Report on (slow) S2 Coupe rebuild progress

[GeoffJohnson]

Hi Kevin
I think this is what you want.

Geoff Johnson

[Jaydub]

Hi Norm photo of my valve.
John

[nthomas1]

Brilliant, thanks chaps! Geoff’s picture shows the white nylon/plastic clip. Can’t quite make out how it’s connected but from the position of it it looks like the rod hooks into the hole in the lever. John’s picture clearly shows the angled end to the rod, confirming that mine must have snapped off. But oddly, the end of the rod is not shown hooked into the hole in the operating lever!

If at some stage you could measure the overall length of the rod, John, that would be useful. Yours looks more accessible than Geoff’s.

Now that I know how it’s supposed to look I can turn my attention to how to find an intact rod and the white fitting. I’ll ask around the people who I know to be breaking cars as this isn’t the sort of thing that the usual parts suppliers would carry. Any suggestions welcome.

[lancialulu]

The upper end of the rod goes into the upper lever and the clip (fiddly to put on) holds it in place (the rod end goes through the clip and lever). Weird your rod has such a clean fracture.

[Jaydub]

Norm , your rod is upside, the 90 degree end goes to the lever secured with a nylon clip. The straight end goes the valve and is secured with a solderless nipple as you can see in my photo. Obviously yours is missing and for some reason the rod has been reversed.

[Jaydub]

I forgot to mention, if you do need to replace the cables, you require PIANO WIRE NOT Bowden cable.

[nthomas1]

Great - thanks John.  I missed the nipple at the lower end.  It will make a solution much easier to find, and answers the conundrum about the phantom clean fracture.  I'm sure I can rig something up.   Thanks for pointing it out!

[GeoffJohnson]

Hi Kevin
i think you have the rod the wrong way round. The bent end with the plastic clip goes to the top. The straight end (not broken) fits to the valve with a connector that you are missing. It is like a bolt with a hole through it for the rod to pass through and clamped into position with a nut. this allows for adjustment. Hope this helps

Geoff johnson

[nthomas1]

Thanks Geoff - I was so focussed on the top of the rod that I failed to notice the bottom end on your picture or John's!  (It's Norm by the way, not Kevin!!)

[lancialulu]

Problem solved!!

[Jaydub]

Hi Norm, missing parts.
John

[GeoffJohnson]

Sorry Norm
I was so hung up on solving the problem I forgot to check who I was talking to! Apologies to you and Kevin.

Geoff

[nthomas1]

Geoff - no problem!!

John - I sent you a pm.

[nthomas1]

Two steps forward and one step back over the last few days. After giving up on the heater valve and ordering a new one I did some smaller jobs in the engine bay. Reconnected the bonnet release mechanism which was disconnected when I bought the car, only for the spring to break in the safety catch so need to source a new one.

I noticed that the jubilee clip on the heater hose connection to the bottom of the radiator (attached before the rad was installed) was inaccessible after installing the radiator fan. So, in the interests of future maintenance, I pulled the fan out and reorientated the clip. I thought I’d test the fan before refitting but could only get a few sparks at the terminals, so I now have to find out if the fan motor can be taken apart for investigation. Has anybody done that?

The replacement servo hose looks a lot more respectable than the old one which was connected at one end with a nylon tie!

After a week working mostly in the engine bay I’ll get back to door and window seals tomorrow, and I’m going to see if I can install the rear windscreen.

[nistri]

Presumably the fan spins OK by hand. In some cases the blades rub against the frame. Did you try to connect it to a battery? These electric motors rarely go wrong, may be the brushes are worn although if the engine is OK and the cooling systemis  working fine, they are infrequently switched on and wear is small, Andrea