With Dells help, the use of works truck and after threatening a manager of a local tool hire company into lending me an engine hoist free of charge and as long as i want it, we collected the engine n box. I removed the sump to have a look inside and was pleasantly surprised to see a new crank, new con rods and new pistons inside! ive now given the engine a few coats of paint and will put the fings back on it this week so its ready to go in the car. I managed to find a bargain propshaft which should be in my paws friday, ive also found a shifter which i should get next week so im nearly all set! With Dells help again, we removed old engine, box, prop n exhaust system last week. Next job is to get the prop sorted then get box in and then offer the engine in place and find out whats in the way...steering box, handbrake mechanism etc, i might even have to change the sump round the other way to miss the steering linkage but just remember - where theres an angle grinder theres a way!!
I cant wait to get it done but i now know ive got to cut the trans tunnel to get gearbox in but thats not a problem plus ive got to 'convert' the sump into a front bowl instead of rear bowl, pretty sure ive got it sussed tho
Latest progress, gearbox is now mounted in position after having to move crossmember and make a few alterations but its in now so ready to dangle the engine in and make up some mounts. Also got to get the prop lengthened about 4 inches. I have had a look inside the engine and all seems good, ive painted it and almost finished putting the ancillories back on, only fing is i need a front bowl sump and altered pick up pipe but ive got something in the pipeline with that....
if you want the prop stretched mate give me a shout soon zap a sleeve in it. looking good
can you seriously lengthen and balance it Nick? i had a measure up last week and it needs to be lengthened 125mm (5 inches in old money). I won a front bowl sump and altered pick up pipe on ebay this week so as soon as it arrives i'll get it fitted n offer engine in place and make up a couple of engine mounts. Once its in it just a case of plumbing it in n im away!
i recomend two Smithy silencers tony from pop browns ,there on the triumph and there not dear.im running it with 2"pipes. cant wait to see and hear it mate.
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Cars don't get old, they get a v8. Its not how it looks,it's how YOU see it that counts.
i recomend two Smithy silencers tony from pop browns ,there on the triumph and there not dear.im running it with 2"pipes. cant wait to see and hear it mate.
Yeh smithy's do sound nice, i had some on my old pop for a while. im still waiting for the front bowl sump to arrive that i won on ebay and until that gets here im stalling as i need to get it fitted then offer engine in place and make up mounts. sold the old straight 6 yesterday and got other bits on evilbay for sale to help finance the new motor
Have had a few weeks of little progress due to one thing or another but got a good bit done this week, after sending my propshaft to scholar engineering to be lengthened 125mm they told me they cant do it but would make me a new one up for £141 so i reluctantly agreed and got my new prop back after 1 week (thanks to wrecker for dropping off and picking up) and with Dells help we went to fit it only to discover the new rear flange had the wrong stud pattern! pissed off and furious are a few words to describe how i felt all was not lost as i still had my old prop with correct flange on so Dell set about swapping it over only to find it siezed solid on so it was then taken over to tailfins where him and Dell 'sorted it' for me, cheers tailfin n Dell. Dell fitted it on the car this week whilst i swapped over the pick up pipe and sump on the engine to a front bowl jobby and also changed timing cover so as to have a front dipstick. Now the engine was ready to be dropped in place, with Dells help we got it mounted to the gearbox and it is now propped in postion ready to have new mounts fitted which we gotta make. I have bought all the bits n pieces i need for it over the last couple of months so hopefully i should get it fired up by christmas.
Got to make up a couple of engine mounts, modify the exhaust manifolds to fit, then its wiring up n plumbing in. Also got to fit the shifter n inhibitor switch plus kick down cable on gearbox then weld up the trans tunnel where i cut it to get the gearbox in. hopefull i'll have it almost done christmas time as i dont get a lot of spare time to work on it plus my lock up is 12 miles away from home so its not a case of just nipping out to the garage!
cool Tony that Essex looks right at home in your engine bay. i can't wait to hear her runnig. i had an Essex lump a few years ago in an old mk2 granada and i loved it.
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Cars don't get old, they get a v8. Its not how it looks,it's how YOU see it that counts.
going ok mate, engine is sitting on the mounts me n dell made and we've started to connect it all up but as expected there is 1 or 2 minor issues that need sorting, i bought a pair of 3.0 capri headers and the one on the passenger side fitted fairly easily but the one on the driver side is a bastard to fit as the steering box is smack bang in the way so ive got to cut n alter it to fit. ive also had a little bit of a problem getting the correct rotor arm and distributor cap as the old ones wernt on the engine and there a few different types that were used on that engine but i have ordered another rotor and i am confident its the correct one this time so hopefully i can get it fired up in the next couple of weeks. Thing is i turned up at my lock up last saturday to get a good session in on the zodi and as i pulled up the cv joint broke on my mondeo so i wasted a lot of time getting it sorted with the AA and a local garage to get it fixed plus the added expense just before christmas! Bloody cars!! dont you just love em
yes Tony i do love em lol. good luck mate and i can see light at the end that tunnel.
To be honest if it was summer time i would of had this finished ages ago as i would have gone up my garage in the evenings but i cant be arsed this time of year but i do spend all day most saturdays doing it and yes there is quite a big light at the end of the tunnel. I will have it running around christmas but i reckon the chip run and brass monkey run are looking tight for me to get done.
Just a quick update on progress, engine is running well just got a few jobs to sort now, throttle linkage, finish exhaust, finish sorting gear selector and repanel floor where i cut out and a final tune up so its nearly there now.
still getting there but have got a couple of teething problems to sort out, it likes to run a bit too hot for my liking plus ive now discovered its got low oil pressure as the oil pump appears to be sucking in air with the oil which is making the oil very 'fizzy', looks like ive gotta remove the sump n sort that out . im hopefull i'll have it all finished sometime next month its just that ive not got a lot of spare time at the moment.
Well me n Dell have just spent the last 2 saturdays solving the low oil pressure problem and finally sorted it but not after spending a few quid, raising my blood pressure even further and basicaly wasting valuable time that i could used doing other jobs. Strangely the oil light was off when it was cold, came on slightly when warm and glowed very bright when hot so it needed investigating before any serious problems occured. It starts with me fitting the oil pick up pipe to the pump knowingly that it had a couple of small holes around the top but i didnt see this as a problem at the time but after a bit of googling it seemed like this was my problem, the pump was sucking air as well as oil which was causing fizziness in the oil and also causing low oil pressure so i removed the sump and the pick up pipe last saturday morning, during the week i bought a new oil pump as i thought i might as well change it whilst im at it, i also bought a gallon of oil and new filter, went up me lock up yesterday and welded up the little holes in the pipe, fitted the new oil pump after a bit of swearing and refitted the sump pan. next up i removed the old oil filter and went to fit one of the new ones i had bought and found that it wouldnt fit as it wouldnt get close enough to the thread to bite so on went the old one again and filled up with fresh oil and started the engine, no oil light so far and left engine to tick over before revving it slightly and then all of a sudden oil sprayed out from all around the oil filter so off came the filter for inspection, couldnt see anything obvious and on it went but we found it was a job to tighten as it kept turning and turning before finally getting tight so oil topped up again and engine started again and revved it slightly again and once again oil poured out from around the filter, we removed the filter once again and this time found the problem, there were 2 rubber sealing rings, one was obviously an old one stuck to the block and this caused a sealing problem! It also meant that the new filter did fit after all as it reached the thread now!! so on went the new filter, another top up of oil and away we went again, and again the oil light came on. All that was left to do now was change the pressure switch so i removed the old one and found it was a bloody water temp switch, i can only think someone put it in there thinking it would do a job but this now explained why the dash light got brighter as the engine got hotter - it was reacting to the temperature and not pressure! a new switch was fitted and problem solved, 1 and a half saturdays of my valuable time, £25 oil pump, £20 worth of engine oil, an oil filter, a headache and all it was was a poxy £4 switch!
-- Edited by chucky on Sunday 13th of February 2011 04:13:56 PM
Right, fink we nearly there now finally! Have been having problems when engaging gear the engine kept stalling! between me Dell n Owen we went through every bastard fing possible to try n solve the problem but kept hitting a wall until today, now although the engine ran ok it did seem to idle a little lumpy but we put that down to it being freshly built and needing to settle in a bit. we adjusted the carb mix so it was a bit richer, no different, gave it a bit of advance on the timing but no different, replaced vacuum valve on side of gearbox - no different, checked out the whole vacuum system for air leaks and this was ok. I did however keep trying with the carb mix and kept tweeking it to run richer and this seemed to have a bit of a positive effect but still wasnt quite right so we gave it loads of advance on the timing and this instantly made the engine run smoother and seemed to have done the trick! Throttle n choke cables fitted a couple of weeks ago so i was finally able to have a drive around the farm. now we have solved that the water pump has started to leak so some barrs leak was added n will hopefully solve that problem but now the poxy fuel tank is leaking feckin petrol!! oh well i'll have a go at welding the leak up just got couple of bits to weld to bulkhead n finish exhaust n i'll give it a good test run. I might even get it done in time to give it a couple of coats matt black before manningtree
still making progress, hopefully fixed leaky petrol tank, sorted one side of exhaust, fitted complete new fuel line, bit more trans tunnel sorted. Just gotta do a bit more trans tunnel, other half of exhaust, refit seat, wire up alternator and find a poxy fanbelt that fits properly!! did take it for a little drive today and can honestly say it does run very nice indeed! confident it will be ready for 8 ball on 17f.
, ive always wondered what motor you got in your Z ?
SOMEDAY SON ALL THIS WILL BE MINE!!
