PART 6 APRIL (2001)
27th APRIL 2001
Well I finally did it.......My Covin is NOW "ON THE
ROAD" It's not fully finished yet but at least I've got a
fighting chance of getting
it to the Stoneleigh show and supporting the Covin Owners Club. I
might even get you guys to help in the finishing touches.....
I'll bring the tools along.
I only
have 8 days until Stoneleigh and have to raise the front suspension, sort out
the central locking, fit an alarm, re-trim the rear panels, sort out the
accelerator pedal linkage, cut a larger slot in the front for better cooling and
get the tracking done......... No problem.... ? ?
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My covin hit the road at 11.30am on Friday 27th April 2001 and
I can tell you the feeling was great. It was already fully insured and when it
sailed through it's MOT first time a stop at the post office for road tax
was the next step and at last I could use my covin...... But since then it's
been in the garage getting further work done as I was not happy about the
front suspension (very soft) so I'm looking into the possibility of fitting
adjustable coil over shock absorbers to the front to stiffen it up a bit. I
will be having a good play out in it on Sunday so we'll see how it goes then
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3rd
MAY 2001 PROBLEMS PROBLEMS
Well what can I say.....With
only 2 working days until Stoneleigh things were looking good until my Covin developed a problem.....No
spark and no fuel pump operation and it looked like the engine management had
failed, but after much pondering over the wiring diagrams I finally traced the
fault while in bed asleep (you know how it is) ...... I woke up at 4am Friday
morning and dashed to the kitchen to
check the wiring diagram in the book again to confirm my suspicions..... YES I
was right. Later that day I tested out my theory and the spark plugs burst into
life (I might make it to Stoneleigh yet) The problem was due to the fuel pump
being seized up and as it's on the same pulsed circuit from the engine
management computer supplying
the coil it caused an overload in the management computer and stopped the
spark......so Saturday morning the search was on to find a fuel pump from some where . . . . .
. Stoneleigh show was the next day.....
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5th
MAY 2001
Managed to get a fuel pump at 1pm Saturday and fitted it to
the covin, I also changed the wastegate actuator, speedo cable, thermostat and
adjusted the steering box end float, finally finished working on the car at 10pm
only 6 hours before setting off to Stoneleigh at 4am. My Covin has only covered
about 4 road miles so with no time for any test drive
other than the 250 mile trip on the day to Stoneleigh it's a bit of a gamble so
what the hell.. I'll go for it. . . There's still hope..
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| stoneleigh
show 6th AND 7th MAY 2001 |
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7th
MAY 2001
Well what do you know.... My Covin made the 250 mile trip to Stoneleigh
without problem, not bad considering this was it's first ever real drive
having only covered 4 miles before this. However at approx 4pm day 2 of the
show we decided it was time to head back for the long drive home unaware
of the little surprise my Covin had prepared for me and just as I joined the M1
a rather large cloud of steam poured from under the engine lid . . . . evasive
action was taken and I managed to pull over at Leicester Forrest East services to find
the cylinder head gasket had decided to go pop . . . . not quite the trip back I
had planed out . . . . So my covin ended up going home on the back of the RAC
recovery truck but at least it made it to the show and it was worth it........
Its a good job I did make it to the show as during the clubs
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) Club Secretary Michael Dykes proposed to make
me the new Club Technical Advisor (much to my surprise) Mr Mark Turner
seconded the motion and all members were in agreement.
Talk about out of the blue.... I naturally accepted the post. |
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8th
MAY 2001
By
owners decree I hereby find my Covin GUILTY of "premeditated breakdown" and
the only punishment for such a crime is "OFF WITH IT'S HEAD" |
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| The punishment for breaking down on me... OFF WITH IT'S
HEAD . . . . |
The turbo is on the floor and the head is coming off |
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| Checked out all the bores etc and everything was like
new. |
Decided to renew all the valve stem oil seals and grind
in the valve seats while I had the opportunity. |
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15th
MAY 2001
THE
PLOT THICKENS
Well here's the update of the news so far. After inspection of
the cylinder head gasket (and finding there was nothing wrong with it) I also
changed the valve stem oil seals and moved the radiator to a much better
location, still at the front but more air flow can now go over it. Once the
engine was back together I took it out for a test run and the temperature gauge
never went over half way, GREAT I thought at last it's ok . . . WRONG.
. . after 20 mins of running the expansion bottle blew steam out the top once
again even with the temperature gauge at halfway AAARGGGHHHHHHHHH ! ! ! !
Back to the drawing board and out with the water pump and what ever else I
can think of . . . |
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| The next step is to change the expansion bottle as I've found
a small crack on the neck under the filler cap . . . . You never know this might
be the cause of the problem as when the engine warms up the crack might open and
release the system pressure causing it to boil over . . . . It's a long shot but
it might work....... (I'm bloody desperate now . . . ha..ha..) |
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20th
May 2001
IT'S
FIXED... OR IS IT?
Finally
sorted out the cooling system problem last week, it turns out that the wrong
expansion tank and cap had been supplied (from a car DEALER that will remain nameless) with only 0.9 bar pressure rating. It should
have been the Correct RS Turbo cap rated at 1.3 bar....... Useless, incompetent,
dumb
dod
. . . . I voiced my feelings and displeasure about this at a truly ear bleeding decibel level and I
think they understood never make this mistake again....
The new
expansion tank and cap was fitted and my Covin taken out for a test drive....
Everything worked fine, no problems and running smooth....WONDERFUL.... Or was
it ?
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