Shaun_E

I have no other HGF failure symptoms - coolant level was not noticeably dropping before although there was a very small leak. I will find out tonight if the leak has now gone - if it has I think I can be fairly confident that the inlet manifold gasket was at fault. Where can I get the coolant checked for hydrocarbons? Do I need to have run the car for a while before they will show up? Yellow SL #32

On leaving Angus and Tessa's wedding reception, Peter C noticed that there was a strong smell of coolant from my exhaust and a fair bit of white smoke at startup. The worst scenario was that the head gasket had failed. However during a conversation with Dave Andrews, he mentioned that it was possible that it was just the inlet manifold gasket (coincidentally also documented on Angus' website). This weekend I replaced the Inlet manifold gasket and all seems to be well - there is now no smell of coolant in the exhaust and there was very little smoke at start up. There had been no other symptoms of HGF so fingers crossed the inlet manifold gasket was the problem - it was the old black style black one now replaced with the green one. My only worry is that there wasn't any obvious sign of coolant getting through although the gasket had certainly seen better days. Is there a definitive test for HGF that I should conduct? Yellow SL #32

Yellow 21 near A404 Orange 7 near Oxford Yellow SL #32

Not required for MOT. If the van was bought in the EEC then I'm pretty sure it won't need SVA. Yellow SL #32

Yep - sounds like you have a nut and bolt arrangement. Yellow SL #32

I believe some chassis have a threaded bush for the bolt and others have a through hole so a nut is required. If your's is the latter then your plan sounds good - if not you have a more serious problem. If the thread in the bush is no good though, you can clean in out and use a longer bolt with a nut. Yellow SL #32

John - we will have a 21" TV available shortly. If you can collect from Slough from Wednesday next week then it's your's. It's a Sony 21" with Nicam and works perfectly - we just don't have room for it once our new one arrives. Yellow SL #32

Mark - I discussed this with Dave and there were some issues with the early 1.9 engines that have now been resolved. Dave recommends a Scholar conversion anyway and the difference between the 1.8 and 1.9 is minimal. I think his words were that "it is a single brain cell decision". There is a risk with any tuned or non-mass produced engine as of course they can't possibly have had the level of testing that the unit will have received prior to being fitted to a Rover 25. I appreciate your comment though and am going into this with my eyes open. If anyone with a 1.9 is reading this I would love to hear your experiences good or bad. Please email me offline if you don't want to publish here. Yellow SL #32

Have had a good chat with Dave Andrews now and it looks like a 200+bhp 1.9 K is now on the cards. Should make up my mind by the end of the week. Brodie - tempting as a Hayabusa is, I think I shall be sticking with K-series power. Daves price is a little lower than that quoted above. If anyone knows of a good source of second hand 1.8 K series then please let me know as I want to have a new engine built and fix the current one to keep me on the road. I spoke to Simon Lambert and Caterham have sold all the ex-race R400 engines. Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 8 Aug 2005 21:17:11

The Honda route sounds interesting but I just want a plug and play solution. If the car spends any more time off the road I'll lose interest in it. Yellow SL #32

Cheers guys, will talk to Caterham and DVA on Monday. Yellow SL #32

Yes it is a Stack unit. I didn't believe 300psi either but I thought I should check. Mark thanks, that would be great - I'll give you a call in the week. Yellow SL #32

£7k for 1.8 and £8k for 1.9. Are the R400 engines the ex-race ones? If not, i.e. if they are new, where can you get them? Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 7 Aug 2005 16:15:00

Looks like my head gasket has failed but there might be another problem as well. The oil pressure drops very low at idle (as low as 15 psi when hot) and at highish revs it rises to around 300psi. At first I though it might be the sensor or a poor earth but the readings are consistent and rev related so perhaps there is a more sinister problem. I could get the HG fixed and be back on the road while I have a new engine built but I don't want to do that if there are other major problems with it. What do these symptoms sound like they could be caused by? Is it really likely to be just the sensor? Could they even be related to HG failure? Yellow SL #32

Following the news today that my head gasket has probably failed, my engine upgrade plans are to be brought forward. As I don't want to do any of the work myself other than perhaps removing and refitting the engine I am tempted by a turn-key engine such as those supplied by Hellier Performance. I am looking for something around 200bhp (more would be nice but there are limits to the budget not only for the engine but the rest of the kit that would need upgrading to match). So a few questions: 1. Is it worth the extra £1k for the 1.9 conversion and an extra 10bhp? 2. Are there any risks or benefits of a 1.9 over the 1.8? 3. Does anyone here use the EFi engine management system that Hellier supply? Can it be mapped by the end user? Could I (or should I) specify an Emerald? 4. Are there other suppliers of turn-key engines I should look at? 5. Is it likely I could save a significant amount of money by sourcing the parts myself and getting an engine builder to put it together. 6. For a 200bhp engine, is there any point in using my existing engine (1.6 Super Sport) as a base or would only the block be reused? Please note that this process needs to be minimum hassle and time for me. I spent 6 months stripping and rebuilding my car over the winter and I really don't want to spend any more time in the garage (nor does my wife want me to either ). Reliability of the new engine is important. Shaun Yellow SL #32

Normally you take the sleeve off the pin, put the release arm over the pin and then put the sleeve back - some heat (i.e. leave in hot water for a minute or so) is used to soften the sleeve. If you are pushing the arm over the sleeve on the pin, it is probably not staying on there properly. Yellow SL #32

Stack do a street version of their dash which has an odometer but not sure if this function can be retrofitted (seems unlikley). I guess a bike computer is the only easy option. Yellow SL #32

Years ago Foxpro used a dBase IV file format so any tool that can read that format should work including MS Access or even Excel. A quick google and it seems things have moved on since then though. I'm sure you could find a freeware database reader that would do waht you want. Yellow SL #32 Edited by - Shaun_E on 4 Aug 2005 11:22:10

I did this a couple of days ago due to same problem. Assuming you have the fresh air heater (black plastic thing in the middle of the bulkhead) there are two pipes coming out of it on the passenger side of the car. these are joined vertically by a brass valve which the heater cable connects to. If you look at the rear of the valve you can see a lever that rotates through about 90 degrees. "On" and "Off" are stamped on the back of the valve to show the correct positions. I found that the cable wasn't pushing the valve to the full off position. You need to unscrew the bolt that clamps the cable, move the cable slightly and then re-tighten the bolt - its very fiddly to get at the bolt so a small spanner is required. Yellow SL #32

Job done now with a set of new drill bits. Used a self tapper on one side and a rivnut on the other as the hole wouldn't drill straight. Yellow SL #32

Clingfilm works. Have had a pot for a couple of years and can always get back into it. Yellow SL #32

John - sounds like that's my only option. If I can drill the frame enough I will fit a rivnut as there is a small gap between frame and skin. Failing that I'll try your suggestion of a self tapping screw. Off to buy a sharp drill bit then . Thanks, Shaun Yellow SL #32

Michael - I just need a really short rivnut. Bought some from Apex today that were shorter than the ones I had but they are still too long. I filed one to reduce the length but then there wasn't enough thread left for the rivnut gun to work - it just pulled the thread out of the rivnut. The only alternative is to drill another hole a bit higher direct into the chassis rail but that will leave me with a hole in the sideskin ☹️. I wish I'd never started on this . Yellow SL #32

In order to fit my new half hood more securely, I am replacing one of the popper bases with one that only undoes in one direction. The base I am replacing is the most forward one that attaches the side of the boot cover. I drilled the rivets out of the old popper bases and then realised that these were the ones I had a real nightmare attaching in the first place. The reason being that the hole is right in front of the point where several chassis rails meet. The gap between the side skin and the chassis rail is less than the length of the required rivet and I can't drill into the chassis rail as it appears to be right over the brazed fillet and my drill barely makes an impression. Even if I drill far enough into it, a rivet is unlikley to secure to it. To make matters worse, in drilling the rivets out, the hole in the skin is now a little bigger than before ☹️. I then thought perhaps I could get a rivnut in there but there is still not enough depth. What I really need is some way of attaching the base that doesn't need a rivet. Should I fill the hole with chemical metal and start again or perhaps just glue a screw in there? I can't get to the back of the panel even if I took the inside panel off. Suggestions please as I'm at the end of my tether and really can't see a good way out of this predicament. Yellow SL #32

Definitely want slight toe-in for bumpy roads otherwise you'll be making a break for the hedge . Parallel is OK and slight toe out good for track work to get the best turn in. I had similar problems when I switched from A021R to A048R and I think the stiffer sidewalls were one cause of the problem - they are also quite pressure sensitive. The other thing you may want to check is the bumpsteer - do a search on here and you will find some information on how to do that. I had mine checked thanks to Oliver Sedlacek and his home made gauge but it wasn't that far out. We added some toe-in at the same time and the car is much better. I have read that the rear ARB can also be a cause of a lively ride - might want to soften that off if you have one. Yellow SL #32