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2,567 Posts
Well today dawned sparklingly blue and pristine , so i hoicked on my Gay M.T.B. Captain hat and shades , jumped in the old battlewagon , and shoved off for the shops .
Put a tenner in at the petrol station , waited for photographers to finish , then off to lidl's for my first shop in 4 moths .spoinged out of the car like zebedee (magic roundabout) and donned my mask of secrecy ,shop was pretty empty , so whizzed around ,and all was well .
Loaded it all in , fired up ,and drove out , waited at the lights then the roundabout ,and off i went down the straight to home ...er...well....not so simple......
Casually glancing at the dashboard i purloined off the Nautilus, i suffered a slight miasma of shock , my vision clouded, and i had to rub my eyes in that , american hero about to attack a jap aircraft carrier in a sopwith camel.... sort of way..
Yup , my temp gauge for the 4.0 litre engine no .2......(normal reading 85c)..... was reading 112 degrees c !
...my internal "god awlmighty" was interrupted when i then noticed the rad water pressure measuring device , was communicating the shocking out of this world fact , that the internal cooling pressure , instead of being the normal 5 to 7 psi , was ..wait .for .it.....wait for it....
TWENTY BLOODY FIVE PSI OF HEAD GASKET BLOWING GOODNESS !
At this point i realised i had not tuned the water pump on .
After booking myself in for a thorough barbed wire flagellation session upon my return , i carried on fluffing the throttle to keep the engines as far below actual aluminium meltdown as possible , 1200 rpm at 45 mph , and watched the dash board for signs of hope .
the rd pressure came down to 12 to 15 ....15psi is the cap blow off level ...
front engine was at 95 , rear stayed at 110c .all...the...way...home.....
drove in , hoofed the bonnet off , and got the garden hose on a "light fairy bath gossamer misting" setting (that's setting no2 in the instructions) , and wafted it over the blocks , upon which point the water droplets cracked off like fire crackers , bit like spitting in a hot frying pan ...it was hot.
kept this up for 10 mins ,pressure dropped ,so also took off the rad cap , and trickled , very slowly , water in with the pump and fans on .
bit the bullet , and fired her up (but in the normal way ) , and she sounded ok , no bubbling into the header tank , so maybe , just maybe i got away with it .
i think , basically , i was driving with no water in the car , and a 11.6:1 compression ration , for about 5 miles .....
looking on the bright side , all the oil leak stains on the engines have disapeared ..it was so hot it burnt the oil right off and degreased themselves ..
anyway , one fun fact i noticed on the log for the drive ...
![]()
that timed section is me wheelspinning down standlake main rd in second gear , it goes from 2217 rpm , to 5220 rpm in 0.884 seconds ,,,,that's what you get with 7.6 litres of goodness , and only a 35 lb flywheel .
I'll allow it
regards
robert
Put a tenner in at the petrol station , waited for photographers to finish , then off to lidl's for my first shop in 4 moths .spoinged out of the car like zebedee (magic roundabout) and donned my mask of secrecy ,shop was pretty empty , so whizzed around ,and all was well .
Loaded it all in , fired up ,and drove out , waited at the lights then the roundabout ,and off i went down the straight to home ...er...well....not so simple......
Casually glancing at the dashboard i purloined off the Nautilus, i suffered a slight miasma of shock , my vision clouded, and i had to rub my eyes in that , american hero about to attack a jap aircraft carrier in a sopwith camel.... sort of way..
Yup , my temp gauge for the 4.0 litre engine no .2......(normal reading 85c)..... was reading 112 degrees c !
...my internal "god awlmighty" was interrupted when i then noticed the rad water pressure measuring device , was communicating the shocking out of this world fact , that the internal cooling pressure , instead of being the normal 5 to 7 psi , was ..wait .for .it.....wait for it....
TWENTY BLOODY FIVE PSI OF HEAD GASKET BLOWING GOODNESS !
At this point i realised i had not tuned the water pump on .
After booking myself in for a thorough barbed wire flagellation session upon my return , i carried on fluffing the throttle to keep the engines as far below actual aluminium meltdown as possible , 1200 rpm at 45 mph , and watched the dash board for signs of hope .
the rd pressure came down to 12 to 15 ....15psi is the cap blow off level ...
front engine was at 95 , rear stayed at 110c .all...the...way...home.....
drove in , hoofed the bonnet off , and got the garden hose on a "light fairy bath gossamer misting" setting (that's setting no2 in the instructions) , and wafted it over the blocks , upon which point the water droplets cracked off like fire crackers , bit like spitting in a hot frying pan ...it was hot.
kept this up for 10 mins ,pressure dropped ,so also took off the rad cap , and trickled , very slowly , water in with the pump and fans on .
bit the bullet , and fired her up (but in the normal way ) , and she sounded ok , no bubbling into the header tank , so maybe , just maybe i got away with it .
i think , basically , i was driving with no water in the car , and a 11.6:1 compression ration , for about 5 miles .....
looking on the bright side , all the oil leak stains on the engines have disapeared ..it was so hot it burnt the oil right off and degreased themselves ..
anyway , one fun fact i noticed on the log for the drive ...
that timed section is me wheelspinning down standlake main rd in second gear , it goes from 2217 rpm , to 5220 rpm in 0.884 seconds ,,,,that's what you get with 7.6 litres of goodness , and only a 35 lb flywheel .
I'll allow it
regards
robert
