This time following the exercise of refitting of the head after replacing the broken valve spring and installing a new inlet and exhaust valve I seemed to have reduced the amount of oil which has been dropping on the ground. I am much happier.
The engine started and ran without any drama whatsoever after my posting of the 23rd of June. However I still had a couple of oil leaks one of which I traced back to the o-ring beneath the distributor which had, upon examination, gone hard and cracked. Perhaps it had been there since the car was built in 1975! A replacement was purchased locally for just a few cents/pence.
I traced the second oil leak to the rear of the head gasket for it was dripping down onto the gearbox adaptor ring. I am really rueing the day I had those fine copper o-rings installed in the block when it was reconditioned over 20 years ago. They were fitted following the success another local Dolomite Sprint owner had following his attempts to get his head to sit down and seal correctly on the block. Perhaps the head gaskets available back then did not perform as well as those we are fitting now. You can see these fine copper o-rings here
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20120118-2727Ptw Sprint block showing copper o-rings.jpg [ 145.35 KiB | Viewed 2502 times ]
which are supposed to cause a little bit more “crush” in the head gasket itself. However in my case they also make it difficult to pull the head down and seal it across the face of the block and the head above it and I have found that with the latest head gasket, which came from Rimmers, that I have had to change the head tightening sequence for the head has been “rocking” on these o-rings and not sealing properly across both faces. I followed the pattern of tightening, starting with the centre head stud and working outwards followed by the head bolts and that did not seal correctly. So I have had to tighten all the head bolts and studs in a sequence starting at the front head bolt (adjacent to number one piston) and working back towards the back head bolt and then tightening the studs in the same sequence. I have then slackened them all off and repeated the exercise starting at the back head bolt and working towards the front. Five hundred miles from now when the head has had a chance to settle I shall retorque the head down but in the accepted manner starting from the centre head stud and working out and see if that has fixed the oil leaks.
I have taken the opportunity while the subframe was out of the car to fit some poly steering rack mounting bushes, for it was an easy task to do when I lifted the engine off to put in the engine stand. The steering feels much more positive.
I seem too, to have reduced the oil leaks in the vicinity of the gearbox. The leaks were coming from the o-ring seals on the gear selector push rods. They have been replaced with new ½ inch imperial sized o-rings rather than the close 13mm equivalents I was sold earlier.
Henk, in his recent thread, removing engine and gearbox
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25409&p=243591&hili ... ox#p243591 asked about the various methods of removing the gearbox off the back of the engine while it was still in the car. I refrained from making comments on that thread for I have offered my comment on this thread before about the ease of dropping the whole subframe assembly out of the bottom of the car and then working on the engine and or the gearbox in the open. I am, like Jonners, too old to try and fight fitting a gearbox in from below whilst the engine remains in the car, and the thought of trying to unbolt and lift the engine and gearbox assembly up through the bonnet opening does not appeal to me either.
I can report though that if you do try to drop the whole subframe assembly out through the bottom of the car it is not even necessary to remove the radiator although it is necessary to slacken the alternator and swing it past the bottom radiator hose connection as the body is lifted up or as the body is relowered back onto the subframe.
I still have one significant task to do and that is to recondition the rear axle assembly for there is a noticeable whine from the wheel bearings. That task can wait until our spring arrives. I also have a leak from the rear carburettor and it seems to be coming from around the gasket on the top of the float chamber. I shall attend to that shortly.
Finally, as a bit of a distraction from car matters I took the week off last week and headed south to the Lake Ohau region to do some work around one of the houses in the Alpine Village. The Southern Alps were resplendent in their winter coating of snow. Here then a couple more photos to tease Ian a little.
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20130711-4272Ptw2.28 Hopkins river valley from across Lake Ohau.jpg [ 138.22 KiB | Viewed 2502 times ]
This picture was taken just after dawn watching the sun rise on the peaks.
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20130711-4291Ptw2.28 Mt Cook from Ohau skifield road.jpg [ 125.43 KiB | Viewed 2502 times ]
This picture was taken later in the morning looking up the head of the lake to the high peaks of the Southern Alps in the background.
I hope I will not have a reason to put up another post until I have covered a few more miles and and can then report that everything is fine. Fingers crossed as they say!!
Robert