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Not sure how you lift a piston inside a closed cylinder from the outside when it is all sealed up?
Getting Gwen the Mini to Run.
- Thread starter DanClarke
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- Posts
- 17,162
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- Benfleet, Essex
...and in a fascinating fun-packed fiasco today we took the mini's plumbing apart a little bit to confirm the total lack of a thermostat [shock-horror].
So the correct 88° thermostat was inserted in the housing and just because we already had the plumbing undone I chose to remove the "straight through" heat-out fitting and pipe from the cylinder head for one with an inline on/off valve. That's when things went sideways.
Some kind soul had fitted the "straight out" fitting with incorrect bolts that were wrong thread and wrong length so the correct heater on/off valve is hanging on (not by a thread [pun]) but by a wing and a prayer.
The correct bolts/studs/nuts to use would have been 1/4" UNF, but no, they had forced metric 6mm bolts in there instead.
So, I have put it all back together (with these incorrect bolts (that you dare NOT tighten). I started it up and let it run for a while.
Well blow me down with a feather...... As I had predicted the water temp gauge actually worked and went all the way from "C" to the midpoint "Normal" mark and then dipped when the thermostat opened and rose back up to normal after a few minutes.
So another problem resolved, and another one discovered. Correct thread bolts arriving Wednesday.
Running so cold may also be a reason why it has performed so poorly of course.
So the correct 88° thermostat was inserted in the housing and just because we already had the plumbing undone I chose to remove the "straight through" heat-out fitting and pipe from the cylinder head for one with an inline on/off valve. That's when things went sideways.
Some kind soul had fitted the "straight out" fitting with incorrect bolts that were wrong thread and wrong length so the correct heater on/off valve is hanging on (not by a thread [pun]) but by a wing and a prayer.
The correct bolts/studs/nuts to use would have been 1/4" UNF, but no, they had forced metric 6mm bolts in there instead.
So, I have put it all back together (with these incorrect bolts (that you dare NOT tighten). I started it up and let it run for a while.
Well blow me down with a feather...... As I had predicted the water temp gauge actually worked and went all the way from "C" to the midpoint "Normal" mark and then dipped when the thermostat opened and rose back up to normal after a few minutes.
So another problem resolved, and another one discovered. Correct thread bolts arriving Wednesday.
Running so cold may also be a reason why it has performed so poorly of course.
- Posts
- 46,505
- Location
- East Dorset
We are talking about the piston in the carburettor, as of course you are aware and are just taking the "piston"!Not sure how you lift a piston inside a closed cylinder from the outside when it is all sealed up?
Air filter off of course.
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- 46,505
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- East Dorset
Glad you got to the bottom of the thermostat problem. Do hope it stays OK and no sudden overheating problem occurs....and in a fascinating fun-packed fiasco today we took the mini's plumbing apart a little bit to confirm the total lack of a thermostat [shock-horror].
So the correct 88° thermostat was inserted in the housing and just because we already had the plumbing undone I chose to remove the "straight through" heat-out fitting and pipe from the cylinder head for one with an inline on/off valve. That's when things went sideways.
Some kind soul had fitted the "straight out" fitting with incorrect bolts that were wrong thread and wrong length so the correct heater on/off valve is hanging on (not by a thread [pun]) but by a wing and a prayer.
The correct bolts/studs/nuts to use would have been 1/4" UNF, but no, they had forced metric 6mm bolts in there instead.
So, I have put it all back together (with these incorrect bolts (that you dare NOT tighten). I started it up and let it run for a while.
Well blow me down with a feather...... As I had predicted the water temp gauge actually worked and went all the way from "C" to the midpoint "Normal" mark and then dipped when the thermostat opened and rose back up to normal after a few minutes.
So another problem resolved, and another one discovered. Correct thread bolts arriving Wednesday.
Running so cold may also be a reason why it has performed so poorly of course.
Do hope it all goes back together correctly, but that is a serious bodge. Do you have imperial taps, to clear the threads?
You will of course now have to reset the mixture, (sigh).
Personally I would not have bothered with the on/off valve. They tend to go stiff and not work, if you have got the remotely operated one. And TBH I never moved mine, it stayed on all the time, except when I got a coolant leak and turned it off to stop it loosing coolant! Just relied on using the fan if it was cold.
Best of luck!
- Posts
- 46,505
- Location
- East Dorset
With coolant circulating at the right temp around the engine, PROPERLY around the engine, which it will not have been doing with no stat in, you may find the centre two plugs firing a proper mixture and the colour becoming more of a match for the others.
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Silly sossidgeNot sure how you lift a piston inside a closed cylinder from the outside when it is all sealed up?
