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Shot of the engine before I put everything back together again.
Few little dramas on the way.
The new thermostat housing didn't quite fit the thermostat and I ended up with coolant allover the floor.
Once all together, I tried starting it but no luck, the battery went flat before I could turn it over.
Put the battery on charge for a couple of days and tried again.
Still no luck.
Needed to check the three major elements of an engine.
Compression: Should be fine. Brand new engine. If anything, the compression should be a bit high as its not run in yet.
Spark: Checked all the terminals and leads. All connected. Was running before, should be fine. Also a bit difficult to check the spark on your own.
Fuel: Hmmmm. No fuel in the carby when I pulled on the throttle.
Took the fuel line off the carby .
Petrol went everywhere! Appears to be a blockage at the carby. Thought it might be the control needle from the float. Swappewd it for one off another carby I had. Success. The engine turned over, but fuel started pouring out of the top of the fuel chamber like a tap. Turn it off.
Pulled the carby off, took the top of and checked the floats. Appears it might have been stuck. Put the original fuel line connector back on and reinstalled the carby. Turned the key and the engine started.
No noises. No scares. Just a nice sounding V8 humming along.
I now just need to tune it and it should sound awesome. Well not as awesome as when I put the Genie headers on and split it into a dual exhaust. But that's for another day that might be tomorrow, next week or next month. The body is priority now.
Winner winner, chicken dinner!
I now have a running engine with no scary noises!
Total inspiration to get the car finished and on the road.
I'm finishing up a job at the moment and looking forward to getting a bit done on the body work to get it looking a little more presntable.
Now for the motor.
The hydraulic lifter cost $8.00.
It took 1/2 a day to get it out!
After removing the Air Conditioning compressor, the distributor, the carburettor, numerous bits and pieces as well as the intake manifold, the lifter finally came out.
It was stuffed. Couldn't get it to budge. Only place it was good for was the bin.
Now with the lifter out, and what little time I had to do it, I needed to find another day to put it all back together.
Well tomorrow has finally arrived!
Better late than never I reckon.
I'm still on track although it's a year behind.
I appreciate the emails asking if I was OK and apologise for not replying.
I've found myself extremely snowed under with everything else in my life that the VIP went on the back burner. . . . with a problem.
In the last year I've virtually worked myself into the ground. End of 2013 saw me working weekends leading up to christmas. I had a couple of weeks break but couldn't bear to deal with "the problem"
In the new year I went back to school and completed a Diploma to help with work. It was a good distraction from "the problem", but I knew it was still waiting for me.
We had a huge storm a few months ago and the neighbours trampoline took out the power line to the house. After getting the house repaired and the power reconnected there was no avoiding "the problem" any more.
Have I kept you all in suspense??
The Problem:
I got the motor back together. Got it in the car. Put in the new remote oil filter lines. Fired it up. Success! Yay!
There's a noise. There's a noise? Doesn't sound right. What is it?? Listen carefully
Tick. . . . . Tick. . . . . Tick. . . . . Tick.
Where's it coming from?
Rocker cover. Passenger side. Listen carefully.
TICK. . . . TICK. . . . .TICK. . . . .TICK.
Removed the rocker cover.
1 pushrod is just flopping about. Given up the ghost.
Took the rocker assembly off and checked the pushrod. All good, nice and straight.
Realisation!!!
Hydraulic lifter on cylinder 7 inlet has shit itself. I walked away. Head hanging low. I know it needs to be fixed but it's so much work for just a little part. It's a problem I'll get back to.
And it took a year!
Next post will be about getting the engine started again.
Hi all!
Before I start with the update, I just want to give a shout out to valiantdan. He's getting an old '66 VC back on the road. He's going great guns at it too! If your a bit sick of waiting for my few and far between updates, valiantdans blog should definitely quench your thirst!
You can find him here: http://valiantdan.wordpress.com/
Now for the proceedings.
Motor is finally in and complete.
Tried firing it up, but with no success, just kept turning but not firing.
Turned it by hand to get it to TDC
Checked dizzy - back to front - DOH!!!!
Spun it around, still not firing.
INSERT CREATIVE SWEAR WORDS HERE!!
Next step read the instructions
1. turn the engine over until you are at top dead centre.
2. Top dead centre is found like this:
a. line the timing mark on the harmonic balance up with "0" on the timing mark
b. Next - IMPORTANT - check the pushrods on cylinder one. You should be able to turn them freely by hand. This is Top Dead Centre.
I did this turned it over by hand until both pushrods were loose. Awesome, got that.
Checked the dizzy - back to front again - DOUBLE DOH!!
Spun it around again
Aligned the dizzy so the rotor lined up with the contact point of what would now be number 1 lead
Reset the leads according to the cast in firing order on the inlet manifold.
Turned the key
SUCCESS!
Fired up first turn
Now the bad news :-(
The brand new oil pump is soooo good, it found a split in the remote oil filter line and pumped about 1/2 a litre of oil all over the garage floor! With the big fan running as well it sprayed it virtually to the back wheel. 3 bags of Coles kitty litter later and we had that all cleaned up.
STOPPED!
I took the oil lines off and whipped them down to Pirtek and they had the fixed and repaired within the week.
I now have them in the shed and will be putting them in this afternoon and then I can run the cam in!
Stay tuned tomorrow!
A Short little video of the motors life span thus far with me.
Shots taken from when the car was first purchased, swapping over a different 318, the realisation that the old motor I took out was the original factory fitted motor and the subsequent rebuild and reinstall of the original motor.
Oh, and credit where credit is due:
Big Red Rocket of Love
The Reverend Horton Heat
Of the album: Holy Roller
Yes the motor is back again, and No, I wasn't trying to recycle some old post.
Here are the two shots I took with the motor now back in the car again:
There was a few swear words, well actually a lot!.
The motor came out. All good. Tick!
Remote oil lines went back in. Tick!
Engine went back in again. Tick!
Oil filter line got caught between the block and the fire wall!. . . . . Tick!!!
Took a few hours to get the oil lines all sorted and in the right spot, but I finally got there and the filter was all set up correctly. Even has a new filter on.
The new water pump went on along with everything else that goes with it and am happy to say that the frog juice is staying on the inside of the motor and not the outside!
