Project Dollywobbler's Foxy little number

[LightBulbFun]

Compression check. Cylinder three. Yay! (if anything, that seems rather high).

 

Cylinder four. Oh...

 

does that mean potential Head gasket or piston ring issues?

 

(would be interesting to see how TWCs compression is like )

[dozeydustman]

If not a sticking ring, possibly a tight(ish), poorly seated or damaged valve. Wonder if a shot of oil down the plughole will make any difference

[dollywobbler]

Oil made no difference, so had to be valve. Checked the clearances and even though I'd checked them all, eight had gone tight. Adjusted that and then saw 30psi - still not brilliant, but I felt confident enough to proceed. I filled the float bowl with fuel, gave the starter some power and BAM! Running engine! Sort of. Took a while to find a suitable choke level, but it started, it ran and smoothly too! Albeit sans exhaust.

 

Video tomorrow. 

[dollywobbler]

Major excitement! Major danger!

 

In hindsight, I really should have moved that fuel can away from the sparky sparky...

[320touring]

That sounds sweet:) congratulations on running it with no exhaust too - kind of a tradition when we do swaps

[LightBulbFun]

Major excitement! Major danger!

 

In hindsight, I really should have moved that fuel can away from the sparky sparky...

 

throughly enjoyed that

 

its very interesting to see how little you actually need to run an engine, in stark contrast to what you see these days under the bonnet of any modern!

 

sounds very sweet indeed despite the lack of an exhaust

[dollywobbler]

Thanks folks. Need to do a bit of engine fettling - new water pump, new electronic dizzy, spark plugs etc (all easier while the engine is out), replace a core plug (never done that before, so should be interesting) and fit the clutch (which has now arrived).

[Joey spud]

These are lovely little engines.

[Rocket88]

Thanks folks. Need to do a bit of engine fettling - new water pump, new electronic dizzy, spark plugs etc (all easier while the engine is out), replace a core plug (never done that before, so should be interesting) and fit the clutch (which has now arrived).

 

 

Screw a self tapper into the old one, should come out...clean water gallery aperture ....grease the lip of the new one, tap in gently with a socket that fits reasonably snugly in the core plug recess

[dave j]

Great video! Its such a mojo boost to hear it run

[skoda_fan]

Well done sir. I got quite excited watching that. Far more interesting than anything on the telly!

[Fumbler]

That engine sounds so smooth! Great that it also fixed the valve problems or whatever on that fourth cylinder. It really was exciting to watch.

[plasticvandan]

You would be far better fitting a leccy kit into the original dizzy,the advance curves and vac advance in the fully leccy new ones are totally wrong.

[dollywobbler]

Ah well. Bit late as it arrived this morning. Mind you, my guesstimate is that the dizzy can be swapped fairly easily with the engine in-situ, so as it's running so sweetly as-is, maybe I'll just leave it. After all, following my own rule of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' does apply here. I do need a distributor clip though. Cap is a bit loose (held in with a cable tie!).

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Enjoyed that video. Watched it earlier. Though the proximity of the fuel to the sparks was making me nervous

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, I'm one lucky guy. In more ways than one! I was watching it back in the edit suite thinking "FFS!"

[Fumbler]

Not half as foolish as I was with lawnmower engines....

[Ben_O]

Another entertaining video

 

I too was feeling a bit nervous about the fuel can being so close to the sparks but everything worked out and the engine sounds great!

[320touring]

It was more "catch the engine" that was funny:)

[Mrcento]

Yeah, I'm one lucky guy. In more ways than one! I was watching it back in the edit suite thinking "FFS!"

 

I was thinking that watching the vid quite a lot, but then i thought about what people would say about some of my car antics if they'd been caught on video, things balanced on jacks whilst i tried to kick parts into alignment etc... i doubt anyone's one to judge!

 

Had a similar compression issue on the 16v Cinq after a rebuild (before i could get it to start) and same as this, was just a valve not quite seating 100% until it got a rev, which free'd it off and has been perfect ever since.

[dollywobbler]

Got the core plug and water pump replaced on the Fox engine today. Not everything went well.

 

The thermostat housing was covered by a cut-off hose, and it turns out it's pretty ropey.

 

To add to my woes, I then discovered that one of the engine mounts had sheared when the original engine was removed. Lovely.

 

Getting that out promises to be fun...

 

Decided to watch rugby instead.

[egg]

£25 for one of these then?

 

https://www.reliantpartsworld.co.uk/reliant-robin-rialto-thermostat-housing

 

[plasticvandan]

Be very gentle tightening the stat housing,they crack easily. Engine mount fairly easy,chisel two sides up of the metal plate and remove with pipe grips

[dollywobbler]

Be very gentle tightening the stat housing,they crack easily. Engine mount fairly easy,chisel two sides up of the metal plate and remove with pipe grips

 

Aye. Just been warned about that by Adam. Thankfully, years working on 2CV engines means I tend to be gentle on my tightening torques. Adam is going to send me a good used housing.

 

Have now ordered new engine mounts, but stupidly forgot that I also need a fuel pump. I can't get it to draw fuel from a can.

[Eddie Honda]

Stay housing nut max torque is something like minus eleventy lbf ft. Don't even think of nipping it just one more flat - it'll break.

 

Engine mount as Dan says. TADTS.

[plasticvandan]

Agh,if your dealing with dick Turpin I shall leave the thread so I don't get argumentative,

[dollywobbler]

Yeah well, I judge people on their merits. He has been MASSIVELY helpful, as have others in the Reliant Owners' Club. Aware he's not always popular, and his politics certainly don't align with mine, but as long as we only talk about Reliants, we're grand. Grateful for your help too. After the Invacar, which has pretty much no support network at all (bar yourself!), it's a bit of a relief.

[plasticvandan]

Let's just say we don't get on,he has blocked me from all online avenues,and presumably saw me as a threat back when I was heavily involved with Reliants,I had been working on them when he was still in nappies.ive also had to undo a lot of his "work" on people's cars.i also have beef with people who repeatedly buy cars to sell on and pose as a private seller.in fact,I would go as far to say that it is because of him I won't own another a Reliant again. Now.if YOU need any advice that I can give it know the answer to,it's freely there from me,but I have no time for mr turnip of Wakefield.

[dollywobbler]

Anyway, moving on, now I'm mostly enjoying having half of the internet telling me I've fitted the core plug incorrectly as they don't realise there's more than one type. Needed an Autoshiter to correct the world... Thanks LankyTim.

[plasticvandan]

Worth doing now as access is almost impossible once it's in.