flush it with the mains for ages then put it all back together with a waxstat stat on a ****part one. and just run it and try it , you could go mad takingt he whole thing to bits but it may well be ok!

v8burbling said:

Interesting Wammers thanks,
I understand how the thermo works with the system. Hadn't realised that the water pump could 'mill' as you put it, not having taken one apart....yet. The water can still circulate through the heads and the heater matrix whilst the thermo is closed though, right ?

How is air expelled from the system ? If air goes past the thermo on my RR, it looks like it would end up in the top hose, which appears to be the highest point. Presume the water pump will push it round a bit on higher revs but where can it get out. I read something about making sure one of the smaller hoses is water free when you refill, is that to allow air out ?

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No there is no circulation through the block/heads until the thermostat opens. That is what gives you your quick warm up. Air has to be expelled only when you fill the system, there should be no air pockets in the cooling system when it is full. Only the space in the header tank to allow for expansion of the coolant as it heats. It has various bleed tubes, they dont need to be free of coolant because air will force that out, they have not to be blocked preventing passage of coolant or air as the case maybe.

fett said:

flush it with the mains for ages then put it all back together with a waxstat stat on a ****part one. and just run it and try it , you could go mad takingt he whole thing to bits but it may well be ok!

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You're right. I am just trying to protect the £140 I invested in getting my radiator recored. Don't want it to block up with crap or sludge.
Plan to flush with the thermo out on Saturday. New thermo and gasket on its way from Rimmers. Tonight I will be mostly cleaning up that thermo housing. Then I might actually be able to run the engine. That'll be the first time this year, so fingers crossed ! The whole pedalbox is out at the moment for refurb, so I plan to turn the engine by hand to start with, just to make doubly sure it isn't connected to any sort of drive ; both boxes in neutral should ensure that.

pedal box out- brave man, I avoided that job luckily but it was close!

how hard was it?

fett said:

pedal box out- brave man, I avoided that job luckily but it was close!

how hard was it?

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Hi Fett,
It was OK but a whole load of unecessary effort just to change a broken clutch pedal spring ! It's just rather unwieldy to get out due to the weight of the pedal box and brake servo (which is surprisingly heavy).

Of course, the brake pipes wouldn't all undo, so that meant one had to be sheared off. Glad I did it though because there was a lot of heavy pitting between the servo and the pedal box where water had been sitting due to a missing bonnet-to-decker panel seal and a previous owner fitting two servo-to-pedal box seals on top of each other :doh:. The pitting was just rescue-able, if it had continued I think the servo would have holed and the security of the main servo bolts compromised.

If you do take it out, take care of your pedal axle bushes. Mine had the original brass ones in and were worn so I tore them out and replaced with "superseded" plastic ones. But the plastic ones are completely different and don't fit. I had to buy an older pedal box from someone and put their less worn brass ones back in !

Hope to put the pedalbox back in soon and then I'll have the joy of bleeding the brake and clutch systems. Going to try an EasiBleed this time to see if that gets a hard brake pedal a bit easier.

so you couldnt do the spring with all that in? I think I would have tried with all my mates pulling each end to avoid that job