Engine Update.

Due to a very busy time with the engine we have not had anytime to post, so I have added all the updates in one post.

The new oil rings arrived so it was hoped that Keith and Roger could restart rebuilding the engine.

New Head Gasket Fitted.

They refitted the pistons with the new oil rings. Then one of the 2 new head gaskets was put in place and then the refurbished head was refitted. The head was torqued down ready for the fitting of the rockers etc. to the head.

Refurbished Head Fitted.

Adjusting the Tappets.

With an early start they soon had all the rockers, injectors, oil pipes etc. fitted to the head. Then the tappets were adjusted.

Almost Ready for Testing.

It was now a matter of attaching all the water cooling and exhaust. But as they now knew this engine inside out and back to front they soon had that sorted.

Just the Exhaust Needs to be Fitted.

Then before adding any water they went for a dry run. They turned the engine over by hand with no compression to pump fuel up to the injectors and to start circulating oil around the engine. Once they were both satisfied with this, the compression was turned on and the starter motor engaged. She fired up 1st time, it was a glorious sound.

The 1st Puff of Smoke.

They ran her for a short time only just to check that everything was functioning ok. The exhaust was very clean after the initial blast out of all the residue oil etc. from within the cylinders. The engine was running as sweet as a bird, with a constant note from both cylinders, unlike prior to the rebuild where one cylinder sounded a bit soft. Roger asked Keith to check the oil pressure at the gauge on the roof, he looked and the needle was resoundly on the zero!
But on a second closer look it was actually the wrong side of the stop, it had gone right round the gauge, as the oil pressure was higher than before, and we fitted a new gauge, in fact the original one that was mounted on the engine, which had a higher range, which cured that problem. Roger was very pleased with the result as this is the 1st time he has carried out such a major rebuild on a customers engine. They then filled the engine with water to test the water pump, but alas this still leaks, and the head leaks still.

A Very Happy Roger.

Head Gasket.

On the 12th December they intended to run the engine up to operating temperature and then let it cool down to retorque the head. However as the head was still leaking quite badly they decided to take the head off again to check everything. Good thing they did too, as they discovered that the head gasket for some reason had ripples in it, indicating that it wasn't tightening down properly, but as this was late in the day they decided to leave it overnight and mull over it.

The Solution.
It was now the 13th December and Roger was looking rather pleased with himself, he had solved the problem. It was obviously really when you weigh up all the facts. 2 of the studs had pulled out when they undid all the head nuts, these 2 studs had captive nuts on, and they were the only ones. The ripples in the head gasket were between these 2 studs. Any clues yet? Well remember that they have had the head skimmed, and no doubt it has been skimmed before, reducing the height of the head, have you solved it yet?
Well the captive nuts were bottoming out on the studs and not tightening down onto the head. Obvious when you look at the wider picture. So they took a couple of mm off the top of the 2 studs, and bingo problem solved, the head tightens down properly now. Keith would then be left to run the engine up to temperature and let it cool down before retorquing. On the 14th Dec we were off to see the pantomine Cinderella in Stoke-on-Trent.

Cinderella.
14th December Keith and I went to see the pantomine Cinderella. It was brilliant. Jonathon Wilkes was the main star, with Shobna Gulati (from Coronation St and Dinner Ladies), West End singing sensation Louise Dearman and Andy Goulding of Signal1's radio breakfast show. www.theambassadors.com/regent/index.html

Water Pump Blues.

Today 20th December we gave up on trying to repair the water pump on the engine. Both Roger and Keith have been working on it most of this week trying to stop it leaking without much success. They decided today that apart from totally replacing all the part of the pump they will never get it to stop leaking. So they decided to abandon it and to fit a Jabsco pump driven from the crankshaft of the engine. Keith refitted the original pump casing, minus the internals, for aesthetic reasons with the water inlet/outlets blocked off.
We will have to wait until after Xmas now before obtaining the pump and the necessary pipework, so It looks like it definitely will be the new year before we can go for a test run.

Both Roger and Keith have worked extremely hard on rebuilding our engine. Keith and I are so happy with how things have gone. We really appreciate the time and effort Roger has put into getting us up and running. Hadar's engine now sounds fantastic, so we look forward to 2008 with renewed positivity.

Thank You Roger and Tina for all you help.