FatHarris - tales of a motoring moron *Rover Dead?*

[fatharris]

HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH 

I've booked tomorrow off work, let's see how we get on.

Final piston and liner went in with minimal dramas.

Then, the oil pump, chain and sprocket.

I finally test fitted the new middle timing belt cover, and discovered it needs a little bit of modification with a pair of snips and a file to fit nicely.

The front crank plate and seal were fitted, this got a smear of hylomar around the contact areas.

Marking the layout of the bolts on the way out made reassembly a LOT easier.

With everything done on the bottom end, the sump was refitted with a new gasket - the sump had a smear of grease applied to it to prevent the gasket sticking to it in future.

Next up, the cylinder liner clamps were removed

The new head gasket laid into place:

And the cylinder head lowered into place. This was the job I was dreading the most as it had the biggest potential to go wrong - was very glad I picked up a breaker bar this afternoon to help make this work a bit more bearable.

The threads were cleaned up following advice from Phill (cheers), who suggested grinding two slots in an old head bolt and running it through each bolt hole.

Mercifully, the torquing down went without incident, which was a massive relief - the helicoil did its job excellently!

Once I'd stopped sweating about that, I fitted the timing belt and gave it many revolutions to check it was all good 😁

Fitted the timing belt covers and engine mount.

And fitted the exhaust manifold - it's getting harder to rotate that engine in the stand now, it's bloody heavy!

And that's where I've left it for the night, very pleased with what's happened today and hopefully tomorrow will be equally productive!

Cheers 😁

[Tickman]

Fingers crossed for you, you certainly deserve it to go well.

[2flags]

This is one of the benefits of a wet liner engine. If one cylinder is borked then you can just replace that cylinder and not have to have the whole thing rebored and all new pistons. The block can also be rebuilt without the need for a machine shop.

[fatharris]

Oh fuck me, what a day.

Started off okay, I set up the engine crane to get it off the stand.

Finally, it meant I could install the rear crank seal - this was the second attempt, as the first one went too far in - luckily I ordered 2!

Clutch and flywheel went on.

And the gearbox was fitted.

Then, MrsH was roped in to help me get the engine and box into the engine bay.

This turned out to be an absolute dick of a job, not helped by the area we had to move the crane around.

Eventually, we admitted defeat, and whipped off the gearbox and exhaust manifold in order to make it a much smaller package for lifting and manoeuvring.

With the engine bolted into the mounts, the gearbox went on after a bit of a fight, and the mounts tightened.

Annoyingly, I didn't notice I had looped the nylon lifting sling around one of the mounts - knowing how much agro it was to get the engine in position in the first place, I elected to cut it off and throw it in the bin.

Not many photos follow, but rest assured I was busy. First point of order was to fit the driveshafts, which was going well until the outer CV joint popped off it's clip for no good reason. This was an additional faff because it meant I had to deal with that bloody grease again.

The next job was assembling and reconnecting the hydraulic manifold and pressure regulator - this had been removed by my mate Dan when he popped over to help, and nothing had been marked up, so this took nearly two hours to get into position, connected and bolted up.

Radiator went in (five minute job) and then I decided to fit the external clutch arm and connect the clutch cable to it.

This is where it all went a bit wrong, and clearly the off and on had meant the clutch arm on the inside of the bellhousing wasn't sitting right, putting the pushrod at an angle. An attempt to re-centre it failed miserably so the gearbox has to come out again. 

At this point, I had quite a large tantrum, took the driveshafts back out and called it a night. 

I'm hoping I can get the gearbox out without disconnecting any of the hydraulic lines this time, but still feeling pretty low about the whole thing.

Ah well, two MOTs tomorrow will fix those blues, I'm sure (!). The Mazda has only had the alternator change and a bottle of cataclean chucked into the tank. Engine sounds a bit tappety at the moment as well.

The Beat was parked near the MOT centre for tomorrow afternoon, I feel quite confident that one will be okay, but the Mazda is likely to bomb this one.

We can but wait and see.

For tonight, it's a big G&T, a bath and an early night. 

Cheers.

 

[fatharris]

10 hours ago, 2flags said:

This is one of the benefits of a wet liner engine. If one cylinder is borked then you can just replace that cylinder and not have to have the whole thing rebored and all new pistons. The block can also be rebuilt without the need for a machine shop.

And at £43 delivered for a new liner, it wasn't exactly breaking the bank either!

[twosmoke300]

11 hours ago, fatharris said:

And at £43 delivered for a new liner, it wasn't exactly breaking the bank either!

How is the budget on this one now ?

Bet you have a spreadsheet on it 🤣- does it make an allowance for label tape?

[fatharris]

4 minutes ago, twosmoke300 said:

How is the budget on this one now ?

Bet you have a spreadsheet on it 🤣- does it make an allowance for label tape?

Oh christ, I daren't think now, no spreadsheets yet, although I may sit down at the end and work out the financial cost.

Don't want to do it in the middle otherwise MrsH will see it, bludgeon me to death and get rid of the car!

I have learned a lot on this project though, so it's been worth it in that regard.

 

[2flags]

Never, ever try and work out what one of these restorations cost, never put it writing, and if you do, under no circumstances let your wife see it!! 

[mat_the_cat]

I feel your pain, but you will laugh about it one day. Just make sure you don't drop one of the final bolts (in my case it was for the top mount intercooler) and have it fall directly into the little timing window on the bellhousing - that can really spoil your mood. Ask me how I know!

[fatharris]

Beat was dropped off after a quick blast to warm everything through.



Good news! The cat was fine and went through emissions.


Failed on a binding front caliper though, which is annoying

Ah well, Mazda's been washed, ragged, and dropped off. Let's see if that can break the cycle.



Tappeting noise has cleared too so that's a bonus.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[fatharris]

Ah, shite.

It failed on emissions and scraped through last year, so not entirely unexpected.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[fatharris]

I'm duty at work today so no tinkering, but I did order everything I needed to remedy the fails on the Mazda and Beat.

With the 3 day weekend looming, I'm going to be a busy bee either way. My focus will shift from the BX to these two until they've got their MOT pass, and if there's time, I'll start looking into the BMWs ABS fault.

[Ghosty]

All MX5s tap a bit if they aren’t used much, nowt to worry about once the oil gets circulating again. 

[kevins]

I've found our mx5 is a bit flaky on emissions if they don't warm it up fully.

[fatharris]

On 02/05/2024 at 22:20, kevins said:

I've found our mx5 is a bit flaky on emissions if they don't warm it up fully.

Trust me, I thrashed it like a ginger stepchild on the way 😅

[RoverFolkUs]

10 minutes ago, fatharris said:

Trust me, I thrashed it like a ginger stepchild on the way 😅

Aftermarket cat? MX5's don't like them. 

Saying that I've had one before where the inlet air boot wasn't fully seated and was allowing a bit of unmetered air to get sucked in.. 

[fatharris]

I was feeling pretty down after those MOT fails, but as always, the bad times don't last forever.
Yesterday, I dropped the Laguna off to [mention=17246]twosmoke300[/mention]'s garage for Dan to fit some new tyres all round.

Demon Tweeks had a decent chunk off Toyota Proxes CF2, and with the front two on the Laguna being very low on tread, and showing sidewall damage on a rear one, it made sense to get all four done in one hit - the one remaining good tyre was fitted to the spare wheel to replace the 16 year old rock hard Michelin. Tyres cost about £170 delivered for all four which was a bargain.
 

Whilst up in the air, Dan advised me that the rattling we've been hearing is the cat failing - these things come in threes evidently!
I've also been advised that the top mounts will require changing in the not too distant future, so I'll get some parts on order.
When I got home from collecting the Laguna, I was chuffed to find several packages waiting on the doorstep.

So this morning, I popped the MX5 on ramps and left it to cool down:

And got started on the Beat, up on stands, wheel off:

And got the caliper on the bench.

A new caliper refurb kit including pistons only cost £32 from Bigg Red. I absent-mindedly managed to catch myself when removing the pistons with compressed air

But that aside, it was really rather pleasant to put back together.

Got some new EBC Ultimax pads due to the massive difference in old pad thicknesses on each side, fitted and bled the caliper.

The other side was a bit grottier than the other - I think there's been some moisture in the system!

It all cleaned up lovely though and the caliper went back on nicely. The pads did need a bit of filing on the paint to allow it to move smoothly.

The old pistons - one cleaned up okay, the other was pitted.

Popped the cover back on and will arrange the retest for next week.

So, onto the MX5. The cat had cooled down and it was simple nuts and bolts to undo, albeit very bloody tight, requiring the impact gun.

I was disappointed to note that the cat had been replaced by an MX5 specialist, but they hadn't fitted gaskets! (EDIT: They had, and I was being a moron - explained in a later post)
Luckily, I had ordered some OEM ones online.

The MX5 is an awkward changeover year so the cat is an inch longer than the usual one - glad I measured beforehand!

Made sense to give the crusty bits a scrape and apply some Lanoguard whilst it was in the air - it's a 26 year old Japanese car, so there are quite a few I need to keep an eye on!

I've left it on the ramps to increase airflow and help the lanoguard set faster.
Lastly, buoyed by success so far, I finally got around to diagnosing Herman's ABS fault - its the only thing standing between me and an MOT pass.

Again, an awkward crossover year meant I had a bit of a hunt to find the ABS ECU, the internet was saying it was part of the under bonnet unit, but I eventually found it in the driver's footwell, above the throttle pedal.
With the BMW factory service manual flashed up, I jotted down the required contacts to check from the wiring diagram:

Did some probing:

And found my smoking gun:

Rear left sensor was throwing out nearly four times the resistance.
£16 for a new Intermotor branded unit and it should be here on Thursday. Result.
I felt rather pleased with the progress, so I've knocked it on the head for today and I'm going to celebrate with wine.
Cheers

[fatharris]

45 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Aftermarket cat? MX5's don't like them. 

Saying that I've had one before where the inlet air boot wasn't fully seated and was allowing a bit of unmetered air to get sucked in.. 

This will be the third cat the Mazda has had in my ownership 😅 this one only lasted 3.5 years and 8000 miles! 

[RoverFolkUs]

18 minutes ago, fatharris said:

This will be the third cat the Mazda has had in my ownership 😅 this one only lasted 3.5 years and 8000 miles! 

That's good going! Admittedly on NB MX5's you're lucky to see a year out of them, and that's even if they don't illuminate an EML within a couple of weeks

[kevins]

I can't see  how any of the aftermarket ones are going to last, all OEM's put at least  couple of hundred pounds worth of precious metal in a cat yet the aftermarket ones sell for less than £100 so there must be virtualy no PM loading on the substrate.  Most OEM are designed to still meet the factory emissions at 100,000 km or 10 years, ours has done approaching double that now , when it eventually fails I may well splash out £500 on a mazda one, it's going to be cheaper in the long run and  another 27 years  could well see me out!

[fatharris]

Quick day today.

Unshipped and supported the hydraulic manifold - this time without disconnecting the pipework.

Took the radiator out and unshipped the gearbox.

It didn't take me too long to figure out what went wrong with the clutch fork.

A tab had sheared off the clutch release bearing. I've refitted the box and put it back on the transmission mount as parts are going to be a bit of a pain to source, as this is a bearing for a 1988-1989 BX, despite the car being a 1992, fingers crossed the right one turns up!

Ah well, guess I've got a free bank holiday tomorrow, out of the garage! 

Cheers.

[fatharris]

First things first, I forgot to take a picture, but the Honda went in for the retest and now has a fresh ticket. I've not taxed it and hope to enjoy it over the dry months 😁

Whilst waiting for bits, I finally got around to repairing the coolant temperature warning light switch wires - these had been pinched in between the bellhousing and the engine when we got the car, so they had been getting crushed for at least five years.

Chopped the duff section out and solder sleeved replacement wire in.

Today, I dropped the Mazda off for the emissions retest.

...aaaand the test got shit canned because the Lbda value was so high, suggesting an exhaust leak. Luckily, I'd popped to Phill and Dan who immediately made me look a fuckwit when they pointed out the exhaust gases leaving via the cat gaskets.

Unfortunately, whilst I had bought the gaskets recommended for the application by the MX5 specialist:

It turns out I needed this one, which they weirdly don't list for a Mk1 on the site.

So that's been ordered and I'll deal with it next week. My mistake.

Another thing that arrived in the post today was the clutch release bearing for the BX, so I got the box off, fitted the new bearing and reassbled the clutch arm assembly.

Success! There is now a very light smooth clutch pedal action and it doesn't look wonky or fall out.

With that done, the work to rebuild carried on in earnest.

The driveshafts went back in:

Some damage was observed to the plastic fairing just forward of the brake caliper.

 

Knowing how tricky that item would be to source, I elected to drill some small holes in and apply some steel locking wire to keep it in one piece.

Exhaust manifold was the next item to be fitted - keeping the individual gaskets in place was a pain in the arse on such a canted engine, they just wanted to fall off every five seconds 

Then immediately had to take the sodding thing off again because I'd forgotten to fit the oil dipstick tube, which required the manifold off along with two studs.

The rebuild cracked on, with various components fitted.

I think a next week start-up of the engine is entirely feasible, the end ish!

Cheers.

 

[fatharris]

So, the rebuild continues.

Inlet manifold and starter went on.

Replaced the oil filler pipe that connects to the bottom of the block - the old one had collapsed and tore apart with just my hands.

Didn't take any photos but there were several heavily perished coolant lines, so I replaced them with new sections of fuel line. Some of this had been previously bodged during the conversion to manual choke, such as this really rather fetching attempt at joining two sections of hose together:

 

Yep, that's an airline fitting, ground down. This was then shoved into the open pipe ends and clamped with jubilee clamps. Bodgy as hell, but it never showed any signs of damp or leaking, so it clearly worked.

New aux drive belts were fitted for both the LHM pump and the alternator.

At this point it was really starting to take shape!

I then popped out to get a few bits for the next evolution.

Namely fluids - fresh mineral oil, mineral gear oil and coolant.

With everything topped up, and a last check over completed, I borrowed the battery from the Mazda:

And started cranking, hoping for good news.

SUCCESS! It started and idled nicely, although an active coolant leak was evident at the bleed point above the thermostat housing.

The fault lay with the copper washer - it was heavily grooved which was letting coolant leave!

This took a big chunk of the day as I ended up driving round motor factors trying to find a source of the washer. After a bit of difficulty, I finally managed to get a watertight seal!

A quick up and down on the suspension was promising, although the 'STOP' won't clear as the coolant level sensor was saying it was empty, even though it's full.

The connectors are filled with verdigris corrosions.

And the clean up was quite fiiddy.

I think these might be beyond saving, but I'll investigate further when I get more time.

And that's it for the weekend, as the Rover is loaded up for a other trip into Europe!

Cheers!

[Tickman]

Congratulations on the successful start up.

Loads of progress.

[beko1987]

Is it worth measuring the width and buying 100 sleeveless female crimps whilst you've got it de-pinned? You only a squeeze away from all new ones then. 

Sterling work though! 

[mercedade]

Amazing work

[fatharris]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

Is it worth measuring the width and buying 100 sleeveless female crimps whilst you've got it de-pinned? You only a squeeze away from all new ones then. 

Sterling work though! 

Yeah, that'll probably be my next job.

Not today though, I've had an early start.

Heading up to the Eurotunnel to head to NL for a car show. Think FOTU, but not £40 entry 😅

Currently stopped at the M25 services to meet up with some other like minded shiters and convoying. 

No, it's not broken, I'm just letting the engine bay cool down a bit so I can check levels whilst I've got a spare bit of time!

 

[fatharris]

Been on the Choo-choo.

Got off and made a beeline straight for a landmark!

We're staying in Belgium tonight.

[fatharris]

I shall update this thread properly later, but one picture sums it up.

Yep, I got to drive a Fiat 130.

What a day.

Beers tonight.

[High Jetter]

Oof!