My 'project' - Updated 08/08 - Engine swap & headgasket

looking good mate keep up the great work

I changed over the fuel pump, and relay, chucked a bit of fuel in, and tried to start her up. After a couple of coughs i managed to get her going, only to die straight away.New HT leads are needed.

Managed to get loads done over the bank holiday, but didnt take many pics as i was just getting on with it.

I managed to remove the 'key' stuck in boot lock - actually turned out to be a penknife blade. The boot lock is now fully functional. I also pulled the drivers side door mech out, as it had been pushed in. Im assuming by the same people who lost part of their pen-knife. Drivers door now fully functional too, and sporting a new handle.



And then spent the rest of my time 'finishing off' fitting things like the windscreen wipers, door cards, lower dash trays etc. Overall, id say im about 90% complete to getting it back on the road.

I also removed the wheels to have a nose around, and nothing seems too bad under there. 1 split CV Boot, and some shrubbery, although i may need some new discs and pads…







Hopefully ill have her running soon, as i cant wait to get it out the garage, and on the open road!!

I bought these from GSF, and arrived less than 24 hours later. Good service.



I didnt get home till dark yesterday, and so I fitted the leads in the dark, and tried to fire her up.

She went much better than originally, and i had chance to rev the engine where as before there was no response. I blipped the throttle a couple of times, but then turned around to notice my garage was now entirely filled with black smoke. I guess after not being on the road since 1999, theres gonna be a few cobwebs to blow out!!

Need to drop some more fuel in, and roll it out the garage for a proper go this weekend. Cant wait!

Well, as you can see, i rolled it out the garage. Its also facing the other way, and i didnt push it…

Only the 2nd time ive started it, but it still wont idle. I just kept the revs high and drove it up and down the road. A milestone for me.

As you can see though…theres a bit of smoke…



Im not sure if im worried by the smoke or not yet… It hasnt been started in at least a year, and not been on the road for 8, so i know theres plenty of crap to be blown out.

Any suggestions as to what might be causing the smoke, or ways to stop it, would be greatly appreciated.

Nick

its very probably valve stem oil seals or maybe even worn bores/pistons/rings :dontknow:  if its stood un run for that long it should have had some storage oil put in the bores ideally, once its been running a bit it might settel down? could just be the head coked right up, but if it is doing it under load i would say valve stem oil seals and maybe piston rings/oil control rings a bit knackered/seized/damaged, either way really its not the end of the world as its not mega stuff to do

do a compression test - if ok likely to be stem seals

Interesting roof.. :roll:

SlashLT said

Interesting roof.. :roll:

 

Changed my discs, and pads recently…

Before:



After:



But now ive hit a problem…

My car was starting fine, but wouldnt idle by itself.
It slowly began to stop starting. It would turn over, and almost fire, but not quite. It wanted to go.
Then it wouldnt start at all.

I had a mechanic over at the weekend and he disconnected the cold start plug. It started first time, on the button and idled just below 1k, for a good while before spluttering to a stop, and spewing petrol out of the airbox!

He was suggested that the top of the airbox, and all the fuel bits (red arrow) was buggered. Apparently the petrol was leaking into the box from the paddle mechanism (in yellow on my pic) somewhere, but it was quite a fair amount of fuel!



Now last night, i replaced this for a working one, it started and was fine. Once i pushed the accelerator, the exact same thing happened, and p1ssed out petrol everywhere again!

Checked both tubes (green arrows) and they were both dry, so the fuel definately didnt get in through there.

Any suggestions as to why this is happening?!  

Im dying to get this thing on the road, but i need this sorted, so i can bleed my brakes, so i can get it through an MOT!

Which parts did you change? I think it's leaking through the bottom of the metering head (just left of the red arrow), but if you've changed that over then you can discount that.

Also I'd check all the banjo bolts on the metering head are tight, and if they're dry after you've run it. It's possible that one may be leaking.

HTH

Rich

I replaced the top of the airbox, and everything on it. But used the existing fuel lines.

I turned it over, and it squirted fuel at my mate (much to my amusement   ) So we tightened them all, and even managed to shear off a couple of bolts to, but had spares luckily! so they were all tight. And the amount of fuel that was in the airbox wasnt a small leak amount. It really did pee out!

cracking work mate wish i was as confident and knowledgable.
tell me what you did with the boot lining cards? mine are trashed…the clip holes etc so just currently lay on boot floor leaving sides bare
cheers and good luck with the engine trouble.

did you sort the problem mate?

foxymk1 said

did you sort the problem mate?

No, unfortunately not.

I had a word with my mechanic, and he suggested the 'only other thing it could be..' is the fuel pressure regulator.

Im not wonderfully mechanically minded, and i dont have a haynes (picking one up tonight!) So at the moment, im trying to distinguish what and where the FPR is, before then robbing my mate of mine and fitting it before trying again.

Anyone tell me, or show me through a picture where it is?! please… :dontknow:  ops:

Just a thought - when you replaced the metering head, did you notice if it had a sliding pin in it, on the underside? They can come out quite easily sometimes. You can just see it poking out the bottom of the metering head in this pic: -



HTH

Rich

Thanks for the pic.

I didnt remove that bit. Literally removed the top part of the airbox, after undoing the fuel lines, and then bunged a different one on.

I shall however check the pin tonight.

I have also had another response somewhere else, which will hopefully have helped.

Wow…not updated this for a while!!

I didnt manage to sort the problem of fuelling, but did find where it was coming from… The breather pipe. So that engine was well and truly buggered.

There was fuel in the oil, and sump, and probably places like rings etc, which explained the smoking, and poor idleing.

So… I bought an engine from my friend for ?70, which he had bought from ebay. Apparently it had been rebuilt, and only had about 20k miles on it. There was no proof of this, but the condition of the engine definately suggetsed it was true.

So i whipped the old one out, and got the new one in the engine bay in a weekend.  8O  





After this, i got everything back together, and the engine running, only to find that the headgasket had gone on this new engine!

At this point, I gave up, and did this… :dontknow: before chucking it on ebay. (last week.)

I had to take some pics for the ebay ad, and so rolled it out the garage to do so.







It was at this point I was swayed by how far i'd come, and how much potential there was… So i left it on ebay, and fortunately my reserve wasnt met.

Whilst the auction was still running, i stripped the engine, got the head skimmed, and cleaned. Not that it needed much cleaning as the internals were in immaculate condition.









I had a delivery for some new gaskets, and cambelt etc yesterday, so now ive just got to get everything back together, and with any luck, it'll finally be a good runner! *touch wood*

your making great progress mate.... it will be worth it once you hear it running - the smile on your face when your driving it will be worth it...

looking good mate

isnt this on ebay?

yes it is foxy try reading threads before you reply he quite clearly says he listed it you muppet  

anyway paul will be here soon as were stalking you :wink: