Back to the thermostat question

As winter and cold weather is approaching. (after the warmest Halloween on record today at 20° plus!) I am starting to re-visit the issue of having a thermostat and whether was the cause (or main contributing factor) of the blown head gaskets.

Some really useful information out there, but in summary, my issue could be a combination of things, rooted in the basic old design of the cylinder head bypass port. There is a great source of info here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/cooling/cool_103c.htm

Although written about MGA's, it's equally applicable to the Somerset. In summary, the newer type of thermostat on the older engine design does NOT stop the flow of hot water back around the head through the bypass port like the original bellows style thermostat would have done:

Despite not being a performance car by any stretch of the imagination, with it's pre B-series design and inherent weakness across 2&3 anyway, the old Devon/Somerset A40 engine could be hyper sensitive to that problem. Pretty much what I pondered about the thermostat issue causing flow issues in the first place, but with some reasoning behind that now clear (i.e. highly likely to have been the case due to the different designs.)

So I really feel I should try to crack it. Have ordered the blanking sleeve mentioned in the article and will fit that as shown in the picture. (from the article mentioned above and contribution acknowledged)

That - in conjunction with the lower temp thermostat, drilled with a couple of small flow holes should overcome the incorrect flow experienced when just fitting the new style thermostat.


(Still awaiting seats, but no rush. Austin day at White Lion next Sunday, so planning to attend that as the last activity of the year, rather than the previous visit being the last as originally expected!)

Seats still in progress - temporary pointless?

Had an update phone call today to confirm costs for doing my seats. The plan is to fit the two base covers (which is done already!!) and new covers for the backs to match as close as possible, which should be just a few weeks.

Anyway, total cost is more than I had planned for of course - but still manageable and total cost including the initial outlay for the covers is still considerably less than the £1000 that a local trimmers had quoted for redoing them from scratch.

So happy enough with that and it did mean I was able to spread the cost, covers first - fitting second.

And I will have a pair of original seat base covers to sell!

Not sure who I listened to about the October weather, but looks to be the OPPOSITE of September. Lots of rain, few driving opportunities. Fitting temporary seat looking more like a waste of time as the days go by!! But at least I have the CHOICE and it only cost me a tenner and a morning. So shan't complain, it stops me wondering too much about how long the original seats may take, in case it still takes a while.

From the Driving Seat (!)

The title of the post is a nod to the editorial intro of the County Counsel bi-monthly magazine of the Austin Counties Car Club! This post is just to mention another "original", pre-existing issue fixed at long last. Only took over a year to get around to it!

The indicator switch / horn have always been off at an angle since I got her. Probably noticeable in some pictures. Most annoyingly the Austin crest has therefore also always been wrong.

Now to be fair, my dad had said he remembered it being very simple to adjust. Undo the nut at the other end of the steering column, where the wires come out below the actual steering box, turn the indicator switch/ horn to where it should be and re-tighten. Just seemed TOO simple, couldn't understand, if it was that simple, why it was left at an angle!! The service manual didn't mention a thing either so upshot is that I never tried. Until now.. Anyway - it WAS that simple! View from the (Nissan) driving seat is all looking ship shape in side now!

 

 

Just need those seats back and fitted in and Amy is something to be proud of inside and out. Not concours by any stretch of the imagination. But a pretty fine example!

 

 

Oh and also need to get used to the "new" indicator position. Test drove the temporary seat today too but hands strayed to the wrong place when indicating!! Was fine by the end of the drive though. Skyline seat is VERY comfortable, and reclines too.. Might keep it ... NOT...!!

Temporary seat's in - ready to drive!!

!!! Mad !!!

 

 

That 'll stop me climbing the walls when the sun comes out anyway!

Austin - Nissan come together once more.

Temporary seat and bad news about proper seats

The good news is that the Nissan seat should do the trick. I plopped it in the car today and the general dimensions are fine, and once it has been raised by the couple of layers of wood then height should be OK too. So I have just lashed up a frame for it, and when the rain dies off, hopefully last step is to bolt it into place. Weather is atrocious so won't be doing a test run today!


The bad news is that I had a call about the seat covers which are being fitted. They always looked exactly the same, I assumed that they were meant to be. Unfortunately I have bought two sets of seat base covers. Just didn't realize, visually it looked kind of OK, but the seats chap phones this morning to confirm. He can make seat backs to match, he's going to work out how much, but my guess is that I wont be able to afford that.

Also I have seat base covers that I can now sell on, but they are ONLY the seat bases, so not worth as much as they were as a whole set. Oh well... Not a disaster, I'm still a step forwards.

Impatience gets the better of me again

Not even a week has gone by. Weather reports that most of October should continue to be nice. Already unhappy about the idea of not being able to drive Amy anywhere during this time. I might laugh at myself, because this might not work but I have bought a car seat from ebay! Three criteria: just one seat, it had to be local and it had to be cheap! I will be picking up a seat I got from eBay this evening. Just around the corner from Reading. £10! It's from a Nissan Skyline of all cars. My son's absolute favourite dream car. He wants it afterwards!

No idea if it will fit. Plan to static fit it with help of some wood, similar to the way the old seats are fitted (non standard and raised for a previous owner I presume, but hoping to apply similar principle). Except that it wont move.


Bolt the seat to some wood. Bolt the wood to the car. Simples!!  We'll see. Next post will confirm, or deny it that is even workable!