Didn’t quite make it back from the supermarket last Sunday, with the engine temperature shooting up & plenty of steam from underneath the bonnet accompanied by the lovely sound of a burbling brook… Sorry I mean coolant boiling. Fortunately this was at the end of the road from home. After checking both fans were running (they were) whilst admiring the growing pink puddle on the road, I let the engine cool down & topped back up via the expansion bottle/tank/aluminium thingy. Idling by the side of the road it didn’t take long to get up to temperature, see the fans kick in but with the needle continuing to climb until… Same again. And again. And again. Like the bastard son of Nascar & a traction engine!

Got home & left it until Monday evening, on the off-chance it was a one-off. However, able to boil the coolant from idle in a few minutes. Same again Tuesday. With no luck fault finding a quick call to Jay at Chariots to see what I should look at, & we identified that the radiator was cold even though the system was boiling over. So, the water isn’t circulating which suggests either thermostat or water pump. Another quick call, this time to Performance Parts who supplied the engine. As ever their technical support was brilliant & after confirming there were no known issues with the water-pump & that the impeller was metal, I ordered a thermostat. This arrived a few days later &, with the garage too busy to fit me in they very kindly lent me a socket set & I changed the thermostat. Very adventurous of me, though I do say it myself…

This did not seem to fix the problem at first, & I ended up giving it to the garage a few days later. However, they couldn’t reproduce the issue after leaving the car idling for 45 minutes (& stopping before it ran out of juice!). & it has driven well since, so I can only assume that a combination of a new thermostat, and diligent topping up with much massaging of the coolant pipes to remove any airlock, has done the trick.

Another Marcos adventure completed!

This morning I noticed a five inch crack in the windscreen, running down from the nearside of the rear view mirror.

Unbelievable.

Anyway, sod it. It’s been a beautiful day so I drove the car to Crewe for today’s hockey fixture. Even mile after mile of speed restrictions on the M6 backed up by your friendly neighbourhood average speed camera could not spoil a lovely drive.

I will figure out what to do with the windscreen over the next few days…

The fuse box showed a corroded terminal which had caused a poor connection and melted the fuse.

Garage have made a temporary fix by resigning a new connector to the box but need a new fuse box really as it is all showing signs of corrosion. Not found a 20 way box so far…

Headlights working but no DRLs or Fogs & garage unable to locate the fault still.

Broke down on the M62 today after getting very hot queuing for about 30 mins. Engine was stuttering & losing power, so possible fuel problem although about ¹ⁿ litres in the tank. Managed to coast up the slip road of Junction 20 but stopped where there was no hard shoulder which is a bit scarey when the lorries go past! The Mantis restarted after 10 minutes but only got a couple of hundred yards before stopping again at the top of the slip road. No luck restarting. Thanks to the Traffic Police who turned up about 20 minutes later & pushed me over the roundabout to a side road. Hot work! 🌞 😎 ☀️

Very nice chap from The AA, Chris, turned up early, confirmed fuel pressure & of course the car then started & idled fine. Filled up with fuel at Lymm Truck Stop then headed back home followed by The AA, arriving without mishap. So… Problem unknown, guessing heat related. Really need to get the extra vents put into the bonnet.

Another ‘not dull’ day of Marcos ownership! 🤣

Trip to the local garage to get the offside steering gaiter replaced , after the heads up during the MOT. Unfortunately the whining sounds like it is the differential, which is a BTR limited slip from a Holden. I will need to decide whether to have it reconditioned or to get a new one (no idea what they cost or availability). Either way the car will have to be off the road for a few days at least in the near future.

I also finally got round to talking to Jay about the cooling. Why?… With both fans on, there is substantial airflow from both wheel arches. The kidney grills at the rear of the bonnet are too hot to touch even in Winter & at slow speeds.

So… How to get more heat away from the engine?

After 18 years I finally made it to Curborough Sprint course. It was a roasting day today as my daughter & I sweltered down the M6 through the omnipresent 50 mph restricted speed. Got to the track eventually (3rd time lucky… and that was just because I followed Graham Bennion going in the opposite direction! 🤣) in time to watch a few cars go round before everyone broke for lunch. Eventually after I had signed away my life (& so had Tilly!) we joined the queue of cars waiting to go on the track. The format was a familiarisation lap then a couple when you go for it. I had Tilly with me & no budget for repairs (!) so no risk of breaking any lap records today but good fun all the same. I also got to see a bunch of great friends from the Marcos community (including Topper Preece who made the Mantis models), & much to Tilly’s disgust, have a chat.

The journey back was uneventful (but sadly no Marcos convoy travelling north). The car is developing a whining noise which tracks speed, so I will need to get that looked at. First I have topped up the power steering fluid, as recommended by Debbie Morrison. We’ll see this week going to Liverpool & back if that fixes it. In the meantime the big question is… Did I beat Richard Partridge at Curborough? (For the slowest time that is 😛)

No… Not to TVR ! 🤣 I fitted a new Marcos bonnet badge & hoping it does not get pinched from work again. I had acquired a couple of badges over the last few years, both metal (there were some plastic ones around at one point but they were visibily a poor replica). One from MHS and one from the MOC. Unfortunately the nicer of the two has been scratched, so fitted the MOC version which bizarrely does not have the vertical ‘spikes’ on the logo perpendicular to the horizontal. Can you see this in the picture below? 😉