Ok, vaguely encouraging things back on topic.. Fluids. And not of the public house variety.
Any recommendations for brands/types of oil, coolant, brake fluid, etc etc?
Always guaranteed to get as many different recommendations as there are people on the forum, so I'll start the ball rolling...
Engine oil- semi synth 10w 40- pick any brand you like. I buy in bulk 20L from Smith & Allan. Frequent oil/ filter changes are as, if not more, important than buying a "name" brand.
Transmission- Dex 3. You'll be more restricted on brands. Again I buy in bulk 20L from Smith & Allan.
Brake fluid- DOT 4 not 5, can be a semi synth as long as miscible with dino DOT4 and must be suitable for ABS systems. Guess what- I buy in bulk 5L from..... Smith & Allan
Coolant- with GEMS you have a choice really. Pick depending on what colour you have in at moment- saves lots of flushing. Either good old fashioned Blue stuff, if you already have blue, or OAT if you have pink.
If you've got green or purple, probably best to flush lots then go for either blue or pink depending on your taste. Blue has to (or should) be changed every couple of years as the corrosion inhibitors get tired. Again I buy in bulk from.... blah, blah
Reason I buy in bulk is cos I do a few different cars and it also works out cheaper in the long run.
I'll pull up a chair and wait for the rest of the ideas/ contradictions to come in...
What he said :)
Yup, near enough. I was told to use something thicker when I put my rebuilt engine in but always used to use 10 (or 15)W-40, semi synthetic. Dexron 3 for gearbox and transfer case, whatever make you can get. 70W-90 or 75W-90 for the axles and DOT 4 brake fluid. The place I use sells Comma and Carlube brand for the generic stuff and I use that.
Same as above with one exeption, I use good old 50/50 mix of anti freeze (etylene-glycol) because no salesman can point me out what is what.
Green, blue, orange, 'yes that is ready to use' is all they can tell me. I have read several articles about the theory behind it (read it again), on packages it is not mentioned what it means and the guy at the desk looks at the ceiling. I know you can not mix one with the other but that is all I know, for safety I stick to good old blue mix.
I've noticed that in France and it may be the same for you in Holland Tony. We can buy anti-freeze concentrate that you mix 50/50, or whatever concentration you want, whereas in France you can only buy ready diluted that you don't mix with water, you just put it in straight from the bottle. No doubt some health and safety rules which haven't got here yet.
Well the 50/50 proportion is there for a reason. It protects against frost down to -26º C with a boilingpoint at 125º C (ish) which is good, a leaner mixture (more water) lowers the boilingpoint (and obviously less frostprotection) while a richer mixture also has a disadvantage for the engine which I cannot recall (I'll look that up).
Best of course is we all move to the south of France, which is better for my body ha ha. (I already see this queue of P38s on the Promenade des Anglais, what's in a name)
Ferryman wrote:
(I already see this queue of P38s on the Promenade des Anglais, what's in a name)
You mean you were there in December too? There was a queue of P38s on the Promenade des Anglais when I was there in mine driving in convoy with the one my mate who lives down there has just got. This assumes you can call 2 a queue.......
The good thing here in France is that its only €5 for 5 litres albeit pre mix.
As you mention Promenades des Anglais Tony, I was there a few months back. A bit disconcerting was the sound of an explosion, followed by tremors and birds fleeing the trees. Fortunately it wasnt a terrorist but a midday canon.Now whats more is that it had nothing to do with military tradition but Back in 1861 a British gentleman named Sir Thomas Coventry-More settled in the old town of Nice. He had a wife who enjoyed her morning strolls along the Promenade des Anglais and had a tendency to get back late to prepare lunch. Sir Thomas was having none of this tardiness so he found a rather ingenious way to summon her back – a cannon blast.
Now why do I think some on here may replicate this idea.
riddlemethis wrote:
Sir Thomas was having none of this tardiness so he found a rather ingenious way to summon her back – a cannon blast.
Now why do I think some on here may replicate this idea.
Great story Paul, I won't let this read to my wife Jo because usually I'm the one who's late. It's not the cannonblast I fear, she knows how to aim too.
No Richard, it wasn't me back in december but I would like to go there in spring.
Last time we were there was in 2004 (had to dig for the old back-up disc). We were on a roundtrip Germany, Switzerland, Tuscany and back along the Côte d'Azur. This is when we were in Cannes.
Tony.
Hmm, yes. I can see that was some years ago. About where that hut was for the boat trips out to the islands there's now the steps going down to the underground multi storey car park that they built under the harbour. In 2004 I was there quite a bit as my mate was living about a mile along the coast road in Cannes La Bocca and we would regularly walk to the source of the best pizzas in Europe at La Pizza opposite the corner of the harbour. The road hasn't changed much, the hut has been replaced with a nice new building, La Pizza is still there (and has been for 50 years now) but you'd never find a parking space there these days.... My mate has a Cranchi 24 that lives on a mooring at La Napoule so most days when we've nothing better to do are spent at anchor between the Iles De Lerins.
C'mon Miah, how are you getting on, we're getting a bit off topic again.......
Not made much progress. Had to fix the wifes Honda and get it through an MOT.
I did test that vacuum hose and spotted a big tear in it at a joint on the bulkhead. Pulled the hose out and put my finger over the t piece with the pump operating and solenoid active. Throttle opened fully so hopefully just fixing that split bit of pipe will sort the cruise.
Lpg kit ordered yesterday from Simon. Got a handful of other bits to order before reassembly.
I'm hoping to crack on with the Tino engine rebuild this weekend. Want to get that done ideally before tearing into the p38, so that I've got room in the garage for the bits.
I was going to take the p38 heads and get them pressure tested etc, but is that really necessary? If not it will remove another delay.
P38 heads aren't known for cracking- not the petrol anyway.
Assuming you have an engineers straight edge, or something similar that you're confident actually has a straight edge, check heads for warping and distortion. 0.05mm/ 2 thou is the limit.
mace wrote:
I was going to take the p38 heads and get them pressure tested etc, but is that really necessary? If not it will remove another delay.
I don't. Can I pick one up at machine mart or somewhere?
Not Machine Mart, I don't think. Plenty on the bay for example:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1311.R1.TR3.TRC2.A0.H1.Xengineers+straight.TRS0&_nkw=engineers+straight+edge&_sacat=0
You'll need, IIRC, at least a 24". Mine's a 36" and I can't remember how much overhang I get with that. Accuracy <0.01% total length. 0.005% if you can get it but they're really expensive.
Law of dimishing returns- cost of straight edge then skim if required v. putting heads with trusted engineers for an exploratory skim to ensure flat!
Orangebean wrote:
Mine's a 36" and I can't remember how much overhang I get with that.
Bragging again.....
Or, unless it is showing signs of head gasket leakage, just leave them on and worry about that if it ever does.
Or, unless it is showing signs of head gasket leakage, just leave them on and worry about that if it ever does.
Which, since it seems to be blowing out the side of number 6 right below the spark plug, it most assuredly is :-)
Ah, in that case it does need to come off and if it's been run for any length of time like that, it'll need the groove skimming out of it. When I bought mine it was blowing the other way, number 4 was blowiing into the Vee. You could see the valley gasket jumping up and down every time it tried to fire.
Borrowed a straight edge, so will start fettling with something tomorrow. Probably the Nissan, given the forecast is for snow and nastiness outside.