2019 August, New Sprint engine going in!

With the engine built I could now call a friend to help with putting it in the car. Engine swaps are a proper two man job so help was needed.  Fred Brunsdon is an old mate from my rallying days and who has serviced for me on lots of rallies was available, so he called by on a Saturday to get the job done.

I had already got most of the old standard motor connectons undone or ready so it came out easily  and the new one was readied to go in.

Ready?

Steady

It's in

The exhaust lined up nicely and it was then just a case of connecting all the usual pipes and wiring.  There was one different pipe because the manifold is not water heated like a standard one so the heater feed goes directly from the water pump outlet round to to the heater inlet. This picture expleins it, sorry about the greasy lens on the camera!

Heater feed direct from the water pump outlet

The carbs could now go on with the fuel feed an I included an inline filter as an extra precaution.  I had decided to fit an electric fan so that was attached to the radiator using the normally supplied fixings through the radiator.  (These fixings later turned out be a poor choice - see Lombard Rally Bath 2019 report).  But it was beginning to look like a proper job

Dellorto DHLA45s on

Air filters and electric fan fitted

View from left side

Filling a new engine with oil and water is always an exciting but nervous moment but nothing ended up on the floor so that was a good sign.  Testing the Lumenition prior to try starting the motor revealed a snag when I found that I couldn't turn the distributor quite far enough, maybe because I had the jackshaft timing a little out, so what to do? Taking the distubutor out and turning it one tooth was too much so I came up with a Plan B.  I decided to modify the distributor mounting adapter plate by adding some additional threaded holes so it allow the distibutor to be turned a little more. Cunning plan, and it worked !

My distributor mounting plate with additonal threaded holes

With the Lumenition all connected I could now get it to produce a spark at around 10 degrees BTDC and I felt comfortable to try and start it. I had already spun it over with the plugs out to get some oil pressure so replaced the plugs and it fired up without too much trouble.  Excellent stuff, so now I let it warm up briefly then cool down overnight so I could re-torque the head bolts/nuts with it all cold.

Next morning I re-did the head bolts/nuts but also found a couple of problems. Main thing was several water leaks.  One seemed to be coming from the temperature sender, one from the usual water pump slot in the block but the main one was on top of the block and seemed to be coming from the pump link pipe.  The minor leak from the water pump slot was not too big a worry as it is quite common with a new water pump and usually settles down.  But it still meant I would have to take the carbs and inlet manifold off - curses!

Evidence of leak from temperature sender

Signs of a leak from by-pass pipe

The temperature sender just needed some PTFE tape on the thread so I did that first then took the whole manifold and carbs off to fix the bypass pipe problem.  I had used a brand new link pipe and obviously with some new "O" rings so that was a bit of a puzzle. Inspecting the link pipe and comparing it with the other used ones I had it appeared to be a few thou smaller diameter in the grooves where the "O" rings sit.  I decided to use one of the good spares and put it all back together with some extra magic gasket then let it set overnight before refilling the system. Everything crossed.

Next day I ran it up to temperature again and things had settled down with only a couple of tiny drips.

Now I needed to run the car for a while to put some miles on it and see how it all worked.

 

2019, July. New engine work back on track

When we got back from holidays I could get on with building the new engine. The pistons and exhaust manifold had been machined so I collected them from Alex at Maynards.

Modified pistons, height reduced and pockets re-cut.

 And now they don't come above the block face!

Modified pistons fitted and more like it should be.

I sorted through my various spares to find the best set of sprockets and guides to use and fitted a new tensioner making sure it was a trusted type - not one of the dreaded Rolon ones that regularly shed the rubber pad like the one is this picture.

Typical Rolon failed tensioner, the rubber pad has come off

I chose the best ones to use out of this lot

Chain fitted with new tensioner, note spacer to aid setting up.

 This was all to do a test fitting so I could make sure there was enough clearance between the valves and pistons when the engine turned over.  I used some Blutack in the valve pockets to act as a check, if it got squashed too thin I would have been in trouble, but all was well.

Blutack in valve pockets to test valve clearance.

Having checked the valves would not hit the pistons I could now fit the head and timing chain stuff properly.  This went well until I checked the camshaft timing marks.  I tried setting the chain in different places on the sprocket and also tried turning the sprocket 180 degrees but there was no way to get the cam lined up properly.

Timing marks are close but not correct.

Next thing was to try using one of my other spare cam sprockets to see if that would give a better result and look what I got, a perfect setting!

That is more like it! Spot on.

Starting to look like an engine.

Next thing with the head on and torqued down was the water pump and cover.  I had a new old stock 12 vane pump which slotted in very easily and a new cover to match so they went on with the gaskets chosen to give the correct clearance .

Heater outlet plate on rear of th head

The distributor that came with the ex rally car engine looked pretty scruffy but testing the shaft for play it seemed in reasonable condition so I thought it would be worth stripping and cleaning to check. Turns out it was in very good condition with no noticeable wear in the shaft so after a good clean up it all went back together and into the new engine.

Looks a bit rough?

But the shaft is in excellent condition.

And no wear in the bearings.

The distributor also had Lumenition installed and it tested OK when I connected it to an amplifier module so that is a bonus.

Distributor and water pump fitted.

Next job was to sort out the inlet manifold for the twin 45DHLA carbs that goes on the engine.Its a new one so has never been used before but a test fit found that it fouled on the water pump outlet. There should be a small gap between the top of the water pump cover and the underside of the manifold.  There is a short link pipe with O rings that fits inside them and joins the two together. I had to file about 1/16" off both the manifold and the pump cover to achieve the gap required.  Best to find out now rather than when the engine is in the car!

Picture showing correct small gap after filing.

I found a piece of steel in my scrap bin that fitted perfectly to hold the flywheel while I torqued up the bolts and fitted the clutch cover.

"special tool" from the scrap bin holds the flywheel

The clutch went on with a new cover and a new old stock competition friction plate that I had bought several years ago and the engine is now ready to fit in the car.

NOS competition clutch plate

STR 0415 NOS competition clutch plate

Engine ready to fit

2019, June. More Classic Tours in the DHC

Black Mountains Classic Tour

Immediately after coming home from holidays we had two classic tours booked on consecutive weekends.

The first one was the Black Mountains based at Talgarth in mid Wales.  We have done this one a couple of times before and it is a lovely area.  It is run by Brecon Motor Club who are a long established and hard core rally club so they always put on a good route.

This year the route took us up into the lanes around Builth Wells but before we even reached the morning coffee and biscuits stop our run was over.  I noticed a couple of notchy gearchanges then the clutch pedal went straight to the floor.  A quick check showed a small puddle forming under the clutch slave cylinder and a fluid top up just added to the puddle.  I would have expected some warning of a developing problem, maybe some fluid loss on the garage floor or a poor pedal but didn't get any. I have never carried a spare cylinder so all we could do was to drive the few miles to the coffee stop without a working clutch and then call the breakdown service. Curses.

At least we got one picture of us taken by Chris Huish of Rally Sport Media

before this happened:-

Aquae Sulis Classic Tour

Soon as we got back from the Black Mountains I ordered a new clutch slave which came the next day.  It is an easy job to fit and normal clutch operation was restored.

Aquae Sulis is the Roman name for Bath and the run is organised by Bath Motor Club.  This was a new area for us, taking us down into Somerset and North Dorset.  Start was at a posh golf club in a place called Farrington Gurney, near Midsomer Norton.   The route included a trip down the amazing Cheddar Gorge.  The weather was lovely so we were able to appreciate the full experience of driving the gorge with the roof down. Fantastic.

Cheddar Gorge, we even had some climbers in action.

Somerset seems to have quite a lot of villages so the route was more built up than our usual ones and the traffic was heavier.   Lunch halt was at Montacute House, a lovely old Elizabethan mansion near Yeovil.

Leaving Montacute House after lunch

Finish was at another posh golf club just south of Bath where they gave us a rather nice roast dinner.  It was a nice day out but with the extra traffic we would probably not do this one again.

2019 1st April, New Sprint Engine saga - No Joke

Having decided to build up the original Sprint engine I first started work on in 2014 I began by cleaning up and checking over the block.

"New" block I started in 2014

Cleaned up ready to start work

Checking threads are OK

Bottom end ready for -

the balanced crankshaft

and a set of pistons on balanced rods

Choose your jackshaft

Starting to look like an engine, until -

Curses, pistons are well above the block face

Having made what I thought was good progress with the bottom end of the engine it all came to a sudden stop when I realised the pistons were about 0.025" above the block face at TDC.  This might be OK for a race engine when it is used as a way of getting more compression ratio but I didn't want or need it for a road car.  I discussed the options with Alex at Maynard Engines and we decided it would be possible to machine a small amount off the top of the pistons, so I stripped them back out and took them down to him for machining.

Pistons showing amounts to be machined off.

I also took the head from rally engine head down to be checked for flatness.  The exhaust manifold that came with the engine was also slightly warped where it bolts to the head so that needed to be machined flat as well. 

2019, Daffodil Run

Daffodil Run

Our first trip out in 2019 was the Daffodil Run at the end of March. This is quite local to us and is based on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border.  The weather was fairly cold so the FHC was the obvious choice.

Jo standing by our ride at the start.

The 80 mile run started and finished at Hillside Brewery near Longhope and about 50 cars were taking part.
Our route took us out through daffodil lined country lanes to a stop for coffee and cake near Newent.

After the coffee break we followed the River Wye via a quaint little place called Hole in the Wall and back to a nice meal in the brewery cafe.  Lovely day out and the car behaved itself nicely.

2018-2019 Winter Jobs 2. Sprint Engine - Problems

I had found a Sprint engine that had been used in a TR7 rally car and bought it for a "reasonable" price so the plan was to give it a quick check it over and fit the engine in the FHC over the winter.

TR7 Sprint Rally Engine

It was running on 45DCOE carbs with a fast road cam etc etc so should be good for about 160-170bhp. Naturally there were a few things I wanted to check and it turned out to be a bit more work than expected.
First thing I noticed was the cam sprocket support bracket was missing. This holds the sprocket in place and allows you to work on the cam without taking the chain off,  like when you need to alter the tappet shims. Not a good sign.

There should be a guide pin in the middle of that sprocket!

Next thing I spotted was that one of the 14 bolts holding the rocker gear to the head was metric. Just one, but it should have been UNC thread!  Why would you put one odd bolt in?

Metric bolt, that should not be in this engine!

Another bad sign, so I now knew whoever built it was either in a big hurry or they didn't know what they were doing.
Either way it prompted me to completely strip the engine to see if I could find any more things to worry about and I soon noticed there was way too much end float on the crankshaft.  I found it because there was a loud "clonk" when I turned the engine upside down on the stand as the weight of the crank assembly made it to slide sideways in the main bearings . It should have been between 0.003"-0.011" but it was more like 0.020". This meant incorrect size thrust washers were used.

At this point I decided it would be best to "park" this engine for the time being and go back to the one I had started to build back in 2014. The quick swap job was back to being a big build after all.

2019 Calendar. Busy Year

2019 is shaping up to be a busy year.  We have ten classic runs so far with another couple of possibles and a couple of shows thrown in. The calendar so far looks like this:-

23rd March,  Daffodil Run
7th April,  Taith Cymru
14th April,  Corinium Run
28th April,  Drive It Day
5th May,  Wheelnuts Classic Car Show
11th May,  Bluebell Run
19th May,  Hills & Valley Tour
30th June,  Black Mountains Classic Tour
7th July, Aquae Sulis Classic Tour
3rd August, Gloucestershire Extravaganza, South Cerney
4th August,  Valleys & Villages Classic Tour
1st September,  Cotswold Classic Run
19th-20th October,  Lombard Rally Bath

 Daffodil Run 2019