Daylight Running Lights Fitted

One of the first pieces of advice I was given was always to assume I was invisible to other road users.   But with more and more cars being fitted with daytime running lights I decided it was time to join in. 

  So bought some LED strips from China and after looking at various mounting options, decided to put them on the top wishbone.

 Here's a close up of the fitting.

And to keep it legal I wired them up using a 'Normally On' relay so that they turn on with the ignition switch but go out if I turn off the sidelights or headlights.

Nice bling !

Starter Cooler Improved

As the Ram-Air cooler seemed to be helping with hot starts, I extended the tube into the nose to bring in even colder air.

Newark Auto Jumble

A nice day at the Newark Auto Jumble.  It was a very good day.   Weather perfect, I had a nice 40-mile run each way through the country lanes of Lincolnshire.   And the turnout was very impressive.   I didn't count but I reckon there was easily 300 classic cars (although some of them stretched the definition a bit), more than I have seen at some dedicated classic car shows.   And a very impressive collection of stands as well.   It took me almost 2 hours to walk around.  Lots of stuff you didn't realise you needed

Here are some piccies:

Cooling System Again

After she boiled over last week I decided to throw the book at her this weekend.

First I took the thermostat out and checked it in boiling water.   Unfortunately I don't really know how much it should open, but I wasn't impressed, it didn't look to me as though it moved.  So decided to leave it out for now, which is how the previous owner had her for years.  Very carefully filled her up with all possible holes open, and massaged all the pipes until I was as certain as I could be there were no air locks.   Checked in a tin of K-Seal (same as RadWeld) to try and block any holes, and then put the 20psi cap back on.

Did a very scenic long-winded run yesterday (25 miles) and a return trip to the Newark Auto Jumble today (75 miles).   At no point did the temperature gauge leave the white box at the bottom of Normal, even when I was held up in  a local village where road works have meant a 4-way set of traffic lights (which I arrived at at the wrong time in both directions)  Played it very safe and switched the fan on the moment I stopped, so it maybe wasn't a proper test.  But not interested in experimenting yet.   I guess you could argue I shouldn't be running her that cool, but I was still kept cosily warm by the air coming up through the footwell, and the bonnet was nice and hot when I stopped so I am happy with that.   I think we also have to remember that in this case the temperature of the engine core may not be the same as the temperate sensor at the thermostat, as that is one of the first points that is exposed to air when the coolant level drops and so will give incorrect values.

So quietly confident (again ), but only time will tell.   I now have to get out of the habit of looking at the temperature gauge every 5 seconds.

Engine Cover Fitted

Ever since I have had the car it has niggled me that it was missing a cover over the spark plugs.  It's a minor thing but as I often take off the bonnet at car shows I thought it was time to smarten it up a bit.

Unusually I could find nothing on E-Bay but I eventually found a Land Rover dealer who could sell me one for £7.

Job done, much smarter now.

First Breakdown

The weekend meet was good fun but the journey there and back was another story !!   On the journey there everything was going fine until I got to Melton and hit traffic and road works then she started to overheat.  I actually had to stop 10 miles short of the camp site to put some water in.   Luckily I also saw a big black cloud approaching so had the time to put the top up.  And then drove through a massive rainstorm, luckily short lived.    So a bit depressed that the cooling problem was obviously still there.

So for the journey back this afternoon I filled her up with water and left for a 55 mile journey back.   Got safely back home and under my own steam (literally) After I left I treated her very carefully but as I was driving along the A50 the temperature started to climb and it wasn't looking good.   Crossed the M1 and started down the A6 ready to turn left to Rempstone and Melton.  With 100 yds to go, big bang and engine stopped, so I pulled over in a huge cloud of steam.  Jumped out and saw a huge pool of liquid under the car.   Was actually quite relieved it was water and not oil !
 

Took the bonnet off and was just getting ready to phone the breakdown service when I happened to notice a stainless steel pipe from the bottom hose had come adrift from the rubber hose to the Thermostat.


 
Very difficult to access, especially with the engine hot, but after a bit of fiddling and loosening off the jubilee clip a LOT I managed to get the pipes reconnected and the clip tightened.   Got a fairly respectable set of blisters on my hand from the exhaust manifold.   Put 2 litres in from the bottle I have got used to carrying, got her started (a bit reluctant but she had received a dousing) and carefully carried on.  The temperature gauge quickly rose to the 12:00 position slap bang in the middle of normal and then, to my astonishment,  stayed there, unwavering, for the whole of the 35 mile run back regardless of what I was doing, stopped at traffic lights, doing 60mph...etc... 

So here is Hypothesis Number 11.  When I saw the disconnected pipes, the jubilee clip on the rubber one was at an unusual angle and as I said, was much tighter than it should have been, so I am now wondering if it wasn't actually fully on the SS pipe, positioned correctly on the top but just missing the pipe underneath, thereby compressing the rubber hose. 

This would probably be watertight normally, but under pressure the water would come out, creating air locks and hence the vicious cycle.  But putting on the 20psi cap meant that she could get up a lot more pressure, enough to completely blow off the rubber tube. 

And when the pipe was full on and the jubilee clip tighten dead square on the pipe then she behaves immaculately for the rest of the journey, bang on normal, not moving.  Something I have never seen in 2 years.    It couldn't be that simple could it ?   I have said it was solved too often in the past to count my chickens, but it does look promising.   Next step is to make sure the connection is good, fill up and get rid of any air locks (have to take the grill off to 'massage' the lower tube) and see what happens.  I will also revert back to the 13psi cap as if that was the problem I don't want to over pressurise the system unnecessarily.

End-of-Season Bash

Quite a few owners take their cars off the road over the winter (although not me), so each year we all meet up for a get together.  This year was a pub in the Peak District with a big field at the back.

In the event nearly 50 people turned up. including wives, partners and children.  One of the members is an archery instructor so we could all have a go at that.

Some came for the day, some were in caravans, some in motor homes and some, like me, camp overnight.

Here is my 'pitch'

In the afternoon we had a 16-car 25-mile run out for charity, in honour of a previous Chairman who died suddenly at a young age.  I was about number 10 in the queue.

And here we are all parked at the halfway point at Carsington Water, for a cup of tea.

In the evening we had a band playing in the pub and lots of drinking.  This is me on the Sunday morning having cooked myself a 'full English' and after a couple of cups of coffee and reading the Sunday Times on the iPad.  Although I may have been a quick nap :-)

So a great weekend, although the journey back was a bit of a trauma.  That is the next post.

Test Drive

The run to Chesterfield was 1.5 hr each way, mainly on the A1 but with some country roads at each end.  So it gave me a good chance to do a proper test of all the recent changes I had made.  And she passed with flying colours.

Major change was the cooling system.  The indicator stayed pegged at the bottom of the Normal range for the whole journey.  And more importantly she didn't lose any water over the whole journey.

The new bushes on the back shockers worked well.  No more sign of the persistent squeak that had always been there.  And the handling seemed much more precise and at 70mph she was absolutely rock solid.  I'm not sure if that was the bushes or the raising of the rear ride height but it is definitely better.

The engine behaved impeccably, not hesitation, no popping, and even at 70mph, putting my foot down gave a very satisfactory push in the back.   And the icing on the cake was she did 35 mpg, as against the previous 31 mpg.   So the tea towel is working.

Very pleased all round.

Early Christmas Present

I was very grateful when one of the members of the RHOCaR club gave me a Superspec exhaust to get me through the MOT (see here).   While we were talking later he said he had a spare ECU, as he had replaced his with a more up-to-date one.   So as yesterday was such a glorious day I arranged to take the car up to his workshop in Chesterfield to show him the car and pick up the ECU.

As I left he gave me the ECU and a box containng all this:

The ECU, 2 new rear shock absorbers (with bushes), a spare instrument cluster, the ECU loom with all fuses and plugs and a complete set of rear lights (normal, stop, reverse, indicater and number plate illuminater).

Very grateful to him and I am now well on the way to having a complete set of spare parts for the car.

Raising Ride Height

While I had the shocks disassembled to replace the bushes and I had access to the whole unit I decided to try raising the ride height a bit to stop the exhaust grounding.  So I wound them up about 1/2"  (If you remember I could not do that in situ as the whole unit was rotating when I turned the adjuster, now I could hold that in a clamp while turning the adjuster). 

Took her for a short run and the ride height doesn't seem to have made much difference.  There is a spot on the exit from the village that I always avoid as I ground there regardless, so I tried again.   She still grounded, although it was more of a 'kiss' than a violent thump.   Maybe I could try adding another 1/2" to the coils.   We'll see how it goes.

Rear Suspension Bushes

At the MOT there had been an advisory on the nearside bottom suspension bush.  Following my mechanic's advice that changing the rear suspension bushes was very straightforward I decided to give it a try.

Obviously had no idea what the bushes were from (a search for Sierra rear suspension bushes produced nothing) but at first glance a set of Land Rover suspension bushes looked like they might be OK.  

So £2.99 (free postage, next day delivery) later I got these.

So jacked up the car with wheels off and with the bottom bolt of the shock absorber removed, and as predicted the shocks came clear and I got access to the whole bottom end.





The first surprise was the nearside, which had been the MOT advisory.  The bottom bush was a bit ropey, as expected, but the top bush (the one you can't see until the suspension is dropped) was completely missing.    Either it had disintegrated over time or maybe it was never fitted ? 

  Anyway, the nice surprise was that the Land Rover bush was almost right.   This is what the proper one looks like:

So although not an exact match it was certainly miles better than the one that was in.   So I rebuilt it using the new ones.   And while I was on a roll I decided to check the offside as well.  Good thing I did as although the bottom bush was OK (the one in the picture), the top one was present but badly split.   So I decided I might as well go the whole hog and replace both of those.   I can now keep the good one as a template when I go to the next car show, to buy a proper set, although I am actually quite confident the Land Rover ones will be fine.

Good job done

Front End Day

Had a 'front end' day today. I had a number of outstanding jobs:

1.   Check steering U/J joint to make sure bolts were still tight after replacement (mechanics advice)
2.   Change serpentine belt  (mechanics advice)
3.   Refit sump guard
4.   General check of suspension and steering, making sure everything tight.

So put the front wheels up on ramps so I was safe underneath and had a good session.    All the bolts for steering and suspension still good so that gives peace of mind  (Why do I keep checking them when I never ever look at the Volvo ?).

Successfully changed the belt.  Had to Google how to do it as the mechanic had said you loosen off the tensioner and I could not see how to do it.   Turns out he was wrong and it is an automatic tensioner.   So you just put a spanner on it and swing it to one side and the belt falls off.   

Having been warned,  I didn't make the classic mistake of not drawing a diagram of the routing first, and the new belt (I have carried a spare in the boot for 2 years) went back on very easily.  

Looking at the old one it looks fine to me although there is a very slight cut (3mm) on one side.  Certainly good enough to keep as an emergency spare.    And it certainly hasn't done any harm changing it.

And I decided to put back the sump guard that the mechanic had taken off.    I accepted his point that the 2 'skid bars' he had welded on would protect the sump on sleeping policeman (or ferry loading ramps) but I was still slightly worried about going over a sharp stone that would puncture the centre.   

So again using the belt and braces principle I decided an extra layer of protection would do no harm.    Had a slight problem as he had sheared one of the bolts and left the remaining part in, but managed to drill it out without damaging the thread.

So it is back on, ready for action.

Cooling System (7)

At the MOT the mechanic had noted a small weep at the thermostat housing, and I was finding more and more water on the floor of the garage.   So it was time to change the gasket.   I had bought a new thermostat a few months ago and it come with it's own 'generic' gaskets made of paper.  But when I checked on E-Bay I found it should be fitted with a rubber gasket.

There were actually 5 for sale so I bought 2 so I have a spare (I did wonder about buying all 5 and becoming the sole supplier)

So whipped off the thermostat housing, saw the paper gasket has actually split, popped in the new rubber one and put it all back together.

I filled up the system and went off for lunch.  When I came back there was water all over the floor.   I hunted high and low for the leak but had no success, but I could see the thermostat housing was still weeping a bit.  So this time I took it all apart, cleaned everything, removed all trace of the old gasket and made sure the 2 mating surfaces were perfectly clean.   Put it back together and there is no apparent leak and after a long drive the system was still full and after a few hours there was no water on the garage floor.

I also took the advice of a fellow Superspec owner and replaced the 13psi radiator cap with a 20psi cap to stop the system overflowing.




 

And while I was checking it all I took all 4 spark plugs out to see if one of them was different.   In fact they were all a nice chocolate colour, meaning the mixture is correct and that a gasket problem is actually unlikely.

New Grille

As a consolation present for the damaged rear wing I treated her to a new grill.  Here is the before and after.

 Looks lovely.

My Second crash

Crash Number Two this morning. Totally my fault again of course, but as I wasn't actually in the car so I was never in any danger

She was sitting in the garage and my daughter-in-law's Citroen was parked outside.    I had put her in reverse to demonstrate the rear sensors to my son, had a chat about the new exhaust pipe then I leaned in to start the car to demonstrate the nice new idle and......... 

She went smartly backwards straight into the Citroen.   But here is the incredible bit.  Because of the angles involved the bottom of the rear wing hit the rear wheel of the car and actually pushed the Citroen about 3 feet sideways.  When we separated them the ONLY damage to the Citroen was a bit of blue GRP stain on the wheel, which we wiped off.  The bodywork was untouched.    On the Tiger there was some damage, the reversing light cover was cracked, the rear light unit plastic cover was snapped in two and knocked off and there was a lot of scuffing on the edge of the wing. 

But amazingly, that was it.   All the lights still operated perfectly, I fixed the plastic light unit with superglue (as you can see there is a bit missing in the middle which we can't find, so will probably replace it next year for the MOT) and I already have a spare reversing light cover I can fit. so I just need to get the sandpaper, primer and paint out to tidy up the wing.  I still have a complete new body set up in the attic but I don't think it's time for that yet.  

If you had told me the GRP rear wing was strong enough to push a Citroen 3 feet sideways without breaking I would never have believed it.   And how the wing completely missed the bodywork and just hit the wheel is a miracle.   Mind you, if they had been on concrete and not gravel it might have been a different story.

So pride hurt, my daughter-in-law is never going to let me forget it   And the Tiger gets another war wound so she looks even more 'lived in'.  But good lesson learned so I won't do that again.  

New Luggage Rack

One of the members of the Club has just sold his car and was clearing out the garage so I decided to have his luggage rack.

Very clever design.   Two tubes are mounted underneath attached to the chassis using exhaust pipe clamps.   And then the luggage rack slides into them and is held by 2 knurled nuts.

 

 Now when I go camping I might be able to see out of the back.

 

This must be magic ?

Ever since I have had the car it has been marginal on the emissions test and this year, even with a completely new exhaust system it only just scraped through.   At the same time I have always felt that something wasn't working properly.   Although she idled OK there was a bit of hunting.   When I pulled away she occasionally hiccupped, when I put my foot down there was sometimes a bit of hesitation before the revs picked up, and she would regularly have a small uncommanded surge for no apparent reason (lamda sensor switching mixtures?).  Finally, there was lots of popping and banging on the overrun.

But up till now I have lived with that, as with a non-programmable ECU and the fuel injection I didn't think anything could be done or adjusted.  I just assumed some of the sensors were a bit iffy.

But while I was asking for help on the Robin Hood forum regarding my catalytic converter Nigel Evans (n.r.evans) told me of a trick a mechanic had recommended to him when he was trying to pass the emissions test, which I don't recall reading on the forum before, and that was to block off one of the 2 exhaust outlets.   So, willing to try anything I shoved the remains of an old tea towel up the exhaust.

 What an amazing transformation.  She now idles perfectly, and there is no hesitation during acceleration.  The power (apparently more than before) comes on smoothly when I put my foot down, and there are no more unexplained surges.   She is now working as you would expect.   There is also no more popping and banging on the overrun (which is a pity as I quite liked it )

So what is the explanation for this dramatic improvement?   Nigel's mechanic reckons that when the system was designed there was no attempt made to match all the exhaust components, they were just picked because they fitted together in the right space available.  In particular he thinks the lamda sensor needs some back pressure before it will work correctly and with the exhaust as designed there just wasn't enough.  Blocking one of the outlets is just enough to provide the necessary back pressure to make the sensor work.    Obviously I can't prove it but it seems very logical?

I haven't had a chance to check if it has improved the emissions yet but based on Nigel's experience I am very confident.   Meanwhile I am enjoying a much improved performance.   I just need to find a more professional way of blocking it than an old tea towel.

Poor Hot Start Solved ?

Ever since I have had the car I have dreaded stalling, as trying to start a hot engine has been very difficult.  As discussed at the post here, there have been various suggestions put forward.  I thought that the extra earth strap would help, but unfortunately it soon became apparent that it wasn't the answer.

Another suggestion made was on a radio show, and that was that the starter motor was getting hot and the resistance in the windings was going up, hence the poor cranking.   I could see the logic of that as the starter motor is hidden behind the engine with no air flow over it.   So I decided I would experiment with adding a pipe to provide some ram air cooling to see if that would help.

 Here is the initial try, taking air from just in front of the engine and funneling it vertically down onto the starter.








At first try it seemed to work.   After a long drive and with the engine nicely warmed up she cranked over a full speed when I tried a restart.   Only time will tell. 

Update:   4 x Hot Starts today, all cranked over at full speed.  Looking good.

Cooling System (6)

During the recent work being carried out I asked my mechanic to take a look at the cooling system.   He reproduced all the problems I have seen, but apart from a small weep at the thermostat, which needs a new gasket, he could not find the leak.  

Unfortunately that means it is probably a head gasket problem.   It's not going into the oil, which is good, but the fact that the system pressurises before the engine warms up probably means there is a leak into one of the cylinders.   We haven't managed to do the gas test (to see if there is any exhaust gas in the water) so we can't be 100% certain yet.

It would cost at least £800 to do the head, so as the engine appears to be running OK, I think I will just keep topping her up and living with it.

Passed the MOT

Once the catalytic converter had been replaced, we put her in for the MOT.  Unfortunately she failed, but only on the steering lower Universal Joint.   

This had an interesting history.  The previous owner warned me that she had previously failed on the same joint, but after he had tightened it up she had passed.   Last year, she was again loose but my mechanic managed to get her tight enough to pass.   This year the actual joint was worn so no amount of tightening would give us a pass.

Luckily I had bought a spare one last year so I thought we good to go.

Unfortunately it soon became apparent that this one (and the one already on the car) were from a Land Rover instead of an Escort and were slightly too big to grip the splines on the shaft properly.  Hence the need for the drastic over tightening.   But the mechanic tackled it with some big tools and managed to make it fit

Apart from that, and an advisory on one of the rubber bushes on the rear shock absorber she passed with flying colours.

 

Petrol Smell Solved

When I gave the car to my mechanic for the MOT I asked him to check out the petrol smell, as the car had been sitting for over a month when he came to pick it up.   I had decided that the problem was that the pipe was absorbing petrol, which then evaporated off when the engine was warmed up. 
 
Turns out I was totally wrong.  What was actually happening was that as the pipes dried out the joints were opening slightly, causing an actual leak.   When the pipes got wet again the joints swelled up and sealed the gap.

The big problem was that there was no insert in the plastic pipe so that when the Jubilee clip was tightened it compressed the plastic pipe and after time the joint would leak.   

Haven't had a chance to test it yet, but he is confident that the replacement pipe will cure it.

Yet another example of a poor design decision on the car, 

Exhaust woes

I knew there was a problem with the exhaust system before I gave the car to my friendly mechanic for him to get it through the MOT.  It had been rattling quite badly, obviously from inside, and the engine was not running properly.   As you can see from this post I had changed the rear mount from solid to a rubber mount.  It now looked as though the extra vibration had loosened off the baffles.

When he took it apart it turned out to be the catalytic converter that had disintegrated and parts of it had gone into the silencer and that was causing the rattle.  The good news was that once the bits were removed the silencer was fine. We knew this was a non-standard cat so both of us went on-line to try and source a new one.   And we both lucked in.  He found one at his local supplier and astonishingly, I was offered a complete exhaust system by another member of the RHOCar club.  I just had to pick it up.

So, having previously bought a manifold I now have a complete spare exhaust system.    I think it might be time to redesign the system by adding a flexible joint between the manifold and the exhaust system and mount the can at both ends, thereby isolating it from the engine vibration. 

More spare parts

Even though I am out of the country it doesn't stop me watching out for useful spare parts.   So have just picked up these for a song

You never know when I might need replacements !!

Picnic at Rutland Water

Ever since becoming Area Secretary I had thought the ideal meet would be a Sunday picnic lunch at Rutland Water.   This Sunday the weather looked as though it was going to be perfect so I posted a message on the forum saying I would be there having a relaxing lunch and invited anyone else who fancied it to pitch up.


Very successful, we got 4 Robin Hoods, 2 GBS Zeroes, a Mazda MX5, a Roadster and a Stylus.   There should have been 2 more Robin Hoods but one had to go to a poorly girlfriend and one went to the wrong car park.

Everyone agreed it was a first rate idea.  

New Tent

Having proven I like camping at the kit car shows (4 times now) I decided to treat myself to a new tent.  My original cheap one from Downtown was OK, but very low (3') so getting dressed and undressed was a challenge (got cramp last time) and wasn't suitable for staying inside if the weather was poor.   So bought this one at the Halfords sale:
 

Three-man tent, 6 ft high in centre, separate internal bedspace with vestibule for sitting in if it is raining.    Very luxurious 

And I did do my research first so I knew I could get it on the car, and here is the proof:
 

Just needs some bungee cords to hold it to the boot lid.

Roll on the next show. Or maybe I will just go off 'walkabout' for a long weekend.

For those that haven't seen it packed I can get the following in the car:  Tent, Airbed (and Pump), Sleeping Bag, Pillow, Camping Chair, Gas Stove, Kettle, Frying Pan, Plate, Mug, Knife/Fork/Spoon, First Aid Kit, Waterproof Trousers and Jacket, Change of clothes, 2 days food and 6 bottles of beer    What more does a man need ?

New Floor Covering for Footwells

Right from the start I had found that the carpet in the footwells used to get very messy and required regular vacuuming.  

I had experimented with an extra removable carpet and a rubber floor mat but found they both kept rucking up and making driving difficult.  

I had long admired a friend's car that used aluminium treadplates on his car so decided to go down that route.   So after building cardboard templates and a few minutes with an angle grinder I have new floor coverings.

They look rather good and make getting in easier as I can slide my feet under the dash.

More E-Bay Bargains

Having a permanent Tab in my browser looking for Robin Hood spare parts, I just picked up a couple of bargains.

 

First was a set of 5 alloy wheels with 16 matching wheel nuts and 4 Robin Hood centre covers.   

I had to drive 1:30hr to pick them up but was very surprised to find that not only were they brand new but they were in the original packaging.   A great bargain at £150.

Next was a replacement handbrake from a Ford Sierra.  I had originally intended just to use it as a spare, but it is in pristine condition, is tighter than the one I have fitted at the moment and comes with a built-in warning light switch.   Looks like I will have to swap them over. 

Amazingly this one cost just £5.50.




At this rate I will have a complete new car :-)

Some Seat Maintenance

Having done the front and back ends I thought it was time to do some work on the interior, mainly the seats.   There were various things I fancied doing.

1.  Clean out under the seats. 
2.  Clean the seats.
3.  Overhaul the seat mechanism.
4.  Check seat mountings.

Obviously the first thing I needed to do was to remove the seats.  The driver seat turned out to be easier than I expected, just held in by 4 bolts bolted through the floor.    It was a bit of a tight fit and I had to remove the tunnel top, but I eventually got it out.   The passenger seat was more difficult as one of the 'captive' bolts 'wasn't'.   But with a bit of fiddling I managed to get the nut off the bolt.

Once the seats were out this was what the floor looked like.   So a good brush out and vacuum was called for.

And this was what I found during the cleaning.

2 x Bolts, 3 x Nuts, 3 x Washers, 2 x Nut Covers, 2 x Screws, 2 x Electrical Terminators, a Plug, a side arm off some spectacles, a penny and a packet of mints.  A veritable gold mine :-)


 
Once I had the seats out I was pleased to find there were actually 4 sets of adjusters on the drivers seat (forward/backward, height, rake & lumbar support) instead of just the two I had used (forward/backward & rake).  The other 2 had been hidden by the side panel of the car.  So I preset them before putting the seats back in.  The passenger seat had 3 adjusters, as the height was fixed.

Next thing was to fix the 'non-captive' bolt.  I haven't taught myself welding yet so I resorted to a new bolt with a narrow nut tightened right up to lock the bolt in position.

Then a good wash and scrub of the seat fabric.





Both seats were simply mounted through the floor but with large iron washers and metal strips to spread the load and prevent them pulling through the stainless steel floor.   

Although they were perfectly safe I took the opportunity to add some extra spreaders (from B&Q) to make then even stronger.   And just to be ultra-sure I replaced all the nuts with new Nyloc ones.