Here's the 2000 lifted nice and high on axles stands so I could get under to get the propshaft attached.
At this point you can see the propshaft still hanging down loose at the front and also at the side of the car is the centre section of the exhaust which still needed fixing too.
With the propshaft bolted up though I pumped up the tyres and got the car back down on the ground so that at last I could get it moved out of the bus garage where it has really been taking space up and isn't the easiest location for the next part.
Mind you, it was tricky to get it out but manage it we did thanks to help from Bryce and a fork lift to tow it.
Here it is, seeing the light of day for the first time in more than 2 years.
From here we towed it round the block and into a workshop where I could get it onto a lift.
That's where I got the exhaust back on and fitted up properly. Along with getting the accelerator linkage sorted and then the air filter housing back on yet again it was time to start the car and see how it all is.
Well, it starts very very well now, almost as if it's now remembered how to run and shrugs it off in a "of course I'll start, no problemo way".
Even better though was that now there's an exhaust on it I could rev the engine a little and by eck I now remember how gorgeous it sounds.
On that note (!) time to quit whilst ahead and come back next week for the bleeding of brakes and the clutch.
Last time I updated the blog I wasn't counting any chickens.
Well since then PMW has been running more than once so that's good.
Latest is that I have checked and adjusted the tappets as well as draining the oil and replacing it with fresh 20/50 whilst swapping for a new filter of course.
The good news is that this time the oil coming out the sump looked much more like oil with only a slight trace of emusification from water contamination. I think the flushing oil has done it's job and now it's onto normal running in when I aim to swap the oil and filter after about 100 miles of driving the car.
Starts to sound like I am getting close doesn't it?
Still a bit to do yet though including fixing the exhaust, reconnecting the propshaft, bleeding the brakes and clutch so that I have them working and wiring up that electric fan. That's what I know about of course.
There will be the small matter of extricating the car from the big shed it's in hemmed in by buses and trucks. One step at a time.
I do need to get under the car though and it's not pleasant jacking the car up and getting it on to axle stand so I can grub around under it on a dirty concrete floor. Not so good when I can't find the propshaft nuts and bolts either. These are the kinds of things that happen when a car is stripped over so many months (years even), things go missing and then hold you up putting it all back together.
I have learned patience though so a few more bits and pieces have been ordered from Chris Witor and I can come back to the car next weekend.
I must be prepared to be disappointed as bleed nipples break off no doubt too!
On balance though, progress continues to be made and PMW starts now easily enough without Easy Start. I think is very smooth too which I should be able to confirm when I have the exhaust all coupled up.
Last week the haad was back on and the manifolds fitted.Well there was still some awkward buggers of nuts to fit on the inlet manifold baulked by the manifold itself so I had to loosen the studs and nuts I had struggled with last week before I could get access to finish fitting all of them. What joy.
Next was fitting all the hoses again and filling up with water.
Connecting up the fuel line. Easy enough as I have now done this several times. Erm, no! I can't describe how much of a sod this was to work out where the brackets went, not to mention then trying to fit the alternator back on and finding that combinations of the fuel pipe, alternator bracket and fan belt all caught up on each other in one combination or another!
Oh well, patience won through and all of that was put back together OK.
By now I was on the ignition side of the engine bay. Now where do these wires go? And what's the firing order again? Which one of the 2 dizzy cap and plug lead combinations is the right one? Got it right in the end though and fitted the freshly charged battery.
Remembered to leave the king lead off though when I spun the engine over hoping to get oil pressure. Crikey it took a long time again but eventually the oil light went out around the time the battery was starting to slow down.
All of a sudden I was in a position to try and start the old git. Well it was reluctant again and then coughed a couple of times when I more or less poured Easy Start down it's throat.
I know when to call it quits though so I decided to pack things away and come back next week but first I checked the dipstick and it did seem like it was oil rather than mayonnaisse on it. OK I thought, why not take the rocker cover off and see what it's like under there.
No immediate horrors so I decided to turn the engine over to make sure it wasn't throwing water all over the rocker covers again! You know what? It very nearly started.
OK, more Easy Start and let's see what happens.
I tell you what happened - it only went and started and kept running. I kept it running for about 3 minutes and then switched off to check things over.
All appeared OK so I started it again and this time it ran by itself even without choke or throttle - here's the proof
I am not counting any chickens though. There does appear to be some "milky oil" but then that's quite possible as I couldn't clear all the water out from before.
Also there is some water loss down the front offside of the block which I dread to think is a head gasket issue - it's more likely to be a leak at the water pump or thermostat housing so I'll be checking that out next.
Good news is that the oil on the dipstick looks like oil (which is another reason to think the water leak isn't a head gasket problem).
I think I'll retorque the head, check the tappets and investigate that water leak next.
If all is OK then I'll change the flushing oil and the oil filter when it's been run for about an hour in total.
Defintiely not counting any chickens though - did I say that already?
Back to PMW and the unfortunate incident of fitting the wrong head gasket! This meant the mixing of oil and water so that had to be got rid of - see the evidence below as it drained from the sump, looks more like milk than oil doesn't it.
Once that was out of the way then a general clean up and I replaced the oil filter which was contaminated as well of course.
OK, then it was put it all back together and here's a picture of what I sincerely hope is the right gasket fitted the right way up!
From that point I refitted the head and torqued it down, hopefully correctly as I am getting really paranoid now. Once the pushrods were back in I fitted the valve gear and rocker cover before putting in flushing oil. The plan is to run the car for about an hour with flushing oil then drain that, replace the oil filter with another fresh one and refill with new 20/50.
The rest of today's action was refitting the inlet and exhaust manifolds which is much easier to say than do. I actually called it a day about 5PM after struggling with a particularly difficult fixing but it gave in in the end.
Next weekend should see it all back together and an attempt made to get it running again.
Retrunmed to the attack on mission PMW with two mates of mine, Paul Darbyshire and Andy Flexney.
Here they are taking a moment to consider the next move!
Well the main problem was getting the engine to turn over anything like quick enough even with another battery to jump start it and then with a fully charged booster pack. Taking much longer to get to than it does to type we sorted this out by using a jump lead to go from one of the starter motor bolts to the battery earth lead and then with battery booster in place it was much better.
OK - no sign of it firing though. So we took the rocker cover off so that we could make sure the timing was right at top dead centre and that we had the plug leads the right way round (well one of the two dizzy lay outs we had put together before was right so we put that one on).
We also took out the carb dampers so the pistons would lift easier ready for Easy Start. Then with cranking the engine over, full throttle and the aforementioned Easy Start in use PMW actually fired up to much cheering from me!
Sounded pretty good to me too but it wouldn't keep running on anything other than Easy Start so next was to take 5 gallons of 3 year old fuel out of the car and put fresh SuperUnleaded back in.
Now PMW ran happily on petrol rather than Easy Start.
So, as Andy said, if this was a football match we were going in to half time winning!
Coming back out for the second half though we had been concerned that the top end was dry with little oil there but with the rocker cover off of course when the car was now running we saw what looked like water instead of oil being sprayed on the rockers. Checking the dipstick showed an oil/water mix from the sump.
Not what was wanted at all! I was/am fairly sure that there's more than one cylinder head gasket so it was possible I had the wrong one and this was allowing the fluids to mix. Only thing for it was to remove the cylinder head which we got stuck into.
My goodness there was alot of water about including in the cam followers etc.
Water can be seen in the picture above of the block after we removed the cylinder head.
It also shows though that the cylinderhead gasket is the right one in that the holes line up with the holes in the block - at least that's what logic says to me.
First conclusion is that the head wasn't torqued down correctly so I'll be getting all the oil/water mix out of the sump then taking it off to clean it all out. After that another cylinder head gasket can be fitted and we try again.
Along with my mate Paul Darbyshire (a big thanks to him) Saturday December 28th was the day when PMW was to fire up.
First off we replaced the split hose on the inlet manifoild (after breaking off part of the pipe in the manifold - oops). Refilled with water all OK - for now.
Then spotted that the vacuum pipe from the dizzy to the carbs was somewhat short so found the remainder and fitted that.
Now for the time to start the car.
Err - no, not turning over fast enough. So with 4 batteries all charged up in total we used jump leads from one of them to the battery on PMW and tried again. Not a great improvment and not even a sign of a "cough".
Next up - we used a battery pack which improved things a bit on the turning over front but no joy again.
Right, back to first principles. Is there a spark? So we placed a spare spark plug in number one lead and put that on the rocker cover. Yes there was a spark when we fired it up (Knew there would be from last time but worth checking again).
Next - get the timing sorted. Done with the aid of a didgital analyser.
No joy again.
Next - check that when it's at TDC on the firing stroke for number 1 that the rotor arm is pointing at the right post in the dizzy cap for number 1. No it wasn't! No idea how that happened but we changed the spark plug leads round so that it was now 180 degrees from where they were and correctly aligned.
Well that made no difference either.
It was probably around this time I noticed water running down the side of the engine block.Probably a core plug, oh good. I should have replaced them as a matter of course but they all looked really good and I decided not to disturb things when I was rebuuilding the engine. Oh well another job for later but that can wait until I get the engine running.
Back to it. I have never been happy with the battery on the car which was a square post type instead of the correct round type and the fixings weren't great either. I had bought new round type battery clamps so we fitted these and substituted a known good battery of the correct type from BRP if I remember correctly.
Now with the battery pack connected the engine turned over noticeably quicker but still without any sign of even looking like a spark of interest.
We checked fuel delivery all the way to both carbs and that was fine. Even easy start didn't help.
OK, just in case our logic was wrong from earlier I put together a spare dizzy cap and leads fitted 180- degrees "out" and we fitted that for another try which resulted in absolutely no difference at all - the engine turning over but no sign of firing up at all.
Just for a bit of light relief we wandered over to the Rover SD1 VDP, fitted a battery and turned the key for the first tine in a year. And it started first time!!!! No, not really but it did sound like if we had begun the day with that one we would have had a car running by the end of it.
All out of ideas it was time to call it a day after 4 1/2 hours of puzzling over why the car won't start.
Ever get the feeling you might be getting in the way?
That's PMW under the sheet with buses, a Land Rover and even a dump truck all round it!
Best get on so the car can come back home.
This afternoon though was all about bolting bits back on. The boot is getting emptier as bits come out of there and are either returned home or go on the car.
Like the air filter assembly, radiator and electric fan which took up 2 1/2 hours today (see pictures below).
I had charged up a battery off UNJ and took this over today too.
I stored it in the Rover and brought back a battery I had taken off BRP and JEA's battery too. I intend to charge these batteries up as well and then I'll have a total of 4 charged car batteries for when I next attempt to start PMW - will this be a Christmas present for me I wonder?
I got back to PMW and the quest to get it running again.
First though I got the car up on axle stands and got the clutch slave cylinder bolted on. It was much easier to work out where it went when I could see the bell housing etc.
Meanwhile, last week petrol had been pumping out of the front carb which seemed a bit of a worry. I thought a float valve was stuck so I took along a spare set of carbs with the intention of swapping bits over but found the fuel pipe that links the two carbs in the boot!
No wonder, it's supoosed to do that with fuel being fed from the front carb to the rear one via the fuel pipe I had not attached - idiot!
So, back to spinning the engine over with the plugs out and even with a battery pack attached there was still no oil pressure. At Bryce's suggestion we fed oil into the oil pump by removing the oil pressure sender and pumping oil in.
Then when the engine was turned over eventually we got oil coming out of the hole where the oil pressure sender had been so we were making progress. Replacing the sender though then meant oil coming by the oil filter housing so making progress sort of as at least oil was finding leaks!
Taking the spin on oil filter housing off the engine I found that I had left the outer seal on the old engine; what a pillock. There was another seal too which looked none too clever so we replaced this with a new o ring, fitted the outer seal and put it all back together.
This time no leaks and enough oil pressure to get the oil light to go out so good news.
On to the next stage. Although we had an oil light which went out now, there was no ignition light. I trraced this problem to one of the alternator wires not fitting correctly so that was put right.
This was followed by making sure the plug leads were on correctly, the wiring to the coil and distributor in place and the points cleaned and gapped.
Couldn't get the car to fire up though even though we had a spark at the plugs. The battery was really suffering by now and we need to sort out the timing. The car is in an old shed with no lighting and by now bad light really did stop play.
Not bad though, I think the happy day is getting closer.
I suddenly realised that actually I keep bolting bits on to PMW and it can't be that far away from start up time (GULP).
So yesterday it was time to see how close I could get.
Fitted the fuel pipes to the fuel pump and carbs then primed the pump and a nice little morale booster to see petrol in the pump bowl.
Next up fitting the distributor - two to choose from, one of which slotted in fine pointing at mnumber 1 and the opther slotted in 180 degrees out. Hmm - the second one is a new old stock one though specific for this early Mk2 2000 so that was the one fitted and the leads will have to be changed round to suit.
Connected the battery and the interior lights came on when I opened the door as well as the oil light when turning the ignition - another little morale booster.
So now time to turn the engine over with plugs removed to let the oil pressure build up as it's a rebuilt engine.
Bad news - major fuel leak at the pump. Down to me cross threading the connection (what a pillock!) but thankfully that could be corrected.
Next fuel leak at the front carb bowl which couldn't be fixed there and then so it's on next week's job list.
This all meant we couldn't turn the engine over long enough for the oil light to go out but the plus point was that the engine wasn't tight (I had turned it over by hand before as well) and there were no horrible noises so at this early stage it doesn't seem like I made a complete cock up of assembling the bottom of the engine at least.
Meanwhile, in the photo those of you familiar with these cars will see the clutch slave cylinder resting on top of the wiper motor (at the end of the braided hose). At this minute I can't see where it bolts back on!
NNext week I'll have the car up on axle stands so should be able to work it out but if anyone can advise me or send me a photo of it fitted please do!
Yesterday with Bryce's help we got the engine and gearbox nearly ready to go back in to PMW. I had fitted new engine mountings and a new gearbox mounting as it makes sense at this point (and one of the engine mountings was shot anyway).
Today, it took some doing until we realised I had put the gearbox mounting back on incorrectly which meant the engine wouldn't sit back far enough.
Once put right all was well and then we were able to fit the front suspension. A few words to describe but took much longer than than that! In fact another 5 hours over yesterday and today.
Great to see it all back in though and PMW back on it's wheels for the first time in months.
So, a good couple of days indeed.
Then - the trip home in UNJ with the top down, what a joy!
This mainly consisted of getting the gearbox onto the "new" engine but it was very reluctant to play ball. I had just about got it on when I realised something was wrong as the clutch actuating arm was pointing straight down and wouldn't move.
Ho hum. Took it all apart again and found the carrier for the release bearing had parted but at least it was relatively easy to put it back in place. This time I made sure the actuating arm was fine - or at least that was what I tried to do but when the gearbox wouldn't go back on that sort of got lost in my mind set! Eventually I decided this wasn't a one man job and called on the assistance of Bryce's dad Steve and we soon had it in place.
Strangely Steve seemed to think this was a moment of weakness on my part and suggested I might want to buy a BMW M3! Well thanks for the help Steve but I could do without another car thanks.
From there it was a case of bolting on the starter motor and both inlet and exhaust manifolds. These manifolds went on and off one or two times until I was happy but nowadays I seem to have more patience so it was no hardship really.
Here's a photo of it all hanging together.
A very pleasing afternoon all in all but I think my back will know about it for sure!
Another 3 hours on the 2000 today and lots of progress made.
It's difficult to cover in detail really but here's a few pictures.
This is the rebuilt original engine on the stand ready for more bits to be swapped over.
A difficult one was the pulley as the retaining bolt didn't want to let go on the old engine but with help from Bryce, a large bit of bar, a large bracing bar and a large hammer it let go and was swapped over.
Then the other end for the fitting up of a new 3 piece clutch. This was carefully put in place in alignment as marked when the engineering company did all the bottom end balancing - see "WD".
With that done I fitted a new release bearing too.
Having removed the engine mounting from the old engine I then lowered it to the ground, took the lifting eyes off it and transferred them to the new "engine". Finally, at the end of the day the "new engine came off it's stand where it has been for 6 months and was on the engine crane ready for the gearbox to be mounted next weekend.
First I cleaned off surface rust on the Rover and applied Curust. So far so very good, the only rust I have found really is of the surface variety as you can see from this photo of the offside sill and door bottoms.
I would have taken more photos but the batteries ran out on my camera!
After an hour doing this I switched back to PMW although I can't show any proof of course.
I painted the engine bay with two coats of Venetian blue which is good enough to look OK and help preserve the car further.
I also retrieved the remains of the wing aerial from deep inside the wing itself and sprayed some waxoyl in.
Then swapped various bits over from the engine I took out to the rebuilt original although I couldn't fit the inlet and exhaust manifolds as the engine is still on a stand and they fouled. I did get the thermostat housing and water pump swapped over but I need to get a whirly gun on the front pulley bolt so I can swap that over.
I also got the engine and gearbox separated ready for refitting and removed the clutch as well as the starter motor. I can't make further progress though as I need the spigot bush turning down to fit the lightened flywheel.
Meanwhile, I am compiling rather a long list of parts needed whcihwill delay things somehwat due to budgetary constraints!
Bought a Haynes manual and an owners manual for the Rover but other than that the only thing I have done is covered it with a tarpaulin!
Under wraps
I have done a fair bit more to PMW tho.
First off was getting the car high enough to get the engine and gearbox out - thanks Bryce for manually lifting the car (!) while I raised the axle stands each side bit by bit. Then it was fine to pull out the engine and box, put them on an engine crane while leaving the subframe and front suspension on the pallet truck.
Once that was done I took the opportunity to inspect the engine bay and as you can see in the next 2 photos the car is as solid as I thought - not in bad nick at all.
Whilst by no means a polisher (how dare someone suggest such a thing) I did then sped time cleaning the engine bay with thinners before using curust on all the surface rust I found. Next week I'll get the Teal blue aerosols out and give these areas a coat or two to help preserve the car and then if someone in the future wants to do a proper job the car will still be in existence for them to do so!
The areas with curust applied can be seen in the above photo. Another thing that can be seen is a braided clutch hose I fitted. This was something I had bought a couple of years ago with some Rimmer Bros vouchers I had been given and it felt good to be fitting something back onto the car.
I also took the chance to get some waxoyl in places which would be difficult to reach with the engine in place.
Then finally the car was back under wraps until next weekend.
3 good hours put in and 2 cars put to bed under the covers!
Rather than list all the detail, here's pictures that tell it all really. It has been a case of following the manual although it's great to have the use of equipment I wouldn't have at home - thanks Bryce!
The method used is to drop the entire engine and gearbox on the suspension from the car. Here is the
The first one came to me when I was lying on a cold concrete floor with my hair in the dust whilst fighting propshaft nuts and bolts on the 2000. Not one of the greatest times in my life but satisfying when it's finally done.
Then removal of the speedo cable, wiring to the reverse switch and overdrive. Just about to get the front wheels off when it was time to call it a day.
Here is PMW ready for the engine and gearbox to be dropped out next week if all goes well. At that point it will be possible to start swapping the rebuilt engine over before it all goes back in.
Off side boot floor - solid by the looks of it
Then there's moment 2 - "You know that's not bad at all!
For the first time since collection I had a look at my Rover and, yes, it's not bad at all. I reckon if I had hundreds of hours and thousands of £ it would be a very good car indeed. As I don't have either it will still be another good solid addition to the fleet.
Here's a few photos with captions
Nearside boot floor - not bad at all
Interior in the front - wood and leather - nice!
The view from the captain's chair of the Starship Enterprise!
Been a full week again at work so not at maximum enthusiasm level this week.
Then having to rely on buses and trains doesn't help. 2 hours for a journey that would take 45 minutes tops in a car is not funny.
Anyway, with Bryce's help PMW was moved into a place where the engine can be removed as seen in the photo.
I am going for the method in the official workshop manual which is dropping the front supsension and pulling the engine and gearbox out from under the front of the car on it's subframe.
That should make mating the engine and gearbox up much easier and I can swap bits over from one engine to another while it's out the car too.
All went OK removing bits in the engine bay - carbs etc and disconnecting the starter motor, clutch slave cylinder. Thanks to Andy Pearce and Tim Bancroft for giving me advice on how to remove the overdrive gearknob which is obvious when you know how. With that off and the gear lever shroud removed as well I needed to lift the car; disconnect the speedo and overdive cables/wiring before then unbolting the propshaft.
After that it's onto dropping the front suspension.
To be honest though, I ran out of motivation at that point and I think a break for a week or two wouldn't go amiss.In December I'll return to the attack and no doubt it won't take long for the engine and box to be out.
I am looking forward to the arrival of the next Club Torque though so I can get my entry in for 2013's 10 Countries Run. Mind you, I'll be using UNJ (the TR7 DHC) so that will need an MOT and taxing in March/April whcioh will probably mean a stop to work on PMW.
A bit of a race really to see what I can get done to PMW before March.
After today's work on the engine there is very little left to do other than fit and swap ancillaries over - oh and get it running of course! Easy then.
This is where I started today. The front timing chain cover needed cleaning and the oil seal replaced with a "heavy duty" leather one I had bought rather than the standard rubber type.
Once that was done it was just a case of fitting it whilst making sure the timing chain tensioner was kept in the right place, which is yet another thing I hope I have done right.
I had painted the rocker cover but actually preferred the scratched one fitted to PMW so got hold of that and at least made some attempt at cleaning it before fitting.
I would then have done the last job listed in the original workshop manual and fitted the distributor pedestal with it's shim gasket. Unfortunately, that little gasket has gone AWOL so I'll leave that until I find more bits needed which I am.bound to do once we start fitting the engine to the car. At that point I'll order the gasket with the other bits like hoses etc.
So, calling it a day this is what a built up 2000 engine looks like.
I forgot to take my camera so I can't show any evidence but progress continues.
Since the last update I have been building up the engine, new cam followers in, dizzy drive and getting the cylinder head studs fitted.
Unfortunately one cylinder head stud was missing and I couldn't easily get one from the current engine in PMW (in fact they were very stubborn and it looked like I would need to liberate the cylinder head as well).
This called a halt whilst I ordered a new stud and there's no sense in doing that along with post and packing for one stud. Thinking on this, I therefore ordered something I know I will need/want at some point for the car and that was an electric fan kit.
Progress was also held up by me missing a weekend working on PMW so that I could marshall on the Round Britain at Tebay which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Yesterday, I returned to the build though and with the new stud was able to fit the cylinder head. Carefull torqueing up followed of course. Next the rocker gear whilst making sure the push rods were correctly in place and all of a sudden the engine really does look like an engine again.
It was at this point though that I again had doubts. I have been using a combination of a Haynes manual for a Vitesse/GT6 (same engine in essence) and an original Triumph workshop manual for a MK1 2000. Usng the Haynes manual I had fitted the camshaft and crankshaft sprockets with alignment marks in them funnily enough aligned!
The Triumph manual though told me to not have the sprockets fitted and set the tappets for cylinders 1 to 5 at 10 thou with no 6 at 40 thou. This was all with the tdc marker on the flywheel 45 degrees before the tdc marker on the back plate.
Confused? I being a thickie certainly was. Of course, this can't be done with the engine in the car as the marks are covered by the gearbox bellhousing.
Anyway, it then goes on to say line up the tdc marks and have the number 6 cylinder valves in a particular position and at this point the cam shaft and crankshaft will be in perfect relationship with each other - that is, correct cam timing.
Well, I removed the sprockets and timing chain (again) followed all this process and then spent ages agonising over whether I had the cam in the right place. Finally deciding yes the sprockets then went back on but the camshaft sprocket would only fit reversed from how it had been when I had fit it before using the Hayned manual.
So, either it was out before or it's out now - or maybe it's still not right!
At least I have followed the Triumph procedure though and the dizzy drive looks to be pointing in the right place (although it was before!). With that I called it a day.
Continuing to make progress on the 2000's engine but on a steady basis.
Here's the bottom half fully built up (less front timing chain and cover) on the engine stand.
Looking good I think and now it's on the stand it feels like it's more of an engine again rather than just a collection of parts.
The sump is now back on but I can't put the new timing chain on until the head is refitted with all the valves and rocker gear etc so it can be timed in correctly.
I removed all the valves one by one, cleaned them up and then refitted with new valve springs. I had been told some work had been done on the head but as I am not really that clever I can't be sure! The valves all look very good though and some may even be new.
Here's a picture of "half and half" - half the valve springs replaced and half still to go.
It took ages to do the first one getting the colletts in but by the end I felt I could do another head!
OK - so close of business, all cam followers in, all valve springs replaced.
Next time cylinder head fitted, rocker gear and push rods fitted - that's the aim.
