Sterling #S009

[Brett Proctor]

Been chasing down trouble codes'

Took it out for another test drive and now have codes P1143 and P1507.
I'm going in the wrong direction.

I think I have the P1143 fixed.
Next test drive will be Monday.

The P1507 code might be because I don't have a neutral switch.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Finally got it so it doesn't trip codes (at least for now)

Got these shocks to help lift the front so it doesn't scrape the ground as much.

ACC-C10-4076 - FRONT COIL BALL-JOINT OVER SHOCKS - STANDARD 20.7 IN. - BLACK AND CHROME - COMPRESSED 15 IN. - ADJUSTABLE FOR FIRMNESS - STANDARD BEETLE 66-77 - GHIA 66-74 - VW THING 69-79 - REF.#'s - EMPI 9571 - AC413001B - SOLD PAIR

acc-c10-4076 - front coil ball-joint over shocks - standard 20.7 in. - black and chrome - compressed 15 in. - adjustable for firmness - standard beetle 66-77 - ghia 66-74 - vw thing 69-79 - ref.#'s - empi 9571 - ac413001b - sold pair

www2.cip1.com

On the first preload setting it lifts the front about an extra 2.5"
It still touches the ground at times with the extra 2.5" of lift but not as much as it did before. I may try the other settings to lift it a bit more. Right now I have a total of around 5.5" clearance in the front.

 

[ThreeTimeTom]

Car is looking sweet!

 

[Brett Proctor]

IT PASSED SMOG!!!!!

 

[Baz]

Congratulations

 

[frodoz737]

 

[Brett Proctor]

OK here's something new.

Thought I had everything covered. Got insurance, got it smoged, just need to get it registered now and get plates, wrong.

They now require that I take the car to an inspection station to have the VIN checked, To make sure the VIN on the car matches the VIN on the title. Then They'll issue plates for the car.
Never had to do that before

 

[Brett Proctor]

For now I'm holding off getting the car registered till January.

Right now I'm focusing on installing the canopy seal and building an air duct intake to route air into the radiator. Because of the angle that the radiator sits at, it doesn't get as much air to it as it should.

I'm building the air duct out of aluminum. I can't believe how expensive aluminum has got. After seeing the cost to build the item I started to think about building it out of fiberglass. But thinking of what would be involved in building a fiberglass air intake, In the end I ordered the aluminum.

 

[nbb350]

Yeah, having a front radiator in our cars is hard - it has to lay so flat, the air doesn't pass thru it very well. So then you have to build a deflector below the car to force the air up and into the radiator - which eats away at your already minimal ground clearance! Catch22. I ended up just hot-wiring the radiator fan to run all the time - it fixed my temp issues.

 

[Brett Proctor]

I was thinking of that also (having the fan on all the time). Also thought about putting in a fan switch that will turn the fan on at a lower temperature. Thermostat opens at 170* so if I would put a fan switch that turns the fan on at the same temp that may work. No reason to have the fan on at a lower temp than that. The ECM turns the fan on at 203* and it shuts off at 195*

Granted building an air intake will only help when at speeds. Stop and go traffic it wont help much. The fan will have to be on for stop and go traffic.
Well the material has been ordered so I'll make the air intake system.

Thought about the air dam also but like you said no ground clearance. Making it out of rubber would help if/when it touched the ground.

Summer time here will not be a good time to drive the car around. I don't think the cooling system will keep the engine cool enough

 

[nbb350]

Follow up: in my case, I may have a bad temp switch. It's screwed into the radiator, but the fan never seemed to turn on (at 160^) even when the temp gauge (sender in the engine intake manifold) showed 200^+. Hotwiring the fan was my only option without pulling the sender and watching 4 gallons of coolant drain onto my garage floor! lol

 

[Brett Proctor]

Its a closed system so removing the sender shouldn't leak out to much coolant (you will get a little but not 4 gallons) unless there's a air leak in the system or you remove the cap and then air can get inside and the system will start to drain with authority.

 

[farfegnubbin]

My Sterling with the Mazda rotary turbo runs hot. The original builder used a modest-sized radiator mounted at a very forward rake angle in the front 1/3 of the front trunk. He shrouded it such that air comes in the front, passes through the radiator and then is vented out the BOTTOM of the car. It’s very tight quarters. It has a pair of electric fans that are in both a thermostatic switch and also a manual override so that you can turn it on if needed. Well, in the summer, at every stoplight you can watch the temp slowly climb towards the scary part of the gauge. I often just left the fan turned on around town. It never actually totally overheated but it made me almost constantly tense. For any future car I will use just about the biggest, most efficient radiator I can find and will also try to provide some truly functional venting so that hit air has easy places to escape. Keeping these cars (with water-cooled engine conversions) cool is a legitimate challenge.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Air intake duct work to the radiator is done,
Next is to work on the radiator fan so it will come on sooner.
Need to go through the wiring diagrams and see what the best way of doing that.

 

[Brett Proctor]

My Sterling with the Mazda rotary turbo runs hot. The original builder used a modest-sized radiator mounted at a very forward rake angle in the front 1/3 of the front trunk. He shrouded it such that air comes in the front, passes through the radiator and then is vented out the BOTTOM of the car. It’s very tight quarters. It has a pair of electric fans that are in both a thermostatic switch and also a manual override so that you can turn it on if needed. Well, in the summer, at every stoplight you can watch the temp slowly climb towards the scary part of the gauge. I often just left the fan turned on around town. It never actually totally overheated but it made me almost constantly tense. For any future car I will use just about the biggest, most efficient radiator I can find and will also try to provide some truly functional venting so that hit air has easy places to escape. Keeping these cars (with water-cooled engine conversions) cool is a legitimate challenge.

I figured I covered everything. I Installed the largest radiator that would fit without major cutting. made a new front to the car with an opening for air intake. made a new hood with an extractor vent for the air to escape.
Coolant lines to and from the engine made out of aluminum (help dissipate heat). Radiator has a fan shroud to get as much air as possible going through the radiator. And now an air intake shroud to the radiator.

Only thing I didn't change is when the fan turns on. that has now been changed. I installed a thermo fan switch that turns the fan on at 170* instead of the factory setting of 206*
Testing of that will have to wait till this weekend. (got babysitting duties). With having it turning on at 170* I didn't see a need for installing a manual on/off switch.
Right now, I am running the engine with no thermostat installed

How others get away with keeping larger engines heat at bay is a mystery to me. They must only drive them in the winter months

 

[Sixbuilds]

I figured I covered everything. I Installed the largest radiator that would fit without major cutting. made a new front to the car with an opening for air intake. made a new hood with an extractor vent for the air to escape.
Coolant lines to and from the engine made out of aluminum (help dissipate heat). Radiator has a fan shroud to get as much air as possible going through the radiator. And now an air intake shroud to the radiator.

Only thing I didn't change is when the fan turns on. that has now been changed. I installed a thermo fan switch that turns the fan on at 170* instead of the factory setting of 206*
Testing of that will have to wait till this weekend. (got babysitting duties). With having it turning on at 170* I didn't see a need for installing a manual on/off switch.
Right now, I am running the engine with no thermostat installed

How others get away with keeping larger engines heat at bay is a mystery to me. They must only drive them in the winter months

Lots and lots of insulation between the firewall and Cabin and allot of exhaust vent holes

 

[Brett Proctor]

Well I guess the specifications on these radiator thermo switches are like stop signs. Its just a suggestion.

Rating on the switch is "on" at 180* and "off" at 165*
Fan came "on" at 172* and was still running at 147* (got tired waiting for it to turn off).

I guess quality is a thing of the past

Kit cars use to have a bad rap for quality. Just look at what the car manufacturers are producing now. All the recalls, engine failures, drive train failures. Everything is plastic that doesn't last.
Kit cars didn't have as high of failure rate as some of the cars being made today, and everyone seems to be ok with it.

 

[Sixbuilds]

Well I guess the specifications on these radiator thermo switches are like stop signs. Its just a suggestion.

Rating on the switch is "on" at 180* and "off" at 165*
Fan came "on" at 172* and was still running at 147* (got tired waiting for it to turn off).

I guess quality is a thing of the past

Kit cars use to have a bad rap for quality. Just look at what the car manufacturers are producing now. All the recalls, engine failures, drive train failures. Everything is plastic that doesn't last.
Kit cars didn't have as high of failure rate as some of the cars being made today, and everyone seems to be ok with it.

Yeah manufacturers take way more shortcuts then people think now a day it’s no more ingenuity everything feels copy and paste. TBH it’s almost to a point where brand new cars are pretty much kit car cause they share so much components. By the way well done on the control arm designs

 

[nbb350]

One part that works across several vehicle models is just good manufacturing sense. Less inventory, less to design/manufacture. But some corners may need to be cut to make the same part work in both an econocar and a light duty pickup.
So is making a part that will only last a fraction of the vehicle life and require replacement. Guaranteed part sales!

 

[Brett Proctor]

So is making a part that will only last a fraction of the vehicle life and require replacement. Guaranteed part sales!

I don't know about you but if I have to constantly fix a car I'd get rid of the piece of junk and never by another.
I'd look at other manufacturers that produce reliable, quality vehicles that last. And next time your looking for another vehicle most people will stay with the manufacturer that they had good experience with.