French garages

[jmp49]

You want a "Pompe à Carburant Électrique à Basse Pression " assuming the cobra has carbs and you want a lower pressure pump. I'm going to assume the Villers Bocage in the Somme north of Amiens, given the D-day reference (there's more than one Villers Bocage in france...)
Auto distribution is a auto parts store, they can get things same day if you need them often, or next morning and they have branches all over the country including near Villers Bocage it seems. https://www.autodistribution.fr/magasins-pieces-auto/somme/villers-bocage

This branch is only 30km away and accessible via fun Departmental roads (watch out for gendarmes with speed guns though). https://maps.app.goo.gl/ga5Tr7azJ9id7qkB9

I walk into my local autodistribution clutching blown hydraulic hoses from the jcb and once we get past the "no I dont have a carte grise for the vehicle" they measure up and just make them up. I dont think a inline electric fuel pump for carbs is going to throw them much, but they are a franchise. There'll be loads of smaller car parts shops around, its just finding about them. If autodistribution cant sort you out, they will often tell you where else to try, although you have the language barrier to deal with so it could be more difficult.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Downloaded the Google translate app now.. game changer!

 

[oldbikedavey]

Villers - Bocage sounds very Norman ...
Pompe a essence sounds about right.

 

[Barking Mat]

Hiya, pm me and I'll send you my phone number, if you need someone to speak with a garage, where are you ?

Ok, you're up near Caen, 2.5 to 3 hours from me.

 

[Morrisman]

Daughters boyfriend forgot to take his asthma inhaler, so he was really suffering the first night there. I did toy with the idea of doing a mercy run down to Le Mans on my bike, to save the day…

….but today he’s spoken to some first aid mob at Le Mans and they gave him a prescription, £5 from a pharmacy in the nearby village. Cheaper than the U.K. then.

So, no mercy mission required.

I was quite looking forward to a couple of nights in Hotel Motel Papea again. A wonderful little area with a dozen or two cabins, in woodlands, near Le Mans, totally secluded and peaceful, and probably fully booked this week….

This was me some four years ago:

 

[qwakers]

so go anyway. why not?

 

[hotponyshoes]

Hiya, pm me and I'll send you my phone number, if you need someone to speak with a garage, where are you ?

Ok, you're up near Caen, 2.5 to 3 hours from me.

Much appreciated offer, thank you!

We have got the car back, Garage have done a good job of welding up the broken clutch pedal, only issue is, they have put on the repair form that the failure is probably due to the fact that the clutch pedal is really heavy and the clutch is probably heavily worn.
The clutch is actually a multi-plate thing with a hydraulic release bearing so (although I agree that's the reason the pedal snapped) its not actually worn much. (Car has done less than 1k gently miles)
Only issue with this is garage advised it would be risky to drive onto lemans and we should have the clutch replaced on return to the UK and we take the car at our own risk.
Hence the recovery assistance have said that we will have to pay for any further recovery if we breakdown again due to a clutch problem.

Even with that I would certainly recommend the footman James cover (or whoever provides that for them)
They did offer to carry on paying for hotels (and taxis between if they can not keep us in the same hotel) until Monday (day ferry is booked for,
Or, they would cover the cost of a hire car so we could carry onto lemans, leave the cobra at the garage and return hire car/collect cobra on Monday

Decided to just take the car and start heading home so have done a 40min stint with no problems and currently tucked up in a nice hotel on Omaha beach.
Seems like enough sites worth visiting to keep us occupied here for the next couple of days at least!

 

[Barking Mat]

Much appreciated offer, thank you!

We have got the car back, Garage have done a good job of welding up the broken clutch pedal, only issue is, they have put on the repair form that the failure is probably due to the fact that the clutch pedal is really heavy and the clutch is probably heavily worn.
The clutch is actually a multi-plate thing with a hydraulic release bearing so (although I agree that's the reason the pedal snapped) its not actually worn much. (Car has done less than 1k gently miles)
Only issue with this is garage advised it would be risky to drive onto lemans and we should have the clutch replaced on return to the UK and we take the car at our own risk.
Hence the recovery assistance have said that we will have to pay for any further recovery if we breakdown again due to a clutch problem.

Even with that I would certainly recommend the footman James cover (or whoever provides that for them)
They did offer to carry on paying for hotels (and taxis between if they can not keep us in the same hotel) until Monday (day ferry is booked for,
Or, they would cover the cost of a hire car so we could carry onto lemans, leave the cobra at the garage and return hire car/collect cobra on Monday

Decided to just take the car and start heading home so have done a 40min stint with no problems and currently tucked up in a nice hotel on Omaha beach.
Seems like enough sites worth visiting to keep us occupied here for the next couple of days at least!

I'm sure you'll be fine.

How did you manage to brake a clutch pedal anyway ?

Worst case scenario, if it brakes down, go hire a car transporter from any suitable supermarket, to ferryport, take transporter back, push or tow it onto ferry.

 

[Morrisman]

Much appreciated offer, thank you!

We have got the car back, Garage have done a good job of welding up the broken clutch pedal, only issue is, they have put on the repair form that the failure is probably due to the fact that the clutch pedal is really heavy and the clutch is probably heavily worn.
The clutch is actually a multi-plate thing with a hydraulic release bearing so (although I agree that's the reason the pedal snapped) its not actually worn much. (Car has done less than 1k gently miles)
Only issue with this is garage advised it would be risky to drive onto lemans and we should have the clutch replaced on return to the UK and we take the car at our own risk.
Hence the recovery assistance have said that we will have to pay for any further recovery if we breakdown again due to a clutch problem.

Even with that I would certainly recommend the footman James cover (or whoever provides that for them)
They did offer to carry on paying for hotels (and taxis between if they can not keep us in the same hotel) until Monday (day ferry is booked for,
Or, they would cover the cost of a hire car so we could carry onto lemans, leave the cobra at the garage and return hire car/collect cobra on Monday

Decided to just take the car and start heading home so have done a 40min stint with no problems and currently tucked up in a nice hotel on Omaha beach.
Seems like enough sites worth visiting to keep us occupied here for the next couple of days at least!

There must be a serious issue if it’s hydraulic yet is that heavy. Where exactly did it break, I’d wager on the pivot point where a tube probably passes through the lever.

 

[hotponyshoes]

How did you manage to brake a clutch pedal anyway ?

Wasn't me driving!
Slip road coming off a motorway, queue of traffic.
Pedal snapped just above the pivot.
Couldn't really see in there (raining heavily!!) but it looked like it had snapped just above the weld that fixed the pedal tube to the pivot tube.
My guess would be a thin wall pedal tube mig welded to a thick steel pivot tube, probably some undercut on the thin side..

 

[hotponyshoes]

There must be a serious issue if it’s hydraulic yet is that heavy. Where exactly did it break, I’d wager on the pivot point where a tube probably passes through the lever.

See above, on the master cylinder side of the pivot.
Heavy clutches seems to be a problem with cobras...
This one has a hydraulic release bearing for a slave so you loose any leverage assistance at that end as you can't fit a clutch arm.
Had a clutch with lighter springs in previously but it wouldn't handle the torque.
Smaller master cylinder bore would be the obvious solution except it already needs 3/4's of the pedal travel to disengage the clutch as it is..

 

[qwakers]

looks like a vacuum assisted clutch might be in order.

 

[Melvyn Best]

A small servo might help?

 

[nickk]

Back to ops question,on my numerous tours around,I’ve had the need to do a running or campsite repair,and found them amazingly helpful and been able to borrow tools,or get a thermostat and brake pipe soldered. I find the French very friendly and helpful,along with the weather,space scenery and roads.