On Wed, 2 Oct 2002, at around 11:18:33 local time, James Carruthers
<j.carruthers@rave.ac.uk> wrote:
>Hi Listers,
>
>
>I have found an engine and gearbox - for 150 pounds. It happens to be
>only 20 minutes away from Chingford.
That's a little better that two thousand!
>
>The engine is currently in a 1500 Spit - and I can go and hear it
>running before he takes it out (he says only 20 minutes to take it out -
>although my concern is it may be a little hot).
Bloody hell! Please take a digital video camera and record this for
posterity. I'd love to see someone get an engine and gearbox out that
fast, without simply cutting the car from around it with an
oxy-acetylene torch!
> The gear box is a single
>rail out of a Dolly - *only* done 50,000 miles.
May be fine, may not be, but swapping gearboxes is relatively easy to do
without any special tools or facilities, so just keep this one and run
it until it dies.
>
>The guy said the engine was "very nice" - of course he wants to sell it.
>But had no problems when I said I wanted to hear it running and do a
>compression test on it.
Encouraging.
> The guy seemed genuinely nice - and
>knowledgeable about the subject. He said he had run the engine for about
>an hour, to test it out and said that it didnt get hot. He did say it
>was a bit tappety - but thats just the valves that need adjusting.
>
>Im planning to go and see the engine the weekend after next. Not sure
>entirely sure what Im looking for here - thrust washer test I guess...
>blue smoke... any other tests?
Start the engine (but don't rev it), and listen for crankshaft rumble.
If this continues for more than a few seconds, then walk away.
Spitfire engines tend to be a bit tappety anyway, but there are limits.
See what it sounds like.
Obviously (it is a Spitfire, after all), check for oil leaks. You'll
be very lucky to find an engine without any at all, but watch out for
major oil slicks, particularly around the sump gasket, head gasket and
rocker cover gasket.
Ideally, run it under load (i.e. drive the car), and see how it
performs.
There are probably all sorts of other things you should be looking for,
but the experts will be along in a minute to clue you in on them.
>
>And Im not sure if there should be anything I should replace whilst its
>out of the car, apart from obvious things like an oil filter.
If you are just hoisting the whole engine out and dropping it into your
engine bay, then all I would suggest you do is change air and oil
filters, and plugs. Beware Shipwright's Disease! *Don't* start
thinking, "Oh, well, while it's out, I'll just..." You'll end up
stripping and rebuilding the whole thing. This is not the idea. The
idea is to get your car back on the road again quickly.
>
>So, if all goes well, I can get this Saturday morning, clean it up a bit
>and get it installed by Sunday evening (no, please don't laugh
>listers....) It'll be 2 long days of work for me and my Dad (and anyone
>else I can rope in to helping out). Im guessing fitting the gearbox to
>the engine whilst its out of the car will be easier also. I plan to
>start removing bits on Friday afternoon/evening from the old engine.
If you have appropriate lifting gear, I understand that it is much
easier to swap the whole engine and gearbox together.
>
>I guess a quick look inside the "new" engine would be a good idea - but
>I have no knowledge of what it should look like in the first place - so
>seems rather pointless - unless I see something glaringly obvious that
>shouldn't be in there - like large bent metal objects or hedgehogs.
See note about Shipwright's Disease above. Yes, this would be a good
idea - but so would getting your engine reconditioned by TRGB. Assuming
that the engine runs OK, and there are no worrying symptoms of major
problems, just dump it in and drive your car. If the engine dies on
you at some point in the future, it may have lasted long enough that you
can then afford a recon!
Treat this as a temporary solution to your problem. At GBP150, you can
almost treat this as a consumable item, to be replaced again when new
problems show up. This is my attitude to the fifty-quid gearbox I put
into Carly. I've had a year out of it already, and if it died
tomorrow, I'd still reckon that it didn't owe me anything.
ATB
--
Mike
Ellie - 1963 White Herald 1200 Convertible GA125624 CV
Connie - 1968 Conifer Herald 1200 Saloon GA237511 DL
Carly - 1977 Inca Yellow Spitfire 1500 FM105671
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