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Actually was built originally on 13 in wheels. Dumper diff ratio used when changd to 15 in see pics above, all white car is on 13 in minilites calor livered on 15in revolutions.
Hi Smiler, Car is sat awaiting her turn for some more work at the mo. Was solid with day job last year, so not much was done to her. Intention is to get her into the new workshop at the end of the summer and get her finished and stickered up.
Great video Chris.
For those that followed the original rebuild or anyone who may still actually be interested in my old girl, a long overdue up date.
To save anyone having to trawl back to find out what happened, briefly...
After she came got home from my old workshop in 2012 she developed a fault that just defied finding and fixing.
Various remedies were tried during 2013 and then with a full work load on ( I needed as much as poss before I went semi retired) and no time she went out back under a cover for what was supposed to be a 'little while'.
This turned out to be all of 14/15 and most of this year.
During this time she lost her cover which will mean that once she's fixed the next thing on the list will be a repaint.
But to the good news. I'm now set up in my new man cave and have bags of time.
I will keep this thread properly updated from now on until I can post a vid of her driving under her own steam.
So, first job is to lift out the tank (again) and clean it out.
Clean out the new lines and check the pumps.
Then pull the plugs and spray the bores (best stuff to use?) in case they're stuck.
Here's hoping...
Now it's back under the bonnet to start trying to find the problem.
Haha, been here a few times.
First off I pulled out the plugs and squirted a bit of wd into the holes. then slowly turned the crank. 'The car moved forwards' So I turned the other other way' It moved backwards'.
Ok so the clutch is stuck to the flywheel. Well at least I know the engine turns over freely, it must have been spinning all the time it was towed in.
Looking at the plugs, the last time it ran it was missing on 2 and very rich on the other 3.
I'm wondering if the over fueling maybe to do with the injectors having different pintles when they came back from cleaning.
when I first got the car it ran roughly and hunted badly, until it was suggested that the ends of the pintles were cut off to stop fuel splashing behind them. I cut the ends of the pintles and she ran great afterwards. I had forgotten this the last time I put the cleaned injectors back in.
Once I get a battery on I'll run fresh fuel through the pumps then reconnect the lines to the engine, clean up the plugs and see what's what.
Well, tracing the fault didn't start well.
Before even attempting to fire her up, turning the fuel pumps on revealed that the return hose (that was new a couple of years ago) has gone porous and leaks like a sieve.
And the clutch plate is stuck.
Oh well, exhaust and box off. Might as well clean up the underside again.
Well, lay under a rally sierra long enough and things are always going to get messy.
I thought I might as well get stuck into the corners, so the wheels are back off.
I'll strip each corner and clean up the running gear.
Quick update.
She was still refusing to get out of bed, even after much angry prodding.
Found a loose earth strap from the block..Wasn't the problem, but wouldn't have been helping.
Changed plugs..nope.
The young Mechanic who has been helping me said 'check the lugs on the crank pully'..Rusty. 'And check the crank sensor'..Corroded.
Cleaned one, changed the other.
Boom...We have life.
Ok, it was a rumbly 3 cylinder life, as we now know the coil pack is toast as well, but we all did a little dance anyway.
So, as you know getting the old girl cleaned up and running again has been proving interesting. Sensors, ignition coils, injectors. dirty contacts, you name it she thew it at us. Then when we were close she dropped onto 3 cylinders again, but this time it was obvious something was amiss big time.
A compression test was done and showed 110 on 3 pots and 5psi on the forth. Number 4. No way round it, the head was coming off.
It still didn't show any reason for it, rings looked good. Gaskets looked ok.
So, I thought i'd have a look at the valves.
As I was about to strip the cams off to look at the valves the reason for no comp revealed itself.
The studs for the cam cap on number 4 had stripped and lifted, this put too much strain on the inlet cam and it had snapped behind number 3 cam cap.
Not going to get a lot of comp if nothing can get past the shut valves.
Annd 321 we're back in the room. Yep, back where I re-started 12 months ago.
The head that was 'just' supposed to be having the cam carrier bolts re tapped in, ended up with new valve guides, some new valves a new cam and then another skim. The bloody thing is so thin now the valves need a ladder to reach up when they close.
The block had a small amount of surface rust on the two centre bores that even when coated and covered had crept in over the last year.
I pulled the block out of the car and stripped it to send for a hone. Then I noticed the 'lip'.
The hone is now a rebore to hopefully .5, new pocketed pistons and rings and the top of the block decked.
Thankfully the std size crank is still fine and new bearings will make it happy again.
There's a big hole in the front of the car..Again.
10-02-2014, 01:10 PM
