Engine rebuild?

Fri.27.10.06. Colin arrived very promptly to begin building the engine block. After many exaggerated solemn ‘um and errs’, tedious chin scratching punctuated by the obligatory tooth sucking he concluded that in all his years he had never seen such a badly corroded engine. 

How an engine and crank could have become so strangely rusty, obscenely dirty was beyond belief. “I have dragged wrecks out of farmers fields that died fifty years ago that have had cleaner engines than this!” tutted the thoughtful mechanic. “Rust on a crankshaft is unheard of, the block is filthy inside, the oil ways are blocked with all sorts of gunge and there is even rust on the main bearing shells. This is going to be a big, big, big job trying to rescue this one. It’s going to be at least two days work; not just a few hours as I originally suspected!” Well, fuck me, there’s a surprise.  

Having fulfilled my role of errand boy I returned from my shopping trip with the necessary materials for the day. One can of petrol, one litre of mineral oil plus an assortment of nuts and bolts. The petrol was used as the main cleaning solution for the block, oil ports and crank. 

The oil would act as a temporary sealing plus a lubrication agent; but, the nyloc nuts, washers and bolts will be the means by which the front suspension will be finally assembled. During the course of my trip Colin had begun the task of meticulously cleaning the block together with all the internal components. The oil ways were first unblocked using a variety dental tools, garden wire and string. Once the majority of accumulated dirt, grit, as well as clotted grease had been removed a power hose blew away what ever remained. The corroded faces within the block were returned to their shiny, reflective, polished origins by patient application of wet and dry emery cloth. Colin was most definitely on a mission. The once dull, flat lump of cast metal gleamed as if fresh ‘out of the box’. It may well have been possible that the 1980 build would not have been as thorough, most certainly, not as professional as today’s. There was a collective understanding in the workshop that much of the restriction in the oil ways had been created from the moment the car left the factory, back in 1972. 

This was ignored or simply missed by Les the person responsible for the first rebuild in 1981. There are few mechanics who would have taken so much care and preparation as Colin. I feel confident that the end result will far out way any doubts that I may have had regarding his motives for ‘bigging up’ the job. Such attention to detail is admirable, in particular also very rare, if not impossible to find.        

Unlike Young Danny who has been avoiding my calls all day. The alarm bells are ringing, the seeds of doubt germinating. When I visited Stan Cotton’s workshop to deliver the rear wings past experience should have told me that the place didn’t look up to it. It was a small space, no larger than a double garage, with three cars squeezed into two bays. There were few signs of being ‘tooled up’ with the distinct lack of the necessary specialist equipment for an efficient spray shop. I should have been suspicious when Danny suggested that a new, much more effective method would be to ‘brush on’ the primer, rather than spraying. 

For someone who desperately wants employment but does not return calls indicates that he is either lazy, doesn’t in fact want or cannot do the job, cannot pick up phone messages, or, is literally terrified of the microwaves pulsating within mobile phones or, possibly cannot speak English. These questions will be answered on Monday.