Getting a bit dull...
Discussion
...drove back to Salisbury last night after spending the weekend working on the Chim at my mates in Guildford and I have to say it was one of the dullest drives home I've ever had.
Everything I used on the way back worked ...
... it didn't overheat, all the lights worked, the heater was consistent in it's output (limp but consistent nonetheles), the temperature gauge was so stable that I at one point started to mentally add that to the "newly broken - needs fixing" list but no.
So, hopefully that's the overheating issue (plus a few more) sorted ... new ally rad installed (moderately) painlessly (and looks gorgeous) and I think we can safely say that the overheating issue was the old rad - left the car ticking over yesterday evening with the new rad and once up to temperature the fans would kick in for about 30 seconds or so at a time with an accompanying hot air blast immediately behind them that was uncomfortable to hold your hand to whereas before with the old rad the blast of air coming through the fans would be classed as warm at best and they'd be running almost constantly even at tickover.
Swapped in a 74 degree stat as well - piece of p*ss to get to and remove the thermostat housing if you take off the alternator (which I needed to do anyway as I was replacing the regulator pack on that), didn't need to disturb the distributor at all. The stat was done to try to get the heat output from the heater to be more consistent (albeit at the expense of it not being as hot) and seems to have acheived its goal with the heater on the way back last night not seeming to go through such large swings in output as before.
Could it be that I've finally broken the back of the "problems" and may actually be about to have a reliable car?
Phil
Everything I used on the way back worked ...
... it didn't overheat, all the lights worked, the heater was consistent in it's output (limp but consistent nonetheles), the temperature gauge was so stable that I at one point started to mentally add that to the "newly broken - needs fixing" list but no.
So, hopefully that's the overheating issue (plus a few more) sorted ... new ally rad installed (moderately) painlessly (and looks gorgeous) and I think we can safely say that the overheating issue was the old rad - left the car ticking over yesterday evening with the new rad and once up to temperature the fans would kick in for about 30 seconds or so at a time with an accompanying hot air blast immediately behind them that was uncomfortable to hold your hand to whereas before with the old rad the blast of air coming through the fans would be classed as warm at best and they'd be running almost constantly even at tickover.
Swapped in a 74 degree stat as well - piece of p*ss to get to and remove the thermostat housing if you take off the alternator (which I needed to do anyway as I was replacing the regulator pack on that), didn't need to disturb the distributor at all. The stat was done to try to get the heat output from the heater to be more consistent (albeit at the expense of it not being as hot) and seems to have acheived its goal with the heater on the way back last night not seeming to go through such large swings in output as before.
Could it be that I've finally broken the back of the "problems" and may actually be about to have a reliable car?
Phil
scotty_d said:
Any pictures of the new RAD in place Phil? mine is on it's way to me soon cant wait
No photos I'm afraid - didn't get it all back together and filled up with anti-freeze until about 9pm last night and it's always a bit of a race against time as I use a friends garage and have to get my arse the best part of 100 miles home afterwards... (Thanks again Steve if you're reading this by the way.)It *DOES* however look absolutely gorgous nestled in there!
Was a bit of a hectic weekend all in - did battery (including repairs to battery box), alternator regulator, thermostat and gasket, coolant hoses and rad plus rubbed down and smoothrite'd that solid hose that joins the flexi that goes on the rad bottom hose to the flexi that goes on the water pump.
Right - I learned years ago that any "performance part" really means "it doesn't fit in the same way as the bit you removed" so I'll pre-inform you of two things that I came across in fitting mine.
1) The brackets on the right and left hand sides of the rad were slightly different in front-back position. They were at the right height but the N/S one is located a little further back than it should be - all I did was chuck some washers onto the threaded section of the mounting bobbin just to space it out correctly so that was easy.
2) There are drilled mounts welded into the top and bottom channels that take the flat aluminium mounting plates for the fans - these don't have any captive nuts so my plan was to use some 12mm x M6 bolts (with spring washer and flat washer) on the outside and pop a nylock nut with flat washer "on the back". (All sourced from B&Q at 7:30pm Saturday night.) This worked fine (probably best to go for a 16mm x M6 bolt to get more thread through the nylock nut) but offering up the nut/washer onto the "inside" of that bracket is a pain - I used a spanner with a bit of tape on it to hold the nut/washer in a kiddies "egg and spoon race" stylee whilst I guided it in (doing the ones nearest the middle first). Make sure that you check the position of the fan mounting holes too otherwise you can (like I did) get the plate fixed in place and then realise that if you then fit the fans they are way to far over.
Have to say the difference in weight between the rad I removed and the new one is unbelieveable - and the welding on it really is very very tidy ... my welding of normal steel looks like a bird has been perched and taken a dump so I was hugely impressed (and somewhat embarrassed) to see the welding on that.
Oh yes - I also had one of the fan mounting bolts sheer off in the "double ended tapped bar" spacer whilst I was undoing them from the old rad so be carefull of that - I just used the one that linked the two fans together side-by-side as a replacement. Also I had to take out the expansion tank and air inlet hose to get the rad to lean back far enough to get it out and in undoing that the two threaded inserts in the top chassis rail just pulled out - I was cursing that one nicely!
Phil
Edited by Bassfiend on Monday 18th January 16:42
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