MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Jul 26, 2012 19:51:26 GMT
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Ever since I did the radiator conversion I've not been entirely happy with it and one potentially big thing was bugging me. Due to the way the Civic rad is made, the pressure cap sits well proud of the top 'tank' and as such, sits well below the highest point of the system This means that the only way to fill the engine is to brim the radiator and fill the thermostat housing through a little access plug. Now this is fine until the water gets hot. As we know, it expands and so, pushes past the pressure cap into the overflow bottle. The idea is, that as it cools, the vacuum then draws the water back into the system. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to happen. Wether it's because the cap is too high a pressure or not, I don't know. Either way, it means that the thermostat housing is always empty when cold, which could potentially lead to a cooked engine through overheating from an airlock. Anyhoo, a solution was needed. I had a similar problem years ago with the Sprintfire so I set about a piece of Aluminium sheet and made a tank to fit on the bulkhead. This is "Tee'd" into the water system at the highest convienient point, which happens to be the water bypass pipes I made for the heater soit was pretty straight forwards to just silver solder a branch on. Now any stray air should find it's way into the new expansion tank.
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Last Edit: Jan 13, 2015 23:52:16 GMT by MrSpeedy
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Aug 11, 2012 20:06:44 GMT
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just read the whole tread, great work.
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Aug 13, 2012 16:26:48 GMT
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Wouldnt you have been better teeing off the the thermostat housing?
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Koos
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Aug 13, 2012 17:22:38 GMT
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Wouldnt you have been better teeing off the the thermostat housing? Not really practical. There is about 1/4" clearance (if that) between the bonnet and that bleed plug. It's so tight that a standard 'saloon' 'stat housing won't clear the bonnet (ask me how I found that one out ) and to tee off the return to rad would neccesitate another pointless long run of pipe to the tank. Also, as it happens, the heater valve is pretty much the highest point of the system and there is alays a flow due to the little bridge piece I put in the heater pipes. And in other news, the Trump has made Readers Rides in RetroCars magazine. ;D ;D
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Last Edit: Jan 13, 2015 23:55:29 GMT by MrSpeedy
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Brilliant work, just read from start to finish, I did a little work (compared to how much you've done,) on a Triumph 6 pot way back when I removed the injection from my TR6 and played around to "regain" the original "150" bhp, Never rolling roaded it but could always keep up with my 2 friend 6's that were original, Keep the updates coming, :-)
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BMW E39 525i Sport BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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Aug 14, 2012 11:16:35 GMT
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Hey speedy more tinkering alway's a work in progress ;D Just a thought does the overflow from the civic rad cap feed back into the top tank? Surely the water will still empty out of the system, it will just take longer
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Aug 14, 2012 17:38:37 GMT
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Thanks Alpina99. This hasn't seen a RR yet, but from it's performance so far and comparing to the origina 100 bhp engine I'd estimate it to be around the 130 I was aiming for. Trouble is, I'm already looking for was to increase it! lol. Next on the list is a 6-3-1 tubular anifold, but I'm still trying to source reasonably priced bends. (Maniflods are available but are around the £5-600 mark and I can't justify that!)
Yes Rob, always doing something on it. If I could actually add up the hours spent it'd probably equate to a second job! lol
The overflow from the civic rad is still piped into the OE overflow bottle, but it doesn't expell any water out now because it never reaches that much pressure. The air space in the new expansion tank allows the water to expand and so the pressure is lower, whereas before there was no air space so the system was producing 'hydraulic' pressure as the water heated up and expanded.
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Sept 11, 2012 18:45:20 GMT
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Soooo, the saga continues As you may (or may not) recall, I was having issues getting the fuelling sorted across the rev range, with a massive flat spot at around 3500 (just as the cam comes in) when the fuelling felt like it was going very rich and spluttering. Well, after numerous needle changes (I can now do both carbs and retune in under half an hour) I believe I've just about cracked it Unfortunately this was not without issues of it's own Using the Exel spreadsheet for needles, and through a little trial and error, I managed to get somewhere near with a stock needle rather than using the ones I 'made' myself. This gave me a baseline to start from and having now spent around £100 on needles and spent far too many hours studying and comparing needle profiles I think it is now as good as it's ever gonna get using these carbs. So, having settled on what I though i wanted I ordered the needles form Burlen. Unfortunately what turned up was this Needles for the top adjusted carbs. I needed this as my carbs are the earlier (and better imho) bottom adjustable ones So, a little grinding saw the 'floating' holder removed, but the section where it would need to be clamped is 0.018" smaller than the hole in the piston. Bumhats! Solution, roll a 'bush' out of shimstock. All fitted up, jets re-centred, mixture adjusted and out for a road test. Result - she screams cleanly straight round past the 6K mark There is still room for improvement I feel, either through a milder cam (but where is the fun in that?) or, the winter project which will be a 6-3-1 extractor manifold and megasquirt II Watch this space! ps, if I get chance I'll grab a quick video tomorrow
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Sept 12, 2012 10:20:40 GMT
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Hi MrSpeedy- Your car is getting plenty of TLC lately. I saw it in the latest Retro Cars Mag too. Your famous Mate.
I've got a question re the Civic Radiator. I'm looking at a 3Core Civic Aluminium Rad for my Herald. The size seems good. Mine being a turbo, heat is an issue. I'll be re-routing the Cooling flow out the back of the head (pretty standard mod for MX5 engines) and will tee my Rad cap up from the back and above the top of the engine so this will ease filling.
Apart from the filling issues you had, has the Civic Radiator been a win. Did you find the fitting easy and have you had any other problems with this Mod.
You should fit the vented pressure cap on your header tank with a slightly lower pressure than the Rad cap. This will allow you to vent water into the overflow bottle and it will keep the system free of air when it draws back as the system cools. Maybe teeing into the top hose would be better but not as tidy.
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69 Herald 13/60 with Turbo 1600 MX5 engine, Lexus 5 link rear end, 17in wheels,300mm ventilated disc's and subaru 4 pot calipers
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Sept 12, 2012 12:12:23 GMT
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Well, I wouldn't say famous, but it's certainly getting about! lol Yes, the Civic rad is a good fit size wise. Roy (MightyMork) has also used one on his supercharged mx5 engined Herald. They'll fit a lot better in a 4 banger engine bay than the six. The expansion tank, is just that. A half empty tank to allow the water to expand into. The pressure is still regulated by the radiator cap into the original overflow bottle. Without the tank the system was filled to the brim and so as the water heated and expanded it was forced out through the cap due to 'hydraulic' pressure and not pressure created by the compression of the air above the water system. The new tank seems to have cured that problem as I now have zero fluid loss but nothing has blown off either
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Sept 12, 2012 14:18:16 GMT
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Glad to here you've got her running well Speedy, you'll be running out of thing to tinker with
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Sept 13, 2012 9:18:04 GMT
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Glad to here you've got her running well Speedy, you'll be running out of thing to tinker with It's an old Triumph, so there'll always be something to tinker with! ;D Next on the agenda is the Megasquirt conversion and making a 6-3-1 exhaust manifold. That's the winter plan anyway. Oh, and a CV joint driveshaft conversion to
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Sept 13, 2012 10:04:32 GMT
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Speedy are you getting the canley one..........nar bet you make something Mines already got CV joints ;D just need to get the shafts shortened
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Sept 13, 2012 12:41:20 GMT
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Nah, I'll be making my own one, as I usually do! I have a plan involving bits from the BL parts bin from Maestro and MGF
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Sept 13, 2012 16:38:10 GMT
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Nah, I'll be making my own one, as I usually do! I have a plan involving bits from the BL parts bin from Maestro and MGF You keeping the 'Rumph diff or going for something stronger?
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Koos
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MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,789
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Sept 13, 2012 17:14:51 GMT
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Original diff for the time being, but if I can find a suitable replacement (Subaru is apparently 'do-able') then that will also be looked at
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Sept 13, 2012 21:19:34 GMT
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Its tough to find something small yet tough enough.
I was wondering about an MX5 back end. The diffs come in 4.11, 3.89 and 3.6 and some have lsd.
The put up with 250 hp turbo motors so should be tough enough.
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Koos
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Sept 13, 2012 21:47:36 GMT
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Nah, I'll be making my own one, as I usually do! I have a plan involving bits from the BL parts bin from Maestro and MGF BTDT. Done a Ford/Volvo based one and R100/Volvo based one. Others have gone a step further and added a Subaru R160 diff into the mix. Nick
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1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Sept 13, 2012 23:36:25 GMT
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Not sure wether this is all inspiration or if it's making me reconsider my plans ;D I have a habit of getting distracted and buying something else when I get so far lol. Will keep watching though and hope I have a fraction of the patience and skill required to get things done
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Sept 14, 2012 15:11:07 GMT
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Not sure wether this is all inspiration or if it's making me reconsider my plans ;D I have a habit of getting distracted and buying something else when I get so far lol. Will keep watching though and hope I have a fraction of the patience and skill required to get things done Ditto!
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Koos
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