Monday, May 07, 2012

from bad to worse

So, the impetus of having cash to spend on parts to fit has been and gone with a whimper.
Last post saw me frustrated at my lack of ability ( and assistance) regarding bleeding the brakes and clutch. I grabbed the bull by the horns and read up thoroughly on the task at hand ( well, surfed more like) and I happened upon a real nugget of vital information on the Chicago clubland forum. "You have to loosen the brake sensor ( located under the master cylinder)  three and a half turns, or bleeding is impossible". Why did I have to seek so hard to find this out ?
Mr Porter, Mr Evans and even the noble Mr Twist say nothing of this fact.

Anyways it was a real eureka moment and spurred me on after another night shift at the very large Hospital (27 miles of corridors, yes 27, and I think I walked most of them that shift looking for the equipment and ward)
So undo the plastic sensor after first removing the two wires easy peasy. Too easy. The f***ing thing had seized solid in the threaded portion leaving the body to spin and spin. Acces is very poor as its on the underside, so there was no other thing to do other than remove the master cylinder.
My thinking was since I am removing it why not do a complete refurb of the seals then. A nice YouTube from Mr Twist even showed me how.
Wrong, Wrong very wrong.


Easy enough to remove from the car, 2 x 1/2" nut/bolts. Even managed to remove circlip from inside ( After "modifying" my { wife's actually but she don't know this yet} longnose pliers).
Innards came out easily, 2 x springs, 2 x shuttles + 4 x seals. I had to drive a screwdriver into the hole left by the broken body of the sensor and manfully undo it outwards. This done then on to the other end of the cylinder to remove the small shuttle and spring. The lovely and wise old sage Mr Twist says " wear a glove and tap it firmly on its end- It'll just slide out".
Well I'm sorry Mr Twist. I always believe everything you say, you wise old sage. But on this you're wrong, very wrong. I had it soaking for 3 days in Penetrating fluid, Duck oil and white spirit. And for three days ( Nay, now.... still) it will not budge. I came close to smashing a very substantial stone wall through my vigour's but it will not budge. I even bent one of the old brake spring ends and tried pulling it out by hooking under the end washer, but no way Jose.

I did then what I normally do when encountered with something unfathomable, Ignore it.
I moved on to removing the reservoir. Should be easy, 2 x quite rusty phillips headed screws. One undid easy, the other was a real swine. I had to drill it out. Four cheap drills of varying sizes later ( one drill [ 1.5mm]broken inside screw !!) left me cursing and very frustrated.
However I managed it,.... eventually. I'd well and truly had enough of the bloody brakes so I moved on.



 Moved on to someting not brake related. Namely the weeping core plugs at the RH front of the engine. The one to the left is also weeping but only slightly. Removed the alternator (easy) one plug lead (!) and the oil filter. It was a real swine. I had to utilise two Jubilee clips from the front hose and some precision whacks with the lump hammer.

Horror of Horrors....................................more later !

The core plug came out easily with a poke of a small screwdriver. Cleaned up nicely, smeared with gasket sealant and popped in firmly with a large sockett and and trusty lump hammer. The one on the left would not come out so easily. It was leaking because it wasn't in squarely. Another precision tap with sockett and hammer and in it went, true and square.
At least thats one of the many problems resolved.

Now on to the Horror of horrors I'd been ignoring for ages.




On removing the oil filter the remains saw masses of "emulsified" engine oil. I'd noticed some months and months  earlier after a brief run of the engine, but this looks fairly serious. A massive failure of the head gasket methinks, mehopes.

A years or two ago I'd removed the head, cleaned it up nicely, polished the valves and guides and gave it a good clean. A new gasket set from Mechspec and it was back on and has run afterwards. So where is the water coming from ? I hope it is the head gasket. I now regret using the red gasket sealant when re-fitting. This time I'm going to use an original copper gasket.
What a balls ache though having to remove the head. Anyone who's ever done one will know.
Remove all hoses, cables and wires. Undo carbs ( very fiddly) and exhaust manifold + inlet manifold. Remove tappet cover and rocker assy. Undo all head bolts and lift off. Easier said than done with all that gasket sealant I lalloped about last time.

I must admit I'm at an all time low with the car. I seem to be spending all my time on small, fiddly and as then presumed "servicable" parts. Spent a fortune on the suspension, brake discs, pads and piping only to be thwarted by my own stupidity and impatience.

So, all I now require is a brake sensor, reservior screw, Master cylinder seal kit, new fulcrum rods/clevis pins for clutch and brake slave cylinder, head gasket, 20/50 oil and I'm all sorted. When though?