BRU 434B And the Journey Begins - First Engine Removal and more

[High_dan]

[John A. Ross]

Looks great Dan

[High_dan]

Thanks John, havnt put the chrome covers on the wheels yet but kind of like it without them.

[John A. Ross]

Thanks John, havnt put the chrome covers on the wheels yet but kind of like it without them.

Was just going to say that, I never actually noticed they were missing, looks the part as it is

You thinking of dropping the nose a little or is it just the angle ? something we keep thinking of doing on Mildred 1444 just never get round to doing it, but 1444 is not really a drive around car like BRU,

[High_dan]

You thinking of dropping the nose a little or is it just the angle ?

Yes, think it’s needs to come down a little bit, got adjustable protects at the moment set to the lowest it with allow with the springs I’ve got. Mike doing to source me some shorter springs.

looks a bit like a boat at the moment with the front end high. Also quite a bit lower on the drivers side.

[John A. Ross]

Ah OK, I usually call it the speedboat look as well

Does not take much height wise to skew the two sides, the drive out will have gave it a good rumbling

[High_dan]

Have just re-adjusted the float level on the Weber and I seem to have solved the problem.

Cheap gauges reading 10 degrees hotter than the engine actually is tho.

after a blast around thermostat housing 76 degrees, radiator core 50 and top of rad 80ish. Gauge reading 90ish.

[High_dan]

Another 40 miles today, thought it was fixed until about half way through the journey cut out when I came to a stop at a junction. It then wouldn’t start again, left it for 10mins then fired straight back up.

[moose549]

I was at Andy's when you rang so we had a chat. When it does this rather than wait, push throttle to floor and crank engine if it is flooding then a wide open throttle and cranking will pull in loads of air and she should start straight back up. Give it a try and let me know if that works it is not the cure but will prove excess fuel. You could alter the float height so the fuel level is 1 mm lower compared to the book setting. Still check for debris it only takes a tiny spec to cause issues and make the needle valve pass, on the weber 40's on my rally car i run 1.2 mm lower fuel level to prevent slosh from float bowls on really hard cornering and or braking turning right . Engine temps seem fine to me if you have a genuine 76 deg at hottest part of the engine the thermostat housing then all is good just check what the temperature is going into the pump from the radiator and what the temp is from pump into the block, you can pick up a lot of temp from the three way valve which is fed from the heater size hose from the thermostat area of the head, fitting a restrictor here helps performance of heater and reduces high temp water bypassing radiator and going through pump and increasing the temp of the cooled water from the bottom of the rad to pump.

[High_dan]

As always Mike thanks for your words of wisdom, been out in the car today and didn’t have any problem. Will try that next time it happens. It doesn’t seem to do it when the car isnt at full temp. Fitted the overflow tank this morning aswell. Will let you know how I get on.

[moose549]

No problem Dan. How close to heat do the fuel hoses get ?

Do not forget the procedure for overflow tank, will repeat it here for everyone benefit. Fill rad as full as possible, fill overflow tank to halfway or just above, ensure overflow pipe from rad is submerged in coolant in tank. Go for a drive or run engine until thermostat opens and rev engine quite high. Air in the top of the rad section that cannot be filled with water will be forced past the rad cap when it lifts above 7 psi (due to pump pressure and coolant expanding with heat) allow to cool completely. As the engine cools it will draw water from the overflow tank back past the cap and fill the void where the air once was in rad above level of cap. Repeat until the level no longer drops in overflow tank when hot. You will then have a hot and cold level. Also the least amount of air in the coolant, coolant cools better than a coolant/air mix. Just remember to mark the bottle when you are sure the system is full of coolant and all air expelled with a high hot level and cold low level then you do not need to remove the cap to check level (as coolant would pour out and let air in).

Keep all fuel hoses and tank away from a much heat as possible, warming u p the fuel hose causes the fuel to try to evaporate in the hose and raises pressure so may overcome the needle valve but warm fuel also causes the engine to run lean and at full temp a lean mixture will make the engine stall. Seen this with cars that have been set up on rolling road and foul plugs like crazy when cold as the main jet size has been increased on every power run to keep adding BHP which is disappearing every run as the fuel tank is being warmed up every run due to a badly installed front rad conversion that blows hot air from the rad at the tank and or the fuel pipe is routed close to the rad pipes, or rad pipes are not insulated and under the tank. Hard to diagnose as the "lumpy race cam", "webers hard to set up", " not as good as Dellorto's" "its a comp car it should be rich, run rough at idle" B*llocks is spoken at it only raises its head as a proper problem when the car is used properly over a decent distance. The longer you run the hotter it gets the hotter it gets the leaner the fuel until the RR has either made it over rich so much it really wont run well at warm temps or you add more cooling and keep chasing the wrong issue. You then get the " i have fitted a competition rad from a Golf Turbo nutter machine and i do not have cooling issues anymore" because they do not drive it far enough and hard enough to get a problem, they are down BHP but don't know as it is still faster than a standard car, poor fuel economy (all competition engines are bad on fuel, utter rubbish, they are if you go wide open throttle everywhere but they have been made to be very efficient getting the max out of the fuel so if driven carefully are not far behind a less well tuned engine in terms of MPG).

[High_dan]

Ok so my fuel line is an expensive nylon braided line #6 at the point where it enters the engine bay it is very close to heater hose. Going to wrap it in some foil to test and she if it makes a difference. Have also ordered the bits to connect up the heated manifold.

just finished installing the overflow tank.

[High_dan]

Just been for blast to Tavistock and back, about 20 miles. Didn’t have the problem till I was nearly home and the car was hot. Stopped to say hello to someone and then wouldn’t restart unless I back it full throttle.

just pulled the plugs and they are very black and sooty. Running rich?

[John A. Ross]

Thanks for that Mike, was speaking to Pat on the expansion vessel for DDG just other day, not fitted as yet.

Dan

I ran the fuel line down back of chassis leg from behind the engine bay closing panels like below

Keeps it well away from the engine and its just a short jump in free space to the fuel inlet for the 28/26

Its not essential to follow the usual imp route.

[John A. Ross]

Haynes: use fluid which conforms to BS 3150 specifications. Use 2.75 pints of anti-freeze with 8.5 pints of water for temperatures down to -12 °C.
Manual: Bluecol

Good idea to use distilled water on a fresh system, if you have an air con/ de-humidifier in workshop or house collect the condensate from the drain system.

And talking distilled water, deal on Amazon.

No idea if thats going rate or if its really cheap

DEAL ON AMAZON DISTILLED WATER CLICK HERE