The Blog 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006
December 2007
Although I had a few days off over Christmas my time was spent doing a mad dash around the shops 2 days before Christmas buying presents. This was actually the first time I've been home for Christmas in the last four years and as it wasn't planned it was quite a bit of a last minute panic. This was followed by a few days with the family before I had to return to work so progress has been made with the car.
9-Nov-2007
The air filter and exhaust parts have arrived so I've fitted the filter and made a start building the exhaust. The exhaust is being made from 2" diameter pipes and all the boxes are free flow. I'll be interested in getting it completed and have the car running t see what it sounds like; hopefully it won't be too loud.
7-Nov-2007
The exhaust manifolds have been removed cleaned up and repainted with a different type of exhaust paint. Hopefully this time the paint won't bubble when they get hot. The radiator cooling fan has also been fitted to the car. I am now just waiting for the air filter and exhaust parts to arrive so can complete the exhaust and then start up the engine again and adjust the carburetor correctly.
4-Nov-2007
The main task for this month is to get the car mechanically finished and the engine started. To achieve this I've fitted an original fuel pump I bought from eBay. Had the exhaust manifolds shot blasted and painted them silver. I've continued working on the engine bay wiring harness and I've also fitted an overdrive inhibitor switch I finally managed to obtain. Although the exhaust is not finished my impatience finally got the better of me and I decided it was time to start the engine.
A battery was connected to the car and the fuel pipe was placed into a petrol can instead of having to fit the petrol tank. Before starting the engine the spark plugs were removed and a couple of squirts of oil were placed into each piston. The engine was then turned over till a slight increase was seen on the oil pressure gauge. The spark plugs were then refitted ready for the engine to be started. The ignition system was made live and the engine turned over and it almost instantly spluttered and backfired slightly. My father who was helping me decided that the ignition must be too far advanced so the distributor was loosened. While I turned the car over my father manually twisted the distributor to adjust the timing. To my surprise the engine started within a few seconds of me turning it over. I'm still amazed how easily the engine started as I can still remember spending several hours a couple of years ago trying to start my MGB engine for the first time.
Although the engine started really easily a number of faults were found, the most serous was my brand new water thermostat was not opening. This was discovered because after running the engine for five minutes the water was still not flowing through the radiator. At this point we were not sure what the fault was but the engine was stopped to investigate. The thermostat was removed and placed into a cup of boiling water. This should have caused it to open but it stayed closed. The temporary solution was to run the engine without the thermostat. The engine was restarted and ran for 10 minutes. No other faults were found with the engine but the paint on the exhausts manifolds started to smoke and then it started to bubble and crack. So much for the paint I used being suitable for exhaust. It would have also been nice to set up the carburetor but this will not be possible till I get an air filter fitted to the carburetor.
September 2007
I completed a few minor jobs this month. I've painted the dynamo, its brackets and the crank pulley. I have also managed to re-paint the rocker covers after scratching them when trying to fit an alternator. The other job I have started on is the engine bay wiring loom. You can see this in the picture below.
22-Aug-2007
Today has not been very productive as I was trying to fit an alternator to my car. However after spending the best part of the day I admit defeat. The problem was caused by the alternator body having a larger diameter than the dynamo so it causes the alternator to hit the rocker cover. If I was to use a slightly longer fan belt or make a different bracket the alternator would fit without any problems but the fan belt would then hit the steering column. After a day of ?trying different brackets, and fan belts I've given in and decided that I'll keep my car original and fit the dynamo to the car. The only other bad thing to happen ?s I managed to repeatedly scratch my rocker covers trying to fit the alternator so these need to be removed and painted again.
9-Aug-2007
Went to collect my inlet manifold from the machine shop today only to find I have a very expensive piece of scrap metal. Once it had been skimmed a crack between the water and air channel was noticed (see photo below). I can't blame the guy for not seeing it before he started machining as I never noticed the crack either. Although this is not good news I'm happy I've found the problem now and not after I had been running my newly rebuilt engine. This also explains why cylinder no. 5 had all the rust damage and needed a liner fitting. I had originally assumed that water had got in from the car standing around for so long.
After several calls I found a company called Newark Engines that had an early v6 inlet manifold with the oval ports that they were willing to sell to me for ?37 including postage. When this turned up it was in near perfect condition, and they had even taken the trouble to clean it up in a blasting cabinet so it was ready to fit.
8-Aug-2007
Finally I've had the time to rebuilding the engine. This has been a relatively simple task and I did not encounter any major problems during the rebuild. The picture below shows the engine ready to be painted. You can s?e more pictures of the rebuild in the Photo section of the web site.
21-Jun-2007
I've done very little else to the car due to the engine still being at the machine shop and I've also been busy with my new house. However I got the engine back from the machine shop today so it will be ready to reassemble when I return to the UK next time. In the meantime all I have done is spray the new radiator brackets in stone chip paint followed by two coats of black chassis paint. I have also painted the radiator in heat resistant black enamel. The picture below shows the radiator fitted back on the car.
2-Jun-2007
I arrived back to the UK expecting the machining work on my engine to be completed only to find he has been too busy to do anything to it yet. This is not the news that I wanted to here but I'm at least I'm reassured that he is busy, hopefully this is a good sign. In reality this is probably a blessing in disguise as I still have a lot to my new house that I've just bought.
18-Apr-2007
I've done very little else to the car due to the engine still being at the machine shop and I've also been busy with my new house. The engine will be back from the machine shop in about 3 weeks time so it will be ready to reassemble when I return to the UK next time. In the meantime all I have done is spray the new radiator brackets in primer to stop them rusting.
11-Apr-2007
Spent the day fabricating new brackets to mount the radiator. I also modified the standard brackets slightly too also be able to mount a Pacet electrical fan in front of the radiator.
10-Apr-2007
I took the block to the machine shop to be measured today. The outcome was that number 5 bore is too badly corroded to even be able to?fit 60 thou oversized pistons. However it's not all bad news, the other 5 bores are in good condition. My 20 thou pistons can be re-used with a new set o? rings and the machine shop has said it is possible to fit a liner in number 5 bore. I've decided this will be the best option as even if I source a second hand engine there is no guarantee what condition it will be in so I could still be faced with a scrap block or the cost of a rebuild this anyway.
9-Apr-2007
Today was spent cleaning and disassembling the cylinder block. On removing the pistons it was discovered number 5 bore was in very bad condition due to water damage. Although the block may be scrap I decided to finish cleaning the block so I can take it to the machine shop to have the bores measured.
8-Apr-2007
Although I'm back in the UK I've had very little spare time to work on the Marcos due to other commitments, however today I had had enough time today to strip down and clean up my heads ready for machining. These were then taken to the machine shop to have new valve guides fitted and hardened valve seats inserted for unleaded petrol.
8-Mar-2007
The last few months have been a busy time for me. In January I bought a new house in the UK and since then I've been busy trying to arrange to have some work done so its in a good enough condition to live in (this is not so easy when you are working abroad in Azerbaijan). In February I decided not to return to the UK for my time off and instead spent three weeks traveling through Laos in Asia. However I'm due on break on the 26th of March and hope to be able to spend some time working on the Marcos again. I doubt I will be able to spend as much time as I would like because I have commitments to spend some time with my family and there is still a lot to be done to my new house.