that cute little pipe running along the top of the engine

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:42 pm

hey guys,

jury's out on this one and i wondered what other peeps' solution would be or has been

you know that little metal pipe which forms part of the run of piping from the heater back to the top of the radiator? and is fixed to two of the head studs by two metal brackets? and makes a right angle turn over the top of the thermostat housing?

Well on mine the brackets are held under the nuts on the head studs, ie they are held within the head stud system which should be carefully torqued in the right sequence and all that so as to avoid warping the cylinder head

well i want to replace my thermostat but of course you can't get the housing off with the little pipe in place

also i want to clean the pipe up and de-rust it, repaint maybe, all that kind of thing

and to be able to get the pipe or thermostat housing off in future without the hassle of worrying about torqued head nuts

and btw I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE HEAD OFF

now i have seen a thread about changing your thermostat somewhere else on the forum and no one on that thread has mentioned this little pipe

is there a common solution to the issue which i just need to know about?

two solutions have been suggested to me:

1. Take off the relevant head nuts and replace the studs with long studs. Replace the head nuts and torque them. Then put the pipe brackets on the studs over the torqued nuts and secure them with two more nuts.

1 and a half. Same solution but don't bother using long studs, just secure the pipe brackets with half nuts instead of whole-depth ones, there's enough thread on the shorter studs

2. Take off the relevant nuts and the pipe, then replace the nuts and torque them. Chuck the metal pipe away

and carefully fix up a longer length of heater return hose, held up over the engine by a P-clip secured to one of the thermostat housing nuts.

I'm kind of sad to see the metal pipe go cos it's sort of cute and i like little things

what's your solution?

and pleeeeeeeeease DON'T TELL ME TO TAKE THE HEAD OFF

thanking you kindly

juliet xx

Post by **wanderinstar** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:34 pm

Hi Juliet,
In the past I have just removed the two headnuts concerned, removed the pipe and whatever then refit pipe and headstuds and retorque.
Ian.

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:44 pm

cheers for that, Ian

Post by **ColinP** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:48 pm

Hi Juliet,

I took the quick & dirty approach...

unclamp the pipe from the hoses (it's drained already).

Carefully bend the pipe clamps so that the thermostat housing can come off - maximum of 90 degrees (so it lies flat - on the offside of the car).

Remover the thermostat, replace it, and straighted it all up afterwards.
Probably too simple?

(with the option of having to buy new pipe/brackets & retorque the head bolts if it all goes horribly wrong!)

Colin

Post by **RogerRust** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:16 pm

We are talking a cold cast iron head here with 9 bolts. I go with Ian. All I have ever done is undo the two nuts do the job then torque them back on again.

Post by **aupickup** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:21 pm

moi aussie

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:23 pm

so you guys wouldn't bother about re-positioning the pipe brackets so that they are above the torqued head nuts?

Post by **RogerRust** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:27 pm

There is not not enough tread exposed on mine to put it any where except where it is. The early cars ran a hose up the other side of the engine over the exhaust, but I suspect that wasn't a very good idea.

Post by **HarryMango** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:32 pm

RogerRust wrote:The early cars ran a hose up the other side of the engine over the exhaust, but I suspect that wasn't a very good idea.

The even earlier cars (up to early 948) had the heater hose connect direct to the radiator.

Rog

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:29 pm

You take a risk with the head gasket if you release these nuts - if you feel you must, then do it with stone cold engine. Mine has longer studs and double nuts. Better to find a solution without releasing the nuts.

Post by **bigginger** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:46 pm

RogerRust wrote:We are talking a cold cast iron head here with 9 bolts. I go with Ian. All I have ever done is undo the two nuts do the job then torque them back on again.

Me too...

Post by **simmitc** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:45 am

I'd go with all the above, the only "DON'T DO" is the half nuts - there's an awful lot of torque for a small amount of thread !

Post by **bmcecosse** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:11 am

The half-nuts would only need to be nipped up - only holding the pipe brackets. The head being clamped down by the full head nuts below the brackets.

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:19 pm

the engine is colder than a very very cold thing, having been out of the van since restoration began last Spring

Post by **bmcecosse** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:22 pm

Go on - pop the head off - you KNOW you want to clean it all up and grind the valves in anyway!

Post by **Multiphonikks** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:03 pm

But but but, didn't you have the engine all rebuilt?

P.S. I have found the pulley and will be sending as soon as I get to a post office!

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:38 pm

Multiphonikks wrote:But but but, didn't you have the engine all rebuilt?

Heya dude,

Nope, it was running fine before the van was taken off the road.... we discussed it ad nauseam and decided best to let well enough alone..... I'd love to take an engine apart at some point though!

P.S. I have found the pulley and will be sending as soon as I get to a post office!

Ah brilliant!! that's great, cheers mate

juliet xxxxxxxx

Post by **Pyoor_Kate** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:05 pm

When I first did it I just did the two nuts and torqued it back up, but since swapping heads and all that nonsense, it's now done using "1.5" or "put the bent bits of metal on top of the nuts and then some half nuts on top".

It seemed like a better plan

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:12 pm

option #3 - as mentioned already, bend the pipe out of the way is the easiest, but maybe not ideal for a pristine car.

option #4 - remove the studs before removing the thermostat housing sideways instead of upwards. Of course this is close to impossible unless the studs and housing are fairly free.

Post by **wibble_puppy** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:30 am

rayofleamington wrote: option #4 - remove the studs before removing the thermostat housing sideways instead of upwards. Of course this is close to impossible unless the studs and housing are fairly free.

Well, the thermostat housing came away with barely a struggle - the problem is that it can't move enough to free the thermostat itself because of the bulk of the thermostat keeping it all lodged in place.

Two of the studs came away fine. The final one, nut still firmly attached, is sitting in a jar of penetrating oil thinking about how naughty it's being.