So, whilst Classic and Sports Cars Essex undertakes a workshop move I've been getting busy with engine matters.
The 850 has been stripped down, another later 850 obtained and the plan was to raid that for its crank and dry primary gear and standard flywheel. Initially we'd thought that the engine would be good to go as it hadn't long had a rebuild before I took it on in 1994. Sadly however, closer inspection revealed that every piston had a hairline fracture under the gudgeon pin. Given also that the original plan involved cam bearings, hotter cam etc etc this would have meant at the least another replacement set of Pistons. It seems that even the standard ones are expensive by comparison and presumably equally as weak.
Further thought about how the car is likely to be used also led me to start thinking that a more leggy engine would be much more suitable and so the search for an a-series 998 began. Lo and behold, eBay turned up an 1100 though the seller was unsure if it was a 1098.
Last weekend we collected engine and stripped it down to find it in largely good shape and some enquiries here revealed a nice camshaft fit for reuse. A two ring...
There really wasn't much wear in the engine at all, save for a little bit of surface corrosion in one of the bores where it's been left standing in a field and so eBay delivered up these New old stock Pistons; shallower dish, +10 thou.
Plan next is to get this lot off t the machine shop and then built up. Any tips on painting the block?
Next job is to strip the gearbox down and replace the synchros..