Our Touring Past

Hi All

I figured this section would probably be the best to start a thread on my EH panelvan (Towcar).

Most of you have seen the van around the vintage van meets.. The Snowys Tour .. Shellharbour etc.
and..... most would have heard the rattles and bangs coming from the ailing 202 under the bonnet.

To rectify the situation I gave Pryces Engines at Cardiff NSW a 179 HP motor and crank about 3 months ago and asked them to bore it to 186, Balance everything up , fit a good acceleration cam and make it "bullet proof".
I received a call on Tuesday to come and collect it.

So.... home it came and between doing morning shifts painting the loungeroom and then getting a leave pass to work in the shed I managed to get the motor and box out on the ground yesterday arvo...


Now where have we seen this scenario before.. engine swaps in the Green EK ute to 186. Engine swap in the FB panno to 186.
You would think by now the block and tackle and spanners would know what to do when they seen the bonnet come off the EH in the shed

With the loungeroom piccaso finished I am hoping to get a bit of a go at swapping bits onto the 179 over the weekend. There is the Salvation Army Biker toy run on sunday so that might rule that day out.
No big rush to get things done.... with no work prospects I aint going no where.

Oh Yeah... just out of curiosity I checked on something in the motor that had been bothering me... a possible cause of the rattle... but not the reason for the excessive oil consumption ....... I dropped the rocker cover off and slackened all the overhead gear so I could pull the pushrods out...
first 3 rods measured 227mm long .. as they should for a 202... next 9 where all 232 long.. these are meant to be in 179/186 motors. God knows how long they have been like that

Having adjustable rocker gear with the earlier 186 head on the 202 meant that you simply tighten the rockers down until they stop clacking then back em off a 1/4 of a turn. the 9 with the wrong long rods would have had a different rocker angle than the other correct 3... but had little or no effect on the motor.. it has done thousands of miles like that at 60 to 70 mph towing and not towing.

Cheers
Reddo

Master, your students are waiting for the next installment in the Panno remotor.

Hi Strugglebrook.
Last I heard master was trying to catch two fibre optic cables with his chopsticks to regain his internet access.
Cheers.

Well...
All went well building the new motor. Took the engine builder 3 months to get his act together.
I bought the engine home as a short motor. 179 HP taken out to 186 , All reciprocating parts Balanced, cam is slightly lumpier than a 186S. a mild acceleration cam which I hope will suit towing the old vans ( I hope Matilda appreciates the effort I am going to ) No head. No sump etc. spent a few days "decorating" it. painting odds and ends and polishing alloy and chrome bits as it went back together.
Stage 111 head that had been cleaned up earlier went on ,
Had the flywheel balanced along with the crank, rods and pistons etc.
New clutch, pressure plate, and thrust bearing

I sort of enjoyed doing it. Re-installation went without a hitch. everything just fell into place. Even got the Genie tuned length headers sandblasted and painted to complement the rest of the detailing around the engine bay.... I figured It was the last engine replacement I would be doing for a loooooooooooooooong time so why not do a good job on it.
I have been told by a lot of people.... this ones a "Keeper" Reddo !!!
So... all bolted back in place the time came to fire her up.
Left the plugs out and wound it over until I had oil pressure... 25 PSI indicated on the smiths guage..bewdy mate.
Put the plugs in and hung the leads on the plugs. Connected the fuel line. wound for 10 seconds and it started and settled into a happy idle. A quick run down along the valve train with a socket and bar to set the tappets . Bung the rocker cover on. let it run for 5 mins as instructed by Pryces engines.
Then shut it off. Let it cool to cold.
Later that day...
Start it up again... no probs. run for 10 mins... look underneath.. ...
A puddle of oil is forming in line with the back of the flywheel....BUGGER!!!!

Close inspection with torch shows what looked like a leak around the sump gasket back left corner of motor.
Spit and cuss !!
Head for fridge ... find milk crate.. sit and cry in beer for an hour.. Go to bed later depressed.

Next day... bounce out of bed. Jack front end up. dive under car. drop oil out of sump. manage to drop sump off about 40mm at the rear. Check gaskets clean surfaces. When I fitted the sump I sealed the gaskets and neoprene seals to the block ... not the sump. so the sump came away cleanly.
placed a thick bead of sealer over the corners of the sump especially on the overlap between cork and neoprene.
There that'll fix it. bunged the 20 or so screws back in the sump. Dropped the car back down and ran the motor for 10 mins.. all good. Took it for a 10 min drive.. How good is this!!!!

Yesterday. trailered the car to the exhaust mob to get headers hooked back up to rest of the exhaust. Got em to fit a flange plate so if ever there was a reason to pull the headers out it would be a simple job. No cutting the pipe etc.

Got the car home.. All smiles.. bewdy mate.. thank god that's all done. Fit bonnet ...
Life returns to normal. Time to celebrate
Grab a beer ... sit on milk crate in much happier mood than the last time it supported me.

Upend beer down throat... look through brown bottle and suds .. and... NOTICE THE OIL PUDDLE IS BACK AGAIN.

Resist temptation to throw stubby at car. Pick up the phone and vomit down the line at the engine builder.... Leaking rear crankshaft seal.. not leaking sump gasket.

So.. the needle returns to 2 weeks ago.
I go borrow their engine stand. Come home. pull radiator and front support panel off remove engine and gearbox as one.. Invert engine on engine stand. remove sump and old gasket. Kev comes over Xmas eve morning with new crankshaft seal, sump gasket..
He pulls in new crank seal and fits sump gaskets and sump..
I have Christmas day and boxing day out of the shed of depression.... 4 cartons of XXXX should address the depression over that period.
Then.. The needle starts playing the same old tune it played 4 weeks earlier....
Bolt gearbox back on .. re-install

Might even rig the radiator and maqnifolds back up while its on the floor. Give it a run before refitting.
One would like to think it would be OK to just bung back in the car... but... knowing my luck just lately it will probably wee on the floor again when started..

But hey... look on the bright side. I hadn't planned on going anywhere this xmas. and.. I still have the 1940 BSA sidecar outfit to run around on.... gunna look funny bringing and engine stand home on it later today.....

More later....

Reddo .. from the shed of mild frustration.

You will sort it out Master, the evil leaking oil will be stopped

So... it was with a heavy heart I returned to the shed of Depression this morning. dressed in greasey clothing read for another day of skinned knuckles, ingrained grease and oil in skin.. contortionist maneuvers under the car for a day.

As I opened the shed door I could swear I could hear the f-Up fairies drop all there weapons of mass disruption and run off to wherever F-Up fairies go when they aint doing dastardly deeds in my shed.

Hmmmmmm.. what to do.. .
Silently I knelt at the base of the 10ft high XXXX temple that I erected last night while praying to the god of mechanical remidies and trying to drown my sorrows.
A voice boomed out from up amongst the pigeon poop encrusted rafters.."Redbits.. you must fight the evil drip forces...take the car out and drive it like you stole it!!!"

WOT,,,, ???????

"Do as I say bonehead or I will lock you out of your beer fridge!!"

EGADS... HE REALLY MEANS IT

So... fearing a beer drought I did as the voice said..
Wiped the sump clean. started the car. Waited till the kettle needle got o 180 degrees and took the car for a 10 mile run..Having NEVER stolen anything before I wasn't too sure how fast I was 'spose ta go.. so I settled on 45 /50MPH. constantly checking the gauges and looking out over the engine ( no bonnet) for tell tale smoke, steam and listening for impending clunks and rattles....or bits dropping off on the road. ( I am a lecko .. not a mechanic or a fitter ) sometimes things just drop off.. I put this phenominum down to the bits becoming "ripe" like fruit and dropping off when they are ready. even spanners and other tools hqave been known to do it... honest.
But there was Nothing.. just a smooth hum from the old donk.... not even a backfire or an electrical fire.

But a fool is not easily fooled. So I headed home. jumped out and checked underneath...nothing.. not a drop
Thinks ... either the sump is empty...... or the voice from the pigeons bum was on to something.
Left it idling for 5 mins... still no drops on the ground.
Deduction.. Sump is out of oil... or...what ever was causing the sump to wee had stopped causing it.. ??
Rang and spoke to the engine builder.. bedding in.. crank seal settling in after initial heat up of oil??
Dip stick is reading full....
So... another week of misery averted.
Fridge remains accessible.. just gotta talk" the voice in the rafters" into keeping it perpetually full of beer... ... or would that be pushing my luck.

Anyway.. that's it for today. Gotta go exorcise the shed to rid it of the F-Up demons.
Bye..
Reddontknowhyitstoppeditjustdid

Master, the F-UP fairies ? they are the ones that wire up houses. Fitters and Mechanics they are the one that fix cars.

Strugglebrook wrote:Master, the F-UP fairies ? they are the ones that wire up houses. Fitters and Mechanics they are the one that fix cars.

Oh do they now..
Glad ya sorted that out for me..
Next time the car poops ( or wees ) itself I will come and dump the thing on your front lawn...
I can change a few light bulbs while you do an engine rebuild fa the F-Up fairy...

Reddo