Lord Gruntfuttock's 1971 XY Fairmont

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Torqued up heads, 70 lbs on short bolts and 80 on longer ones, supposed to prevent any head gasket leaks after torquing intake doing it like that. Then removed old intake gaskets, cleaned up surfaces with brakleen, and installed a new thermostat while things were apart.

Then dug out my old bits, I'd labelled the lifters and pushrods so they went back in same place, sadly I'd dated it too, Feb 2017, that's a long time sitting... 

Problem with using polystyrene was bits getting stuck in the pushrod holes, glad I checked...

So cleaned them out before re-installing them, used assembly lube on lifters and top end of pushrod...

And when gubbins were in, ran a bead of sealant on each end of block and insterted intake locating studs..

And a tiny bit of sealant around water passages on gaskets, don't think it's needed but easy to do now...

And a thin smear on underneath of manifold...

And the beads look like the right amount of goo was used...

And assembled, Nice to have things buttoned up...

Setting valves next, quite looking forward to a non-messy job...

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Adjusted valve lash on the weekend, rotated each pushrod till I just felt resistance, then 1/2 turn more and locked them in position. Did the #1 TDC, then 180 deg, then 270 rotate method to do all valves, and went though each cylinder in turn after that rechecking them, seems ok...

Then braced myself for looking at the suspension, that had been removed 3 yrs ago and not looked at since (apart from a half hearted attempt at the driver's side). Wasn't too bad, started by scraping out the passenger side wheel well, nearly 50 yrs of accumulated crud made a greasy mess on the floor, swept it up (filled half a bucket) and cleaned with petrol. All the while cramped up against the wall, wish I'd taken a before pic...

Had no idea where I'd got to on drivers side so rechecked torque, some bolts were tight, some only done up with fingers. Had a bit of trouble finding torque specs but went with:

• Top arm pivot bolts - 90 ft-lbs
• Lower arm pivot - 90 ft-lbs
• Lower arm to strut rod bolts - 65 ft-lbs
• Strut rod to under body bracket - 50 ft-lbs
• Spring saddle to upper arm bolts- 25 ft-lbs
• Ball joint mounting bolts - 30 ft-lbs

And was going to do ball joints to steering knuckle at 80 ft-lbs but the castellated nut screwed past the split pin hole before any torque was applied, so I'll need some hardened washer spacers, will grab some today...

I went though old pics and set the suspension strut camber eccentrics, and thread lengths approximately where they were on disassembly, will do the same for the steering tie-rods so hopefully it's driveable before I get it aligned properly. So things are clean, upper and lower arms and strut rods in place and almost ready to put the new springs in...

Looking fwd to seeing how these sit...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Got first spring in the other night, but wasn't happy with how it sat so pulled it and rotated it against the anti rotation tab better. Bloody easy job using the old impact driver on the spring compressors...

And sitting much better...

And torqued up the ball joints, needed a hardened washer to space the split pin correctly in the castellated nut. Also did some research on which way to align the pin, such a Barry-argument minefield. Turns out this way is the one used by the aviation industry (as opposed to bending them round the side of the nut), plus it is easier when there are clearance issues, but really doesn't make too much difference...

And driver's side done, and new shock in, also torqued and pinned suspension rod arms etc. This is the easy side as the other one is against the shed wall...

Discovered the new tie-rods weren't painted so painted them black like all other suspension bits, will install them tomorrow...

And I'm over the cheap fittings that come with supplied gear, spring washers chewed out at only around 25 ft-lbs. replaced them with decent stainless ones...

And installed new rotors. I'd packed the bearings 3 yrs ago but that had gone hard, so cleaned them out with solvent and repacked them. I'm not fitting the brake pads yet as I have to push the car into the other shed and new pads will probably rub. I just loosely bolted the calipers in position till it's moved...

And repeated the job on the other side, all went ok but the rotor is rubbing on the dust shield so I'll pull it tomorrow and bend the shield back into place...

So a big day, and frustratingly short of getting it mobile, should get there tomorrow though...

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Up early to get some niggling things done, quite nice ticking things off...

and a few things to tidy up, but she's on 4 wheels for the first time in 3 years...

Still got a noise from the dust shield to sort, brakes to install properly, and steering tie rods to align but that can wait till it's in the other shed. Plan is to put this in house garage and shift the bikes out to my man-shed, might even get a couch out there if space allows, will be next weekends job...

Will need some manpower to shift it, but the other garage has a large concrete driveway so will be easier to fill the big hole in the engine bay using the crane.

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Moved my OS car over the weekend. Not under it's own power of course...

Got it here on my own till I needed assistance...

To push into its new home, slope of drive was too much... 

And there's a gap in the man shed now I will fill with tools/bikes and maybe a sofa. Be nice to able to walk in here now without climbing over stuff

So nearly ready to install engine again. Next step is finding all the bits and pieces (crossmember, bolts, engine mounts etc) and putting trans together for mating up...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Sorted out a lot of bits I need for the next stages, good to find most of them and get things sorted. Crawled under the back end for a look at the leaky diff...

I know the brake lines need replaced, that'll happen as soon as the wheel alignment is done. Also dragged the trans into the garage and inspected it, noticed the rear mount was perished so ordered another one, pretty common item, carried in SCA and Repco...

And pulled the diff cover off for a cleanup. Needs cleaned, painted and dents taken out of rim...

After wire brushing the cover, bolts and drain plug, I just brush painted everything with durepox, came out ok really with a thick mix, will trade again, easier than setting up the spray gun...

So I'll put that together and fit new front seal when things are dry...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Loving it in the new garage, gets beaut sun in the morning, so encouraging to get into things...

Put the cover back on the diff, still got pinion seal to install...

And wheeled trans out in the sun, dropped the pan and uh-oh. Sort of expected some debris, but not a loose bolt...?

Pretty sure it came from here after googling images of C4's...

So carried on replacing filter, forgot about the spring and plunger under it but caught them ok...

and cleaned things up and replaced that bolt...

Shiny new bits to fix the leaky pan, sweet...

And cos the alloy pan is deeper you need a deep pan filter. Nice thick reusable gasket...

I did measure things, but looks right...

Was about here a duck turned up to help...

And done...

Fitted a new mount as well...

So trans should be good to go, there was a bit of gunk and a few metal shavings that bothered me, but as it costs a couple of grand to get a trans refurbished I'll just hope a new filter and fresh fluid will be ok. Never had any issues (apart from blowing a torque converter during a burnout) and interweb consensus is bits in the pan are normal, so we'll see...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Forgot a shifter linkage bracket bolted up to the trans pan. The original had an L shaped spacer plate on the thin steel pan...

I won't need that with the thicker alloy flange, but the bracket fouled the welds on the alloy pan, so I filed some off it...

And fits ok...

It looked heaps thicker and I was worried it would throw the alignment out, but was only 3mm more than the original so should be fine...

And realised I'd left the engine plate and flywheel off, so lifted it off the stand, was happy to do this as I'd forgotten to grease the tube and it was a bastard to rotate...

And scrubbed the surface rust off the plate...

And it cleaned up nice...

So flywheel and plate back on, pretty much ready to mate up to trans when things are torqued up...

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Day off and sun out, so time to do shit. Wheeled everything outside...

Gratuitous topless Putin-spec manly man pic lining things up... 

And engine - trans mated up easily after seating the torque converter, good to go...

Doing this on my own cos every other bugger at work, was going ok but the engine was tilted siideways and was causing max frustration. Also thought it'd be a good idea to have the trans cross member installed, it really wasn't...

So pulled it again, removed cross member and realigned the chains for better balance...

And with a rolling jack supporting the rear of the trans it pretty much slotted straight in...

So much room with no headers/radiator etc...

So a well deserved beer and ice cream...

Really pleased to get this done, was a bugger as had to run around after kids today and beer fest tomorrow, so if I hadn't got this done it would have been another couple of weeks probably. A real milestone... 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

And sits higher than I thought it would at the front, but still a bit of weight to add, and I think new springs settle a bit...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Some other little bits and pieces. Deeper new trans pan meant I had to make a new support jig to fit on my bike lift...

Cut reliefs where needed and weight of trans is taken by bolts around rim. Made it a doddle to mate up to engine...

And the old bearing caps had been bashed to bits, so looked at a way of fitting new ones...

Big washer that was a snug fit and a plumbing fitting, BOSH with a hammer...

And done...

And the kickdown operating lever had got bent when I pulled the motor with the cable connected, so now it fouled against the engine...

I really wish I'd remembered this before I put the motor in, as it is a complete bastard to wriggle out and in again. Finally got it out, and thought it'd be a simple job to bend back into shape, but oops...

And tricky not knowing where it should sit to weld back on, but found this diagram which helped...

And a bit of hot glue at lunchtime today...

And is nearly right. After struggling to get it in it needs a slight tweak to be in the right place, so will pull it out again, give it a nudge and a bit of paint before bolting all the brackets etc back in that I had to remove to get it out. Would have been so easy with an empty engine bay, that was there for 3 years... 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Painted it yesterday, you can see how it's a bastard to get in being so long, have to slide it in behind engine and it hits the steering column once you wriggle it past all the other bits. Big screwdriver levers it past that, then some contortions and it's in...

And it swings freely without hitting the engine block now...

Throttle closed...

Throttle open, pulls the kickdown lever forward at full noise, just gotta fiddle the cable adjuster length to set it right...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Busy weekend but got under car and sorted a few things, torqued and pinned cross member bolts, installed shift linkages, kickdown cable and speedo drive...

And looked at headers, Pacemaker Tri-Ys needed a clean up...

Just rubbed down with scotchbrite and cleaned with degreaser...

And bombed with VHT flameproof header paint...

So at the stage now of just bolting things on, should be able to do a bit most days... 

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Was away all weekend but ticking jobs off slowly. Installed headers, LHS was a piece of piss, RHS not so much. Had to snake them past the trans cooling lines, steering box, trans selector linkage etc, wrapped them in cloth to protect soft paint as much as possible before they're cured by heat (also kept most of the copper anti seize off them) and bolted up exhaust flanges...

Also fitted trans filler tube (new o-ring and a smear of Permatex non-hardening above it), main pulley, starter motor, fuel pump, accessory brackets and found the missing engine mount bolt I'd misplaced, looks like I can still get to it so will replace that next time I'm underneath.

[Edit] - replaced it at lunchtime.

Also did a bit of wiring, there's bugger all of it on proper OS cars really, radiator and hoses next while I'm waiting for pinion seal to arrive, getting closer...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

More unexciting updates, looked at the radiator, had it flushed 3 yrs ago but been sitting, so hosed it out in both directions...

And blew the mummified bees out of the fins with compressed air, then sat it in the sun to dry out. Impatient, so blew the hot air gun through it to prep for paint...

A very light coat of engine enamel to make it black again...

And in. Ordered a new lower hose as the old one got squashed in storage and crushed the spring...

And had another go at knocking in the diff pinion seal, used a plumbing fitting and went in nice and straight this time, helped that I'd jacked her up a bit more...

And I had diligently marked the shaft and yoke so things went back together the same way, then just as diligently stripped and painted the yoke, removing all traces. Some forensic examination of old photos showed some distinguishing marks that let me line it up as near as dammit, and torqued it up to bloody heaps...

And re-created my shonky connection to check torque required to spin the wheels...

Came out near exactly same as when I removed it, yesterday's pic...

And 3 years ago. Not an exact science, so surprised it was as close as this tbh...

So assume things are pretty much ok. Thought I may as well pull the old rear trans seal and replace that at the same time...

And used my new seal remover tool, thought it'd pop it out without all the hammering I normally do, but was sealed in pretty tight, so fancy tool just ripped the old seal up. Ended up knocking one side in as per normal to get it out...

So the underneath pretty much ready to go back together when pits arrive Satisfying, if boring tasks ticked off...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Another productive lunch break. Used my supercheap arbor press to install the UJs, went ok but it's not bolted down and things got wobbly, so finished installing them with the big vise and a large socket. Never actually changed universals before...

and cleaned up the trans for it's new seal...

used another plumbing fitting to tap it in, went well. This one has a boot that isn't necessary, but was what they had at SCA...

And I had another look at the pinion seal nut, apparently these are done up to around 260ft-lbs, and as my wrench only goes to 150 I put a big pry bar on and pushed with my foot till it tightened a little more than I could heave it lying under the car. Re-checked the torque req'd to rotate it and is now spot on with what I tested before replacing seal...

And driveshaft is in..

Just gotta tighten the clamp bolts at the diff end and that's most of the awkward underbody stuff done... 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Busy weekend, ripped into it last night instead of drinking beer at the footy, and up at sparrow's this morning to get back into it. Ticked off all the little bits and pieces like diff oil, draining the tank of old fuel, torqueing water pump up, rechecking cyl head/intake/sump torque, connecting trans selector rod/kickdown cable, installing dizzy and plug leads, torquing and pinning steering tie rods etc. And after filling with fluids was ready to go...

Apart from the brakes I'd forgotten about, so jacked her back up and installed the new pads...

Then a quick spin to get the oil pump primed, plugs in, and it started damn near straight away. Was stoked till I noticed the stream of fuel pissing out of the secondary bowl...

Thought it was dried out seals but after a tighten and starting again it was obviously the blanking plug that was leaking...? Did some research and apparently theres an o-ring behind these, or they just come loose, and you can't do much about it apart from trying to peen it back to stem the leak, or drill and tap it to accept a taper plug. Easier to replace the bowl, so ordered one, but a bodgy fix is to JB weld it, so cleaned it up as prep...

And applied some goo...

This should let me give it a burst tomorrow to bed in the rings and cure the header paint anyway...

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

JB Weld is a miracle, when it hardened to a putty consistency I flattened it out, pushing it under the lip, and looked good (put it on dash of other car in the sun to speed up curing)...

And cranked up good with no fuel spills, ran it 10 minutes to cycle coolant and cure header paint...

And a quick hoon with no bonnet...

No probs apart from some hoses needing tightening, plus the upper arm is pretty close to the tyres, hopefully an alignment will improve this...

And bonnet on and time to wash off 3 years of storage dust and grime...

to Mr Sparkle...

And down the bottly for a celebratory ale...

Another check and nothing amiss, still need to fit air cleaner and fan shroud, plus top up trans fluid...

And deserved I reckon... 

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

So all legal and been using it a bit, seemed to be going all right considering the rough tune, but after I took her out to a car show at Mataura it damn near run out of oil, The catch can was chokka and the plugs were a sooty, oily mess... 

So depressing, immediately thought the worst, I'd somehow coozed the rings (perhaps with a cheeky skid as soon as I got it going). A quick compression check though and all cylinders were around 160psi, not particularly high but was a cold test and were all pretty close...

Then started thinking about what could cause the problem. Valve stem seals kept coming up, particularly as it gave a puff of smoke on startup, but they were damn near new heads. Was gearing up to pull a valve with the heads on for a look when some extra research led me to look at the baffles in the rocker covers. I knew there were baffles there...

This seems like it should protect the PCV valve well from oil splashes, but a theory is the small gaps at the edges create a high velocity draft that pulls oil into the baffle, and the folded ends means oil can pool there, getting sucked into the bottom of the carb. A cotton swab inside the hose at the carb end confirmed oil was getting through...

It was an easy thing to test so started knocking up a bigger, flatter baffle after checking clearances with plasticine... 

And found a bit of suitable scrap...

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

A quick shape and test fit using the 2 screws that held the original baffle in place...

Old baffle placed to indicate it was located between the rockers, plasticine was around 4mm thick here...

And a very thin layer indicated there should be enough clearance, if a bit tight...

So a clean up and it looks like this...

Big plate area blocking oil splash, no folded edges and a large gap around the edge for low velocity air flow...

And loctited the screws in and installed. Hopefully it'll be the end of this sort of thing...

I put my finger on it through the hole while I rotated the engine to feel if there was any contact...

And great success.
Went on a 30km thrash at lunchtime, and where this would have been full previously, there is a smear of oil in the bottom of the can, which could largely be residue from the oil that was already in the separator mesh..

Quietly confident I have sorted it, will see how the plugs look after some more miles...