With the MOT looming due at the end of January (what a stupid time to get something MOT'd to begin with honestly!) and work being on hold due to a trapped nerve in my back leading to a leg that whilst numb also had cramp and pins and needles. I decided it was obviously an ideal time to get a bit of bodywork done prior to the MOT which was booked for Thursday morning.
Only problem is I need to travel 200 miles to get to my parents place to do the work. So Sunday night I jumped in the van and headed on my merry way around the M25 and up the M1, making good time I stopped off at the services with about 20 miles left to go. Bad move as I pulled onto the slip road about midnight and slowed up I realised it was running on 3 cylinders....A quick check under the bonnet alas showed all the plug leads were present and correct and nothing else to obviously be causing a problem, so I carried on my way.
Monday morning revealed that it hadn't healed itself overnight and was very definately only starting and running on 3, curse word, oh and its about 0 degrees outside and the transit doesn't fit the garage.
A compression test showed 100, 80, 25 and 125 psi present, so I guessed number 3 had burned an exhaust valve (this was the cylinder with no gap on the tappets when I bought the van).
Off with its head, thanking god its only a pinto and I had been spraying the exhaust manifold nuts with penetrating oil for the last week in preparation for trial fitting the Janspeed turbo manifold and then putting a 4 branch back in the meantime. Luckily everything undid.
Stripping the head revealed 20 years of unleaded had caused extreme valve seat recession on number 3, so bad that the recutting tool wouldn't do anything with it. I didn't bother stripping the rest. Needing new unleaded seats fitting at least there was no way I was going to make it for the MOT.
At this point I remember I was supposed to be picking up my turbo bits from Ron in Chesterfield and he had been advertising another Pinto head - supposedly a good one. A hurried text later promised salvation and later that night I picked everything up.
Tuesday morning I stripped the new head and reground the inlets, damp had got at the exhaust valves so it was easier to recut them and fit new ones than mess about. I got luck with the local motor factors they had a top end decoke gasket set in stock and could have the valves for 1pm.
New valves fitted and I decided to use my existing cam as the one with the new head is of an unknown grind, problems again, my cam has one journel too big to fit the new head, oh well back to plan B and we clean the surface rust off the new one and back in it goes. Set all the valve clearances on the bench and call it a day.
Wednesday morning see us practising for a walk on part in ice road truckers. 8 inches of snow overnight, the temperature has dropped again and some of the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen are coming down. Luckily my numb leg means that at least one part of me doesn't feel cold....
Head re-fitted by 2pm and it starts up and sounds fine, run it up for 10 minutes turn it off and restart and oh curse word its running on 3 cylinders again, cue rapid removal of the cam belt cover and re-checking cam timing (again) nope its all spot on. Get out strobe and check ignition timing, nope thats fine as well, double curse word! Pull off rocker cover and check valve clearances in a moment of desperation, number 2 and 3 are tight, check and reset all of them and re-torque the cylinder head bolts while we can and hey presto 4 cylinder action is resumed! A quick run down the road suggest that the cams are in fact a different grind as the torque curve is different but I can live with it.
Thursday MOT day, down to the LPG station and top up with 140 litres of gas at 58p/litre. Much shock and hilarity at whats just come in at the MOT station until they twig who is driving, then it all becomes clear to them! MOT passed with any advisories, MOT man is very complementary at just how solid it is underneath - I finally got to have a good look at it and as far as we could see it has never been welded!
So MOT in hand back at home with the snow starting to melt we cracked on removing windows and fitting steel in their place, they were painted in the garage before being tiger sealed into place.
No time to do all the work I wanted to get down and to be honest the weather just isn't fit, the rear lower quarter was the worst bit to do, but its all welded up and solid again now, complete with a good coating on the inside of wax oil to hopefully keep things rust free.
One more good thing I got done was fitting an auxillary water pump in the heater circuit, this means my heater starts getting warm within about 2 minutes from a cold start and goes so hot I need to turn it down.
Also another result was the temperature gauge starting to work with the sensor that came fitted in the new head, reads bang on normal so all is well, however having been used to it not working its something else to worry about checking now......
The 4 branch was nowhere near fitting - it was going to exit through the bulkhead via where the pedals are and the amount of modification it would require ment it would have been easier to make one from scratch, so that was put on one side.
Photos are from when I got home, it was too cold and stressful to take any in progress shots!
I would really have liked to have gone the whole hog and completely changed the sides for those from a van, but its just too much work, plus I can remember plenty of vehicles running about like this in the 80's so it does look period.
Oh and I have a JS turbo manifold and a TD-04 turbo to play with as and when.....The "only pinto turbo transit in the village?" maybe?
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