alanrichey

I've promised my 5-year old granddaughter she can have my car when I pop my clogs (provided she trains as an engineer, of course).   I said that based on the fact that with a stainless steel chassis and body it should last forever.   However, there is one weak point in the car which is the Sierra suspension trailing arms, and although I rarely venture out in the rain and keep the car garaged, I assume that it will eventually rust away.   Is there any mileage in applying some sort of preservative/underseal ?   If so, any recommendations ?

Just simple nut and bolts (with plastic covers) for me.   Lasted for 12 years so far with no problem

Just put normal edging strip along the edges.   I did mine a year ago and although the shield gets hot the strip can take it.

Lovely mid-week picnic at Rutland Water for the Lincolnshire (and affiliates) retirees     Have to make the best of the good weather.   Looking for this Sunday for the working members, I'll message you all the details.

I know your details say you have a ‘Super Seven’ but do you actually have a ‘Super Spec’ ?   If so this is a known problem with this design.  Various suggestions have been made:

1.  Poor earthing  (Add an extra earth strap between engine and chassis)

2.   Overheated starter motor  (I have added a tube from the front of the car pointing at the motor to try and keep it cool)

3.   Poor battery (fit a new one)

4,    Ignition advanced too much (in theory the ECU programming is at fault)

5.    Tolerances to tight between starter motor and flywheel (Not much you can do about that)

I have fixed the first 3 and don’t suffer any more.

if you don’t have a Superspec the above might still be useful.

Al

Thanks.  I hate to pre-judge the weather but at the moment Sunday is looking poor so may have to make it Saturday (Kerry, I know that rules you out).   Stand by for a late decision.

Burghly House at 12:00 is the plan at this stage.

OK, 16th it is, more details to follow.   Dave/Kerry:   will you be solo or +1 ?

Thanks I'll give priority to the 'workers' first so watch this space.

Astonishingly, the car sailed through the MOT with no advisories so I was without the car for only 2 hours   I visited Burlghly House last weekend, and although it was very busy they were using 2 large fields as well so there was plenty of room.   So I am happy to host a lunchtime picnic for 6 on either Sunday 9th and Sunday 16th.   Could I have feedback on who would like to come ?

The second meeting for 'retirees' will be midweek during the last 2 weeks of August.

Maybe you don’t have built-in ‘T’ piece in the filler neck ?   Doesn’t really make much difference, although mine is probably less likely to dump fuel on the ground.

 But I don’t see the point of Max’s setup, why would you want a vent pipe from filler neck to outside air ?

I think 22psi is a bit high, I’m happy to be corrected but I think you will find most of us are running 18-20 psi.

The Superspec has a dual venting system.   In the top middle of the tank (Fiesta or Escort, we are not sure) there is a narrow (2mm?) pipe with a short piece of plastic pipe (3cm?) to vent the tank during day-to-day driving as fuel is used.  I guess this would leak fuel if the accident caused the car to be upside down.  There is a secondary wider pipe (8mm?) that goes from the tank to the filler pipe, just behind the filler cap itself.   This vents the tank while the petrol is being poured into the tank and allows me to operate the pump at maximum flow.

Same for me

My MOT Is next week so I might be without the car so 2 weeks time looks good

All foreigners welcome, as there were only 2 Lincolnshire regulars last year 

Watch this space 

I would like to restart meetings for the Lincolnshire team in August.   As usual I am looking for weekend lunchtime picnics which have been so successful in the past.   Unfortunately I am struggling with the same problems as other area secretaries in that we are limited to 6 people and also I need to find somewhere nice to visit with a big car park and, importantly,  open toilets.   My usual core team of 6 had a couple of practice runs in July, visiting Rutland Water and Foxton Locks, both very successful.   But we used the fact that we are all retired to have the meetings mid-week.  Even then, both of these locations were very busy so would probably be non-starters for a weekend meet.  I'm going to check out Burlghly House on Sunday to see how busy that might be.   But if anyone has any other suggestions in the local area let me know.

Meanwhile, could I have an idea of who would be interested if I can solve the problems ?   Please PM me or post here and let me know if you are weekend only or could manage any time.

I don’t think the engine type is relevant.  The max needs to be below boiling, although that will depend on what pressure the cooling system is running at.   The higher the pressure the higher the boiling point.   The minimum recommendation is 80C which ensures all the volatiles in the oil are burnt off.  I would guess 90C is a good compromise, although I am also running 95-98C as I have a 21psi cap on the expansion bottle so can afford to go a bit higher.

I’m looking at holding a Lincolnshire meet in August, probably following the usual format of a Sunday lunchtime picnic, but unless I am missing something the Government guidelines are that outdoor meetings from more than 2 households are still limited to 6 people so it will be very limited.

I second that.  I have both the light and a gauge.  A few months back I holed my sump and the first indicator that something was wrong was the gauge flickering and then dropping.  I tried to make it home, but I didn’t see the light come on until it was almost too late and if that had been the only warning I suspect I would have trashed the engine.  I actually pulled across about 50yds after the light started flickering and by that time I had less than a cup full of oil left.

85C is a reasonable., although with 80C generally accepted as the minimum I like to run a bit hotter than that. Like you, when the car is stationary in traffic with the fan on my car struggles not to overheat.  One thing I didn't mention is I upped the pressure cap on the expansion bottle from 13psi to 21psi thereby allowing the coolant to run a greater pressure, hence higher boiling point.

However, I can't really compare your car to mine, as yours is turbo with the intercooler, and if you have a heater fitted that is also non-standard for the Superspec.   As to replacing the radiator, I find the SD1 one is OK, with the severe mounting angle offset by the large surface area.   As you mostly suffer at low speed you might consider a more powerful fan as the one that came with the kit is very cheap & cheerful.

Has the car actually been overheating ?   Most Superspecs seem to run on the cool side, mainly because of the enormous SD1 radiator.  I only managed to get mine up to a decent temperature by blanking off part of the grill.

Be interested to hear how you get on, but are you going to run into problems because the Rover T16 is designed to run with a pressurised cooling system ?    Like you I have always found the top hose to be empty when the engine is cold, but it hasn't had any effect on the cooling system and fills up when the engine is hot.  My Superspec happily runs at 90-93C and I haven't had to top up the expansion bottle for over a year.

10 hours ago, geordie40 said:

I can check on my wiring diagram to see if the TPS is connected to ECU but I think your right. On the rover MEMS you can reset the TPS so it remeasures the steps from fully open to closed, not sure if it's the same for yours but if you turn ign to position 2 and press accelerator 5 times in quick succession you should then hear a series of clicks from TPS as it resets

I think Geordie is a bit confused here.  The Throttle Position Sensor is sensed by the ECU but that is for general use right across the rev range.  The Idle system in the MEMS ECU is a completely separate set of parameters.  It is incredibly complicated and the ECU actually tracks  6 different parameters:

Idle switch
Idle Set Point
Idle Hot
Idle Error
Idle Base Position
IAC Position

I have yet to find anyone (apart from the Rover engineers who designed it) who actually understands what all these do and how the idle is affected.    Even all the documentation we have on the MEMS is a bit vague.  What I do know is that when you shut down the engine the ECU runs on for about 10 seconds.  During that time it resets the stepper motor to the proper position for starting and then idling then continually adjusts the stepper motor based on engine temperature.   So if the different ECU is not carrying out that action as well, it might explain the low idle.   I suggest you PM Jeremy Richardson (jmspec), as he is the only other person I know who has used a different ECU on a turbo Rover T16.   He might be able to advise you on the wiring.

Al

Which engine do you have ?  If it's the standard Rover T16 that is rated at 136 bhp for the normally aspirated version and 200 bhp for the turbo, so you are definitely in the ball park.  Interested to see you have a proper ECU fitted.  Like Geordie I still have the non-programmable MEMS 1.6 ECU fitted and I suspect the engine might have been tuned down a bit when they changed the software to disable the immobiliser.  I also suspect they tweaked the idle speed as we all seem to idle about 950-1000 rpm whereas the T16 is supposed to idle at 850 rpm.  No idea why they would do that.

Also glad to get confirmation that blocking off one of the exhaust outlets helps the system.  I just had a feeling in the water that mine ran a lot better with a bung in  (Update:  it blew out yesterday so I have to get a new one ).  To every one's surprise, unlike the last 5 MOTs where the emissions were marginal, my car sailed through the emissions test at last MOT.   I had run through a bottle of injector cleaner and the day before the MOT I did a 40 min run using just 3rd gear and keeping the RPM above 4000.  Might be a coincidence but I will do the same for the next one.

Can't hear the clunk on the video but Geordie's suggestion on the UV joints is a good one.   Like him, I find it incredibly difficult to grease the front one as you have to go from the top of the tunnel around the gear change.   A job I have now delegated to my friendly mechanic   I also have a small amount of play in the transmission somewhere, maybe 5-10 degs of rear wheel rotation when I have her on axle stands.  But it's been like that for 23,000 miles so I don't let it worry me.