F U E L A N D W AT E R — H I T T I N G T H E F L U I D S ’ S W E E T S P O T S
64 OLDSMOBILE ’ STYLED TO START YOU WISHING
ISSUE 334 $10.99 INCL. GST OCTOBER 2018
themotorhood.com
SOUTHERN STAR DUTY READY ON THE LIMIT LOTUS ELAN 1959 JAGUAR XK150
MUSCLE GARAGE
1940 FORD PICKUP
FERRARI 488
— S TA R T S 3 0 S E P T E M B E R O N
a HANDLING DELIGHT
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MOTORMAN KITS AND PIECES MOTOR SPORT FLASHBACK PRICE ON
EVENTS
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HISTORIC MUSCLE CARS HENRY FORD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION RALLY OF COROMANDEL DAFFODIL DAY BLENHEIM BAY OF PLENTY DAFFODIL CHARITY RUN
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CONTENTS
334 OCTOBER 2018
4 1964 OLDSMOBILE 442 THE ORIGINAL MUSCLE CAR
16 1959 JAGUAR XK150 SOUTHERN STAR
28 1940 FORD PICKUP REFINED DAILY-DRIVER
40 FERRARI 488
A FINELY TUNED INSTRUMENT
64 TORTURED GENIUS
THE LEGENDARY GRAHAM ‘CASSIUS’ MCRAE — PART TWO
72 FUEL AND WATER
HITTING THE FLUIDS’ SWEET SPOTS
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96 themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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FEATURE 1964 Oldsmobile 442
MUSCLE CAR PASSION STYLED TO START YOU WISHING Words: Ashley Webb Photos: Adam Croy
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New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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FEATURE 1959 Jaguar XK150
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Good things take time AF TER EMBARKING ON A LONG AND C O M P R E H E N S I V E R E S TO R AT I O N , N E I L L E W I S H A S F I N A L LY B E E N R E W A R D E D F O R H I S E F F O R T S Words: Quinton Taylor Photos: Quinton Taylor & Neil Lewis
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FEATURE 1940 Ford pickup
Duty Ready I T M AY L O O K L I K E A F L A W L E S S LY B U I LT S H O W C A R , B U T DAV E P O LWA R T ’ S ’4 0 FORD IS A TOUR DE FORCE OF MODERN T E C H A N D V I N TA G E S T Y L E B U I LT F O R D A I LY - D R I V I N G D U T I E S Words: Connal Grace Photos: Adam Croy
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themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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Fuel & water
H I T T I N G T H E F L U I D S’ S W E E T S P O T S Words: Ian Parkes Photos: New Zealand Classic Car archive / Supplied
THE ENGINE R I G H T F U L LY GETS THE MOST AT T E N T I O N , A S W E L L AS NAMING RIGHTS, I N T H E E N G I N E B AY, BUT IF IT IS GOING TO DELIVER ITS B E S T, I T N E E D S T H E RIGHT MIX OF FUEL AND AIR FOR ITS FIREPOWER, AND A S T E A D Y S U P P LY O F C O O L WAT E R T O S TAY I N I T S SWEET SPOT
C
ooling systems in older cars are especially worth your attention. Some of them weren’t great to begin with. The benchmark test in the early days appeared to be: ‘works most of the time’. Stop-start driving in today’s traffic adds another strain; cooling systems get gunked up over time, and the consequences of overheating all conspire to give them a high score on the cost– benefit ratio. Overheating incidents, along with dodgy electrics, were probably the most common problems with the cars that we drove in our youth, so, if it’s still an issue with your classic car, this feature is for you. First, take a look at the radiator. Stuck in front of the engine with little protection, radiators can take a hammering from low-flying insects, stones, and other debris. Although they have some margin of tolerance, any damage to those flimsy copper fins will block air and reduce their effectiveness, as well as make them look a bit sad. The big question is, what is it like on the inside? But let’s start with a quick primer.
Engines get hotter than boiling point because spark plugs are setting fire to fuel inside the cylinders, and all that metal rubbing together, even properly lubricated, also generates heat from friction. But we can still use water to maintain a good temperature by doing three things. First, we can pressurize it so that the boiling point rises and, second, add glycol, which has a higher boiling point than water and expands to further increase pressure. Finally, we can circulate the water through a heat exchanger — the radiator — which sheds heat through conduction to the outside air so that we can send cooler water back into the engine to pick up more excess heat. The radiator comprises tanks, traditionally at the top and bottom, joined by rows of narrow tubes soldered to fins that dissipate heat through the accumulated massive surface area. It is connected via hoses to the engine. Your radiator might be as clean as a whistle, but, unless you have followed the advice in our September issue (No. 333) and spruced up your engine block, how do you know what’s lurking in the water jacket (the themotorhood.com | New Zealand Classic Car
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Intricate work - Rebuilding an original radiator is time consuming and costly, but well worth it
water-carrying galleries cast into your engine)? Make sure you flush, acid wash, or even blast air through the water jacket on an engine block before reassembly. Auckland’s Auto Radiators is one of the oldest names in the business, and owner Brad Ross has been on the tools for 30 years. Brad has had to field complaints about radiators that he had built recently overheating — including on a car featured in these very pages — only to discover that the radiator was blocked with dirt. The engine block, overhauled elsewhere, hadn’t been flushed. If your engine overheats, or takes a suspiciously long time to reach normal temperature, it could also mean that the thermostat is stuck and not doing its job of opening or cutting off circulation to the radiator. Is your water pump up to scratch? When was it last checked? Operating in gluey fluids in a broad temperature range, they have a limited lifespan. Time off the road or disassembled can also cause problems. Brad says that people who have reinstalled an apparently sound radiator only to find it full of holes might agree that leaving it full of water would 74 New Zealand Classic Car | themotorhood.com
have been safer. He says that a dirty radiator left dry can kick-start corrosion. Rob at Capital Radiators says that paying attention to radiators is prompted by one of three things: leaks, overheating, or poor condition. General condition is especially relevant to classic car enthusiasts who have just overhauled a motor. “If you have a nice engine, you want to make sure that your cooling system is also good,” he says. The first step if your engine overheats is to check the water level. But if you have lost water, topping it up is not going to solve the problem — it will happen again. The next step is to do a pressure test. “You have to find out if there’s a leak,” says Rob. And look underneath for telltale signs. Overheating can be so frustrating that specialist help will usually pay dividends. Specialist radiator workshops can repair or remanufacture parts to an original pattern, or they may know of some improvements that overcome a known weakness or design flaw. Experience counts here. Mike Hope of Townrow and Sanko Radiators in Hastings cautions that the first thing to appreciate when reconditioning or rebuilding a radiator is that the price
“Quality aluminium radiators are fine, but if you expect a cheap one to last as long as the original in your 1980s Corolla, well, it’s not going to happen” of copper, brass, and solder have shot up recent in years. “A re-core that might have cost $200– $300 20 years ago could now cost $1500,” he says. “Solder costs us $1K a roll.” He has had customers who have spent $20K on a hot rod engine say that “they just want something to go in the hole”, but the cooling system is not the place to cut corners, and it’s quite involved. He is currently rebuilding the radiator on a Model A Ford, disassembling the three-piece top tank. “I’ve quoted him eight hours but I know it’s going to take 20,” he says. It also takes skill. Even a simple repair is rarely simple. “You’ve got to have fine control of the flame and heat, or, as you
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