DaveCymrus' Countach thread :D

[~dan~]

dave, Ive been away this week, email sent.

:-)

[davecymru]

As the postmistress put it as she handed me my Tax disc this morning:

"there you go, now you can go and play!"

Car finally passed the MOT this morning! It did fail yesterday on _really_ minor things. i.e headlight aim, loose fuel hose that i hadn't spotted, split gater.

Nice new garage fixed them all in 1/2 hr this morning I was also advised that while they're more than happy to MOT it again in future (and i'd certainly use them again!) that if i didn't mind, if anything needs fixing then i'd have to do it myself as its "a bit of a bug*er" to work on


Just took it for a spin now for fuel and at the petrol station a car pulled in behind me just so that her son could come and have a look (to much embarrassment from me!)

Then in order to keep up with my kit car owning traditions, just as i got home and pulled up on the drive one of the old coolant hoses split! <sigh> and ended my 1st big drive in a dramatic cloud of steam

New temp hose already fitted from spares box and 2m of nice new hose ordered from CBS to replace all 5 large bore flexible hoses over the weekend.

Now the fun really begins

[AcC8braman]

This pass is down to your fastidious attention to detail, well done and well deserved.

Can't wait to see you and the beaut at Stoneleigh

[GazDavies]

Congratulation Dave, I couldnt be happier for you! Enjoy.

[Paul L]

Result!

Obviously I mean on the MOT pass, not the cloud of steam as you got home.



Enjoy, Paul.

[davecymru]

Interesting development on the cooling front last night.

In preparation to replace the large bore cooling pipes i disconnected the header tank and when i did I noticed that all the water stayed in it! Which was odd So with all the pipes off i found that the main hose input to the header tank had been crushed and was completely clogged with what i think is "bars leaks"!

So i opened up the connector and dug the gunk out before flushing everything through and then with a new hose i plumbed it all back in and when i did a hot run i could actively see the coolant level rise in the header tank as it heated up. Result!


So i suspect that this not working previously led to excess coolant being expelled from the system and the level getting low, causing extra heat, causing the pipe to burst.....



New big hoses from CBS are now here, so they'll go on this weekend and i'll try again to do more than 5 miles without a comical explosion (although TBH i do enjoy fixing it when it does go wrong )

[L5000s]

Well done on the MOT Dave , what was the car like to drive ?

[davecymru]

Well i can agree with Mr Clarkson in that driving a Countach is a bit like driving a pill box, but strangely quite good fun

Unfortunately I'm still encountering some minor issues due to some of the original design decisions, but I'm quite happily chugging through them.

I've now fettled the new cable gear change and that is working considerably better than the old rod linkage.

The latest issue is the wiring for the cooling fans (described in another thread), but now that's hopefully sorted I'll be doing some more test runs tomorrow to see if I've nailed the overheating issues. Fingers crossed!

Then it's onto setting up the suspension and fixing the fuel gauge.

[davecymru]

While i'm at it, i've started scanning in pics of the original build as the MasterCo build is a bit different to a Mirage.

Some pics of the space-frame and initial panelling:

Front end:


The cockpit panelling going in:




More to come..

[AcC8braman]

Cool, loving the updates Dave.

Sad I missed you at the show, next time

[davecymru]

Cheers matey, maybe next time..... Ideally i want to get it all done ready for a run to Exeter at the end of the season. But we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out!

Some more updates.....

Even with the correct fan wiring I've still got cooling system problems It is already better than it was so I'm happy that the new wiring made a difference, but i am now also:

• Ducting in the back of the rads to make the hot air flow through without flowing back on itself.
• Blanking off around the rads in order to force more air through them when on the move.
• Ordered 2x10" high flow cooling fans to replace the cheepo 9" ones I've currently got fitted, as while the 9" ones do lower the temp after a run, it's very slow to do so.
• I've also noticed that now the header bottle/expansion tank is de-gunked and actually working, that it may not be plumbed in correctly. What i assumed was a pressurised overflow tube, may in fact need to be plumbed in! Which would explain the coolant leakage when everything gets hot! So I've done a bit of reading up on how the V8 cooling system _should_ all be connected and i think i now know what needs to be modified.

Apart from that, after checking all of the wiring and a bit of poking around inside the fuel tank, i have found out that the cause of my non working fuel gauge is due to a rusty fuel tank sender. So a new one is now on order!

I've also finally managed to set the timing But this was only achieved by temporarily having to strap a mirror to the back of the bulkhead with cable ties and gaffer tape! (there _must_ be an easier way?) While doing this i did start to have concerns about the fuel tank plumbing, so I may also have a look at that when i fit the new sender as i'm not at all sure that it is balancing out between the 2 tanks.....

[davecymru]

Things have been a bit photo-light recently, so i thought i'd make amends.

Here's where i mounted the fused fan relays, just by the variable thermostat switch for the fans in the passage between the fan duct and the engine bay. I also continued tidying up the existing wiring with split conduit.



Rimmer bros sent through my new fuel tank sender and when i changed it over my fuel gauge now works a treat!

I think it's obvious why the old one didn't want to budge!:

[davecymru]

As a result of all of my investigation into the cooling system and a lot of reading up, i now think that i've got a head gasket problem as i'm getting a rapidly pressurised cooling system and it's getting far too hot far too quick.

I'm going to try and scrounge one of those test meters that analyses the gases in the cooling header tank in order to prove this before i go much further.

Also, while doing some of the short runs to get the car warmed up i started to get a squeaking/rubbing from the rear offside wheel. With the wheel off i could see where it was rubbing at the back and i ground it down a bit to see if that would cure it (i was thinking rust or bashed backing).
You can see where it was rubbing as the shiny bits on this photo:


Sadly, that stopped for a while but then came back, so that is still being looked into. Possible bearing issues?
I also think that this is quite a nice photo of the rear end and suspension set-up, especially for those with other brands of Countach replica.


Also while the wheel was off i noticed that the boot gas ram seems to warp / lift the boot on the nearside edge when closed:

So for the moment I've swapped that back over for the non-hydraulics that was on there previously.

And i'm dreading the day that i ever need to replace one of these!!

[AcC8braman]

Looking good Dave.

I may have rear disks and calipers available as I have upgraded to four pots if you are interested?

And your rear end looks loads better than mine . I need to hide mine

[AcC8braman]

And my tyres cost me £1k from the US

[davecymru]

I think i've now confirmed my my previous suspicions about head gasket problems, so while Steve, Dan and the others continue adding bits to their cars, i'm back to taking bits off of mine

Manifold and engine cover off and new gasket set ordered. I'll wait for that to turn up before i go any further in order to keep crud out of the engine.



In the pic you can also see the temporary engine bay fan to keep the air moving when the car is not moving. This was an idea taken from my old MR2 and it did make a bit of difference, so the big vauxhall fan will be replaced with something better engineered eventually.

Also through the engine bay side hatch you can see the exterior-ply ducting to flow the hot air from the Kenlowes out of the back vents and to keep it away from the engine. Those panels will be replaced in Alloy eventually as i'm still in the "get it all working" phase atm and the "make it look pretty" phase can come later

Hopefully due to the fact that my engine is nowhere near as large as a Lambo V12 and due to the advancements in tech, such as the better efficiency of the alloy rads and the newer fans i'll hopefully be able to engineer something that looks and works cleanly.

As you can see from this pic of an original Countach, Lamborghini had everything in one large compartment and went for a "cram it all in there" approach due the sheer size of the engine!



Scary, but i wouldn't say no to one though

[davecymru]

I know i've been quiet this last month, but i's been a month of ups and downs..

I replaced the head gaskets and managed to rebuild the engine and set it up running lovely and smoothly.

But it still got hot...

So i did some trial runs and noticed that when stationary it didn't seem to be bringing the temp down and it was still very slowly getting hotter. But, if I revv'd it a bit the higher water flow did play a part. So i have to accept that i've got flow issues and i reckon mainly due to the differences in hose sizes with 38mm main hose runs, but 25mm connectors on the Mini-rads.

So, i fitted an after market Davies Craig 115 Electric Water pump:



Which is wired to come on with the fans and has successfully stopped it getting hotter when stationary

But it still got hot.... too hot for my linking and even with the EWP it wasn't bringing the temp down very much when all the electrics kicked in

So I re-did my calculations on Rad size and from what i can tell:

An original Rover SD1 V8 radiator is:
core size - 610 x 440 x 30
volume - 8052000 mm cubed
And mounted right at the front of the car!

My after market alloy Mini rads are:
core size - 264 x 260 - x 50
Volume - 3432000 mm cubed
and are tucked away in the haunches.

So while i knew that even with 2 rads i'm not as big as OEM, i had hoped that the extra volume of water in the system overall, the switch to higher powered fans, alloy rads, ducted air flow and an EWP would counter this, but i have to admit defeat

[davecymru]

So rather than carry on faffing around, I've decided to rip out the mini rads and start again.

So this is one of the mini rads in situ and it clearly shows the space I've got to play with and how it's limited horizontally by the diagonal bracing in the background. :

So after a few weeks of web trawling i've come across a new contender that will fit in the space I've got with only just a few mm to spare. The Renault 5 GT Turbo rad!

Core size - 310 x 388 x 38
Volume - 4570640

and while 2 of those should be more than enough capacity, if i'm going to do this then it's going to be belt-n-braces this time around as i don't want to have to go through all this faff again and i want to know that if i get stuck in traffic that i have more than enough cooling capacity so as not to have to worry!

So i've found some after market deep-core Renault 5 GT Turbo rads that come in at:

core size - 310 x 388 x 70
Volume - 84,196.00



Just one of those is bigger than the Rover SD1, if 2 of those don't work then I give up and i'm going back to build another Sammio!

I'm also changing my old Landrover plastic header tank whiel i'm at it to an alloy one:



And while the boot lid was off i tidied up some of the reflective coating:


(every little helps!)

[AcC8braman]

Wow, if those rads don't do it then I am now sure what else can?!?!

Just a thought in the door / side duct, is there anything to direct the flow of air up onto the rad? I know this doesn't help when stationery?

[oxford1360]

The symptoms that you describe are identical to ones that I had with an M6 GTR (mid-mounted Rover V8 with a rad at the front) - it would get hotter and hotter until you gave it some revs which would cause a big rush of cool water around the system. We put a massive rad from a van in it........and it didn't cure the problem.

We solved it by mounting a large header tank at a height that is higher than the top of the rad (obviously). The pump had no problem filling this, and gravity did the rest.

We surmised that (with the original setup) at low revs the pump did not have the umph to get water moving along the pipes to the front, through the rad and back again. If your pump is trying to directly push water into the top of one rad and then into the top of the second, that's a lot of work.

Once we implemented the header solution we were able to revert to the high-efficiency Golf GTI rad that we'd used at the start and everything worked as it should.

I'm not saying this will be the answer, but it might be worth trying before ditching the Mini rads.