tortron Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 just have to remember that rod brakes were the norm just a few years prior, there was little traffic on the roads, roads themselves were poor and usually dirt, and speeds were much less. an emergency stop would be 100-200m distance from 40mph, with only a pair of milking cows for spectators 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Oh boy, fuel gauge was acting fairly suspect. was fine before (infact pretty accurate for such an old piece of lucas electrics) brainstorming - gauge probably needs calibration, might have been knocked -wires are probably falling to bits -sender is probably ok, looked ok when i had the tank out and apart tank out - i put a new extra thick foam seal (window seal type stuff for a house i guess) around the tank hole. - I put several nice thick layers of paint on everything - i patted myself on the back for doing such a good job Will make a ground wire somewhere from the tank to the body. Was hoping to go for a drive with my 1/3rd of a tank today too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 note to myself, mazda 323/ford laser valves can be used as replacements for the sidevalve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 Just checked the manual. 50kph is about right for 3rd gear so im probably not down on power, im just running out of road. Ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 Just checked the manual. 50kph is about right for 3rd gear so im probably not down on power, im just running out of road. Ha Try downhill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Got my cylinder head in the shop right now. Should come back minus 0.060", taking compression from 6.5 to circa 7.5 (the old alloy race heads they used to make were produced as 8:1, and recommended that they were machined out to suit your valves and lower comp) The old ads claim a 10% power increase (in the 50's you didnt have to back that up however) So original 27.5hp Shaved Head 30.25hp Going from single to twin carbs and exhaust is estimated to be another 10% on top of that 33hp baby extra rpm is gained too With everything combined i should be expecting a new top speed pushing 80mph and heavily increased acceleration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 You be careful now.... the road is not a playground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 You be careful now.... the road is not a playground. Its all theoretical of course cant even take it on a track as i have no restraints. Will be content to chase down morrie thou's and other slow old cars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Go out baiting grannys for drags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 whipped the head back off it would appear that some loctite (one of the studs had come loose) had made its way out of the hole and onto the block surface. Hopefully thats the problem sorted edit: ordered a new headgasket, figured the old one has been reused a bit much. Getting blowby into the waterways Looks like all the pistons are 1mm over size (little surprised to see it in metric, the last ones i saw were in thou's) So, that takes my 918cc up to 950cc. Thats getting into morry thou territory. Bores look nice, no damage or noticable wear, breathes pretty heavily tho. Will start saving up my money for a rering, or bore out to +060", new valve stemseals and oversize exhaust valves. Heres hoping this gasket sorts it, if not im so done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cute wee gem Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Tried some copper gasket spray? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 15, 2014 Share Posted May 15, 2014 Tried some copper gasket spray? Nah, the old gaskets have obviously been on and off a few too many times. Really was time for a new one. Over night delivery and i have a new one to go on for not much more than a can of gasket spray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 New gasket on and seems to seal up well. Now its just being a pain and not starting up can get it running for about a second or 2 but thats about it. I resoldered up the fuel line the other day (filled it with water incase it may explode on me) so i figured there may have been some left in there. flushed the line out with fresh fuel and emptied the carb bowl. Now i see the battery is flat, so am waiting on it charging before i try again. getting good/same spark as before, leads are all correct, dizzy only goes in 1 way. checked the compression (cold, plugs out, WOT) all are about 110psi (fresh rebuild on a 918 sidevalve, hot, would give maybe 130 max so that seems pretty good) If i still cant get it going il swap the standard head back on and see what happens. Cant imagine the higher comp head is casing it tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 sweet, fired up just now quite happily. had left the distributor upside down and a small amount of oil had leaked inside. so cleaned that up flushed the carb out with fresh fuel incase there was water contamination, let it dry and refilled charged the battery, must have run it pretty low. will fully reassemble tomorrow and give it a few tests, will be interesting to see if iv gained much performance. Probably should have lapped the valves back in while i was there. Will also recheck the compression when hot to get an idea of how tired this thing is, not for any real reason other than interest 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 130psi across all cylinders, negligible difference squirted some oil down the plug holes, got it all over the valves tho, so not very accurate as to rings or valves i suppose 150 psi across all cylinders, not too many percent higher. Went to set the headlamps a few days ago. turns out all the adjustment screws are rounded off and bent. Just replaced them all with stainless cap screws. Lush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo999 Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Have you ever checked the cam timing on this? I drove one of these as my first car and when we pulled the motor down for a rebuild once, and checked thing out we noticed the cam timing was out by a tooth. This was due to it being assembled like most engines with the dots on the gears lining up. However those dots were actually supposed to line up with marks on the original timing chain. It turns out that most after market chains had no markings so cam timing was wrong. However correct procedure was detailed in the manual - checking valve opening WRT to TDC or some such thing? After correcting it had a lot more power (second gear up a certain hill where previously could only manage first!) Love what you are doing with it. cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 yea i checked it when i had the crank pull out. Its slow, but not unusually so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo999 Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Cool, I seem to remember our one happily cruising at 50-55MPH, (Lived 10 Miles out of town so it got a good run every day) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Yea this one would push 60 (im guessing, the speedo needle waves as much as any minor) Iv only taken it up and down out block roads which have speed islands errywhere. No doubt itl get up to speed once im on the open road, im not really getting it out of 3rd around here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortron Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 The 3rd gear flatspot is quite noticeable now, however it seems if you just give it some welly up till 4th everything is gravy Acceleration is still laughable in modern traffic, but given an extra second or 2 i can keep up. So much difference than driving the commer, its almost silent (except for the exhaust out the back) and there are no vibrations. The steering wheel doesnt even wobble around. i dont think i like this modern motoring 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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