and your car runs like crap because.....

...some HACK has been there before you!

My GT40 always ran a little hot....not really hot, just a bit hotter than it should run in the chilly Pacific Northwest here. I had the rad flushed, pressure checked the system, used the power lift system to suck all the air bubbles out, etc. all to no avail. Then I had the forward bulkhead off to check on something and I look down and see the coolant hose to the WP has a major kink in it. Some HACK has installed the hose so it's partially collapsed. All that was necessary was to take about 3/16th off the length of the pipe and viola, no collapse.

This was basically like inserting an in-line reducer down to somewhere between 1/2" and 3/4" in the 1 3/4" coolant hose. No wonder the flow wasn't that great.

Took her for a run this morning and temps were down a good 10-15 degrees.

Whoever installed the engine in my car left out several bolts in the Kennedy adapter plate, forgot to put in a couple engine mount bolts, used cheesy Grade 3 fastners wherever they did remember to put a bolt and generally did a horrible job of it. There's no other words for it than HACK.

All my life I've been buying classic cars and improving them. 99% of the time there's been some (likely more than one!) HACK who has jury rigged all kids of stuff and generally f'ed things up.

Don't be a HACK!
 

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Cliff, I feel your pain mate. In my car too I had some 'HACK' engineering. The belt alignment and strain on a couple of belts had to be seen to be believed. I truly do not know how the mechanic got one of the belts on the engine. Once I got the belt off there was no way it was ever going back on no matter what I tried. I ended up having to buy a bigger belt....a simple cure but how in the F%$K did he ever get the damn thing on. I've found other things too and you just have to ponder why would anyone do this type of thing. Is there no more "Pride in your Work?" BTW that lower hose.....it doesn't collapse does it? I noted mine did when I pressed the fun pedal while I had the engine cover off. I installed a SS spring and that took care of the issue.
 
Jimmy, sounds like you've had some similar experience to mine with prior HACK fixes of others....just makes you ponder....

The collapsed hose actually did have an internal spring but the spring wasn't very good and the hose folded between a couple of the coils. There was only a small opening at the fold. I went to the local auto parts store, found a 1 3/4 Goodyear coolant hose with both a slight bend in it (to help with accommodating engine movement) and a much better internal spring. I think that's the suction side of the WP so it's going to need some internal support. In any case, she's good now.

Hang in there and work through all the prior HACK fixes and your car will be wonderful. I'm almost there now with my CAV (mono #6).

Cheers!
 

Dwight

RCR GT 40 Gulf Livery 347 Eight Stack injection
Cliff I feel your pain.

my whole car is like that.

Dwight
 
Rick, easy fixes are always welcome but sadly very rare..... :)
Cliff, (fingers crossed as I type this and that ain't easy to do!) I've pretty much got most of them and you're right the car is fantastic. Last weekends drive is a case in point. Great weather, great drive and she ran superbly! I was like a kid in a candy store and my girlfriend who sat beside me wonders why she can't put that kind of smile on my face. :lol:
Dwight...not sure how to take that....are you referring to the car as a whole or your or someone elses work on her?
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
That hose may have only collapsed / kinked after being subjected to a number of heat cycles.. I do admit though, that a kink like that would be one heckuva restriction..
 

Pat

Supporter
...some HACK has been there before you!

My GT40 always ran a little hot....not really hot, just a bit hotter than it should run in the chilly Pacific Northwest here. I had the rad flushed, pressure checked the system, used the power lift system to suck all the air bubbles out, etc. all to no avail.

Cliff, I have CAV mono #4 so our cars may be closely related. It always ran a little warm, about 105C. I came to think that was norm until it started running a lot warmer and so I did a flush and replaced the thermostat with a STANT superstat fail safe unit (they fail in the open position). SHOCK!, the car now gets to 80c and never waivers.
My A/C came non-op and it wouldn’t hold the R-134a. Guess what, it was assembled with no O-rings.
I also had my moments with failed fuel cells (just the right one) until I discovered the mounting left the front of the cell about half an inch above the floor of the sponson. Once I shimmed it, I've never had a problem since.
It pays to go over every nut bolt and grommet.
 
Cliff, I have CAV mono #4 so our cars may be closely related. It always ran a little warm, about 105C. I came to think that was norm until it started running a lot warmer and so I did a flush and replaced the thermostat with a STANT superstat fail safe unit (they fail in the open position). SHOCK!, the car now gets to 80c and never waivers.
My A/C came non-op and it wouldn’t hold the R-134a. Guess what, it was assembled with no O-rings.
I also had my moments with failed fuel cells (just the right one) until I discovered the mounting left the front of the cell about half an inch above the floor of the sponson. Once I shimmed it, I've never had a problem since.
It pays to go over every nut bolt and grommet.

Yup, absolutely right Pat.....every nut, bolt and grommet.......takes a while..... I'm almost there. Thanks for the tip on the A/C, my cars A/C is non-op too so I wouldn't be surprised if I find the same thing when I dive into fixing that. Here in the chilly Pacific Northwest it's not so critical to have that running (unlike where you are...). The heat is also non-op and a quick look revealed that vacuum lines to operate the heat valve are non-existent. So I'll have to run a vacuum line or two to get that going. I just get the feeling somebody walked into the assembly room in SA and said "OK guys, that's it, time's up, pack her up and ship her out".......

Cheers.
 
Veek, Cliff, My God I hope the boys and gals in SA took a higher degree of pride when # 82 was put together! BTW, I discovered #82 is the FIRST car produced once the factory was under new management and ownership. My hope is they said "This is our first lets make it our best." (Fingers crossed) Most of the issues I've had with my car have been engine related which can't really be blamed on CAV. But I am currently trying to track down an electric issue. I hope its a simple cure.
 

Pat

Supporter
In the very early CAV MONO days I understand some of the cars were actually finished at the SA BMW plant. So in the passing around, some things might have been missed. I also have a lot of BMW parts on the car.
Cliff, if you can't get the A/C relay to click, they can be replaced for under $5. I can also send you the A/C schematics if you need them as well as photos of the heater and A/C systems. As you can imagine, I use the A/C every time I take the car out and once I got the O-rings in it (which I think were a distrubutor installed item) the only issue I had was the relay and I've had the A/C system purged once and refilled. Not bad for ten years.
In defense of the CAV factory, the fellow I bought the car from hoped to be a distributor and really didn't have a handle on the mechanics. So it's hard to pin down distributor versus dealer versus factory. The new management has been fantastic so I think Jimmy's car should be great. While I'm the first owner of my car, it went from importer to dealer 1 to a Cadillac dealer of all places and back to dealer 1 then me.
Jimmy, I had electrical gremlins early on as I was blowing driver side light fuses. Turns out it was the license plate light. THAT was fun to find ;)
Personally, solving all this is half the fun and what I have now is a very fun well sorted car and it's really been worth it.
 
Veek, It goes without saying I've always appreciated your assistance. You've been more then great with me. Tell me more about that AC relay. I may need to know about that $5.00 cure. The car goes in for diagnosis this Friday.
Cliff continue good luck to you. Keep us posted.
 
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