white smoke...

[voucht]

2014-01-14_12-39-35 par Voucht71, sur Flickr


Pretty yellow isn't it?... one word to say: merde

So... it looks like I need to buy another engine...

And icing on the cake: my third radiator is leaking too, I just can't believe it! There should be a problem with the pressure in my cooling circuit!

Before I start the test, I removed a bit of coolant from the expansion tank as it is required. But while I was performing the test, water came up, and up, and up in the expansion tank, and I had to remove more than 1 litre along the way, otherwise, coolant was going into the tester (and I had to redo the test more than 5 times before it goes well)!

So, perhaps I had too much coolant, not enough air in the expansion tank, so the pressure in the circuit is too high and the radiator tubes brake? 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.

Well, now, I'm so fed up, I just want to set fire to the car, the garage, the engine, along with all the tools, my working cloths, and perhaps to myself too

[flyerncle]

Take the easy route fix the car,the fire brigade will be harder to explain the fire too.

And as you say Mon Ami "Merde"

Jai parlez francias Merde

[K4KEV]

We have all had issues to get around Sylvain but don't give up.....it was a nightmare for me by choosing an unusual engine, but I persevered and got there in the end....I know its a bummer just get stuck straight back in and dismantle the engine to try and see what the cause is, then if its knackered then at least you will have "created the next direction to go in .....a different engine.
chin up matey its all worth it in the end

[flyerncle]

Agreed,I have had a rolling chassis for the past 4 and a bit years and only now got round to getting it powder coated and putting it back together and still don't have the money to throw at it but I will not give up,retirement project maybe.

Kev if you get bored I still have a little project in mind that would not be too much hassle and wages if you are interested.

[danilo]

I do understand your frustrations.
But removing the cyl head to have a look for the problem (imo a broken head gasket) is only a couple of hours work.
And if it is the HG.... replacing it is only a minor repair in the scope of engine work.. and usually inexpensive for the parts required.

[Janne E]

Sylvian!

I got a Polo radiator with a electric fan mounted if you need..
It´s almost new.

Janne

[voucht]

Hi!
Sorry I have been away from the forum and the car for a couple of days... just to cool down I guess

Thank you very much for the nice words and cheering. I think sometimes, problems just look too big to get over, and you just need to back off from the build a little.

I still think that it is better to change this engine which, I just feel it, will give me more troubles in the future, even if I fix the head and head gasket.

But if sometimes all problems occur in the same time, it can be the same for good news too:

I've been looking for seats for the Roadster for a while, and having them delivered from the UK is always an extra cost for us I'd like to avoid, so I have been looking for a local solution. And someone here in Sweden proposed me, through the Swedish Locost forum, to exchange a pair of Cobra seats in very good condition against a full brake line set for his Caterham. That is quite a good deal, isn't it? And it turned out that this person also has a complete Sierra to strip off, and he is OK to give away the engine which looks to be perfectly working, with the two seats! Pretty cool, isn't it?

He is not leaving close by, so tomorrow I'll spend my day on the road driving there and back, to collect the seats and the engine.

The SFRO (Swedish IVA) inspector also told me that I can take the my first inspection with the old engine (they don't check the engine's working condition, this first inspection is more about the chassis construction, structure, mounting points, suspensions, etc.), and swap engines after the inspection, so I don't have any pressure about that.

It also looks like the fact that all the radiators I've installed so far (3 in total) were all leaking, is due to this head gasket and/or cylinder head failure: compression from the cylinders goes into the cooling circuit, punting it under a pressure the radiator can't take. I'll change the engine before I change radiator next time

So hopefully, before the end of this month, everything will be back to order, and I will have my seats too

Janne, thank you for the offer, I just sent you a personal message.

And thanks to all of you for the help and support. This forum is just great!

[jason 82]

Well done Sylvian, every cloud has a silver lining. I hope that your new engine is as strong as an ox ! Chin up mate.

[flyerncle]

Sylvain,about the inspection,do you get it inspected and then paint/coat the chassis.

All your pictures are of plain metal and not even primer.

[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!