Radiator

[kenmorton]

Anyone had any problems with thier radiators? Looks like mine might have started to leak from the drivers side end cap.

[EddyP]

Funn you should post this as its something I wanted to talk to you about at Stoneleigh.

My rads ok still, don't think they've ever had one go wrong, but are you still using the standard rad even with your engine? thought you might have gone bigger?

[kenmorton]

I think Norman supplied a larger radiator for my car but can't remember what it was from, will have to talk to him at Stoneliegh.
I had thought it was from a Mondeo but looking at pictures it's totally different (shame really as ally replacements for the Mondeo are going for £65 on ebay at the mo' if I had to replace mine)

[kenmorton]

Don't have to worry about the radiator at the moment but the blown head gaskets are a bit of a pain in the arse!

[EddyP]

Doh, Any ideas why they went Ken? is it both heads gone?
Can you get uprated gaskets?

[kenmorton]

Did it on 10th May. Went to Donongton for the masters racing (fantastic meeting - love seeing classic racing machines from my youth being thrashed around the track as though any bits that might break are still available off the shelf at your local motor factors)
On the way there giving it a lung full and the noise from the back suddenly increased about 20 dB. Stopped in the next laybye and my second silencer had come adrift (joining pipe not quite long enough - no. 21 on the list of things to do). After waiting for about 20 mins for it all to cool down a bit it was easy enough to put back together and tighten the clamp up a bit more to stop it coming apart again. So off we go again but taking it a bit steadier now, get to Donington no problems apart from missing the first race.
On the way back take it fairly easy as well but coming through Stoke temp guage quickly rises to about 109C and steam coming out the back! Pull off onto a side road to investigate sharpish. After it cooled down I filled it up with about 3 litres of water but no sign of any leaks. So off we go again keeping a close eye on the temp guage. Rock steady at 84C until we get just the other side of Nantwich when it starts climbing rapidly. Pull over sharpish and let it cool down again. Takes about 3 litres of water again (kindly donated by some sheep in a field from thier drinking trough) but still no signs of any leaks. This time we just got onto the drive at home when the temp started to rocket again plus the engine felt as though it was missing on one cylinder as well. So suspect head gasket failure.
Checked the oil in the morning and there was a lot more of it than when we set out the day before plus there was milky crap around the breather filters, so pretty sure one of the head gaskets had given up and at least some of the water was ending up in the sump.
Well no big deal, I had never opened the engine up before I bolted it in the back so the gaskets were probably the originals, 15 or 16 years old and left standing for best part of a year then subjected to 12 psi of boost they never expected (and maybe a big boost spike when the exhaust came apart) so just replace them. Well Honda could get the left hand one in 2 days from Belgium but the right hand one was on back order from Japan, expected mid July! Plus they were £54 each after discount! Nobody in the UK does any aftermarket gaskets either.
Ebay to the rescue. Supplier in the states with no name gaskets $25 for a pair of head gaskets, $45 for a full top end set and $49 express international carriage, total price £74 for 2 pairs of gaskets and all the rest of the top end bits and pieces. Ordered last friday and they arrived tuesday, bloody brilliant service, just hope the gaskets last till at least July.
Bit of investigation today revealed one plug very oily but compression on all 6 cylinders is spot on, very strange. Hope to do the gasket swap this weekend so should find out more then.

[kenmorton]

Did get in touch with Cometic in case they had any MLS gaskets but no luck. Didn't fancy spending more than the cost of a new engine for them to develop a set for me either.

[Flip]

Going back to the initial problem on this thread, I noticed that my large rubber pipes going into and out of the radiator are beginning to crack! What about anybody else. Have I just got an old part or something?
Flip

[EddyP]

Norman had some faulty ones IIRC, mention it to Chris and he'll sort you out :)

[Flip]

You are veritable mine of information. Thanks. Will mention it in my next email to him. May the Vortex by with you forever.

[kenmorton]

Well car back on the road on Monday, cheapo ebay gaskets lasted till Wednesday!
Bought another Legend on Friday to donate it's engine. This one has only done 86,000 miles though and it will be getting stripped down and put back together with genuine Honda parts before it gets transplanted into the Phantom.

[EddyP]

DOH

Are leg end engines cursed or something?
As its being stripped down, maybe a good time for some head work? ;)

[kenmorton]

Seems the 3.2 does have head gasket issues but 'O' ringing the block cures it at least up to 550bhp!
The later 3.5 engine is almost identical internaly but doesn't suffer blown head gaskets so I will be fitting a set of them. Only differences I can see are very slight alterations to the coolant passages and they are a bit cheaper than the 3.2's.
To be fair to the last engine it was 16 years old with 120k miles on it, then it was left standing without any oil or water for best part of a year. When it was installed in the Phantom it was given 12 psi boost and red line raised 1,000 rpm I supose I should be surprised it lasted as long as it did.

[kenmorton]

Engine out today and only 7 hours!
Knew the mods I did to the chassis last time would be useful. Shame I didn't remember about the 'p' clip holding the wire to the CPS, amazing the amount of engine weight such a thin cable will support before it breaks.

[EddyP]

So will it be at Stoneleigh Ken?

I'm confident mine won't be done, so might trailer it there instead.

[kenmorton]

Yeah, pretty sure it will be ready sometime over Easter. Have had the heads ported and three angle jobs done on the valves plus some stronger valve springs (heard rumours of valve bounce causing problems and big power loss at high revs) so will hopefully have it booked in for a remapping session before Stonleigh. Might also try and get to Cadwel Park on the Saturday for PPC in the park as well.

[kenmorton]

Car was finally all back together on Sunday 5.00 p.m. ready for it's mapping session on Monday which had been booked about 5 weeks before coz' of all the race cars coming out of hibernation. Just as well really as there is still plenty of tidying up left to do.
Mapping session went well and dropped the boost to 8psi and finally got a power run done in 4th gear as too much wheel slip in 3rd. Peak power 317 bhp at the wheels @ 5000 rpm so about 360 bhp flywheel - quite happy with that and hopefully this engine might hold together a bit longer now as well (not really surprising the last one let go, had the boost set at 12psi with a few seconds of overboost to 14.5 psi, probably pushing out 450 bhp).
Really good garage as well, had me involved all the way through and 4 hour session came to £129.25 including V.A.T.
Couple of things to be addressed are the very high inlet temps which I think are down to the massive heat soak from the large ally plenum and inlet manifold sitting in the engine "v" and the boost droping off slightly at higher revs.
Boost drop is easy to sort, just need a boost valve plumbing in and a quick dyno session to map the ecu to control it. Intake temps will take a bit more thought, might even have to fabricate a new plenum and inlet.

[EddyP]

Excellent news Ken!
Bargain mapping session too.

You going for one of the Audi/VW boost valves?

[kenmorton]

Yes vw/audi boost valve - about £60 new on ebay. Might wander down to the local scrappy tomorrow and have a look for one with electrical plug and pipes still connected, at least I will know how it is all plumbed in then.

[kenmorton]

Radiator now at the stage where it has to be repaired or replaced. Had a fantastic 2 day New Year break up in Inverness - 860 mile round trip - no problems with the weather, no snow or ice on the roads despite the temps hovering a few degrees either side of freezing. Driving at sensible speeds managed nearly 28 mpg overall - very happy with that.
Only problem (well minor irritation really) was having to top up the cooloing system with about 1 Litre every 200 miles. So as soon as the weather warms up enough the radiator is coming out and I will have a slightly higher capacity one made in ally.

[ricola]

Ken,
THe aftermarket sierra cosworth ones are cheap and plentiful, that's what I used on mine and it was a good size...
Rich

[EddyP]

Hi Ken,
Glad to hear you've got some mileage on it without blowing it up :D

If you want a rad that will go in without changing brackets or pipes etc.. Chris uses a higher capacity one on the 3.0L cars, think there's one in stock at the moment too. Its not ally, but should last quite a while, where did your original come from?

[kenmorton]

Radiator was supplied by Phantom - slightly larger than 2.7l one to cope with bigger engine.
The other day I had the car ticking over on the drive to warm it up and demist the windows as it hadn't been out since new year and I noticed a puddle of warm coolant under the front of the car. On closer inspection it was squirting out of a split in one of the front hoses (not one supplied by Phantom but one of my own) and spraying all over the end tank of the rad.
So had the car up on my lift today (5 tonne fork lift at work!) and changed the hose and another one (again my one of mine) which was looking a bit cracked. After filling it up and running it up to temperature no sign of any leaks and the radiator end tank seems to be dry as well. Might have started as a small pin hole leaking onto the end tank giving the wrong impression. I think the split in the hose was only letting coolant out when the system was pressurising when it was heating up.
Anyway will keep an eye on the situation but looks like the rad wasn't the problem after all.

New intermediate drive shaft has been ordered last week and should be delivered within the next 3-4 weeks.

Ed have you got the drawing for the layout of the VW boost control valve? Must get that plumbed in and book another dyno session before the new racing season kicks off.

[EddyP]

Good news then Ken!
I've lost some of the details about the VW valve, as it was on my phone, which got accidentally wiped recently.
However it is plumbed in on my car, so will check for you and let you know.

[limpabit]

Hi Ken.

Are you looking for the layout of the VW boost control valve as fitted to the 1.8T 20V engine? If so, I'll dig it out from Bentleys.

[kenmorton]

Yup, that's the one. I did have the details but they are lost somewhere on the computer.
I am keen to get it plumbed in and wired up so as soon as I get the new drive shaft in I can book another mapping session before all the racers bring all their cars out for mapping before the start of the season.

[limpabit]

Long leg. Air filter/blank/not used
Middle one throttle body.
End one - Actutor.

[kenmorton]

Thanks for that. It was more which tail of the boost valve goes where I was after though.

[limpabit]

Update for boost valve above.:)