionality is the important thing. This slimline design is subtle and neat and doesn’t look to out of place for a stock looking engine bay. The whole thing took around an hour or so to complete. The hardest part was to cut the lemon clips off with damaging the fuel filter. The upgrade has been in place for a couple of months now and it has made a significant difference to the starting of the car in scenarios both cold and hot. This was well worth the effort in my opinion. However, with my naturally suspicious nature it determines that I always carry a spare length of new E10 fuel line just in case of emergencies, or maybe if the valve decides to play up. That way it’s a very simple quick and easy temporary fix for a replacement on the roadside if you need to, then sort it out properly when you get home.

I’m really pleased with the look of the part and the improved functionality that I now have.

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Rickinghall Car Show ’24

A small little village about thirty miles away from me called Rickinghall was hosting a show on the nineteenth of May. The show was supposed to be the second of a double header weekend but but last minute I didn’t get to the Saturday show, I will be posting in a couple of weeks about the reason why, as it’s car related.

The weather was sunny as I woke up and was looking forward to the drive. I would need the SatNav to get there as I’m useless at directions. Those that know of my directional skills or lack of, will know just how much of an understatement that is! I was thoroughly enjoying my drive along the country roads window open with the sound of a V8 filling the quiet roads. A few miles out from the venue I was followed by another classic car. Like me when I’m driving behind another car, he was sitting a good few yards back from me, obviously thinking of stone chips from the country roads. We got close to the entrance and I followed a McLaren MP$-12C supercar into the venue. To be honest I was expecting a little village green effort, but I’m glad to say I was very wrong. This was a large field with lots of cars on show and plenty of parking for the public. Although I got there about forty minutes before the opening to the public, I was still a good two thirds of the way down the field.

The McLaren I followed in parked up and I repeated the manoeuvre a respectable space away from him. I got out and had a great chat with the owner and we admired each others cars. The McLaren is a pinnacle of automotive excellence hand built, and parked next to it was a sixties car that was mas produced and originally thrown together on the production line, just to get them out the factory. Throughout the day it was so interesting to see the people who wanted a super car, and those who wanted an old classic.

There was some really nice banter between us about who had the shiniest car. We both polished the cars each checking out the others standards, after finished inspections – we called it a draw! 🙂

After some refreshments I decided to take a wander around the show which was going to take a while. The cars were still arriving and some visitors also starting to wander around too. The chairs were out and the factor fifty sun cream was on.

The plan was to just wander up and down the rows of cars. There was many cars here like eight year old modern cars often seen in supermarket car parks, I tried to avoid those. The show was organised in conjunction with the Jaguar owners club, so there was a awful lot of them in an area near the front of the field, again I avoided a lot of those more common cars.

This 1915 Model T was over a century old and still going strong. Simply beautiful.

There was amazing Lotus Europa which I haven’t seen at any shows and was a pleasure to see. This got my runner up vote of the show. Did you know? The Lotus Europa is only 2 1/4″ taller than the mighty GT40. Needless to say, my 6’4″ bulk wouldn’t get in it. let alone get out of it.

There was the odd Yank there and a few replicas, surprisingly my Mustang was the only one there.

There was a quite a few BMWs as well, again lots of run of the mill stuff which I skipped over most of them, apart from the unusual ones.

My favourite of the show is this Citroen, when this car came out it shocked the world, and to a degree it still does! I believe this is quite a rare example, I must confess I don’t know much about them. The owner was a nice guy who opened the car up to let me take a pic inside.

Back to the rest of the cars. The Gordon Keeble in the first two pictures is one of only 98 built!

At the end of the field was the refreshments in a classic Airstream and a few food stalls and a bit of music all day, not that I could hear it down the other end of the field.

Inside the village hall was some craft stalls and and somebody who made lights out of a fire extinguishers! I had my eye on the Ford one, I still might get it from their Facebook page.

I wandered back to the car after a comfort break and finished up with the tractors and some incredible detailed working models.

I sat in my chair for a well earned rest after a longer walk around than I expected.

It was such a nice show I stayed pretty much until the end which was half an hour before the closure at four in the afternoon. The camera struggled a little with the bright light and contrast a bit, so you will have to forgive me on that. The journey home was as relaxing as the journey there, unrushed and enjoyable without some sort of SUV trying to overtake me on a country road. Once I parked up at home the dogs were going mad to see me so I had to go in give them a cuddle before I changed into something a little loose fitting before I wiped the car over and put her away. Rickinghall was a great show, well organised, not expensive for the visitors to get in (£3 per adult) either, so I will be back there again next year – as long as it don’t rain that is.

A slightly longer post than normal with lots of pictures. Hope it wasn’t a too much of chore to scroll through them all.

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Spring Break Kustom Kulture ’24 (part 2)

The car show was getting warmer and more people were coming into the show as the car boot sale was finishing up in the field adjacent to the show field. It was getting on to be a busy ol’ show.

The end of part one of this show I mentioned there was a exhibition tent. This was a radio controlled club. The amazing thing about these models was the sound, They changed gears, the big rigs dumped air now and again, lights and just so detailed. Throughout the day these were seen driving around the hard standing areas. Some very impressive models taking dirt form a pile, into a truck which in turn drove to the other end of the tent to drop it off. Once there another excavator loaded up dirt from that end to back where it had come from.

Parked right in the corner of the field was this truck. It also got my vote for being the car (vehicle) of the show. I couldn’t believe the size of this thing! I would loved to have seen inside it, and I know virtually nothing about this truck.

Working back up the lines again more really nice cars.

This beautiful Oldsmobile got my second place, it was just amazing.

There was a little group of some UK ‘Fast Fords’ which are now commanding some pretty serious money.

There was a few Mustangs at the show, both old and new, so I have grouped them together. There is even a Mach-E as well. Controversial being called a Mustang by Ford, but who am I argue?

The rest of vehicles around the outside of the main arena.

After a good walk and look round I got back to the car for a well earned rest and plenty to drink. The sun stayed out all the time I was there at the show and with little cloud cover. I did leave early as there no point hanging around for the trophies. One of the cars that was selected had a dent in the rear drivers rear quarter. So I’m not sure what the criteria is to be placed, but the Knuckle Busters show does tend to be very same old, same old cars. The truck to left of my car won something too.

Fantastic weather, beautiful cars and some great people that I spoke with throughout the day. Here’s to the next double header weekend of car shows, providing the weather is nice of course.

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Spring Break Kustom Kulture ’24 (part 1)

The second day of car shows was on the Sunday at Stonham Barns, about thirty minutes or so away from me. Dual carriage way for half of it then onto smaller roads. The thing I like about the trip going there and back is the fact that people tend to be in their front gardens watching the cars go past, even getting a wave from the younger spectators. I always try and give a little hoot and wave back, if they made an effort to watch, then it’s only fair. Well that’s the way I see it anyway.

Arriving at the show ground there wasn’t much of queue to get in which made a pleasant change. We were directed into the field rather than go down the usual gravel single track road. I took over three hundred photos and thought I would again split the show into two parts. The marshal asked me if I wanted to go in the main arena or park outside, the main arena was calling me. There was a space on the far side where I was asked to park between a Chevy Truck and and a Stingray. The funny thing was the Stingray was also sandwiched between my first gen Mustang and a newer Mustang.

The show was getting busy due to the nice weather, for a change I was really pleased with the show turn out as there was quite a few cars I hadn’t seen before, hence the large amount of photos. The sun was out, the chair was out and so was the factor fifty sun cream.

After the car had its mandatory quick detailer wipe over, I went for a walk working clockwise around the arena and then up and down the lines of cars outside. I will group the Mustangs together in part 2 of the posts for the show as there was a few of them which was nice to see.

The ‘Hulk’ Ford van below had green perspex all round. I ‘m not sure how they drove it, but when it drove in, it was loud and had drag tyres and anti-wheelie bars!

Around the outside there was some stalls and people selling some stuff by their cars.

Around the outside there was a few rows of cars on the one side of the walkway and a single row next to the main arena.

I’m not sure if this is a genuine race car or not, but it looked a bit of mixture to me with most of it stripped out and a bit of a roll cage. Perhaps somebody could enlighten me on this one.

I was about half way around the show with the cars I have captured here. There was an exhibition tent at the top of field which I will be bringing in part two as well.

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West And Loud 2024

The first car show of the weekend was held at West Suffolk College in Bury St Edmunds, about ten miles away from me. The weather was going to be perfect for me, temperature was low to mid twenties with light cloud cover, according to my app of course. I was looking forward to a car show on a Saturday as well as on a Sunday. The added bonus that I got out of doing some gardening that my wife had got lined up for me. I did sort of feel guilty, for all of about thirty seconds until I started the car up that is.

Cars had to be in place by nine thirty ready for ten when the public was allowed in. I got there about five minutes before the so called cut of point. However, I needn’t of worried as cars were still arriving well after ten. The Bury Retro Car Club had reserved a number of spaces so parking was guaranteed.

I had attended this show a few years back, but hadn’t been since due to the lack of variation of cars. This is a show that was to have a bit of everything; trucks, rat rods, hot rods, low riders, new cars and a few year old cars. I started from one end of the large car park to the other.

There was a stand from the college who participate in motor racing who support mental health and wellbeing called ‘Driven Minds’ which is a great cause, click here for their link. Alongside them was an ambulance stand that was doing well with the younger children being allowed to turn the sirens on every so often. I thought I had taken a photo of them, but I must have deleted it while reviewing the pics, my bad! The show was called ‘West and Loud’, but the flyers were shown as ‘We stand Loud’, a clever way to move a couple of letters to make the title read something meaningful, see the top left below pic.

The lower part of the car park was pretty much your every day daily driver cars and not much to report there, go to any supermarket and you will see plenty of them. There was a couple of rare cars mixed in among them, such as the patina brown Granada, Capri and the Rover SDI.

This Nissan import model I have never seen before.

Towards the main entrance was an area where the Japanese cars were lurking.

There was area for some motorbikes and one had some stunning artwork painted on it.

I got back to the club stand where just a few meters away was the BBQ stall now in full smoke mode selling all sorts of fantastic smelling foods. Temptation was very strong.

Sadly not as many of the club members turned up as expected.

There was a couple more cars still turning up whilst on my walk about.

The show was scheduled to finish at two in the afternoon, about half hour before that the majority of cars started to leave. The journey home was via a petrol station, leisurely and thoroughly enjoyable, apart from the open wallet surgery performed after filling up. The car was parked straight into the garage and left uncovered as it would be out again early in the morning for the next show.

All in all, a good show with some nice cars that I hadn’t seen before. I had some great conversations with some lovely people, and even let a few people sit in my car too.

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Kersey Mill Drive It Day ’24 (part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of the Kersey Mill Drive It day. I pick up where I left of with the other side of the field which was to the left of the main entrance road as you come in. I can’t think of a better way to start than a picture of the glorious GT40. Obviously not a real one, as this vehicle was first registered in 1937 according to my app(?), but had its first MOT in 2005. Nevertheless a gorgeous car to look at.

The cars were still arriving throughout the day with much more common cars looking to park up, (more on that a bit later), but the influx slowed around the lunch time mark.

Ouch!

The mandatory Mustang’s own little section:

Towards the main house and the Mill, more cars were parked up including this stunning old black and white paint job Rolls Royce.

I had completed a full circuit of the field or zone areas and I was back to my area again.

As I got closer to my car I could see that this Vauxhall Astra had parked right next to me.

Perhaps I’m being a bit picky here, but there was plenty of space elsewhere in the zone it could have parked. It hadn’t even cleaned and it sort of hacked me off a bit. On the other hand, it must be somebody’s pride and joy.

I got my chair out and the sun made a quick appearance, so I opened the hood and tucked into my packed lunch which was rather sad and no competition for the burger van.

There were a few light gusts of wind about, so I played on the side of caution and fitted the hood strap to stop any such sudden gusts damaging the hood hinges and got the show board out too.

While sitting in my chair a couple of model steam engines parked up and I went over to take some pics of the popular miniature engines. The attention to detail and engineering is mazing.

There were plenty of dogs I saw throughout the day and I managed to get a quick pet with some them. All of the dogs were very well behaved, which wouldn’t have been the case if I had of taken my little guys there!

Later that evening after I got home a friend of mine (thanks Frosty), sent me a link that they had found where a photographer had taken a couple of pics of my car. I’m sure that ‘Curtis Beadle Photography’ won’t mind If i give them a shout out.

I had a great time speaking to many people throughout the day and again I really enjoyed this show. Many cars that I hadn’t seen before so it made for it an interesting day too. Did I use the sun cream? Nope, I had my fleece jacket on instead as it mostly overcast and a bit chilly with the sun behind clouds. I can’t complain as it didn’t rain.

There is a break until the next show, so I will be posting up a little mod I made on the car as well as some detailing product reviews too.

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Kersey Mill Drive It Day ’24 (part 1)

For the second weekend on the bounce I was going to a car show. The weather looked promising, although I tempted fate to pack the sun cream I was under no illusion it would be needed. But the outlook was dry with odd sunny spell, for me that would be good enough. I took over well over two hundred and fifty photos again so I will split over two posts.

The drive there took forty minutes, fifteen of which were caused by double parking where cars going in opposite directions had to play chicken head on. The road is a single lane each way with lots of houses on either side. Most people park on one side so that cars could at least pass. One one person decided they wanted to park opposite so it was carnage to get through. A couple of hundred meters in fifteen minutes didn’t put me in a good mood. Note to self – go home a different way!

I parked up and put out this quick Instagram pick for people to come and say hello.

I was really pleased with the position that was on the end of a row.

I arrive at the event and was direct to a zone which was near the burger van. As I had skipped breakfast the smell of bacon and sausage rolls immediately made me hungry. I resisted temptation but it was hard, very hard.

I decided to go for a wander straight away as many of the cars had already parked up. I made my way to the furthest field and worked towards the entrance.

There was a full sized traction engine that was coming up to full steam and the smell of these machines is amazing; coal, steam and warm oil on hot metal. I suspect it’s an acquired taste though.

There was a little are for genuine vehicles used in TV series. The light blue Ford Anglia Police car was in the series ‘Heartbeat’ which was a very popular show in the UK.

Moving to the next area was a big stand of the much loved Mini with more arriving.

Moving away from the fields there was a large gravel area where a vast array of cars were parked up.

As I got to the end of the parking are a poster car from many child’s bedroom wall turned up. The beautiful Lamborghini Countach. My poster was of a white one by the way.

Walking around the corner the other zones were filled with cars and a idyllic little path to those fields.

In part 2 I finish the rest of the field and the field opposite where a friend of mine had already parked up. There will be a little section of some of the dogs that managed to capture from my wanderings.

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Rougham Tower Car Show 2024 (part 2)

Welcome back to the second part of the car show. I finished the last post (part 1), by saying there was a second hut, this one had a monstrous looking gun outside.

Inside were more mock ups of workshops, bunks and medical areas from the war, along with some displays of equipment and some empty ammunition shells.

There was section dedicated to the medical corp. which was represented by a lovely guy called Dan.

Dan took time out to explain to me the guns and the rounds they fired. He was standing next to central table with lots of weapons standing up on end for display. He even let me hold the big Bren (light) machine gun, top right below. Let me tell you there is nothing light about it. It was awkward to hold as one hand had to be underneath quite far forward of the magazine as the empty cases were ejected from the bottom. I can only image what it must have been like to be cold, wet, being shot at, tired, hungry and then lug this monstrous gun about! Thanks to Dan for his time and sharing the wealth of knowledge.

Outside the cars were pretty much all in place now and the turn out was looking very good.

I had parked by a memorial which had plenty of plaques dedicated to the fallen crews and airmen.

The cars were scattered around beside the tower;

Around the back of the tower there was a nice selection of cars.

Around the other side of the tower there was more displayed equipment outside.

Full circle again to back out the front of the tower there were some tents were the dressed up[ army guys were staying.

Just behind the tents was a another more modern hut, through the door and turn right takes you to the tearoom.

Turn right through the main door you walk into a ‘members only library’ leading onto an office.

The office where time had stood still.

After such an interesting walk around I wandered back to the car, all of about thirty seconds and got my chair out to have something to eat and watch the world walk by.

Around two there was a training exercise where the German army guys walked through the courtyard to the fields. They had two groups where one group fired (blanks) cover rounds while the others moved up, then they swapped making their way across the field.

Once they had finished they spend some time in the bushes doing what ever they do. I sat back down and listened to the haunting and intimidating sound of a dozen German soldiers with their hob nailed boots on marching back to their trench and tents.

I tried to imagine what it must have sounded like with a whole platoon marching down a road, it must have put the fear of God into many.

It was a great day, nice weather and great to catch up with friends again. The question was; did I use the sun cream? No, but I did put a fleece jacket on even though the sun was out. The wind chill was whipping around the open spaces, but it was refreshing to be in the open and in the sun at the same time.

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Rougham Tower Car Show 2024 (part 1)

I just had a busy weekend with a friend of mine dropping by to try out some new car detailing products which I will be reviewing shortly. Saturday’s weather was intermittent sun with the odd chilly spell, so Craig and I broke the usual detailing don’t rules where we cleaned my car in the bright sunny spells with the car being warm to the touch and not in the shade. The snow foam episode was intended just for my car, but the odd breeze also left dried water spots on his black car parked next to mine, that meant it was now going to be a two car wash day. The products we tried were good and I think I may have discovered a new favourite car shampoo, although I still have one more product to try before I can fully stand behind that statement. The day wore on and the weather forecast for the first show the next day’s car show was looking good. The best of it was the first show of the year was only seven miles away from me at a new venue (for me) organised by the Bury Retro Car Club called Buff The Ruff at Rougham Tower Museum, as it’s now known, but it was one of the fully functioning working airbases in the Suffolk and Norfolk areas.

Rougham Control Tower (originally known as RAF Bury St Edmunds), is a former RAF station, situated 3 miles east of the Suffolk market town of Bury St Edmunds. The airfield was built between 1941 and 1942, and had three intersecting concrete runways. The main runway was approximately 2000 yards long, and run in an East to West direction. The airfield was designed for a United States Army Airforce unit (USAAF) bomb group. Fifty concrete hardstands were constructed just off the encircling perimeter track. Two T2-type hangars were erected, one on each side of the airfield. Accommodation was provided for some 3,000 personnel in Nissen and other temporary type buildings. There were a number of squadrons based here; 47th Bombardment Group (Light), 322nd Bombardment Group (Medium), 94th Bombardment Group (Heavy) with their mighty B-17 Flying Fortress.

An excited big kid (me), went to bed with the weather still looking good for the Sunday. The alarm didn’t need to wake me up as the blind in the bedroom was up so the sunrise woke me and gave me a good excuse to check the weather. The sun was out and there was some blue stuff up there with the odd cloud moving slowly. I loaded my cool bag with some drinks and packed lunch, along with some sun cream!

I loaded the car and backed it out and the sound of the engine was something I had really missed. The journey was literally only ten minutes away as it was just off a main road and the first junction I came too, the car hadn’t really gotten warm after such a short journey. I got to the entrance a easy forty minutes before the official opening time of ten. I made a few changes of parking location, as I didn’t want to park under a tree. The second space I picked was the entrance to the field where the majority of cars were going to be parked up, so I had to move to nice spot I liked just in front of the main tower itself.

I took over three hundred photos on the day and quite a few of them were from the museum. The day I will split across two posts, just to make the page view a little more manageable.

There were a couple of groups of WWII enactment, mostly German with a few USAF guys wandering around. Just as you drove into the area there was a ‘dug out’ with a couple of ominous machine guns pointed at you, and a German SS guard by the barrier.

The main tower was over three floors, the top floor you had to go outside to get to the steps to take you up. The rooms were filled with models, equipment, bits of old planes, photo’s and information on the base and it’s history.

They had the odd mannequin showing the rooms, some of which looked a little creepy!

Going up the stairs to the next level, the building was almost trying to tell you a story of it’s own if that makes sense?

By the time I had spent a while looking around there were some cars arriving in convoy and managed to grab some unusual above pictures.

Outside there was some more US Jeeps parked up and a rather cute sibling!

Just to left of the of the Tower as you exit there are some bunkers or buildings which also housed some pretty awesome exhibits.

In part two’s post, the next hut along had a very interesting guy who was telling me about the weapons and he even let me hold a few as it was very early in the day and not many people looking around. Did I get to use the sun cream? Find out in the next post!

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Taking Charge

Over the course of the winter my pride and joy is tucked up in the garage with the dehumidifier and temperature controlled garage, which is vitally important. To supplement the car’s cosy environment is the next most important thing, the trickle charge to the battery. Couple of reasons being it keeps the battery at an optimum level and prolongs the life of the battery. I use the CTEK mxs5 which has served me well for the last eight years 24/7 and I haven’t had any problems, until now. The wall mounted charger showed that all was good and the unit was on the maintenance cycle as expected when I popped into the garage to check up and have a day messing around in there.

A couple of months or so ago I went to the garage and noticed that the unit’s quick connection (which has a traffic light set of LEDs) was flashing red, this is a visual sign of low power in the car’s battery. I just put it down to a recent power cut during a storm which had messed up the maintenance charge process. I reset the charger and the process started up again, and I thought no more of it. I went back in a couple of weeks ago and all looked OK. Something told me to check the battery level, I got in the car turned the ignition on and the volt meter was showing just over 11 volts not the 12.5 volts that should have been available. Those that know these old cars are aware that there is an ‘Ammeter’ not a volt meter in the instrument cluster. I didn’t like the idea of a direct battery feed going to the dash, it didn’t tell you a great deal either as they either didn’t work or just in the middle of the gauge. Safety in mind I swapped out the Ammeter for a volt meter which I made on my own. (If you want to know how I swapped the stock Ammeter to a modern voltmeter that also still looks stock, click here.)

I tried to turn the car over which was rather slow, but eventually she fired up before what seemed like an eternity of ever slowing turn overs until I reckon the last but one revolution of the starter motor managed to fire the car into life.

I ran the car for a few minutes to get a little power charge into the battery while I finished up what I was doing in the garage. After shutting the car down and reconnecting the charger back up, I closed up the garage and wandered back into the house where I assumed the horizontal position on the sofa to start researching the issue. I found a forum where it seems there is a generic failure where these units show the maintenance cycle, but it’s not actually trickle charging the battery, so the battery runs low. I got into some heavy reading looking for the replacement, and to see if anything new was on the market since I bought that last one. I have previously given the CTEK unit 10 out of 10 and after (nearly) nine years it’s still a deserved score, and they still make them. With that in mind I was certain that I was going to do a like for like CTEK swap out, but another brand ‘NOCO’ caught my eye. I did the usual comparison, review readings and there was virtually nothing in it between the two manufacturers for the price and functions. So I ordered the NOCO for one reason only. I have also reviewed the NOCO Genius 5 here or cut and paste this link to read it:

NOCO Genius % battery charger (onemanandhismustang.com)

That one reason? Taken from the NOCO website;

“Thermal Comparison: the new integrated thermal sensor automatically monitors and adjusts the charging cycle based on fluctuations of ambient temperature, limiting the chance of under-charging or over-charging, providing a more accurate and fully charged battery. Avoids under-charging in cold weather down to -4F and avoids over-charging in hot weather up to 104F.”

My garage can get hot sometimes in the summer, so this ‘Thermal Comparison’ for me was the winning function, just pipping the CTEK. To replace the CTEX with the same model would have been literally five minutes, going to another supplier was something I knew would take a little bit of time to get it nice and neat under the hood, back to how I wanted it, out of sight out of mind.

The NOCO doesn’t look as fancy as the CTEK, but it’s function for me at the end of the day, I don’t have to look at it all the time, so it’s not really an issue or is it?

Once unpacked there is a rubbish bracket that clips to the NOCO and is held in place by a rather tacky looking velcro strap. You have to thread the strap under the unit into the bracket’s loop all of which is a bit cumbersome. Perhaps it’s a quick release, but it would have been nice to have a wall mount without the velcro. For £80 I would have wanted something a little nicer looking to be honest. When I walk into the garage and see it, it just bugs me. Surely it would have been cheaper for a slightly longer bit of plastic for the all mount, than to make and brand a bit of velcro.

The cable length under the hood wasn’t long enough, so I had to cut the wires and splice a longer cable in (same amp rating), so that I could route the cable where I wanted it to be out of sight but also easy access at the front of the car once in the garage. This supposedly half hour swap of charger took me about three hours by the time I took the car battery out, remade the cable, re-routed the cable, cleaned the area thoroughly, reinstalled the car battery and clamp, mounted the unit on the wall and cleaned up.

So far the new unit looks to be doing it’s thing as I would expect. However, I did notice that the maintenance cycle (slow green pulse LED) took a while to initiate as I suspect the charger was stabilising the battery from what it had been left with from the CTEK.

The one function I’m missing though is the LED lights on the CTEK connector. This was a simple traffic light idea for the status of the battery charge.

It’s not the end of the world of course, but a rather nice to have which I think NOCO should investigate for an option accessory purchase, I’m happy to test and review the item if you are reading this NOCO. I’m yet to decide on the final position of the new charger, so it’s not the neatest of fittings I have done. But for now it will serve a purpose until I can fully trust the new charger.

It wont be long now before the first car show is ready, so I will need to get the car out, fill it up with fuel and give it the de-winterising of the products I applied for protection. That usually takes me about a day all in. Hopefully I will be a little more regular with the posts again once the car shows start.