Thread: Chops' 88" Wide Light

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Mick is right. It should have a clip as shown. The diaphragm under the plate will cause all sorts of issues if damaged (they split),

Yep. My MGB looked like it was laying down a smokescreen when this failed. These should still be available. Probably as a whole unit. Occasional cleaning of the tapered "seal" doesn't hurt either.

A bit more over the weekend.
I've taken out the radiator to have it rebuilt,, better to be safe than sorry. She'll have a few clicks to do when we get organised, so I don't want something as simple as a water issue to bring us to a halt. So today I dropped it off at a shop in Clayton and hope to pick it up tomorrow if all goes well. I've been quoted under $200 if the core ok, so we'll see.

I'll be replacing all the hoses as well. There seems to be a fair bit of rust matter in the block, so I'll see if I can try and flush it all out before I put the radiator back in, and get some rust inhibitor into it as well. Probably should have done this before removing the rad,, it would have made it a whole lot easier I guess,,, but alas

I've rigged it so it all stays wet in the block for a couple of days whilst this is all happening, the pump "feels" good so I'd prefer to keep that wet. Pulled the thermostat out as well, will be replacing that, so I'll need new gaskets for that. Except for some rust, it all looks to be in reasonable nick, I'll wire brush some stuff to clean it up a bit to help make sure the mating surfaces are good and seal correctly.

I also removed the vacuum PVC thingy,,, quite amazing really. Such a simple looking little device. I undid the tape holding it together to find one very badly fractured diaphragm rubber. Whats amazing is how they have fixed it. I forgot to take a pic, but it has a piece of plastic sheet, (a bit thicker than "Glad Wrap") over it to do the actual job of keeping the air in the right spot,,,, I think thats a cool fix for whoever did it.

On closer inspection of the brakes, it looks like the wheel cylinders are degrading, thus not returning after application making them do the grabbing thing. So, if all goes well in the next two nights, I'll refit the radiator and send it over to Greg to do a road worthy on her for me, and he can just replace (with new) all the wheel cyls, bleed the brakes and clutch, check her over, and hopefully,,,, hopefully,,,, she'll then be roadworthy

We'll see how we go, shall we? Looks like I'll have a busy night tomorrow, after a busy day organizing a few parts.

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What a busy couple of days I've had

Got the radiator fixed earlier in the week,,, tick.
Organised and picked up some parts suited to the cooling and brakes (Thursday arvo evening),,, tick,,, Thanks Dave.

Arrived home after picking up said parts, arriving about 8:30 after seeing Leeanne at her work, then started sorting out the couple of jobs that needed doing, including making a clip to fit on the PVC apparatus to hold the new diaphragm. Couldn't quite finish this as I needed the angle grinder to cut,, so onto the comp to get permits, and off to bed,,, at midnight.

Up at the usual time of 5am, and out to the shed to fit up the cooling system,, I'll have to leave the PVC till a bit later. All goes well, a smidgen of RTV Sealant on the gaskets and fit it all up. Some of the screws involved are tiny, those holding the radiator cowl are minuscule,, not good for someone with bifocals

Finished off the clip, installed the valve, filled up the radiator and started her up Having just been outside at the front to get water, I see there's fog everywhere,,,, no wonder I'm feeling like I'll need to squat to pee

Anyway,, she takes a bit to start and then warm up to temp, but alas, she is ready for her maiden voyage under my care.
I load her up with some tools and my permit I obtained last night online,,, and most importantly, my coffee

So I leave here about 9:30am, and arrive up in Ringwood just after 10:15am. I thought I had been cold the last few weeks,,, pfff. The window tops were off,,, until I can fix one of the bolts. It started out alright,, sunshine, excitement, etc etc etc,,, then went downhill about halfway,,, dramatically. I arrived and had trouble even talking to Greg about the car.

So, they get to work and swap out the brake wheel cylinders, found a bad kink in one of the rear lines where its been hooked by something at some point, so we ended up getting the whole axle line renewed, bled them all,,,, all good Due to time, I couldn't get the clutch checked for adjustment and bled as well, so I'll do that a bit later myself. Did manage to get an hours kip upstairs in the heated lounge though whilst waiting for the new lines.

Roadworthy check has everything in order,,, she passes,,, wooohooo.

The drive home was filled with elation ,,,,
and a subsequent disappointment

Along the way, almost home, and the pedal went spongie (grrrr ****ing peak hour city traffic) and I had need to pump-em-up,,, I'm guessing with whats now good brakes, its made the master cyl let go. Oh well, I guess I'll be doing both the brakes and clutch come the weekend. A small hiccup, but will be necessary in order to get my rego, even though I have the RW. No point being able to go forward if you can't stop

Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome, nothing major was found to upset the procedure, I was able to get a really good look underneath whilst she was up in the air,,, my my, she has a good chassis ,,, I'm in love I think. She's a great little unit to drive, albeit a bit noisy in all the usual spots,, but hey, at our age,, joints and muscles hurt creak and groan.

Big leap forward, and a small step back, but having the RWC is a huge step!

You putting it on full reg or club reg?

Hi Gav,, Hows the holiday mate,,, you coming home or staying there

Just club rego mate, 90 days at this point I guess. I've been approached over here by someone to join a small club which I will probably go with next week.
Before I can get to Wombat though, I still have some stuff to do. Colin's got some special oil for me for the motor, and I'd like to change the other oils too. Small jobs, but doing all this overtime at the moment, it's not making anything easy.
Chris is coming over next weekend and we'll bleed the clutch and brakes,, I'm hoping to have the units swapped out during the week to help time wise, and I still have to try and tune it. Greg's lent me a timing light, so I can get that done this Sunday I hope,,, if I'm not sleeping ,, oh, yeh, and of course this coming week, the Disco's going into him for a service too.

Anyhow,, I'm off to bed, got to be up at 5:30,,,

Back home now.

Just resting up before heading back to work Monday - we packed a lot in in the last 2 weeks.

Absolutley loved Darwin - doubtful I could live there though, I don't think I'd handle the build up or wet season, but at this time of year just fantastic.

All the best getting the shorty finished up! Good to see it didn't need much to get it in the road. You'll have the master cylinder sorted in no time then you'll just have the driving to look forward to.

Busy again in the shed this morning with the girl,,,, I really must think of what I will call her

Anyway, did a bit of a tune today, pulled all the plugs, checked gaps, checked the gap in the points, did the timing,,, all good now, seems to start first time straight away, and hopefully continue like that for a while. I will do the tappets after Wombat, and look at doing a tune on the carby then too. Smells a bit rich at present, but won't really know until after I've driven her properly.

Also pulled out the brake master cylinder,,, I hate this job, that bottom bolt is always a hard one to get to to hold. One could just take the pedal box off, which I'm guessing might make the job a little easier, but I dont know,,, so I came up with this
Its all about getting a spanner or socket onto the bolt which sits under the unit. In my case, I used a bit of paper to essentially hold the socket in position whilst I attached the bar on it. Damn its a tight fit under there, but achievable

I cant get the fluid feed pipe off either, so I'll get a new one made. The old one seems very soft too, so I'm happy to do this, and its only a small cost overall. You can see all the crud just inside, so glad it went now and not when I'm off somewhere adventuring.

Still got to fix up the door bolt for the window before I go away, then she should be pretty much good to go.

Pull the pedal box off - a lot easier! Especially if you have a workbench with a vice to hold it while you remove the master cylinder. I came to this conclusion many years ago, and have never looked back!