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With the pile of 2CV bits I bought there were several headlights with part-rusted reflectors. Moisture entered through the parking light aperture and they were not roadworthy. Could they be repaired economically or was is cheaper and simpler to buy them at around $92 plus shipping? It is at least worth asking the question so I cut the seal between the glass and the reflector with a sharp knife and took the reflectors to Huntingdale Electroplating. (S-E suburbs of Melbourne). The result was six beautifully resilvered reflectors at $45 each. I hope this experience helps someone who might otherwise not bother with grotty-looking headlights. There’s plenty else to spend our money on!
I take it that the standard headlight bulbs for the 2CV use normal incandescent filaments; if so, are replacement halogen bulbs available for them?
Merci en avance…Yes the current bulbs are incandescent. I don’t know about halogen alternatives as I am not nearly at that stage. I went through the resilvering exercise so I would know whether or not I had to buy headlights on a recent trip to England. I’ll be starting the project early in the new year. I’d suggest that a browse through 2CViking’s or ECAS’s catalogue will tell you. If they are available in Europe I would think we could source them here. Hope so. Please post the result of your search.
Well stone me… why didn’t I think of that!
Thanks for the ECAS suggestion John, here’s the result from their catalogue.
Problem solved!Cheers, Geoff.:)
I managed to buy halogen globes in Australia. The trick is to take the headlight into the shop (Repco, etc) and check that the base fits. There are some that look identical but don’t fit.
John
Daffy DuckJohn, thanks for the heads-up on the globe base – and although this hasn’t anything to do with headlights, I’ll ask anyway: does anyone know of an available platinum spark plug for the later (or any) 2CV’s ? If so, what make and model plug? So far as brands go, I have a lot of faith in NGK, but will be interested to hear of anything else.
Regards, Geoff.We’re now just two weeks away from pick-up-duck day. Can’t wait !:D
@petitepoupée 187 wrote:
John, thanks for the heads-up on the globe base – and although this hasn’t anything to do with headlights, I’ll ask anyway: does anyone know of an available platinum spark plug for the later (or any) 2CV’s ? If so, what make and model plug? So far as brands go, I have a lot of faith in NGK, but will be interested to hear of anything else.
Regards, Geoff.We’re now just two weeks away from pick-up-duck day. Can’t wait !:D
I don’t know of any platinum plug for a 2CV, but if you go to the NGK website and check for platinum versions of their normal B6HS plug you may have luck.
Personally, I am happy with the NGK B6HS plug. It is readily available. Every 5,000kms I replace the engine oil and filter, gearbox oil and spark plugs. Everything considered, that is fairly cheap, keeps the engine in top running condition and extends the engine/gearbox life.
In fact, with the NGK plugs, I don’t even check the gaps anymore. I have found them to be so consistently accurate and they come with a tube of cardboard to prevent any inadvertant closing of the points in transit. Chucking the plugs every 5K means I don’t have to clean them. Remeber, the plugs have actually worn as if they had done 10k because they are fired twice as often with the wasted spark ignition.
John
A favourite aphorism of mine is … “a fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer.” So here comes (yet) another question… with the 123 ignition installed – ours has this already – do the plugs still do the firing-on-both-strokes trick?:confused:
@petitepoupée 189 wrote:
A favourite aphorism of mine is … “a fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer.” So here comes (yet) another question… with the 123 ignition installed – ours has this already – do the plugs still do the firing-on-both-strokes trick?:confused:
Yes. All the 123 ignition does is replace the points box (behind the fan) with a solid state electronic version. The original points is a mechanical way to trigger the signal to the coil to produce the spark, dependant upon the contact points relationship to the lobe on the camshaft. The 123 ignition does this all electronically, plus it calculates centrifugal advance electronically rather than the original method of using weights. The EVO 123 has an additional option of utilising vacuum from the inlet manifold to give vacuum advance as well, a feature never present in the original points.
Either way, the dumb coil purely increases the voltage to produce a hefty spark upon receipt of a low voltage signal from the points/123. Since there is no distributor to distribute this spark to a particular spark plug, it gives it to both. Only one cylinder will be able to utilise the spark, being on the compression stroke. The spark still fires in the other cylinder but its mixture has already been burnt, so the spark is wasted. This system is referred to a “wasted spark” system. The only improvement would be the replacement of the original coil with a “Harley” coil, which produces a fatter spark and appears to suffer less from overheating and breaking down.
As an aside, the CX25IE used twin coils. The first coil was fired when the sensor on the flywheel triggered it, only one of the cylinders was able to use the spark. The computer then calculated when the flywheel was opposite to the sensor (ie 180 degrees) and in turn fired the second coil, again only one cylinder could use the spark. Each coil serviced two cylinders of the four cylinder engine.
John
WOW! There’s a bit of technology involved here, as I see from this link.
http://www.ngk.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=Wasted+Spark+Ignition&mfid=1
Thanks John – I’ll let you have a break from all the questions for now….Geoff, I found halogen lamps as described in the catalogue item you posted at our local Autobarn. Good tip to take the old one in when buying.
@John P 192 wrote:
Geoff, I found halogen lamps as described in the catalogue item you posted at our local Autobarn. Good tip to take the old one in when buying.
Many thanks John…
@petitepoupée 191 wrote:
WOW! There’s a bit of technology involved here, as I see from this link.
http://www.ngk.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=Wasted+Spark+Ignition&mfid=1
Thanks John – I’ll let you have a break from all the questions for now….In that NGK article on wasted spark ignition, they mentioned that one spark plug was positive and the other was negative. Sorry I forgot to tell you that. Where it does become useful is that the spark plug on one side wears the centre post whereas the one on the other side wears the bent bit. Some people that want to get maximum use out of their plugs, swap them from one side to the other to even up the wear. Like I said previously, I just chuck them and replace them at 5000kms as I can’t be bothered cleaning them. They hardly look worn. With a new plug you also get a new sealing washer. I have found after a thousand or so kms that the engine can can run a bit rougher and that usually means I just have to tighten the spark plugs. I am loath to tighten them too much.
By foregoing two cups of coffee every 5000kms, the spark plugs cost me nothing.
By the way petitepoupee, what on Earth are you doing in your 2CV (avatar)? I thought they were too small for that.
John
@JBN 194 wrote:
By the way petitepoupee, what on Earth are you doing in your 2CV (avatar)? I thought they were too small for that.
John
Many years ago a friend of mine had a VW Beetle which had been fitted with a fold-down gear lever, for reasons which are probably obvious. Whether or not the Dolly’s too small for such carryings-on, I think at my stage in life (some have suggested senile delinquency…) my good lady & I can find more comfortable locations for such.
It just happens, though, that our “courting vehicle” in 1964/65 was a 1959 ex PMG Holden Panelvan, put to very good use even before panelvans became the thing for the young blades.;)
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