Work During September - Bumpers, Exhaust & Cooling System

Wow, didn't realise it had been so long, or that I had done so much, since posting the last blog.

Bumpers
So, regarding the bumpers, I had been able to fit the original front bumpers and overriders, even though they are a little distorted, although not so much as you would really notice.  At the back, both original side bumpers are badly twisted, so won't go back in their current state.  I don't remember if I had mentioned in a previous post, but I bought a complete set of Series 3 bumpers off the internet. They were a good price, but unfortunately were from a Roadster, which I found out has a slightly differently shaped back end to the 2+2.  Having said that, I decided to fit the two side parts, which went on OK, since the bolt holes line up with the car.  However, the original centre piece has different fittings to the Roadster centre piece, so I haven't been able to fit that - it would have been ideal to fit as it has the correct fittings for mounting the overriders and the reversing lamps.  Anyway, I played around with the Roadster centre piece, and with a bit of filing, have been able to mount it between the two outside pieces.

Roadster rear bumpers fitted

It looks pretty good (if you don't get too close).  Now I need to make up brackets to mount the overriders and the reversing lights.

Exhaust
I'd been running the car with bits of an exhaust (not correct E-type parts) since I'd got the engine running - it was amazingly noisy - the kids didn't want to come near the car for fear of it blowing up!! - so I finally bit the bullet and ordered a stainless exhaust from SNG Barrett.  (Fortunately this was after the "Brexit" vote, so it was less expensive that when I'd priced it a few months ago due to the change in the GBP/$US exchange rate).

The new system arrived within about a week.  I then went out and bought a pair of ramps off Kijiji, which I used, along with a pair I am borrowing from Steve, to raise the car about 10ins off the floor so I could get at the exhaust system.

To my great surprise and relief, most of the parts of the exhaust came apart easily.  The only one I had a bit of trouble with was the sealing olive between the front and inter-pipes on one side.  It seemed to be stuck in the front pipe, which I haven't changed, but it finally came out with a bit of brute force (and fortunately no damage to the front pipe).  So once all that was off, I bought new s/s fasteners and got on with fitting the new system.

I got a bit confused with the orientation of the twin silencers, since the inlet and outlet stubs are both offset from centre, but after a few tries in different orientations under the car, I finally came to the correct positions.

I thought I'd need help installing the exhaust, but with strategic positioning of a pair of axle stands, I was able to support the weight of the various components while I fitted and tightened the clamps, so the whole thing went on in two sessions of a couple of hours each, including putting on the Quad Outlet Finisher ("whale tail").

Cooling System
While the car was raised, it presented a good opportunity to work on the cooling system.  The fans don't come on automatically, and the header tank was leaking.  I had also had the bottom hoses spray coolant out because the rubber hose wasn't sufficiently over a stub pipe for the clamp to grip properly, so I had had that great leak, and lost all the cooling fluid, shortly after I'd started running the car.

I'd bought a new coolant reservoir, so replacement of that didn't take much doing, and I replaced some metric fasteners that had been used previously with 1/4" UNC, which seem more appropriate for the car, seeing as all other fasteners are either UNF or UNC threads.

Under the car, after draining the system, I took off a couple of the bottom hoses and their stub connector pipe and re-fitted them, ensuring that there is now sufficient overlap of the hose on the pipe, so the clamps are well secure.

For the automatic running of the fans, I have bought a new thermostatic switch that should start the fans at the correct temperature - I'd assumed that the original on the car had failed.  However, when I actually got under the car to check it out properly, it turns out that there is no wire going to the switch, so it may actually still be working.

The Thermostatic switch that should bring in the radiator cooling fans (if it were connected).

Anyway, I decided I should replace it anyway, but I haven't been able to undo the bolts securing it into the pipe, so I've decided to leave it for now, and to continue to use the manual switch to run the fans all the time the engine is running. (Just need to remember to switch it off again!).

Getting the Car off the Ramps
Once I'd finished as much as I could do with the cooling system, I had to get the the car down off the ramps, then get the back end up on its own so I could get the rear silencer fitted.  I had originally got the car onto the ramps by raising, first the front end, then the back end using my hydraulic jack, then pushing the ramps under the wheels.  However, the rear silencer sits right below my jacking point, so once the silencer was fitted, I wouldn't be able to use that point.  So, before fitting the rear silencer, I used the jack to bring the car down off both sets of jacks, then raised the back again, using the jack, and pushed the ramps under the wheels.  I used the metal ramps, as they are about an inch higher than Steve's plastic ones.  That all went fine, and I installed the back box.

I'd positioned the ramps so I could roll the car down off them, leaving enough room at the front of the car (it was in the garage for all this work) for it to roll fully off the ramps well before getting near the work bench.  For this job, I had used the metal ramps that I'd bought recently.

Since I was getting ready to start the car for the first time with the new exhaust system on, Liz and the kids had come over with me to hear the new "quiet" car.  So, with the kids sitting in Liz's car watching a video, and Liz making sure I was lined up to come straight down the ramps, and not going to hit anything at the front, I got the car started, put it into gear, and slowly let off the brake to get the car onto the slope of the ramps before putting it in neutral to run down the rest.  But, before I could brake and put the car into neutral, I had dropped to the floor!!  With the lack of friction between the metal legs of the ramp and the concrete floor, the push of the tires on the ramp had pushed the ramps back, rather than pushing the car forward, so the rear wheels had come down the ramp, albeit a lot quicker than I had intended, but by the ramps moving relative to the car and the floor, rather than the car moving relative to ramps and floor.

One of the ramps ended up just in the entrance to the garage, but the other one had been pushed about 3 feet into the driveway.  Fortunately nobody had been anywhere near the back of the car - Liz was at the front, the kids were in Liz's car and there were no cars driving past - so there were no injuries and no damage.  However, I realise how very lucky I was - it could have been a lot more serious.

The car also came off with no adverse affects - I guess because it had gone down the slopes of the ramps, rather than falling vertically with no "vertical control", the stress on the suspension was minimised and wasn't affected.

This seems like a lot of work (and learning) since my last post, but there are other things I've also done on the car - rear hatch seal, accelerator pedal and windscreen washer hose, which I'll give more details about in the next post (which won't be as long in coming as this one was since the last!).