Getting there........

I drove the estate today for the first time since the engine rebuild.......... all I can say is wow.......... I am so pleased with my little self. The engine runs perfectly, good oil pressure, no noises, no rattles and it does seem to pull well............. can't really find out yet as I need to run it in first!

I took it to Craig Bennett's garage for some welding on the front chassis rails. Nothing serious, just a small patch............. what is serious is the huge hole we found in the boot floor....... right under the tank in the "fake" spare wheel well which is a carry-over from the old MKI's. So, next Saturday we are going to take the tank out, cut out the useless "bulge" and re-create a flat boot floor.

It's not an MOT failure, so the MOT is still on for Monday pm. Fingers crossed.

When I got it home I carried on tinkering. The new wood I had re-veneered needing fitting. I'd done the door trims.... (the easy bit!) but I now had to do all the dash and the radio surround.

I'd had the radio surround modified to have the hole a modern stero size, so while I was at it, I put the new stereo and cd changer in.

What a result, I think it looks great!




While I had the dash out I put in an extra 12v cigar lighter on the passengers side parcel shelf. Might come in useful on the RBRR for the Sat Nav, Road Angel and phone charger.

I had a new gerlever trim panel "in stock" so what went on too.

It really has lifted the inside, looks much better now.

Tomorrow is cleaning and (dare I say it...........................) POLISHING time depending on the weather. Then its MOT Monday, tax and then the open road beckons..............!

Engine rebuild......... FINISHED!!!!

So, put the rad back in, reassembled all the front suspension including the new power rack.

Topped up all the fluid then realised I couldn't put it off any longer, I had to try and start it!

Primed the oil pump, fitted a new filter then turned it on the key with the plugs out................... after a short pause the oil pressure gauge started to climb and hit 75psi just on the starter!!! Wow!!

Put the new plugs in, and tried again................ first turn of the key it fired into life!

I cannot explain the feeling of relief and utter joy at hearing the 6 pot burst into life!!!

The new carbs need fettling, they are stiff and won't open and shut properly, but they just need to lube and working a bit I think. Timing needs to be set, but apart from that its fine!

Ran for a couple of minutes then I think I've run out of fuel........ but it was getting dark so I guess this was a good time to stop!!

I have to admit there have been times when I've wondered if I would ever get it back together again........ but the feeling of hearing it start was worth all the sweat!!!

Engine Rebuild Part MCMXXVXIIX !!

So, today I needed to get on with putting the engine back together......... so it was raining! Figures.

A bit of playing and here we have a purpose built engine-rebuild-shelter!
All going well, head back on and torqued down
Virtually finished!

All thats left to do is;

Bolt in and connect up the Radiator
Fill with fluids
Change the oil filter
Change the oil pressure relief valve
Reassemble the suspension

Then its ready for firing.

I was planning to have it running today, but the rain wore me down and I'd just had enough!

Not far to go now though!

Rocker Shaft Rebuild

Sounds simple don't it.................... strip, clean and replace the rocker shaft.

Hmmmmm.

Okay, so, I wrote it all down, exactly which bit goes where............. then halfway through stripping it all down the dog jumped on me, which made me drop the rocker shaft (bits everywhere!) and spill the ice-cream tub of Jizer all over my carefully drawn plan.

Bugger!!

No I don't know which order things go on.....................

Of course I do, I've got another Triumph 6 pot in the garage!

So, off with the rocker cover on the PI, noted down all the positions........... then I could happily clean everything and put it all back together.

The old rocker shaft was worn beyond being worn............ the ridges had their own gravity field they were that big!!

Glad I did it now, looks good, no more slop in the rockers..................

Thats another job done...............

Your Piston's coming to the boil!

So, collected the new piston from Mr Papworth last night (many thanks Mike!), I met him at The Griff Classic car meet (informal pub car park meeting).

Bumped into our very own Chris Allen, he was dropping his car off to Mike to, and I quote "To shut the bloody thing up"...........new exhaust I think!!

Also was a very tidy MKII PI........... (no not mine!) a white PI BWK581K, which is weird as I used to own (and now Craig Bennett does) BWK14K which is also a white PI............

Anywaay, this evening I had to fit the new piston to the connecting rod........... which won't just push in........ needs to be heated.

So, gudgeon pin in the freezer for 15 minutes, and then I boiled up the piston and the little end of the connecting rod in a sacuepan of water............

At exactly this moment Sam came home and thought I had made a start on dinner................."What are we having then?" she asked.........

I guess my cynical reply of "goujons on Piston on a connecting rod mousse, served with frozen gudgeon pin drizzled in 20/50"............. didn't really go down too well......... opps!!

Anyway, it just slotted in, and the two circlips dropped in, all done in less than a minute!!

Excellent!

Now, to fit it. I was going to do that this evening.......... but I really haven't the drive to do this tonight. I think I'll rebuild the rocker shaft and paint the timing cover this evening............!

Engine Rebuild Part 3.......... Disaster!!!

So, today the plan was to get the bottom end on the engine back rebuilt.

First problem came when I put the first piston in with its new rings............. it wouldn't move!!

After some checking I found that the box they came in stated 74.8mm diameter.......... when they should be 74.7mm...... hmmmm. When I checked a ring in the bore, guess what........... no ring gap! Bugger!

I spoke to the supplier (no names here!!) and they were very helpful and told me that after checking their entire stock, all the rings were the wrong size and they would have to go back to the manufacturor............ could I wait a few weeks???

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 36 days to the RBRR, no chance!


I then dug around in my stock and found a set of Cords rings............. far better quality (so why didn't I use these in the first place??!?) marked at 74.7mm..... right off we go!!

The bores were de-glazed using a special tool. Got it from Machine Mart for £20 and its wonderful. The bores are now perfect with no shine on them at all. No lip either which is unusual considering the engine has done 150k!!
All was going well, until I got to piston number 6.................. disaster.

Part of the ring valley has broken........... so the piston ring fell out in pieces and a piece of the piston fell out too!!

A quick phone call to Mike Papworth and I'm just off to see him to pick up 1 new Stanpart original 2500S piston.................excellent!

Meanwhile, I got the main bearings and the thrusts in.

So, new piston, ring it, big end in and bolted up, then the oil pump can go on, sump on and the bottom end will be done................

To be continued..............

Stafford TSSC Show

Went to the TSSC National at Stafford today. To be honest, it was really very quiet........ but the 2000 Register and CT members managed to pad it out a bit!