Next project - ‘62 997 Austin Cooper

[bmcman.ie]

thats brilliant!

[Peter Laidler]

BRILLIANT idea and job Dave....... I'm going to do the same this afternoon! In fact there's TWO brilliant ideas there. I see that you've raised the rear clutch slave cylinder bolt too to make it easier to get to. I've got plenty of those hexagonal 'joiners' too.

That's JUST what I like about this forum in one picture

[Andrew1967]

That is a great idea David.

I’m going to bleed the clutch before I fit too much in that area, certainly before the servo goes in ! Very tempted to do the same as you though .

[Dr.Mabo]

WOW, that's a good one.

I will directly pick up the idea for my Broadspeed.

Thanks

[Peter Laidler]

Just been into my garage to formuate my cunning plan to copy yoir idea Dave and..... Got all the parts except where did/do you get the large dia threaded bleed nipple used in the female end of the hexagon? Is it a stock part. I suppose I could turn one up........

Peter

[Dearg1275]

Just been into my garage to formuate my cunning plan to copy yoir idea Dave and..... Got all the parts except where did/do you get the large dia threaded bleed nipple used in the female end of the hexagon? Is it a stock part. I suppose I could turn one up........

Peter

It’s the original from the end of the clutch slave. 7/16 AC 3/8 UNF.

D

[Peter Laidler]

Of course it is!!!! And I've got a couple of them. Thanks.

[Dearg1275]

Just been into my garage to formuate my cunning plan to copy yoir idea Dave and..... Got all the parts except where did/do you get the large dia threaded bleed nipple used in the female end of the hexagon? Is it a stock part. I suppose I could turn one up........

Peter

It’s the original from the end of the clutch slave. 7/16 AF 3/8 UNF.

D

[Dearg1275]

The postie brought the last bits I needed to finish off the engine bay.

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I made a few more modifications. ‘62 cars had the brass 3 way brake TEE hidden away beneath the bulkhead cross member. Yet another bad BMC idea that they changed later. The brake lines were already in place and I couldn’t face moving them to improve things. Another Tee mounted on the cross member and plumbed to the original tee allow connection to the servo and a spare port to take a bleed nipple. Now I can remove the servo and work on the front brakes with out the need to bleed the whole system to the rear. Hmmm just noticed I might need to spin the T through 90 degrees if I need to take the engine out! Drat.

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I still need an indicator flasher unit that works and the oil cooler will go on once the engine is run in. Oh and somewhere safe I have the engine and chassis number. Just have to remember where safe is.

D

[hanlminiman]

I LIKE that a LOT.

[timmy201]

That’s a great idea. My trick was to remove the slave and hold it up above the master, but then you obviously still need to fiddle and install it afterwards

One other good idea I’ve seen with the extended bleeder is to have it able to bleed up into the master, that way you don’t spill any or use up a bunch when bleeding

[e-type]

What a great build, what mods did you do to the radiator, to make it easy to get it out ?.

[Dearg1275]

What a great build, what mods did you do to the radiator, to make it easy to get it out ?.

Take a look at page 29 on this thread.

D

[roger mcnab]

hi d
well it has been raining here like in biblical proportions i am starting to feel like noah the bottom of the yard is flooded from the river backing up the town is cut off in every direction the water is starting to get in the shed which means that some shovel work is needed on the drains around the shed because we live at the bottom of the hill we get the excess water from every else
our chooks need gum boots and they tell us that the rain will last for at least a week more
because i have a removeable front on the clubman i have a need for different bonnet hinges so i am fitting porsche boxster hinges which will enable the bonnet to come of with all the rest but allow me to open it as usual and has struts to hold it up as well so slowly getting there next is the rebore of the v8 then build the suspension and brakes which it never came with i might get to drive this thing before i get to old and feeble
cheers roger

[Dearg1275]

Thanks for the positive feed back. It motivates.

A door went on today. I can’t get to fit the other until I can spin the car around but it feels as if things are coming together now. Oil pressure also achieved yesterday 60psi on the starter only with plugs out. That’s where I like it. So, that door.

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D

[Dearg1275]

If anyone was wondering if there was any progress the answer is NO! It’s been a case of woe, woe and many times woe.

I’ve been trying to get the engine running and tried to be systematic about it. First check for a spark. No spark. Not the leads or low tension or coil or plugs. All swapped out for known good ones. It proved to be high resistance on the contact breaker terminal owing to the steel thread on the screw on terminal being rusted up. Sand blasted it clean and all was fine with all the original components.

Out of the woods. Think on. Time to add a little fuel and check for leaks. 5 litres dumped in the tank of the very best you can buy up here Yep. 2 star. 2 or 5 star they both know how to leak from the drain plug. Drip, drip. An attempt to tighten the drain plug was thwarted by the bleed screw being sufficiently off centre in the hole in the boot floor to prevent a socket doing any good at all. Tank out time.

With the tank out and drained a scrap of grit was found beneath the bleed tap. Cleaned everything, screwed in the tap, checked it didn’t leak out of the car. All good. Tank goes back in. Refit drain plug and cross thread it and don’t twig until too late. Tank out. The thread is beyond hope in the tank so, nervously (the tank has just been filled with fuel ) I soldered it all shut for good.

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And closed the hole in the floor.

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Getting somewhere ? Fat chance. Time to turn the ignition and see if the pump runs. YEEH HA Success, but it doesn’t stop hammering away. So there must be fuel spilling somewhere. Er no. An air lock perhaps? Wrong again = nothing from the disconnected carb hoses. It has to be a perforated/ perished diaphragm in the pump (hadn’t checked that). Fuel pump removal time. Yes but why is the supply hose to the pump no spewing fuel as it should as I remove it from the pump. Correct a blocked tank outlet. Tank out, again. A pleasant hour or so was spent in the spring sunshine, and icy easterly, out of the shed because the tank is sloshing with fuel. Finally fuel appears and eventually runs copiously but mucky.

So now the pump does it’s job and delivers fuel to the carbs. This is where it gets truly embarrassing. Crank as it would, not a glimmer. Fiddled with advance. Nowt. It ain’t fuel, it ain’t spark, it ain’t air which just leaves compression. Did I actually set the valves. Hmm it seems not. Valve gaps set it is definitely more difficult to turn over. May be?

No. The odd cough. So what’s left, could the timing be completely out? Ah ha. Distributor drive. 180 degrees can be so important.

Now the wee beast ( I’m being kind here) has no excuses. All the variables are taken care of.

There’s a song that goes “I’m for ever blowing bubbles little bubbles in the air”. All along the front of the head syncopated bubbles doing a highland version of line dancing. Surely I torqued the head down. Exonerated, all was at the correct torque.

Tomorrow is another day but never before have I had to remove the head before I’ve even started the engine. Currently drowning my sorrows.

I just hope this tale helps folk avoid all these issues that I seem to have had in a huge one-er.

D

[Andrew1967]

The car is sure fighting against you at the moment David !

Trouble is, when there are issues after issues you really do start to doubt everything done beforehand, which usually is done correctly !

[Polarsilver]

I had same issue .. Coolant can & will come up the Head Studs threads that screw into the Block on a 997 because those threaded holes go through into the waterways ..solution take head studs out one at a time & put some thread seal on the stud thread into the Block .. this cured that issue without the need to remove the Cyl; Head

[Dearg1275]

I had same issue .. Coolant can & will come up the Head Studs threads that screw into the Block on a 997 because those threaded holes go through into the waterways ..solution take head studs out one at a time & put some thread seal on the stud thread into the Block .. this cured that issue without the need to remove the Cyl; Head

Ah but I haven’t any coolant in the engine yet! I like to get a first buzz out of the engine before the coolant goes in. Method in my madness. This way I don’t have to drain the coolant if I need to take the head off. It’s either oil or unburnt fuel that’s bubbling away nicely. I’ll investigate more closely tomorrow. Oh and I sealed those head studs when I built the engine. I have another 997 and an early 850 so I learnt that tick/issue some years ago.

Nice thought but it’s not that.

D

[Dearg1275]

In a slightly better frame of mind I returned to the work shed this morning. Had a good zen tidy up (always feels better with every thing put away) and started afresh. My wife had commented that the place stank of petrol. I have no sense of smell but I quite believed her as I had petrol sloshing about most of yesterday.

I decided to put the battery on charge, while I removed the cylinder head, as it had done a lot of work yesterday. Cylinder head was proceeding nicely but I needed to drop the rear of the exhaust only to find petrol dripping from the underside of the boot. In the boot was an old sheet and it was soaking in petrol inches from the charging battery. Very nervous moment. With the charger switched of at the mains it got rapidly disconnected from the battery. The fuel pump had decided to leak probably from the join of the outlet nozzle to the body.

The sheet was literally dripping with fuel soak through and the spare wheel well was swimming in the stuff.

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A very near miss. I’m beginning to believe this car is jinxed.

Back to the head problem. This is the state of play now.

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Head and block are fine but the head gasket clearly has not done it’s job. The forward copper sealing “washers” have resisted compression and reduced compression of the fire ring. Measurements as below.

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Definitely not an even compression of the gasket. The good folk at Southam Mini Metro Centre confirmed this as a problem with certain head gaskets despite their being torqued down correctly. So, I’m currently trying to source a better gasket rather than try the same again. That and some Wellseal.

So all is on hold for a while. I suppose I have now no excuse not to cut the grass.

D