2110 / "TWOT" Tom's World Of Tat - A topic of hopes and broken dreams

[GeorgeB]

Smoking at high revs is rings, not valves.

I think it needs a full strip down and rebuild, sorry.

[captain_70s]

2 hours ago, 2110 said:

Only under 100% acceleration at higher speeds like 55-60mph and above but it's only visible from the car behind, otherwise it's running clear.

As a total mechanical n00b as my son would call it, sounds like I should be cleaning it out?

What colour smoke? 

Most old carb fed cars tend to dump fuel at full throttle and will drop a bit of black smoke.

Bluish smoke is oil burning. If it is mostly when you lift off the throttle and are coasting then it is usually valve seats. If not it could be piston rings.

If it is rattly/tappety from the top end it suggests oil galleries are sludged up and the cylinder head is starved of oil. Depending on how long it has been sludgy the damage could already be done. Like my picture of the Dolomite rocker arm...

If it is grumbly at the lower end of the engine it could be that the crankshaft main/big end bearings are worn out.

The oil pressure sensor is right above the pump I believe, so if you have any pressure at all the warning light won't come on but you might be running very low.

It could also just be well worn. What 's the milkeage? 80k is about right for an A series that hasn't been fastidiously serviced all its life.

[2110]

14 hours ago, captain_70s said:

What colour smoke? 

Most old carb fed cars tend to dump fuel at full throttle and will drop a bit of black smoke.

Bluish smoke is oil burning. If it is mostly when you lift off the throttle and are coasting then it is usually valve seats. If not it could be piston rings.

If it is rattly/tappety from the top end it suggests oil galleries are sludged up and the cylinder head is starved of oil. Depending on how long it has been sludgy the damage could already be done. Like my picture of the Dolomite rocker arm...

If it is grumbly at the lower end of the engine it could be that the crankshaft main/big end bearings are worn out.

The oil pressure sensor is right above the pump I believe, so if you have any pressure at all the warning light won't come on but you might be running very low.

It could also just be well worn. What 's the milkeage? 80k is about right for an A series that hasn't been fastidiously serviced all its life.

It was white with a blue tinge apparently, but I have yet to be followed since we got it running smoothly and quiet now having adjusted the valve clearances it's so much quieter and on a quick drive around the village it's like a different car altogether, so much more responsive and accelerates freely up to 50 so I'm hopeful we are getting closer to getting it back to being usable. It's sitting at 183,xxx miles currently, I've not put more than about 350 miles on it due to it's mechanical situations, and it being a one-owner car until what... 4 years ago? where it seems to have been "kept going" rather than "no expense spared". I will return to the smoke situation as I certainly don't want anything getting worse considering how much better the car is getting every time something gets sorted but a little break from the engine side as the next bit is a leak test on the boot to see where the rain is coming in from before going back to mechanics...

[2110]

Only a small update for this week. Maestro is now running so smooth and is actually fun to drive finally. A friend told me about an Allegro and Montego (MG) in the next town he had seen on his way to work so I stole an hour of my day to take the Maestro out for a run to meet some relatives. Talking to the owner the Allegro has been sold and collected by the time I'm posting this and the MG was listed for sale this week, only has 25k original miles and was in stunning condition, unlike my 183k miler I took to see them!

The Allegro is getting a full set of new tyres today ready for summer, after it's last drive out the next day the front left tyre was completely deflated, I pumped it up and I could see it deflating in front of me so I put the spare wheel on and pumped it up only to return two hours later to it also being flat. So that plus all 4 being mismatched tyres and a couple of them being really quite old I decided to treat it to a full set.

And the replacement number 1 has arrived with thanks to @LightBulbFun 's help. That's a job for another week but at least things are happening albeit slowly!

The Laser has been giving me real pain over the last month, since getting it I have been unable to drive it again due to a stuck rear caliper. My friend who helps (does most of the work) with my cars tried to free it up himself and said to get a new caliper. It's a Mazda 323/F for most parts so I ordered a pair for the rear and they were completely different (shiny one on left in photo) with different mounting requirements so couldn't even just change them over. As it turns out after yet more research and tracking down a part number the rear brakes are off the American Mazda Protege range (talk about a parts bin car!) and are of course discontinued. Readily available from the US but unable to ship to the UK as no certification is present to say they are not made from Russian Steel. I have been trying to find an equivalent replacement from Australia or anywhere else really but America seems like the only place. I finally found one on Amazon to be shipped from the US with no mention of Russian Steel sanctions so took a chance and ordered it 2 days ago so might get lucky. BCS never replied to my email about it for a recondition and after they had my Racing Puma brakes for over a year I would rather not use them anyway. One of my friend's ex-colleagues apparently had it soaking for a couple of weeks to try free up the piston with no joy so not sure reconditioning is an option. I probably should have brought the query to the forum sooner as I'm sure someone here knows someone who could, but if the Amazon one doesn't prove successful it will be a thread in the wanted section!! 

And while it has been parked up an adaptation has been made to bring the Laser's entertainment system to this side of the Millennium, the original tape deck playing stereo worked but the screen was almost impossible to read in some lights so £20 on ebay later a used Kenwood stereo feels very period for the car to me and will allow me to use my CD's (of which I am very partial to!).