Amphicar fire gas and oil

[David Derer]

My main problem has been the fuel tap going bad. Just sitting it can
decide to leak out all fuel in bilge. That is how others have been hurt
and cars totaled. I have been using Rogers valves. Dave Chapman rebuilt
his tank and now feeds from top. I am so lucky that I wasn't killed when
not paying attention-parked outside with top down- After moving I hit
the brakes hear sloshing sounds and over whelming smell of gas. Luckily
I was able to turn car off and drain bilge. 6 gallons of gas pour into
pan!!. See "pulling fins" on movie page at www.midwestamphicar.com to
see what a burned Amphi looks like. Sad very sad

Next bad area the damned oil cooler. This would be a good study for
someone. I have decided that I would live with more oil heat than it
catching fire. The coolers develop tiny pin hole leaks.So at 60 or more
psi. they spray a atomized hot oil in engine area and on hot manifold. I
almost lost BW that way. I use quality oil and synthetics and have had
no sign of oil break down. Such as sludge, smell , and engine break
down. WARNING not to say there is heat build up and I may have to
rering etc sooner. I have not taken the time to do a heat study-oil
analysis-It would be great if some one would. -Another note-Every oil
cooler I have pulled out has been clogged with leaves and debris- So I
kind of figured they werent working to well any ways. Still if someone
was to do some temp and oil checks it would make a very good newsletter
article.

The experts tell me the bilge blower is too small for the Amphicar. So
if a concern buy larger modern replacement.
Later Dave the Wave

 

[keith van egdom]

Dave,
I have not been to keen on the original oil cooler myself but was unaware of the pinhole problem. Air is pulled through the radiator and oil coolerbut the duct design isn't very accommodating for cooling the oil, but works ok for the radiator.I thought of a transmission oil cooler or a oil cooler like that is used in my 96 Chevy van. Hoses can be made up at any implement dealer. Mounting would be ideal at the face of the radiator, the top of the radiator is the only part that actually cools the motor coolant. What'cha think Dave?
Keith (the right hand Amphi man)

David Derer <dmd@essex1.com> wrote:
<blockquote class="replbq" style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><tt> My main problem has been the fuel tap going bad. Just sitting it can
decide to leak out all fuel in bilge. That is how others have been hurt
and cars totaled. I have been using Rogers valves. Dave Chapman rebuilt
his tank and now feeds from top. I am so lucky that I wasn't killed when
not paying attention-parked outside with top down- After moving I hit
the brakes hear sloshing sounds and over whelming smell of gas. Luckily
I was able to turn car off and drain bilge. 6 gallons of gas pour into
pan!!. See "pulling fins" on movie page at www.midwestamphicar.com to
see what a burned Amphi looks like. Sad very sad

Next bad area the damned oil cooler. This would be a good study for
someone. I have decided that I would live with more oil heat than it
catching fire. The coolers develop tiny pin hole leaks.So at 60 or more

psi. they spray a atomized hot oil in engine area and on hot manifold. I
almost lost BW that way. I use quality oil and synthetics and have had
no sign of oil break down. Such as sludge, smell , and engine break
down. WARNING not to say there is heat build up and I may have to
rering etc sooner. I have not taken the time to do a heat study-oil
analysis-It would be great if some one would. -Another note-Every oil
cooler I have pulled out has been clogged with leaves and debris- So I
kind of figured they werent working to well any ways. Still if someone
was to do some temp and oil checks it would make a very good newsletter
article.

The experts tell me the bilge blower is too small for the Amphicar. So
if a concern buy larger modern replacement.
Later Dave the Wave


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[Marty & Caryl]

--- In amphicar-lovers@yahoogroups.com, David Derer <dmd@e...> wrote:
snip 8<......
oil coolers I have pulled out has been clogged with leaves and debris-
So I kind of figured they werent working to well any ways.
snip 8<......
perts tell me the bilge blower is too small for the Amphicar. So
> if a concern buy larger modern replacement.
> Later Dave the Wave

Dave:
Maybe the oil filter being clogged is why our car runs a little hot.
And how about cars that never had bilge blowers like ours? Should
one be added?
Marty
And, no the swimming pool is still not ready yet.

 

[David Chapman]

Re: Re: Amphicar fire gas and oil

Amphicar doesn't need a bilge blower but it does at least need a new
flexible fuel line front to back every 10 years (or do what we have to do in
the UK and replace it with copper) also changing the fuel tank so all
fittings are at the top and filler is external makes it much safer.
Disconnecting the backup light switch under the back seat improves safety as
it removes a potential spark source (and that switch does spark). Most UK
cars dont have that switch as the backup lights are wired as turn signals.

Re glueing panels on - not a good idea, it needs to be welded and filled
with lead. Glued on panels can work modern cars but their design life is
normally around 10 years - which is nothing in the life of an Amphicar -
what happens then ?

Interesting related story re plastics. I'm fitting new plastic heating
pipework to my house at the moment, it is normally buried in the concrete
floor to give underfloor heating - very popular in Europe. I noticed that
the specification had changed, I checked and the manufactures told me the
German government had forced them to change the formula of the plastic to
reduce the design life of the product from the original 100 plus years to 50
years - this is because of new laws about ensuring everything is capable of
being recycled once it's average expected end of life is reached.

It does sound a bit silly that they are being forced to reduce product
quality but the more you think about it...... Other parts of the heating
system are designed for a 30 year life and there is about half a mile of
people in this house alone so if whoever lives here - and the neighbours -
all rip it out in 2034 that is a huge pile of plastic to get rid of !

David C