Date:         Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:42:58 +0100
Reply-To:     Niall Mac Caughey <nmacc@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Niall Mac Caughey <nmacc@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Mythbusters
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Good evening Gentlefolks,

  I hesitate to bring up Mythbusters on a Tuesday, but thr thread might be even staler if I waited until Friday.  I didn't see the potato-in-exhaust or eggs-in-rad episodes and I'm curious as to the findings.

  Once upon a time I drove a 1968 Mini (850cc and a four-speed automatic box).  It wasn't quite as slow as it sounds, at least not for the late 70s when I owned it.  Anyway, to get to the point; I executed a 3-point turn in a narrow country lane one night and plugged the exhaust with mud & grass.  I didn't notice and the motor kept running, however the exhaust had a pretty sizeable leak at a joint; I'm pretty sure it would have stalled straight away had that leak not been there.  How did the test on MB go?

  All that backpressure did have an effect however: she overheated badly.  No temp gauge or warning light, so I found out the traditional way - steam.  After she was cooled, tailpipe cleaned and refilled, I found that the cooling system had suffered and developed lots of small leaks.

  I tried the raw egg method of sealing, putting six eggs into the rad.  All I got for my trouble was scrambled white coolant and a horrible mess it was too.  I finally fixed the problem with a mixture of new hoses and Bars leak sealer, which did work.

  Does anyone recall the MB test?

  Regards,

  Niall