Heater valves and weird old filters.
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2023 8:46 am
Well, I finally got a bit of time on a ramp to do a few 'must do' things.
While the traveller is a well preserved thing, I am always suspicious of other people's oil so an oil change, and a few bits and bobs were in order.
I'd already changed the little green indicator lens as the old one had its threads snapped off and was glued in, bought extra keys with the obligatory old style key fobs one has to have, but idle speed was a touch high, the valve clearances were on the generous side and I fancied putting some extra time into getting the brakes better balanced.
Sadly the ramp turned out to be a four poster so it remained on its wheels, so 'wheels off' will be an 'on the drive' once the weather clears.
The oil drained fine, although it was 'diesel engine' black', and the filter came off OK. It took me several minutes of trying to seat the ring gasket before I realised there are two sizes... Mine uses the slightly smaller diameter one....
I then made a mistake. I reassembled the spring, plate and filter as they had come out, which was wrong. The plate was on top of the filter instead of below it so the spring was doing nothing and as a consequence, the engine was not filtering its oil. ... At the time I didn't';t realise though.
Tappet adjustment went fine. Used the 'Rule of nine' and that was very straight forward. To be fair, they weren't that far out.
I then broke my Gunsons Timing light on the fan... It's been 40 years since I haven't had electric or viscous coupled fans and I can now testify that metal blades destroy Xenon timing lights... Sigh...
I wanted to drop the idle speed down below 400 rpm to check timing but the throttle cable is too tight and I had nothing to hold the rotating ferrule so I could loosen the retaining nut without bending the cable... A job for next time...
Setting off I was immediately struck with how responsive and revvy the engine felt.... Modern oils are a huge leap forward...
Anyway, got halfway home and the heater stopped working. Had a quick look and there was no visible coolant...Bought a massive barrel of water at the Co-op and the car drank it all. Took the rad cap off and drove the rest of the way home unpressurised and found the heater distribution valve was just vomiting coolant.
Found a new old stock one on Ebay, bought a couple of gaskets from ESM and waited for a gap between storms...
Removed and refitted the oil filter properly, that was easy enough, but that valve!!!
First, the heater hose clamp on the valve.... What a sod that was... Soaked in ACF50, threads cleaned with a wire brush, the square 'nut' held with pliers, then turned an 8th of a turn back and forth for at least half an hour. Obviously once off and apart, the thing wound in and out like it was brand new...
And then, the two nuts holding the valve on. The 'outer one' not an issue, I don't have any AF spanners, but 11 mm is close enough for MOWOG work and that loosened nicely. The inner one though.... I had to take the battery out to get enough movement on the spanner to be able to catch the next flat and leant over the engine like that for what seemed like hours as it gradually eased off was... Not fun.
I sprayed a little silicon into the 'new' valve and it could hold a vacuum against my tongue so with a bit of gasket goo either side of the new gasket it went on OK. I carefully adjusted the cable wire to give a full range of movement and now it not only holds coolant, but allows a reasonable amount of adjustment, from almost ridiculously hot to mildly warm.
I have a few black stains on a couple of the woodwork joins, so bought a bag of Oxalic acid powder and, get this, a bag of syringes complete with needles... from Amazon. I'm going to try using the needle to get the acid solution into the gap between timber pieces to see if that is a better solution.
If it works, I'll report back!
She's back in the bag now, all snugged up, with a small Solar panel on the outside trickling into the battery. Next time, the throttle cable, check the full advance with my new timing light, and do those brakes!
While the traveller is a well preserved thing, I am always suspicious of other people's oil so an oil change, and a few bits and bobs were in order.
I'd already changed the little green indicator lens as the old one had its threads snapped off and was glued in, bought extra keys with the obligatory old style key fobs one has to have, but idle speed was a touch high, the valve clearances were on the generous side and I fancied putting some extra time into getting the brakes better balanced.
Sadly the ramp turned out to be a four poster so it remained on its wheels, so 'wheels off' will be an 'on the drive' once the weather clears.
The oil drained fine, although it was 'diesel engine' black', and the filter came off OK. It took me several minutes of trying to seat the ring gasket before I realised there are two sizes... Mine uses the slightly smaller diameter one....
I then made a mistake. I reassembled the spring, plate and filter as they had come out, which was wrong. The plate was on top of the filter instead of below it so the spring was doing nothing and as a consequence, the engine was not filtering its oil. ... At the time I didn't';t realise though.
Tappet adjustment went fine. Used the 'Rule of nine' and that was very straight forward. To be fair, they weren't that far out.
I then broke my Gunsons Timing light on the fan... It's been 40 years since I haven't had electric or viscous coupled fans and I can now testify that metal blades destroy Xenon timing lights... Sigh...
I wanted to drop the idle speed down below 400 rpm to check timing but the throttle cable is too tight and I had nothing to hold the rotating ferrule so I could loosen the retaining nut without bending the cable... A job for next time...
Setting off I was immediately struck with how responsive and revvy the engine felt.... Modern oils are a huge leap forward...
Anyway, got halfway home and the heater stopped working. Had a quick look and there was no visible coolant...Bought a massive barrel of water at the Co-op and the car drank it all. Took the rad cap off and drove the rest of the way home unpressurised and found the heater distribution valve was just vomiting coolant.
Found a new old stock one on Ebay, bought a couple of gaskets from ESM and waited for a gap between storms...
Removed and refitted the oil filter properly, that was easy enough, but that valve!!!
First, the heater hose clamp on the valve.... What a sod that was... Soaked in ACF50, threads cleaned with a wire brush, the square 'nut' held with pliers, then turned an 8th of a turn back and forth for at least half an hour. Obviously once off and apart, the thing wound in and out like it was brand new...
And then, the two nuts holding the valve on. The 'outer one' not an issue, I don't have any AF spanners, but 11 mm is close enough for MOWOG work and that loosened nicely. The inner one though.... I had to take the battery out to get enough movement on the spanner to be able to catch the next flat and leant over the engine like that for what seemed like hours as it gradually eased off was... Not fun.
I sprayed a little silicon into the 'new' valve and it could hold a vacuum against my tongue so with a bit of gasket goo either side of the new gasket it went on OK. I carefully adjusted the cable wire to give a full range of movement and now it not only holds coolant, but allows a reasonable amount of adjustment, from almost ridiculously hot to mildly warm.
I have a few black stains on a couple of the woodwork joins, so bought a bag of Oxalic acid powder and, get this, a bag of syringes complete with needles... from Amazon. I'm going to try using the needle to get the acid solution into the gap between timber pieces to see if that is a better solution.
If it works, I'll report back!
She's back in the bag now, all snugged up, with a small Solar panel on the outside trickling into the battery. Next time, the throttle cable, check the full advance with my new timing light, and do those brakes!
