Much has happened again, to the white Cooper. First, the sensor for the electric cooling fan had to be replaced. And, it turned out the LCB wasn't quite doing its job any more...
First of all, I started noticing that, even though the water temperature sometimes rose quite high (always in traffic), the electric fan never came on. After some quick troubleshooting of the circuitry, we quickly found that the sensor most probably had gone bust. So, it had to come out. This turned out to be quite a drag without a fitting (5/8") ring wrench. Having removed it finally by cutting of the connectors so the wire would fit through a 5/8" socket wrench, finding out there was no way to turn the socket without being able to fit a ratchet to it (sensor wire sticking out, remember), and then having to remove the upper radiator hose so a not-quite fitting metric wrench could fit onto it, I found out that the one emperial wrench I own actually was of the correct size... Oh well, the sensor was out without breaking anything, so on to testing it in a pan of hot water. There was no way the sensor would close its contact (it's basically a heat-operated switch), so a new sensor was obtained and fitted (which went a lot quicker than removal thanks to the perfectly fitting wrench), leaving a 57-euro hole in my bank account (this is a rather special item since it is only used on 1991 carburettor Coopers). But it has turned out to be a succesful transpalant, because yesterday, I was treated for the first time to a electric cooling fan that started running after having parked the hot car for a short while.
Still here after this exhilarating story about heat sensors? Well, on to something entirely different then, because the Cooper had started developing quite a singing voice, as if I had been running it on a good Scotch Whiskey instead of Shell Unleaded. After a quick inspection before getting it checked out by Peter Segers in Amersfoort, I already knew there seemed to be quite a crack in the LCB exhaust manifold. When the exhaust system was removed and the manifold was taken from the engine, it was found to be a lot more problematic;
The manifold has broken completely at all welds. A new item has already been fitted and after speaking to Maniflow (the manufacturer), they have offered to supply a new manifold at a discount (as said, another one has already been fitted and paid for, but I'm sure we'll work it out). So kuddos to Maniflow on that one. Together with fitting a new LCB, my own, original carburettor has also been put back on the car, after it has been checked in Amersfoort, since it was originally replaced by another HIF 44 because my own carb supposedly could not be adjusted correctly. We suspect this has been the dented throttle cable all along (see a few blog entries back), so the Cooper is now happily running on my own trusty carb, with al its new seals fitted (see my report of the carburettor overhaul on this site).