1974 Vauxhall Viva (HC) SL

[tigran]

Reason i didn't get down to the ace tonight, 'got busy' with the viva. Prepped it all to bosh the head off in the morning.



The culprit for all this fugging problems, fuzzy dark pic of the valve springs snapped in 3 places:



Anyone remember off the top of their head if the fan base needs to come off or is the whole thing attached to the head?

[tigran]

Well fitted in some more work in between, errr...work. Mate of mine came over, we got the head out stripped it down to it's bare components degreased the head and he's taken it away for some Xtreme porting, polishing and modification in general, that and the valves. A solid day of head work i'm getting done for the cost of consumables/his petrol - excellent. Will post up some pics of what it looks like after on friday/saturday when it's back. Ports and the airways are diabolically cluttered. Can't believe how old skool the technology on these lumps is! Till I get it back here are some before's:









Tomorrow is prep for putting it all together, so going to de-coke the pistons and clean out the block, get all the ancillary pipes de greased and cleaner get the fan casing de greased and cleaned. Basically trying to get everything to as new.

Can't believe how good the engine is tbh - the stem seals seem new as do the pushrods and collets. Well chuffed! Can't wait to get it all back together.

[eddy]

Ello.. i signed up! I'm the one doing the head work. lol. The head was a little stuck on by the looks of it from previous overheating. The head is in an acid bath tonight ready to go to the workshop tomorrow. The engine is in good nick. Will be completely diffrent after its had the top end rebuild. Il be matching the exhaust and inlet mainifolds to suit.

tig just make sure you get everything clean on that list for friday...

[tigran]

Yeah will do, p.s. thanks a lot for doing the work.

[leigh]

Go team! Sounds promising lads - nice to see it working out for you Tigran, glad to hear the rest of the engine is in such good nick

[tigran]

Well blow me and call me susan! Something I/we took apart and put back together again actually works. It's firing on all four cylinders now and everything. Will get the useful stuff like water pump/fan/ancillary belt on tomorrow. But the main thing is it's firing on all fours and idling.

Get in.

[Seth]

Hooray for Susan! ;D

[tigran]

Urgh, random 3pot running not FTW! Number 3 cylinder is totally not firing. Hmmm.

[tigran]

Lil update, found the reason it was running on 3. A tiny nick in the valve seat. Seemingly by cleaning it all up I removed the carbon deposit that was sealing it. Ho hum, got a new head for it and just built it up a minute ago (lapping paste is not fun in the hot sun)

Mmmmm shiney:





Spot the difference:



pHear my ms paint skiLlzorz, the red bit shows the tiny fugging nick that has caused the valve sealing issue:

[tigran]

Excellent. Can now get on with getting the capper ready for RR'07. Woot!

[tigran]

Great success, sort of, I guess. it's idling on four cylinders. But still need to finish bolting the exhaust manifold on and sort out the flood of biblical proportions being caused by my slack waterpump sealing.

[tigran]

Man, not updated this in aaaages! Car's now in bournemouth, and been sitting here for a fair bit, and i've got the mojo for it again - want a proper retro to drive daily that doesn't ruin me financially like the rover.

So got on with taking the engine out - the one i popped on the way to RR '07 (so it's only been 6 months). Unbolted it all today, will lift it out tomorrow. Need some advice, keeping the gearbox that's in there, but putting a new engine in - do i take the whole lot out inc. gearbox and sort it all out whilst out of the car - or do i leave the box in situ? I'm thinking take the whole lot as clutch allignement is going to be a pita whilst in the engine bay. Hope to have it running by mon evening (famous last words). Just gotta drain engine before i take it out.

step into my workshop

[xbo11ox]

I reckon I would base that decision on access to bellhousing bolts - if you can get at em all easily with the engine in place, leave the gearbox in situ. If not, hoik it out with the engine.

[tigran]

there's good access to them, still thinking how much of a pita it would be to line up the gearbox spline. Ho hum,can always take the gearbox out later if needed.

[xbo11ox]

It'll be no problem at all if you get the pressure plate carefully centred before you drop the lump in. On the rare occasions where I have encountered reluctance for the engine to slide onto the gearbox shaft, a handy fence post used as a lever usually gives the additional push required.

[pbottomley]

Sadly I have popped a few engines out a Vivas before, its easy to remove just the engine, as long as you get the slings in the right place.

Getting it back in with the gearbox in situ is just a matter of getting the splines to line up (easier said than done withe the angle of the sump over the subframe)

A better idea if you have the space and lifting ability is to undo the subframe and gearbox crossmember (also all the leads cables etc) and roll out the engine gearbox on the subframe. If you do it that was everything can be cleaned up including the engine bay before you roll it all under the car again. Use the old engine mounts when you roll it back in, and swap the mounts for new ones once its all back in place (that way you don't fug up the new ones when getting it all back in place.