white smoke...

[voucht]

Yep Paul, that right. For the inspection, the chassis should not be painted, but it could be primed. But they don't want any weld to be ground off for the inspection, so it is pointless to prime the chassis if you have to grind the welds afterwards, before painting. At least that was my position.

That is the reason I wanted to take this inspection earlier this winter (I was ready in early December) , but our schedules with the inspector didn't match very well, so it had been postpone again and again.

After the inspection, I will completely strip off the car, and have the chassis, roll-bar, wishbones and rear uprights sandblasted. Then the same company will powder coat all these parts. It is a bit expensive, but I think worth it, as I'm not really well equipped and don't have a good place to paint it clean myself. It will be quicker and less a hassle too And painting the chassis by-10°C and a lot of moist in the air like it will be in February will not give a good results I'm sure. So I chose to have it done externally.

There is not a lot of rust on the chassis though, I was expecting much more. When you know that it will be almost 3 years that I have started it, and it has been in quite cold and damp places during all that time (well, Sweden!), I'm quite surprise it is not more attacked by rust. The legendary Swedish steel quality I guess

You can't imagine how much I'm longing to reassemble the car definitely after the powder coating!

[flyerncle]

Makes sense now Sylvain,what a PITA to have to strip it down and start again.

I understand very well the weather causing you problems,I spent some time in northern Finland in the winter,3 hours drive north of the Arctic Circle not far from Mumansk.

[voucht]

Ha yes, where when the police makes an investigation, they ask you "What have you done during the night between the 25th of November and the 16th of March?"

Here, it is southern Sweden, so it is still OK, 7 hours of day time at the worst... but yes, weather is harsh for the Southern French I am!

[flyerncle]

I drove Le Camion in europe for a few years,why on earth go to Sweden from France del Sur ?

[ayjay]

Originally Posted by flyerncle

I drove Le Camion in europe for a few years,why on earth go to Sweden from France del Sur ?

I can imagine a very good reason--------------its blonde and sexy

[flyerncle]

I see your point

Plenty of talent in France !

[davidimurray]

I'm using a Stant pressure cap which is 20-25lbs. It does not sound to me like a pressure a radiator can't take, but perhaps the problem come from there too.

I thought that 14psi was about normal? 14psi gives a boiling point of 119c whearas 20psi gives a boiling temp of 125c

[voucht]

Yes, Adrian is right! I wake up every morning of my life next to the reason I'm now living in Sweden, and I'm the happiest of men

But we don't plan to stay in Sweden forever, and might move back to France or another warmer country within one or two years. And if I can get the Roadster registered there, it will be so good to drive it in the southern France weather!

Well, I drove 600km in the day yesterday, and came back with a pair of nice Cobra seats. Unfortunately, we could not take the DOHC out of his Sierra, so no engine so far... I think I'm going to buy the one I saw at the scrap yard, but will do that only after the inspection, next month.

Originally Posted by davidimurray

I thought that 14psi was about normal? 14psi gives a boiling point of 119c whearas 20psi gives a boiling temp of 125c

Yes, I have been stupid enough to use one of these high pressure radiator caps we use on racing cars. It was the only one available when I ordered my parts from France last year, and I should have waited. The purpose of these high pressure caps is too keep the cooling system under a higher pressure, because the higher the pressure is, the better the calories exchange is. But the whole circuit has to be planed for this pressure, and it was certainly too high for my system/engine/radiator. Perhaps the head gasket broke just because of this actually, and I think you should have a reinforced head gasket when you use this kind of high pressure radiator caps.

So, I will definitely go back to a lower pressure cap, same pressure as the one originally used with the Sierra DOHC.

Thanks.

[flyerncle]

You have just been unlucky Sylvain,colling system will stand much more pressure than the cap say's or they would be bursting more regular if they got slightly over the rating of the cap.

I have noticed cap pressure's have risen and a lot of cars do have high pressure systems and as you rightly say the heat transfer is better and the boil point raised.I suspect its all to do with emissions and better combustion.