quick questions from a newbie

[4litre]

Just found this board and really need to ask some quick easy questions to the experts

What petrol should my 4 litre be run on - does it always have to be super unleaded as the c/r is high or does normal do the trick?
What is the max temp the water should see in traffic and when do the fans normally kick in as mine seems quite high?
What are the rear brakes off - people say things like a seirra cosworth - its just I need to replace them and cheapest is best for me

Thanks for help people
Martin

[plotloss]

It will run on U/L but keeping to Super or Optimax is better all round.

Fans should kick in about 90 degs, if yours gets to 105 in traffic and is still rising SWITCH IT OFF! A stable 100 in traffic is ok, but not for too long.

Rear brakes come off all sorts of donor cars, some Chims have the cossie brakes, some others within the same family, if you are replacing discs always take the ones you have on the car for comparison.

Matt.

[CraigAlsop]

If you're replacing the rear brakes, you may want to think of replacing/upgrading the fronts, as there is more rear bias than most cars have as standard, and having good rears with crap fronts is probably a recipe for disaster

[4litre]

wow - nice quick easy answers - you lot will be tested in future was seeing 93/95 on the water - obviously paranoid phew

Martin

[plipton]

4litre said: wow - nice quick easy answers - you lot will be tested in future was seeing 93/95 on the water - obviously paranoid phew

Martin

If in doubt fit an over-ride switch in parallel with the otter switch so you can manually switch the fans on if required.

Best thing as a new owner is to buy a copy of the bible (www.tvrbooks.co.uk/). Well worth the £33 it costs and written by shpub on here (seems like a decent, knowledgable bloke to me).

Plipton

[manek]

On the cooling issue, my experience of driving a 4.0 suggests that in normal use there should be little need for any mods as the cooling system can cope with most situations. This included stop-start driving in central London, where even on hot days, the temp never got above 95 degrees. Over-cooling in winter was more of a problem.

In fact, the only time mine suffered from overheating was when I it drove almost flat-out on a French motorway for an hour or more -- ie at 130-140mph. (Couldn't go any further since a) the gendarmes were waiting and b) I'd almost run out of petrol anyway!) The energy being put out overwhelmed the cooling system which was just about OK at speed but as soon as I slowed, there was steam everywhere!

If you start suffering from cooling problems with this (relatively small) engine, maybe you should get the system checked out rather than wasting money on a sticking-plaster solution.

[the dodger]

Hi 4litre - welcome to the mad-house!

Fuel - most on here swear by Optimax (if you can get it). I've heard other super u/l no different. I have only re-filled mine a few times and no Shell garage in sight so only used normal u/l.
Cooling - the gauges are notoriously inaccurate. If the fans come on then go off and you don't loose coolant it's fine.
Brakes - rear pads are standard Ford as fitted to a multitude of Escorts, Sierras and Granny/Scorpios. Take the old pads with you as a pattern.

Good luck.

[heliox]

If your after new disks, take your old ones to a good motor factor who will be able to match them up both physically and by stamp numbers.

Once you know the type, you can then choose which disk manufacturer you prefer.

look at around £100-120 for 4 standard twin vented disks
heliox