Colin Mill

Well that is most odd! 13.2v is slightly low even for a float charge so if the charger is in 'bulk' charge mode at 13.2v it should be chucking in a serious current (trying to charge the battery to over 14v) - be hitting the current limiter I would think. That does not fit the picture of a sulphated battery which would allow the charger voltage to rise too readily. Why the chargers are tripping into float mode when the battery is only getting to 13.2v is very strange.

Its well worth having a poke about with a DVM to see what the charger is doing. In general the conditioner chargers do an initial charge up to about 14.4v, maintaining this voltage until the charge current drops low enough (should be set to match the battery capacity but is usually some compromise to cover a range of typical car batteries). Once this happens the voltage of the charger should drop to about 13.8v as a 'float' charge. If the battery is sulphated the internal resistance causes the charge current to drop off very quickly and the charger drops back to the float charge even though the battery is a long way from fully charged. Conversely, a duff cell can mean the charger stays in the bulk charge (14.4v) mode and overcharging the remaining cells and endlessly failing to reach a low charge current to transition to the float stage. Edited by - Colin Mill on 24 Aug 2009 21:31:18

At that size it could easily be a Tillotson/Walbro type carb so a shot diaphragm could be the problem. Lots of sources for the re-build kits for these carbs and usually not expensive.

Well, several sites give 95C for the boiling point of petrol. I know its a mixture which complicates matters but if you use the rule of thumb that vapour pressure increases by about 6% per degree C then the vapour pressure of the petrol could be at 3 bar over atmospheric (4 bar absolute) at 25C above the boiling point - say 120C.

I think Bob has a point. From what I remember when the engine is ticking over and fan is on the outflow from the rad is stone cold so picking up the revs will allow the rad to shift more heat. Also, keeping the flow up prevents the potential thermal shock problems from dumping a load of cold water out of the rad into the engine when the lights go green.

Just for information I just measured the current being drawn from the battery while parked (standard Rover MEMs and immobiliser) and it's 14mA which equates to about 2.4A.hr per week. It accounts for why a car stood for only a few weeks might be reluctant to start. And of course it means that the car only needs to be left a short while without a maintenance charger for the battery to start to become sulphated. By comparison, the self-discharge of an AGM battery is about 2% per month which is equal to about 1mA for a 40A.hr battery so just a couple of days draw of the immobiliser is equal to a month's self discharge for an isolated battery. Edited by - Colin Mill on 20 Aug 2009 08:46:40

Sounds wacky! Unless it has a pre-start electric oil pressure boost pump and a hydraulic chain tensioner I don't see how that could be.

I built up the front edge of the boot by about 20mm so its the same height as the sides and goes over rather than under the seatbelt points and I guess this would help prevent water running forward on any minor down slope. I did contemplate putting something like tight fitting flairs on the rollbar tubes to prevent water running down the tubes from going down into the boot but, this being Derbyshire, running with the hood up is the norm so there isn't much point.

I think there is a clue in the starter running but (unless I'm interpreting this wrong) not trying to engage. If the starter solenoid was being re-energised 15 seconds after the engine started you would expect to hear the nasty noise of it trying to engage the moving ring gear. So it seems that the starter is getting something less than the full battery feed and is not accelerating fast enough to throw the Bendix forward. If it's a pre-engaged one I really don't see how it could do this as the solenoid should throw the starter into engagement before closing the contacts to energise the starter. Good puzzle 😬

I'm sure the high bypass flow rate of the PRRT system is an improvement on the standard system. It of course allows you to completely circumnavigate the potential hazard of the heater by plumbing its outflow to the existing stat housing so that it does not affect the temperature at the remote stat anyway. I'm not sure if you were saying that the heater has no effect on the standard system or not. Its easy to prove that it does - simply sit the car at tickover with the heater on full blast and hold the bypass pipes before and after the heater and feel the temperature drop caused by the heater. Edited by - Colin Mill on 2 Aug 2009 11:04:37

If you have a voltmeter check for a voltage between the chassis of the car and the engine. Also check between the battery negative and both the chassis and the engine. Do these checks both with the ignition on and engine stopped and with the engine running. Edited by - Colin Mill on 1 Aug 2009 20:39:52

Just a couple of questions - What happens if you pull the HT lead off so it wont start? does it still latch the starter on? Oh, yes, I take it its a Bendix type starter not pre-engaged? Edited by - Colin Mill on 1 Aug 2009 19:25:19

The safest practice is to ensure that all the wiring off a given fuse is rated so as to withstand at least the total fuse current to allow for fault conditions where the current could be flowing in the wiring of only one load but has a fuse rated to cope with several loads. The fuse ratings are:- Brake light and reversing light 15A Instrument power supply and heater fan 10A Radiator cooling fan 15A Heated element for front screen 10A rear fog light 5A R/H side/tail light and instrument illumination 7.5A L/H side/tail light 5A Headlight Main beam 15A Headlights dip beam 15A Wiper motor and washer pump 15A Horn 20A Indicators 10A Electric fuel pump 15A ECU 30A

Well, first on the 6 speeder is longer than the first on the 5 speeder (more so still if you fit the 3.62:1 dif to make 6th a bit longer legged) so the 6 speeder will not help you at that end. However, I would have thought you would have enough grunt already in first to exceed the traction. I only have a 1400 and I find it all too easy to get the back end unstuck in first 😬

I think the heater can cause this sort of overshoot because it cools the water in the bypass flow which is what the stat is monitoring. As a consequence the outflow from the head can be somewhat above the stat opening temp before the stat itself reaches that temperature. The problem would be worst when just sat at idle where the bypass flow is low. Anyway, I make sure the heater is off until the engine has reach normal operating temperature and then crack the heater on gradually.

I spent a bit of time getting the engine canted over to about the right angle as that seems to help the clearances. I just slacked the alternator off and pushed it inwards as far as it would go. I also found it less nerve-racking to move the car forward as I lowered the assembly in rather than move the hoist and set the engine and gearbox swinging. I did a trial fit of the shaft to the box to check that no bits of paint etc. were going to make life difficult. (just as well as it needed some cleaning up before it went in smoothly) Edited by - Colin Mill on 27 Jul 2009 17:16:17

Yes, I'm very surprised by that. With model helicopters you have to loctite lots of the mechanics or the vibration throws them apart in short order. However, if you warm an assembly to about 180C the loctite seems to take on the consistency of a very high viscosity grease and you can back the bolts out with steady firm pressure. Even Loctite 270 (stud lock) comes apart like that. I have had heli engine mountings come loose despite loctite.

Roy - I can understand your worry about battery chargers. I certainly wouldn't want a repeat performance of what happened. Did anyone explain what precisely happened with the charger to cause it to catch fire? Edited to add that, having shorted out the odd battery or two in my time (once dropped an electric flight pack into a pocket full of small change and had my coat catch fire 😬) I'm somewhat paranoid about them. I have added a charging lead to the Caterham that goes to separate ring terminals onto the battery and is fused right at the positive terminal with an in-line fuse holder. I have never been very happy with the way a lot of chargers have the output fuse on the front panel and then bring the charge cables out of a single grommet on the back of the unit. The fuse will not disconnect the battery from the cables if they short together in the grommet and the insulation on the wires would go up in a second if they did. Edited by - Colin Mill on 27 Jul 2009 08:55:09

Roy - Unfortunately a heavily sulphated battery does that. The high internal resistance causes the charge current to be low despite it being flat so the charger reports it as fully charged. My experience is that attempts to revive them are doomed to failure. I have fitted a AGM construction battery to the seven and kept it most of the time on a low current 13.5v supply just to prevent it getting discharged enough to sulphate (though I understand that AGM cells are fairly resistant to sulphating anyway) Edited by - Colin Mill on 26 Jul 2009 18:55:10

Here is one of the treads about the clutch spring and the clutch release bearing preload. Edited by - Colin Mill on 23 Jul 2009 20:38:13

Take the top off the pedal box perhaps. Oh yes, and look in the archives about the pre-load and the revised spring to get it right. Edited by - Colin Mill on 23 Jul 2009 20:27:42

Rob - In the system as Ford have it do they put the regulator so far from the engine bay as is proposed in this installation? If so then fine. If not then 5 minutes with a calculator is all it would take to check if there is a potential effect. Edited by - Colin Mill on 23 Jul 2009 19:31:04

High temperatures soften loctite so I'm not sure you should rely on it where an assembly is going to get hot.

Inertial considerations (rather than viscous ones) might just be worth a quick sum. If there is no form of fuel plenum in the rail then, as an injector opens, there must (because of the incompressibility of the fuel) be a drop in the pressure at the injector in order for there to be a pressure differential between the input of the pipe and the injector to accelerate the fuel in the pipe up to the required flow speed. To do the sum you would need to know the length and bore of the pipe from the regulator to the fuel rail and the peak flow rate through the injector (the latter would need to be doubled if the ECU pairs the injector drives as some systems do).

Is this the right pdf here? page 15 seems to have a plumbing diagram.