Evo Recaro's fitted to my mk1

[stenky]

The train of on-topic has derailed a looong time ago

[SySanguinary]

The train of on-topic has derailed a looong time ago

Yup, always the case!


Erm.... nice seats btw!

Sorted.

[elbon50]

The train of on-topic has derailed a looong time ago

Yup, I claim responsibiliy for the de-railment Stenky

I did it deliberately & I'm proud of it

Reading other threads I knew that Lee was on the verge of giving up on the car due to the overheating

I was determined to start a discussion to help him

[stenky]

both topics are ok but not in the same thread I would say. a split would come in handy here

[SySanguinary]

both topics are ok but not in the same thread I would say. a split would come in handy here

If it were two cars or owners, I'd agree with you. As long as the op is happy, I reckon we should let it roll.

There's been far more deviation in other threads in the past!

[kaiowas]

I say we should split the discussion on whether or not this thread is off topic into another thread.




...or we could let it slide, given the relatively low number of active users in here a bit of anarchy doesn't do any harm

[Lee H]

Ah, just noticed it's a 1.5!

I had issues on mine when, on a long run at low revs, it would start to overheat. If I blipped the throttle, the temps came down.

I figured this to be a combination of the water pump and the radiator.

I pulled the water pump out and it was nicely corroded. Also the radiator wasn't in the best condition.

Plus, I found a high point in the radiator coolant pipe above the gearbox, which was prone to holding any air present in the system. Once I sorted these three out, the car was good.

I will have a look at the routing of the radiator pipe tonight, how could you tell you had air in this pipe out of interest as wherever I squeeze the pipes on mine I can feel the coolant?

Pump looked pretty much brand new when I built the engine so I reused it, could be a bad decision.

[elbon50]

It was never my intention to upset anyone by my actions regarding this

My motives were entirely honest & altruistic, as described above

Peter

[Lee H]

both topics are ok but not in the same thread I would say. a split would come in handy here

If it were two cars or owners, I'd agree with you. As long as the op is happy, I reckon we should let it roll.

There's been far more deviation in other threads in the past!

I'm happy enough to leave it as it is, just glad to be getting some advice and things to check. Hopefully have some answers soon now then!

[SySanguinary]

I will have a look at the routing of the radiator pipe tonight, how could you tell you had air in this pipe out of interest as wherever I squeeze the pipes on mine I can feel the coolant?

The pipe wasn't as warm after the high point on mine. After a few good squeezes, a load of air came through the filler neck.

To be fair though, this was only my personal experience of one 1.5 (although it was rebuilt twice after the original).

I'd still be looking at Pauls advice overall.

[Red Wedge]

I've been keeping track of this and just wanted to say how nice those seats look in the mk1.

Do you mind me asking how much you picked them up for? I had a quick look on eBay and they are fairly expensive even second hand.

[elbon50]

I've been keeping track of this and just wanted to say how nice those seats look in the mk1.

Do you mind me asking how much you picked them up for? I had a quick look on eBay and they are fairly expensive even second hand.

Nice seats very similar to the ones in my FN2 CTR

They appear to be a blueish grey though

Not exactly ideal with a black interior

[Lee H]

I paid £100 for them but that was a steal. Should normally pay about £350 for a decent pair. Came in loads of colour variants and quite a lot of cars.

I also have a FN2 and prefer the seats in that but they are miles heavier due to the airbags etc.

[elbon50]

I also have a FN2 and prefer the seats in that but they are miles heavier due to the airbags etc.

Ahhh yes, that's an interesting point Lee

I'm thinking of getting some lightweight Elise seats for my MR2

[Lee H]

Thought I'd post this in here as well for completeness as not everyone ventures in the mk2 section.

Pressurised the cylinders last weekend to see if that would show anything up.

With the crank set at TDC cylinder 1 was letting air into cylinder 2 so thought I had a headgasket breach. With the crank at this point cylinder 4 was sealed when pressurised. However I then moved the crank to the 10 degrees mark and cylinder 1 sealed (cylinder 4 didn't at this point), so the valves must be ever so slightly open with the piston at TDC? Otherwise I cannot see another way that air could get into cylinder 2.

Had the same issue with cylinders 2 and 3 where again they wouldn't seal at the same point on the cranks rotation but they sealed with a small movement of the crank.

I have no bubbles at the filler neck whatsoever so it seems the headgasket is ok.

[kaiowas]

It's important to differentiate between TDC on the compression stroke and TDC on the exhaust stroke.

On the compression stroke you'd expect the valves to be fully closed (otherwise you'd have no compression)

On the exhaust stroke the exhaust valves will obviously be open and it's quite normal for them to still be open at the top of the stroke to help with getting as much exhaust gas out as possible before refilling the cylinder with fresh air.

When each pair of pistons (1&4 and 2&3) are at the top of their stroke one will be at the top of the exhaust stroke and one will be at the top of the compression stroke which is why you are seeing different results on each cylinder when testing.

[Lee H]

Makes sense now I think about it.

So basically if I had done another rotation of the crank it would have sealed on cylinder 1 when bang on the 0 mark on the bottom pulley as the cams turn once for every two rotations of the crank.

[SuperRedMR2]

Lee i've sent you a PM regarding your buddy club splitter - sorry to go off topic.