[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Water pump can fail if overfilled with Coolant by mistake. Too much pressure and it gives up and starts leaking. The OEM ones are all made of hard plastic. The later ones had some bits of metal.

Thanks, Shankar.

Replacing the pump looks pretty straightforward to me. As you have the Cooper there is an additional electric pump as well I believe—similar set-up to my Jaguar.

I was interested to understand the drive mechanism of the cooling pump. It is intermittent. When the engine is below normal operating temperature, the pump is not running. They have this friction assembly that allows the pump to engage / disengage.

From my ISTA manual:



I also found this interesting video on YouTube. From the 1 minute mark onwards, you can see how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziJZsD36rrY

I have just returned from our trip to Scotland in the Spider with my best mate Peter. We drove 1750 km in five days. I will be putting up a separate travelogue about this trip. It was another great trip. Unique, we did not have our tools out once!! Peter and I discussed this at length. We could not recall any trips in our Spider abroad where we did not have the tools out at some point in time.

Oh, my Spider is still using more and more oil. I used 5,5 litres of the stuff on 1750 km. First of November, the Spider goes back to Marc and we will open up the engine to try and figure out what is happening.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Yesterday, Sunday, was miserable weather at home. But further south of us was looking up. So I found myself a nice Classic Car Meeting in Rumst, Belgium to visit.

Took out the Mercedes W123. It had not run for quite some time. In a couple of weeks, I am participating in a drive for people from a care home, so I better make sure everything works.

About an hour and fifteen minutes drive. I like these Belgium classic car meetings. Very informal, with lots of different cars, almost anything goes. You just rock up in an old car or a special car. No entry fees.

Just some impressions.









This was an interesting bit: I don't know why, but there are lots of scrap metal companies in this area. One of them is a sponsor of this event. He had put out this flattened car. There was a competition. You needed to identify the car make, model, year and weight without an engine.



I managed to find the VIN and it appears this is, or rather was a Lancia Lybra.

Here is a Lancia Lybra in its usual format:



I filled out the form, but did not win!

There was also a very interesting toy museum nearby. Very enjoyable afternoon in all.

Not much spannering going on at the moment. One small issue with the Mini though. Twice the alarm went off in the middle of the night during rain. Neither the neighbours nor Mrs D are amused. Better fix it somehow.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I have just returned from a short holiday to Crete, Greece. For our Greek adventures see: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ari-gorge.html (Holiday in Crete (Greece) and hiking through Samariá Gorge)

We had used the Jeep to drive to Amsterdam airport and just like last time I had left it with the VIP Parking. Last time, whilst on holiday they contacted me to inform me the battery had drained. I investigated this very thoroughly, see also https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post5435598 (My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One)

My conclusion at the time was that the Valet guys had accidentally put the key into the so-called ACC position, rather than the lock/off position. In the ACC position, you can remove the key, but it draws quite some amps as several systems remain powered on.

So this time I was prepared and copied the respective page of the owner manual and taped it to the dashboard. But again, I got an email stating the battery was dead. They jump-started it, so at least we could drive it home.

Again, check all the various battery components.

With the key in the lock position and waiting for 10-12 minutes for various systems to shut down, I measure only 11mA.



Nothing wrong with this Jeep!! So they must have buggered it up again. I also noticed they had been messing with several switches and left the fog light switch on.

I also noticed when I got home that the right headlight not working properly. Checked the fuse, which was fine. So I suspected the bulb had simply blown. Odd, because I had put in new bulbs not so long ago. But sometimes this happens.

Turns out the electrical connector was simply loose. Cleaned all the connections and re-attached it. Works fine once again!



The really big job yesterday was the installing of my new car kit for my Mini. I bought a Bury CC 9065.

https://www.carcommunications.co.uk/...g-installation

My Mini does not have a Bluetooth connection for my phone. The Bury will provide a proper Bluetooth connection, it mutes the radio during incoming or outgoing calls and puts the phone voice on the car speakers.

I can also use it to stream all my music from my phone onto the car audio system

I had been looking out for a simple Parrot system, as I have in my Jeep. But I can't get those anymore. The Bury seems to be replacing the Parrot system here in the Netherlands at least.

I had arranged for a guy, Jurgen, to help me out. Installing the car kit means taking most of the dashboard apart. Also, nobody was entirely sure what type of connector set I needed. Jurgen brought all the different variants with him so we could just choose the correct one on the spot.

As it was awful weather I moved the Jaguar and the Mercedes out and the Mini inside my garage. With this kind of job you need to be able to open both doors fully. This being a two-door car, the doors are remarkably long. You need a lot of space to open both doors fully!



Taking off the various bits of trims, the centrally placed speedo and the audio unit.







It took almost 3,5 hours to install the kit. Initially, we could not find a good place to mount the kit. I told Jurgen we should just run the cable to the display to the left of the speedo and I would figure out a way to install the kit myself, or make a new bracket or so. So that's what he did and he left.

When I sat down in the Mini, I noticed I could mount the kit very easily on the right-hand side of the Speedo. Not sure why we did not spot that earlier. However, rerouting the display cable to the other side took me another 3 hours to open up the dashboard again.

And of course, when I powered up the system after my rerouting exercise, nothing worked!! Just a few loose connections because of all the pulling of the various cables deep down in the dash!

But at long last all installed and working perfectly!



First hands-free call to best friend and Spanner mate Peter of course



That is a lot of dials and screens, I like it, need to get some more!!!



The Mini fuel efficiency keeps surprising me. I am getting 1;17 easily, the other day with a lot of motorway driving 1:18. The latter had also included two trips to Belgium doing 120 km/h. Very impressed and happy with these numbers!!

Whilst working on the Mini I also did a little job on the Spider. For the umpteenth time, the latch on the right-hand window had dropped off. Usually, the latch just drops in the footwell. This time I could not find it though. No idea where I lost it. So I ordered a new one.

And this time I used JB weld to glue it to the window. This little repair has featured several times on this thread. Probably my most repeated repair in all my years of spannering. Once these latches drop, they keep dropping. I have used all kinds of different glues with different effects. The left one has never dropped, still factory original, fingers crossed. Let's see how well this holds.

I polished the back of the latch very carefully. Cleaned the glass, which is scratched which is probably part of the problem too.



I marked the position of where the latch needs to be positioned with a marker on the outside of the glass. It needs to be positioned pretty precisely or it won't work, or worse, will look awful



Clamped it down, will be tested for durability after 24 hours of curing



I have also added another vehicle (well sort of vehicle) to the fleet which will give me many more opportunities for even more fiddling!!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Last Saturday I participated in my third "Brazing" Workshop. I have written about brazing before. It is a very useful technique, you can use it to connect almost all types of metals and or alloys. And when done properly it will give similar, sometimes better, results compared to various welding techniques.

The last workshop was held in my garage, which proved to be an interesting background to such a workshop. (see https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...ml#post5434131 (My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One))

We had the same teacher, Wiel. This time the workshop was in a magnificent location. We were in an old monastery that had its own steam-generated electric power! Pretty cool those monks and priests!

Have a look: https://monumentensteyl.nl

A couple of images of our surroundings for the day:

One of two steam engines:









Control panel



Some interesting tools, a little larger than what I have in my toolbox.



Electrical control panel



Very interesting to walk around. Wiel knew a lot of interesting details and background to this place. Very interesting.

But we were here for our workshop brazing!! So we did quite some brazing.



Yours truly in action, image courtesy of my friend Ruud.



I managed to learn a couple of new things. The four-stroke Scuderi Model Engine I am building is going to require some brazing of various parts in the months to come. All ready for it!

On Sunday I participated in a nice little drive with the Mercedes W123. I had enrolled in an activity where folks from a nursing home were taken for a little tour in classic cars. I have done this several times. It is always good fun and very rewarding. We only drove 60 kilometers in total with a coffee stop in the middle. Even so, it took all day. You don't want to be in a hurry with these elderly ladies and gentlemen of course.

There were about 20 classic cars and a few more regular cars to help out, bringing the wheelchairs, Zimmer frames nurses and so on. All done by volunteers.



As I have mentioned earlier, my Spider will be going back to Marc on the 1st of November to figure out the oil problem. During our tour of Scotland, I also felt the Spider pulling to the right. Marc had already tried to fix it, but it was still there. So I thought I would have another look myself.

The car has been aligned perfectly by Marc, and the tires and rims are in excellent condition and fully balanced. I replaced all four discs calipers and brake pads last year, including some new brake lines. So it is difficult to understand why it would still pull to the right. It also does it in a bit of a particularly weird way. I have had this before. Ultimately we managed to trace it back to a stuck ball joint. Because it was stuck, when you brake, the car dips at the front and the right wheel was pulled in a tiny bit due to the stuck ball joints.

So time to put the Spider on some axle stands and check a few things:



I popped the ball joints with my special little tool:



I kept the castle nut on the stud to make sure I didn't lose it:



I checked everything as best I could. I could not find anything. Until I noticed this. Here you see the stud of the right ball joint in its two extreme positions.



It looks like it might not be able to rotate sufficiently when fitted. However, when I put everything back together the effect was not present. It's difficult to judge these angles with the wheel removed and the suspension completely extended. We will need to recheck this when the Spider is back with Marc in a couple of weeks.

Put the front wheels back onto the Spider and tightened up my chrome lug nuts with the specified amount of torque. We have a recent thread on the forum that emphasises why you should always use a proper torque wrench and the proper torque setting when working on lug nuts!!

Also, the window wiper reservoir had started leaking again. You might recall I fixed this quite some years ago. Unfortunately, due to what looks like the ageing of the glue I used and mechanical wear due to stupid Italian design it developed two leaks again.

Technically, it is an MOT failure! Regardless, I wanted it fixed now. So I went to my local DIY centre and got some proper waterproof leak sealant. Applied it liberally to the out- and inside of the reservoir.





Part of the problem is the stupid V-shaped bracket that holds the reservoir. It is metal onto some pretty soft plastic, so a leak waiting to happen. I got one of my old bicycle's inner tyres cut off a few pieces and used it to wrap around the sharp metal bracket.





We will have to see how long it will last. Fingers crossed!!

This coming Sunday I am helping my good friend Berndt at the BritishCarClubDay. (https://britishcarclubday.com).

Berndt has collected hundreds if not thousands of folders and brochures on English cars. He wants to get rid of them, so he has rented three market stalls for us to display and sell all of them. Fingers crossed for that as well. I am not sure how much documentation gets sold at these classic car events.

Irrespective, this is always a very enjoyable event. Mostly about British Car clubs and some commercial traders as well. Good fun, I am looking forward to it.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

This weekend the British Car Club Day was held in Houten near Utrecht, an almost dead center in the Netherlands.

Always a very interesting and enjoyable event. Almost all British Car Clubs in the Netherlands got together years ago and discussed how to promote British Car Clubs in the Netherlands. They founded the British Car Club Day many years ago. This society has been the driving force behind this initiative.

So this event is organised by British car clubs, for British Car owners, enthusiasts and anybody interested in British cars. It means there is a very low threshold (financially) for clubs to participate and for members to rent their market stall to display stuff they want to sell, show and so on.

My good friend Berndt decided earlier this year he wanted to participate and try and sell some of his British Car brochures. Apart from being the owner of the Minidome, which houses a collection of well over 7000 miniature car models, Berndt also has a vast collection of car brochures, manuals and so on. Some of it is quite rare. He has a lot of the documentation made specifically for the dealers. Training materials for the salespeople, mechanics and so on. So not just the regular sales brochures that were handed out to the public.

Berndt had been busy preparing for weeks. Cataloguing, sorting, printing labels, making displays and so on. There would be four of us doing this event. Berndt, his wife Loes, a friend of theirs I also know, Marco and myself.

So we started by loading everything up on Saturday evening. We had both Berndts Rover 75 Estate full of stuff, plus my Jeep Cherokee.

We arrived at 1900 hours at the still mostly empty event hall. Looks immense when empty.



Started unloading the three cars and putting everything in place.





We wanted to have most of the stall ready that evening, so we would not have to rush the next day before the doors opened to the public.

We did not put the model cars on display, because they can and would have been stolen. Some of these are quite expensive.

It took us about 2,5 hours. We went home and the next day we were back at the venue at 0800 to put the finishing touches on our displays.







Berndt had prepared two of these display poles, trying to get the public interested in these brochures.



The doors opened at 10.30 and the public poured in. This event is always pretty well attended. The weather helped too. It was a very typical Dutch autumn day. Windy, wet and dark. So what else to do, than visit an event/

An interesting Mini-Combo?!



MGA



Lots of tools and parts are on display everywhere.



This Triumph Spitfire MGB was used for the instruction of car mechanics in the UK. Somehow the Dutch MGB got hold of it and restored it to its former glory.





Look at the rear suspension and its one spring!



As some of you will know by now, anything with a supercharger has my interest



Two very special Mini's. The one at the rear has participated and won all kinds of rallies over the years.



Nice friendly atmosphere, busy, but not too busy. Lots of people about.



One of the interesting things about British Classic Car ownership is that you can get almost anything. Be it part or accessories. Here are toolsets for different classic Jaguars. The toolset for my Jaguar is there as well. I got mine a whole lot cheaper though about 3-4 years ago.



Some entertainment



More parts!



Mrs. D is an avid Barbie collector. I spotted this cool pink Jaguar XJS. She loved it. But when we checked the price, it was way too expensive. We will find one at a better price.



Old and classic cars are so much more photogenic than modern cars I think:



I found a proper man-size pipe wrench (55-60mm)



All in all a very successful event. We sold a fair amount of documentation and some model cars too. What is worthwhile to note; Berndt is 78 and Loes will be turning 75 by the end of the month. The two of them were on their feet all day. I did not see Berndt sitting down once. He just kept going. He used to into sales and loves being at these sorts of events, talking to people, haggling with folks over the prices and so on.

The event closed at 16.00 hours, we drove our three cars in front of the stalls and loaded up the lot. By 18.30 we were back home at Berndt and Loes' place and had unloaded everything. My wife joined us and Berndt treated us to a lovely dinner at the Spanish restaurant opposite the road from them

Nice weekend.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I have been doing a lot of driving in my Mini lately. I am in the process of buying a small motor yacht. Which meant going back and forth to various marinas all over the Netherlands. More about this new hobby in a couple of weeks!

Yesterday when driving back home, I noticed the heating was not working properly. It would not warm up when standing still idling and it was fine when driving on the motorway. My first thought was that due to the installation of the car kit I have shown earlier, we might have messed up some of the wiring.

All the valves and flaps of the warm and cold (AC) air circuits are electronically operated. If they are vacuum operated (e.g. on my Jeep) you will have similar symptoms if there is a vacuum leak.

As I happened to be passing a BMW Mini dealer I stopped and asked for their advice. Turns out there is a leak and a lot of cooling liquid has disappeared. I was surprised not to have gotten a low-cooling liquid alarm. My owner manuals show there is such an alarm. However, there is no level sensor on the cooling liquid reservoir. The low-cooling liquid alarm gets triggered by low-cooling liquid pressure! The Buffins at Mini must have had their reasons for doing so, but I find it odd. Remarkably enough it does have a true level sensor and level alarm on the wiper fluid reservoir.

Anyway, they checked it out and came to the conclusion the thermostat housing was leaking. This is a well-known issue on older Mini's such as mine. The thermostat is made of some plastic, it gets brittle over time and it starts leaking.
They replenished the cooling liquid, at no charge, and I managed to make it home.



So I have already ordered a new Thermostat housing. It should arrive over the weekend. Spanner mate Peter will join me this coming Thursday. We have a few things to sort out on some of his cars and we will replace the thermostat housing on my Mini. It is not a particularly difficult job. I have also picked up another 5 litres of G11 Cooling liquid.

I am still wondering if I should replace additional parts as well. That large plastic tube between the pump and the thermostat housing is another weak point of a Mini.

I might try and pressure test the whole system before we take it apart.

I worked on the Jaguar on another small problem; the third brake light. As some of you might recall I had to fix the mounting of it before. I used double-sided tape to mount one of the two brackets back onto the rear window. It has held for several years, but recently I noticed the complete third brake light unit was sagging on one side. Having a working and visible third brake light is a MOT item for this car. The MOT is due later this year, so I decided to see if I could fix it in an more permanent way.

The first thing was to remove it all from the rear window.

I did manage to remove it but broke several pieces in the process. Again, plastic gets brittle over time!!



According to my workshop manual, the Light strip should have a connector. Mine did not, wires directly soldered onto the light strip. So I had to cut the wires to remove it all.

If you look closely you will see one bracket on the left in the image and no bracket on the right.



I decided to use my trusted JB weld to fix the bracket to the window permanently. Which meant I had to make a fixture to hold the bracket in place and press onto it. JB Weld needs at least 24 hours to set and 72 hours to develop its maximum strength. The rear window is at a sharp angle with the parcel tray. So it is a bit tricky to get access.

I tried a few different things but decided to go with a piece of wood, cut to the correct angle that would be wedged between the rear seat and the window with the bracket attached to it.





I also had to figure out a way to determine exactly where the bracket needed to be positioned. So I experimented a bit with different templates made from paper.



Glued all the broken plastic bits together using my liquid Model building glue. Worked a treat!





I managed to get the bracket re-attached in the exact correct position. Hopefully permanently fixed now with the JB weld!!



Believe it or not, it took me about 40 minutes to splice these two (!!) wires together again. As I mentioned, due to the angle of the window there is hardly any room to put your hands near these wires! So a very fiddly job. But perseverance won the day yet again!



Looks as new once again!





tomorrow I am off to the technical day of the Mercedes Heckflosse day at Cor de Jong, Classic Mercedes specialist extraordinary.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

This time the workshop was in a magnificent location. We were in an old monastery that had its own steam-generated electric power! Pretty cool those monks and priests!
Jeroen

Your post is truly captivating! Every word leaves us spellbound, painting a vivid picture - of the amazing Monastery and its enduring steam engine.

You're taking us on a delightful journey through the world of automobiles and the charm of quaint European life. Thank you for sharing this fascinating experience and allowing us to be a part of it!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Your post is truly captivating! Every word leaves us spellbound, painting a vivid picture - of the amazing Monastery and its enduring steam engine.

You're taking us on a delightful journey through the world of automobiles and the charm of quaint European life. Thank you for sharing this fascinating experience and allowing us to be a part of it!

Thanks for your very kind words, much appreciated. Stay tuned for more!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I had a very pleasant and interesting Saturday afternoon with the Mercedes Heckflosser club at Cor de Jong Classic Mercedes specialist.

I rocked up in my 41 year old W123, but this event was all about the Mercedes Hockflosser. Heckflosser means fin tail. Here in the west most classic car enthusiast will use the German name Heckflosser.

I happened to park my W123 right across from another W123 (although a coupe) which also happened to be owned and driven by a guy called Jeroen!



Just some basic information on the Heckflosser, courtesy of the Internet.

The 4 door Heckflosse models were produced from 1959 until 1968, these are also called W110, W111 and W112 by Mercedes-Benz. They were known to the public as 190, 190D, 220, 220S, 220SE, 300 SE and 300SE LWB (Long Wheel Base), after 1965 they were replaced by the 200, 200D, 230 and 230S. The 220 SE was replaced by the 250SE (W108), the 300 SE and SE LWB by the new W108 and W109 300 models.

The 2 door models were produced from 1961 until 1971, these are also called W111 and W112 by Mercedes-Benz. They were known to the public as 220SE, 250SE, 300 SE, 280SE and 280SE 3,5 Coupe and Convertible. Mercedes didn't really had a suitable successor for the 2 door models, you might mention the SLC models as successor of the 2 door models..


Why the name Heckflosse ?
You might have heard that some cars are known under a nickname. Well, the name Heckflosse, or Fintail in English speaking countries, is just a nickname given to this type of Mercedes. Because these cars show American influences, in this case the little 'fins' on their back (though in comparison with the ones found on the Americans these fins are barely noticeable), people started calling them Heckflossen. It must be said that the name is not officialy given by Mercedes-Benz. The word Heckflosse is simply the German translation of the word Fintail, 'Heck' means 'tail' and 'flosse' means 'fin'

The 2 door models can't really deserve the nickname Heckflosse because the Coup鳠and Convertibles lack the prominent 'fins' on the rear but they do share some mechanical elements with their 4 door sedan brothers and sisters.

We were received with coffee and cake as is tradition in the Netherlands.



Cor started the day by just answering all kinds of questions from everybody. Recently a new law came into effect, meaning cars over 50 years of age, do not require a (bi) annual MOT anymore. Some of the Car organisations are putting a voluntary every three year in place. Lots of arguing back and forth whether this was a good thing or not.

There is always plenty to see in Cor's workshop.





Several Mercedes are lined up on Cor's driveway



Two of the members put their cars on the lifts in the workshop.



Cor took us underneath and around both cars, pointing out all sorts of interesting details. What to look for and so on.





The Heckflosser had a very early version of independent suspension, the so called swing axle. I had not seen one for a very long time.



All in all a very pleasant and interesting day once again.

When I got home a parcel had arrived with the Mini thermostat housing. This thing is very complex. Costs a lot too! Euro 151 (INR 13500)







I have been doing some more reading up on this job. I might want to replace the large plastic tube sitting between the pump and the thermostat housing as well. I will look into it some more.

I am also making slow but steady progress on modifying my wife's old AC compressor into a cut-away model. All the cutting away is done. I will take it to a DIY sandblasting place later this week, to clean it thoroughly.



Later today Berndt will arrive and we will be dropping the Spider off at Marc to fix the oil consumption problem.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

When I got home a parcel had arrived with the Mini thermostat housing. This thing is very complex. Costs a lot too! Euro 151 (INR 13500) ...

That is just a thermostat?

It looks like an artificial heart for some huge creature. I think of car thermostats as being the simplest things, but then, the last time I saw one was back in the day when we filled water in the radiator itself. A simple, screw-in device, with a cylinder changing size with temperature.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

That is just a thermostat?

It looks like an artificial heart for some huge creature. I think of car thermostats as being the simplest things, but then, the last time I saw one was back in the day when we filled water in the radiator itself. A simple, screw-in device, with a cylinder changing size with temperature.

Yes, it's ridiculous. Mind you it is the thermostat and its housing.

But we are getting used to it. Remember about 9 months ago spanner mater Peter and I replaced the thermostat housing on his Lancia Dedra.



I put my new Mini Thermostat next to a few other similar bits:

From left to right:

Thermostat 1982 Mercedes W123, Thermostat 1998 Jeep Cherokee, Thermostat + housing 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider S3.



In all of the above three cars, the thermostat housing is a simple three-way valve. On the Mini (and the Lancia) you can see there are numerous cooling liquid connections and on the Mini also two temperature sensors are built into the thermostat housing.

What is new to me, is that the complete thermostat housing is just one large piece of plastic. It won't last, Q.E.D.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I put my new Mini Thermostat next to a few other similar bits:

And even I could recognise any of those others as being thermostats!

[Jeroen]

Today we fixed the Mini and a few other odd jobs.

As shown in an earlier post I had received the new Thermostat housing for the Mini. I have been doing a bit of research on YouTube. There are dozens of video's out there on this particular job.

Mini is all ready for its Thermostat housing replacement!



The first thing is to drain the coolant. I jacked up the left side a bit.



There is no drain anywhere in the system. But there is a plastic connector piece towards the front. All YT-video's pointed to it as draining the coolant. It won't drain everything, but as long as the level gets lower than the thermostat housing we are good to go. So a large old plastic bin underneath and removing one of the clamps was all it took.



We had to remove most of the air inlet stuff, various pipes, filters, baffles/sound damper and so on. We also moved the coolant reservoir out of the way as well.





At this point, I suddenly realised we had not disconnected the battery. As we will be disconnecting a lot of electrical connectors and there will be coolant spilling, this is quite important.

Both Peter and myself have had original Mini's in the past. They were always a royal PITA to work on. Everything is so tiny and there is virtually no room or access to anything. The new Mini, although bigger than the original, is even more filled with stuff.

We had to disconnect some 7-8 different connectors, various vacuum lines, all sorts of clips holding wiring and lines in place etc. The thermostat housing itself is held in place with only 3 bolts. And it presses against the so-called cross-over pipe which sits between the thermostat housing and the coolant pump. I had ordered a new cross-over pipe as well.

With the thermostat housing removed, we spent about an hour and a half trying to get the cross-over pipe out of the coolant pump. In the end, we gave up and just left it. Fingers crossed.

It was all very fiddly and tight work. Almost impossible to take good images. Most is 80% feel and only 20% view if there is a view at all!





Before installing the new thermostat housing we cleaned all mating surfaces and put a little dab of white Vaseline on all the seals and the pipes that will need to be pushed back into all the various hoses.

There was still quite a bit of spillage of coolant all over the engine. So we used my vacuum brake purge to hoover up all the spillage. Works a treat!





Halfway into re-installing everything we suddenly realised we had forgotten to install this special clip. It secures the outlet pipe of the thermostat housing to the cross-over pipe. So we had to undo quite a bit of work. Getting that clip back in was the worst job ever! Finally managed to get it in and secured.

I put a little piece of wire on it, so I could fish it out of the depths of the engine bay if I accidently let go of it. That was a very good idea as it turned out. You don't want to spend time looking for that clip somewhere behind the engine.

Eventually, we bolted the last bits back on. The air filter looked brand new! So back in it goes.





We filled the coolant in the coolant reservoir and took some time until the levels stayed put. The thermostat housing has a special vent on top of it. After making sure the system was filled to the max, I started the engine, heating on full! Always make sure you put the heating on if you have worked on the coolant system.

We checked for leaks, and everything looked fine, so we took it for a quick test drive. It all looks well, no leaks and the coolant level sits just below max!

Quite a tricky job. Not so much a technically challenging job, but purely a difficult spannering job due to very poor access and visibility on various parts.

Peter had also brought his TomTom. It needed a new battery. I have replaced a battery on several TomTom before. But they are all different. We did manage to open it up, but the screen did crack. Luckily it still works and it is a small crack only, so Peter can live with it.



We both like this particular model as it has a built-in in SIM-card. TomTom does not sell these products anymore. But for now, they are better than any other navigation solution out there!

Finally a very small job on the Jaguar. The front window spray nozzle is attached to the (one) wiper. There is a rubber hose that runs from the back of the nozzle down to the bottom of the wiper, where it protrudes and connects to a a little nozzle just underneath the front window. Eventually, it will crack.



I just cut the hose, right there on the crack and re-attached it.



Used my fancy heat gun to heat the hose, so I could slip it over the nozzle easily.



The problem though, the wiper rotates almost 180 degrees. The little hose is very tight in that position.



I have already phoned around, I might have found somebody who can supply me with a piece of the correct diameter hose.

So another day of fiddling done!!

Jerone

[Jeroen]

The Mini thermostat housing aftermath:

The next day after we had replaced the thermostat housing on the Mini I checked the engine compartment once again. I noticed that the level in the coolant reservoir was about 2-3 cm lower than before. I also noticed a few wet patches of coolant on the transmission bell house!!

So I checked all around the thermostat housing, look and feel. Could not see or feel any wetness. Just for good measure, I decided to purge the thermostat housing once again.

Here you see that purge valve on the old one:



I turned the purge valve screw anti-clockwise and a little coolant came out. But when I tried to tighten it, I go the distinct impression the thread is buggered. It was pretty amazing because it was plastic I had not tightened it much at all. Besides, even though it is plastic this piece is fairly large and I could tighten the old one pretty neatly without it breaking. Not a hundred per cent sure what is going on. I decided I just wanted to make sure the purge valve would stay in place. So I managed to get a small piece of heat shrink around it.



I have driven about 250 kilometres with it now. No more coolant and the level in the coolant reservoir stays at the same spot. So all is good with the Mini, luckily.

I have also found out that these Minin thermostat housings have been plagued with problems. The one fitted on my Mini is the latest version. You can tell by a special adapter cable that was fitted. Not sure if it was factory fitted, or done later.

I have also found a few tricks to remove the cross-over pipe. You can get access to it from underneath. When I say access, you can get close enough with the tip of a WD40 spray can or similar to lubricate it a bit so it'll pop out easier.

For now, I am happy that the Mini is working fine and back on the road. It is my daily drive, so it needs to be reliable.

I have been busy trying to source a new rubber hose for the Jaguar wiper washer. I have bought three 1-meter sections, but none will fit. Next Saturday I am attending another technical day at my favourite Jaguar Specialist, Raymond of G&G Autoservice. I will call Raymond tomorrow, I hope he has the correct hose in stock. If not, more calling and surfing the net! I might make do with the bits I have by improvising something. Not quite sure I want to go that route. A week after next my wife and I are on a two-day trip to Brussels (see Natalie Merchant concert) and a Christmas shopping run the week after to Canterbury UK.

Today I went to see the 50th edition of the Autumn Classic Car Show in the Autotron, Rosmalen. About half an hour's drive from where we live. It's always a nice event. This time, as it was their 50th anniversary they had a special exhibition about one of the Dutch car manufacturers from the past, DAF.



These cars are usually referred to as Volvo's, but they are essentially DAFs. When we moved back from the UK to the Netherlands in 1986 I had two of these Volvo 340s. One with a regular manual gearbox and one with the original DAF CVT.



The CVT was invented by Huub van Doorne, also the founding founder of Daf.

The Dutch Daf club has this nice 1:1 model on display:





I am not sure I had ever come across a Daf Cabrio. Turns out DAF supplied a special kit that would turn your Daf 33 into a cabrio. This is a 1974 Daf 33 that was converted in 1990.



At the time, Daf suffered terribly from the image of being an old lady's car. Which was probably true. At the time, it was mainly my 70-year-old aunts that were being this thing. So as Dafs go, this is about as "butch" as you can get; the Daf Pick Up!.



They are nice little cars, but I have never been that interested in them. Mind you the 340DL was a nice family car. Very comfortable and reliable.

This is more my thing, but Mrs D. keeps vetoing it.



A very nice BMW 6 series. I am not into BMW really, but I would consider a good series 6!



A bit of a usual car this one, but still pretty special. Providing you can overcome a standard human instant dislike of Yank Tanks. This is a 2006 Cadillac DTS 4,6, with a splendid V8!! Only 1200 miles, which means it is brand spanking new of course.



A low mileage (43000km) Alfa Romeo Spider Serie 4:



This is a very special little car, A 1939 Adler 10 Autobahn. It has a six-cylinder 2500CC inline engine. It was designed specifically to "eat up" the German Autobahn. Less than 5300 were built. This is the only one in the Netherlands.

I sort of know the owner. We met a couple of weeks ago at the Heckflosser meeting. He lives a few kilometres from me, on the other side of our river "de Linge". I bumped into him two days ago at the local car part shop and we had a little chat. He owns more than 40 classic cars!

Just a couple of impressions of this event:





I bought a few things too! (surprise )

A nice new sign, and some small bits



I also bought four of these plastic drip trays. They were on special. Two for ten Euros. I got four, as Peter wanted a pair as well. I thought it would be very handy to stick two of these under any car we are working on. It will catch any oil, coolant spillage, but also parts!!



I also found this multimeter for 5 euros. That is the price of a cup of coffee. I like to have a multimeter in all of my cars, so this one will go in the Mini.

I also found a very nice little model Mini. Cost me Euro 6!!

It is a Mini Cooper, not a Mini One. I have not been able to find a Mini One Model. But this Cooper model resembles mine pretty well. So I am using it as a basis, to modify into the perfect Mini One model!!







Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Today I decided to investigate the persistent problem on the W123. I have been after this for several years now. When driving at a steady pace, the car/engine hesitates/stutters a bit.

It's not much, my wife doesn't even notice. But I do and I will keep at it till I find the problem. I got a bit of renewed inspiration after the technical day of the Heckflosser club at Cor de Jong, I showed a few posts earlier.

I had already agreed with Cor I would call him to arrange to come and see him and see if we can fiddle some more with the ignition and CO.

Today I decided I had better check everything one more time.

I have done this so often, I can almost do it with my eyes closed. Took the air inlet filter and its housing and associated pipers off, took out the spark plugs and removed the valve cover.



I made a list of the various measurements to check and torque specifications to put everything back together again.





When it comes to the spark plugs. The good news is, the tips look great. The gap is still spot on.



The bad news, as you can see, the thread and body are very dirty. I found them all loose!! I could just turn them by hand!! No idea how that happened. The last time I had the spark plugs out, was when I was working on the carburettor and dynamo with my friend Cees.

As it so happens Cees is arriving later today and I will blame him! What are friends for? We are taking his Volvo to another friend of ours to get a new exhaust fitted.

During the technical day, Cor also spoke about how an old worn distribution chain might cause problems. As the old chain stretches the timing between the camshaft and crankshaft will be off.

As some of you will recall I did renew my distribution chain a while ago. Both Peter and Toon had helped me, and we did have some issues regarding the timing at the time.

So I decided to check once again:

Here you can see the crank in the top dead-centre position of the first piston, as marked on the flange.



When I checked where the camshaft mark sits I noted this, which is incorrect!



So I slowly turned the crank a little further, just under 20 degrees



When I look at the camshaft in this crank position I see the mark lining up as it should!!



My conclusion is that the timing of the camshaft is off. As it so happens one tooth is the equivalent of 18 degrees crank. So this can be solved by taking the chain apart, resetting it one tooth and clamping it down again.

Luckily I still have some spare chain links and bits.



I am going to think it over a bit more and ask some other knowledgeable folks what they think. Can this be the ultimate cause for the slightly less-than-perfect running of the engine?

More to follow.

I also put the Ford Fiesta Cutaway compressor together. Cleaned it with various detergents and air-driven steel brushes.

These are just the three main body parts, I have left everything else off for now.





On Friday I am planning to take it to my favourite DIY sandblasting place.
So I carefully masked some bits, and filled up some cavities that should not be blasted. All ready for some sandblasting!





Jeroen