A little more "Tinkering"

[steve johnson]

Well chaps I thought I would share with you my last 2 days "Tinkering"....as I said before I was going to do the gearbox oil and re-do the coolant..Ive done both with no issues and changed the thermostat and put some Molyslip in the gearbox...My drive is on a slope so before undertaking any work reguiring the van/cars to be level I need to put them on some little wooden stand I made         ...these make my van/car level all round and also give me plenty of room to crawl under the engine area very easily,
Gearbox was no problem at all..I didnt need to remove anything for accses as the wheel arch is open...nor take off the wheel as I had a large Syringe that did the job just great..    
The coolant wasnt a problem either..I took out  the engine drain plug..drained the radiator and took out the thermostat...now this quite shocked me.....the seal was perished and kind of welded in with what looked like limescale...I cleaned all of this of and got a nice clean recess for the new thermostat & gasket     ...the rust prompted me to check out the expansion tank...yep...same in there..     ...so out this came and given a good clean out as best I could...everything went back together with no problems...but before filling with coolant I filled with water to check for leaks..there were non..so now I shall drop the water from the radiator and add neat coolant...I found the bleeding process very easy (sounds like a little swearing that bit).....quite happy....
Steve

[steve johnson]

Just a little heads up for fellow newbies...when buying the thermostat for these make sure the right rubber gasket comes with it...I ordered an extra gasket as the image from ECP was a little vague...I was right to do so as it came with an "O" ring type gasket and not the one that fits over the rim of the stat itself..        
the old stat and gasket...         .....bit worse for wear dont you think...
Steve

[geoff]

Whose been a busy little bee then !!! Good post and most informative !

[steve johnson]

Whose been a busy little bee then !!!   Good post and most informative !

Thanks Geoff...and also thank you for my "Upgrade"...wasnt too sure if it made sense...but I thought it was a good time to try and give something back after all the help Ive been given as a Newbie...I think I can strip the top half of this engine blindfolded now ha ha...pesky back door lock/handle tomorrow...fed up of crawling through the van...good job its empty just now....

[geoff]

Your welcome Steve, it is especially productive when folks put a little something back in and also report back on their solutions.

[Jed Clampit]

Top work Steve thank's for the write up and pics 

[ron]

Thanks Steve.It's always good to read about experiences like your.It's what the forum is all about.

[steve johnson]

Thanks Steve.It's always good to read about experiences like your.It's what the forum is all about.

Thank you Ron..and for the upgrade...sorry for the late reply...been a little under the weather with the old chest..fine now though..