Walking in the Euregio

In between my regular job and the work on ‘t Kreng I managed to squeeze in a few days away from it all in the past months. Together with friends I explored some of the beautiful areas of the Euregio, in our own lovely province and neighbouring Belgium and German on foot.

Starting with a walk over the Margraten Plateau and through “Het Savelsbos”. It was rather overcast, but I managed a half decent shot of an abandoned Limestone quarry, Trichterberg Gronsveld (2024-06-02: NL):

Next a walk through the woods above the Wesertalsperre,

between Raeren and Eupen (2024-06-22: B):

The nature reserve Neuwald, south of Raeren

A shelter deep in the forest Auf 'm Venn,

above the valley of the Weser river.

The Eschbach flowing through lush woods.

A forest track over the plateau between the valleys of the Eschbach and the Weser River.

Sunrays picking out the pine trees of a production forest near Vennkreuz.

Paying a visit to the Wesertalsperre itself,

near the city of Eupen in the Belgian Ostkantons (2024-06-22: B):

A walk in the scorching heat, through the Brohltal

in the German Vulkan Eifel (2024-07-20: D):

Finishing lunch at a small “Grillstube” in the village of Oberzissen.

View over the Brohltal from the Sizzener Weg,

north of the small village of Brenk.

The ruins of Burg Olbrück towering over the Brohltal.

An ancient roadside cross, made from local vulcanic stone,

south of Holzwiesen.

Looking up at the ruins of Burg Olbrück.

A rather demanding walk around the famous Nürburgring’s Nordschleife. Sadly it was all eerily quiet in the woods surrounding the track, as cyclists had taken over for the weekend. So no tourist drives to enjoy, rather disappointing! (2024-07-21: D):

Klostertal Nürburgring.

The Nürburgring’s “Steilstrecke” or the steep section.

A 450m¹ long test hill, with a gradient of 27%.

But despite the track being closed for cars, there was some interesting machinery around.

Like this Dallara in the parking area at the foot of the Nürburg.

An MOT for ‘t Kreng and appraisel

It’s been a fairly busy week from my car’s point of view. Of course there were the extensively covered issues with the leaking water pump and the parts suppliers. But it seems that since yesterday evening I have again a functional TR7. First there was another check of the coolant system for leaks. Again there were none, though the coolant level needed topping up a little. Probably caused by some air in the system that escaped over the past 24 hours. And after a quick check of the other fluid levels (oil, brakes and clutch) it was time for a short test drive. The car behaved quite good, though by the time the thermostat opened the temperature rose slightly and started wavering a little! But it never got over the ½ mark. It actually looked like a small pressure loss and as the coolant level light stayed off, I decided to enjoy the drive a little longer.

And when I got back home after an hour or so it was time to investigate the engine bay. And sure enough there were two small leaks. Both around the thermostat cover. First one being the thermostat cover gasket. This didn’t come as a surprise as it is a cardboard gasket. With the coolant system fully topped up and the engine getting on temperature the gasket gets soaked and gets soft. As a result the two mounting bolts came lose a little. Easy to rectify with a ½ AF ring spanner. And while I was at it I also checked and tightened all inlet manifold bolts. They all could be tightened a little. The second leak also came from the thermostat cover. From the hose between thermostat cover and the radiator. Turned out the jubilee clip also had come slightly lose after everything had warmed up. Again an easy one to rectify.

Next call was for the car’s biennial APK (or MOT for those in the UK) early this morning. I usually stay with the car, but this time I dropped of the car at a friend’s workshop and APK station. After which I immediately headed home with one of his cars to pick up the next car in line for its APK and a full annual service, my little Landy. And when I returned at his workshop I found ‘t Kreng waiting outside in the shade. Another clean pass with no necessary repairs or advisories.

Time to head to the office through dense commuter and holiday traffic caused by major road works on and closure of the main motorway running through the area. And here ‘t Kreng managed to live up to her name. With the temperature gauge in its normal position, the coolant level warning light decided to brighten everything up a bit by switching on and of several times. Not good for my stress levels. Luckily the temperature gauge stayed were it should, so I decided to give my trust to the gauge instead of the light. About half an hour later I reached the office where the car could grace the parking area. The temperature gauge still showed just shy of the ½ mark.

I made a mental note to check everything before I would leave for an appointment outside the office. But the various schedules ran into each other. So I got into the car and drove off. And sure enough the coolant level light came on a few times. But again the temperature gauge remained rock steady, just shy of the ½ mark. Upon returning home I decided to let everything cool down a little before inspecting the engine bay ones again. And again no visible leaks though the coolant level in the header tank was on the low side, though not worryingly low. That combined with some possible light corrosion on the coolant level sender might explain the random behaviour of the coolant level warning light. But that should be fairly easy to rectify. Time will tell!

And over the past week both my road going cars were also subjected to their triennial appraisal for the insurance. ‘t Kreng was still immobile when the appraiser came. Luckily he knows the car so the value remained the same. But the appraisal gave me a good reason to spend some more time on my cars. And it was a nice opportunity for a little photoshoot of my Defender.

Finishing ‘t Kreng’s water pump: take 3

It’s been a while since my last post. Not that I have been idle, but because ‘t Kreng’s cooling system has been putting up quite a fight. I left this job with “only the coolant hoses and the carburettors left to be fitted. Glad I only fitted the coolant hoses and then started filling up the coolant system. Sadly by the time the coolant level reached the infamous connecting tube UKC2538 the coolant started to leak out, not good. Time to call it a day and have a few beers!

After visiting the shed a few days later to collect my trolley jack I found back some motivation to carry on with the job! The sooner ‘t Kreng is back on the road the sooner I can continue work on the ’76 car!

And when I got home the inlet manifold was removed. But on closer inspection I couldn’t find anything wrong, though there had been a little lack of resistance when pushing the manifold onto the connecting tube. Time to order some new O-rings in the correct diameter just to be sure, taking the necessary measurements from the various parts. And more waiting for parts to arrive.

In the end the O-rings arrived after two and a half weeks! And they indeed were slightly larger compared to the ones supplied some time ago from a UK based parts supplier. Time for the second attempt to fit the inlet manifold. This time there was a noticeable increase in resistance while mating the manifold to the connecting tube. But again no success! While pouring coolant into the system through the thermostat cover a leak sprang from the connecting tube as soon as the level got above the top of it. Some expletives were uttered! At least the water pump itself was still leak free.

And time to remove the inlet manifold again. This time the cause for the leak was rather obvious. The upper O-ring had caught the edge of the manifold opening and got partially dislodged. Time for take three. But first I had to order a new manifold gasket as the “old” one got damaged while removing the manifold.

Sadly I was again let down by a supplier or courier. The gasket should have arrived on Saturday morning at the latest. It didn’t. As the car is booked for its biennial MOT this Wednesday I couldn’t wait much longer. Luckily I stumbled upon a long forgotten stock of gasket paper with different thicknesses, hidden in the attic. So I had a go at making my own gasket. Using the old item plus the inlet manifold as templates. Fairly straight forward, but time consuming. And as it was late in the afternoon by now I decided to call it a day. Oh and I forgot the pictures of the finished product.

So this morning I had a fairly early start for my third attempt. I have to admit that I had used some of the time while waiting for parts to arrive to work out a plan to fit the manifold. In the end I decided it would be better to put the connecting tube into the manifold before adding the manifold to the engine, using telephone pliers to keep the tube as low as possible in the manifold while adding the lower part of the tube into the water pump cover.

And with the manifold and home-made gasket roughly in place I could again start fitting the stainless bolts. These were chosen to reduce galvanic corrosion between steel bolts and alloy engine parts.

Everything seemed to go well, but when adding the second to last mounting bolt, it didn’t want to go in properly. I managed to get it in by hand in the end but it felt as if the thread in the head is on the way out. So I was rather careful to (over)tighten it. Next time the manifold comes of said bolt hole will probably need a thread repair.

And with all bolts tightened up it was time for the dreaded final task. Filling up the system with coolant. I again decided to fill it through the thermostat cover. But when the thermostat house was starting to fill up there was the dreaded sound of escaping coolant. Luckily it turned out to be coming from the coolant hose that runs between the thermostat and the radiator. This was still fitted to the radiator, but the other end was resting on the water pump cover. And after cleaning of the coolant I could conclude that the tube seemed to be waterproof. Result!

Left me with the rather relaxing job of refitting all hoses, the carburettors and the strut brace. But not before these were treated to a good clean.

Final job for tomorrow evening will be topping up the coolant level and hopefully a test drive to see if everything still works as it should.

Update 15-07-2024: Tonight I first checked the coolant system for leaks (there were none) and topped up the coolant level. And after expelling any trapped air and checking the fuel lines for leaks under pressure, it was time for the final test, starting the engine. It started promptly after which I let it run till the temperature gauge reached the ¼ mark. And after that there was the much dreaded final inspection for any leaks. So far everything is dry. A test drive is scheduled for tomorrow evening, and MOT on Wednesday. And hopefully time to enjoy the car afterwards!