35 replies to this topic

[danny1]

do a head gasket change mate, mine was blowing water out the rad all the time and over heating, and it was acturally the head gasket had gone and a compression stroke was making its way into the water system and over pressurising it and forcing the water out of the over flow hole, and when i wipped the head of it had slightly blown, so that could be your probllem with your car over heating

[Shifty]

thanks for the comments guys.

i am having a right game finding a metro bottom rad hose, the one i took off didnt look like it was going to last much longer so im trying to get one. rocking horse poo!

i having been fitting pins to teh bootlid this evening, trying to do anything with the boot just open is impossible, as you can imagine from the way the cantilever hinges work, the bottom of teh boot lid is right over the engine, so its going to be removable now.

Have you tried these guys?

http://www.viperperformance.co.uk/

They are 3 miles from my house.

[cradley-heathen]

having convinced myself i had the overheating thing fixed it blew its header cap again today, i thought the old one was dodgy so replaced it, obviously it wasnt the cap.

this evening while the missis had the tea on i went and whipped the back off again and got the head off. the gasket didnt look good between 2&3 so it wouldnt have been long before that let go and started running rough.

i couldnt see any obvious marks going from the fire rings towars the water galleries though, but will soon see if it has fixed the problem tomorrow morning. off to mini spares for opening time for a bk450 type, i havnt managed to knacker one of those yet so i trust them!

i also got some new tyres on the back today, after masses of phone calls, trawling the net i have ended up getting a matching pair of part worns from up the road to keep it legal for the time being. its got quite a long way to go before it needs the yoko a048s i was planning to get. at £15 each these will do, leaving me money to improve the brakes and suspension, oh and that interior.

finally i changed the bottom arm bushes for some minispares offset types to suit the negative camber rear arms, and changed the tie rod bushes too, this has actually worked and has stopped the back end jumping the left when you hit a bump. the old ones had deteriorated a little to say the least. i also checked al the tracking out to be sure its all square.

a couple of pics....

one of the new tyres, 185 60 13s arnt as popular as they were 20 years ago!


and here it is in the layby on the top of romsley after spitting its dummy out (again) i have had to stop in this layby twice now, last time it was pitch black though, and there arnt any street lights up here either!

[cradley-heathen]

today i have bolted the whole lot back together, and gave the block and head a good clean and a lick of paint. i took it for a little test earlier and it run well, i cant say for sure if its fixed the pressurising problem or not as i was only out for about 25 mins, but will have a longer run tomorrow and see for sure.


here it is with the head off, just before putting the pushrods back in and slipping the head back on.


and all back together again, please excuse the one extra long thermostat stud, it only temporary. its a shame the manifold obscures the nicely painted engine


and from the front. dont know if i mentioned earlier but i picked up some lumenition leads for it the other day, i have always liked these, a quality product i.m.o.

[giacomo]

your making me want one

[megamini_jb]

your making me want one

+1

[cradley-heathen]

your making me want one

+1

you can have this one before long, its trying my patience somewhat now!

however, today i did get a set of part worn yoko a032r's for £40!!!!!
will get the best pair put on the front tomorrow, will keep the other two until a couple of days before castle combe and kill them there on the track. these two only have a slight amount of wear left above the indicators but will last the day there im sure.

[giacomo]

there pretty hard to find arent they the rossa's? can imagine them not being too cheap either

[Artstu]

there pretty hard to find arent they the rossa's? can imagine them not being too cheap either

They come up fairly regularly on ebay and sell for far less than what rusty Mini's make.

and just to prove the point http://www.ebay.co.u...d8#ht_519wt_890

Having said that this one is being sold minus the engine

Edited by Artstu, 11 September 2012 - 01:36 PM.

[cradley-heathen]

there pretty hard to find arent they the rossa's? can imagine them not being too cheap either

They come up fairly regularly on ebay and sell for far less than what rusty Mini's make.

and just to prove the point http://www.ebay.co.u...d8#ht_519wt_890

Having said that this one is being sold minus the engine

thats right they arnt as expensive as a cox gtm, or some of the real exotic mini derived specials.

[cradley-heathen]

in other news, i have fixed the overheating and header tank blowing issue.

i cant say for sure what has fixed it, but a combination of flushing the rad (although nothing really came out of it) being sure to get rid of any air locks, and raising the header tank seems to have done the trick.

i also cut out the front bumper where the numberplate used to go, this has definately made a difference when at speed, the temperature gauge doesnt rise above 1/4 now even when driving it, shall we say "briskly" this does mean i need to relocate the numberplate, possibly going to a stick on type on the bonnet.

will add pics tomorrow, photobucket is on the blink!

[cradley-heathen]

as promised some more pics taken today.
i have retrimmed the inserts for the door cards, the front floors and sills are carpeted, and generally it makes it look much less of a shed. also you can see the steering wheel i had to make the boss up for. it does need hovering out now though, i took it for a spin and loads of bits of sound proofing blew out one of the vents, i think there was a mouse living in here for a while!


i havnt started ripping the covers off these seats yet, but they are very comfotable, both myself and my little cat agree!


its new "receptive mouth" and lowered front end, oh and you can jusy make out my bargain yokos on the front.

[cradley-heathen]

im thinking of dropping this, PM me if anyone is interested...

[giacomo]

dont do it! you know you'll regret it

[cradley-heathen]

FOR SALE!!!!!!

£1850 for quick sale, will tidy up all the loose ends ready for the next owner, such as finish the trim and the dash, add some mesh in the front grille, get a numberplate made for it etc.

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...em=150903165659

Edited by cradley-heathen, 17 September 2012 - 04:03 PM.