Engine swap HC 2 door
Yesterday or today is the longest day of the year, and for me yesterday was an 18 hour door to door, another “Viva summer festival”. Having left my house at 6:30am and driven down to Reading for 9:00am to meet up with Mazzo and his Green two door HC. The engine in his car had given up the game and thrown (literally) a wobbly.
Upon arrival I was given the guided tour of the car with a cuppa and we dived in straight away. Out came the old engine (which Mazzo had kindly already stripped it right down to a bare block, all done just sat on the engine mounts) by 10:00am, at which point we celebrated with another cuppa.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
There appears to be several holes in the block and some items rattling around inside! OOPS!
EYY260J new engine June 2014
We put the old block to one side, we will come back to whats rattling inside later.
Out of the garden shed came the spare engine, one I had built back in 2009 and has been in Mazzo shed as a spare ever since. Wrapped up in plastic and covered in oil to keep it safe, its done the job bar the flywheel going rusty. some wet and dry and 5 minutes soon dealt with that. (note the novel engine bench arrangement AKA wheel barrow) The time was 10:45am and things were all going to plan.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
By 11:30am the engine was ready to lift into the engine bay, after we degreased it and gave it a good jet wash.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
EYY260J new engine June 2014
Amazingly it was an almost straight up alignment with the gearbox, and Mazzo got to work bolting the block to the mounts and gearbox. By 11:50am The block was secure in place and all the block to bell-housing bolts and engine mounts were done up.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
EYY260J new engine June 2014
It was time for another drink and most importantly fuel for the workers, two bacon sandwiches with brown sauce promptly appeared. Followed by a drive to Halfords to get some gasket paste, some new fuel line and some antifreeze. We then fitted the Starter motor, alternator and fuel pump with new fuel lines. We all placed the head on the block and bolted that down, after a Google to convert Pounds to Newton Metres.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
We continued the build by cold setting the tappets at this point, (6 thou and 10 thou for this engine) as there is a lot of space with out the carb in the way. After this the carb, exhaust manifold, down pipes and water pump were fitted, the engine was very quickly starting to come together. The water pump on the old head was broken due to the alloy corroding, the water pump fitted was second hand and not 100% perfect, it will need replacing soon as it is noisy and leaks a little bit. The alternator was worn bearings and is also noisy.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
There was the nasty job of the clutch cable for which the owner should have the privilege of getting under the car and fiddling with, luckily for me Mazzo was more than willing and sorted that job out smartly. There was nothing more to do other than turn the key and see what happens.
A few cranks with no plugs in to get some oil moving around the engine, put the plugs back in, setup the timing, check the rule is flowing into the carb, and its time to see if it will start? Mazzo turned the key and it fired up straight away!! Time for a Cuppa.
Quick bang on the bonnet sort out the tools, and jump in the drivers seat, lets see this car drive up and down the lanes. Well that all took a bit of time, but we were ready to test drive at 6pm.
Right so thats then? Nope, what about that old block with a hole in it? We lifted the block onto the workbench (Aka Wheelbarrow) and loosened off the sump. When I say loosen off I mean undo the finger tight sump bolts, and off comes the sump to see folded flat bearings and a piston con-rod buckled in the bore. It would appear one of the big end bolts had come loose fallen out and the rest as they say is history.
EYY260J new engine June 2014
EYY260J new engine June 2014
Right cleanup in the shower, change of clothes, run out for a nice Curry and social chat (Lamb Tikka if you want to know) followed by two hours of Radio 4 (including book at bedtime) and home for midnight.
