Right, apologies for absence, what with one thing and another (PC in outpatients and assorted other probs) I have neglected this thread, but now, at last, here is the news!
Took replacement thermostat out, and fitted a 740 stat with the moving parts removed - have to have the body of a stat in situ to mount the rubber sealing gasket - filled the system and cranked up; up went the gauge, stopping just in the normal area. Took the car for a run, in fact I drove it the seven miles home, bled the air out of the system, replaced the cap and turned the engine off. No overheating, no pressurising of the system, just cool running (according to the gauge, but more on that later).
On a whim I decided to compare the new and old stat; bugger me if the new stat wasn't 4-5 mm taller than the old one - don't know if that is important but felt you ought to know. That got me thinking (rare,I know!) so out comes the dummy stat and back in goes stat No 1 (the original one) for evaluation purposes.
Started the engine, watched the needle toodle up into the red zone, bled the air out of the tank and thought "hmmm, there is no pressure in the system (soft hoses), water appears to be circulating, maybe the gauge is faulty?"
For the next hour or so I bimbled around Lampeter just gently driving, listening out for the dreaded hissing of steam escaping and not hearing it; decided to take the big chance and drive over to the garage with needle in the red! That was one nerve wracking journey, I can tell you! I'd felt reasonably content poodling about Lampeter, 'cos if the car blew up, well, I could always walk home but now, ah, the joys of the open (wet) road; every patch of standing water I drove through sounded just like hissing steam; crikey,by the time I got to Malcolm's I couldn't unclamp my fingers from the steering wheel and as for the clenched buttocks, don't ask!
So, where are we now? Essentially, waiting for a replacement instrument binnacle to arrive from the Smoke so I can prove my thesis on the gauges. Gauges, plural,you notice; the fuel gauge has now handed in the dinner pail so I have one gauge firmly pointing left, and one firmly pointing right - ah, symmetry!
The joys of period motoring,eh? Doncha luvvit!!
Steaming Sid Agfa.
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