OCC 469 - restoring & running a "sharkstooth" 2000

Maybe you are not having the correct distributor for this engine, that gives a lot more than the required advance at the higher revs.
As these distributors were fitted to a variety of engines, swaping for "whatever" after all those years shouldn't be a surprise.
I remember another forum member that found out that his Rover 4 pot was fitted with a morris minor distributor among others (The previous owner used to service it in a "Morris Minor Centre")!
I cannot really comment on the little end hypothesis, but i can't imagine the valve springs creating problems in this engine.
 
I found that my 2000 pinked horrendously, as I wasn't getting the vacuum advance I was meant to. I put an electronic distributor in mine, in the end, and it eradicated the problem! :)
 
Not too much to report on the mechanical side recently. I haven't managed to sort the rattling yet; in fact local P6ers think it's either worn springs or little ends (about the only things I haven't renewed...). Apart from this, the car is a real pleasure to drive, so I'll get it sorted over winter. I did have another knocking at the back which became evident when it failed its MOT :(. However, it was pretty simple to fix as the drive shaft had shed a few bolts... Keen spotters will have noticed the tubular drive shaft - I still need a replacement early shaft on this side, so if you know of one, please get in touch!

I've made no progress with the paintwork this year, so that's another job for next year (again).

I still love the look of it, despite its deficiencies :)
 

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OCC has not changed of late in the bodywork department.
Thanks guys!

This year's project will be to get the replacement doors sprayed (again) & put on. I'll keep the originals though, just in case I ever want to repair them.

I have booked OCC into the P6ROC national at Castle Howard & no doubt it will still be in its 'rat look' then :cool:
 
Just to note that I have now got both outer sills on. I had made up repair sections on the passenger side when I did it several years ago, so had to drill out some holes underneath & file them square to fit the correct plastic inserts in :D. When I came to do the driver's side, I saw sense & got a pattern part...

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There was also this sticker on the dashboard for my fellow anoraks - have you seen one before?

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Not much to report on the 2000 at the moment. Upon returning from a ride around the locality a few weeks ago, it suddenly decided not to let me change gear, so I suspect a master or slave cylinder seal.

Next job on the list after BOP has had its rear suspension refitted!
 
I replaced the clutch slave cylinder with a new one - still no joy because the master cylinder was leaking too! Fortunately I had a seal kit to hand & sorted it reasonably quickly. However, getting the clutch to work was somewhat difficult :(. The manual (& experience) says that a 4 cyl's slave cylinder can be better bled if you unbolt it & hold it so the bleed screw is at pointing upwards. After air bubbles stopped coming out during normal bleeding, I tried this technique & straight away another lot of bubbles came through. But the end result was a very quick fix & the clutch is excellent now :D

On another matter, whilst doing some little jobs, I may have made some progress on this one:

I'm still stuck with the 'pinking' problem though. I'm assured that it isn't actually pinking at all but it still sounds very much like it at higher speeds/revs. When you get above say 50 mph, there is a knocking sound which gets marginally worse when the engine is warm.... What do you guys think it is likely to be? I'm not keen on doing one & then finding it's the other...

As it's pouring down at the moment I'll report over the next day or two, but I decided to fix the petrol reserve tap. I've run with the reserve switch pulled out since the car's been on the road, because I knew if I pushed it in, the 'o-ring' would go & fuel would leak out. So I got a new seal & took the tap off the inner wing. What surprised me was that it was actually stuck solid in the 'mid' position (on the left):

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This meant that the flow of fuel has been impeded to a large extent for ever and a day. The holes of the tap should line up:

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In fact, it was like this:

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You can just see the hole! The way the holes are positioned, the straight through normal flow is totally impeded here & it has been relying on a poor reserve flow.

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It was very difficult to blow through, so I'm hoping there has been a fuel starvation problem & it will clear up . We'll soon see - at least the reserve tap can be used properly now & I won't have to carry a spare can in the boot any more! :)
 
Whilst I was on, I've replaced the middle exhaust mounting that you get on these 2000s:

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This has now been replaced with a new one, which is much tighter, so hopefully it will reduce the tendency of the exhaust to knock every now & then.

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Now I must get some more painting done - I said the same this time last year...:rolleyes:
 
Well, well well.... the pinking has been cured! :D Obviously fuel starvation at higher revs.

What do we always say? "Try the simple things first".

Still some clacking from the tappets to do, but the car is mechanically getting there now & accelerates surprisingly well for a 'lowly' 2000SC :cool:
 
Still some clacking from the tappets to do, but the car is mechanically getting there now & accelerates surprisingly well for a 'lowly' 2000SC :cool:

There's no such thing as a lowly SC. I still maintain that they're the best of all the engine options when set up correctly.
 
Still some clacking from the tappets to do....
I have now checked the tappet clearances on all valves & non of them are over the factory spec. In fact most are .001" below the book figure, so if anything the gaps are slightly too small.

So the question is: Why the clacking? It could be the valve springs (which I didn't change when I rebuilt the engine :oops:) but apart from that, I can't think of anything. I intend to run the engine without the cam cover on to see if I can detect where the noise is actually coming from.

Any thoughts would be welcome :cool:
 
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