A few more points for the group:
1) Does anyone know how to plumb in the rocker oil feed pipe kit without
it leaking?
I have finally given up and removed mine, after grappling with it for a
year.
The problem occurs at the banjo joint at the back of the cylinder head.
The 2 metal washers
supplied with the kit are useless - the force needed to squeeze them
enough to stop oil
coming out would shear the bolt. I next tried fibre washers, and thought
that this had solved
the problem. Each time I detected oil seaping out I cautiously tightened
the bolt a fraction,
and this seemed to do the trick. Now however the washers have compressed
so much that
the shank of the bolt has reached the threaded hole, so of course oil
started to pour out.
I have tried copper washers (not soft enough), more fibre washers (too
soft), metal washers
with chemical metal smeared on the faces (won't stick, so falls out),
even string and red
gasket cement.
I had the head off recently and took the opportunity of facing up the
area around the hole, but
it made no difference.
2) Is anyone either in the club or across the classic car scene keeping
a log of people's
experiences with LRP and the various petrol additives now in use to cope
with the absence
of lead?
I have noticed that LRP rapidly perishes the rubber diaphrams in
Stromberg carburettors. I
fitted a pair of brand new ones (ie not lead-accustomed) when I started
using LRP, and on
investigating the lumpy idle that soon developed found the rubbers
swollen.
I have now switched to unleaded with Millers VSP manganese-based
additive, and fitted new
diaphrams after 2 tankfulls to clear out the old LRP.
My observation of using Millers is that so far, it fully lives up to its
reputation. In the last days
of leaded petrol I noticed the car more and more prone to pinking, so I
suspect they were
skimping on the lead even then. LRP was better, but still not as good as
4star in the old
days. Millers and ordinary unleaded however has outstanding resistance
to pinking. Even if I
try I can barely make the engine pink. (Standard ignition settings)
Manganese is said to be the only additive that reproduces the cooler
burn characteristics
that leaded petrol had and that older designs of engine need. I cannot
definitely confirm this,
as I have rectified so many other things that might have been
contributing to my chronic
overheating problems. But car now runs cool and I am thinking about a
radiator muff!
Of course these are early days, and there may be longer-term problems
yet to emerge. That
is why I thought some kind of experience-register might be useful. Some
people doing large
mileages might have useful advice or observations to pass on so that we
don't all blindly go
down the same mistaken road.
Cliff Pope
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