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Post by 1800heap on Mar 3, 2024 21:09:31 GMT
Hi Locky
Welcome to the forum.
Australian crabs did have a fair few mods compared to the UK counterparts to help with Australian conditions so the lack of an oil cooler does seem odd. Either they didn't see it as a problem or there was no money for a redesign of the gearbox.
As an easier alternative to gearbox casting mods you may want to add an engine oil cooler. As there is such a close link between the engine oil and the gearbox this is sure to bring down auto trans oil temps.
Nick
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 21, 2024 0:49:20 GMT
Hi Again Colin.
It just occurred to me, in case you are unaware Colin, Australian cars are dual circuit, unlike UK cars and only the front circuit has assistance on the dual circuit setup.
I must admit thinking about it, I didn't think my Australian crab had as effective brakes as OKR from the UK. I had not checked they were in good order though and took it off the road after I picked it up!
Nick
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 21, 2024 0:07:49 GMT
Hi Colin Unfortunately not all servo problems are as easy as that! Some things to help you with diagnosis are as follows. The engine idle will be effected by the servo when you apply the brakes, that is normal. Generally, when the servo has vacuum, there's a slight hiss from the unit as you apply the brakes, but this should stop once the brakes are on. No continuous hiss! That would be a sign of a bad diaphram. Run the engine for a short time, which should put a vacuum in the servo if it is working. Stop the engine and wait for 30 seconds or so. When you apply the brakes after the engine has been stopped, the servo will operate generally twice if it is in good working order. In other words two presses of the brakes with servo assist. At this point the vacuum will be exhausted and the brakes will become unassisted. With my 1800 this means, first press of the brakes they will have assistance and work normally, release them, second press generally still has good assistance, release them, the third press normally will be unassisted and the brakes are not very effective at all. Panic stations if you are going along at any speed! This difference is very obvious in the feel of the brake pedal on my 1800! You can actually test the difference in brake effectiveness with and without servo assistance in this way with gravity. Park on a hill that is steep enough for the car to roll slowly. Obviously great care must be taken with this as the brakes really are rubbish without the help of the servo! Run the engine and turn it back of. Let the car roll engine off. Two presses should stop the car effectively and in general the third press you will need to press hard to stop the car. The greater the difference the better the servo is working. Take care with cars that have a steering lock and remember where the hand brake is! Edit Any doubt take David's advice and go with the rolling road test! You should also note that the servo needs to be the correct type for the car to work correctly. Nick I have a question regarding my servo. It isn't providing any braking assistance, and I assumed the diaphram is leaking. I was about to pull it out and get it rebuilt at a brake shop, but I notice when I suck on the tube there is a solid vacuum....i.e , I can't suck any air. I'm wondering if the problem really is in the servo. The brakes are even, just require lots of pedal pressure. Previous to this the engine idle speed dropped when applying brakes, but since I disconnected the tube from the manifold that problem stopped. Now I'm confused.
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OKR
Jan 10, 2024 19:51:43 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 10, 2024 19:51:43 GMT
Mini boat made of plastic sounds interesting. There is a company here in town that make plastic boats called Polycraft. They are slightly heavy but otherwise excellent. I use one occasionally for rowing. It is a Tuffy 300, its super stable and extremely difficult to sink apparently. I believe they make them from polyethylene. The same parent company make plastic trailers and big plastic water tanks. Quite innovative really. So the Bristol is off the road at the moment? Nick Good to hear....lots happening on Bristol but have farmed it out to excellent new chap, whilst I concentrate on mini boat project...it's made of ABS (the boat) so am learning the mysteries of that which is interesting. Look forward to update in due course . All the best Andrew
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OKR
Jan 10, 2024 9:03:54 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 10, 2024 9:03:54 GMT
Hi Andrew Bang on except for the beach part! New full time job and too many other things happening, including the daily driver popping a cylinder head core plug, which I really didn't need! OKR is still progressing though, all be it back to very slowly. It is looking likely to be a year late on the target date at this rate. Although I actually don't have that much more to do so hopefully not! The weather here has not been great for progress with the paintwork. Too much rain about, so I have been working on the rear bumper. Bit of sand blasting, because it's going to be black instead of chrome. It hasn't had bumpers fitted for a long time but I don't want to deal with too many things in the compliance check. I have decided to go with a front seat mod. There is a headrest requirement here in Australia for 73 cars. New seats I hope will be the best option. Hopefully they will be happy with my one piece adaptor plate. Yet to be made! Undecided what to do up front yet. Anyway once I have done the rear bumper and brackets I will do a proper update. Nick Either a lot has happened at your end or you've been too busy with work and relaxing at the beach..... Cheers Andrew
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OKR
Nov 5, 2023 21:02:14 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Nov 5, 2023 21:02:14 GMT
Hi David The paint guy got a good match with a 10ml sample he made up by altering one of the flame red choices. I was happy with it, so I had him make up a rattler can. Unfortunately it didn't scale well as was a little light when I tested it. The only mod he did was adding extra black, so I think it just needed a little more black. In a 10ml sample that's not a lot of extra black so I think the larger quantity just needed a bit more than he calculated. I have to go back and see him again. With the roof I have two choices. Respray the lot in a different white or take the car and have them scan it. The latter is probably what I will do so the roof will have to wait till the car is on the road. Nick Hi Nick That is so frustrating. I hope they are able to sort out the right colour. Where does that leave trying to match the roof? David
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OKR
Nov 4, 2023 10:03:12 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Nov 4, 2023 10:03:12 GMT
Time for an update!
I am still working on the rear paint. I have one small section to clean and undercoat. Basically the section is the sill and B post on the passenger side, plus the bit above the doors. The rest is mostly ready for topcoat with the front already done.
As it is rather expensive and I wasn't cashed up at the time I only acquired enough paint to do the front section some time ago. I broke the golden rule of getting all the paint in one hit! Sadly it has bitten me. The supplier I got the paint from is now using a different brand. Actually he says the new company took over the old one! Rather than one listing of Rover Flame Red there is now 10+ with this brand and they seem to be all different. Apparently the formulas have changed a bit too.
Sadly I didn't think to get them to label my can and this has made it rather difficult to pin down which Flame Red to even test. To cut a long story short I had a rattler can made up of what looked like the closest and it is not quite a match. Grrr! I made a mistake with that too. I should have got a small pot, which would have been easier, cheaper and they could have darkend it a bit for me with some more black. Can't do that with a can. Oh well. I also cannot get police white here at all, which is the roof colour. An all round pain in the bum really.
Good news for cash flow and bad news for the car, I am now working full time. The time I can spend on the car has been severely limited though, luckily most of the hard work is done.
Hopefully I can get over these last couple of hurdles and finish the paint in the next couple of weekends. With any luck tomorrow I can get them to crack the red paint colour after this first attempt.
Nick
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 23, 2023 19:45:59 GMT
It might be worth considering the master cylinder. If this is not returning properly it may be holding some pressure in the line, making it appear to be a servo problem. I would think that this type of issue would be most likely with small movements of the master cylinder piston. In other words when the return spring is at its weakest and if the piston is a bit tight.
Nick
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 7, 2023 21:46:45 GMT
Looks really good Chris. I was wondering if you would have to pour that way up. I am looking forward to seeing the result.
My TPU filament hasn't arrived yet so I am not even close to trying to print it. It is quite touchy with moisture, according to my usual source of 3d printing info, YouTube! You have to cook the filament before use to get a good result aparrently, which does not sound good.
I think the old method may be a winner!
Nick
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OKR
Oct 6, 2023 19:53:16 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 6, 2023 19:53:16 GMT
Looking good Chris. Hopefully the moulding goes well. Nick Window Pivot Rubber by Penguin 45, on Flickr Tongue part made. Suitable base for mould found, so should be able to assemble that tomorrow and see about a couple of test pieces. Chris.
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 6, 2023 19:48:19 GMT
60psi your oil is good. I am glad to here that. David has hit the nail on the head I think with the timing chain.
Nick
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 5, 2023 20:34:03 GMT
Listening to your clip, it does sound very tappy for an over head cam engine. I wouldn't think it would be bad oil but it is possible. Lets hope not! A friend of mine did have a problem with his V6 Camry after an oil change by a garage. Nothing wrong with the oil though. It had not picked the oil back up due to a 95% blocked oil strainer. His wife had driven it home listening to the noise getting worse! By the time she got home many bad things had happened to the poor engine. How the mechanic didn't notice is beyond me! Anyway very bad result for him and badly damaged engine. It is an known issue on that engine though. Oil starvation after an oil change does cause bad things to happen obviously if it is there for long enough. Worst case for my friend unfortunately. You would notice it straight away after the oil change though I would think and not some time after, so that does not sound like your scenario. I assume it is a different noise than you had after you changed the clutch? I don't recall you pinpointing that noise, as it went away. Could it be related? Anyway perhaps an oil pressure check is prudent if you are thinking oil problems. Nick Water pump changed. Metallic cricket sound from N/S side persists even with the belt off, no horrific grinding noises yet though.
All I changed recently was the oil to Minispares 20W50, wondering about a bad batch or something of that sort as it did seem to be quite thin compared to the Millers.
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OKR
Oct 1, 2023 21:18:22 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Oct 1, 2023 21:18:22 GMT
Nice job Chris Looks great. Putting the milling machine to good use by the looks. I only just sent the plans! Awesome! Nick Window Pivot Rubber by Penguin 45, on Flickr Dat's wot e's talkin' about. Lovely tech file arrived all the way from Oz. Tomorrow I'll try and make the tongue insert and see if I can make a mould. C.
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OKR
Sept 30, 2023 9:41:16 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Sept 30, 2023 9:41:16 GMT
Yes so many little things that take time Chris! Looking at the cad model it's going to be tricky to cast, from my very limited knowledge of casting. I did send Tony my drawings and an .stl file, which is a file that can be sliced to do a 3d print of the part. If they are helpful to you I will email them. There is a cad feature which alows me to subtract the part from say a block and get a negative. I wondered if it would be possible to 3d print the negative mould or at least the hard parts of it. Anyway if I can help with anything let me know. Nick Detail, detail, detail. That's where so much time can go. Yes, Tony is sending me a sample to see if it can be moulded... C.
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OKR
Sept 29, 2023 20:42:48 GMT
Post by 1800heap on Sept 29, 2023 20:42:48 GMT
I am still plugging away at it. My to do list has not got any shorter! Actually, it's a bit longer! Most of last week I was messing around getting the rear wing arch profile right which I finished yesterday. Even though the arch metalwork turned out quite nice considering, any tiny little wobble will show in the topcoat, so I have given it quite a bit of attention with the body filler and sanding block. So, I am now working on the rear paint finally! I have removed the quarter-light window and noted the rubber hinges are nasty. An email to Tony and he has some alternative rubbers, which require a small mod to the body. I have ordered a set as of today as a backup but decided that I may try to 3D print a set. Yes, 3D print! I had considered trying to con Chris into having a go at making the rubbers. It is a nasty piece to cast though. I made an interesting discovery recently though. A rubber filament is now being used called TPU. It is a type of printable polyurethane. Who knew! Using the best old rubber, which as you can see is in a bit of a state, I now have a Cad drawing after some work in front of the laptop. I have also ordered a reel of TPU so I will let you know how I go. Surprisingly the old rubber is good enough to get the measurements from. I have a bit of an advantage because the BL designers liked neat imperial measurements. What I mean is for example the hinge slot measures roughly an inch on the old part, so it is highly likely that the measurement on the original drawing was an inch. As with all the other measurements, which were all kind of close to fractions of an inch. This is very helpful in determining the proper sizes for the part. Slowly but surely, I am getting there! Nick
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