Following on from my overheating drama, my old girl is in bits at the moment. Hopefully (can you all please pray for me 
) I've avoided head or head gasket problems.
Having (too impulsively
) stripped out the carbs and inlet manifold, I had to rebuild it all, using Hylomar on a carefully prepared inlet manifold with Payen gaskets, so that I could carry out the few basic checks that I should have done before dimantling in the first place.
I started it up and the bad news was that I still had a slight leak in to the Vee. The good news however was that there was no oil in the water or water in the oil, the plugs were dry and a compression test seemed to indicate all was ok.
I made up a coolant system pressure tester and found a Jubilee clip on the bypass hose had lost it’s thread and so, even though it looked tight, it wasn’t. Replaced clip and restarted the old girl but, after half hour running, although the temperature was static and correct, I still had a leak in to the Vee. As far as I could tell it was coming from the pump overflow, suggesting pump seal gone.
Well, the manifold was in like you-know-what to a blanket but I eventually got it out and then the pump came out ok. I started to dismantle it but, unfortunately, a PO had used so much Loctite that the bolt was virtually welded to the impeller (and yes, I was turning it the right way !!) Finally, in trying to release the bolt, the impeller turned with the bolt and damaged the splines and so it means a reconditioned pump is needed now. Looking at the graphite seal and the underside of the impeller, they have seen better days and I'm hoping that was the cause of my water loss which I, like a right Dork, overlooked and allowed my coolant level to get that bit too low
Anyway, when ordering a recon pump from Paddocks, Graham there suggested using a sealant called 'Dirko'. I have always got on well with Hylomar but I know there are plenty of you on here who swear by Wellseal. However, has anyone any experience of this 'Dirko'?
Well, that's my current state of play and all thoughts or comments on Dirko, or anything else, would be gratefully received.
Cheers
Julian
) I've avoided head or head gasket problems.Having (too impulsively
) stripped out the carbs and inlet manifold, I had to rebuild it all, using Hylomar on a carefully prepared inlet manifold with Payen gaskets, so that I could carry out the few basic checks that I should have done before dimantling in the first place.I started it up and the bad news was that I still had a slight leak in to the Vee. The good news however was that there was no oil in the water or water in the oil, the plugs were dry and a compression test seemed to indicate all was ok.
I made up a coolant system pressure tester and found a Jubilee clip on the bypass hose had lost it’s thread and so, even though it looked tight, it wasn’t. Replaced clip and restarted the old girl but, after half hour running, although the temperature was static and correct, I still had a leak in to the Vee. As far as I could tell it was coming from the pump overflow, suggesting pump seal gone.
Well, the manifold was in like you-know-what to a blanket but I eventually got it out and then the pump came out ok. I started to dismantle it but, unfortunately, a PO had used so much Loctite that the bolt was virtually welded to the impeller (and yes, I was turning it the right way !!) Finally, in trying to release the bolt, the impeller turned with the bolt and damaged the splines and so it means a reconditioned pump is needed now. Looking at the graphite seal and the underside of the impeller, they have seen better days and I'm hoping that was the cause of my water loss which I, like a right Dork, overlooked and allowed my coolant level to get that bit too low
Anyway, when ordering a recon pump from Paddocks, Graham there suggested using a sealant called 'Dirko'. I have always got on well with Hylomar but I know there are plenty of you on here who swear by Wellseal. However, has anyone any experience of this 'Dirko'?
Well, that's my current state of play and all thoughts or comments on Dirko, or anything else, would be gratefully received.
Cheers
Julian
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