Diversity is a good thing. Right?

Coke is great for rust.
Sugar and phosphoric acid make it a good rust buster, if not pricy.

The primary ingredients of Coca-Cola syrup include either high fructose corn syrup or sucrose derived from cane sugar, caramel color, caffeine, phosphoric acid, coca extract, lime extract, vanilla, and glycerin[citation needed]. High fructose corn syrup or sucrose are overwhelmingly the major added ingredients: one 600 ml bottle (≈20.29 U.S. fl. oz.) of Coca Cola contains the approximate equivalent of 15 teaspoons of sugar.[1] However, contrary to what is implied by the "cola" name, Coca-Cola syrup does not contain any kola nut extract.[2] Since no kola extracts are present in the recipe, the primary taste of Coca-Cola comes from vanilla and cinnamon with trace amounts of orange, lime and lemon and spices such as nutmeg.[3]
Click to expand...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_formula

Molasses is also great, according to this guy....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZCFcxf5 ... GQ&index=2
 
Let's not forget Coca Cola used to contain cocaine !
Click to expand...
That was a long time ago, and well before cocaine was a banned substance. Like marijuana, cocaine had practical uses in medicine so the notion of adding it to a soft drink wasn't such a strange concept back then. Maybe one day (hopefully soon) we'll look at these highly caffeinated 'energy' drinks in the same way. :wink:

Anyhoo, back to car stuff! The rest of the motor was duly stripped and it appears i've bought a winner. Bores are standard and in excellent condition, pistons are fine though a couple of rings were broken. Bearings are all 20 thou undersize and in great order, little bit more wear on the mains but not bad.
I have also managed to sort the major stumbling block. The engine and trans are coming along nicely, and the crossmember from the spare car will be needed as the original one has been severely modded to fit the six. The problem being that the steering rack is mounted to the member and the manual rack has custom mounts welded on. So, I have to swap the crossmember to fit the V8 back in but I can't use the manual rack anymore and I can't use the rhd rack from the parts car. I finally managed to get hold of the parts guru for the Stag club and told him my troubles. "well" says he, "I just happen to have a lhd rack in my shed that came out of a car in Christchurch that was converted to rhd." Success! So he will rebuild it for me and I will have fresh rack with a warantee for a very reasonable sum. :D It will take him a couple of weeks but that's fine 'cos the motor is nowhere near ready and i've got no money yet so it is all coming together.
I'm also seriously looking into the possibility of fitting and electric water pump. Has anyone had any experience with these? You basically remove the guts of the water pump and thermostat and block off the bypass hose and fit the new pump in the lower hose with a controller. The controller pulses the pump slowly when cold, then faster as the engine approaches your ideal temp. When it is almost at the preset temp it runs the pump constantly and when it goes over the temp it will turn on the electric fan. It will also run the pump (and fan if required) for a bit after the engine is turned off. Sound like an ideal solution to me, and not much more costly than replacing the original pump.
 
I've looked at that pump and control system you're describing and it's made by a reputable OE supplier - Davies Craig I think. BMW Mini's have this type of set up fitted as standard and I have heard stories of them failing, but they don't strike me as any more common than a mechanical water pump failing.

I'm slightly concerned about the intermittant circulation when below temperature - that's fine from the radiator's point of view, but it might give opportunity for some localised boiling in the heads. I'd have preferred to have a continuous low flow circulation topped up by pulses of high flow circulation.

Only really becomes a problem if your radiator is heavily oversize for the application. Like some of us with 3 row rads on our P6's. Even then you could correct this by blanking off a portion of the rad so that the pump ran more or less continuously.

Getting rid of the thernostat strikes me as a bonus too.

And I really like the idea of integrating the control of pump and fan.

Chris
 
The idea of the electric water pump is simple enough, and therefore could be made to work, but i am sceptical upon the removal of the thermostat.
You see in many cases it acts on purpose restrictively in order to encourage coolant circulation to the engine side that is far away from the pump. Without the thermostat you will probably have the front cylinders running too cool and the rear ones too hot. Given that this engine was notorious for its cooling problems, i suggest that you should study the factory coolant circulation carefully and try to improve upon it, rather than just plumbing the electric pump at the bottom hose.

My other concern lies with the efficacy of the heater. I have no idea how the heater is plumbed in a Stag, but in order to be effective early on, you should have maximum circulation of coolant within the engine and the heater matrix, and none on the radiator as soon as the engine starts. So a very slow running pump after the start up doesn't help. In conventional systems this was taken care by the thermostat with a pump running at engine speed. Probably you will have to replicate this function in order to have an effective heater.
 
KiwiRover said:
...Someone has replaced the motor and g'box with a 1970s BMW 3 litre 6 and 4 spd...
Click to expand...

Lovely Stag. But somehow a Stag just isn't a Stag without those 8-cylinders - as you say. It's a truly gorgeous colour though 8) I've always prefered the earlier Stags without all the chrome, stripes, and alloy wheel bling.
 
I saw that one Warren. Looks lovely and a Trumpy 6 pot would have been my number 2 option if the V8 hadn't worked out.
Not a lot of progress thus far, mainly due to a lack of funds. But, a lovely reconditioned LHD steering rack is sitting in my hall and I have ordered rings, bearings and a timing chain set from Wins. I have been occupying myself with little jobs that don't cost much in the meantime so I have cleaned, blasted and painted the engine block, sump, rocker covers and assorted small brackets off the engine. I also attacked the alloy wheels with some 800 grit wet and dry and most of the corrosion off and they are looking pretty good. I have given them to a friend to have a go at tidying up the back side and then I will mask them up and spray them. Then a little Autosol to finish.
I have finally managed to join the Stag club and i'll be going on a club run with them next Sunday. Not sure if the Stag will be up to it or not but I do have some backup cars available. :LOL:

On a Rover note, an acquaintance from the Rover club was looking for a wiper motor for his late series 1. I had no idea there were so many types! Early cars used a cable drive system mounted on the passenger side with a Lucas square motor. Then they switched to the link drive type mounted on the driver's side, still with the square motor. Then they kept the link drive but swapped to a round motor. And of course the s2 V8 had the round motor cable drive.
I found an early cable drive type. I found a couple of round motor types, but not the square motor link drive that I need. His motor is blown, bits of solder and wire fell out when I dismantled it. The cable drive has a different drive mechanism so I can't use the guts of that and the round motor is wired completely differently! At this point i'm thinking the easiest solution will be to convert to cable and extend the wiring. :x
 
Ah yes, I came across that confusion/profusion of wiper motors when looking into my PAS conversion (now indefinitely on the backburner due to the time/costs of the ZF conversion). It appears I'm in the clear, but it could easily have been different.
 
A little bit of Stag news. I did that club outing with the Stag club. Very pleasant, met at a café in West Auckland and then went in convoy with 7 other Stags around the long way up to another café in Leigh (just north of Auckland) for lunch.

Nice bunch of people, very different type to the Rover club and not what I would call 'car people'. They have their shiny toy and like the social outings but the interest doesn't seem to go much beyond that. Only one person paid more than a passing interest in my Federal spec car. Odd. By contrast I took the Rangie on a Rover club outing to Thames to see a guy's car collection (3 restored series 1 & 2 Landys, a P4 110 and a '97 420) and spent a good deal of time looking at other people's Rovers and chatting to folks about mine. Takes all types I guess. :roll:
Anyway, I finally got my heritage cert after a 6 week wait. Assuming I have the right chassis number, this must be the most unoriginal car I've ever owned! Supposedly it was originally white with a chestnut (dark brown) interior, V8 automatic, with a hardtop and air conditioning.
Now it is a sort of metallic Carmine red with a saddle tan interior, wrong motor, manual 'box and the hardtop and AC are long gone. :shock:
Still, it did confirm a build date of January '73 and it looks like the steel wheels may be correct.
I finally got around to fitting the US front indicator lenses (visible in the photo). I have my box of engine goodies but haven't done anything with them yet and i'm considering leaving it on the hubcaps now because every Stag I see has alloys and mine doesn't...
 
kiwirover asked, I'm also seriously looking into the possibility of fitting and electric water pump. Has anyone had any experience with these?
Click to expand...

I've had the Davies Craig electric water pump fitted to my P6B for over 12 months now (inclusive of one west Aussie summer under its belt) and not had any problems with it, and like the way it runs contintinuously after turning off the engine to get rid of heat soak as it runs for one minute or until temp returns to your set temperature.

Just a quick reply, I'll post more info later,
Scott
 
Hi Scott

That probably justifies a separate post in V8 engines. What did you do with your water pump? Did you just take the belt off it? Or take the rotor out of the inside? And if so how? Looking forward to some pictures!!

Chris
 
Howdy Chris, yes I'll put a post in the V8 engine section once I've taken a few photos etc, been meaning to do it after it had been fitted but just wanted to see it run for a while and through a summer and also being a bit wary of sod's law kicking in if I posted too early!! but it runs quite well. I left the water pump in place just removed the pulley and fitted a smaller belt to run the alternator. you can set the temp on the control unit which effectivley becomes your thermostat and have removed the standard thermostat. I've seen in the American "Summit Racing" website that there is an electric pump which bolts in place of the normal water pump and i suppose this would be a better ideal if in fact this electric water pump would be compatible with the controller which came with my set, I noticed that chap in the USofA (from the Wedgeshop) with his turbo RV8 TR7 had one of those fitted but when I asked about it he said his runs continuously. The Aussie Davies Craig unit fits into the bottom hose and pulses 10 secs on and off when under set temp then 30 secs on 10 off when at temp setting and continuously if it goes over temp and cuts the electric fans in as well to assist cooling, but for the most part you get enough cooling through the radiator when travelling at speed. I might have to upgrade to a higher output alternator as I think the standard one struggles when pump and fans run continuously, I'll have a chat with my local auto electritian about that. but I've had some good hour long trips without any problems. The unit I fitted was the EWP115 (not the alloy unit)

Davies Craig website is;
http://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://w ... W-Dvpkhzsg

Scott
 
KiwiRover said:
Nice bunch of people, very different type to the Rover club and not what I would call 'car people'. They have their shiny toy and like the social outings but the interest doesn't seem to go much beyond that.
Click to expand...

Triumph owners... pah!
 
:LOL: I'm not sure it's Triumph owners. I know a few people with Triumph Saloons and TRs, Heralds etc and most are keen car enthusiasts. And to be fair I have only been on the one run so far, there may be others out there.
I haven't made any progress lately but I have managed to recoup some costs by selling a few un-needed Stag bits on TM so hopefully so work will be done soon but I have possible buyers on 2 Rovers so I have been working to get them up to scratch.
 
westOz74P6B said:
Howdy Chris, yes I'll put a post in the V8 engine section once I've taken a few photos etc, been meaning to do it after it had been fitted but just wanted to see it run for a while and through a summer and also being a bit wary of sod's law kicking in if I posted too early!! but it runs quite well. I left the water pump in place just removed the pulley and fitted a smaller belt to run the alternator. you can set the temp on the control unit which effectivley becomes your thermostat and have removed the standard thermostat. I've seen in the American "Summit Racing" website that there is an electric pump which bolts in place of the normal water pump and i suppose this would be a better ideal if in fact this electric water pump would be compatible with the controller which came with my set, I noticed that chap in the USofA (from the Wedgeshop) with his turbo RV8 TR7 had one of those fitted but when I asked about it he said his runs continuously. The Aussie Davies Craig unit fits into the bottom hose and pulses 10 secs on and off when under set temp then 30 secs on 10 off when at temp setting and continuously if it goes over temp and cuts the electric fans in as well to assist cooling, but for the most part you get enough cooling through the radiator when travelling at speed. I might have to upgrade to a higher output alternator as I think the standard one struggles when pump and fans run continuously, I'll have a chat with my local auto electritian about that. but I've had some good hour long trips without any problems. The unit I fitted was the EWP115 (not the alloy unit)

Davies Craig website is;
http://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://w ... W-Dvpkhzsg

Scott
Click to expand...


Would really be good to know what the fuel savings would be using the electric water pump and electric rad fan. I am sure they dramatically improve the RV8's part load efficiency which will most directly impact the cars MPG.
I really don't believe the websites claim of 10 KW savings, in isolation yes but overall no, I am sure the answer is still a great improvement and with an electric fan would be possibly a 20% or more saving in cruising power usage which would be stonkingly good for MPG.

Graeme
 
KiwiRover said:
I know a few people with Triumph Saloons and TRs, Heralds etc and most are keen car enthusiasts.
Click to expand...

C'mon, Al. You and I both know that if they knew anything at all about cars, they'd own Rovers.

P.S. We've booked in your re-education session, before things go too far.
 
Having owned a couple of 2000/2500s, a Dolomite and a Toledo in the past, I don't think you can be a Triumph owner without being a fairly accomplished mechanic. :LOL:
I think the problem arises when the value of the car goes up. People who can afford $15-20k plus for a classic toy can afford to have someone else do all the work and they often have no problem going to the shiny specialist shop and paying the big bucks to keep the car maintained. And those people never get their hands dirty.
Us poor folk with our budget classics usually have to learn a bit of basic mechanicing out of necessity. But I like that, you get to bond with your car. Mix a bit of blood with the oil... I always felt that a large part of the hobby was to be able to say I did this, I fixed that. Gives one a sense of achievement, and I seem to be able to do a better job than most 'professionals' out there.
I guess that's part of my appreciation of Rovers, the engineering is fantastic. You can see that a lot of thought has gone into it and you can see the reasoning behind everything, even if the reality of some ideas wasn't great, you can see why they were done the way they were. It's quality. Which is where the Triumphs fall short. :(
 
Yes, don't worry. I'm not switching teams, as it were. The Stag is for the Missus, she has lusted after them for years. The quirkiness of this one (and the price) are what attracted me but It hasn't exactly won me over. I will do my darndest to return it to decent original condition and then the Beloved can drive it.
Still, things are changing. I have pretty much sold the Burnt grey SC, I hadn't planned to just yet but I'm very pleased it's going to a good home. And I have some people who are very keen on the Turquoise V8 so I'm getting on with all the little finishing jobs I should have done months ago on that.
And, in momentous news, I have gained spousal approval to build a garage on the back section! It's taken 14 years in this house but we were discussing me putting a storage shed up the back and she said "why don't you just build a garage?" So, I don't want to drop the ball here and I've been making enquiries and getting prices from Garage companies. It's Bl**dy expensive!!! Most places claim to offer a one-stop service but what you get is a concrete slab (on level ground) and a fully constructed building. What they don't include in their quotes are power connections, drainage connections, ground work, planning permission or council approval so at this point i'm looking on the high side of $30K for a 6x9m building! Oh, and I can't build it where I want it with a building permit because it's under the 'drip line' of some trees. Depressing!
I'm about to start looking at doing it in stages and doing a fair bit myself and eschewing authoritarian approval. I reckon it could be done for close to half that. It's a lot of dosh but it sure would be nice. I've never had a garage before...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top