First i will apologise in advance for any typing glitches as i have a new
"ergonomic" keyboard which is going to take some getting used to -
secondly, i pinched a finger between the 69s cracked block and cracked
head yesterday while i was moving them to a corner in order that they
may collect dust!
The new engine is in, the head is on and the new cam is bedded in - the
carbs, manifolds etc bolted right back on and didnt need anything - for
some reason, both the starter motor and the alternator wouldnt function
but then thats why we have boxes of used ones isnt it!!
Everything is running nicely - 75 oil pressure, even compression over all
4 and it even looks better black than it did maroon!! haha
Im indebted to Alex and Peter at Branchville Motors here in Ridgefield CT
for letting me do the grunt work while they did the professional stuff
and continued to educate me - as a result i spent less on this
transplant than i would have on a new crossflow head and the whole
debacle has been corrected, parts and labour - including the block and
head for under a grand- which is a real relief! (once again my thanks to
Dave Blackwell on LI for selling me the replacement)
Now comes the admission....... part of the problem that caused the head
gasket to blow seems to have been of my doing - i *think* i had put the
fan on backwards after i painted it - im not 100% sure of this but
looking at the small scratches round the fitting holes it seems likely -
this never showed up on the temp guage which always read normal because -
as it turns out - the sender was faulty and NEVER sent the guage all the
way -I had this before on the GT when it wouldnt move more than a mm or
so above cold even though operating temp was normal - seems just
coincidence that the "stop" point was "normal" this time.. an "unhappy"
coincidence to say the least - moral: change the bloody temp sender
regularly!!
I cant get out on the road with it yet - theres a layer of slushy salt
everywhere just now - but as soon as it dries out - keep yer ears
open!!!!! (God it was good to hear that monza note again!!)
mike robson
69 roadster
70BGT
53 Riley
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