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Sooooooo, there was a big engine disaster on the way to RRG09 straight after a very hurried engine rebuild. I'd stuck in some serious hours to get the car there and made it about 1/4 of the way to the top of the M3 here: Gutted wasn't the word and the car has sat in my garage since, not moved or touched other than to shift it out the way. I couldn't face rebuilding the engine again so I've just been putting it off and putting it off until last week. I decided the sensible option would be to get hold of a runner that would drop straight in and I can rebuild the 1700 later and just swap it. I decided on a stock 1200cc, what the car had when it rolled out the factory, and as luck would have it I found one at not unsensible money not too far away. A quick blat in the T to Brands Hatch, some expensive pictures of the queen changed hands and the guy helped me heft it into the passenger seat. Then I was stuck, because when I got home I couldn't get it out the car. Too heavy and too high up. But I had bought an engine crane and this is where I am now: Roof down, hoiked it out, dragged it across the carpark and now it's in the garage minus a few bits. So I've just got to remember what is and isn't compatible. So far it's de-clutched, de-dynamo'd and de-engine mounted. It should drop straight onto my 2000E gearbox with the other clutch, it'll need a spacer on one engine mount, exhaust will need extending a little and throttle cable will need adapting. But this stuff should take no time at all once I'm back from Le Mans and puts me back into 2CV territory in terms of acceleration ;D
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,515
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....and the Herald will be faster Will be great to see this out and about again Mr 69.
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Sept 14, 2010 18:43:03 GMT
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I pulled the 1700 engine out the Anglia a few weeks ago and with the two engines next to each other I was left with a quandry: do I rebuild the 1700 or just sling the 1200 in...? This evening I put my torch and camping lamp to the test and took the head off the 1700 in the dark to have a look and see what was up. Working in the dark is no fun and my eyes hurt now, but I got the head off and I'm partway into a diagnosis. S'cuse the lower than normal standard pics, these were taken holding the lamp overhead so I could see to focus the camera ;D First thing I noticed was the shape of the combustion chamber 'cleaned off' from the top of no.1 piston: Not good news because that means contact had been made with the head. The head showed the same sort of story: When I turned the flywheel I could feel that there was up and down play in cylinders 1 and 2 so that means it's killed two bearings. The odd thing was it wasn't knocking, it was making more of a piston-like scraping noise. The other odd thing was I didn't get any bits and bobs come out with the oil, so I'm hoping it is a big-end and not a little-end bearing which will be harder to fix. Fingers crossed it hasn't trashed the piston. I'm hoping the contact hasn't compressed the top ring groove which will render the pistons useless and that's BIG expense on this engine. It's all free though and the bore has not been damaged, so it's looking good so far
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Davenger
Club Retro Rides Member
It's only metal
Posts: 7,272
Club RR Member Number: 140
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Sept 14, 2010 18:45:26 GMT
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Fingers crossed for you dude
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Sept 15, 2010 16:21:32 GMT
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Ok, well here goes nothing. Lets see what's hiding under here... Yuck, here are all the mangled bits, still in the bottom of the sump. This doesn't look or feel like oil : And this is what the big-end bearings look like on 1 and 2 : They should be silver and smooth. It's melted them in 1 and 2. I think the crank is ok. It's covered in hard black crud which I think is a mixture of burned oil and bearing, so I'll give it a clean up and a better inspection. I noticed that one of the bolts in the no.1 conrod was already loose so I think this might have been the culprit, damnit. All the oilways are clear and all the bearings were in the right way round. I can only think I missed torquing one up when I assembled the engine in the rush last year. Even more annoying is I pulled a cam bearing out with the cam, so that'll have to be replaced as well. Don't think I can do that at home, so it looks like the 1200 will be going in to get me back on the road and I can do the work on the engine in my own time.
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Sept 15, 2010 18:26:49 GMT
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not bad if its just the bearings jon, crank regrind maybe?
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Sept 16, 2010 11:06:47 GMT
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Worst case Chris, yes. Nothing too expensive is dead, that's the main thing.
I had all the shells laid out on the table yesterday, where the light was a bit better. 1 and 2 are completely melted, 3 is trashed right down to the copper and 4 is heavily scorched. For that reason I think the loose conrod bolt is unrelated. All the other bearings in the engine are fine and the crank oilways are clear, so there is oil getting down there. I think the cause was just giving it too much stick before it was run in.
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I did a bit of measuring. Big ends were fine, crank journals were nice and round but when I cleaned up the bearing surfaces on the crank they were toast on the undersides. The crank is in at Specialized Engines getting a regrind, which was a bit of a trek, but I don't think I'd trust any of the local firms to do it unfortunately. I'm also getting them to put some new valve guides in the head while it's there, just to tighten things up a bit.
In the meantime - 1200cc's!
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kee
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,989
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good to see progress being made johnny have you got any +3- flat top pistons for sale? i'm going pre x/flow on the fiesta ;D
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v6pop
Part of things
Posts: 110
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Just a thought Jonny...... not sure what box you have but the spigot bearing in the end of the 1200 crank will need changing to take the larger diameter shaft from the gearbox if its a 3 rail 2000e type?
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Last Edit: Oct 2, 2010 22:07:17 GMT by v6pop
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,515
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In the meantime - 1200cc's! We still need to have that night time meet on Paradise Road, Anglia vs Herald don't we? ;D Good to see this getting some attention again.
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Dec 20, 2010 16:52:00 GMT
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I put the 1200 in this morning. However, I noticed the spigot bearing was a bigger diameter than the shaft on the gearbox. I couldn't quite get the vernier in but the one in the crank is about 17mm and the one on the gearbox shaft is about 15mm. Alarm bells rang. But then I checked in the crank of the engine I took out (which has been in the car used on that gearbox for a number of years) and it's much bigger, like 20mm. Checked with some folk on 105Speed and they should both be the same size. Annoyance, because there are two different sizes on the old Ford engines So why is the one in my old crank so big? At the back of my mind, I'm thinking since the engine builder buggered up my crank regrind, there's a chance they took the spigot bearing out completely and didn't put it back in. Or alternatively I've been driving around for years without one - unlikely The engine builders have royally ****ed my crank up. First there's over 1mm of end float, even with an oversize thrust bearing. Second, there's now no spigot in there. It's also taken them over three months now to put some oversize valve guides in my head. Ok, it was worn past the old guides, but even I could centre and drill them out on a mill and turn up some new guides to a press fit out of brass or bronze. I don't understand why "professionals" aren't capable of doing this. The 1200 was going to be a stop-gap so I could bumble about for a bit but I think I've run out of patience with it now. Straw that broke the camel's back and all. It's been a long 10 years with this car but most of that has just been off the road either restoring it or with problems. Time for it to go now, methinks.
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Dec 20, 2010 17:07:24 GMT
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I´ve got a 1100 Kent going spare if you fancy a "modern" for free A massive 54bhp on tap ;D
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Dec 20, 2010 17:39:55 GMT
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Loving the anglia, hope you get it rebuilt in time for RR 2011! on another note, do you know the standard offset for the anglia? I'm guessing ET19? got an idea for a project of mine
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1994 Mazda 323f 1.6i 16v GLX
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DutyFreeSaviour
Europe
Back For More heartbreak and disappointment.....
Posts: 2,944
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Jan 13, 2011 15:27:06 GMT
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Jonny - just read this - catching up on being away etc.... can't you get the engine regrind loops to supply/cost a replacement? Wouldn't want all the hard work that's been put into this by yourself to be ruined because of 'professionals' not doing their job and not living up to client expectations........ Don't lose the faith man John
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Back from the dead..... kind of
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Bit of an update as this journey is now getting moving again! In my last update the engine place had screwed up my crank. They'd overground the end float by about 1mm and this was way too much. They promised me a replacement and duly honoured this when I took the block over there for checking. They had, however, also made a right mess of my head. They had to put larger than normal valve guides in because it is an old head and I'd let it get very worn. No biggies, except when it gets to that point it needs to be set up on a mill and measured up for drilling, because they can't use the old valve holes as a drilling guide, so it costs a bit more in labour. But what they'd done is tried to reseat the valves with a cutter that was clearly too big and knocked right into the side of the combustion chamber and made a mess. Plus the guides were huge and sticking right into the ports. By this point I looked like this: The following week was RR Awards night at the Ace and I got a nice mojo boost. Kevfromwales mentioned he was picking up a stash of Anglia bits and there was probably a 1500 engine going spare which he'd relay over via Seth. Great! A direct swap, should have the right bearing on the back and I could just drop it in and get the car back on the road. Mojo truly boosted, I looked like this again: Fast forward a few weeks to the weekend just gone and I managed to blag a lift to the engine place, then via the Dungeon on the way home to collect the 1500. They have fixed the head and actually made quite a nice job of it. It has new exhaust valves, unleaded seats, a light skim and they didn't charge me any extra because of the bother. I also invested in a new Kent 244 since everything else in there is now reconditioned. May as well run it all in at once and not have to worry about it. In the meantime, I have this early 1500 from Kev to fit: Here's a pic of my flowed head on top for comparison. Check the ports And the gratuitous valve pic: The 1500 doesn't have the right bearing after all that, but I do have one in my toolbox from a nice chap on 105Speed. So I should be able to get the old one out, press the new one in and get this car up and rolling again soon
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kevfromwales
Posted a lot
the conrod's REALLY out the block now!
Posts: 3,909
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Mar 29, 2011 10:07:45 GMT
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KFW IS VERY PLEASED YOU HAZ MOJO ONCE MORE!!
and rofl's @ the doctored j-69 piccy!
I've got the anglia wheels and bumper off to oneside for you too jon, I'll relay them over at some point - do you want the stock anglia pressed alloy rim embellishers for extra sneaky sleeper appeal??
EDIT - regretfully, KFW tat haulage can offer no guarrantee on engines which have been pickup up from rmad's father in laws outhouse in the middle of freaking nowhere and transported home in the truck's passenger footwell...
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Almost on the road: b11 sunny breadvan, e36 tds, 325i skidcar,
nearly there: ford f250 tathauler, suzuki alto, u11 bluey
not for a while: ford pop, 32 rails,
not in this lifetime: ruby, '29 hillman
''unfortanatly I'm quite old and scruffy and in need of some loving. my drive shaft needs a new boot....''
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,515
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Mar 29, 2011 10:35:24 GMT
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Great news Jon. Glad you were able to sort out picking the engine up on Sat. Is there soon to be a Hot Rod that steers and an Anglia that drives?!
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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Mar 29, 2011 18:11:10 GMT
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Gratuitous dirty picture of shiny new go-faster goodies. Cwoaarrr!!!! Lube. Lol. Kev, yep, go on then
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Davenger
Club Retro Rides Member
It's only metal
Posts: 7,272
Club RR Member Number: 140
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Mar 29, 2011 18:43:27 GMT
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Whoop whoop! Good to see it's all coming right for a change
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