(Or how the DHC is
trying desperately to stay out of the event ...)
A few weeks ago the
car left me stranded on the hard shoulder of the motorway, with what turned out
to be water in the tank. After draining the tank completely and fitting a new
tank sender I thought it a good idea to check the half shaft bearings. One clearly
was on the way out, so that had to be addressed. My initial plan was to remove
the original half shafts and replace them with a second hand pair that I have
lying around. So I got the tools out again and started with removing the half
shafts from the back axle, which turned out to be pretty straightforward as
ever;
- Remove the brake drum;
- Undo the 4 nuts/bolts that hold the half shaft in place;
- Leave two bolts in place to keep the back plate in the correct location;
- Re-fit drums the wrong way round and tap them with a rubber mallet until the shaft comes out;
- Use a slide hammer to remove the outer bearing race from the back axle ...
Sadly on closer
inspection, and after trial fitting one of the spare half shafts, it became
clear that these were no better compared to the original ones. This left me
with the most labour intensive but also by far the best solution for the
problem, fitting new bearings to the original half shafts. As there have been
some horror stories on bad replacement bearing kits on various forums I made
sure to check all the original parts dimensions, against the various parts in
the kit ...
But it turned out
that all the parts were fine, so time to remove the old parts. Here an angle
grinder to weaken the retaining collar and a hydraulic press came in very
handy. The last piece of equipment was also used to press the new parts on to
the shafts. But first I had the rather simple but oh so messy and time
consuming job of packing the bearings with grease. But eventually I was
satisfied with them, and all the parts could be fitted to the half shafts.
After which these in
turn could be refitted to the back axle and I am glad to say that the end float
on both sides was well within tolerance.
With the half shafts
sorted I switched my attention to the remainder of the fuel system, the fuel
lines and the carburettors. Again a rather straightforward but also rather time
consuming job. Removing and/or disconnecting everything, cleaning it thoroughly
and putting everything back together. Also used the opportunity to polish the
inside of the dashpots, and the rims of the pistons (years ago I found out that
this helped with the pistons action and would smoothen the engines behaviour
slightly, and all little bits count :-). And while tinkering with the
carburettors I found "proof' that a fair amount of water had indeed
entered them, as one of the needle
guides already had some surface rust on it. But with everything cleaned,
reassembled and reconnected (including a new inline fuel filter) it was time
for the test. And with 15 litres of fuel in the tank I found out I again have a
working fuel gauge, and after cranking the engine over a few times to get some
fuel back in the float chambers, the engine fired up without any problems.
But by that time I
had noticed a fluid spill underneath the car, which needed a closer look. As it
was right underneath the radiator, didn't smell of petrol, and it hadn't been
raining for a while, it was pretty safe to say it was coolant. An inspection of
all three hose connections didn't reveal any leaks, but when I checked
underneath the car with a small torch I noticed a small drop of coolant coming
from the left-hand lower mounting pin, not good. And as I don't fancy driving
across half of Europe with a suspect radiator, I decided to take it to a local
radiator repairer and have it tested. It indeed was leaking in two spots, both
at the top and one on each side of the core, where the radiator tubes pass
through the end plate and enter the side tanks. The initial verdict was a
manufacturing fault. Needles to say I wasn't pleased with that, especially
bearing in mind that I fitted that radiator new just over three years ago. (I
have contacted the supplier and sent an e-mail which they forwarded to their manufacturer
Serck Motorsport, but so far no reply, so to be continued).
Sadly enough the
radiator repairer wasn't able to help either as they don't work on alloy
radiators. But he pointed me to another small local firm (H&S Speed
Equipement) who might be able to
repair it. And he agreed to open up for me the next Saturday morning to see if
they could help. His verdict also was a manufacturing fault, and he wasn't
positive on repairing the leaks. According to him that wouldn't be a long term
solution, if possible at all. His opinion was that the used core was incorrect, as they used a "standard" alloy radiator core designed for plastic side
tanks instead of one for welded alloy side tanks. This explains why the end plates at both
sides of the core are flat. As a result of which the welding for the side tanks
had to be done to close to the core tubes, weakening the pressed joints between
the end plate and the tubes. The same applies for the two large hose
connectors. He predicted that when the radiator was repaired it would sooner or
later develop another leak somewhere else. The fact that we found the radiator
to be slightly warped certainly didn't help with longevity. As time till the
start of the 10CR was getting rapidly shorter, I decided to order a new
radiator, which he promised would be ready for collection on the Monday before
the 10CR at the latest.
So to kill the time
while waiting for the new radiator to be ready I fitted the original radiator
of the car so I could drive her a bit and see if everything works. So of for a
short trip across the border into Germany for some decent 102 RON octane fuel
and a little test drive. After filling her up I noticed that fuel gauge would
move up and down rather violently under acceleration, braking or going over
bumps. Initial thoughts were a loose connector, but over the next 40 to 50
kilometres the movement became less and less till it stopped completely. Might
have to do with the NOS tank sender I fitted recently needing some time and
fuel saturation to settle down? And
while driving (well actually while waiting for traffic lights) I found out that
the carburettors needed some tweaking, because when on temperature the engine
would idle @ 1500 rpm. Which was an easy fix, also used the opportunity to
balance the carburettors. And last but not least I flushed the hydraulics of
the brakes and the clutch. Especially the clutch fluid was rather murky to say
the least. It also cured a slight spongy feel of the brakes.
And today I picked up
the new radiator ...
It not only looks the
part, but it is also about an inch wider compared to the original one. Not
really necessary from a cooling point of view, but the space was available, it
didn't add to the price and it adds a bit of extra capacity to the coolant system
just in case ...
And returning home
from a short 150 kilometre test drive revealed it works perfectly, with the
temperature staying on the lower part of the scale of the temperature gauge.
Only problem was the left hand side hose was leaking a bit when the system was
pressurizing after I switched off the engine. Turned out that the hose clip had
come loose slightly causing a small leak but that was dealt with easily.
Remains fitting the steel wheels and the badges, and load up the car for our
departure on the Wednesday morning.
Oh ... and make a new right hand rear mud flap as I managed to tear it of while reversing into a parking space.
Oh ... and make a new right hand rear mud flap as I managed to tear it of while reversing into a parking space.
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