More work than was needed

I took the time to strip down the Dolomite today to fix the water leak. The leak was apparently under the manifold, I wasn't sure but suspected either a leaky core plug or water pump pipe.

So I spent a few hours removing the carbs and manifold.

After stripping the core plugs and waterpump pipe all looked ok.

Core Plugs all look OK

I left the core plugs un-replaced (if it aint broke don't fix it)  but replaced the waterpump pipe anyway as I had purchased a nice new stainless one to replace the steel version. The only thing I found that was probably causing the link is that one of the heater pipes broke as I removed it so I think it was split. However this wasn't where the dripping was from! I suspect the water was leaking from the hose and running along the heater pipe making it look like the leak was under the manifold!

Heater hose which broke broke when I removed it.

Only hassle I had was with the stainless heater pipe, the hole in the fixing bracket was only 8mm and it is supposed to fit on a manifold stud which is 3/8 inch unf. Not too much of a problem as I have a good pillar drill so easily fixed but a bit of a quality issue which I have flagged to the Triumph specialist I bought it from so they can take this up with their supplier.

Hole was too small

Anyway, having put everything back together I now have a leak free cooling system. I did put some bars leaks in the system just in case of any future leaks, rumour has it that Triumph used to do this at the factory, don't know if this is true or not but sound sensible.

Leaky Log

The "Flying Log" sprung a coolant leak last weekend. Had a quick look and it seemed to be coming from a hose that runs between the inlet manifold and a steel pipe that runs to the waterpump. As luck would have it I had a spare so fitted it this morning.

However, it's still leaking, obviously wasn't the hose after all. I can now see that the leak is under the exhaust manifold somewhere but despite using mirrors and torches I can't quite see exactly where.

It''s either the steel pipe that runs to the waterpump has rusted through or I have a blown core plug. More likely the core plug but I've ordered both a set of core plugs and a stainless steel replacement pipe. Juts need to find some time to strip out the carbs,  inlet and exhaust manifolds to gain access, not a 5 minute job...