Engine worries

Tues.23.05.06. As I was speaking to Richard this morning the eventful day that took Chris and I over the Pennines in March, to acquire the new chassis, came flooding back like an Indonesian mudslide. Luckily, we did persist buying our present chassis, which in fact has turned out to be an integral component of the project. At the time, the sight of Richard in his well worn, oil stained pin stripe suit, his scrap collection of dead motors, creaking suspension units, rusting springs, tired engines, sagging seats, seized dynamos, oxidised carburettors and manifolds, along with his mysterious, inbred, Goth sister combined with his promises of ‘mint parts’ had previously filled us with genuine doubt and disappointment. Our expectations of an orderly, tidy parts department could not have been further from the truth, yet in hindsight there were bargains to be had, but the journey, the location of the yard and the slightly crazed Richard had all taken their toll. The route back to Lancashire had warmly beckoned; the hope that the chassis was as original as Richard claimed was the only redeemable thought that had kept us going.

Richard sounded like his usual cheerful and confident self. He has a totally re-built, brand new GT6 engine and overdrive box for £400, an assortment of 1300 and 1500 Spitfire engines from £200 to £350 with or without ancillary components. Wouldn’t I just love to believe him, drop in the straight six and woosh off down the road. He still might be worth a visit for the odd bits that are either overpriced or no better from Rimmers or the Chorley sheepdips. 

Today has been another frustrating attempt regarding the advancement of the project, even with consummate endeavour little or no progress has been achieved. In reality, beginning to clean major items such as the differential and suspension units is another phase in the development of the project. It indicates that the body panels, tub and chassis are almost completed ready to be signed off; they can be sent off to be painted then powder coated. Whilst away, all the major units can be re-built, made ready waiting to be attached to the vehicle on its’ return. On a visit to Slicks, later in the day, I recovered the engine block, which we believe will not match up to the head for reasons that shall be explained. After several years of running the car I decided that I needed more BHP so I changed the original head with a Triumph 1300 TC replacement. From that moment I suffered overheating problems. Several water pumps and cylinder head gaskets later the fault remained. Once the car exceeded 30 MPH the temperature gauge would rise steeply. It really pissed me off as I could not use the car as intended, ‘a fun sports car’. This reinforces the message ‘if it’s not broke don’t fix it. By trying to ‘fix it’ I had ‘buggered it’.

Chris and Colin, at first, suspected that without a header tank there would never be enough water in the system, promoting intermittent over heating. Recently, however, Colin noticed that the water ports on the head did not match the gasket. One, if not more, had been blanked off and restricted the flow of water around the block. On closer investigation at Westmead this proved to be the case, this basic fault appears to have been the main reason for the niggling problem. Neither the block nor the head is of any use to us. Richard, suddenly, becomes a definite contender as a possible source for a new engine; he is another who may crawl out of the fuck off bin.