Allegro Club International

[alan wilson]

Hi all
Here we go again - a new member of the family, Levi. A 1980 1.3HL.


Saved by Andy Robinson, the car was purchased new and owned by the same family all its life until being laid up in 2001. Andy picked the car up in November last and I bought it last week as a second car to get Mary (my wife) active in the club. It has several issues, the main one being the cooling system. The water pump and rad were leaking, so was the head gasket at the front edge. Further investigation revealed this in the thermostat housing:

I assume this is some kind of coolant system sealer which has been poured into the housing via the filler plug - unfortunately, it won`t do its job from there if the thermostat is closed now, will it. It did solidify however, which indicates it may have worked if they had taken off the top hose and stuck it straight into the leaky rad ! The other issues are bodywork related, the paint is SERIOUSLY matted and many panels have surface rust coming through. However the good areas are responding to G3 compound:



The drivers rear quarter is accident damaged which only showed up after polishing, the rear doors are severely corroded on the inner lower edges, the bonnet needs respraying due to rust and the drivers sill is holed by the "B" pillar but not seriously. However underneath is good to excellent and no further welding is required.
We WILL be taking the car to Tatton in June ! The head is off to the engineers tomorrow for new valve guides as the exhaust port on no.3 cylinder is oily and I want a smoke free car if at all possible.
Keep you all posted
Cheers
Alan
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Well someone had to do it.....

[M. Irvine]

Alan,

It is possible someone has mixed two different types of antifreeze. I might be wrong, but it can produce similar looking muck in the cooling system.

Merv.
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ALLEGRO = Agile, Lively, Legendary, Economical, Genial, Reliable & Outstanding.

[alan wilson]

Thanks for that Merv, I presumed it to be Radweld or similar as there are no traces of gunk anywhere else in the system, I have the defective pump off and no traces there or in the coolant ports in the head or block
Cheers
Alan
_________________
Well someone had to do it.....