Finding another donor made me think back to the day when my brother picked up AME241T - donor no.1. Once again Loot came to the rescue. I was amazed to discover a 1300GT Mk2 for 100 quid up near Derby. A hell of a trek for my poor brother, but worth it for the GT manifold, carb and cam. The chap selling it sounded as if he was about 109 years old and was a bit vague. The car had been stored in a garage for 12 months so wasn't running. Still, address in hand, off he trotted with the trailer in tow. 6 hours later he returned with.... no car! Did it fall off - no, had it been nicked - no, so what happened? Well, the dozy old fart opened his garage to reveal a disgusting ORANGE MK3!!! "But it is a GT" he explained - note the tacky Halfords sticker on the tailgate!! Needless to say, my brother told him of his error and politely told him to amend the advert - twat! So back to Loot for more searching whereupon I found a likely looking candidate for 65 quid and a runner to boot! So off went my bro again with the trailer, this time the mission was successful. So I've now got a decent engine (a 'V' reg. with only 69K on the clock), spare gearbox, axle and steering rack - bargain. Only trouble is that it's gonna cost me about 1100 quid to get it professionally built. Ho-hum, motorsport ain't cheap - even Locosts!
Bit of a bizarre day today. As some of you may remember, at Donington we did some filming with a production company who are putting together a pilot show for a Satellite TV channel. Well, after a chat in the week they'd come along to the workshop to do some more! This time they brought their presenter with them but we did our part with - 'Tommy's Top Tips' where Martin gives a 'handy hint' (stud removal) for the programme.
I did another interview only this time, with the presenter. They made out that my new donor MK2 was actually the presenters', going through the buying process etc. Like all filming it takes an absolute AGE to do but my real intention was to get the engine out of the Escort. Fortunately this tied in well with the TV requirements so everything was prepared (by us) and the presenter, Calum, helped with the removal. The engine seemed sound enough, after all, it was a runner. Interestingly enough, comparing the V5 to the car, the gearbox had been replaced with a manual at some point as the documents listed it as a 1300 GL Auto. You could tell by the shape of the centre console too. Not to worry as the replacement seemed sweet enough. So finally, all was set aside in readiness to be shipped off to the pro-builder who, turned up to see me in the morning. After a good look at this year's regulations, he's gone off to price up the rebuild. Seems like a great bloke so I'm looking forward to him working his 'magic' on the engine. In the meantime, I've ordered new followers, mains, ends, gaskets and seals so that I can rebuild the old lump. The mains and ends are in fine condition but always seemed a bit oversize to me making the crank a bit stiff to turn. Anyway, Clevite ones are on their way so it's evening work in my new workshop at home this week!
Just a quick update on what's been ordered in readiness for the weekend rebuild of the old block.
So, all being well I should be up and running again but with the follower bores being like they are, for how long is anyone's guess!
Well, all the parts have arrived except for the blasted bolts so I can do absolutely squat. Well, except for trying to find out why my rears are binding. The first thing I noticed was that the offside wheel wasn't running true? (Pete at the rolling road had noticed this too). Unsure whether it was the wheel or the drum I switched it to the nearside to find the same problem. The diagnosis, a buckled wheel! I had a spare rim so I got the tyre swapped over and the wheel was fine. In fact, it even balanced without additional weights! Next up was the damned handbake cable. My lashed-up nipple (the cable that is) had failed again. This time I threaded electrical choc-block onto the end and tightened it whilst leaving about 6mm of cable end which I splayed open. Then it was out with the soldering iron to fill the splay and the choc-blocks with solder. That should hold it. But without the engine bolts it was a bit of a waste of a long weekend. Sod this, I'm going to the pub instead ;)
Still no damn bolts! I phoned Burtons to find out where the sodding things were only to be told 'oh yeah, here we go. We're waiting for the con-rod bolts' WHHAAAATTT!!! So you mean to tell me you haven't even dispatched them 'Errr, no'. Needless to say I was livid! So, I was left with one option and that was to use the stock engine from the MK2 donor. I would be way down on power but at least I could run. The great thing about Locosts are that they're so easy to work on. The engine was in and running in an hour! I spent some time fiddling with the clutch to get it adjusted to my liking and left it at that. I had a car that would go, so after a trip to Germany tomorrow, it's off to Oulton Park for the fun bit!
Race day! After all the fannying about with the engine it was time to rag it about on a proper circuit. Have a look in the race diary to see how I got on.
Well, after a good result yesterday in light of our handicap (no, not me, the engine, well okay - the OTHER handicap) it was time to take the engine out again in order for it to be rebuilt. We're getting pretty damn good at this lark with the engine removal taking only 25 minutes! Maybe we should work for a Works Rally Team? ;) Later in the day on James collected the old lump to take it away for reworking. Hopefully we'll get decent power with some reliability this time although at least I've got a spare now. With luck the bolts will arrive in the next day or two which means I can bore you all with the details of my rebuild of the original race engine ;)
Right, where were we.... Oh, yeah, race engines! Well, the build of my new engine courtesy of Grace Developments (top blokes), has started with them collecting the old engine, which I'd stripped of the ancilliaries ready to be rebuilt, on Sunday. 'Fine' I thought, that leaves me to concentrate on getting the old one rebuilt. However so far it's not been exactly hassle free!. The bolts for the old engine had finally arrived and everything was ready to get going. That is, until I got a call from the builder on the way home from work...."
"It's about that engine you gave me"
"Sure what about it"
"The block's totally useless"
"Whaaaat??!?!?!?"
(You Guessed it) "Arse!!"
It turns out that once the old block had been acid bathed it came to light that the cylinders had been lined. Whilst it's possible to rebore them, I couldn't get +090 pistons in :( So, with this now holding up the build I had to get another engine - Pronto!!
As some of you will know from bitter experience, 1300 X-flows aren't exactly common these days so I was knackered until I could get hold of ANOTHER donor. Which is where fellow racer, and good mate, Darryl Beckwith came in. A quick call to Darryl confirmed that he had an old short engine in a lockup which was untouched. He kindly let me use it on the proviso that I replace with another short. No problemo (well, at least not when I can find another donor - the search continues). Thankfully Darryl lives quite locally and being a top-bloke, I picked him up and he donned the overalls (I was still in work clothes!) and lobbed the engine in the back of the truck. More than one beer owed for that mate ;)
So a race back to the workshop ensued so that I could strip the block to get to Grace. What a 'kin nightmare. First off, the chain for the engine hoist had gone walkabout so I had to manhandle the engine out of the Isuzu (so now I was covered in oil and sh1t), then I had the pain of draining the oil with the lump on the floor. A bit of head scratching later and I'd got it onto some old tyres. Alot of swearing, skimmed knuckles and blood-loss later and the block was stripped. First inspection showed everything to be pretty good, with the crank and bores in good nick. Oh, they weren't lined either! With the time approaching midnight, I steamcleaned the block and lobbed it back into the Isuzu with some other bits. I've never felt so sick from the smell of carbonised oil :( Pansy!