Lost to Essex by two wickets

[autofive]

 

(from grumpy thread, 24 hours ago)

 

 

AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH

 

scimitars

 

after a couple of weeks of not running right (now on my 3rd carb in this car) my se5 lurched out of a supermarket carpark late last night with no oil pressure. i stopped let it cool down for half a hour. turned the engine over, and still no movement on the gauge. this morning i changed the oil drive shaft, which looked worn, and still no oil pressure, When removed from the block, the pipe (to the gauge) doesnt even drip when engine turned over, so the engine has to come out

 

this was the scene at 6:30 tonight, and an hour or so later (and with scarys help, and violin accompaniment) the anchor was removed.

 

 

dont know whats going in yet, i may just be lazy and plonk the Zephyr engine in - i know its a good engine, and its handy.

 

today was not a good day

 

this morning the se5 looked like this

 

removed the (ex-capri) 3 litre essex from my mk4 Zephyr

 

 

 

found the spiggot bearing was damaged, i had no idea how to remove it,

enter scaryoldcortina who demonstrated the hydraulic method of removal; fill the hole in the crank with grease, and then bash a 20mm diameter object into the hole, forcing out the bearing

 

dropped the oil and found a lot of swarfy-sludge

removed a cap and found only copper left on the shell

note the sparklers sat on the top of the oil pick up

 

so this is the view at dusk; a brace of essex engines, and not a runner between them,

 

 

 

but hark, whats this, an se6a about to donate its motor, started it up. Runs fine and good oil pressure when cold

 

tomorrows mission, remove the 3rd essex in 3 days, add a front bowl sump and oil pick up, and try again

[scaryoldcortina]

well, it's keeping me off the fags, and you are getting better at finding all the bellhousing bolts

 

[pub expert]Ahh the essex, bombproof they are... can't kill them[/pub expert]

[autofive]

one interesting thing, thats just been pointed out to me:

 

leave the sump where it is and use a flat plate crossmember.

[scaryoldcortina]

Eh? what? NO!

There's the crossmember. The 2 1/2 inch diameter tube in front of the flywheel. How in hell is it less work to chop that out completely and then rebrace the chassis below a rear bowl sump than to swap a sump and oil pickup over?

 

Tell you what, you do it, I'll just watch!

[autofive]

i thought that crossmember was bolted, but looking at the pic - looks welded

 

 

 

i was just trying to avoid cleaning the swarf from the pick-up pipe and sump

[trigger]

Autofive's Zephyr, last week.

 

[Pete-M]

I love those old V6 Zodiacs. Always wanted one, but after driving one I know I'd hate it if I bought one. Unless it was an estate

 

I've never killed an Essex lump, despite thrashing 'em senseless, so well done for having a selection of dead ones.

[autofive]

 

well, its out of the se6

 

quick sandwich then im going to try to get it in the se5 tonight

 

need to remove auto flexplate and add flywheel / clutch

 

change sump and oil pick-up pipe

 

drop it in

[Mr_Bo11ox]

URGH

[autofive]

urgh indeed mr B

 

 

more complications this evening;

the oil pick-up pipe used in the zephyr's front bowl engine is coated inside and out with sparkly metal dust, i have tried to remove it, but its impossible.

 

looks like i will have to use the other pipe, so now i have to remove the another sump, my 3rd this week

 

only one snap tonight, clean-ish interior of the engine going in the se5

 

[scaryoldcortina]

the oil pick-up pipe used in the zephyr's front bowl engine is an awful homemade lashup that probably caused the early demise of the main bearings

EFA

[Albert Ross]

That Zephyr "empty bay" shot shows the hydraulic Master cylinder.... Seems it must have been a current thing when the early Scimitars were built, and they didn't change it on the later ones. Also, can you imagine a cable set up with a fibreglass bulkhead? Every week a cable would pull through!

[autofive]

the bellhousings are all for the type Z gearbox, you are looking for the later (and very rare) type9 hybrid bellhousing norm

 

today, hopefully, i can get the engine in, while i have still got some skin left on my knuckles

[eddyramrod]

And the V4 Zodiacs used a cable bell as well.

Was that a US-market-only model, Norm? I'm as certain as I can be that in the home market the MkIV Zodiac only ever came with the 3.0V6. The V4 was for the lower orders who would be driving Zephyrs, Corsairs, Capris and even Transits.

[scaryoldcortina]

Car has an engine again! Tomorrow all the stuff that had to come off to get the engine out goes back on again! I'm going in the bath.......

[autofive]

this was earlier tonight, engine just being lowered in:

 

 

engine is now seated and the majority of the bellhousing bolts are in and nipped up

lots of bits still to finish, but most of the problems have been solved

 

 

sterling work from scaryoldcortina, spending over an hour straddling the essex, pushing and pulling, lifting and lowering, until the input shaft finally mated to the engine

 

tomorrow should finish it off, if it doesnt finish me off first

[trigger]

I think you should stop messing about and fit a decent lump to that old Zepyhr in the yard, Like this one i saw today.

 

 

 

 

5800cc V8 under that hood.

[autofive]

just like my Zephyr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

no inner wings