Tonight I have been ...

[Adrian Southgate]

Dismantling my spare engine block.

 

As you can see it's now in bits, all carefully laid out on a clean board. What you cant see clearly is crud, oily rust particles which have crept in everywhere, Dave is bringing me some engine wash tomorrow to clean up this mess with. By this time tomorrow I hope to have a pile of nice clean parts to put back together.

The engine block is going to be washed off and tidied up before being painted, then I can strat to put it all back together all being well. More photo's to follow tomorrow night.

[Adrian Southgate]

So, another wee update.

Since we put the rebuilt engine back in its been rough, proved it to an air leak on the throttle spindles down to worn plastic bearings. After a bit of digging I found a kit of four bearings and four screws. These are a much better fit, makes the spindles nice and snug. You can see in the photo the new bearings at the top, the plastic bearings under them and the spindles.

 

Something else I discovered, I don't have a 32/36 DGAV as I thought, its just a 32/32, odd bloody thing. Seems I will be reconditioning another carb in the near future. I'll just duplicate the jet sizes in the current one and use a 32/36 body. I'll have to order another set of those bearings though as they make a hell of a difference to an older carb.

[Dave Thomas]

I was told at work about a bloke that used to work there before i started who used parrafin instead of flushing oil in his old vw beetle, dont know how long it lasted after though!

[Dave Adams]

keep at it Ade and it'll run as quiet as my Pinto :-)

i really don't recommend flushing oil, unless you leave it in for a week and do some serious mileage and drain when the oil is very warm......even then. If your engine is full of tar like deposits flushing oil will remove a fair bit but usually not all and that is where the problem lies. experience has shown me that the oil strainer in the sump is often prone to blocking up after flushing oil is used, as large flakes of tar like substance end up in the sump and block the strainer.

[Adrian Southgate]

Looking at it again it is indeed microscopic sludge suspended in oil, there was some in the engine when I took it apart so could be just residual.

I used flushing oil on the previous engine and lived to regret it. it cleaned away too much crap and opened some otherwise sealed faults on the seams and gaskets, never again.

I'll run it for a few hundred miles and see what gives. I learned also that .080 is not the same as .008...now i have purchased new feeler gauges and have reset the cam follower clearances it sounds much better, who'd a thunk it eh...

[James Doulton]

That doesn't sound too good. If you fit new parts then you can expect some bedding in but I would have thought that that would consist of microscopic particles which would just make sludge as the metal reacts with the oil. Might the filings have been left in the engine from before your restoration, from a previous problem perhaps? 

[Adrian Southgate]

So today I changed the oil. Its done 400 miles and I won't get time before Stoneleigh due to work and other stuff like caravan maintenance. I pulled the sump plug and found that there were metallic traces in the oil and a little pile of 'filings' on the magnet in the sump plug. Is this usual after building an engine or should I panic...

Over to you tech heads...

[Paul Sheridan]

Looking good Ade !!   It's funny how a picture will bring back memories of years gone by, I can't remember the last time I actually saw the inside of a distributor. It brings back memories of when I was an apprentice and we always set the points gap using a dwell meter, the apprentice sat in the car and span the engine over while the mechanic made the adjustments. One mechanic I worked with would jump at the slightest thing, and I found it hilarious to bib the horn when he went to put his screw driver near the base plate, the screw driver would go flying every time. Mind you I did used to get the crap beaten out of me !!!!   Happy days :-))

[Adrian Southgate]

Yet another update 

[Adrian Southgate]

Another update with more pics...

[Adrian Southgate]

DOH...I need to go to specsavers.

Bit fluffy with carbon at the moment but will have a gander once I get the springs released but I had every intention of giving them a quick spin with the drill and some paste :-)