115/3067 bought back from France

[Kevin Birch]

Axle went back in today, quite an easy job, springs went in without any hassle, and will tighten everything up, and adjust Panhard rod when it is back on the floor. Have posted a message about the horror of the old brake hose, in the Interceptor Tech forum, worth a glance over. Just need to reconnect the brake hose and the hand brake mechanism, refit the exhaust and I can take it for a spin, before stripping and upgrading the cooling system.

Axle ready to fit.

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Springs and fixings ready to go back in, including nice straight Panhard rod.

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[Kevin Birch]

Finally got all the suspension back on, it all needs a bit of fettling,( panhard rod, shockers and tracking) to get it driving as it should, but a great improvement over what it was like, and I thought it drove really well before I started!
Moved on now to the cooling. Removed radiator, fans, water pump, drive belts, and thermostat housing.
Oh dear this is what I found;
Radiator is clogged up, there is water flow but just looking down the rad cap aperture, all the visible tubes were blocked, so although it was not leaking, needs to be replaced.
The original Lucas fans, although are working, I suspect are past their best.
Surprisingly, the alternator/water pump belt and power steering belt are in good condition, they will be replaced, but old ones kept as spares in the boot.
Thermostat housing quite badly corroded, no gasket and no thermostat inside.
Water pump is of the 8 vane steel pressing type, the bearings are in good condition with smooth running and no play.
Bottom hose is not correct, and is quite badly swollen, top hose is past its best.I will keep them in the boot, just in case, they will at least get me home if I have a failure.

So what to do;

Radiator sent off for a re-core, higher performance core being fitted, by local one-man band, who came recommended from a Range Rover specialist, who has high standards. Will report back on how I find the service, he has said I will have it back by Thursday, good turn around, and have been quoted £350 for the job, I don't know if this is a good price or not, as haven't had this done before.
Have fitted new Bosch fans, fabricated brackets so I can go back to Lucas originality within an hour, including wiring connections if I ever decide to. New temp switch will be fitted, to operate fans in correct temp range.
Thermostat housing cleaned up, with all corrosion removed, and is still useable. New thermostat and gasket will be fitted.
I will keep the water pump, as it is obviously working well, to stop the car overheating with all existing problems.
All hoses to be replaced, and I will fit a filter in the top hose to stop any crap coming from the engine, blocking my new radiator core.

Hopefully this will keep the temperature gauge where it should be for the Turin trip, if not I don't know what would improve it!!.

Thanks to Frankoid, as he has done straight swap of my black Jensen 8 track stereo flap, for a more appropriate age related silver one, whilst my stereo was out. A true gentleman who managed to ship it out to me at very short notice as I wanted to fit it this weekend, to get another job out of the way. New oval rear speakers have now been fitted, so have a period sound system, with an ipad shuffle sitting in the glove box. 8 track tape optional, but always needs to be hanging out the slot!!

Will post piccies of the above, when I have taken some, to show the progress.

[taximan]

Did you use a water system flush (like Viakal) on the engine before taking the radiator out? and back flushed it? that's the best time to do it as any loosened crud will get stuck in the old core.
Shaun.

[Christian]

Radiator sent off for a re-core, higher performance core being fitted, by local one-man band, who came recommended from a Range Rover specialist, who has high standards. Will report back on how I find the service, he has said I will have it back by Thursday, good turn around, and have been quoted £350 for the job, I don't know if this is a good price or not, as haven't had this done before.
...
Hopefully this will keep the temperature gauge where it should be for the Turin trip, if not I don't know what would improve it!!.

Hi Kev,
My re-coring of the radiator cost about 600€, so I think you've got a good price
Think about changing the freeze-plugs. When I dismantled my engine I was surprised how much debris had clogged nearly all passages in the heads and most of the stuff was behind the freeze-plugs. I think you'll get a good impression of the condition of the inner cooling-circuit when taking them out. I think many cars with heat-problems are driving with more rust in the cooling passages than their owners know about.

[Kevin Birch]

I didn't do any flushing before removing the rad, and realised after I'd taken it all off that I really should have had a go before starting the work. I'll pull the drain plugs out of the block, should be able to agitate anything in there with a coat hanger,and assess before pulling core plugs, although this could be difficult with the engine still in. To be honest the coolant that came out wasn't a nasty rusty colour, but a cloudy blue colour, so not too bad, considering it has been in for 18 months or so.
I will flush out the heater and the rest of the block, and will put a filter in the top hose to catch anything, when it all goes back together, and check regularly.

I thought the price may be reasonable, but compare to a new radiator for my Rangerover being £100, it seemed expensive.

Thanks for your advice chaps.

[Kevin Birch]

Pulled the drain plugs out either side of the block, was met with nice blue water/antifreeze mixture draining out, fished around with a coat hanger couldn't really tell if gunged up or not. Decided to pop the centre core plug each side, and found the water jacket to be gunge free, just a few bits of flaky iron in there, which were removed with a magnet on a piece of wire. Can only presume the radiator had been in there a very long time and is the reason it is blocked up. Flushed the block through, with no rusty water coming out, although the heater matrix was a bit worse, but not bad at all.
Hoping cooling system will now be up to scratch with new rad & fans fitted.

[Kevin Birch]

Radiator back today, and all fitted back together. Temp gauge stayed on normal, fans click in for less than half the time they used to, when car is left idling, and the gauge doesn't move. Have bypass switch which I turned on to keep the fans running, and the gauge went significantly below the normal mark, and on a 10 mile run this evening, the fans didn't come on once, so the air flow through the rad is keeping it cool without the fans.
Looks like a result

Re-cored rad and new fans.

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[Kevin Birch]

After the trip to Crich, it got a bit warm at the end of the 160 mile round trip so I was a bit disappointed. Decided to pull the top hose to check the filter I placed over the radiator inlet. Was surprised to find it full of crud and rust scales, obviously what I had disturbed whilst trying to flush the block out. Simply washed it out, replaced it and topped up the coolant. It kept nice and cool during yesterdays 70 mile round trip down country lanes, so really happy, as I gave it some stick at times. Will recheck the filter on Saturday, if its doing its job, it will be stopping the radiator getting blocked up. Will be keeping my eye on it and seeing if the crud reduces.

Wednesday I'm off for a photo shoot with a local newspaper at Dartmouth Park, to promote the upcoming event in which Paul Mcelhinney has been involved. It'll be nice to see it in the papers again.

[rta50car]

Kevin - I am currently restoring Mk 1 chassis no 115/3227. I do not often see the horizontal style fan bar arrangement you have. I have this also as shown in my pic. I have had the original Lucas fan motors overhauled but am interested in your bosche setup. You suggest they pump out more power/revs etc. It also looks as though they fit on with minor adjustment. I also have original 12 inch fan blades and wonder whether your fan blades (presume they are around 12 inch) style shown would also contribute to more airflow on mine. Could you supply product details/part numbers on both fan motors and fan blades. It would be most appreciated and it would also give me some good quality options as I plan to fit air conditioning to these vehicle. Cheers ROD

[Grant]

Kevin, where have you put a filter for the water system please sorry if I have missed the part in thread where you have said
With kind regards
Grant

[colin7673]

Kevin, will you be recolouring the engine bay??

[Kevin Birch]

Grant & Rod
I will answer your questions in more detail tomorrow, after taking photos etc to give you a clue.

Colin,

I have no intention at the moment of recolouring the engine bay, it still has most of the fabric type covering still attached, and don't know where I want to go with it.

Kev

[Kevin Birch]

Rod,

The fan is actually manufactured by Vemo, and fits loads of VAG cars. Part number is Vemo V15-01-1812, easily available on the net, Rejen supplied mine.
The blades fit the original cowling perfectly, but you will need to make some brackets to fit the fans, as their mounting points (3 bolts) are located nearer the blades than the original Lucas fans. I used some 25mm wide x 3mm thick steel to space them out about 35mm, but had to drill 3 new holes for each fan in the existing mounting bracket. There are three connections, one is negative, the other two are positive, with the middle connection running the fans at a lower RPM. I haven't used this, as I have just connected them to the existing wiring and want the fans to run at the max RPM. I may alter the wiring in the future so I can choose the speed, but not too bothered at the moment.

Mounting brackets

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Rear of fan showing connections

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[Kevin Birch]

Hi Grant,

I made the filter out of an old stainless steel sieve, and the just cut and shaped it by hand.
Pictures show the filter, in place on the radiator, and the crap it trapped in the past week, most of it rust scales. The top hose just goes over the filter and inlet to seal it all, and don't lose much coolant when checking it. I'm hoping that the amount of particles caught will reduce each time, now I'm running a good antifreeze mix.

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[garyc]

Hello Kevin and Rod

I stripped my fans out the other day for clean and paint and was surprised to see my fans motors had a VW/Audi sticker on they have a 4 blade black impeller on each motor.

Hopefully working on car tomorrow will post some pictures and a part number for you.
They may be same as Kevin's Bosch ones his motors look much newer than mine regards fitting rather than 2 bolts holding them on mine have a spacer and longer bolt going through.
Will be clearer when I post some pics

Kevin have you put any rubber around the front of your round fan casings to seal against the radiator block as this seals the fans against the rad and really helps pulling the air through
Lots of modern fans and motors now fit directly to radiator core and fix through with tye raps straps ive been using them on vehicles at work they all seal directly to the radiator block not something I had noticed really before but makes sense.
Andy at Appleyards has got the correct rubber can't remember cost.

Great idea on the top hose filter I'm still to clean my water system out yet but will be adding a filter like that when I do

Gary