Getting back on the road

harveyp6 said:
Too much brake fluid mate, but nevermind you're in recovery now....... :LOL:
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That explains the flat bed truck outside!

Car back together and running smooth as silk. But of a loud tappet (all in spec so not sure why). But smooth, quiet and happy. Found myself hitting 90 on the test drive (oops!) as it was so quiet and smooth at speed. Worth the pain of getting the tappets right. Even though I now hate adjusting them on the four banger with a passion!
 
I was having trouble getting the idle and throttle response dialled in after the valve spring and tappets work.

After a while I zeroed in on the vacuum hoses going to the two servos. Sure enough, when I pulled the line from the intake manifold and plugged the nipple the idle settled down nicely and the exhaust note went to being nice and regular.

Fortunately, my local motor factors had the 11/32” (8.7mm) I.D. servo hose in stock. So I got 2 feet of the stuff. The old hoses just fell away, the new was quite hard to fit. Started the car and it felt much better. I think all those times taking it off and on plus age had taken their toll
 
After getting a few hundred miles it was time to dial in the tappet clearances. Not too far out (maybe 0.001” tight on a couple as expected). A little tappet noise now, but normally that’ll go after a couple of hundred more miles. Idle is so smooth I thought I’d stalled once!

This is all good prep for running in the Preservation Class at Lime Rock with the VSCCA. It feels very smooth all the way up the rev range (could only hit 5200rpm in third due to traffic, but she was still pulling well). So fingers crossed we are onto a winner!
 
Well, I did something silly last night. Leaving work I ran over a bit of sheet metal that flipped up and broke the clutch hydraulic line into the slave. Sort of a freak thing really.

I was able to limp back across the car park and then take off the plastic line. Sure enough, the metal end with the fitting had snapped. Fortunately I have a lathe and a spare bit of 10mm steel rod in the shop.

I carefully shaved the plastic tubing from the remaining steel insert still in the pipe. Took it out and measured its O.D. and I.D. Plus the size and shape of the two barbs.

A bit of time on the lathe and I ended up with this.
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After a ‘Doh!’ Moment:

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I put it together with the fitting the right way around (in my defence, I was under the weather and it had already been a long day). I ended up with this:
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I was able to refit the line and stole some DOT 4 from a friend. One hour later I was back on the road.
 
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In other news, I can report the Hardi 4412 fuel pump wasn’t man enough for the job. It’s rated at 100 l/hr flow and 3psi. I had noticed since fitting that I was getting hesitation near the top of the steep incline of the Palisades Parkway (normally happy at motorway speeds there despite the steep mile long uphill stretch). I measured fuel pressure this morning and it showed 2.7psi and I’d previously measured free flow at 90-100 l/hr. Then I reconnected the mechanical fuel pump and used the priming lever to build pressure. Sure enough, 4psi. US model cars have fuel return line (not sure if four cylinder UK cars do too?). If tried blanking that off, same issue. So with the mechanical pump I’ll have to run the hill again soon, but I think it’ll be better.
 
sdibbers said:
Well, I did something silly last night. Leaving work I ran over a bit of sheet metal that flipped up and broke the clutch hydraulic line into the slave. Sort of a freak thing really.

I was able to limp back across the car park and then take off the plastic line. Sure enough, the metal end with the fitting had snapped. Fortunately I have a lathe and a spare bit of 10mm steel rod in the shop.

I carefully shaved the plastic tubing from the remaining steel insert still in the pipe. Took it out and measured its O.D. and I.D. Plus the size and shape of the two barbs.

A bit of time on the lathe and I ended up with this.
View attachment 27410

After a ‘Doh!’ Moment:

View attachment 27411

I put it together with the fitting the right way around (in my defence, I was under the weather and it had already been a long day). I ended up with this:
View attachment 27412

I was able to refit the line and stole some DOT 4 from a friend. One hour later I was back on the road.
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How did you sweat the pipe back on the new fitting, boiling water, hot air gun, flame ?

I have never had much luck getting a plastic pipe back on a fitting.
 
Clamp pipe vertically in a vice with just enough above the jaws for the fitting to go in.

Gently warm pipe end with heat gun, but not so much that it feels flexible.

Then push the fitting into the pipe until the barbs reach the pipe.

Then, holding the fitting and the pipe as close to vertical as you can with your fingers tap with a hammer squarely on the face of the flare. It’ll move down into the pipe until the shoulder seats at the end of the pipe.

I did smear a drop of loctite 680 retaining compound around the shaft of the fitting before hand to be sure of a seal.

But, 50+ miles later no leaks and a perfectly functional clutch.
I did a rough sketch of the fitting and will draw It up for reference.
 
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Ever get the feeling you put car is a vindictive bitch (excuse the French, it’s been a trying day). I drove the car to work today, pulled fine but idle felt off. Ever since I replaced the valve springs and tappets it’s had a louder than wanted tappet noise. I’ve check the clearances and they’re spot on.

I pull up on the drive and she starts running on two cylinders. Look at the fuel pump bowl and it’s barely moving anything. I have a newly rebuilt pump on my desk at work. A pain but not awful.

While I’m looking at things the front bumper over rider falls off! You can’t make this up. Then I shut the drivers door and the head of the drivers door mirror does the same thing! Not sure if I just live in a bad 1970’s BBC sitcom or if I should take up needlepoint….

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Oh you made me laugh, just what I needed, I am leaving for surgery on my hand in a couple of hours.

Well, if you feel up to it I could do with a new quilt, it is getting chillier here.

PS

Perhaps think again about doing any track stuff just at the moment :D
 
I think that Beryl is trying to show you how to shed some weight for the track days, and stop spending time on irrelevant stuff. A race car doesn't necessarily need a smooth idle. Also if you had already moved the battery to the boot, the access to the fuel pump would have been significantly better. Set your priorities right! :p
 
Rebuilt fuel pump fitted, mixture set on both carbs with jets 1.85mm below bridge. Idles perfectly again. All that chasing of mixture and clean idle down to:

(1) An electric pump with inadequate pressure.
(2) Original failing mechanical fuel pump. You could see fuel draining from it when you stopped the engine!

I had a spare pump on the shelf that needed a rebuild, I did that last week (talk about timing!). When I fitted the new check valves I’d turned a brass drift to push them in place in their seats against their gaskets. I then peened the seats to hold them. On top of that I read up on Loctite’s 680 retaining compound and its petrol resistance, it seems to be excellent, so I put a drop on the edge of each valve body as a belts and braces fix.

First observation is that the bowl stays full, there’s no foaming when you rev the engine and it seems to be keeping up with demand.

I have researched Hardi’s other electric offerings and it looks like their 9912 model has the correct 4psi required. One note: the 9912M pump is for MGB’s and has a lower 2.7psi, the same as the one I originally used. I now know that isn’t up to the job.
 
Did someone here previously mention flow rate ? #674........:rolleyes:


:)

Just having fun, things change, new problems develop, just to keep you on your toes.

Anyway four missing overriders = minus 0.0000003 seconds round Lime Rock.

De bumper her ? inspectorate allow it ?
 
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cobraboy said:
Did someone here previously mention flow rate ? #674........:rolleyes:


:)

Just having fun, things change, new problems develop, just to keep you on your toes.

Anyway four missing overriders = minus 0.0000003 seconds round Lime Rock.

De bumper her ? inspectorate allow it ?
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I think I could get away with no bumpers. But two things stop me. My parking and, even worse, New Jerseyian’s parking abilities. I do like how a P6 sans bumpers looks though.
 
cobraboy said:
Did someone here previously mention flow rate ? #674........:rolleyes:
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I think it was an issue with pressure as well as flow rate. The fuel lines are quite narrow, plus the NADA cars have a fuel return. Both of those robbed flow to the carbs (I noticed I had to run the rear carb quite a bit richer which I now think was due to insufficient feed).
 
I have a small tick at the moment. I’m a little concerned it might be a worn small end bearing (the conrods were used back when I built the engine as a 2200 15 years ago). At the time I didn’t have funds to fit new bearings due to personal circumstances.

Now I’m planning on pulling the conrods and pistons (pistons were new 15 years and 20k miles ago). I also want to do a better job of balancing weights on both pistons and conrods. I will balance conrods by both ends to balance both rotating and reciprocating masses. Pistons will be balanced too.

To that end I’ve sent new main and big end bearings out to be coated by Calico coatings. Their coating has proved to extend bearing life (useful on our mains especially) and protect them if pressure drops.

I’ve also designed and printed a fixture to measure conrod end weights. With testing I’m getting repeatable results within 1 gram. Certainly close enough for me.
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I wasn’t able to find 2200 small and bearings. But I was able to find the longer 2000 small and bearings. These need to be 0.105” shorter at each end. So I made a collet and mandrill so I could turn them down and chamfer the inner edges.
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After some research I’ve found that Ceracote make both a ceramic and moly coating for use on pistons. They can be applied at home with care. So I’m planning on using those too. The ceramic coating on the crown reduces heat build up there. Which lowers the chances of hotspots causing pinking or running on. The moly on the skirts will reduce friction and help piston and bore longevity. Keep tuned for how I get on.
 
Continuing on making stuff for Beryl, I’ve made an adaptor so I can connect the oil pressure gauge capillary tube up be the pressure warning switch. After a lot of exploring I can tell you the oil pressure switch is BSF 3/8-20 thread (talk about a pain finding a tap and die!). The tube fitting is 1/8 NPT. So a piece of ally was turned and machine along with a short length of steel for the nipple. I’ve only had the oil gauge on the dash for a year!
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Nice but, i wonder why you did not connect the capilary directly on the block oil gallery using the already available port?
 
Demetris said:
Nice but, i wonder why you did not connect the capilary directly on the block oil gallery using the already available port?
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I wasn't sure if it was before or after the main bearings in the oil circuit. Because the extra port seems to line up with the feed to the camshaft bearings. Of course I'm probably wrong and I didn't need to make this pretty thing... Hey ho.
 
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