More Power

Volvo Fault Finding

Andy — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:18:00 GMT

The Lambda Sensor warning light has been telling me that somethings wrong, pretty much ever since I swapped the engine in the Volvo.

Due to both a mental block and a lack of time I hadn't done anything about until a couple of days ago. When I asked at my local autofactors if they could read the code for me, I was informed by their Volvo expert that our car most likely had a built in fault code indicator.

A quick internet search and a more detailed read in the Manual and I found out that what I was looking for was located on the front of the LH side suspension turret.

All I had to do was,

Take the lid off
Plug the flying lead into hole number 6 (for ignition faults)
Turn the ignition on.
Press the button for 1 sec
Count the number of times the LED flashes (Three groups of flashes giving a 3 digit number).
Then Turn the ignition off, plug the flying lead into hole number 2 (for Fuel system faults) and repeat.

Doing this gave me code 143 for Ignition and 111 for Fuel system.

111 is no Fault and 143 is knock sensor.

So off I went to the original block, removed the knock sensor and set about swapping out the one on the new engine, only to find out that the lead had fallen off and can't have ever been plugged in properly. Not surprisingly, after plugging the sensor in the fault vanished and the light went out!

Volvo engine swap.

Andy — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:26:00 GMT

After fetching the replacement engine, I had little time to phaff around getting it installed, so I started on the job the very next day.

The engine came out pretty easily since the head was already off and things were easy to get to. Disconnect the myriad of hoses and wires to the inlet manifold was a bit of a job, and can somebody tell me why Volvo had to use 18mm bolts on the bell housing! If I ever have to take engine/gearbox out again (and I sincerely hope not!), I'll buy myself an 18mm spanner first!

Next challenge was to get the engine out the Landrover and up to the middle barn, I didn't do the job in the normal garage as I decided the extra space and height up there would be an advantage. Now, the easiest would have been to ask the Neighbours to come round with one of their tractors with a pallet forks on the front. The would have happily done that, but it was only 3 days earlier that I had borrow one of their vehicles to fetch a plough so I felt I needed to manage myself this time.

So with the David Brown, a few ropes, some help, a little risk, a wing and a prayer we got it out the back of the car.

It was given a quick scrub down and driven up to the middle barn.

The only things we did in preparation were to swap over the clutch that I had changed late last year, swap the water pump which was pretty new and even Kid sister, visiting from Ireland, gave a hand changing the engine moutning rubbers (I figured it was a good time to replace them).

So, new engine, old engine, all one needed to do was get one out the way and the other in the car.

I had been very lucky in acquiring an old 1/2 ton electric hoist from work. It was one that they didn't have use for and since it hadn't been tested by the people that test lifting things couldn't use if they wanted too. It's even got 2 speeds so it's really controlable, way better than a hydraulic engine crane. The David Brown could have done the job, but the risk of disaster would have been high. The only downside was the the hoist was fixed to the steel beam above so to get the engine onto the hoist meant moving the engine and to adjust the relative position of car and engine meant moving the car. I'll invest in one of those upside down trolleys one day.

The David Brown, and a few bits of rope were just the job to get the engine onto the hoist. Just like this...

One

two

Three

T'was the usual hassle getting the input shaft to engage with the clutch and the spigot bearing, but I've had much worse! The only unexpected hitch I hit was when I found out that the inlet manifold had a bigger butterfly and my airhose was too small. Bit of a pain but it didn't take too long to get the manifolds swapped over. By early Sunday afternoon the engine was in and running. The block mounted engine heater, which had been butchered when the took the engine out leaked water. A quick session with a hacksaw, blow torch and some solder sorted this out, much easier than putting a new core plug back in!

The only issue left now is the Lamba warning light is on. However, despite this, it passed it's emissions test and got a 2 year ticket so it can't be anything to serious. I've installed a new Lamba sensor, that didn't help, soon I'll start swapping sensors over from the old engine to see if one of them fixes it.

The hunt of Volvo Red Block

Andy — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:55:00 GMT

You would have thought that a Volvo 740/940 engine or head would have been as common as rocking horse manure over here in Norway. Which, of course they are, unless it's a 16V B234F red block.

The discovery of a crack in the head of the Volvo confirmed the need for either a new head or a replacement engine. The search was frustrating. There didn't seem to be any 16V engines in Norwegian scrap yards. Volvo said that they could offer me a new head, complete with valves and springs for a mere 17000 Kr, £1700. However, after we had decided to bite the bullet and buy it, when I double checked it turned out that it was without valves. no way I said.

So, in final desperation I turned to our neighbours.Volvo's own, Sweden. Here there was more hope, but obvious logistical challenges. In the end, I bought a complete engine out of a car that had burnt out at the back end it and arranged for it to be shipped to the nearest post depot to the border. Then it was ust a question of a 200 mile round trip to fetch it. In the end I had no option other than to take the Landrover, according to the Swedish postal system I was fetching 200Kg on a pallet, which I knew would fit.

Fortunately I had the sense to put the spare wheel back in the Landy before we left, I had needed the extra space the last time I fetched something. Sure enough, for the first time in this Landy, we got a puncture.

No problem, with my best Witworth sockets and high lift jack, we were on the road again in no time.

Maybe I'll take the oppurtuninty to get the punctured tire off the rim, try out the sand blaster at work and paint it. It's about time I began tidying those rims up.

In no time we were at the border, pretty safe to say that this was the first time that this Landrover had been in Sweden during it's 45 years. 35Km further on, the post office was very helpful loading the engine into the car

and before we knew it we were on our way back, mid engined Landrover anyone? More picutres of the "Journey" here

Triumph Corner.

Andy — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:50:00 GMT

Nothing for years and now, I've been to classic car meets twice in the last month.

This time it was Horten og Omegn Motor Clubs meet/show at their club house, Borre gamlesjasjon (old station). This time there was one other Triumph, a very nice TR6, which completely by chance arrived not long after me and ended up parked beside me.

Lots of very smart motors, a good few e-types and couple of MGTDs, a very pretty MGA and lots of American "stuff"! More photos here.

Cracking Up

Andy — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:08:00 GMT

The Volvo's nearly drove me over the edge when, a couple of weeks ago, despite a second new head gasket and a head skim started blowing coolant out the exhaust for a 3rd time. With almost all possible remedies exhausted it was time for some more diagnostic work.

One die pen crack detection kit later and here's what I found....

A nice crack straight accross between no.2 back exhaust and inlet, stretching quite a long way into both ports for good measure.

So, that head is scrap then....... It t'was time to think again.

Battery Box Replacement, How I did it.

Andy — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:02:00 GMT

Ok, I've said to someone on the Club Triumph Forumthat I would show them how I changed the battery box on the Spitfire. So I thought, why not write a blog post and then it's easily available for future reference.

I did this job in early August 2006, part of the over optomistic mad rush to get the car finished for a trip around England and Ireland in September.....

Anyway, here's what I did. I started by drilling completely through the spot welds from the top, even though it's a small panel there's loads of them!

I tend to use around an 8mm drill bit, you can get away with smaller but I find plug welding afterwards easier with a bit more space.

You could also use a spot weld cutter, I have one of these an find it really difficult to control. The advantage here would be that you could avoid welding from underneath if you didn't drill through the body.

Once I drilled all the welds, I bent back the two stiffening brackets and lifted out the box.

That's where the photo's end unfortunately, but after that it's clean all the paint off the flange on the new battery box where you're going to weld. Put it in place. Bend the stiifeners back. Plug weld through the holes you've already drilled (from underneath all the way round and above for the stiffeners). And tidy up.

Biggest challenges are managing to squeeze the flanges tightly together (you can only get a clamp on at the front) and welding from underneath. On the 1500 access is really difficult under there. It's not easy to get in to grind any messy welds down either, on the other hand, no one will ever see them!

Havn't got a close up of the finished job, but you can see it here.

and here.

52 vehicles, but only 1 Triumph

Andy — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:02:00 GMT

By chance, I happened to see Re Motor Clubs little display (in foul weather) 3 weeks ago outside the local supermarket. I got chatting and was given a schedule for their events I found out that the next event was the 1st of May drive with their friends from Høyjord and Andebu, since the Triumph is out of winter storage I decided to brave the weather and go along.

I didn't really know what to expect but was all the same, especially considering the weather, amazed by the turn out. Just by chance I parked the Triumph up beside an old Austin when I arrived, one of only a handful of British Cars.

Not long before the 12 O'Clock set off, and to everyones surprise, a set of around 15 old lorrys turned up in convoy. All imacculately presented, quite a site in the Norwegian country side.

The convoy, which ended up as 52 Vehicles, took a 40 Km trip to Eidsfoss, on the back roads. As you can see some of then weren't even tarmac. A 1926 Model T Ford set the pace!

I was near the front of the convoy, the view of all these classics in the mirrors was something else.

We all parked up beside the lake and enjoyed coffee and cakes in the local Cafe.

It was good to meet some other local classic car nuts, it seems that there is quite a following here, albeit mostly Volvos! I'm looking forward to the next event, a meet on the 18th may.

There's a few more pictures on more-power.co.uk under photos (here)

Volvo Head Gasket - Take 2

Andy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:39:00 GMT

The Volvo got us to the hospital and back as we required, but not much further before the ominous sign of coolant in the exhaust appeared again.

Of course, it's good to do a job twice, this time I had it all apart in less than half the 5 hours it took me the first time. I had been recommended a engine workshop that was able to machine the head for me next day. Here's the result.

and from the top, mounted on the engine.

For 800 Kroner, that's about £80 I was really pleased, I hadn't expected it to come back looking like that. He'd even vacuum tested the vavles, which were fine. I think this will be a good place to know in the future. I might need to involve them when I start trying to persuede the Landrover to quit smoking.

The man who did the job pointed to the area where I thought it was leaking and said that there was a low spot there. Good to know.

This time, I decided that 115 Degrees would be exactly 115 degrees not just "there abouts", so I bought this angle gauge. I'm sure I'll have the chance to use it again (but hopefully not on the Volvo head bolts).

Emergency head gasket swap.

Andy — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:37:00 GMT

Typically less than a week before the due date of our first child our primary "get to and from the hospital in labour" car started to show signs of serious trouble. Coolant had been misteriously vanishing for a week or two and on our way down to the midwife for our weekly check early last week, I couldn't see a thing following behind her in the Suzuki. The cloud of white smoke confirmed without doubt that the head gasket had blown and the coolant was passing through one or more of the cylinders and straight out the exhaust.

I had planned to take Tuesday off work and get the job done, but I had to postpone until Wednesday because my local Autofactor thought our Volvo was an 8V not a 16V and ordered the wrong bits the first time round.

The 2-piece head for Volvo's early 90's B234 16V engine was designed by Cosworth apparently. I have no doubt about this fact after completing this job. Fantastic engineering, but not exactly simple! This is what faced me on Wednesday morning. I have two manuals, one in English which doesn't cover the 16V engine and one in Swedish which isn't quite Norwegian. Promising!

The first step was to remove the fan cover, fan, fan and power steering belts and cam belt covers.

As you can see, it's got two belts, the inner one at the bottom drives two balance shafts. This didn't need to be disturbed and looked in good condition so needless to say I left it where it was! Next stage, remove cam belt, tensioner, pulleys and cam carrier.

I wasn't able to get new manifold gaskets at short notice so I had to resort to removing both manifolds with the head. Given the amount of wires and hoses attached to the inlet manifold, it would have been much easier to leave it where it was and unbolt it from the head. The 3 nuts on the exhaust manifold to downpipe flange all loosened and came off with out any major issues. That was one big worry over.

On removing the head I found a significant quantity of coolant in number 2 (you can just see this in the photo) and a little in number 3. I am 99.1% certain that this was there before I started the job as I drained the coolant before I removed the head.

A quick inspection and very course flatness check (with steel rule and feeler gauge) did not show any obvious issues with the head or block so after 5 hours of dismantling it was simply a case of cleaning up the mating surfaces and bolting it all back together!

Despite my best efforts, by the end of the day it looked like this, complete with new water pump, thermostat and cam belt. Lining up the Cam shafts and getting the automatic tensioner back on was a bit of a challenge. However, considering that the new cam belt had marks on it that corresponded to the TDC marks on the crank and the cam pulleys, there was no excuse to get it wrong. I retired to bed knowing that the worst was over and hoping for at least one more day before the first contraction!

After work on Thursday I completed the job with new fan and power steering belts and a thoroughly undeserved oil and filter change. I had a moment of panic when the engine ran like a pig at first until I realised that I had forgotten to reconnect the vaccuum line to the brake servo! It's done a 100 or so Km since and seems to be holding, as is the Misses, typically.

Very Belated Pre-Winter Wash

Andy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:29:00 GMT

When I changed the coolant and tucked the Spitfire into the barn before winter I promised that it would get a wash and be covered shortly after. Between freezing temperatures, snow on the ground and life getting generally in the way, I never quite got round to it.

During last weekends full activity the Mrs decided it was time to clean her Volvo and suggested I should fetch the Spit down so whe could do that at the same time.

Needless to say, I got nothing more than a click from the starter, so we had to resort to rolling it down the slope from the middle barn, picking up some mud on the exhaust on the way.

I put the battery on charge after it was all cleaned up and a couple of hours later there was plenty of life in it. Just as well, because it took a little time to get the engine running. Being a bit overexubrent with the throttle first time round meant I flooded the engine as soon as I got fuel to the carbs. Got it going fine after a 20 minute wait, topped the battery up over night, cleared a bit more space so that I could fit it and the David Brown beside each other and covered it. Only nearly 4 months after I should have done so!

The way the weathers been here it might be only a couple of weeks before I take a run in it. It hasn't snowed or frozen properly for a good few weeks so they havn't been salting the roads. With that plus all the rain the salt that was on the roads must be washed away by now. Hmm, rain forcast tommorrow and Saturday, Sunshine and 6 Deg C on Sunday, might be worth a little outing.

Project David Brown #11 Another Major Milestone.

Andy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:28:00 GMT

After some fiddly work persueding all the bits of the control valve to come out, cleaning them and reassembling, I was left with this, ready for adjustment.

Adjustment involved setting the movement of the spool valve to withing 0.001" of the number stamped on the valve. This was 0.101". I borrowed this top quality dial gauge from work and set it pretty damn near. To get it consistently within 0.001" was a tall order.

My kid brother was visiting this weekend, and was a great help in bolting it all back together. After we had bled the system we had a brief moment of panic when everything went up but nothing came down. Panic over when we found out that we just needed a little extra weight (it's all single acting cylinders so everything relies on gravity to come back down).

It's now also been put to useful service with the log splitter, there's a couple of leaks to fix, but nothing major.

It's great to have a sevicable tractor and it really feels that all the hard work has paid off. A big thanks to all those who have lent a hand (both physically and in the form of advice), as ever it's been a joint effort. Not quite there though, it's evident it'll need a new clutch some time soon. I'll take tarting up the body work at the same time, but that may be in a little while.

Projects David Brown #10 Not quite simply changing the hydraulic oil.

Andy — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:48:00 GMT

After the great success of getting the engine running it was time to move on to the gearbox and hydraulic system. In which I was aware that there was a fair quantity of water.

No probs I thought, a quick oil and filter change, draining as many low points as possible will do the job. All went to plan athough there was even more water in the oil than I had expect, as you can see!

and I had to make a new gasket for the sump as I couldn't easily get a new one.

20 Litres of gear oil later and I was ready to go, but could I get the hydraulic system to bleed. Nope, not a sausage.

I very kindly and very helpfully recieved the full workshop manual as a christmas present. Referring to this suggest that it's almost certainly one of the valves in the control valve block that's stuck. Hardly surprising with all the water and all those years sitting outside.

That left me no option but to remove the control valve. As I followed the manual through the process I began to realise that I was removing quite a lot of tractor.

First the sink rate adjuster was off, then the control lever,

then the top three point bracket exposing the PTO drive.

Then the cover for the lifting pivot bearings and actuator, follow by the lifting arm complete with control valve.

The red bit is the control valve, dissapointingly small considering how much I had to take off!

The dismantling, cleaning, rebuilding and adjusting procedure involves taking out lots of little springs, ball bearings, valve spools and so on, getting them immaculately clean, putting them back together in the correct order and some fine adjusting using a dial gauge (fortunately work has on I can borrow).

Think I'd best get my work bench spotless before I begin!

Spitfire European Road Trip Write Up.

Andy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:10:00 GMT

My alter Ego, Viking Longship, on my less mechanically orientated and original blog, Norwegian Wood, has finally completely the write up of our early August European trip in the Triumph.

It feels like it's taken me way longer to write about that it did for us to drive the 1937 miles. Those of you who are interested can dig into the archives and find days 1 to 4 here, days 5 to 8 here, day 9 here and days 10 to 14 here in amongst all my other rablings and going ons.

Project David Brown #9 First Major Milestone.

Andy — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:03:00 GMT

Finally, the efforts paid off. There was an unanticipated extra cost as I found out that the injectors were seized solid and needed new nozzles. Not cheap, but the very efficient diesel experts ordered the bits straight away and I got my injectors back, nicely cleaned into the bargain, inside 2 days.

It didn't take long to bolt them in and get the lines bled. I finally and with great anticipation turned the key on Saturday afternoon, after the engine warmer had been plugged in for a couple of hours. To much joy it fired into life just after just couple of turns. Although the joy was relatively short lived as it proceded to blow a large quantity of very watery hydraulic oil (also the gearbox oil) out of one of the fittings at the back. You can see the joyous moment here as it's easier to post videos on Blogger.

After fiddling with a couple of the many levers, we were able to start again without any major hyraulic leaks. Without taking it significantly over a slow idle we drove a short circuit, managed to get all the gear levers working and figure out some of the hdyraulics.

Plenty more to do, starting with the gearbox oil (all 18 Litres of it!) and it'll need a new earth strap and battery lead before it can be expected to start reliably.

I'll do the gear oil sooner rather than later and then that's more or less it for the winter. This is were I had hoped to get to. It feels good to know that the engine's back in one bit, protected from the elements and has had oil pumped around it.

Project David Brown #8 So near, So far

Andy — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:24:00 GMT

Tantalisingly close to the first major milestone for my old DB-880. First step has always been to get the engine running before I spend time and money on niceties like an exhaust, new clutch and cleaning/painting.

The first challenge was to get the air out of the injector pump, after about an hour of frustration I had the daft idea that maybe I hadn't put enough diesel in the tank (not helped by the fact that half of it was now on the barn floor). Sure enough, added anough 10Litres to the tank and had the pump bled in no time.

Next step, again with the help of the 2 batteries in the Land Rover was to get diesel to the injectors. Again this proved a challenge until we realised that logically you had to hold the stop knob out for the engine to run.... Bizarre, it maybe does have some kind of hold out mechanism but it seems very flimsy and liable to pop back in at the slightest hint of vibration, think I'll try a temporary solution of a few clothes pegs next time...... Finally we had everything we needed to start the engine, now looking amazingly complete....

It did try, but then some idiot who didn't know what he was doing took the injectors apart without knowing how they were adjusted. They were pretty mucky so I am glad I (cough) did it I just wished I'd counted how many turns I unscrewed spring retainer.

So, the same idiot will be delivering the injectors to a Diesel specialist so they can be set up for the correct pressures tommorrow. Hope they won't take too long, would be good to try starting it again at the weekend in the daylight so that, if needs be we can tow start it behind the other tractor....

Be Prepared

Andy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:30:00 GMT

It's that time of year again, our 3rd winter in Haugtuft and we've learnt that it pays to be prepared for whatever the winter throws at you. Up where we live it's been down below -20 C and we've had at most a couple of metres of snow on the ground. I havn't managed to get my garage well enough insulated and heated yet so winter fixing is strictly of the neccessary kind only.

So, when the sun shone and the temperatures were up nearly to the dizzy heights of +10 C this weekend I set to work getting the fleet ready for the winter. I decided, as I have lost track on the Antifreeze front that a full coolant change was due on all vehicles, better safe than sorry. So I bought a 25L barrel of anti-freeze and set to work, first the Zetor which also had a trip down to the local petrol station for a fill up of Fuel, best to leave tanks full to avoid condensation inside the tank. As the nieghbour does all the snow ploughing, I use the tractor(s) very little through the winter. Then the Landy and Suzuki.

Then the Volvo, this was also awaiting an Oil change so I got that done at the same time. In addition to coolent, I also took the oppurtunity to bolt the winter tyres on. You are not allowed to change to studded tyres before the 1st of November (unless it snows before then!) and whilst there is no sign of snow in the immediate future it pays to be ahead of the game. The first day of snow is chaos, both on the roads and in the tyre shops. If you come to bolt your studded boots on that day and one of them's got a puncture you can forget getting it fixed in a hurry. So, thinking ahead we got 2 new goodyears for the front last week as the old ones had lost a few too many studs. For the appreiciation of those in the UK, here's what real mans tyres look like and one of the reasons why the UK grinds to a halt when it snows but Norway doesn't. I think if the UK was given the alternative of shelling out on an extra set of wheels and studded tyres they'd opt for two days of chaos every other winter...

Last, but certainly not least, was the Spitfires turn. No winter tyres for that, as much fun as it would be out on the snow and ice, it's not going anywhere near the roads as long as the long as there is any hint of salt about. But a coolant change was in order.

Followed by a trip down to fill up with petrol and a quick apin out in the country to take advantage of what may be the last opportunity to drive it before the spring.

And Yes, I know it needs a wash, that'll be next weekend weather permitting...

The Landy doesn't get winter tyres either. It's got all year round non studded mud and snows on, which with the addition of 4wd as required work fine through the winter. The Suzuki's also got M and S tyres, but it has 2 sets, more winter and less winter! I'll probably change those next weekend, no major issue if it snows before i get round to that though

I never knew that..

Andy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:36:00 GMT

I was informed by a member of the Club Triumph Forum where this blog is now featured that I should really be restoring a Ferguson tractor, as that has some association with the Standard Triumph company. I am struggling to find any reference of this fact, but I have found out about another thing that was mentioned. That David Brown and Aston Martin were infact the same thing.

David Brown bought Aston Martin in 1947 and the DB in the famous series of cars DB1-DB7 in fact stands for David Brown. So when (if ever) I drive my tractor, I will not be driving an Aston Martin, it's the Aston Martin owners that are in fact driving a David Brown, and priviledged they are to do so!!!!

I'm sure many of you already knew this, but I didn't and finding out has made me a little chuffed...

Of course, I would dearly like a Fergueson 20 but this tractor kind of chose me and beggers can't be choosers.

Project David Brown #7 Under Pressure

Andy — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:03:00 GMT

It's rarely that I write a so "hot of the press" blog post as this one. It's Friday evening and I've just come in from the barn. All in all I'm pretty damn happy.

First things first, I wanted to get the engine warmed up before I tried anything (with the engine heater, standard issue in Norway). To do this I needed water in the block. So I had to bolt the thermostat housing back on (without the stat for the time being) connect up the top hose, flush the system a little and fill it up. It even seems to be water tight which is a bonus.

Now I needed a battery (or three) so I fetched the one out of the old Opel, which should have been delivered to the scrappy by now, but we havn't quite got round to that yet. Connected it up, plug all the wires that I had disturbed back in, and turn the key. A faint light, some where deep under the "dash" came on. When I pulled out the wire to the oil pressure switch it went out. OK the bulbs fallen out the holder and has dissapeared into the back of beyond but I can see it and that's what matters.

I turned the key one more click and, hey presto, the starter moter spun into life and the engine turned. My joy was short lived though as the battery wasn't up to much and died before there was any sign of oil pressure. All in all, the old girl needed a helping hand, which I fetched in the form of the Land Rover and a set of jump leads.

It took a while and I was almost starting to lose hope when a little splash of oil came out the feed hole to the rocker. Peering through the hole where the oil pressure light should be I couldn't see a light either. Not quite able to believe my eyes I had to watch the oil pressure light go out a couple more times before I was convinced!

So, long story short (and you've just read all that tripe) the starter works and it's got oil pressure. As a congratulatory gesture I installed the very organised push rods and bolted opn the rocker shaft.

Now the valves also go up and down.

It was difficult not to keep going, but it's Friday evening, I've had a couple of home brews and I 've promised the Neighbours sons that I won't try to start it until they're present on sunday afternoon. So no rush and I think it's best to have a clear head for the next bits...

Project Spitfire Diary June 2007 (part one)

Andy — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:45:00 GMT

So, mid May came and with the Spitfire now road legal I promtly took the bonnet, doors and bootlid back off to start welding, prepping and painting.

Thinking the bonnet was the biggest challenge I started with that, I had it in my head that all I needed to change were the headlamp surrounds and this inner outer arch.

As I started cutting out I quickly came to the realisation that when I had done everything 100% on the rest of the body, I wasn't going to be able to save the front wings and have them looking halfway decent. So, I ordered some new heritage wings, put the bonnet to one side and got to work on the passenger door, the worst of the rest.

What a job the door turned out to be, in the end I had to fabricate and butt weld in something like 15 repair patches, mainly arround the bottom of the door.

The most fiddly though was this patch, curved in every possible direction.

Took me an age, but in the end I was pretty pleased with the result, if I do say so myself.

Needless to say, by the time I had finished the passenger door, my new front wings had long since arrived from England so I was able to get on with the bonnet without delay, which will be the subject of my next diary post!!

Project David Brown #6 Nuts (and bolts)

Andy — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:41:00 GMT

Well, found my nut, lying on the floor in the middle of the barn, exactly were it shouldn't have been. Repeat after me.... I MUST BE MORE ORGANISED AND CAREFUL WITH THE BITS I TAKE OFF...

I was very pleased when I torqued up the final rod bearing and the engine turned smoothly with no tight spots. Next job was to get the head on. We had already cleaned and prepared the head and I had been careful to keep all the headbolts in a safe and organised place so this job went smoothly. The head was heavy to lift on, but without the extra weight of the manifolds I was able to manage it on my own.

So, with the head torqued down next step was to bolt the sump on. Again everything was clean and ready to go and all the bolts were carefully stored in a little box. Dave S on the Club Triumph forum is quite correct, double check.... I had it in my head that 30 Lb/ft (nearly 50Nm) was a good torque the the sump bolts, it wasn't... The last two I tightened snapped, I should have checked, I only have limited info for this engine, but the sump bolts are similar to the Spitfire and the Landy so I could have easily checked the torque for one of those, instead of guessing and generating unneccesary work.

As a result of this, I spent yesterday evening searching for 2 bolts, in the end I found 2 (one was an allen bolt so it's not ideal but it'll do for the time being), cut them to length and bolted the sump back on this time to a more reasonably 30Nm. I just hope I havn't ruined the gasket. There were no obvious leaks this morning but time will tell.

So, it's now got nearly 6 Lts of fresh oil in it and a new oil filter installed. Next step is to fetch a vehicle with a suitable battery and a big set of jump leads and see firstly if the starter motor works and then if I get oil pressure. It's so close I can almost smell the exhaust.

Project David Brown #5 Missing a nut...

Andy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:57:00 GMT

Late Sunday Afternoon, after getting frustrated with the front strut on the Volvo (see previous post), I finally got back to the next job on the David Brown, honing the bores and installing the pistons.

I honed the three cylinders for as long as my tired arms could manage and had to accept that "good enough" would have to do. The worst of the damage cleaned up Ok, but there was some small marks left, hopefully nothing too significant. Here's number three which was probably the worst of the three.

Installing the rings on the pistons wasn't too difficult, albeit a little painful on the fingers so it would have been good to have a piston ring pliers to hand.

After making sure everything was clean and splashing plenty of clean oil about, installing the pistons went pretty well, until I came to the third piston and realised that I was missing one nut for the rod bearing. So, works halted until I find that, irritating really, after all these years I should know how important it is to take care of the bits you take off.

Anyway, three pistons back in with two rod bearings torqued up and the engine turns without any tight spots. Once I find (or buy) that nut, it's head and sump on, new oil filter and oil and see firstly if the starter motor works and if I get oil pressure. Exciting stuff, I really didn't want to have to waste time searching for a bit!

Pig of a job...

Andy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:14:00 GMT

Over here even used cars are so expensive that I can't bring myself to buy one that doesn't need some degree of fixing.

The theory being that the cost of getting a car fixed at the garage is also extortionate, so by buying a car with problems from somebody honest and fixing it yourself you can get yourself a bargain. Hopefully our latest purchase, a 1992 Volvo 940 Estate, 2.3L 16V will prove this theory. For the first time since moving to Norway, this is not another car, it's a replacement for our old 1986 Opel Rekord, which is more than ready for the scrap yard. Can't complain about the Opel though, we got it for the cost of a clutch change and it's driven over 70000Km in 2 1/2 years with minimal fixing and maintenance.

We bought the Volvo for 12000,- Kr (around £1000), needing a new bottom ball joint, front shocks and brake pads. Similar cars advertised without any problems begin at 30000 Kr. I'm such good friends with the local autofactors that I get 30% discount on parts so new front shocks, bottom ball joints, track rod ends, brake pads and a full service kit came to around 4500 kr.

So, straight into the garage on Saturday morning. The only manual I have is in Swedish, which isn't quite Norwegian so there was some guess work, but inside a couple of hours, I had the strut out and dismantled. This bottom ball joint was indeed completely past it.

The nut that holds the shock in the strut was a touch difficult, and as I destroyed it I started to panic that I didn't have new ones. However Munroe had kindly provided these with the new shocks.

As has been the case with the last 3 cars I have purchased/acquired the calliper sliders were seized so I freed these up before bolting it back together with the new balljoint and track rod end.

The other side came apart like clockwork, but the shock retaining nut was an absolute swine. In the end I had to chop the top off the shock with the angle grinder and drill/chisel the shock out from underneath the now mullered nut. 3 hours with a hammer and chisel, what joy. Here's the remains of the shock and nut...

My efforts were rewarded as the thread in the top of the strut was good enough to get the new nut in and tightened down. In the end I got it back on 4 wheels and took it for a test drive mid afternoon Sunday, a vast improvement. Oil and filter change can wait, I'd had enough of Volvo for one weekend!

Project David Brown #4, one step ahead...

Andy — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 13:33:00 GMT

I got this tractor 2 1/2 years ago with the property and before that it had sat outside for a period (of years) and the engine was seized solid.

The year has dissapeared with finishing the Spitfire and driving it around Europe along with various other projects so it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I finally managed to spend some time on this and get the two remaining stubborn pistons out.

Now that I've got so far, it's full steam ahead as I really don't want the Engine and bits to sit open and unprotected during the winter months. I hope to get everything back together and run the engine for a short time in the course of the next couple of weeks. Hopefully(lessly) optimistic I know.

As I have decided that it is best to have the minimum amount of time between honing and bolting back together/starting my attention has turned to the head. As you can see and not so surprisingly, the valves and seats weren't in the best of shape.

I'm hoping that my efforts with an electric drill first

and the valve grinding stick afterwards will be good enough to give a decent compression. Yesterday evening I got the head cleaned up and back together, I've also cleaned up the manifolds so everything connected to the head is ready to go back together.

Next stop, the block. I've got new gaskets, rings, filters and oil all ready and waiting. as dictated by my financial controller I have bought the bare minimum required to get the engine running. I know it needs a new clutch, it'll have no exhaust and I would guess some of the old water hoses will leak, that's stage 2 and I'm not allowed to start stage 2 before I've demostrated that I have completed stage 1... They're not daft these women!!!

Project Spitfire Diary April-May 2007

Andy — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:26:00 GMT

I can't really go on calling these updates as I am so far behind with my reports that the car is now finished.... I will however, mainly for my own benifit and memories, continue the story until I am up to date (could take a while)..

April came and almost went before I got back from starting up the waste treatment systems onboard the worlds largest cruise ship, and despite best intentions the couple of little jobs needed to get the Spit thorugh it's registration control still weren't done.

The glass man finally coming good with a screen kicked me into action. The other jobs were having supports closer together for the brake pipes (I'd used copper pipes, and the regs over here say that you need supports closer together than the original steel pipes), re-routing the pipes I'd stupidly took under the chasis at the back and stamping the VIN number in the chassis.

These jobs didn't really take all that long, here's how the pipes were after I moved them.

A quick trip to the local "Biltilsynet" (car registration and test place) and I got the rubber stamp I needed. Now registering the car was a quick paperwork and payment excercise. One would think that I would be keen to get plates on the car and get out driving, but oh no, it was straight back in the garage, bonnet, boot lid and doors off ready for fixing and painting.

They're Out...

Andy — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 09:36:00 GMT

And not before time....

What a battle it's been, but the posibility of Haugtuft becoming a "2 tractor farm" has taken a huge step forward. After literally years of trying, I've finally unstuck and removed the pistons from the David Brown.

It took jacking up the whole front end of the tractor by a Conrod, heating the block up with the engine heater (which fortunately works) and the bores full of Diesel and then two of us jumping in unison on top of the block....