ZX Replacement or repair...again

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uhn113x
Posts: 1161
Joined: 06 Jan 2004, 22:06
Location: Near Leeds, United Kingdom
My Cars: 1981 Dyane - on road all year round.
1982 GSA Pallas - on road April - September.
1997 ZX 1.9D Dimension.
x 1

Post by uhn113x »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by uhn113x</i>

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Thompatruck</i>


My advice is to go and check out some ZX's and find a nice one granny owner TD going for tuppence and bully the price down, bit of leg work but it's cheap, you'll have a car full of spares it'll save you money and give you more time to drink beer and chase women, jobs a gud un!
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Beware of grannies - they can use clutch as a footrest with the accompanying heady Valeo aroma, and use gear lever like a village pump handle [:(]
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jeremy
Posts: 3959
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 16:00
Location: Hampshire, UK
My Cars:
x 2

Post by jeremy »

If the expansion tank is on the cambelt end of the rad and is anything like the 1.9D one the low lever mark is in fact about 1 ft down below the filler cap. The owners manual suggests they are both the same and shows a series or ribs (12 or 13) from high to low (marked apparently MAXI and MINI!)
What I can tell you is that the low mark is well down and even our apparently sound one lowers the level to about 1/2 way over a period of time (But there could be a weepy hose I haven't found yet!)
jeremy
James.UK
Posts: 1169
Joined: 14 Dec 2003, 23:12
Location: United Kingdom
My Cars:
x 2

Post by James.UK »

Both ZX's I have maintain a water level approx halfway between full and empty.. Add any water to them and they spit it out within a few miles..
Bear in mind the Rad on the auto's is a bit larger than norm but otherwise identical..
Replacing head gaskets used to be a very common job when I was in my teens, they needed a decoke every 30,000 miles ish including reseating the valves by hand grinding with a small rubber sucker on a stick!! It was never considered more than a routine job in those days. "A job for the boy" [:D]
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jeremy
Posts: 3959
Joined: 20 Oct 2002, 16:00
Location: Hampshire, UK
My Cars:
x 2

Post by jeremy »

Ah yes James - pushrods etc but the great difference was that the things were mounted in line and you could get at the manifolds etc easily.
Talking of valves reminds me of when I burnt an exhaust valve on a 1.8 Marina. I'd given up trying to grind the things years before and always had them cut as I couldn't get a good seat without rings etc. I knew a guy who was a marine engineer and he heard that I was going to get the things cut the following day and he assured me that he would grind them for me as he did ones on ships without any problems. Set it all up for him, tin of paste, rubber sucker on a stick etc and went to collect it at the appointed time - only to find he'd given up as he couldn't make much impression on it.
That of course was a cast iron head without any inserts!
Seriously its the access to the bits like manifolds that makes this job difficult. Fortunately looked after properly and with a bit of luck they will run for a huge mileage without needing work.
jeremy
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