June 2005
Post Curborough track day repairs Part 1
After the track day there were a few faults with the car. Some of which have now been fixed and others still need further investigation. There aren't any pictures though.
Radiator Cap and water leak
As mentioned in the track day report I managed to lose the radiator cap for the car. I did obtain a replacement from a motor factor in Lichfield but this proved to be the wrong size so I knew that something had to be done when I got home.
The water leak looked fairly easy to fix as it seemed to be just leaking from one of the pipes at the bottom of the radiator. A bit of investigation later and it looked like the jubilee clip clamping the hose was at fault as it had rusted and wasn't that tight.
So I went and had a rumage through the spares in the garage - I couldn't find any clips but did come across a spare radiator cap! I don't know why I bought a spare but it was there and fitted perfectly. I did have to go to the motor factors to get a couple of clamps which when fitted appear to have fixed the leak. I say appear as leaks have a nasty habit of coming back when you least expect them!
Oil Leak
For ages I have thought the oil leak came from the sump gasket and have never got around to fixing it. However for once I decided to look at it and noticed that there was a lot of oil on the front of the engine. This seemed strange as oil doesn't normally flow up! It now appears that the rocker cover gasket has been leaking and causing all the problems.
It took me about 3 hours using thinners to wipe all the oil from the top of the engine and then refit the rocker cover with a new gasket held in place with sealant, since then I have only run the car once but the leak appears to have been reduced if not stopped completely - I will report back on this.
Fuel Filters
Not one I have fixed yet but the first fuel filter (between the tank and pump) is very badly clogged up with muck from the tank so that will be replaced soon (it is only a cheap disposable so won't cost much money). At the same time I will also change the pre carb filter as the element in that is getting dirty and probably check the carb filters as well as there doesn't seem to be any point in only doing half a job.
Engine mounts
Have a look at the video pages - the engine seems to be moving a lot on its mountings. I think therefore a new set of engine mountings might be in order. I read somewhere that you can get polyurethane engine mounts so might have a look at them but that is a job which is not critical - yet!