Hi Kids,
You may remember me posting a message a day or so ago about my 76 B which
had given itself an oil bath. To recap, a week ago, I had twin SUs fitted to
replace the single down draft Weber a PO had fitted. At the same time, a PCV
valve was fitted (there wasn't one before) and she got an oil change. I
drove her home...followed by a plume of smoke. The PCV valve was blamed. I
took the rubber hose off the crankcase vent and plugged it with a bolt,
leaving the crankcase to vent to the atmosphere as it did before - no more
smoke. I took her for a vigorous drive on Saturday night, and on Sunday
found the engine covered in oil. Much upset and gnashing of teeth. Little
did I know.
The little red B(east) is with the mechanic as I type. During the tune up
she received while getting the new carbs, she was compression tested at 135
lb in all cylinders. Rather pleasing as when I bought her two months ago,
the readings were 120. I obviously drive her a bit harder than the DPO and
have cleaned her out a bit. Anyway, she was compression tested again today,
and the pressure in number 2 is 30 lb (that's right, thirty)! I rate that as
a dramatic drop in compression. Hell, a piston without rings could pump out
that much.
Something in number 2 cylinder has let go. Rings? Piston? We wont know until
we pull the head off.
And the really annoying thing is that it runs nicely, but you can hear it
puffing into the crankcase.
Guess what - I can't afford to do anything to the car.
I guess, theoretically, I should get the head lifted, find out what the
problem is, then decide what to do. Shouldn't I. However, as I can't afford
to do anything at the moment, I'll be driving her home and parking her for
awhile.
Now, assuming it's just crook rings, we could pull the head, whip off the
sump and bung some new rings into her, even a piston if needed. That would
get her mobile, if it's all that's needed (let's not think about bloody
great grooves in the cylinder). That would cost me about $1,000 (I'm in Oz
so you American's can climb back onto your chairs) and I'd have a tired
motor with some fresh hardware inside.
Now, I do have a motorcycle which I was supposed to sell to pay for the car.
If I sell that now, I will actually have enough cash to have the motor fully
rebuilt, and hotted up a bit to boot - about $3,500. So guess what I'll be
doing. Anyone want to buy a BMW K100 RS?
And the interesting question is: What caused the loss off compression?
IT WAS NOT MY DRIVING!!!!!!!!!
Well, actually, it probably was, even though she wasn't getting thrashed.
The current theory (bearing in mind we haven't opened her up to see) is that
the DPO just puttered around - I know that for a fact, and that the DPO
commuted every day into the city. The engine was well and truly carboned up.
After a week of my ownership, the engine was running a lot smoother, revving
better and idling better - obviously I drove the car a bit harder and
cleaned it out. The suspicion is that the new oil, plus a vigorous drive,
cleaned her out good an proper and something has let go.
But who knows. I'm guessing and I will be until I get the money to pull the
head off - yeah, I could do it myself but then I'd have to put it back on
again to drive her to the workshop to get whatever is broken fixed.
I'm pissed off. I'm disappointed. I'm taking it out on you kind souls on the
MG list (thanks for reading guys). Sheesh. When I started looking at cars,
my wife told me I had to get the car checked out properly by a mechanic
before buying it. I did - the first time ever. It checked out fine. Now, two
months later, she's putting her hand up for a new motor - well, I was going
to put a hot motor in anyway, but not this &^%$# year.
At least I'm not stranded. I'll just go back to driving the Tarago around
everywhere. Yippee.
Cheers
Richard
'76 MG B
Every silver lining has a dirty great big black cloud wrapped around it.
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Anne and Richard Spurling
hobbes@senet.com.au
http://www.geocities.com/twisted-lines
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