Red Rover Revival

Put some grease in the spigot bush, then place your spare input shaft in it and give the other end a sharp tap with a hammer. Maybe several. The hydraulic action of the momentarily-compressed grease should force the bush out. I didn't have this problem when rebuilding ny engine – when I turned the crankshaft on its end, the spigot bush fell out. The new one just needs to be tapped in level with the adjacent flywheel face and needs no reaming. It's a good idea to soak the new bush in oil for a day or two before fitting.
 
I dimly remember reading somewhere (probably here, ages ago) that the grease method can often result in a face full of the gloop. Allegedly the same effect can be achieved using some wet soft bread. No, really! Bit of Mothers Pride'n'water, crammed in the hole, followed by the spigot thwacking procedure, job's supposed to be a good 'un. You could probably have the mushy mess as a small snack afterwards. I promise I didn't make this up. Mind you, whoever originally shared that notion might've!?!? Carry on! Keep the updates coming. It's gonna be a very nice motor when you're done.
 
Got a new bush on order. I assume the old one will need tapping to pull out? I might get the balancing shop to do it while it's there.

Hydraulic the old bush out by filling the hole with grease and hammering in a tight fitting bar. You can use your primary shaft but the flat on that gives a way for the grease to escape, but it can be done, it just needs a few refills.
 
A bit of an update on progress for you all. The last few weeks have been spent solving various conundrums in the engine rebuild project.

The crank has now been sent for harmonic balancing. The workshop I was using (Crewe Engines) closed down, but the guy who did the machining on my block has moved to another company that's a bit closer (Lymm Engine Components). As relayed to you all earlier, they've recommended 'externally balancing' cranks from engines of this age, which means balancing it with all the rotating parts attached - so front pulley and flywheel.

But that threw up a few unknowns for me, so I put off sending it away until I was sure I had all the right parts. The issue is new engine is an earlier block (400 ... G) than the one in the car (446 ... A), but I want to keep all the ancillaries of the later setup, which means meshing two different sets of part numbers together into a combination that fits. A lot of parts you'd think were the same are actually different between the model years, and not all of them will necessarily fit together properly.

I want the new engine setup to have:
  • An alternator, which means...
  • Long-nose water pump, which means....
  • Deep front pulley, which means....
  • A big compatibility puzzles to find the right combination of bottom chain wheel and pulley assembly. Both came in different dimensions over the years. (Daunting, I know. Read on...)
And...
  • Pre-engaged starter motor, which means...
  • Ring-gear with chamfered teeth on the other side (or does it? Read on...)
First issue was solved with a lot of reading. It turns out the change to single-intermediate chainwheel realigned the bottom chain fractionally, so the chainwheel itself is slightly broader. That necessitated a front pulley assembly that is slightly shorter, which is the same assembly fitted to later cars. So I ordered a NOS set of chainwheels of that type, and have taken the pulley off my 446 engine. The two will go together, which is great because that will run with the long-nose water pump and alternator without issue.
So all of that adds up.
All now scavenged from the old engine. Tick :thumb:
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The second problem was the ring-gear. The flywheel has already been skimmed. Had I known in advance, I'd have taken the flywheel off the 446 engine and had that skimmed instead. But that's still inside the bell housing. The issue is the teeth on the flywheel have the chamfered edge on the clutch-side to suit an intertia starter motor, whereas I want to refit a pre-engaged type. I knew I could source a new ring gear (ChrisW offered me a NOS one) but that would need to get that fitted before it could be balanced, which is extra faff. But happily, I discovered my 446 engine doesn't have chamfered teeth on either side (see below), and I've never had an issue with the pre-engaged starter, so I'm leaving the 400's ringgear as it is. The pre-engaged starter will fire the pinion in from the none-chamfered side, as it currently does on the 446. No issues there. Tick :thumb:
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So with that, the crank went off for balancing....

Next up was the pistons. They're a NOS set of +0.060" Hepolite pistons that I sourced about 10 years ago for £90 (wrongly listed on eBay as "Rover 200" - I think we've all had some bargains from that slip-up!). They came with gudgeon pins, rings and circlips, and instructions. The block has been machined accordingly. Unfortunately one of the pistons has broken compression rings. I discovered this too late in the day, so started the hunt to find them. After many false-starts, I contacted Cox & Turner in Yeovil, who were able to tell me the precise dimensions from a catalogue within 20 mins (which I verified against a good ring), and had them on the shelf. £25 the pair. They will obviously need gapping appropriately, but that got me out of some very dark woods!
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The broken rings:
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So with that, the engine project is full steam ahead.
Hope to have it built up by midsummer.

Michael
 
On the bodywork side of the project, I decided to fit the boot mount spare kit to the replacement bootlid.

This was a pretty straightforward and satisfying job. I used the club guide written by Brian-Northampton of this parish some years ago (an updated version of his blog article).

This is only a temporary fit (hence just 4 rivets to hold the spider brace) as it need to be separated again so the bootlid can be sent for stripping and repainting.

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More progress here...
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The current objective is to prepare the engine bay for the new engine to go back in. That means everything 'else' has to come out and be inspected, overhauled/replaced where necessary and generally tarted up a bit.

First up was the heater box. This needs new foam. The matrix is full of white vinegar to descale it, and hasn't sprung a leak yet, so fingers crossed. I've also stripped the motor to clear the commutator and re-oil it. It runs true and fast otherwise.
No significant rust to the heater box itself - just a bit of pin holing along the top edge which I've 'repaired' with epoxy putty. First coat of satin black make a big difference. It's get another coat when fully reassembled.

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Also removed were the brake and clutch hydraulics. The servo is going off to MGBD for reconditioning. I've got remanufactured brake cylinders from CompBrake Motorsport to put in.
The steering gear has also come out. The steering box is badly worn and won't adjust up any more without creating tight spots. I managed to source a NOS one, so that's going in. Curiously, the steering box is not the original to the car as the retaining nuts on the track rod and link rod were both nylocs, and the nut on the steering column pinchbolt has clearly been attacked before. It might be that it was replaced to cure steering vagueness that may be in the idler unit instead. In any case, that's been sent off to a specialist in Chester for reconning and I'll be fitting all new ball joints and track rods.

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The bulkhead has been scraped down and is pretty solid. I always knew the structure of this car was generally very good, but it's still reassuring to find rock solid steel work in the hard-to-reach places. I was especially happy to see this after a prominent young member on the Club's Facebook group posted a picture of his bulkhead this week, which is best described as the world's biggest bran flake. Poor fella has had to scrap the car.

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A bit more cleaning and a few cans of satin black should finish it off, then everything can go back in.

More updates to follow as they happen.
 

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The windscreen is coming out this weekend for a new seal.

I have the main seal and the bottom seal that clips around the steel U-section channel. I believe there is another seal that sits between the windscreen and the dash top. It might be made of foam(?). Can anybody advise if these are available commercially, or whether I can make one up from a suitable material.

Thanks
 
Might not be much help, but I got both from Scottsoldautorubber.com.au . The foam part was like bread crumbs, PITA to get out properly. Being careful I marked the screen (nail polish) at the top at the edge of the seal, so I knew how far to jack it up.
Glazing rubber lower (original style)$28.20 1/screen 364396
Screen seal lower inner (glass to base unit) $24.00 1/screen 367293
 
More than a decade ago i bought it from Wins, along with the metal channel and its rubber.
Perhaps you could come up with suitable from closed cell foam, if you determine the required thickness.
 
Being careful I marked the screen (nail polish) at the top at the edge of the seal, so I knew how far to jack it up.
That's a great idea! I'll do the same. I never refitted this type of screen but am aware you have to be careful not to jack them too far and risk stress and cracking. So that's a great trip.

Perhaps you could come up with suitable from closed cell foam, if you determine the required thickness.
Sounds like it is a foam then. I've pushed a scraper up between the screen and dash to try and expose the seal, and got "breadcrumbs" as JP describes. If that's the seal, I'll make something up. I imagine about 2mm will do it. The scraper blade didn't have a lot of clearance when I pushed it up there.

Thanks all!
 
Picked up my lower screen foam seal roll from one of our major DIY stores.
It does compress to fit so no need to go overboard with size.
Cleaned the old crumbled stuff out and cleaned up old residue with meths
Pushed new foam into place , Peeled off sticky side and job done.
I wish all jobs were this easy.
Now what to do with the bit left over?
 
Bit more progress on the engine bay this weekend.
All the old undershield (and over-shield!!) removed, which was a pig of a job in this warm weather. A previous owner had coated the entire engine bay up to the seam with the inner wings, which was unnecessary and made every job on the engine dirty, as your hands rubbed past partially melted underseal. It will be "under body sealed", but I wanted a clean painted engine bay, which will be protected by heat and a thin mist of oil anyway.
Thankfully, there isn't a spec of rust (beyond light surface corrosion) anywhere, so the 'over sealing' did something. Even some of the factory seam welds are still bright. Two coats of red oxide and some satin black later, and it's more or less ready for everything to go back in.

The upper parts of the inner wings will be painted after everything has been installed to avoid tools scratching fresh paint.

The base unit is a beautifully intricate thing. Working with it at close quarters, you can see just how many unique pressing there were. Some machine/spot welded on, some clearly hand-welded (bit of welding wire still attached in places). You can also see where it's been drilled and tapped in the jig. Incredibly complex body compared to the MGB and Morris Minor I've worked on more recently.

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Major progress this weekend.

I rebuilt the heater box with new foam insulation. The matrix is good and always gave good heat. I left it standing full of white vinegar for a couple of weeks for good measure, but even that flushed pretty clear.
I also stripped the blower motor. Cleaned the commutator and brushes (which still have plenty of beef on them), and re-oiled the armature spindle.
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Next up, all the steel brackets were stripped and painted, and a replacement steering idler fitted.
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At the garage today, we pulled the windscreen out to replace the seal. This included new open cell foam at the bottom. B&Q had this self-adhesive Diall garage door foam seal on a 6.5m roll for £7, and it's a perfect size to bridge the gap between the bulkhead and screen.
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Next up was the steering gear. The steering box is NOS, and I fitted NOS track rod ends as well.
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I then replaced the master cylinders. I've been wary of pattern-part cylinders after some bad experiences with unbranded aftermarket Mazda brake components manufactured in the far east. I have also heard poor reports of "Lockheed" and "Lucas" cylinders that are manufactured in the far east, and aren't to the same quality as originals from the period. I've therefore taken a leap of faith and bought brand new brake and clutch clutch master cylinders from Compbrake. They're manufactured in Britain specifically for competition classics and kit cars. They are notably cheap, but I'm hoping that's not a reflection on quality. I'll report back on performance when it's eventually on the road.
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And finally the heater box was reinstalled, which really makes it look like a P6 engine bay again.
A new set of VW Jetta engine mounts went in at the same time. I fitted a set way back in 2012, but 11 years is probably more than their service life, so I've fitted some new one.

I've yet to service the wiper mechanism and its motor, which will be installed later in the week. The brake lines all need to be connected back up, but after that it's more or less ready for the new engine to go in.... which is where my focus is going over the next few weeks, as it's still a bare block.
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Started building up the block today.

Most of the effort went into prepping it. Some of the coolant ways were partially blocked with old corrosion, which took a while to get clean. The inside of the cooling jacket also had machine filings from when it's been bored. So quite a bit of effort into getting it spotless!
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NOS side plates and fixings have gone on now.

Just waiting for some NOS little end bushes to be pressed into the con rods before I can drop the pistons in.
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While waiting for delivery on a couple of parts for the engine, I picked up a set of MagStars for the car. It'll be a good while before they turn in anger, but I'm really happy to have secured a set. I believe one of just 4 sets in the UK. They were fully restored a couple of years ago. Some of the centre caps are faded, but they also came with a second set of centre caps without the Kelsey-Hayes inserts, so I'm going to fit those temporarily and put a P6-style centre badge in them from Capricorn Coating, who have produced a custom set for me in the correct size (2-1/4" / 57mm).
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