I give up! - advice on who can help - oil everywhere post rebuild

Yep. Go for it!

PS Did you remember to put oil in ?

 

When you have it all running and run in, have you got a compression tester?
There is some correlation between cranking pressure / inlet valve closing timing and CR. I found a calculator for it once and it got mine spot on.

 

I have got a compression tester which got left in the van when so.e work was done on it years ago. Sadly i dont have the plug adapter for it though for the plug size...so answer in round about way is no. I could try and get the adapter though.

 

Is it running yet? Can’t bear the suspense.

 

Sorry Snotty duty called. Out walking the dog but back in 30 and will do final checks and try for a start up.
Keep it all crossed......and stay in suspenders!

 

He is always in suspenders on a friday night apparantly..

 

Slight complication i think my dist with the pertronix is knackered, discovered the rotor was turning where the drive cog would not engage properly after weird not starting semi firing soundd on trying. Just swapped to my spare dist with pounts and she fired up strong first turn. I am going to swap the pertronix in to the spare dist and then time it up properly. It sounds on first impressions good though, smooth and good. Yippee....hopefully so far so good.

 

You said you liked them

 

Did you end up as a 1641? I've lost track...

 

The suspenders can be taken off, sorry . All appears to be well. Had a bit of a mare with the pertronix getting the sleeve over the shaft far enough down to get the rotor arm on. Anyhow its done, re-timed at 28 degrees plugged and she hums.
No road test yet as i need to get the oil lines sorted, think i will try to get the oil cooler back in play if i can flush any fuel residue out and make sure its clear as i recall someone said the autolinea cases run hot.
I also managed to speak to a great guy called graham at rawspeed tuning who i tried before but he was too busy. He has a rolling road tuning setup and is kindly going to get me in this week to make sure carbs and stuff are ok.

Its been a journey and i hope its near the end- ive learnt a huge amount from all that have been so generous with their advice. Thanks to u all.
Will update after ive got the oil lines done and been out on the road...

 

Sorry to answer your question yes its 1641 as the 1776 meant full strip and case work which would be too much time.

 

Should be fine. At least you’ve got an engine now

 

Good news that you have a running engine, but you still don’t know what caused the piston to break, or the reason for the previous engine to seize. Common to both are the carbs, hopefully you at least checked the float height before bolting them on the latest engine.

 

I am taking the van to a place in plymouth this week to get the carbs setup and it properly tuned. I didnt do the float height as thought this would be one of the things they would do. Since the fuel pump change to electric i dont seem to have any issues on over fuelling that is discernable and my gauge shows 3psi on pressure. I'm not sure what you all think on the piston pics i posted but i tend to think the piston that went was either bad when it was fitted or with the fuel sloshing in the oil etc on a new tight engine the rings grabbed the bore due to lack of lubrication and it cracked. I am loathed to take the carbs off and check as i dont have any gaskets here by the way and dont want to mess with them.

 

With regards to the garage setting the float height, if you want it doing(you do btw) then be sure to tell them, don't assume.

 

^^ ×2
I'm still not convinced by either explanation of the piston failure though.

 

What would your best guess be John?

 

I'd really want to see the piston myself as the clues are often quite subtle. I'd be looking for evidence of thermal shock: getting hot (timing, air leak....) then a quick quench, maybe due to dumping fuel in. The ring grabbing/ partial seizing would give you more distortion of the ring grooves and more distortion of the piston crown, I think. But, a closer look might show that to be the case.

 

Someone tuning carbs on a rolling road won’t check the float height unless you tell him to, he will expect you to have done the basics. And you’ll have to pay him for doing something very simple that you could do yourself.

 

No, do the float heights yourself.