Club 80-90 Forums

Well further to my previous post about replacing the cooling pipes on the Syncro i'm now halfway through the job.

I bought a set of stainless pipes off a German website which were supposedly for a Syncro. Now i've got an early one which my account for the difference but my pipes are around 32mm and the replacements are 38mm.

The problems i've encountered so far are as follows:

Seized on spare wheel carrier (removed to get the rad out as its having a new one)

Rusted on pipe mounting bracket at the front (had to be cut off)

Centre cross member has had to be modified to get the bigger pipes in

Extra sections of 38mm rubber pipe have had to be purchased from Phoneahose to join the 32mm pipe to the 38mm pipe.

I'm now at the point where i've got the front pipes attached but i'm having problems with the rears. Theres very little space between the rear suspension arms and the bodywork to get the larger pipes in place.

I've created various new swear words today and its been a good 8 hours of work so far.

Once i've finished i'm going to write down exactly what is needed down to nut and bolt level to replace the cooling pipes on an early Syncro as it would have saved me hours of messing around.

Oh well, i guess another 8 hours will have it finished....

Sounds like one of 'THOSE' jobs !

I once decided I might try to replace the heater unit blower in my T25; thats another one of 'those' jobs

I'm now at the point where i've got the front pipes attached but i'm having problems with the rears. Theres very little space between the rear suspension arms and the bodywork to get the larger pipes in place.

They shouldn't be 'that' close from memory, have you got them forward enough (or even round the right way )

Right then the job is now done Total duration probably a good 10 hours.

The only jobs that remain are to refit the metal shield around the lower part of the engine compartment and get the cooling fans working off the rad swtich.

The metal shield is going to need modding due to the large diameter pipes.

I guess at some point in the past the rad fan switch broke and rather than replacing it they've put a switch on the dash. I've put a new rad on and fan switch. The rad is uniformly hot and the system is well bled.

The fan works but only by switching it on via the dash switch.

Any ideas?

Not getting hot enough to trigger the rad switch?

That was my first thought.

Any idea how far round the dash gauge the needle is before the cooling fan is supposed come on?

should come on betwen 1/2 and 2/3 and second stage by 2/3plus usually, asuming normal running is dead centre

Went out in it today to try and get it upto temp and as i was pulling up a slight gradient the engine note changed immediately. Worrying the worst i pulled over only to find one of the bolts that holds the exhaust onto the cylinder head had fallen out leaving the exhaust loose!

Oh well, i'll have to search round the garage (and other cars) to see if i can find a replacement bolt, looks like a 12 or 13mm head but didnt get a spanner on the remaining one as it was too hot and i was in a rush.

Just wanted to add an aside about the replacement pipes I got for my 2WD DG from JK, not only were they 38mm instead of 32mm but they were about 4 inches LONGER also. I had to cut the rad pipe at the front down to get them to fit at the engine end. Not syncro so not really relevant to you but it may explain a bit why they won't fit at the back so well. Glad to hear your bus is back on the road.

Hi Ian, welcome to the wonderful world of Syncros - have refitted the velle interior to the Scoobyvelle.
Am still plucking up courage to sort out the pigs ear of a loom, may have a couple of days at it over Christmas.
Can empathise as I also seem to be making a new Syncro one piece at a time.
Cheers, Paul

Phoneahose

Love it

Sounds like a nasty desiese.

Simon Baxter wrote:Sounds like a nasty desiese.

Am recovering slowly.... Thanks for the concern....