Thread: 84 RRC purchase

Thanks for the info so far guys, it's given me a few ideas and something more to go from.

Originally Posted by HangOver

re: overheating, first get the radiator rodded through, ($120-$150 I think)ditch the viscous fan, buy a new or used AU/BA twin thermo fan and fit that.
The fan cost me $50 second hand. $50 for the thermo-switch from supercheap and about $50 for heavy cable and relays. They draw a lot of current about 25-30A per fan I think. I have two sets of relays, fuses and cable, one running each fan. That will see the end of your overheating woes.

Does the AU/BA twin thermo fan require much modification to suit? Or have you specifically mentioned this model due to it's fitment?
There may be a couple of thermo fans in the shed, but am not sure what cars they would be off. I have access to a lot of cheap Subaru parts too - they came with twin thermo fans...


I will be grabbing a heap of spare parts on weekend, hoping to get a decent tailgate, bonnet, seats and dashboard parts.
I picked up a wire brush, some rust converter spray/primer and under-car rust preventative to start working on parts that I pull off.


Re:the steering - it's actually quite scary to drive at 80km/h+, or any kind of corner really. I will have a look over everything once I get it up on stands or a hoist

Originally Posted by jezza89

Thanks for the info so far guys, it's given me a few ideas and something more to go from.



Does the AU/BA twin thermo fan require much modification to suit? Or have you specifically mentioned this model due to it's fitment?

The AU/BA are fitted to its own shrowed that is a good fit for the RRC radiator. It take a bit of modding but took me about 30mins with an angle grinder cutting bits out of the shrowed. Might be safer with a jigsaw or multi-tool of some sort

There may be a couple of thermo fans in the shed, but am not sure what cars they would be off. I have access to a lot of cheap Subaru parts too - they came with twin thermo fans...
Any thermo's will do really but as the AU's have the shrowed fitted it covers more of the radiator so better cooling.


I will be grabbing a heap of spare parts on weekend, hoping to get a decent tailgate, bonnet, seats and dashboard parts.
I picked up a wire brush, some rust converter spray/primer and under-car rust preventative to start working on parts that I pull off.


Re:the steering - it's actually quite scary to drive at 80km/h+, or any kind of corner really. I will have a look over everything once I get it up on stands or a hoist

wow sounds bad!

Have paid the spare parts property a visit... great success. There's a decent condition 4 door without engine & gbox that was written off by a hit to the driver's door... but paint and interior are in great nick for the rest of the car!

Got a blue tailgate and bonnet on the car... and picked up a new windscreen and various bits and pieces.
Will be getting most of the dash and seats from the other car too.

One thing I noticed when changing the tailgate, that the hinges were rusted and a bit worse for wear. Has anyone ever changed these? It doesn't look like they will come off easy though, seems to be an angle grinder job, then to weld the new ones on.

In regards to the car's overheating problem, I am still yet to see it. The car made it through a 1.5hr journey to Gingin and then back again (putting about 3L of coolant in before I set off back home). It does seem to lose a bit of water, but mainly when the heater is used - which leads me to think that the problem is in a leaky heater hose or something.
There is evidence of coolant leakage way up behind the throttle body/carbies, back up on the firewall, that suggests there is a leak that is not in the cooling system.

I will try do a pressure test on the system this coming weekend.

there are two small rubber hoses hidden behind your carbs that go through the firewall to your heater.
Its likely that these are leaking.
They often do because its a bit fiddly so people don't change them or just don't know they are there.

There are another two small water hoses just behind the water pump, they are fiddly too, check them out though, they get missed a lot too.

Hi
Basically the heater is on all the time and flaps inside just control the air flow. So it will either lose coolant or not.
Carburettor rubber diaphragms split over time and one out will cause a big loss of performance. They are not expensive. At the same time clean out the flame traps and breather hoses especially where the hoses fit onto the spigots on the carbs as these can block totally. I use a 1/4 inch drill bit well greased to catch the muck to clean them out.

The other thing is to check the vacuum advance on the distributer is working as often the hose splits where it goes on the carby as there is a tight bend at this point.

This model wears out the panhard rod bushes regularly. Get an assistant to rock the steering wheel about 30 mm either side of straight ahead while having a look underneath for movement between the various components. Unfortunately this test is best with the engine running so you need someone trustworthy.

Ok. Got a bit more 'time alone' with the old girl this weekend, and did a bit of dirty work under the hood.

Spent a bit of time getting rusted, seized bolts out of a few body panels, and gave everything a good hit with CRC and a wire brush where appropriate. I will prep and paint some of the stuff properly next time it comes off - more parts being ordered from Britcar to go on.

I removed the air cleaner and replaced the air filters, flame traps, fuel filter.
Replaced all of the spark plugs and ignition leads, and also the distributor cap and rotor arm. The old plugs didn't look too bad, but I'm no pro.

Starting her up again, she seemed to run much quieter, but occasionally misses on idle.
Seemed ok until I tried driving, it would carry on and splutter whenever I applied throttle.
So I thought, how come it runs worse after replacing most of the ignition system?

After a bit of a chat with a couple of people, it seems the new dizzy cap will have different clearances etc to the old one, and I need to adjust the timing with a timing light etc... then it won't miss as much?


A couple of other things;
The speedo problem was the right angle drive at the back of the cluster.
The temp gauge isn't working as the wire was just hooked straight up to a ground. There doesn't seem to be any temp sensor on the engine!

We've come to the conclusion that it does need a head gasket - we put a sealed funnel on the filler tank and filled it with water, and once it was idling etc, we just kept seeing bubbles come up through the filler tank. So I'm going to stop driving it and attempt to pull the heads off to find the problem.
I pulled the air con compressor out as there was no gas in the system and the condenser looks buggered anyway.
Once the air con was out, we were able to tighten the screw on top of the steering box a bit, but it's pretty much at it's limit now, so it'll be time for another steering box soon maybe.

I'll get some pics up soon.

Check your tie rod ends, pitman arm joint & steering damper before swapping out your box.

I'm with Bundy, pan hard rod bushes. Just get poly ones, easy to fit and wear well.