09-12-2024, 03:06 PM
Reasonable enough weather here today in Rekkersland, around 10°C, roads dry and no salt about so I thought I'd get the "Tacot" out and give it a run to charge the battery up a bit. It's not been run for several weeks so I had to hand crank it. There was just enough charge to light the ignition, but not enough to spin the engine on the starter., With full choke held on with a spring clamp it fired up on the third swing - the SU usually needs a few turns to prime itself.
And away we went. It took to the end of the valley for the oil pressure gauge to start to drop off the pin, but by the time I had climbed the hill out of Les Mages to Saint Ambroix the engine was fully warm and running nicely. The advantage with moving over to LED lighting is that you can turn down the 3rd brush on the dynamo to reduce the output, but the down side is that even on "winter" setting you only get a 2-3amp charge. However this is usually enough after a 20 mile round trip to bring the battery back up to normal.
I did my usual run out to St André de Cruzières to say hello to the Peugeot pick-up (still there) but this time I did it in the reverse direction. This entailed a long climb up out of St Ambroix, through St Brès to the Gard/Ardèche border, where I turn off the main road at the top of the hill to drop down into Saint André. It tops off at about 350m or thereabouts and the old girl did it all in top gear. I was well impressed.
Same coming home. It pulled all the way up the hill out of St Ambroix in top gear, (which before an engine rebuild was a long and slow slog in 3rd) cresting the rise at between 35 and 40mph. (on the speedo). Happy days!
Now back in its garage, sheeted over until the next time.
And away we went. It took to the end of the valley for the oil pressure gauge to start to drop off the pin, but by the time I had climbed the hill out of Les Mages to Saint Ambroix the engine was fully warm and running nicely. The advantage with moving over to LED lighting is that you can turn down the 3rd brush on the dynamo to reduce the output, but the down side is that even on "winter" setting you only get a 2-3amp charge. However this is usually enough after a 20 mile round trip to bring the battery back up to normal.
I did my usual run out to St André de Cruzières to say hello to the Peugeot pick-up (still there) but this time I did it in the reverse direction. This entailed a long climb up out of St Ambroix, through St Brès to the Gard/Ardèche border, where I turn off the main road at the top of the hill to drop down into Saint André. It tops off at about 350m or thereabouts and the old girl did it all in top gear. I was well impressed.
Same coming home. It pulled all the way up the hill out of St Ambroix in top gear, (which before an engine rebuild was a long and slow slog in 3rd) cresting the rise at between 35 and 40mph. (on the speedo). Happy days!
Now back in its garage, sheeted over until the next time.