logicaluk
Posted a lot
Every days a school day round here
Posts: 1,373
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And a great day I had, despite the bollocking I got when I got home, (which keeps rearing its head) despite me telling not so junior that I didn't know would time I would be home.
Looking forward to the next few exiting instalments.
Dan
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Last Edit: May 22, 2021 15:12:20 GMT by logicaluk
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May 22, 2021 20:40:40 GMT
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Cheers Dan - Page 2!
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Episode 10 - Foreign Parts So last time I promised adventure and the obvious place to find it was in Sheffield. Dan ( logicaluk) suggested we go visit Dave at Spitfire Graveyard and Dan blagged a ride as he wanted a diff as well.  Dave only supplies engines on an untested and un-warrantied basis as cores for rebuilds. The original plan was to buy one engine but once there we decided to get two and improve the odds of having enough parts.  Many thanks to Dave for his help, guidance and patience while we ooohhd and aaahhd at his treasure trove. I admit to being a bit concerned with all that weight on board and three people but the Avensis coped superbly. Sptifire Graveyard is down deep in a valley but even the hairpin bends on the way out presented no problems. The Avensis may have all the appeal and style of a fridge, but it's damned efficient at its job. Quick pit stop half way home and I timed that photo perfectly:  The key to success was a scavenged breeze block under the front of the engines and a couple similarly scavenged knackered tyres:  We had chosen the engines based on the least crank end float and did very well out of it. We connected a starter and did a cold compression test.  The first was a Dolomite 1500 engine (different flywheel by the way) that gave 60 PSI - not so good. The second was a Sptifire 1500 engine and had 120 PSI on 3 cylinders and 80 PSI on the last. Oil down the bores raised all four by 10 PSI suggesting the bad cylinder issue was in the head, which is a good thing as we had three heads to choose from. Dan then went beserk with his favourite battery ugga dugga machine.   Barry is doing the engine build for us so he then took over the dismantling, inspecting and measuring:   Out of the three engines (two purchased and the original one with the cracked block) we ended up with: 3x good cranks 2x good blocks, one +40 thou bores and the other stock.
1x good cam
1x OK water pump and housing
8x good +40 thou pistons and conrods
2x fuel pumps
1x alternator and starter
1x good flywheel, clutch and pressure plate combination
2x ok heads
1x fantastic distributor that will get new internal gubbins
1x fantastic set of rockers
We seemed to have lucked out because spitfire engine we bought had lots of new components but for some reason combined with a completely shagged cam. We can only guess at what story resulted in that combination ending up at Spitfire Graveyard.
Still lots of parts to buy such as an oil pump, timing chain and sprockets, lifters, steel bridge, etc. but for £70 an engine we got most of what we needed with lots of future spares included. As it now stands the block and two heads have had core plugs removed and then been acid dipped to remove the gunge. Barry and Mrs Badger start the big build on Friday, while I'm stuck in front of a laptop earning the pennies to pay for it.  I swear though, if this 1500 engine fails I WILL fit a 1600 MX5 engine and gearbox! Until next time |
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Episode 11 - Sweet! (sort of)
It's been a long time with no update, and I confess that I lost my mojo for a while. As a reminder Rosie the Herald is Mrs Badgers car, although I do get the pleasure of attending events with them both. After the saga of rebuilding the whole front suspension only to find the engine was scrap my confidence and motivation took a hit. 2021 passed in a haze of work, motorbikes and laziness with little classic car action.
We left it having purchased two core engines from Spitfire Graveyard and our friend Barry assessing the bits when blown apart. He and Mrs Badger then built one good engine out of three duffers, with a seasoning of new parts such as bearings, rings, oil pump, lifters, distributor, etc.. I'm smart enough to know its beyond my level of talent so hence roping in Barry.
First I had to take the core plugs out of the chosen block and head so that they could be chemically dipped. The internet guff about tapping on one side is just that, guff. May be a couple came out that way but the rest came out with self tappers and a claw hammer or resorting to welding a bolt on and a long pry bar.
  There is not a lot of photos of the actual engine build because I was working and Mrs Badger and Barry were unsurprisingly caught up in what they were doing.   I've already lost this once so will split into multiple posts for safety.   |
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Jan 11, 2022 10:29:29 GMT
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Excellent !!
(Can I echo what has been previously said, your "writing style" is both very informative and also very entertaining / amusing,)
You both have ended up with a great little car that looks excellent,
I have a nostalgic affinity with Triumphs, the first car I totally rebuilt was my TR6, body off chassis etc,
I'd love to be able to go back and do it again so I could do it properly this time, 😁😁
Looking forward to (hopefully,) seeing future updates,
Nigel
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BMW E39 525i Sport
BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.)
BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
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logicaluk
Posted a lot
Every days a school day round here
Posts: 1,373
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Jan 13, 2022 17:51:23 GMT
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Carb spa, seems to have been a success. One of the needle valve seats has a slightly dodgy thread but seems to have nipped up, fingers crossed. I'll take them back tomorrow and hopefully complete the tune up with Chris    |
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Excellent !! (Can I echo what has been previously said, your "writing style" is both very informative and also very entertaining / amusing,) You both have ended up with a great little car that looks excellent, I have a nostalgic affinity with Triumphs, the first car I totally rebuilt was my TR6, body off chassis etc, I'd love to be able to go back and do it again so I could do it properly this time, 😁😁 Looking forward to (hopefully,) seeing future updates, Nigel Thanks for the positive comments, I'd make a better job second time around but hopefully I won't need to. Somehow I spend a lot of time following others updates and missed this. |
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Carb spa, seems to have been a success. One of the needle valve seats has a slightly dodgy thread but seems to have nipped up, fingers crossed. I'll take them back tomorrow and hopefully complete the tune up with Chris Thanks Dan, somehow again I missed this, perhaps I should bookmark my own thread!! |
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Quick update rather than an episode in itself, no photographic evidence is available so it may never have happened.
The carbs returned quickly from their spa weekend (thanks again Dan!) and with a bit of tinkering the engine ran very well. The next step will be road testing, but that will have to wait until the winter salt has washed off the roads. I think she might also need some tweaking of the choke fast idle settings to help starting when really cold.
Rosie is MOT exempt but I'll still get her MOT'd once everything is road tested. I take enough risk with Mrs Badger driving an old car, with the crash test performance of wet cardboard, without adding to the risk by not having my amateur efforts checked by a professional.
Looking forward to spring and who knows, maybe I'll figure out how to put a road test video on Youtube and post here. Then you'll be able understand how damn scary being a passenger in Rosie is.
Finally Hotwire ( HoTWire ), this was supposed to be a showcase thread but has definitely gone all 'buildy', any chance of a transfer please? Ta very much in advance.
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Finally Hotwire ( HoTWire ), this was supposed to be a showcase thread but has definitely gone all 'buildy', any chance of a transfer please? Ta very much in advance. [/font][/quote] No problem, this is done, lovely little Herald  |
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Nice write up of happy little gently modified car, thanks for sharing.
James.
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Great work, just one thing to be careful of, not sure if the triumph engine has a jack shaft driving the distributor but if it does make double and treble sure the dizzy is secure with that new clamp, we wrecked a the bottom end of a brand new minor engine after 3 miles when the dizzy seized, was pushed out and the jack shaft dropped into the crankcase smashing rods, crank, block and sump to pieces.
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Lovely car in a brilliant colour!
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Finally Hotwire ( HoTWire ), this was supposed to be a showcase thread but has definitely gone all 'buildy', any chance of a transfer please? Ta very much in advance. [/font][/quote] No problem, this is done, lovely little Herald  [/quote] Many thanks, oh munificent great one. |
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Thanks for all the positive comments jiggawhat2k and jamesd1972. I tend to lurk on a lot of threads and must get in the habit of posting my appreciation more.
Regarding the dizzy clamp kevins I misremembered when posting that photo. The new clamp was the wrong shape, being flat without the 90 degree dog leg it should have. In the end I took a spare clamp from one of the scrap engines and combined it with the new bolt from the Accuspark dizzy. Being paranoid by this point I gave the dizzy base a good writhing about and no sign of movement, so hopefully all will be ok.
At least starting with 3 scrap engines I have lots of spare bits lying around, that is until Dan (logicaluk) gets his hands on them.
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Feb 20, 2022 21:58:04 GMT
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Episode 12c - Mr Badger has a problem!
Mrs Badger thinks I have lots of problems but here I'm talking about one in particular. Although Rosie is not my dream (or my car) she can be a good excuse to accessorise. The problem in this case is my tool fetish. I'm very much a 'function over form' kind of person and tools have always called to me. I think it's because my dad believed there was nothing you couldn't fix with a hammer, a blunt wood chisel and a screwdriver. Every time my cars had to go in the garage I would hang around and ogle all the kit the mechanics had available.
Over the years I've indulged this fetish, moving on from hand tools, to tool storage, a garage, a bigger garage and then on to a compressor and air tools, various welders and then finally to a hydraulic mid rise lift. The best rush comes from finding a hidden gem that no one else noticed, I have a fantastic set of metric taps and drills I found at a car boot, housed in a cigar case someone had spent a long time adapting to the job. I suspect this may be like the chain from a little weed through to ketamine, or whatever the latest drug of choice is. And no, I'm not stupid enough to think I can give it up any time.
For a while making my own special tools for one off jobs using scrap metal and the welder was enough. However I then came across a post on vintage Engine Analysers and an evil seed was sown in my mind. Here's one I saw in a bike museum that fed the need:
Some of you may have noticed this lurking in the background of some photos:
I'd been looking for one older than this but got impatient in June 2020. Here's the picture in the for sale ad on farcebook:
The left screen is an oscilloscope and the right hand screen a monochrome computer screen. Junior Badger and I had great fun collecting it, hiring a luton van with a tail lift at more then double the cost of the machine itself - Doh! The tail lift was a god send because she's a heavy old beast.
It came with manuals (let me know if anyone is in need), hand written notes from the training when first installed, engine inspection forms and lots of other treasure in the bottom cabinet:
However disappointment followed because the computer screen was DOA, the horizontal scan having given up the ghost.
Turns out this machine was from the pre-VGA period and had an obscure and short lived Monochrome Display Adapter (MDA) using a 9-pin D-sub connector (not the normal 15 pin VGA). I did invest in an expensive MDA to VGA convertor box manufactured for putting new screens on old milling machines, etc. But I have to admit to never finishing soldering the cable to connect it.
So why have I gone back in time to share this addiction with you all, because it has struck again! Farcebook is again the catalyst of my downfall. Yes I have a problem and no I don't care.
The photo uploader has stopped working (is there a daily limit?) so I'll have to be an unintentional tease - sorry!
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Last Edit: Feb 20, 2022 22:14:28 GMT by mrbadger
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75swb
Beta Tester
Posts: 1,052
Club RR Member Number: 181
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Feb 21, 2022 19:35:34 GMT
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The tensions killing me!
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