Project Dollywobbler's Foxy little number

[skoda_fan]

Just seen Foxy in the flesh/fibreglass at Bromley and can confirm she's a delight and am full of admiration for what's been achieved. Well done for getting there. I have friends in SW Wales so I know what a sod the M4 can be.

[dollywobbler]

The weekend in brief.

Pretend this is Saturday morning. It was actually Friday evening, but she looked much the same, only with a bonnet.

Leigh Delamere. Bonnet off again as I tried to work out how all the oil had vanished. Radiator was full of mayo again.

She was driving well though, and despite the temp gauge sitting far too high, she felt ok so I just kept going. 60mph (sat nav, 65 on the speedo due to my new tyres) felt very comfortable, so we just did that for hours. Epic queues across the Severn Bridge and parts of the M25, but no steam detected. Proceeded with caution. By Bracknell, the oil was below minimum again... I added the last of my oil.

Bromley Pageant was achieved. This was about seven AM. Outlaw118 very kindly brought me some 20w50 oil, as I could not find any for sale at this classic car show. DISAPPOINT.

Foxanne went down a storm and many people came for a look at my dreadful paint. Most thought it far better than they expected. 

This morning at my lovely AirBNB. I topped up the oil yet again, though it had only dropped as far as the minimum this time.

Plucking up courage to tackle the M25. At one stage, we managed 70mph in the fast lane! 

Banbury. Had to top the oil up again - another litre. That was 2 litres gone in 187 miles...

Wales. She was still overheating, so I went Roadkill and left the bonnet off. This brought the temp gauge down a bit, but only over 50mph. I think that comfirms the rad as key culprit. Handily, a new one arrived today! Three-row as well. Dead posh.

However, I made it home! On getting home, I revved the engine hard and noticed acrid blue smoke. Ah, that's where the oil was going then! I shall fit the new radiator, flush the coolant and see how she goes (at some point). In less than two weeks, I'm off on my jollies in the 2CV, so I can't promise any further progress on the Fox. 2CV now needs to be the focus! So, she made it, with issues, but none that ever brought her to a halt. I'm saying that's pretty good. She buzzes along merrily enough. Noisy, naturally, and all of the revs, but these Reliant motors are so sweet. I did 70mph along the A5 again, just to prove she can comfortably do it. Kill or cure!

The ride is bouncy as hell, so I suspect new dampers would be a good idea. Perhaps new bushes up front as well as she reacts very badly to potholes. Otherwise, she's quite a jolly little thing.

[LightBulbFun]

very happy to see she made it there and back under her own power despite the fact she goes through Oil like I go through hot chocolate

so is oil leaking into the coolant system or is the mayo just from crap left in the old radiator? I was just wondering as you dont want to clog up your shiny new radiator with crap if it is leaking into the cooling system!

[dollywobbler]

I thought it might be head gasket, but gave her a right ol' spanking today to see if that made things worse. It didn't. So, could well be crap lodged in the old radiator, which was the one fitted when it catastrophically overheated with the previous engine (and owner). 

[dollywobbler]

This weekend with more droning on and on...

 

[Fumbler]

"Why is my centre console trying to escape?"

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your radiator fixing dalliances. Seeing that temperature gauge go down will be a big relief I'm sure.

[dollywobbler]

Can't promise it'll happen soon. Need to prep the 2CV for its Croatia adventure, which starts next week!

[Zelandeth]

Yeah... it's astonishing how long the cooling system components can be shedding oily gunk for following a HG failure.
 

If not head gasket though it does beg the question as to where the oil's going...with those volumes vanishing I'd be looking at the PCV oil separator first probably.  Rings being so worn as to use that much I'd have expected to result in notably low compression and poor performance...but she seems peppy enough in the videos...

Really does seem a cheerful little thing...

 

[hairnet]

Croatia

Bassa

*Not jealous

[trigger]

There's one of these coming up for sale in town shortly apparently, i won't lie, it keeps winking at me!.

[Zelandeth]

Is it really bad that I'm looking at these and thinking "that would be great for carrying the dog around..." Now?

I have -1 spaces available...Need to sell at least the Lada before I can even think about getting any more cars...and already have my eyes on something anyway!

 

[dollywobbler]

6 hours ago, trigger said:

There's one of these coming up for sale in town shortly apparently, i won't lie, it keeps winking at me!.

That is properly nice!

[Eyersey1234]

Good to hear Foxanne made it.

[dozeydustman]

I would suggest valve stem seals; quite possibly they've dried out from lack of use or are just knackered. After you've been to Croatia, see if you get any blue smoke on a cold startup, normally a sign they've worn.

As Zelandeth says also check any breather system the engine has, could be a blocked hose, or even the cap itself is clogged if it has a mesh or valve in it.

[plasticvandan]

usually stem seals,though ive had one where the rings were that worn it would go from max to min on the stick in 100 miles. only breather on these is the oil filler cap to the carb.

[wuvvum]

13 hours ago, trigger said:

There's one of these coming up for sale in town shortly apparently, i won't lie, it keeps winking at me!.

Make an ideal replacement for the Ital van would that.

[dollywobbler]

Have a horrible feeling I've reached the end of the road with this one. I don't get enough pleasure out of driving it to justify it being such a pain in the arse to work on. So I don't think it'll be coming to Chumleigh. Quite what I do with it, I'm not sure. I doubt it's worth much, it has HubNut painted on the sides of it and it is still putting oil into the coolant. Bah.

[Fumbler]

I still think the oil in the radiator is still stuff which is being cleared out of the entire cooling system. Besides, I can't see any other telltale signs of an ongoing head gasket problem or something like that. Maybe it's my eyes...

[MrSchwifty]

17 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

Have a horrible feeling I've reached the end of the road with this one. I don't get enough pleasure out of driving it to justify it being such a pain in the arse to work on. So I don't think it'll be coming to Chumleigh. Quite what I do with it, I'm not sure. I doubt it's worth much, it has HubNut painted on the sides of it and it is still putting oil into the coolant. Bah.

 

A friend of mine has a Suzuki Cappucino engine lying around - that could be an excellent engine swap! 

[Heidel_Kakao]

You could give the Fox away as a subscriber prize on your channel maybe? Say when you get to 50,000 as you are not that far off really. Or just roffle it on here, I would have a ticket for the lolz.

[Tamworthbay]

Depending on cost I wouldn’t mind repatriating it to Tamworth, would be cool to get the lads at work going on something made a mile away.

[dollywobbler]

1 hour ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

You could give the Fox away as a subscriber prize on your channel maybe? Say when you get to 50,000 as you are not that far off really. Or just roffle it on here, I would have a ticket for the lolz.

Giveaway? I'm not wealthy enough for that! Already having horrors about the NZ trip, which is why perhaps reducing the fleet in size might be sensible.

Value-wise, it's very hard to say given the condition. I'll give it some thought.

[egg]

I'd stick it in the barn with TWC and see how you feel once you're back - a small van is surely useful for lugging your personal possessions around?

If money gets tight - roffle it on here while you're in NZ, and the lucky winner can pick it up when you're back...

[dollywobbler]

13 minutes ago, egg said:

I'd stick it in the barn with TWC and see how you feel once you're back - a small van is surely useful for lugging your personal possessions around?

Yeah, I think I've calmed down a bit now. Just at 'that' stage with the Fox that we all get to. You're right. A break from it is probably what I need. Then fresh adventures!