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Growing a
Grumman - Part 10
2010-04-24
Cooling System
After waiting 5 weeks for a local supplier to get me a new Mercedes
230 radiator header tank I gave up on that supplier and started
shopping around - finally found one not too far away and got it
fitted - the used one that I had previously had the slightest weep
from a tiny crack in it's body - probably as a result of the smash
that wrecked the car it came from! This header tank carried 2.5
ltrs of coolant and has a built in low-level sensor, so I now also
have a yellow warning light just above the water temp. gauge on
the panel.
All I need to
find now is a suitable 1 ltr catch tank which fits in place of the
Coke bottle (see middle pic) The suction return works fine however,
although very little or no coolant is forced out of the header tank
when the level is set correctly with a space for exapansion above
the coolant level.
The belly housing
for the rad is finally almost done - just had to add a nosepeice
which I made of 2024 T3 - this is an expansion duct with diverging
sides to allow for incoming air to slow down and pressurise before
entering the rad colling fins.
Without this
duct, cooling was great - I suspect the duct may make little difference
- we'll see once we can start testing the setup soon.
Brakes
The ongoing
saga of the brakes is still with us - but I managed to cobble together
a correctly - sized brake caliper and piston from some bits I had
lying around - this has the right size piston - 1.5in - and the
pedal feels right and works great.
The left hand
brake however is still the 2in piston, so has more pedal travel
- until I can locate a suitable replacement it will have to do.
However this caliper has no bleed screw only a blanking plug where
the bleed screw used to be - once that is sorted out I sould be
able to get a decent pedal on the left hand side!
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