Cheers Monkeyman - always wondered how they did the 'twizzle' thing. Think this might be the way forward - however i'm having a slight change of heart!
Just spent the week working on the snail, started by ringing the rolling road people to book her in - and they were fully booked for the next three weeks. grr. So have been doing other jobs.
First up was the cooling (again...) took the rad out and had it recored (£130) at Bagshot rads - which is in Odiham, not Bagshot - he said my old rad had blocked cores and was probably the source of my woes. He didn't have any of the right old style core to put in so put something more modern and more efficient in - which suits me.
Couldn't get the fan to fit on the inside so its back on the outside. Engine temp is back down where it should be now (80-90'C). Couldn't get the new bottom rad hose i'd bought from speedys to seal properly - seemed slighty too big - ended up reusing the old one.
Next up was fitting an oil temp guage - to give me some more things to worry about! Holbay engine (those fitted to Rapier H120s and Hunter GLSs) have a little oil temp sender in the filter housing:
My cunning plan was to copy this.
ignore the wiring diagram - that's me trying to work out how to make a latching relay to control the OD.
Did and ebay search for 'oil temp guage' and bought one from a Landy for £3. then searched for 'oil temp sender' which was less than a tenner. Already had a 3/8 BSP tap - but again these are normally only a few quid on ebay.
Guess you could use a normal temp guage and sender - can't think why not?
Stuck it in with some hardening goo.
The other thing that screws into this block is the oil pressure regulator - it opens at a predefined pressure (40psi) - they do wear or become gooed up - opening at lower pressures, which isn't great. Worth taking it off and giving it a clean (soak it in petrol) then test with a screwdriver tip to see if the plunger moves smoothly. New ones can be got from:
BSAC on 01775670188, that used to stand for the Berkshire Sunbeam Alpine Centre but now he's moved to Spalding the name has changed. He (John Hayter) has no website, only does engine spares, but if you ring him he does have a catalogue. Its worth noting that he is the wholesaler that supplies most of the the rootes spares dealers - and is considerably cheaper.
Wiring is straight forward - take a wire from the sender and stick it on the guage (it doesn't seem to matter which side) and then take one from the fuel guage (the regulated side) and jobs a 'good un'. Something else to worry about!
Got a bit carried away wiring in a second battery. The voltmeter now has a switch at the bottom so i can see what battery number 2 is upto.
Got carried away on ebay looking for an ammeter and ended up getting this one off a plane... But it does tell me whats going on, was a bugger to wire in - and i'm sure i'd mounted it straighter than that - must be trick photography!
Reversing lights are on but not wired in yet. The switch on the gearbox also seems to engage when i'm in 4th - which isn't ideal. Might wire them to a switch to battery 2, as they'd be quite useful when camping at night...
Anyway, she did well on a 300mile loop to South Wales, survived some nasty traffic jams and gave me a huge sense of smugness when it rained and rained and watched my chums suffering in their soggy tents - more tea? love some.
