Have had a fun few months on the car during the 'cold'season'. The cooling system seemed to have some gremlins and I concluded that it was either:
a) Head gasket
b) Air trapped in themostat housing.
So I decided to fix both - first whipped the head off and all looked good. Had the valves regorund and head tested at local machine shop. Also tapped a thread into thermostat housing and connected a hose from here to the expansion tank to bleed any trapped air.
This work was completed within 10 days and cost £50. It then took me 3 months to get the engine running properly again! First I bent a pushrod and for safety removed the head again to check everthing. Second I tried re-using the old head nuts and found that they wouldnt hold the correct torque. Third I snapped the accelerator bracket tongue off the exhaust manifold and my solution prevented a proper seal between the inlet manifold and the head causing an air leak. Finally, I got the engine running properly and found one of the core plugs was leaking and needed to be replaced.
But all the work was completed in time for a test drive on the first warm and sunny day of 2021. Suddenly it was all worth it!
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