Thursday, September 29, 2011

General Odd n Sods

Hi All,

Out in the "garage" last night, no photos but still very productive.

- Speedo Cable.
Got the correct one fitted, greased it up before fitting, spins nicely.
Fingers crossed it seems like the problem might be solved.
Speedo still bounces a bit but a lot lot less which I hear is "normal".

- Earth Cable.
The earth cable the gearbox was insulated with insulation tape in best back street practice and as normal this was unwinding and looked a mess. Out with some heat shrink tubing and heat gun and that tidied up nicely.

- Steering wheel.
Got the Mota Lita back, nice new Tourist Trophy boss and looks great.
No more peeling varnish and the TT horn cap has a much nicer MG logo than the ML sticker.
Also the horn works again now !
EDIT : Photos added.




- Jacking Plate.
After the recent radiator damage I has also got a sheet of 3mm steel plate that goes on the floor and means that jack has a nice smooth surface and can roll properly. Worked much better, jacking up to full height the jack rolls about a foot so can see why it is important.


That's if for now but weather is getting better and better for working.

Cheers,
Richard B.

Next . . . . . Floor sound insulation or maybe replace the dynamat in the bonnet but my Dad is coming out for a holiday so think he can help me with that.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Radiator - Staying cool, or not.

Hi All,

To cope with the heat out here in the desert I wanted to fit an upgraded radiator . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . Okay confession time and not cool the car slipped off the jack and the radiator took the brunt. (Moral of the story trolley jacks don't work well on block paving as they need to roll.)

A perfect hit from the jack.


Anyway here is new one. The original is a three core local made job by the prior owner, okay but not great. The new one is a 5 core high flow unit so will give better cooling as well.

Out she comes, disconnect the division plate but the oil cooler lines means it has to stay in the bay.
(Removing the division plate would have made things a lot easier.)

A complete engine "valet" in in the plan but while in there I pulled the fan for a bit of a refresh as well.

Much nicer, or is it !

The fan has a slight cut out on the edge / ends of the blades and numpty me didn’t check properly and 50:50 chance I put it in wrong way around, not cool.
Bolted it all back up and turned key argh ! Thankfully it is an all brass radiator so a small solder repair and good to go.

This is correct !
First remove-replace took around three hours (including the paint job), were as the second time was about an hour all in !

So all back in, looks good.


I also changed the fan belt and tensioned it correctly, however after test drive this resulted in a slight leak at top bolt which was loose and the belt tension created the leak. Nipped this up and fingers crossed all solved.

Cheers,
Richard B.

Next . . . . New correct lenght Speedo Cable came was also in the parts package.

p.s. I was bl00dy hot ! essential tool :