Chris1Roll's return to 700 ownership

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Chris1Roll

Well that sucks.

Coming home this evening, I was just thinking about how in 2 days it will be a year since I put the car back on the road.
I was just stopping at some traffic lights and just before coming to a halt the car shuddered and then stalled.

Now it sounds like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCAwN_O017c
(oil running from the cap as I took the cap off with it running)

Noise is somewhat reminiscent of what happened back at the end January - that 'fixed itself' - , but this is LOUD!
Certainly turned some heads (for the wrong reasons) coming through the village.

It's weird though, the shudder and stall felt like stopping witout putting the clutch down in a manual, rather than just shutting off, and it restarted ok but needed 2 footed driving to pull away...

Was the timing belt retensioned after 600 miles Chris?

If not, i wonder if it jumped a tooth or two and is now running but the valves are just touching the pistons enough to make a noise without actually damaging themselves enough to not actually run anymore.

Also the oil escaping from the filler cap suggests crankcase pressurisation, if the valve timing is now out it's possible that it could happen - whether it would run enough to move like that is another matter but i'd look at the cam timing first and the tension and condition of the timing belt.

Good luck with it!

[Forrest]

Have you managed to narrow down exactly where the noise is coming from? Is it definitely internal to the engine? In the video it sounds slightly more pronounced at the front. Are you sure it’s nothing to do with the accessory belts, harmonic balancer or even something clipping the fan?

If the timing belt cover is original, I have had those start to disintegrate and drop bits down into the lower part.

What I’m trying to say is the “death rattle” may not be cause, but effect. The stall might have shaken something loose back into contact with something else that’s rotating.

[Chris1Roll]

Belt was retensioned, yes.
Rear timing cover was new last year.
My Directional hearing is useless, but sounds like it is in the head to me. Time to get the bit of hose out again!

I'm going to go and check timing, compression etc in a bit.

Just doesn't make sense though - it did similar at the end of January, then fixed itself, and has done some big road trips with great MPG etc since.
Now, 2 and a half thousand miles later it's back but much louder?
I'm trying to think of something that can spontaneously cause (what sounds like) insane valvetrain noise that then simply goes away for 2.5k miles.

Can a dried up and broken valve husher get stuck in a stupid place?

[Chris1Roll]

So instead of taking the car on a road trip over the Abergwesyn pass today, which was the original plan until about half 7 last night, I've done a some investigation.

Checked the timing (OK) and ran it with all the belts off - still rattling.

Revved it a bit and lost a cylinder.

Aha! On removing the leads in turn it was clear it was cylinder one.
Swapped leads, same result, cyl 1 weak or inactive dependent on how it felt.
Swapped dizzy just to be sure, still Cyl 1.
Got Amy to come out and listen to locate the noise and she pointed confidently at No1 area in the head.

Compression test shows cylinder 1 is down to just 120psi, with all others at 180-ish.

Arse!

Now waiting on my endoscope to charge up. Before it died I managed to go in through the injector port, and the end of the inlet valve guide looks all jagged, like a bit has broken off?

[Laird Scooby]

Have you taken #1 plug out Chris? I'd do that while the endoscope charges and have a look not only at the plug but inside the bore when the endoscope has charged.

[Chris1Roll]

Once the 'scope had charged up, I'd had something to eat, walked the dog and cut the grass I had another poke about.

Ok so No1 plug looked OK, but a bit more bronzed than the other 3....

No2 Cylinder intake valve for reference:


No1 Cylinder intake valve - where is the valve guide??



Oh, It's OK, I found it!



My working theory is that it was obviously damaged when the cambelt stripped this time last year, and just fatigued further over time.
At the end of Jan I guess a little bit came off that then found its way out the exhaust without causing too much damage, and then last night a big chunk(s) fell off and knackered it.

'New' engine time then!
If I just swapped the head I'd be worried about the beating that cylinder has taken, and TBH it would be quicker and cheaper in terms of parts to just swap in a second hand engine with some new seals and gaskets etc.

I've not taken the head off at the moment, it'll just make it a bit more awkward to get the engine out, and as it stands if I throw the plugs + injectors back in I can move the car if need be.

[Chris1Roll]

Nothing is insurmountable..

I whipped the head off in the week, on the off chance I could get away with just putting a new head on. If that were the case, I would be back on the road by now (pending gaskets getting delivered etc). Alas, it was not to be.
No1 Valve guide is completely missing, and No3 is rattling around on the top of the valve!



Piston is all mangled:



And this bit has almost cracked off the edge and has left a shiny wear mark up the bore:



Head destruction:




So, this is happening:



A 70k mile B200E out of a hearse. It had been sat for a few years outside under a tarp so needed a bit of tarting up, but turned over easily.

It’s a bit heavy! My neighbour and I managed to get it out of the car and onto a trolley, but there is no way we were ever going to get it up the steps and around the back of the house, so it has had to sit in front of my car on the drive and I have had to work on it there when it isn’t raining.

After a bit of dismantling (little win, got all the exhaust nuts off no problem!):



It’s a bit more of a rustblock than a redblock.

I had initially thought about replacing all the oil seals, but on inspection, none of them were leaking and the various costs were mounting up so I have gone for the ‘if it ain’t broke’ method. I may live to regret this. There was historically a substantial leak from the rocker cover, hence the old oil gunge, but the previous owner had replaced this and the engine was oil-tight, so after much wire brushing and Harry and I huffing an entire can of brake cleaner, the engine is back to being a redblock:




Looks good from your house doesn’t it?

I had a bit of a panic - No3 plug was stuck, and despite unwinding 1/8th turn, then back in 1/8th turn etc to get it out, it still brought a little bit of thread out with it and then I couldn’t thread another one back in (So the thread must have come from fairly high up, in theory).
Once I had managed to get the tip of a plug thread inserted square-on, I then spent well over an hour with an oiled, wire brushed plug gradually winding it in and out the tiniest bit at a time, wire brushing it again and again until now I can get a new plug threaded all the way to the seat with just my hand on the socket. Phew! I’ll remember to be very gentle with it going forward.

I then provided a public service entertaining the neighbours and any passers-by on Sunday:




It was encouraging that 3 separate people stopped to say how good it was to see someone actually maintaining their own car.

I managed to get everything stripped off/out of the engine bay, so the engine is now ready to lift out. Everything came apart really easily – cooler lines for the gearbox etc separated without fuss. The advantage of having a copious amount of oil covering things!

I’ve taken the Kjet unit out complete, in theory if I put it onto the new one complete without messing with it, it should all still work:



A bit more painting and tarting up, cleaning all the oil off the wiring loom etc:



As with any project like this, you need to be conscious of scope creep. If I wanted to, I could spend days cleaning up all the K-jet pipes, individual nuts, bolts and brackets etc, but I have to remember this isn’t a restoration, its getting my daily driver back on the road.
Cleaning gunky oil off the engine and harness etc is sensible, but when I picked up the inlet manifold and looked at the sticky stuff in there I realised no good could possibly come from trying to clean that out with the facilities I have, so I think I am at the point now where I need to get everything mounted back on the new engine and pray for at least a few hours good weather next weekend so I can get it in the car.

My only mild concern about the job is making sure I don’t bugger up the torque converter if it slips off the dogs on the pump. Haynes has no info about it at all but I have heard some horror stories. I think I might try and keep the assembly slightly ‘gearbox down’ when mounting it to the new engine.

[Laird Scooby]

Little tip while you have the engine easily accessible Chris, renew the oil pressure switch. I've had a couple that have failed and leaked badly!

All good stuff though, hope it all goes well once installed!

[Moomoo]

Hope it goes smoothly bud.

A bit of luck goes a long way with a transplant of this nature. I hope it’s on your side!🧐👍

[griston64]

I'd be doing the rear main seal as well