400 se in essex

[barrington]

does anyone have a 400se with flapper injection system in essex that i can have a look my car had a lot of pipes missing when i got it so need to find a car with the same sort of layout under the bonnet i had a look at all of andy tanks cars and they are all different to my cars layout cheers

[adam quantrill]

How about you post up some pics zooming in on the missing bits?

You are welcome to look at mine - just S of Cambridge so a few miles from the border, but one is a 350i and the other is the 400SX, both flappers but both with differences.

[barrington]

ITS THE TWO PIPES THAT COME OF THE HEADER TANK ON THE SIDE AND GO TO THE FRONT OF THE ENGINE I NOW THAT ONE TEE OF TO THE PLENUM BUT SOME I HAVE LOOKED AT ONLY HAVE ONE PIPE COMING OF THE HEADER TANK

Edited by barrington on Monday 1st October 19:43

[adam quantrill]

If you mean the coolant pipes that go to the plenum inlet, many people have taken these off because they warm up the inlet charge, which isn't really desirable.

[barrington]

ye sounds about right

[adam quantrill]

Well if it doesn't leak fluid - drive it!

[barrington]

i would but i have to finish rebiulding it first but hope to have it on the road next year fingers crossed

[superwedge]

and legs too,

[Mr Tank]

Hi Dave

I know have accses to another 3.9 hotwire wedge (Not a SX) I will give it a closer look next weekend to see if I can answer your problem!

I have a pic of the engine and it shows both pipes on the header tank so hopefully it will help.



Andy

[barrington]

Cheers andy i can see pictures now had a problem with the computer the wife has fixed it that looks very close to my layout the swan neck is in the same position

Edited by barrington on Monday 1st October 19:50

[Mr Tank]

Hi Dave

As promised I took a few pics, the missing pipe you have, on my car it goes into a reducer and that then goes into a pipe from the water pump!



THe pic below show the pipe before the reducer, which is level with the plenum.



The reduced pipe comes from level with the plenum down to the metal in/out pipe off the water pump.



I hope that helps!

Andy

Edited by Mr Tank on Monday 8th October 16:53

[Number 7]

You should loose the throttle body water connection, but dont remove the base plate that the hoses connect to.

[barrington]

cheers andy that looks the same as my car with the swan neck in the same place

[Mr Tank]

Number 7 said:

You should loose the throttle body water connection, but dont remove the base plate that the hoses connect to.

Why?

If it works OK leave it alone.

I do believe that half the problems reported on the forum are caused by people attempting Mods etc and they find they are no better than the original or cause more problems i.e. Coil Overs etc!

The old saying "If its not broke don't fix it" comes to mind!

Andy

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

my 400SE Flapper is in my barn in Ongar Essex, but I've done a silicone and ali-header tank conversion.

[The Hatter]

I've been studying the cooling system on my 350 because I have a crap heater and I wasn't sure why, plus the header tank seems to fill up and by implication is forcing air into the rest of the cooling system.

My starting point was the Rover SD1 Vitesse where the engine came from; my thinking being that it worked for Rover it should have worked for TVR! There's an explanation of the SD1 on Ramon's vintagemodelairplane site plus I have the SD1 manual.

The main difference appears to be that the SD1 has an expansion tank with only one connection (to the top of the rad); where the wedges have three connections to the expansion tank. On the SD1 the plenum heater return is plumbed into the main heater return pipe; on the wedge it's plumbed into the header tank. The SD1 plenum heater is designed to be fed at all times to stop thottle icing; so that gives the wedge a constant flow into the header tank. This flow into the header tank has the effect of forcing air through the other connection the SD1 does not have; ie the connection into the radiator top hose. So as designed, the system forces air into the radiator top hose. Bonkers!!!

I also think the heater matrix is plumbed back to front; the main flow from the engine comes in at the top of the matrix and out at the bottom - guaranteed to result in an air lock. I'm curious, does the 280i flow in this direction (into the heater box on the passenger side UK) or is that reversed?

I'm going to try replumbing my system and see what happens... I'll report back.

[mrzigazaga]

Hi Mate..Mine is disconnected at the moment but it was from engine into passenger side and then out to the expansion tank but when i spoke to the ford guy about swapping it around he said it wouldnt make any difference to the flow..

[Jack Valiant]

Martin

If you need to compare a working system with a "snug as a bug" heater system happy to let you take a close look at mine fella. Likewise Barrington if you want to look at the flapper plumbing then come down to the Christmas scoff on Saturday at Danson Park fella

Chris

[The Hatter]

Yeah I'll take you up on that Chris. I've just discovered the thread's stripped on coolant temp sensor on the inlet manifold so it'll be a longer job than I thought!



bug*er bug*er bug*er!! I want to be working on the SEAC not this car!

Mark, I don't agree with the Ford dealer technician... ask a Ford design engineer!

Edited by The Hatter on Wednesday 5th December 20:14

Edited by The Hatter on Wednesday 5th December 20:36

[Wedg1e]

The Hatter said:

I've just discovered the thread's stripped on coolant temp sensor on the inlet manifold so it'll be a longer job than I thought!

Helicoil it? Probably be a BSP (though you knew that )... 3/8"?

Shouldn't be a problem to do in-situ: I'd tape a length of small-bore hose to Henry the workshop vac and suck the swarf out as you go along: any that falls in is only going into the cooling channels, unlikely to hurt the water pump or cause a significant blockage.