'80 Clubman Estate - thread closed

[keith]

back from the proving ground that is MTM 2010...

rads worked perfectly., new thermostat let me down! also, oil leak from gear change rod is back: only changed the seal 3 weeks ago!
please, can i have a 5th gear? 4000rpm @ 100kph is insane!

[keith]

trip to Bavaria & back completed:

modified radiators worked well on cooler days but in 25 degree plus weather they were undersized, especially moving slowly in heavy traffic.

engine bay heat was quite high so i raised up the rear of the bonnet to help cool.

auxiliary fan enough to cool in stop-start driving.

small oil leak developed from around the oil-cooler/filter, sprayed oil mist around distributor & plug-leads (good, keeps damp away) and alternator (not good: hot oil can ignite!)

outer CV joints showing their age... new units bought.

offside rear tyre is fouling on wheel-arch on bumps, i suspect a collapsing suspension knuckle.

[keith]

Look what Santa brought me for Xmas.....

A-Panel:



Right Wing:




Left Wing:



Under Headlight:





and the car was fully undersealed, but quite some time ago.

[DaveC]

Don't suppose he also brought you a welder and some fresh panels?

[kerryminigringo]

I think Santas elves have been working away on that present for some time now.

[keith]

so, anyway, i tossed out the cooling system built around a pair of VW golf heaters (see above!) - what was i thinking? - the run back from Germany nearly cooked Billy & I - and fitted a fiat rad before xmas (thanks Aidan!) just finished wiring the fan now, (integra 1.6?) - just need to replace the rad-switch and we're laughing

here's the pic:

[keith]

wooohooo.. just found the engine number for my car... 12H996AA

[keith]

how did Santa know????

[Billy]

TMG knows everything!

[keith]

just polished...

[Billy]

A grand machine that brought us to Germany and back for IMM2010.

[DaveC]

Looking good Keith
I haven't seen you on the N11 for a while

[keith]

A grand machine that brought us to Germany and back for IMM2010.

in Germany, on Wednesday's, you can only buy fuel if your car matches the building. something to do with congestion charging.

[keith]

Looking good Keith
I haven't seen you on the N11 for a while

tucked in for the winter Dave...

[keith]

http://s672.photobucket.com/user/keith1275/story

[DaveC]

Good work, I like it

[keith]

Thanks Dave, it's a sad thing though to think it might be gone soon.

[CB_Phil]

Nice

[keith]

this thread closed now, sad to say i sold the car, but its gone to a good home.

[keith]

Did not call Keith ,I thought he was the expert on Clubman front mounted rads

Very bold, Ro. Keith's custom rad got us to Germany and back for IMM2010 (once he changed the thermostat on MTM2010!!!)

the clubman front mounted rad project spanned two design solutions.

the first design used two heater core rads from a mk3 golf



chosen because they fitted in the grille space either side of the stiffening strut on the slam panel. The total surface area of the rads was more than the area directly covered by the fan in the side mounted rad. the total volume of coolant held in the rads was about 1/3 of that of the side mounted rad.



the drivers side cabin air intake was squeezed a little to allow fitting. An electric fan from a Honda was wired to a manual switch on the dash. A pipe thermostat was planned if the design went ahead.

Standard heater cooling system hoses were supplemented with 25mm copper piping, elbows and 18mm reducers to the rads. The individual flow of the two smaller rads is much less than the std system so the rads were plumbed in parallel to increase coolant throughput.



In use the system warmed up a lot faster than standard, temp. gauge showed normal values as the thermostat was still bing used to control flow. When the air temp was under 20c it worked fine. Quieter, and the cabin heater was warmer.
Manually operating the fan switch kept the temp under control in slow traffic & when stopped.

On hot days the car would heat up, with the gauge moving above the middle point. At high speed on the autobahn we had to find "clean air" and not drive directly behind other vehicles... even then we needed to use the internal heater to dissipate the extra heat.

At the Nurburgring stop in an effort to increase airflow through the rads i raised the rear lip of the bonnet creating a gap of some 15mm - it helped but not enough.



it was felt that the design of the VW heater rads prevented air from moving past sufficiently fast to remove the heat - that the close fitting fins of the rad were "stalling" the air - fine for a cabin heater, not good for a radiator.

the second design used a single radiator from a Fiat Punto (thanks Aidan!)

as well as having 25mm inlet/outlet it also sported a built in rad. thermostat...
this was a much easier build once I cut away some of the upper valance & replaced the strut under the slam panel with an offset design allowing the rad to fit side to side behind the grille.

it worked flawlessly, to the point of not even being aware of it. As that car had the MG Metro engine with the contactless distributor access for changing the points was not an issue.

I replaced the standard side-rad before selling the car.