Contains mild tinkering - Ford AU, 2CV 

" I can't be bothered" Hubnut starting 2023 in style.

Bless Elly, I like to just hear the musical engine. One day when I have somewhere to put a hobby car, a 2CV is atop my list. Watching Hubnut over the last few years has destroyed (in the very best way possible) my automobile goals. Elly is equally as much fun as anything and she makes me smile way more than any supercar ever has.

I picked up the courage to do my own oil change, plugs and airfilter just before an mot. It failed on a bad catalyst so as I was on a roll I changed that too. Passed no problem 😊

Ford never went away from a cast iron block, thank goodness! That's why the last Barra block could withstand 3000hp!

Great to see Ellie being given some TLC.

Spark plugs on injection engines are always white. They look good to me! Concerning thermal degrees on NGK, it is the other way round. The higher the number, the higher temp they can resist to AND the higher temp they need to keep themselves clean. The 5 is hotter than the 6. Lovely tinkering video! Cheers from Belgium.

1:00 Spark plugs can do over 50,000 miles now. They do not need changing as often as they used to be...

Great little tinkering video Ian, Betty and Elly getting some love, the noise of a 2CV is so infectious.

I know not why but I enjoyed this tinkering.

Was planning doing a bit of work on my own car but ended up staying under the duvet and watching Ian tinkering away….it is Sunday morning after all!

It’s always good seeing Elly playing out

Top bit of tinkering - I enjoyed that!

Nice bit of copper washer anealing for Elly 👍

Less 'quirky' collection than you had before. I had a 2CV / a 70 Shelby Mustang convertible and an exPostOffice R4 van years ago 💚💚💚 Doing E430 V8, 16(inaccessible) plugs..😖.Plug #12 snapped in the head..€1300 to dealer to lift engine and remove stub..😭. Current Tucson has 130k km on it's original 'long life 100k km' plugs , must get around to them.. Now have a Grand Cherokee V8 waiting outside to be started.. 🤔🤔

At last some maintenance going on , need more of this , and will keep the cars running well

I recently did stuff to my AU Fairmont for the first time ever and I bought the car in January 2017 🤣🤣🤣🤣 All is good though.

Sunday morning with some HubNut tinkering... doesn't get better than this.

Two ends of the Motoring stratosphere in perfect harmony.

And good to see Elly going at 100% again such a great loaned engine , hope you can find one just as great to put in her one day when you return the old one.

What a weekend treat….tinkering, yay 😃👍. Thank you

Good to see you back in the workshop

Classic HubNut tinkering! Lovely jubbly.

Nice bit of old school gentle hubnut tinkering!

Always enjoy your channel best of luck in 2023 with the videos 👍👍

Next time you polish the headlamps on the AU, remember to apply a UV resistant clear coat onto them.

Berlingo You may be aware of this but I think you need to use the vacuum barb on the fuel filter housing to pull fuel from the tank, to fill the housing, after a change. If you try to churn it through on the starter, a) it probably won't work and b) you will cause significant wear to the high pressure fuel pump, if not complete failure. Ford used to make a similar engine with this design feature. Elly. Aircooled engine of a certain age - I would be using something like a motorcycle 10w-60 oil, preferably one that is known to have plenty of ZDDP to lubricate sliding surfaces. More expensive, yes, but also much more protection.

Thanks for the most welcome tinkering video, Ian. Nice trick with the copper washer too.

Good seeing wee Ellie out again ❤️

another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍

Absolutely brilliant video Ian 👍❤️ jobs well done brilliant

More lovely car maintenance, not so easy on new cars with all their coverings, nice video Mr HubNut.

Nice to see and hear Elly again I like the bonnet cover to keep the cold out

saw a lovely arty hand painted 2 CV yesterday . really a joy to see

It’s called “ The muddling thru” car service schedule Ian 😉 and we all do to some extent , but with your car collection it’s totally understandable .

Nice little tinkering video, Ian. Elly's running like a dream with her new engine. 👍Shame you have to give it back.

Always great to have a run in the 2CV as it takes me back to getting lifts in my parents neighbours 1980 Dyane. She used to have to cane it in 2nd to 3rd to get a run at the hill up to the houses and I loved the sound :)

1 grade colder or hotter isn't gonna matter 1 bit. The heatrange of the sparkplugs are a measure of how well the plugs burn free of deposits (or not) NGK heatrange 6 for a stock car engine is just fine. For plugs it's MUCH more important that the plug GAP has been checken and set correctly. No, you can't rely on the plug factory to set them correctly for your car. Better check them before you screw them in. I like the anealing trick on the copper washer. 👍

Nice, overdue maintenance caught up!

A basic maintenance video on two cars on the fleet love your tinkering videos

Everything seems to be going swimmingly. Long may the force be with you. Maybe now would be the time for some dog whispering with Diego!! Happy new year.

It's a lot off work with a fleet as big as you got thanks for the vids Ian donny

Short cuts . . . Love 'em! This is the way. Life's too short!

So many new t shirt slogans in one video. Nice, 'its a gone a bit hub nut' is my favourite.

Some good progress Ian. Betty has some new toys in the engine and Elle had a chance for a quick play in the winter without the salt riddles roads that tend to attract the dreaded metal moth. It's always nice to see Elly having a run. Hopefully one day in the future I'll get a 2CV.

Cooking on gas in 2023 Ian! So many relatable things here too. Remember having the same problems with the rubber donut in a spark plug socket years ago. As for oil filters that can't be prefilled, that is a pet hate of mine and sadly all too common especially on modern cars.

I've always let oil settle before checking dipstick, well when I used to work on me cars 👍🙂

The only thing this is missing is the cup of tea or coffee. Other wise a great easy to watch video. Great watch

For the spark plug socket, especially for plugs down in tubes, i'm a big fan of magnetic/swivel ones, (gearwrench ‎80546 is an example). Seems to work better than the rubber type for me- they come in various sizes and lengths to suit different cars. I use that short-ish one with a locking extension to make it a bit longer for my vehicles currently- seems to work well.

Yeah I tend to use morris oil from my local motor spares place as its one of the cheapest they stock. I've never had any problems with cheapo oils. Nice to see Ellie on the road, hopefully the Loaned engine will give you great service.

I don't have power or water at my lock up, but I do have a portable generator and take water in a water barrel (as used for caravans). This combination allows me to use a jetwash for a short but adequate time, or plenty of bucketfulls for washing and rinsing.

I love your video titles! The click baity stuff that other channels use can do one. It just puts me off.😄

Contact adhesive works well on rubber in spark plug socket as it stays a bit flexible

Hi Ian, according to Australian parts catalogues then NGK is BPR5EY-11, champion RN12YC. They also do a universal battery clamp

My 85 Saab was doing the same thing-- sputtering at idle and dying during braking. I change the fuel filter and surprisingly that fixed it! I'm a bit shocked that's all it was. Never thought the fix would be that easy.

I entirely agree on the oil front. I often think that people spend a lot of time justifying expensive oil - almost like they feel they need to....

No drama vid Good straightforward down to earth tinkering that all goes well. Most enjoyable. Shame the weekend drive was scuppered by our yet again, crap weather.

I glued the rubber back in my spark plug socket about 10 years ago. It's still in there.

Ian, there is a C reg red one in Halifax outside someone's house, been there years just rotting away at the back end

Good to see some tinkering videos. I wonder if the Citroen owners club members will know of anyone with a 2CV being broken for spares with a decent engine?

It is joyful hearing that 2CV engine revving, and yeah, a long-term solution would be a good thing, though whether that's getting the 652 stuff on another block, or going the whole hog and building a 720, well, time will tell... :D

Multi car tinkerage. Nice.

Bedlam was indeed a fun game.

I stuffed electrical tape in my spark plug socket works even on twin cam motors with the deep recessed plugs in the head

Put a bot of superglue on the rubber tube & pop it back in the socket, job done!

Hopefully they’ll all be in fine fettle for the 100K special in a few weeks time!

I remember when you first got that unit and it was full of space (if that makes sense). Now it looks as spacious as MY garage does on videos. lol

I did some tinkering on our 2017 kia rio, hubnut style,outside, coated and hat'd up. Adding front and rear footwell ambient lighting. £10 in parts, 3 hours laying on my back upside down in the car, gas soldering iron, piggy back fuse carrier and a chuffing modern car which is bloody hard to hide wired in panel gaps. Still I survived, as did the car, and I think they work🤔 Wife thinks iam nuts,but as I said " you spent enough on shoes, so I thought it would be nice to light them up at night for you." Apparently what ever iam having for tea,iam making myself😇

With NGK the lower the number the hotter the plug. I work at an NGK distributor 👍

Happy Days when Elly is up and running :)

I used to use 5 heat range plugs in my AU, but that was the recommendation because I was running on LPG most of the time. 6 is definitely the correct heat range for petrol.

Fab tinkering :)

Don't scare me like that! 😂 On the NGK scale 5 is hotter than a 6. I run 7s in my Mini race car and the standard cars run a 6. I was scared I'd gone the wrong way for a second when you put that on screen 😂

Picking my Mercedes Replacement up Tomorrow ...a 54 plate 3.0, S type Jag

The white plug is often caused the fuel injection running a lean mixture. According haynes manuals biscuit colour.

Dad puts a bit of duct tape on the edges of the socket to provide just enough interference to hold into bolts. A quick fix for that spark plug socket on the fly if you need

The engine in Elly is very, very good. It runs so smoothly. Do you have to return it? I would try to buy it.

Nice 🥰

You can but 1way valves to stop the back flow in fuel lines. 1, it helps with starting the car as the one way doesn't allow the fuel returning down the fuel lines needing you to crank the fuel up to pressure. 2 it keeps the pressure constant in your lines. You might find out that these valves sort out a lot of fuel input faults Hope this helps.

You should be able to make a battery clamp fairly easily. I just use a piece of garden hose to remove the plug once it is loosened. The -11 plug is 1.1mm which is right for an AU1 fro AU2 & 3 (petrol) they recommend 1.3mm.

That engine sounds so sweet. Shame you can't keep it!

AY UP MR HUBNUT

Ellie = Happy

The two engine's there sounding sweet Ian. Your closing shot there of the headlight, is the light pointing in the right direction or the camera playing tricks?

You should think about a rainwater barrel to collect water from the roof.

I believe with NGK, 6 is colder than a 5.

When I did my Own Servicing on my cars I used to Duckhams oil it looked like washing Up Liquid And smelt proper oil

Ellie is not getting enough love, cull the fleet and concentrate on a 2CV ( the car that can do anything < bring home an electric cement mixer>).

20K on plugs! I changed mine at 150k and they weren't even bad. I am using BPR6EY on my 6cylinder Fairmont wagon on dual fuel, so you should be sweet.

Car sounds nice for doing 198,218 miles 🚗🚙🚘👍👍👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You should get an spark plug socket with magnet, those with rubber in is usually rubbish.

Ah, the sound of a 2CV!

Sparkplugs are not 'hotter' or 'colder'. They are more or less conductive of heat. A plug needs to run hot enough to burn off deposits, but not so hot as to burn or degrade the electrodes. That temperature is pretty much the same for all Petrol engines. On the NGK range, the plugs conduct more heat as the number increases, or 'colder' in the inacurate common parlance. A 5 grade plug was not conductive enough and was therefore running hot. You need a 'colder' plug, for hotter combustion temeratures, hence so many people getting confused.

Might be best getting a few spare plugs to save the pain if they become harder to get

Betty the Fairmont is still quite a new car in my eyes.

good

Ask the breaker for the headlights I'm guessing they could be in better nick than yours with it being a limo?

Ian, the NGK heat range runs from 2 to 11 ... 2 being warmest and 11 being coldest. So BPR 5EY is warmer and BPR 6EY is colder. A warmer plug heats faster, a colder plug resists heat. I use NGK BR8 for road use and B10 for the track.

Yes, removing the rockers covers and the front wings of a 2CV is tiring... So, let's pretend I forgot it.

Have you shown how straightforward an oil and filter change is on the AU's six yet Ian? I vaguely recall you did it in Betty's New Zealand days. After being accustomed to more challenging access to sump plugs and filters in other cars, doing a Falcon's felt like it was designed for the home mechanic.

Hi did you mean detritus, as in getting rid of waste or rubbish. Tritus means rubbing ooh Betty.