815 coupe restoration

[lancianut666]

Frank is right it is a drain tap...An Appia one is very similar and usually seized as well. You will turn the long pipe either left or right to open or shut the drain tap, the water will come out the bottom. Some Lancias have a rubber pipe fitted on the bottom to take the water away from the engine usually long gone by now.
Clarkey

[Kevinlincs]

Thanks both for the replies, Dave actually called tonight saying the same thing, and giving me another good pointer re the timing tensioner.
It seems I was looking at it the wrong way assuming the long pipe was a drain tube rather than what it actually is, the drain handle.
I will attempt to get it moving tomorrow.
The banjo bolt that is seized I fear may well be stubborn enogh to ruin the thread in the housing or its' own thread, or both on removal so time will tell.

[fay66]

Frank is right it is a drain tap...An Appia one is very similar and usually seized as well. You will turn the long pipe either left or right to open or shut the drain tap, the water will come out the bottom. Some Lancias have a rubber pipe fitted on the bottom to take the water away from the engine usually long gone by now.
Clarkey

.its the same as on my Fulvia 2c, which at one time worked, but has been seized for years, so I just pull off the pipe to the bottom of the radiator to drain the system.
Much easier if it does work though!
Brian
8227

[Kevinlincs]

Hopefully I will be able to get it working Brian.
Managed to get a bit of time on it at work tonight before leaving, got the banjo bolt out but not yet sure if the threads will survive as it was full of crud but managed to get it cleared out down to the brass inards of the valve.
Deconstructing the handle as per Daves instruction by removing the little retaining pins was easier than I thought although the lower one is slightly bent and burred but I'm sure it will all come apart when I get a few more minutes at it.

[Kevinlincs]

Got the tap all apart today, makes sense how it works now and I can see the tapered brass pieces that Dave mentioned.
A quarter turn opens the valve allowing water to the portion where the banjo bolt fitting is.
Now what I'm wondering is where does the pipe that the bano bolt holds on send water too? Looks like a heater sized fitting but is it purely a water drain? I had expected the drain part to just open water to the elements through the base somehow not send water to that outlet.

[Dave Gee]

 Kevin
    It fits to a pipe at the bottom of the radiator. The hose is about 150mm long, and 16mm id.
Best wishes
Dave

[frankxhv773t]

A picture of the disassembled parts would be interesting. It seems like you are saying the tap can be turned to either the aluminium housing or the pipe on the banjo connector. Does it allow you to drain the block or the radiator selectively?

[Kevinlincs]

Thnaks Dave, that makes sense. When I got the car the engine was in the engine bay, but only sat on wood so nothing was connected and parts like the radiator were inside the car! Makes it hard to know where things go sometimes 

I'll take some pics over he weekend Frank. I had assumed from the manuals' description of it being a "water drain" that it would be a means of drainging the system. From the few minutes I got to look at it all disassembled it appears to have two functions, a 1/4 turn of the handle opens up a passegeway from the main housing through to the banjo fitting. That I know happens. What I also suspect, but have yet to confirm, is that maybe the handle can be pressed down against the spring which opens up the tapered brass section which would allow the coolant to flow out, although I'm more than happy to be proved wrong on this.
I'll get a look at it over the weekend and give the brass a clean up so it turns smoothly.

[Dave Gee]

 
  Its just an on/off drain

  Dave

[Kevinlincs]

  Its just an on/off drain
 
  Dave

It's obvious when you look properly Dave isn't it! Doh 
Had another look this morning at work and it's clear how it works, just a drain as Dave says. Although it does also connect the banjo and housing, to drain both sections!
I'll explain later, if anyone wants to see a fool grovel!

[Kevinlincs]

Ok, this is the tap disassembled. The brass section has a taper which under spring pressure from above keeps a watertight seal against the tapered brass insert within the alloy housing.
You can see here the hole goes right through the brass taper.

[Kevinlincs]

With it in the housing and turned to the off position it blocks off both from the banjo section and the main housing.

[Kevinlincs]

Turn the tap handle a 1/4 turn and it aligns the hole to connect the hole straight through from the banjo to the main housing.

[Kevinlincs]

That was what confused me, easily done sometimes!
I thought it was a kind of tap to allow water to flow from the engine to the heater perhaps, but then it was pointed out that the banjo connection goes to the radiator.
I'd assumed also that the way to drain the system would require the tap to be pushed down to release the taper and let coolant flow.
Of course I'd missed the fact that the brass tapered insert doesn't just have a hole through it but that is more of a T junction so as the holes lign up the coolant simply flows through the hole in the bottom, no taper seal breaking needed, it allows for the radiator to drain as well as directly from a low point in the engine as one.
It has struck me though that the tiny spring that keeps the tapers together is vital, if that were to brake it could allow the handle to drop down a fraction and maybe leak?

[Kevinlincs]

I've been meaning to spray the tappet covers for some time so they would be ready to fit, of course it never happened! So this afternoon with the dry and sunny predicted weather I went to the unit to set to and get them done.
All the old paint and corrosion came off ok, rubbed down and etch primed then some 2 pack satin black that I had to hand was mixed up and sprayed on. It's dulled down a bit since this picture now it's dried. I know they should really be a crackle finish but it's not going to be a concourse car by any means so making it look presentable is good enough.