Getting back on the road

Next time, if you have access to a welder, run a bead around the inside of the race, and when it cools, it will shrink ever so slightly and allow you to remove it easily.
Either that, or a bar welded across the race will be point to drift one out when there is no suitable recess.

I was surprised to find out how much the rolling noise was reduced with new wheel bearings all round, as well as new driveshaft and halfshaft universal joints. Even when none of the replaced parts gave any warning noise like was the case with Beryl.
 
Either that, or a bar welded across the race will be point to drift one out when there is no suitable recess.

I was surprised to find out how much the rolling noise was reduced with new wheel bearings all round, as well as new driveshaft and halfshaft universal joints. Even when none of the replaced parts gave any warning noise like was the case with Beryl.
I think UJs would be a good thing for me to update. There’s a take up clonk in the forward propshaft UJ that I know should be seen to.
 
Beryl is feeling pretty good these days. One thing that was bugging me was the throttle response was still a bit sharp. I’ve had this for a while, but since I’ve finally got the engine running sweetly and at full power (see the last half of last year’s reports above) I’ve noticed that it’s really hard to drive her smoothly and accelerating out of corners were a little too sudden causing weight transfer that was out of this world.

Those of you that have been following know I made up a ‘seesaw’ adaptor for the throttle control when I switched to HIF6 carbs. I’d made a few at the first time hoping to get it right. But I’d not got it right. I finally made a new one with a longer arm for the ball joint going to the pedal linkage. It’s only 5.0m longer (37.5mm up to 42.5mm) but, wow, what a difference. Pulling away is much smoother, cornering is a hoot now I can accurately modulate the accelerator, and she just feel more civilized. The plus is of course if I feel like hooligan I can still use all the power, but I now have a choice on how to drive. Happy days!

I’ll update the technical drawing I put together on the sticky about the HIF6 upgrade in the 4 cylinder discussion soon.
 
Little time for an update on Beryl. I noticed the bonnet didn’t look right the other day. The right edge wasn’t following the line of the wing perfectly. Sure enough there was a crack on the lip through the hole where one of the little bumpers should be.

I knew that the car had had a fender bender back in the 70’s on that side. Looking at the lip you could see the aluminium had been beaten and ground flat. It was wafer thin and hard there. I didn’t fancy trying to TIG weld it as I was sure I’d damage the bonnet further. Not to mention the metal was already thin and work hardened.

After a little research it dawned on me that modern cars use glued aluminium in their construction. I found out that LocTite made a hybrid epoxy cynoacryolate adhesive that was just the ticket. So, I ordered the dispenser, mixing tube and glue. Traced out the shape of the lip onto cardboard and transferred it to some 1.5mm aluminium plate.
After cleaning and keying the bonnet and plate I attached the plate with the reassuringly expensive adhesive and left it propped and clamped for a couple of days.

It needs a bit of cleaning but the bonnet is straight and stuff again, there’s a slight blemish on the visible surface on the bonnet, but I think if you didn’t know to look you wouldn’t see it.

after doing that I noticed the bonnet was biased to the left, so I adjusted the left hinge plate and moved it forward a little. I also adjusted the feet on the leading edge and the striker pin height. For the first time in my ownership Beryl’s front end looks symmetrical and balanced, I guess I was used to how she looked before, but now she looks loads better.
 

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I had a split from one of those buffer holes. I think I put on a backing strip with JB Weld and csk rivets.
It is pretty thin on the side lip. The adhesive is rated at 1,800psi shear load with ally so I think it’ll be ok. :)
 
We use this stuff for sticking captive nuts on our cowlings. It sets FAST, I tried to get some into a syringe to get into a tight spot and it went solid before I even got close to the work area...
 
We use this stuff for sticking captive nuts on our cowlings. It sets FAST, I tried to get some into a syringe to get into a tight spot and it went solid before I even got close to the work area...
That’s a similar stuff to the LocTite adhesive. Also, that dispenser is meant to be used with a mixing tube and gun as I have pictured, hence the super fast kick off and cure.
 
With the enforced work from home at the moment and a reduced workload I decided to give Beryl some love. One of the things I've noticed since I've had the car was the heavy steering, with an almost excessive loading up on cornering. I'd read on a thread by @cobraboy that it could be a sign of too much positive caster angle. I happen to have some 0.032" shims in my toolbox, so thought its got to be worth a try. I added two shims per bolt on the top pivot and boy what a difference! Turn in is much improved, straight line stability feels more trust worthy and steering weight is where I remember it being on previous P6s I've driven. Actually a pretty easy job too if I'm honest.
 
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Well, a little more fettling on Beryl yesterday. Although I rebuilt the spindles and seals on the HIFs a while ago (including making custom delrin spindle bushes for improved fit and airtight sealing) I would still need to reset the mixture frequently as it would run rich after a week or so of driving.

When I did the work previously I didn't replace the jets or the bimetal brackets for jet adjustment. They were the only items left that I hadn't replaced. When settling mixture I normally use the depth gauge on my set of digital calipers to measure the jet height relative to the carb bridge. It ensures equal mixture for both carbs and takes some of the guess work out. Especially as HIF have impossible to see mixture screws so hard to get them right by feel. when do ing this I noticed that the front jet would drop after measuring. There's only a light pressure from the depth gauge when measuring and I it seemed to make sense that it shouldn't move.

I pulled the carbs, so much easier pulling HIFs compared to HS8s, a 20-30 minute job. Took out the jet and brackets. Sure enough the bimetal on the bracket of the front carb had delaminated. I've never seen it before, but it would explain how the mixture would vary. So, new jets, bimetal brackets and gaskets. All parts are now new SU parts. It was much easier to set the carbs after refitting. I guess the proof will be in seeing how she runs after a few hundred miles. Fingers crossed.

By the way, I've found a jet depth of 1.65mm from the bridge seems to fuel perfectly on my car using BBZ needles (The 5% ethanol fuel here seems to need a little richer needle to avoid flat spots at speed).
 
Quick update. I’ve put about 130 miles on the car since the carb work, including some cruising at 70ish mph for 60+ miles. For the first time ever the carbs held a tune and the mixture didn’t rich out.

Of course while I that improved the starter had more incidents of not engaging with the ring gear. It had done it once last year and now started doing it frequently. I pulled the starter today, the Bendix gear was very dry on the helix of the shaft. So I lubricated it with some PTFE dry lube so hopefully it’ll stay free now. I also found the big Ltd holding the motor together and the clamp bolts for the positive battery terminal weren’t as tight as they could be. All feels much better now. Starter engages with much more positive action now.
As an extra discovery, when refitting the inertia starter on a 2000TC remove the strap covering the brushes. It gives you the clearance to lift it into position for refitting. Much easier to put the strap back on when the starter is in place.
 
So, I have some spare time at the moment. I refilled the current gearbox with oil a couple of weeks ago and now most of it has left the building so to speak.

I’d rebuilt a spare box a while ago and thought ‘time to follow @harveyp6 method to pull the box without removing the engine’ (I’ve been waiting years to try it!).

This morning I put the front up on ramps and jacked the back up on axle stands. I have plenty of room under the car.

I remove everything ready to get the engine tilted and box off. A few things I noticed curtesy of being both a NADA and a LHD model.
(1) Unbolt remote brake fluid reservoir (thanks @Demetris for the pointer)
(2) Remove dissy cap. The front brake servo (NADAS have two because Rover apparently) will foul the dissy cap as the engine tilts.
(3) Remove fan, it’s a six blades jobbie so you can’t make it horizontal like the four blades ones.

All went well, got to the point of pulling and rotating box to clear the transmission tunnel. Still couldn’t remove it. Remembered that I have the Mk.II Golf mounts and they might not flex enough. Loosened the bolts and the mounting bolts. Still no luck. Put jack under front of sump, engine tilted a little bit also lifted so no luck again.

Next step is to put up the engine hoist to lift the engine a little and remove the engine mount bolts completely. Of course car is immobile in one car garage facing in, engine hoist is dismantled in basement. So I’ve carried the parts up and carefully brought them past the car so as not to damage it.

Remind me, why do I like this hobby again? Hey ho....
 

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Hi Steven,
When i removed the gearbox from below, the engine still had the original mountings.
But i doubt that the engine mountings is your problem. I suppose that you have tilted the engine as far as it will go, with just touching somewhere.
Mine came out like this but with a struggle, with the gearbox scraping heavily the tunnel. Getting it back again was more of a pain, always fearing that i was putting too much stress on the input shaft.
Since you are going to use the hoist and remove the engine mountings, in my opinion you should pull the lot out as one unit. There is no point in struggling from underneath.
Perhaps in RHD cars, you can tilt the engine more, so it is easier.
 
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I really really feel your pain. Be careful under there !
Maybe radiator removal and a shuffle forward will help ? It all looks very tight.
 
I don't know anything about the four cylinder cars, but I tried a suggestion made elsewhere on here by cobraboy, and removed the bonnet slam panel in my 3500. With the radiator, slam panel and braces out of the way my V8 slips in and out of the engine bay easily, and hangs much lower from the hoist. I can leave the exhaust manifolds attached to the heads, need only to lift the sump above the front crossmember, and can roll the low-slung engine and gearbox together in and out of the car with very little hassle. Granted, it is a whole load more work, and the modification means the car is then no longer 'stock', but it is a lot less tricky to do work on the motor or in the engine bay thereafter.
 
@cobraboy theres about 4” of space to move the engine forward without removing the rad. So I think I’ll be ok, I should be able to lift the engine and tilt more with it off the mountings. The gearbox is really close to being free. Don’t worry, I’ve got a strong sense of self preservation under there!

@Demetris yep, I think it’s the extra servo screwing things up for me. It’s just too tight on a nada engine bay.

@mrtask the four cylinder cars don’t have the removable slam panel unfortunately. As Demetrius says, I’m so close I could probably just pull the engine at this point. Having said that I’d need to remove the servos and drain the brakes too. Hence trying the partial removal.
 
Sdibbers, I suspect the reason you love this hobby is because you just know you're going to end up removing absolutely everything else to get at the bit you want. :rolleyes: I hope you manage to complete this repair without it snowballing into a total strip down.
 
Sdibbers, I suspect the reason you love this hobby is because you just know you're going to end up removing absolutely everything else to get at the bit you want. :rolleyes: I hope you manage to complete this repair without it snowballing into a total strip down.
No promises Alisdair!
 
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@cobraboy theres about 4” of space to move the engine forward without removing the rad. So I think I’ll be ok, I should be able to lift the engine and tilt more with it off the mountings. The gearbox is really close to being free. Don’t worry, I’ve got a strong sense of self preservation under there!

@Demetris yep, I think it’s the extra servo screwing things up for me. It’s just too tight on a nada engine bay.

@mrtask the four cylinder cars don’t have the removable slam panel unfortunately. As Demetrius says, I’m so close I could probably just pull the engine at this point. Having said that I’d need to remove the servos and drain the brakes too. Hence trying the partial removal.
I would put a strong bit of ply or card over the rad, engines and radiators don’t mix.
 
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