Painting the PAS-Fluid Cooler + stuff

While I had the radiator out I noticed that the cooler for the power-steering fluid was a bit rusty. This is basically a pipe that runs along the front of the radiator, catching the incoming air and cooling the fluid inside, but its obviously caught its fair share of salty crud over the years too.

The pipe is still sound and the cooler still works of course, but I thought it best to give it some fresh protection while I had the chance. I scraped off all the surface rust, gave it a good rub down with emery-cloth and wiped it off with a damp cloth. I then gave it a good, thick coat of black Hammerite. Shame about the hammered finish, I'm sure I had some black Smootherite lying round, but its high-heat resistant none the less and looks a damn sight better.

While I was at it I thought I'd spruce up the battery tie-down as well and finished it off with two nice, shiny new nuts. Every little helps!

New Koyo Alloy Radiator

FAULT FINDING:

I check the coolant level reasonably regularly, but one night the temperature-gauge went upslightly over the norm and after a while kept on rising so I banged the heaters on full blast and managed to limp the car about 2 miles home. Next day I discovered that the coolant had nigh-on disappeared! I filled the system back up with water - it took about 5 litres - to check for system failure and ran the car fortheweek,butthewater level stayed up and no sign of a leak. With no obvious evidence of failure my dad immediately suggested the head-gasket was blown and the coolant must have slowly gone through into the cylinders :( The mechanics at work backed up his claim and said that, because of the boxer-engine with a cylinder-head down either side, it was a nightmare job that needed the lump lifting out to do. I reckon I could do it without lifting the engine, but it would involve removing almost every other item from the engine bay. Rather that though than forking out for a professional to do it - I shudder to think how much that would cost. This could have been a killer blow for the Scoob, but all the other symptoms of a blown head weren't there - no oil in the water, mayonnaise in the oil, loss of power or rough-running.

At this point, with the levels staying up in the header-tank, I had to add coolant to the system to stop it rusting up, so I drained the water out, flushed it out with more water to get rid of any floating crud and re-filled it with a half and half mix of water and 3L of Halford's Advanced engine-coolant, which wasn't cheap at £24 (£7.99 per litre). I then checked the header-tank daily for a week with no change in the level.

Another two weeks of harder driving went by and I checked the coolant again. This time there was a definite drop in the level - the tank was only about a quarter full so I'd definitely hit a problem. Now I spotted the radiator. Its always looked battered but showed no signs of being split - I guess the old leaking coolant couldn't be seen as well as the fresh bright-pink stuff. By the look of the pink patches though, the radiator had burst in three places so it had to be replaced asap and I didn't know whether to be gutted over this or elated that it wasn't the head gasket...

NEW RADIATOR:

I had intended to put an all-alloy racing radiator on at some point, but these cost £130-£300 so to fit one now would kill my chances of buying brakes and stuff any time soon and I've got to move forward with the car. The OEM-spec radiators are all-alloy themselves [although not as chunky obviously and in a mild-steel surround] and less than half the price so it was a no brainer really to get the leak fixed. I scored one for £50 including next-day delivery off a guy called [dilley3613] on eBay - laughing. It's no cheap Chinese piece either, this is made by Koyo in Japan and, although its not quite as sturdy as the original one, its still looks a decent-quality part.

Fitting it was not a hard job at all. You only need a couple of spanners and there's not a lot to undo. There's plenty of space to work in a

nd the radiator lifts out clearly. Our only setback was the two bolts holding the radiator top-mounts were rusted so tight they snapped on the way out so we had to drill through and put a new bolt in with a nut underneath, which took ages. The top-mounts are all that hold the radiator on so check them for rust and WD40 them for about a week in advance to try and avoid the hassle.

PROCESS:

REMOVAL:

1. Jack the car up and remove the front under-tray by the two 10mm bolts on either side and the two 12mm bolts front and back. Lower the car.

2. Remove the radiat

or/header-tank cap to release pressure from the cooling-system.

3. Drain the cooling-system by placing a plastic-tube over the spout of the drain-valve at the bottom left of the back of the radiator and opening the valve. Drain into a clean bucket if you're re-using the coolant as I did and cover it straight afterwards.

4. Disconnect the fan wiring-socket by sliding a screwdriver down the slot in the connector until the two sides can be pulled apart.

5. On MY97/98 model cars the overflow-pipe from the header-tank is a thin metal tube that runs along th

e top of the radiator - later models won't have this. Disconnect

the overflow pipe from the system by removing the finger-clips and sliding off the rubber-hoses at each end.

6. Disconnect the rubber-hose from the overflow pipe at the top-left of the r

adiator by removing the finger-clip and sliding it off.

7. Disconnect the two large hoses from the top-left and bottom-right of the radiator by opening up the jubilee-clips with a flat-screwdriver. They will be sealed on tight, but should wiggle off easily once the seal is broken by pushing against the edge gently with a screwdriv

er. [It's worth putting a tray underneath the lower hose when you disconnect it as there will be a bit of coolant still pooled down there.]

8. Remove the two 12mm bolts holding the radiator top-mounts in place and tilt them up out of the bushes on the radiator.

9. Now the radiator can be tilted back, remove the single 10mm nut holding the PAS-fluid cooler in place. This is the two pipes that run over the radiator and

down the front. There is no need to disconnect the hoses from the PAS-coole

r as it can be tilted well clear for the radiator to be lifted out.

10. Slowly lift out the radiator, working the lower-bushes clear of their mounts.

11. Separate the fan and overflow-pipe from the old radiator by removing the two 10mm bolts at the bottom of the fan and the three 10mm bolts along the pipe at the top of the radiator. Also remove the top and bottom rubber-bushes to be reused.

REFITTING:

12. Bolt the fan and overflow-pipe to the new radiator using a 10mm wrench and re-insert the top two rubber-bushes.

13. Replace the bottom bushes to their mounts on the chassis. [The pins on the radiator are easier to use as a guide than putting the soft bushes on first and having to force them in.]

14. Lower the new radiator into the engine-bay, pushing the guide-pins firmly into the bushes.

15. Bolt the PAS-fluid cooler back into place, with the pipes over the radiator, using a 10mm wrench.

16. Push the pin on each top-mount back down into the bushes on the top of the radiator and replace the two 12mm bolts.

17. Push the two large rubber-hoses onto the new radiator [a tiny bit of washing-up liquid might help] and tightly secure them with the jubilee clips.

18. Push the rubber-hoses back onto the overflow at the top-left of the radiator and either end of the header-tank overflow-pipe. Replace the finger-clips.

19. Refill the system with 6.5 litres of a half water/half coolant mixture using the spout next to the battery or the header-tank and letting it run through.

20. Replace the header-tank cap and the front under-tray. You're done!

Carbon Fibre - Rear Wind-Diffuser - Part I

With the mould looking pretty good it was time to look at the different types of carbon-fibre covering to wrap it in. There are dozens of stick-on imitation carbon sheets available, but I didn't want it to look fake even under close inspection so I had to go for real stuff. I've seen people making real carbon parts for ages and it doesn't look too hard, but the price of it used to be outrageous. Not any more it seems, as I've found sheets of all sizes of raw carbon-fibre on eBay, often being cheaper than vinyl stick-on sheets of the same size! My diffuser is about 60cmx40cm and I didn't want to worry about matching the weave up with separate sheets, so I went for a half square-metre to cover it in one go, which worked out at £19.50 delivered for 100% twill-weave carbon, whereas the 3M-vinyl sheet that contains no carbon at all [but does look a LOT like it] was £27.99 delivered - nearly a tenner more expensive! Needless to say I went for the real carbon - from a firm called [grp_supplies], unfortunately no longer trading under that name and I can't find the new one on eBay :(

OK, so I had to buy some clear epoxy-resin to set the real fibre as well and it turned out to be dearer than I imagined. I could only find small tubes of the stuff for less than ten quid, but the amounts [and the cost] jumped up massively after that. I needed quite a bit for the diffuser too, so I grabbed the best deal I could find - 1kg of resin and 0.5kg of hardener for £28 delivered, which was good value even though they arrived in unmarked and unsealed bottles. They work great though - from a firm on eBay called [CreativeResinSolutions].

I originally intended to just cover the stiff plastic mould and re-fit it, but the carbon provides its own stiffness so the weight of the tough plastic van-undertray just seemed unnecessary. The thick plastic must weigh a couple of kg on its own so even the spaceship-light carbon would be a useless increase and the back end is already well planted with that soundsystem...

This meant I had to get the carbon off the plastic after it had set, which turned out to be stupidly simple. A professional would, of course, produce a fibre-glass cast of the part and use it as an inward-mould for the carbon. Not only would this mean forking out more money, I'd also have to completely re-design the fins on my diffuser so, with the carbon already there, I thought of a workaround, which I'm sure would be howled at by any respectable composite-engineer, but here is how I prepared the mould - after a few tests on a small dash-panel [here] I found this to be the easiest way of quickly fabbing up my carbon part :

PROCESS:

1. Smear the part in a thin film of vaseline. Apply a layer of cling-film to the part, sticking it in place with the vaseline. Repeat the process for several layers of cling-film.

2. Mix a good chunk of 2 parts epoxy resin with 1 part hardener and wait about 15 mins. until it starts to go tacky.

3. Paint a thin layer of the epoxy over the cling-filmed part.

4. Slowly drape the carbon-fibre sheet over the part and press it into shape. The tacky resin should make it easier to hold things in place. Tightly fold the fibre over the edges of the part and tape them in place on the back.

5. Mix some more epoxy-resin and immediately paint a good thick coat over the part, leaving it to dry for at least 8 hours.

**The part should pop easily off the mould by this point once the edges are trimmed and most of the cling-film can be peeled off. You can keep them together until the part is finished, but there is probably a higher chance of it bonding to the mould.

6. Give the part a quick sand with some rough paper. Remove any sharp points, resin drips and bumps. Don't worry about making the surface too even yet, but try not to go down into the carbon.

7. Mix more resin and apply another thick coat to the part, leaving it to dry for at least 24 hours this time. [One nice, thick coat should do it, but repeat process 6 & 7 if it looks too thin or uneven.]

8. Sand the part down to an even[ish] coat, then use finer grade papers to give it a smooth surface and apply the finishing touch to best show off the weave - either a coat of normal car spray-lacquer for the wet-look, or using T-cut / rubbing-compound to buff it to a dull racing-car shine.

As you can see I only got as far as the final coat. I've rubbed it down a bit, but still haven't found time to finish it, so I'll have to cover that in another post.

All things considered though, not a bad try for a beginner! It certainly looks the part - the carbon weave looks very authentic, but the dodgy moulding technique does have it's pitfalls. The heat of the epoxy drying causes bubbles in the cling-film to expand, which doesn't affect flat areas, but has made the back-edge of the diffuser a little sloppy round the fins, although it has given the skinny fins a nice rounded profile. A pro-diffuser would cost most of a grand remember, so for about £20 and a couple of afternoons work I think its turned out superbly! We'll have to wait and see if its a go when its finished and fitted.

Carbon Fibre - Making the Mould

Right its really time I wrote up some of the carbon fibre stuff because I'm desperate to move on to things like the brakes. The whole carbon idea started when I found an old plastic-undertray from a modern Ford Transit van at work. I thought it could help to fix where my front-undertray has snapped, but as I examined it I could see potential in the chunky design for greater things...

Rear Wind-Diffusers [like the one on the right] are common on race cars and are basically just a flat tray beneath the rear bumper with down-pointed fins for the air to flow past and give the car more downforce. They are almost exclusively made of all carbon-fibre and that means they aren't cheap either - any I can find for the Impreza start at £700 and go up, so considering they would have no real use for road driving except the style factor, they are out of reach of any sane modder.

Looking at this plastic Ford Transit undertray though I could see the beginnings of my own custom-built imitation diffuser, so I cut it into a flat piece and taped it under my back bumper. Its not quite as wide as I would have liked, but the edges do fit nicely within the number plate recess, so I thought what the hell, it can't hurt to have a crack at it.

With the main piece fitting OK and looking promising, I cut four equal sized fins from the off-cuts and just superglued them into place along the bottom of the tray, which conveniently has four vertical lines along it as a guide. I figured that whatever type of carbon wrapping I used later on would hold them in place properly and besides, this thing was never going to be an aerodynamic aid, so I'm not too bothered about structural integrity as long as it looks the part.

Its definately got that diffuser feel and I can't see it making the aero-dynamics of the car any worse [provided the leading edge is flush to the bottom of the car so it doesn't turn into an air-brake, of course!], so I decided to swot up on my carbon-fibre coverings...

Fake Spotlight Update

I thought putting aluminium-tape over the back of the fake lens would make it look more realistic, but I feel it has done the opposite.

I guess its better than the gaping hole.

Fake Spotlight.. er... Conversion!

People at work have begun to tell me that I have a hole that needs filling... I need to buy a new spotlight for the front bumper! Funds are still a bit tight after summer hols and I'm busy saving for some fancy new brakes so form has follow function in the money department I'm afraid and I can't justify spending up to £80 to sort the light out yet.

I have looked on eBay for some cheap 2nd hand replacements, but it's not just the lamp itself I need, its also the mounting brackets, the bolts etc. One of the bolts has also snapped and is stuck in the hole so that will need drilling out and re-threading too. Long!

But to try and appease the car's fans at work I have instead decided to knock up a fake spotlamp to fill the gap temporarily using, you guessed it, bits and bobs exclusively from the skip at work!

PROCESS:

I started by cutting a spotlamp sized disc out of a piece of clear-plastic insulation-board. This turned out to be the key element to the design as I noticed that the lines down the board mimic the diffuser-lines in the actual light lens. I then cut 1 inch off the end of a wide plastic drainpipe and glued it to the centre of the board to keep the fake light-lens proud of the backplate to match the depth of the real one. To hold the fake lamp onto the backplate I was going to need a fake bracket, so I cut a rough shape out of ABS-plastic [from the mould I used for my carbon wind-diffuser] that was wide enough at the bottom to meet the two screwholes and fixed the fake lamp to it with ally-tape.

Finally I fixed the fake lamp into place, using the original screw holes, with two allen-head alloy bolts and a bit of ally-tape at the top to stop it wobbling.