25 January 2021 A week off work and planning to spend most of it on the build. Didn't get to it until later in the afternoon but broke down the coils and dampers so I could clean everything up. Pressed the bushes out of the bottom of the dampers as they were rotten. I have replacements on order which will be fitted once they arrive. Applied another coat of paint to the ARBs and spent time cleaning up the ARB mounts, radiator mounts and the metal components of the suspension. More painting will be needed. 26 January 2021 ARBs moved into the house (don't tell anyone) as it just too cold in the garage to cure the paint. Wire wheeled the radiator mounts, ARB mounting brackets coil spring retaining parts, the damper bodies and painted them with Bilt and Hamber Hydrate 80 rust converter. Trial fitted the replacement power steering pipes and dug out the small pipe clamps, they were popped in the ultrasonic cleaner to clean them up, then they were painted with engine enamel and popped in the oven to cure. The coil springs were given a wipe over as were the various bits of rubber that are used in the coil spring/damper assembly. While I waited for the various treatments to dry I started dismantling the engine. Removed the rear water housing and pipe, water pump and the crank sensor. I lifted off the cam cover and undid the head bolts in turn until they were loose, a few taps with a soft headed mallet and the head lifted off. Piston tops and valvels looked OK, a bit of carbon build up but nothing exsseive. Then I turned the ngine over and allowed the last bits of coolant and oil to drain out while I undid the oil pan bolts. With a bit of gentle levering the oil pan came off. I removed the oil pump pickup pipe. I undid the bolts holding the baffle in place and removed that as well. I did a cursory examination and everything looked OK, the crank turned and there was no discernable play in the con rod bearing or the crankshaft. Obviously there is a problem because I have an engine knock, hopefully the damage is minimal and with maybe a crankshaft grind and new bearings all will be well. By then it was dark outside and the temperature had dropped so back inside to read up a bit on the the next stage of dismantling and any checks I need to make before I do that. 27 January 2021 Painted the shocks, spring mounts and washers, the anti roll bar brackets and another coat on the ARB. Fitted the brackets to hold the power steering pipes to the rack. Carried on stripping the engine, removed the oil pump, the oil cooler, the rear main bearing seal and gave them all a clean. I undid the con rod caps and removed the pistons. The bearings were worn as expected but the crank journals looked OK, no scratches or marks that I could discern. The pistons are quite heavily carboned but again nothing major for an engine that has done over 116k miles. I undid the main bearing caps and removed them and the crankshaft. The main bearings were in a similar condition to the con rods as were the crankshaft journals. I'll get them inspected by an engine shop to confirm what needs doing but I am hopeful that a polish or grind and new bearings will be enough to fix the knocking. I measured the crankshaft end float and the con rod play and all were well within tolerance. Crankshaft end play 0.06mm (acceptable range 0.080-0.252mm) Con Rod end play (acceptable range 0.110-0.262mm) Cylinder 1 0.127mm Cylinder 2 0.152mm Cylinder 3 0.152mm Cylinder 4 0.178mm 28 January 2021 A few errands to run in the morning so didn't get to the garage until the afternoon. I had bought new front and rear drop links which are all different but they weren't labelled so I had several attempts at fitting them to find out which went where. The rear ARB I have fitted but the front will have to wait until I fit the subframe to the chassis as the ARB is mounted to the chassis. I reassembled the damper and spring assemblies and fitted the new bottom bushes. I lifted the rear subframe up with my engine hoist so I could fit the PPF and get the long bolts in the bottom. I dropped the subframe back down onto a raised platform and bolted the propshaft on (after running the bolts through the ultrasonic cleaner. Next I lifted the gearbox round and bolted that to the front of the PPF (after sliding the propshaft in). More tidying up followed whilst I also thought about the engine. I am going to take it to a local machine shop and have them look at it and get the machining done that is needed. I expect a crankshaft grind will be needed and I will probably get the bores hnies too. Hopefuly do that tomorrow. Can't decide whether to bolt the spare engine in place so I can get it bolted to the chassis or wait for the engine work to be done and then fit it with the reconditioned engine. I think it will depend on how long the machine shop work is going to take. 29 January 2021 Took the block, crank and pistons over to Classic and Modern Engine Services in Bracknell who were recommended by a friend. They had a quick look and said it didn't look too bad, possibly only a polish to the crank, more concerning were some scuff marks on the side of the pistons and evidence of some blow by. He is going to check everything and advise if new pistons will be needed. It looks like a few weeks before I get the bits back, so I will strip the ancillaries of my spare engine and use the block to connect the PPF to the subframe. No other work on the project today as I had to erect Frances' potting shed in the garden! 30 January 2021 Only a few hours in the garage today and made a start stripping the ancillaries off my spare engine just to make it a bit easier to move about. Got the exhaust manifold and power steering pumo off. The air conditioner compressor bolts sheared off but they still didn't allow me to remove the compressor I think it has correded onto the bolts. Sprayed it with penetrating fluid and hit a few times with a hammer but no luck. 31 January 2021 Only way I could get the compressor off was to break the alloy mounting holes off. Compressor off but is now junk, also unbolted the compressor mounting bracket. Removed the alternator and the inlet manifold. Then I moved the engine round to the front of the frame and attached it to my hoist, lifted it up and lined it up with the gearbox and bolted it in place, which went pretty well. There's no clutch in there at the moment as it will come out again when I have rebuilt my original engine. I moved the front subframe into place and used a jack to lift it up and bolted it to the engine mounts. The brackets that go on the engine mounts only go one way up so that needs to be checked. I had mounted the camber bolts the wrong way round so I had to go and swap them all round, they are supposed to be mounted with the bolt heads facing each other and pointing out. Once that was all done I wiped the brake discs off with cleaner and mounted them and the calipers to the uprights. So the powerpant frame is now pretty much ready for the chassis to be put on top (just need to bolt some wheels on temporarily. It's my birthday this week and I am hoping to get a pop rivet gun to go with my compressor as I have a lot of pop rivets to fit to secure the various aluminium panels to the chassis.
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AuthorThis is my first kit car although I've messed about with cars all my life. Archives
November 2023
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