Totally off-topic, but today I helped my mate dismantle the dash of the parts donor Citroen XM on the driveway.
The sheer amount of copper behind there is staggering, so much cabling..
Anyway, what follows might not be news to some, but I'm putting it here in case someone finds it helpful.
Got the heater unit out of it, and interestingly enough it's almost an exact copy of the one in the rangey. The only real difference is that the XM unit is slightly more pauper spec, in that it doesn't have provision for separate heating zones (independent left/right flap control). The independent flaps are there, but bound together, most likely with the same type of metal rod that the rangey one uses for the top flaps.
As this XM is itself a semi-pauper spec one, with no air-con, it only has a single blend motor, used to control the temperature (this is digital on the XM). The distribution and recirculation flaps are cable driven.
Blend motor is an exact match for those in the Rangey, and unlike ours, it has a ~ 15cm pigtail before it hits a connector. Why they didn't do that on ours, who knows.
The heater unit itself is, as mentioned, very similar to the Range Rover one. The only real difference I have been able to spot is the lack of zone control. There are mounting posts for a blend motor on the drivers side, but the hole for the lever is missing, and a bit of plastic moulding in the same area is missing too. Wouldn't be too hard for someone enterprising to modify though.
For the coolant hoses to the LPG reducer, I'm thinking about completely replacing the factory pipe with some silicone hoses which reduce in size, ala:
Theory being, less joins being both tidier and hopefully less points to leak.
Any reason why that might not be a good plan?
Colour wise I'd like to go classic, but I can't wait a month so will probably end up going standard black.
Sorry to hijack, but have a quick question about hevac reassembly. How do you align the distribution cogs correctly?
Todays progress.
Lower and upper inlet manifold cleaned up fairly well.
Lower inlet manifold drilled and tapped, with much trepidation, for the LPG nozzles.
Another island 4x4 order in for various breathers etc that look aged or are actually visibly knackered. Also getting new o-rings for the injectors.
When we did the turn-over test on the starter, the first time round we forgot the engine ground, and the starter clicked away a couple of times then stopped. After that it didn't do anything at all until we properly grounded the block. Given that the vast majority of the wiring harness is disconnected for the heads being off, any quick guesses as to where it was initially getting a ground from, and how fried is that thing/wire likely to be ;)
Reasonably productive day, thanks to Gordon again.
Heads and rockers now back on the engine with the arp studs.
I took the hevac unit out last night so that's now been cleaned and the foam removed from the top. Will lube it up tomorrow and get it refitted.
Heater seals were shot, so replacements were in order anyway. I can see why folks who disturb the pipes in the engine bay have issues afterwards. Heater core looks great though.
Water temperature sensor replaced too, it was knackered.
Possibly a question for Gilbert, where did you drill your inlet manifold for the LPG nozzles? And where did you mount the injectors?
Lets just say I had to use unreasonable force to remove the brackets. Rockers etc will need to see how they feel on reassembly.
Steel inserts, is that the rounded socket that the push rod engages with? I'd say they look sunken, but not knowing what unsunken is supposed to look like makes it difficult to judge.
Thoughts on the rocker arms?
Aye, front of engine.
no10chris wrote:
What connectors do you need ? I have both a Thor and gems looms that I butcher for connectors,,
Green two pin one, probably from somewhere around the front looking at the loom its attached to.
So, rocker arms.. take the split pins out and everything slides off smoothly aye? 8-[
Hi Ash :)
Also need to do something about the connector that disintegrated on Gordon whilst taking engine bay apart..
Orangebean wrote:
Vacuum hose from vacuum pump to brake pedal. I've replaced the short bits with fuel hose, but the local place only stocks it in one metre lengths, and I'm not sure whether that will be too thick to fit through the firewall? Suggestions for where I can get something suitable that's long enough, without paying through the nose?
I find eBog a valuable source for stuff like that. In fact, due to being on the edge of the middle of nowhere I do most of my parts shopping etc online. Not sure of the internal diameter of the vac pipe, but as an example a quick search found 128 hits like this one
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Samco-Silicone-5mm-ID-ORANGE-Vacuum-Tube-Air-Breather-Hose-For-Cars-Motorbike-/220826623694?
Nice lurid colour too! I'm sure you'll find something less garish if you dig.
Cheers ob. It is 5mm ID by the looks of things. Might have to rummage around the locals to see if I can get something before Saturday, even if that's two x 1m pipes joined.
Took the broken end off the brake pedal sensor, it felt fairly loose and there was no clip, is that normal?
I have a cd changer with tray sitting gathering dust, if anyone wants it. No original head unit in my car so not much point in lugging the changer around.
Gilbertd wrote:
Another thing to check on the rockers is to carefully look at the steel socket that the pushrod bares against. There was a batch of cars that had problems with the steel seat sinking into the alloy rocker. The affected VIN numbers are from early to late 98 but it isn't unknown on odd ones outside this range.
I presume it's obvious to spot when this has happened? Couldn't find any pictures or references to this to see what I'm looking for. Quick eyeball of one of the rocker arm assemblies didn't shout at me though.
You can fit the LPG nozzles, attach a length of hose and plug the ends or just drill and tap the manifold and fit a short bolt to blank it off for now. At least then the manifold doesn't have to come off again, you just remove the bolt and put the nozzles in their place.
That reminds me, I'll need to figure out what size hole to drill or ask Lpgc what he sent me.
I always advocate putting the reducer in series with the heater on a P38 where the heater is full flow. My Classic and P38 were both in parallel when I got them, the Classic would freeze the reducer and the P38 heater would drop to lukewarm at idle depending on which path offered the least resistance to the coolant. Changing to series plumbing cured both problems and got rid of a number of potential leak points. On a GEMS the heater hose layout means it can be done neatly too. The flow is the hose that comes from the inlet manifold so I've run that to the reducer(s), then reducer to heater matrix and left the return hoses as Mr LR intended. You'll need reducers due to the different hose sizes but try to get metal ones if you can as the plastic ones will go brittle eventually. Or you can make them up with 22-15mm plumbing reducers with 15-15 and 22-22mm straight joins on each end to give plenty of length for the hose to fit to and ensure a good seal.
Ok cool that's along the same lines as my thinking.
Another boring update. Loaded with $child germs so struggling to make huge amounts of progress around the day job.
Have put the new plugs in the first head and set it aside, ready for fitting later on this week.
Started on the second head, new valve stem seals are in, and have done a course lap of the valves. Gave up at that point as feeling too grotty to continue.
Earlier I finished cleaning up the innards of the rocker covers (and baffles), can now see relatively large amounts of bare metal. A big improvement over the 3+mm of thick black sludge that resided in there previously.
Have been cleaning the push rods, three are lovely and clean, the rest are still steeped in chemicals to try and loosen the gunk.
I'm pondering having the rocker arm assemblies apart and giving them a good clean through. At least some of the oil outlets on the arms are showing signs of the black gunk, so probably a prudent move.
Was thinking earlier I should probably fit the LPG nozzles and reducer (at least into the coolant circuit) before I finish fettling with the engine, so it doesn't need to come apart again.
Couple of random questions spring to mind for reassembly time..
Vacuum hose from vacuum pump to brake pedal. I've replaced the short bits with fuel hose, but the local place only stocks it in one metre lengths, and I'm not sure whether that will be too thick to fit through the firewall? Suggestions for where I can get something suitable that's long enough, without paying through the nose?
There's a hard plastic coolant pipe that runs across the engine bay back to the reservoir - it's split. I could bodge it back together, but can you buy these still, or is there a better option?
Assuming I put the LPG reducer in-line with the heater feed (is that a bad assumption?), which pipe is the feed to the heater (as opposed to the return)?
Ta.
OB: got a link to how to do the flush on gems?
Haven't done this so can't comment, but if the pipe isn't crazy money it might not hurt to get one in, just in case..
Heads back from machine shop, valves are back in the first one, will try and do the second one today.
Looking at how little protrudes past the stem seal, I wasn't able to find a decent reference point at that end.
Gordon: got a calibrated micrometer?