T16 restoration starts in earnest

[eddy8men]

shaun gave me a good tip on brake adjustment leaving the tracks on, just get someone to bounce the top run of track up and down, this will move the drum/sprocket back and forth which will enable you adjust the brakes, personally i adjust them tight then slacken them off until the drum starts to move and then give it one more 1/4 turn to be sure then take it for a spin and see if the drums getting overly hot. as for the tracks i'd leave them just for a while and see if they settle in on their own.

rick

[andrew honychurch]

sounds like a good plan. I reckon half of the reason that the graphite seals were misbehaving was because the drum was hot, or they were just bedding in, as I did not detect anymore leakage. probably all over my brake shoes!

Noticed a bit of fuel starvation at low to medium throttle which cleared if you floored it. Bit of pain, as it didnt do that before. I wonder whether its one of the jets playing up , although its a new carb, which gets augmented by the accelerator pump? It could have also been a very simple shortage of fuel caused by me not having the vent tap on my temporary fuel can open. Although that wouldnt have explained the fuel being there when you floored it. Anyway, I will try it next time with the vent open.....I reckon it will be that.

[Ben]

Congratulations Andrew. Glad you got to take it for a spin, I could see you were itching to have a go. I'm sure sorting the issues now will make life easier in the future.

Well done

Ben

[andrew honychurch]

not much to report in terms of progress. I am awaiting some instruments being sent from the US, and some tin work for the engine covers to be manufactured. I did however, manage to get it charging, or at least, my local expert managed to get it charging. Pretty chuffed with that, a few well aimed tweeks in the control box and hey presto, eureka.

I had noticed that on a couple of the new head studs I put in place I have a little weep up through the nut on the cylinder head. I have put some K Seal in the water and hope that it encourages it to seal. Has anyone else experienced this with the V8 engines?

[RichardT10829]

Andrew my problems with head studs snapping arose as a result that for some absurd reason they drilled the the head studs into the block right into the water jacket ! so with a bit of water pressure voila you get water weeping up through the threads... my advice would be is if the studs can come out without sheering off like mine i would take them out clean the threads and put some thread lock/sealer on the studs and wind them back in, job is a goodun.

i have no doubt there will be other fixes for this issue... perhaps nipping up the stud a bit more will do the trick...i would worry about threads pulling or the stud letting go though.

[ajmac]

A tip from the hot rodders is to fit dowty washers.

[andrew honychurch]

thanks Guys. I had to fit about 15 new studs, and its only on two of these that I am getting a weep. What I need to do is a compression test at some stage just to make sure that I dont have a head gasket problem, but I am sure I dont. Am trying to work out where the water will be coming from. I guess it must be through the thread at the bottom of the stud and all the way up, as long as the head gasket is holding the only place for it to get out is through the top. Having started with two leaking water pumps I now only have one, but it just wont stop. I have bought a couple of NOS pumps but am reluctant to fit it as I am hoping the dripper will stop soon. Its just a bit of a bore as I havent filled it with anti-freeze yet in case I have to drain it down to do the pump and lose all the solution. Sadly my engine does not have the correct taps in the block for draining only plugs so the water will go all over the centre engine bay unless one of you has a cunning plan. I feel the need for some more on track testing