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Hello from Paula and her Vitesse


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4 hours ago, Pete Lewis said:

my battery 250lb impact wrench was no use   just 2 purfectly proportioned old codgers on a 3ft breaker bar 

I managed to find the huge screwdriver I once used to jam the camshaft of a 1500 Spitfire, through the fuel pump aperture, whilst I stood on a six foot breaker bar, trying to undo the front pulley. 

The screwdriver ended up slightly... curved and the pulley stayed put for days. An impact wrench took the pulley off in seconds. Having said that, fan of impact wrenches as I am, I'm worried that stud extractor would snap studs rather than undo them?

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cant tell but guess thats with feargal running ?

if so then its combustion pressures making the bubbles 

back to try a re torque before you get carried away,

have you been loosing coolant without knowing where its gone ??recently  

any misfire when starting from overnight ???  due to coolant in the bores 

those are some simple signs the gasket has failed badly   

a few bubbles escaping may just be its not clamped enough    start there before you get carried away 

with ripping it to bits ,  

most gasket failures get combustion silly high pressures gasses into the water jacket 

rather than a few psi of coolant getting into bores , as compression explosive  is far more powerful than the the coolant pressure 

Pete 

 

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It's more than a slight weep; it's bubbling out and after a few miles of driving would be a substantial loss to the system. Not the sort of thing that will be sorted by a bottle of Bars Leaks or the like; so I'll stick with my own - personal - opinion that it's a lot, and needs a bit of work.

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I agree that Bars Leaks won't help because it rarely does. But I think the bubbles you're seeing are combustion gasses and it only needs a tiny bit of coolant to be present for that sort of effect. Given that it's a 1600 with the tin gasket, it's likely it will respond to re-torqueing. If not, then you're right that the head needs to come off, but I don't think there's a lot of coolant loss (and Paula didn't report coolant loss).

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It was running yes.

i have been losing coolant. But not lots. After my Weymouth trip it took quite a bit, maybe 3/4 of a pint, but that was a 300mile trip.

sometimes it does take a bit to get all the cylinders firing, but this morning it was fine and it’s running very nicely. 
I might as well do a re toque first. Hopefully in the next couple of days. I’m still using it. Hope that’s ok.

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as for Bars leak pellets  we fitted one in the bottom rad pipe of every truck to solve early life seepage from so many pipes and hoses  that was up till 93 , maybe things have moved on 

but they and k seal are a leak stopper not a repair agent to solve all ills 

Paula's is bubbling so compression is escaping to atmosphere

 

pete

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2 hours ago, NonMember said:

I agree that Bars Leaks won't help because it rarely does. But I think the bubbles you're seeing are combustion gasses and it only needs a tiny bit of coolant to be present for that sort of effect. Given that it's a 1600 with the tin gasket, it's likely it will respond to re-torqueing. If not, then you're right that the head needs to come off, but I don't think there's a lot of coolant loss (and Paula didn't report coolant loss).

I hope it is an easy fix, but my idea of little coolant loss is a few drops; everything else is sleepless nights for me and one eye on the temp gauge! I'm just concerned that the gases are blowing a lot out as spray, and it's worse than it looks... but here's hoping.

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Ok so things that have to come off for access to the head nuts is Exhaust manifold rocker cover anfd rocker shaft?

Do i need to get the inlet manifold and carbs off too?

Will i have to completely remove the manifold or just pull it out of the way?
I'm going to try and have a go tomorrow before work 

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21 minutes ago, Paula said:

Will i have to completely remove the manifold or just pull it out of the way?
I'm going to try and have a go tomorrow before work 

Just remove one item at a time until you can access them all. With regards to the manifold you may be able to just slide it out of the way, provided the connections etc are long enough to do so, and make sure you don't let it hang off anything that might bend or snap under the weight, like a pipe or a cable.

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yes there should be enough flex to clear to just get to the nuts .

the down pipe is the most rigid controller  but both manifolds  will lever out the way you dont need a lot 

if you remove the bolts from the dumb bell clamps it worth cleaning the threads so you dont get any its tight but not clamping oddities as the crud in the thread can block retightening.

Pete

 

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On 30/09/2020 at 20:00, Pete Lewis said:

well a retorque doesnt need a drain down or the manifolds off 

as an interim trial 

but you like a challenge 

head off can be stubborn if any studs have corroded gunge locking them in the head holes 

doug had a really stuck set  and we used my prefered stud extractor and a loooong  braker bar 

with both of us swinging on it to unscrew the studs to get the head off  this bit of kit wont let go 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/tool-connection-tc3986-impact-stud-extractor/

265DA522-B3E3-41D3-B058-A7B556D5B394-large.jpg

Funnily enough, cheaper from Halfords and amazon!

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29 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

paula  while its raining you may save some coolant loss if you just undo the rad filler to its fist click , keeps the cap on but stops any pressure building up 

do any head work when the suns back 

Pete

Good idea. I’m not liking the idea of doing it in this weather. 

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On 01/10/2020 at 14:27, Colin Lindsay said:

Ooooohhhh... that's not good! That's a lot of fluid loss. It looks like it's with the engine running, Pete, and that's being blown out rhythmically as the engine rotates. Head off!

(BTW what endoscope did you buy, Paula?)

Sorry Colin. Missed your question.
Wireless Inspection Camera, Depstech Premium IP67 Waterproof WiFi Borescope Endoscope 1200P HD Snake Camera for Android and IOS Smartphone, iPhone, Sa

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3 hours ago, Paula said:

Thanks - I have a PC / USB version, on a 5m cable... but very dark. Even with the little LED lights on, it's still dark bar a small circle of very bright light, so hasn't been much use to me.

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