Cold and damp still won't start - New Battery

Earlier in this "adventure" I commented about wiring, ignition system etc.. probably needing attention. This was due to the occasional few days idle and a damp morning she wouldn't start. Always seemed to then start in the afternoon once the weather had warmed up and things had dried off. Other things kind of overtook and we have had some relatively nice, warm and dry-ish weather. I haven't tried a cold damp morning start since the morning after the valve was broken.

Today was one of those days. Temp quite low - 5 degrees. Quite damp - we've had a lot of rain over past few days, she's been under cover through that, but still exposed to the elements. Hasn't been driven since Saturday afternoon.

So battery was sluggish, everything was damp, refused to fire AT ALL. Not a sniff.

I have not paid any REAL attention to the electrics, because of everything else. The spark plugs are also probably pretty yucky after the re-build. So after everything else I am fairly confident that I just need to put that job back on the agenda.

So not too worried at the moment, not happy, but not worried!.

Updated: Cleaned up all spark plugs and got NEW BATTERY. OK, so turns out the wrong plugs are probably fitted, but all fine again. Roll on the next cold damp morning..!

(Oh and order new set of spark plugs from the club - to be sure I get the correct ones!)

First show and so far so good

Attended first small show in Farnborough. It was attached to a new event for the town and only a few cars in part of a public car park rather than a major event, but it was still great. There were far more than the pictures show, around 50 or so. 3 Somersets, you can see the ACCC Somerset rep's car a couple down from mine. Nice uneventful drive there and back. Shame the rain curtailed the day, but she demists nicely now that the thermostat is in.

Some very nice cars, and some quite tatty articles too!!! Amy is in that middle ground. Had some good chats. Most enjoyable and even Robbie wasn't bored! Feeling less pessimistic than the other day. Big storms coming though, so Amy is as well tucked up as I can for a few days now!

Capture negative thought

The title of this blog says Long (or short)  story. Still hoping it will be a long relationship, and on one hand, quite pleased so far. I have had to do far more than I expected in the first two months, but it seems to have been all OK.

But today the negative side came out. If something else goes wrong in the next couple of weeks, that may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

This blog is only supposed to be my personal diary. Just wanted to capture that thought....

On the positive side, hoping to attend first display on Saturday. If all goes well getting there and back and during the day, it may lighten the mood somewhat!

Thermostat back in! Further minor adjustment when fully warmed up

Funny how a job that seemed a big deal at the start of this adventure now is a coffee break job. Set the water draining at first cup of tea - time and then at second cup of tea time, whipped off the thermostat housing, put it back in and put everything back together and topped water back up.

Actual time spent doing it, probably 15 minutes. Maybe 20 tops!

Lunchtime drivearound and a bit more adjustment. But feels about the same as when I first got her now. Lost track of course, so it's very subjective. Should feel BETTER?..  That's where I have lost track with all the problems here and there. Blocked pump jet in the carb started all this and of course flat spots are all gone now. So she may be running a lot better than originally but I just can't tell anymore.

Possibly a bit too rich still?.. Maybe.

Need to clean plugs off and have them looking clean, put them back in and then over a month maybe see what they look like after than. I need to stop fiddling I think.

Car at work - 3 - 3 weeks of drama and back to normal (?....)

I can't keep taking pictures of the front of my car at work, just to admire her... So today's shot is the back of the car at work. Same scenario as previous. Can't believe what it's been through. Basically complete top end re-build was required. Glad I didn't really think about it too much and just did it. Gives me the shivers, but also a sense of pride, thinking what I had to do to get her running again.

Mixture still feels slightly rich, tendency for the engine to hunt at little, so will gradually adjust back. I wanted to be sure she started fine this morning at the current setting, which she did. A little too easily, so I had my suspicion. I'll back it off a quarter turn and then see what happens Friday morning!

Mixture adjustment - longer drive

Had a play with the mixture today at lunchtime. Followed the manual. "Three turns from full home". Couldn't start from that!! So adjusted back and fiddled. Got her started and cut a long story short, after some fiddling settled with a position that is approx 2 full turns from home. Drove around at that, feels very nice. Finally remembered to tighten in the vacuum advance pipe!! So in summary - on the face of it I am back where I started. Better of course, because that valve MUST have been on the way out, I never had compression tested that 4th cylinder to know for sure, but the fact that it wasn't burning the fuel properly means it must have been bad when I got it. Rebuilt head, good even compression, decoked. Should theoretically mean better mpg as I was only getting around 22mpg before. But wait and see on that point. Did a longer drive in and around town again, feels GREAT!!!!!

Catch up and first drive around town

OK, so back to square one. Drove around town, got her up to normal running temperature, running a bit lumpy, but it feels like the rich mixture problem that this all started out with. But ticks over nicely. The basic mechanics seem sound. So far so good, just need to adjust mixture I think. Then should be fine. Not enough time to fine tune today, happy enough to tweak things from here.

But the full details are:

Had ordered head gasket, gasket set and valve on Friday from the ACCC spares guy. There was a question mark over the valve but that was resolved on the following Thursday and then I had a nerve wracking time waiting on Saturday to see if the parts arrived to try to put her together that day.

Spent all week valve grinding and preparing as much as possible. Cleaned up the pistons and block on Saturday morning:

Then the postman came. All systems go. Struggled to take my time, but kept things under control. Ground in the new valve to match up with valve seat and then put all the valves back in. Cleaned out guides and valve stems with WD40 and then 10W fork oil. Fitted new stem seals. Old ones were like plastic!!

New head ready to go:

Greased CH gasket, slipped it over the block. slid head over. So far so good. Slid in the push rods making sure they were located properly. That felt a bit hit and miss! Turned the engine over by hand to be sure they behaved as expected!! Slackened back the rockers and tapped that down.

Then somehow tightening the head down felt really scary, kind of point of no (well ...very little) return. Cue Stu across the road again, borrowed his torque wrench and he talked me through it. Helped me keep track of the tightening sequence.

That was done, then started setting valve clearances, swapped tasks around, connected up water hoses, throttle linkages, choke etc.etc... finished off clearances.

Step back - think...tempted to just start it up...

On advice from dad, oiled the rocker, push rods and valve springs manually from a milk bottle of old oil!!

Check compression... all pots lower than before, but about what they should be according to the manual. Decoked, so lower compression not surprising. All fine.

Water.. topped up the rad and in the last 1/4.... GUSH... water shooting out of somewhere, and not just a leak.. pouring out.. oooops, forgot all about the bypass pipe... It's a really awkward short length of pipe between the head and block bypass pipes. Tried and tried to get it back in place, it was connected OK at the block side, but not the head. Couldn't get it in place.

Impatience got the better of me at that point!! I just HAD to see if she would start. Put in spark plugs and connected up HT leads Switched on ignition, pulled out choke. Went round to engine bay, remembered to re-prime the carb and added a couple of squirts of fuel. Pushed the starter switch and....... Brrruuummmmm! She's running.. OK water flying everywhere, switch off quick. Back to the water issue.

Took off the bypass pipe completely, loosened off the clips and tried again. (Happier now though as car had started pretty easily) Connected the pipe to the head first. Too short and inflexible to fit it onto the block. Getting a little frustrated at this point. Boiling water did the trick, made it soft enough. Got it fitted. Nipped up clips..  Topped up rad again. All good..

Started her up again and left her to run a bit, just nice to hear the engine going again. By which time too late to do anything else. Had a nice night out, over the road, and talked cars most of the night! Stu was very happy to hear that I had her running.

So to this morning, small job just to make sure the oil feed up to the rocker was working. Took it apart again and worked it though - it's fine. The rest of the day spent with the kids on the bikes, they deserved some attention after so much time with me just under the bonnet or in the garage, Then when got home it was TIPPING down.

Had to wait for the opportunity but it came.. Sun came out around 5.00pm. Took cover off, deep breath, started her up and off we go. Gentle drive around the crescent behind the house to start with. That went fine, no new problems. So another slightly longer one through town. Up to normal temp, choke off, as mentioned at the start, a bit lumpy. Feels rich hence square one. That is where I was the day BEFORE she blew a valve!! (oh damn and no thermostat, have to put that back in!!)

Not quite uber happy yet, will be nervous for quite a while. Also hesitate to say all is fine, because it seems every time I say "All is fine" the something else goes wrong.

But the list of jobs done in the first 2 months of ownership is now quite long, and not trivial. Could do with a peaceful period of drving now. Please?!!!!!

Having said that it only really cost me time. £100 to replace a valve and rebuild/refit a cylinder head. That'll get you an oil and spark plug change on a modern car!! Half of that cost was tools, which of course I have for next time.  (and there will be a next time!!)

Love it.. (just.....)

Running again

Short post, as spent from 9.00 until 5.00 solid working on Amy to get her going again. The postman arrived with the gasket set and valve that I needed, so there was no stopping me.

Pistons and block cleaned up, ground in the new valve. Re-assembled everything. Borrowed Stu's Torque wrench. Had a few ups and downs, but at around 6.00 the engine was running again. Will write up some more detail in a few days, still some bits and pieces to do - check oil feed up to rocker gear, rocker cover on, recheck valve clearances etc..

But hopefull this puts this episode behind me - for a while at least. Only one small disaster, sheared a manifold bolt, but hoping can get it out and replace. And hoping she runs OK in the meantime!!

Phew this is kind of enjoyable.... 

Cylinder Head crack is not good

All valves in a row, ready to go back in when the replacement arrives.

Rocker gear, pushrods...







Enough reading about cracked heads already, the crack is not to be ignored, my dad feels the same. Since I have another head, might as well use it. Preparing that one to go back on. When the gaskets and valve arrive (hopefully during the week.)

Still harbouring hopes of maybe just maybe having her back on the road next weekend.

Have first show to go to weekend after .. want to make it !!

Couple of pics to support decision:

Exhaust Valve - For Sure Progress towards Repair

Mostly a picture post today. In summary - pulled head , confirmed the exhaust valve is shot, as suspected. All valves removed and being cleaned up, as is the head. Grinding the valves of course. Have to wait for new valve and gaskets to arrive to be able to get her back onto the road. (I don't have a full set of spare valves after all, only inlet valves.. so have to wait...) Here are some pictures.

Small hairline crack in last picture.. hmmmmm.... worry about it later!!! (Have a spare head later if needed, do it again then...)

Problem is fairly big, but hopefully confirmed

A few more tests to verify what was going on showed for 100% certain it was Pot 4 at fault. Haven't compression tested properly, but with plugs out and thumb over the holes it showed that there was little or NO compression whatsoever in that cylinder.

So that is the one for sure. Of the the many different reasons you can read on the internet, and after advise received, the most likely I feel is a burnt out / broken valve. Checked the valve clearances and that hadn't been knocked out somehow, just in case it was simpler after all, but no luck. It still points towards needing to have the head off, even if the reason is different.

(Spoke with the chap I bought the car from and went through the symptoms, the lack of constant steam, the lack of emulsion in the rocker cover, the fact that the car still runs after a fashion all points away from the cylinder head gasket being the root problem. Plus the gaskets apparently tend to go BETWEEN two cylinders, so you'd have two with low compression, not ONE with NO compression)

I have a full spare set of valves from the old engine and a new Head Gasket and full Gasket set on order.

So I am hoping that a couple of weekends, firstly dismantling, diagnosing for 100% final confirmation and then grinding and re-assembly will get me back to square one. Maybe even better, because that 4th pot was always blacker, which with hindsight probably indicates lower compression in the first place.

We'll see!!

Oh dear .. again.. BIG problem

OK, not in a happy place right now, but for the purposes of documenting, again I hope I will look back at this and smile. The sequence of events is tied to previous entries. Annoyingly I had Amy running quite nicely again. Smooth pull away, fairly smooth running. The issue was that after the cleaning out - the Carb was running richer than before. Adjusting the mixture had the desired effect. Very happy at that point. I adjusted a bit leaner for another test run, and it felt equally OK, so did a bit more of a run - up to 50 mph just to check.

Got a couple of violent backfires, so figured I'd gone too lean, so adjusted back again.

New problem, now running really lumpy. Assumed it was still fiddling with the mixture that was required, but after several tests, no difference.

Also this morning more fiddling, no change.  Felt like it was running on 3 1/2 cylinders. Did a cursory check on compression by turning over with the starting handle. One pot was a LOT easier than the others. Sure enough, when taking out the spark plugs, the one in pot 4 was black and oily. The picture doesn't really show it too well, as I wiped it before photographing it - but that's the one at fault.

Now, that pot was always a bit blacker than the others, it seemed to be slightly oily and there was always a bit of oil in the water, I had a sneaking suspicion that it needed doing anyway, was just in denial. So I hope that I have only accelerated the need to do it and it's not something else.

Thermostat in at last

After the first attempt, here, the housing studs have been soaking in penetrating oil ever since. Finally got around to the job and sure enough, with a bit of gentle persuasion, the housing was off! Took a little bashing (hammer on to wood block onto housing) and a bit of tugging, but wasn't too difficult. First observation - NO thermostat as expected:  

Where the thermostat was supposed to seat into the head was a but gunked up, so scraped that out a bit, but was pretty easy to get the thermostat sitting in place nicely:

And all back together again. The point being on cold mornings to come, the engine should get to running temperature a lot quicker and the all important heater should also demist / defrost the windscreen a lot quicker. We'll see!! But for now all planned jobs are done. Plus a few others unplanned

Fine as it is (Carb)

Weeping has stopped. Fitted an extra layer of gasket paper and tightened down. All fine. Realised that float was previously fitted UPSIDE DOWN! (from one of the "before" pictures) So even the small dent on the top means it is functioning at least as fine as it was before. Not fully correct as the petrol level should be low enough to not really need to worry about extra layer of gasket. But it's done the job.

Re-stripped and cleaned out ALL jets and refitted. Seems fine, although not quite as fine as before. Something else is slightly amiss. Not sure what yet. It was slightly better BEFORE I fitted the new gaskets and cleaned the bowl out thoroughly.

Uneventful week - carb clean

Amy was left sitting from Saturday to Wednesday morning, and started up pretty easily first thing in the morning to get me to work. Damp morning (ish..) not so cold though. But it's a good sign. Has been running like a dream since. Almost wonder if I shouldn't touch anything for now... But where's the fun in that?.... So...

Fitted new carb gaskets and gave the bowl a good clean out. There was a mm layer of sludge at the bottom. OK, didn't get it all and the pump jet immediately blocked up again and had to dismantle and clear it. Dented the float in the meantime though. Will get a replacement. The joint between the bowl and the main carb body weeps slightly. Will have to take the whole thing off. Re-furbished exchange carb for £100?.. Hmmmm....