Engine bay

Hi

Not much done yesterday with it being a Sunday, just shopping, visiting and the Grand Prix but still managed an hours work.

With the sump pan finally on I wanted to get some oil in and try to get it circulated into the oil ways, a bit of a high hope seeing as I can only crank it round with a ratchet but I gave it ago anyway. As this is just going to be the flushing oil I went for the cheapest 10W40 semi synthetic from Asda I could find, I also poured in a tin of Wyn's engine flush so hopefully when I get the engine running it will clean all of those areas I was unable to get to. I also took a trip to Halfords for a couple of oil filter, I bought Halfords own brand HOF220 at £4.95 each but with my trade card I got them both for £3.60. I have mentioned this before; if anyone reading this has an engineering qualification just take it down and ask the manager for a trade card, it can be in any engineering background and some of the discounts make it worth while shopping there. I spent a good 10 mins cranking the engine and hopefully some of the oil will have found its way into some of the areas that need it.

Today has been back to the dirty jobs, inside the bonnet this time.

Not so much dirty more rusty dust.

A lot of wires and pipes in the way of the painting so I had to remove them or move them, the fuel pipes are all perished so they came out in one piece so I would be able to remember how to re-fit with the new nitrile pipe I bought. The only thing I have not removed is the brake servo and have just painted around this, the Duraspark electronic ignition box, the coil and the wiper bottle came out to access the back bulkhead. All of the rivets for the wiring bracket were drilled out and the wiring pulled out of the way and tied back.

Now came the dirty part which was rotary and hand wire brushing clean all of the loose rust, white aluminum oxide and paint, the areas that I was unable to get to were treated with corrosion converter but there wasn't many areas I could not reach. Then it was just a matter of painting every part I could get to.

The Duraspark system and the coil got cleaned and painted separately and weren't in to bad a condition the washer bottle bracket was a bit worse and this required a good grinding and priming before a coat of paint, the rubber band for the bottle was perished so I will see what old leather belt I have in the wardrobe to replace it.

I had to wait a while for the paint to dry off but I got a bit impatient and decided to fit the heat shields while the paint was still wet. These were originally riveted on and where I could I have re-riveted, unfortunately a few of the holes have broken through so I shall have to get a hold of some self tappers and penny washers.

I also fitted the Duraspark unit and coil as they were dry but it still looks a bit of a mess with all of the wires loose. There is still a lot of work to do here before the engine goes in, especially the radiator and new fan unit, I also have an expansion bottle to fit so the radiator needs to be in to get the correct height for the bracket, the horn, the bonnet catch etc etc. I am off at midnight tomorrow for a long drive to Dover for a 0700 start on Wednesday so not much will be done tomorrow.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I could not help tinkering with the engine again so I had a drive out and bought the 10mm bolts required for the mounts and the exhaust manifolds, the manifold holes required tapping out and I have loosely fitted the bolts ready. The mounts went on easily enough and I have positioned the ally rocker covers, still have to decided whether to have them powder coated red, black or chrome coated.

The alternator and belt went on mostly to get a look at the finished article and to make sure I get it right, still need to get a hold of a fan belt when I figure out what car its from.

Well I hope to get some more done tomorrow, if not then I'll be back in 2 weeks.
See ya

Paul