Gradually catching up...
A few pages back, on page 22, I sneaked in a few pics from June when we picked the car up from RPM in Farnborough so I need to back track again and fill in what was done leading up to that day!
Less than 2 years after putting the new engine in, the last thing we had hoped or planned for was to be sorting out any problems but the ongoing question of whether we had the right converter or whether there were other trans problems needed looking at plus the new worry of whether we’d adjusted the rockers correctly after one of the pushrods had come adrift last September.
So Martin @RPM agreed to take a look for us. By the time he had the time and space, it coincided nicely in a way with ‘lockdown’ as Martin’s usual workload had eased a bit, having less people badgering him with deadlines so he was able to spend a bit more time looking at what we needed doing than he would have in a normal year.
Priority on our ‘to do’ list was the trans and rocker gear and also a rear main leak that was always going to be what determined how long the car was there. The list also included:
fit FlowKooler water pump,
fix fuel pump leak,
adjust/fix shifter mechanism as first gear was difficult to get,
fit new improved headlamps.
As usual this all snow-balled into more work than intended cos the more Martin looked, the more he found corners had been cut on the original Koffel build, some of which led to oil leaks from everywhere you normally get leaks plus places you don’t!
(some descriptions under the photos
)
- Engine out, pre-strip down. More oil leaks than first realised! And no, I don't know whose cuda that is!
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To fix all this and achieve a paint finish that we and Martin would be happy with, we agreed for him to strip what was already on there and start again.
Back when Koffel were building the engine they fitted a chrome timing cover, despite knowing we wanted a stock-looking engine. So we asked them to change it for a plain steel one which would be painted over here anyway. Once Martin had stripped all the paint he found that the timing cover they fitted looked at best second-hand, and was leaking oil. Luckily Martin had a spare.
- Partly stripped, timing cover horrors becoming apparent
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- Inlet blasted
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- Out with the crappy old, in with the nice old
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Other places that needed re-sealing were the inlet manifold, sump, and of course the valve covers we’d had on and off a few times.
Other issues included the fuel pump not sitting flush on its mounting surface, so some of the casting needed grinding away.
Flex plate holes had been enlarged/elongated badly so needed to be replaced. New replacement supplied by Geof Hauser.
- Butchered old flex plate
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- 'NOS' replacement from HRC
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I hadn’t noticed when Koffel sent photos of the build but Martin pointed out that they had used standard main cap bolts; not upgraded to ARP.
No oil slinger had been fitted.
And contributing to, if not causing our rear main leak, Martin found that the knurling on the journal where the seal sits was more pronounced on one side than the other, plus overall it was a lot more pronounced than usual. Koffel hadn’t fitted the side seals properly so had used a lot of sealer to compensate, but still hadn’t managed to make it seal.
Another disappointing discovery was some scoring on the rear main bearings, not terminal but a sign that something has passed thru the system. The oil pick up screen had a fair amount of gasket material in it.
Enough doom and gloom, back to the stripping
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- Rear main seal knurling
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Ancillaries & bolt-ons....
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- FlowKooler pump fitted, etch primed
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