Hello Sunbeamers:
My oil pressure problem is solved. I installed the new oild pressure
relief valve and oil filter base last night and everything is again back
to normal. Runs at 65lbs max (cold) and 50-55 lbs hot.
Naturally, the job took four times longer than it looked like it would.
I spun off the oil filter, undid the four bolts holding the filter base
and oil cooler base below it to the block. Easy. I figured I could just
pry the oil filter base off and install the new one on top and that
would be it. No such luck. The filter base was siliconed to the oil
cooler base below and would absolutely not budge. Hammer hits,
screwdriver prying and lots of swearing did nothing to get things
seperated. Eventually, the whole assembly did come loose (both parts),
so then I had to undo the oil cooler lines. Even with the two bases off
the car and on the gound, it took a half hour to get the two parts
seperated. Finally done, I siliconed the old oil cooler base to the new
oil filter base and then the whole piece to the car.
Job done, I again figured. I spun the old oil filter on the new base. It
didn't seem to fit at first, but I finally got it tightened down (or so
I thought). I checked oil level and turned the starter. The car coughed
and sputtered. I found I had forgotten to re-attach the brake servo line
to the intake manifold. That done, it started right up. It didn't sound
right, though, and I shut it down in a couple of seconds. As it shut
down, I heard a distinct liquid sound "splooping" under the car. I
thought I'd blown a rod through the block or something and was not
looking forward to finding out what I'd screwed up this time! With great
aprehension, I looked underneath and a great pool of oil had formed.
Investigation showed that the filter I thought was tight in fact dodn't
fit properly. In just a couple of seconds of running, at least two
quarts had pumped out the bottom of the filter. I installed the matching
filter from Sunbeam Specialties, which fits properly, topped up the oil,
and all is well. About eight miles today and no problems.
I had also adjusted my valves a couple of days previously and, with the
suggestion of Jeff Howarth in the UK, I didn't follow the sequence in
the Shop Manual but instead just went down the line, front to back and
adjusted each valve, hot, to 12 and 14 as specified by Rootes. I turned
the engine over several times, observing each valve, and got a good
average adjustment. Some of the valves had been way too loose, for my
liking, and everything is now pretty much as it should be. The car does
run smoother, and pull better from mid-range on up, than it did before
the adjustment. I think the adjustment had been far enough off and
uneven that each repsective cylinder wasn't getting and releasing the
proper mix at the proper time.
Thanks again for all of your help and suggestions on both issues.
Steve Sage
Series V
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:39:48 CDT