Well, my longest period without a working sports car during the last
four years ended yesterday afternoon. I made only a very few minor
failures in getting it back together, all of which were easily solved.
Recall that this all started back in April when I had to take a smog
test; I passed, but the tester observed 90 and 70 psi in the #2 and #3
cylinders, respectively. Stripping off the head verified that there
was a 3/8" gap in the portion of the head gasket that fitted around
the #3 cylinder, and that the oiling present on head and deck alike
indicated that the gasket had failed in a way that would cause loss
of compression elsewhere in the engine. (It also made me wonder about
my sporadic oil pressure readings, reported here previously.)
The head proved to have badly worn exhaust valves and seats, and
apparently also suffered from tired valve springs. So I had the
shop put in the nice set of silicon-bronze valve guides that I
acquired from SOL Scott Turner sometime last year, along with
four new exhaust valves and seats and a full complement of springs.
I picked the head up last Thursday and avoided thinking about it
while our dinner guest was here; I managed to stay at work till
within an hour or two of closing before rushing home to start the
final cleanup and preparation for reassembly. Miq Millman stopped
by around 4:30 or 5:00 with his 2-year-old son Josh, who had a good
time playing with my daughters (especially the oldest girl's Ferrari
308, which my mother gave her to soften the blow for having started
her on the Barbie habit). Miq held some crucial bits out of the
way so I could slip the head onto the studs he'd helped me install,
and we dropped the rocker gear onto the head. Miq left after that
and my family went out for hamburgers and a bookstore run. By shortly
before midnight I'd got everything ready to adjust the valves, which
is to say only the spark plugs, air injection rail, and valve cover
needed to be installed.
And the engine wouldn't make a complete rotation. The #7 valve (intake
for the #4 cylinder) was binding on the coils; even when I backed the
adjuster all the way out, the tension wouldn't release on the spring.
I realized what had happened. When Miq and I put the rocker gear on,
we'd left something off the first time and had to reinstall it to put
the pushrods in (a minor problem). It became apparent that the #7
pushrod was hung up on the rim of the lifter. But it was midnight,
all I could think about was removing the carbs, header, and side
plates, so I went to bed.
Saturday I spent at Laguna Seca, trying to get a friend's car ready
for a Solo I there. He'd had even worse luck than I had, and it
wasn't even an LBC; it turned out that the shop that had made his
roll bar had used the wrong kind of tubing and he wasn't allowed
on course. On the plus side, I realized how to fix my problem
while I was there at the track; however, when I returned home, we
had a nice dinner, broiled swordfish with a lovely chardonnay, and
the combination of a rich meal, too little sleep, and a day on my
feet put me to bed around 8:30.
I woke up 12 hours later to a Father's Day spectacular complete
with fresh-baked cinnamon-pecan rolls and the loving adoration of
three of the prettiest gals in the West, but by later that
morning I'd gravitated out to the garage, now sure of what I had
to do to fix the binding problem. Sure enough, after about six
minutes of carefully detorquing all 13 nuts, I frobbed the pushrod
and it clinked back into place. Taking advantage of the loose
rockers (now that sounds like a mixed metaphor if I ever heard
one), I verified that the other pushrods were correctly oriented
and I set about retorquing the head. A quick valve adjustment
showed that the car would in fact turn through its full range of
motion, so I cleaned up the last few parts, dropped the clean
valve cover onto the head, tightened up most (note carefully) of
the hose clamps I'd loosened or removed in the last two months,
and set about filling the car with coolant.
It started! It ran! Torrey asked for a ride around the block,
so I belted her into the passenger's seat (she's old enough now
and big enough that she can ride in this car without her child
seat) and we headed down the street.
I decided to visit Miq, since after all he'd had his kid in his
convertible the other day. We pulled into his driveway in the
burning sun and chatted for a few minutes when I noticed a stream
of liquid pouring from the right rear of the engine. I raised
the hood, saying "Oh, I'll bet it's from the heater valve." The
clamp wiggled at my touch; I'd neglected to tighten that hose.
A screwdriver did the trick, so I started it up again.
There was a POP and the car died. I knew what that was too; in
my haste to get the car running and verify that it worked (and
get my hair messed up again), I had sealed the gulp valve elbow
in the intake manifold with some racer's tape and a hose clamp,
and the underhood temperatures softened the tape too much for
the engine's vacuum.
Here Miq came to the rescue. He had a piece of hose of the
proper dimension and plugged the end with a piece of black
synthetic rubber clamped into place with a tie-wrap. I clamped
the other end over the elbbow and the car fired up perfectly.
"That's the second car that this piece of rubber has saved,"
Miq said. "Not bad for something I found by the side of the
road."
I called Kim, who thanked me. "I saw you dripping something as
you drove off with Torrey, and when you didn't come back, I went
out after you. I followed the drips and realized you hadn't just
gone around the block, so I decided the smart thing to do was
come back home and wait for you to call if you needed help."
Torrey and I washed the car that afternoon and it's sitting
outside now, shiny and happy to be on the road again.
Two observations:
1. Remember my oil-pressure gauge problem? I think the flaky
head gasket was responsible for it. Pressure is happily set at
75 psi now when the car is in motion, with a sumpfull of a Mobil
1/Castrol blend and a brand new Unipart oil filter. The look of
the head/deck surface made me suspect that it had been responsible
for the sporadic loss in pressure as pressure escaped into the
gasket area.
2. Remember my sporadic cut-out problem? It's back; the car
died once in traffic, starting back up again but still... I
can just imagine the fun of trying to troubleshoot a sporadic
electrical problem. Any guesses on where to start or what
connections, components, etc. I might want to look at? I
am guessing the fuse block, the LT lead to the distributor,
and the ignition switch to start with, followed by the wiring
between all those places. No, the engine ground is in good
shape, I verified it while the induction was off (it's at
the left-hand engine mount on this car -- on most Bs I can
remember seeing, come to think of it).
And the final gotcha...
I forgot to oil up the SUs before I took off, so acceleration is
a little hesitant and rough. Idle is smooth, though, and power
seems nice once it settles in. With only about 25 miles on the
valves, though, I'm worrying about breaking in the components
before I try any wild runs through the mountains.
Anyway, I have my MG again, and I'm happy.
--Scott
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