Since I last wrote about the chic lady, a few things have come to light. During her "maiden" voyage around the high country I found that the steering seemed a little vague at times. She also began to "smoke up" from a cold start fairly consistently. Finally the synchro mesh on third gear is kinda tired.
The vagueness of the steering has been solved, but at a cost.
I'm not sure what drugs I must have been on when setting up the Toe originally, but after observing that the 1000km or so she's traveled so far on the new tyres have caused severe wear I addressed the problem again. Both front tyres are now bald for the first 30 odd mm of tread from the inside. Classic "excessive toe-out" wear pattern. Sure enough, on carefully checking with the adjustable gauge I made about 3o years go, we had a massive 12 to 15mm of toe-out! I can only assume that when I set it up originally, the gauge must have slipped a bit. (Or I was drunk, tired or spaced out!)
She's now set to the proper 1-3 mm to-in and drives beautifully. The down side Is I now have to replace the front tyres! Bugger!
As for the smoking, well, she is a Child of the Seventies, but such behaviour is a bit unacceptable these days.
I bit the bullet and did a cold compression check. All four cylinders came up at a consistent-ish 115 plus psi (Old Skool), so I'm choosing to assume the rings are sealing fine. I may get around to doing a hot test, but it's a bit of a Faff and won't necessarily tell me more.
The motor revs like a turbine when tacking the steep twisty bits that abound where we've been together so far, so I also assume the bottom end is healthy.
Since I had my spare pair of heads reconditioned with new valve, guides and stem seals, I'm fairly confident that putting them on the existing motor will solve the smoky issues.
And here-in lies my second bit of self punishment. When stripping the heads before taking them to the Doctor, I was fairly scrupulous at keeping all the parts from each head together as a group. Having got the heads back all squeaky clean and reconditioned, I started earlier this week to reassemble them. Working with the factory manual beside the bench is a huge help.
So, sorted out the right ways for the camshafts. After clarifying that Right and Left in the manual refer to facing out the windscreen, and not looking into the engine bay! I also sorted out the correct location for the rocker shafts. Laid out the seals and washers from the new kit. All good.
Then I started wondering where the rocker shaft springs were. After searching high and low, uttering a few rude words etc, I had the bright thought that I may have put them in to the crate with the heads etc for re-conditioning. Yep, sure enough, there they were, neatly fitted inside the main valve springs!
Slap on forehead time. I'd assumed double valve springs so sent them off to Rob. Should have taken photos like I usually do. A careful measuring of them after removing them one at a time, and not even losing any collets, (!) showed me that they are very similar in size to the inner springs used on the cars up to 1972, but the motor they came off is a 74 or thereabouts, so they must be the rocker shaft location springs after all!
So even after all these years I can still make some stupid blues. It demonstrates that I should measure several times before driving, and should also take lots of free digital photographs when disassembling!
So soon GiSelle will go up on the hoist and have her motor carefully removed. Once on the bench I'll replace both heads with the newly prepared ones. I'll also fit the new clutch kit and engine mounts that are waiting in the wings, as well as anything else that springs to mind. (Such as painting the shrouds perhaps).
The gearbox issue can wait until I explore the two spare gearboxes I have. I'm told one was noisy and weak in the synchros, but the other is a complete unknown. Time will tell on that, but in the meantime, my double clutching skills are still strong!
So can anyone suggest anything else I should address while the motor is out? Exhaust will get a tidy and tighten and the oil cooler has already been cleaned out. Ignition is still standard Ducellier (normal type!) points and seems to be spot on. I've set rocker clearances on the bench at 8 thou give or take a poofteenth, so I'm hoping they'll be right.
More news, and possibly some pretty pictures, as they come to hand.
Cheers, Pottsy.
The vagueness of the steering has been solved, but at a cost.
I'm not sure what drugs I must have been on when setting up the Toe originally, but after observing that the 1000km or so she's traveled so far on the new tyres have caused severe wear I addressed the problem again. Both front tyres are now bald for the first 30 odd mm of tread from the inside. Classic "excessive toe-out" wear pattern. Sure enough, on carefully checking with the adjustable gauge I made about 3o years go, we had a massive 12 to 15mm of toe-out! I can only assume that when I set it up originally, the gauge must have slipped a bit. (Or I was drunk, tired or spaced out!)
She's now set to the proper 1-3 mm to-in and drives beautifully. The down side Is I now have to replace the front tyres! Bugger!
As for the smoking, well, she is a Child of the Seventies, but such behaviour is a bit unacceptable these days.
I bit the bullet and did a cold compression check. All four cylinders came up at a consistent-ish 115 plus psi (Old Skool), so I'm choosing to assume the rings are sealing fine. I may get around to doing a hot test, but it's a bit of a Faff and won't necessarily tell me more.
The motor revs like a turbine when tacking the steep twisty bits that abound where we've been together so far, so I also assume the bottom end is healthy.
Since I had my spare pair of heads reconditioned with new valve, guides and stem seals, I'm fairly confident that putting them on the existing motor will solve the smoky issues.
And here-in lies my second bit of self punishment. When stripping the heads before taking them to the Doctor, I was fairly scrupulous at keeping all the parts from each head together as a group. Having got the heads back all squeaky clean and reconditioned, I started earlier this week to reassemble them. Working with the factory manual beside the bench is a huge help.
So, sorted out the right ways for the camshafts. After clarifying that Right and Left in the manual refer to facing out the windscreen, and not looking into the engine bay! I also sorted out the correct location for the rocker shafts. Laid out the seals and washers from the new kit. All good.
Then I started wondering where the rocker shaft springs were. After searching high and low, uttering a few rude words etc, I had the bright thought that I may have put them in to the crate with the heads etc for re-conditioning. Yep, sure enough, there they were, neatly fitted inside the main valve springs!
Slap on forehead time. I'd assumed double valve springs so sent them off to Rob. Should have taken photos like I usually do. A careful measuring of them after removing them one at a time, and not even losing any collets, (!) showed me that they are very similar in size to the inner springs used on the cars up to 1972, but the motor they came off is a 74 or thereabouts, so they must be the rocker shaft location springs after all!
So even after all these years I can still make some stupid blues. It demonstrates that I should measure several times before driving, and should also take lots of free digital photographs when disassembling!
So soon GiSelle will go up on the hoist and have her motor carefully removed. Once on the bench I'll replace both heads with the newly prepared ones. I'll also fit the new clutch kit and engine mounts that are waiting in the wings, as well as anything else that springs to mind. (Such as painting the shrouds perhaps).
The gearbox issue can wait until I explore the two spare gearboxes I have. I'm told one was noisy and weak in the synchros, but the other is a complete unknown. Time will tell on that, but in the meantime, my double clutching skills are still strong!
So can anyone suggest anything else I should address while the motor is out? Exhaust will get a tidy and tighten and the oil cooler has already been cleaned out. Ignition is still standard Ducellier (normal type!) points and seems to be spot on. I've set rocker clearances on the bench at 8 thou give or take a poofteenth, so I'm hoping they'll be right.
More news, and possibly some pretty pictures, as they come to hand.
Cheers, Pottsy.