ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 10:36:47 GMT
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Not my car but something I've been working on for the last month or so which I thought some might find interesting.
A mate asked me if I'd be interested in sorting an oil leak out the back of his dads Triumph Stag, I said I'd had a go, how hard could rear oil seal be.....
I assumed it would be an engine out job just for ease of access but as it's an early engine with rope type seals it's not only engine out but bottom end apart to change them.
As the engine bay is a bit of a mess I suggested while it was out it might be an idea to tidy it up....
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Last Edit: Jun 18, 2017 10:58:12 GMT by ChrisT
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 10:55:06 GMT
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So, after removing a few bits and the help of a decent crane the engine came out quite easily....   The strip down begins  The car was bought with the engine already fitted, whoever did it loved RTV sealant...   Surprised it managed to pick up any oil at all. That's how it should look.  It wasn't just leaking from the rear seal, one of the rocker cover gaskets wasn't seated properly and the thread for one of the valley gaskets end seals had been stripped so wasn't clamped down at all. Bit of a leak round the sump gasket too, the sump flange was out of shape which meant it didn't seal very well, some work with a hammer sorted this. One half of the rear seal, about 1/4 of it missing, other half was about the same...  Instead of removing the crank to get to the other seal I just removed the crank caps and lifted it enough to get access. |
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Last Edit: Jun 19, 2017 5:46:22 GMT by ChrisT
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 11:08:46 GMT
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Cleaned up the engine parts, got it back together and gave everything a bit of paint.  Rocker covers were powder coated which was starting to peel, so got some more and painted them body colour..  Picked out the details in blue, polished the raised parts and added stainless bolts...  Remade the PS pump bracket and tensioner, added some stainless bolts and silicone hoses. Also got some better exhaust manifolds to replace the poor ones it had.  And that's the engine about ready to bolt back in. |
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Last Edit: Jun 18, 2017 11:12:19 GMT by ChrisT
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 11:21:39 GMT
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Jun 18, 2017 11:50:28 GMT
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Some top class work going on here.
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Mk2 Golf 16V resto
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 11:56:24 GMT
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Etch primer  High build primer  Champion White (or something like that) which is what we were told the body colour was....  Which turned out to be the wrong shade so the bonnet was taken down the local motor factors to be colour matched. Slightly lighter, slightly closer to rest of car  |
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 12:18:50 GMT
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Time to get some stuff back in the engine bay, originally the brake valve thing was on the passenger side with brake pipes running across the bulk head from master cylinder to it and then back across the cross member, I simplified it a little an mounted it beneath the master cylinder and just ran the one pipe across the cross member.  Also made an ally panel to cover the hole in the front of the inner wing, made a fuse cover to replace the missing plastic one, and got a nice clutch fluid reservoir as the old one was rusting away. Painted the wiper motor body colour and got a universal washer fluid tank, a little bit tidier than the original one.  Here's a handy hint I found online, couldn't find a plain aluminium clutch fluid reservoir, only anodised ones, so bought a black one and a can of oven cleaner......   Took longer than the American youtube videos showed, think their oven cleaners are stronger than ours....  |
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Jun 18, 2017 18:37:20 GMT
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Good progress happening here. Can't wait for the next instalment. Always love a tidy Stag.
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 18:49:53 GMT
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As the front suspension/cross member had to come off to make stripping/painting the bay easier thought I'd give it the once over, it's a good job I did.... One of the ARB mounts was 'interesting', spot the difference....  A bent bit of steel 'welded' to the suspension arm and a bolt through it too - needed as the weld only contacted at two very small points.  Cut the bolt off, tapped it with a hammer and it fell off. Fabricated a better mount for it...  And got some new ARB links, already had the PU bushes on the ends.  Cross member had had some abuse over the years but nothing that couldn't be sorted with a hammer and a welder. Finished it off with some PU steering rack bushes to replace the badly installed rubber ones.  Replaced ARB to chassis mounts and the lower arm bushes with PU also as they were a bit tired too...  And finally, one of the lower ball joints needed replacing - no wonder I was told it felt a little bit vague when driving. |
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Last Edit: Jun 19, 2017 5:50:59 GMT by ChrisT
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Jun 18, 2017 19:24:15 GMT
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Some nice detail going into this. Keep it up!
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14 Audi A3 Sportback - Easy driver
05 Audi TT MK1 3.2 DSG - Damn quick
73 Triumph 2000 - Needs work
03 Range Rover 4.4 V8 petrol. Had to get it out of my system.
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 18, 2017 19:59:36 GMT
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A few other little things that needed addressing before getting everything back together Gearbox cradle was a bit of a mess, the original Stag one chopped about.  Didn't make a new one, just put some strength back in it.  And new gearbox rubbers as the old ones were perished  That also shows the exhaust mount which the exhaust was bolted directly to, with M6 bolts, I know it doesn't need rubbers as it'll move with the engine/gearbox but I prefer it with. This was one end of the slave cylinder end of the clutch pipe, barely flared....  Got a new fitting and flared it properly. The other end was connected to the original, cut off, clutch hose with compression fittings - replaced all that with some 1/4" pipe. Inside the wiper motor there's a little metal bracket attached to the wiper cable that operates a switch, this had almost broken off from wear, and then did break off when I tried to bend it into position. Tried soldering it in place but no joy so had to make something to replicate it....  Seems to work. No idea what the original cooling fans were off but they were ugly and took up too much space, got a slimline 14" fan instead  The fans were controlled by an ugly old Kenlowe adjustable switch (wired straight to the battery with no fuse or relay). Welded a nut to the top hose and bought a 87degrees fan switch (and fused relay to switch it).  |
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Jun 18, 2017 20:13:38 GMT
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That is superb work , fantastic car too...my dream car
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Fraud owners club member
2003 W211 Mercedes E class
1989 Sierra sapphire
1998 ex bt fiesta van
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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It's always good to have a deadline to work to, helps with focus and prioritising jobs.
The owner is a member of a local classic car club and each year he puts on a BBQ/car meet, we thought it would be a nice idea to have it ready for that - 17th June this year, about 6 weeks from when I started it.......
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 19, 2017 22:11:35 GMT
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Last Edit: Jun 20, 2017 5:50:00 GMT by ChrisT
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Good job! That looks so much better - Well Done.
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Jun 20, 2017 17:25:18 GMT
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Astonishing results! did you just use wire wheels to strip the paint in the bay?
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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Jun 20, 2017 19:21:16 GMT
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Thanks, just a couple of different wire brushes on a grinder and a power file to get into some of the tight corners.
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Jun 20, 2017 21:21:44 GMT
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You've done a cracking job there, really brought the whole car up a level. Can you do mine?😉
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l10mcu
Part of things
Posts: 62
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Jun 20, 2017 21:23:36 GMT
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Nice work. Top draw.
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ChrisT
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,670
Club RR Member Number: 225
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All back together, with the deadline fast approaching, it was time to try and start it. First off remove the dizzy to manually prime the oil pump with battery drill and homemade tool, but it was having none of it, so off with the oil filter and oil pump base so I could pack the gears with Vaseline which did the trick. Dizzy reattached but coil lead not connected, turned the engine over a few times to get oil round it. Connected coil lead, tried starting it and nothing  Turned over OK but didn't fire, just the occasional back fire through the carb. Rechecked timing, took out a plug and checked No.1 piston was TDC and checked for spark, all looked good but still nothing. After a bit of head scratching and worrying I'd done something wrong reassembling the engine I wondered if the dizzy was 180 degrees out.... Took it out, turned it round and put it back in, first turn of the key and it fired into life  Sounded sweet and more importantly wasn't dumping oil all over the floor like it was before. Once warmed up I checked the timing, was slightly out so turned the dizzy and with that the engine coughed and spluttered and died Would not start again, even turning the dizzy back where it was. More head scratching and checking over things I eventually realised that, although the fuel gauge was between empty and 1/4 full, it was in fact out of petrol. A few gallons were swiftly fetched from the local garage and it fired into life again Brakes and clutch were then bled (not without incident but I won't go into all the details, suffice to say that's a new brake master cylinder in the video) and bonnet reattached - unfortunately the aluminium panel I made fouls the bonnet edge when it's open but too late in the day to fix it with the show the next day. Owner had been told it was a long way from being finished so wouldn't make the show so he was somewhat surprised to see it turn up half way through and was very happy once he saw the engine bay   And to compare, how it looked before....  |
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Last Edit: Jul 2, 2017 6:32:15 GMT by ChrisT
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