Ayuh, It's a Hemi

The teardown continued last Friday on this four cylinder hemi.  Because of the valve angle in the hemispherical combustion chambers, we have to wire the cam followers in place to clear them from the cylinder block, but the manufacturer provided for that.

Regrettably, there’s no sound chip to document the amount of piston slap which must have been present in this engine.  I was “shocked”, to quote Claude Rains in “Casablanca” to discover that you could rock the pistons back & forth at the top of the bores, which look a little bit like the Grand Canyon.  This is an 1800 cc engine.  Read along a bit farther and we’ll show you it’s 2 1/2 litre big brother at the end of the post.

The Auto Shoppe in South Burlington, Vt

Wednesday morning found our new Trailex trailer steaming up the Interstate with an E-type recovered from “Vermont’s Premier Automotive Restoration Shop” where it had gone to repair a rust hole in the left hand rocker panel, and from which we retrieved it in the condition seen here, but with the rust hole still intact.

Click on the picture for Auto Shoppe contact info and also to see the main bonnet panel in the back of the truck which features the new state of the art ‘bondo over rust’ technique.  This was quite a nice car before the rough carpenters got a hold of it (see the SCS homepage), what a pity.

Now (note gauge washer)

Then (pre-powdercoat)

I worked late last night (which is also why this post is late) finishing up the reinstallation of the powdercoated metal dash into this early MGB.  Hopefully, these before & after pictures will give you a good sense of what an improvement it is, and if you’re going to do it yourself at home this particular finish is known as “Harley Davidson Air Cleaner Black”.   However, what I’d really like to draw your attention to is the leather washer on the back of the oil/water gauge, it’s surprising how many times cars show up here with it missing.  The field repair for this seems to be to crank the tube nut up even tighter, which sometimes splits the tube nut.  The repair for this, of course, is a new oil pipe… and a new set of carpets.  Here’s the part number for the leather washer:  2K 4936.

Recently found, and just the right patina: The 2 1/2 litre

Where windshields come from (click on pic.)

We’re stockpiling the necessary pieces for a prompt assembly of the Gunmetal Grey series 1 OTS E-type 4.2 as soon as it’s in paint, so I was a bit put out when our principal Jaguar vendor told me she didn’t have a windshield.  Since we’ll go to almost any length to ensure complete customer satisfaction, I gassed up my truck Wednesday night after work and scooted down to the warehouse in Columbus, Ohio.  O.K. I also picked up a few extras for MG’s, Triumph, Austin Healey and the like.  These all say “Triplex” on them because Pilkington Glass is the successor entity and greatly to their credit they’ve kept them in production.  Triplex was original equipment on most of these cars and they are most definitely optically superior to some of the junk that’s out there now which makes a simple road test feel like a trip through a hall of funhouse mirrors.

The old & the new

While I was nearby, I also scooted over to Canfield. Ohio, about 185 miles give or take, and took delivery on our new Trailex aluminum car trailer, it’s in the picture here right behind the old one which is going into semi-retirement now, having rolled up over a quarter million miles.

The trip back was not without a certain amount of drama, in as much as tornado warnings were up for Northern Ohio.  As it was, the swirling gray & black clouds produced nothing more than some severe thundershowers that had traffic crawling along Interstate 90 at 35mph, which is well below the posted speed limit of 70.

Four cylinder Hemi

Stepped studs for Hemis

Going back to perennial question of Which Came First, The Chicken or The Egg ? for a moment, I spent the afternoon stripping the four cylinder hemi engine seen here.  If the tall studs on either side of the valve springs have a familiar look to them, it might be because someone else in Coventry cribbed the design to hold down the bearing caps & camshaft covers on their rather well known DOHC six cylinder engine.  Click the pictures for a better look. On the left is 1/4″26 X 5/16″ 22 (tpi)*, and on the right is 1/4″ 28 X 5/16″ 24 (tpi).   *threads per inch. More anon.

Adjustable ride height springs

Not all replacement parts are meant to be trim to fit.  While I was pulling down the engine, Butch, who drew the short straw on this job, was trying to figure out why the MGB he was working on was listing heavily to port.  Since nothing obvious like a racoon jumped out at him, he decided to investigate the new pair of springs which had been installed since we last saw this car.  Well now, the curious thing is that the coil spring on the left which comes to an abrupt halt, is just about the same length now as the other one.  As a general rule, when the suspension parts don’t fit, we send ’em back.  Did Bodger’s Repair need to make a payroll ?  Who knows ?  We replaced them with a suitible pair of used springs, no alterations necessary.

Butch builds a door panel

We’re hoping to be done on Friday with the Morgan +4 which as a frame up restoration beginning with a new frame, has consumed much of our time and a lot of the owner’s money.  Virtually the last loose ends are the windshield wipers, the mirrors and the license plate brackets.  Oh, and the inside door latches, the location of which is given by the thickness of the door panels, a convenient oversite on the part of the paint shop.

Very early E-type on test Tuesday

Fortunately, this is a simple fabrication and every so often we’ll whip one up to suit the occasion.  The necessary materials in this case are a piece of panel board, some black vinyl, a roll of  thin foam rubber and a can of upholstery adhesive, all of which we have to hand.  Butch did the honors.

Tuesday we put this early E-type thru its final paces.  This one had been V.O.R. (Vehicle Off Road) for a number of years, and apart from the usual steps to get it running it also required a small remediation to the passenger’s floor where the radius arm would have been attached by little more than baling wire, had it been available at the time.  It wasn’t, which made the prep work somewhat easier.  This car is good to go now.

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

In other Jaguar news, I finished off a full lubrication of the right hand drive Mk2, including a complete renewal of the brake & clutch hydraulic fluids, the former being somewhat exacerbated by some overtight bleed screws, one of which (the right front) required a judicious application of heat to free it off.  The same sort of problem occurred with the differential drain & fill plugs which were only removable by vice grips,

Steve stopped by

a tool known internally here as “The Wrong Tool”,  in this case about the only way to get ’em out short of welding hex stock onto the plugs, but we don’t like to do that next to the gas tank.

Another problem is illustrated above:  Although the driveshaft had new universal joints, the zerk fitting in the rear one was facing the wrong way.  I briefly debated spending two hours taking the driveshaft out and fixing it, but opted to spend five minutes taking the flange bolt out instead and using our grease gun adaptor.  You can find ’em at NAPA if you want one too.

Our former co-worker Steve Reed stopped by Friday, we hadn’t seen him in a year.  Butch and I thought he looked pretty good, but you’re entitled to your own opinion, of course.  We immediately pressed him into service ferrying out a load of MG TD parts for reconditioning.  Steve’s also selling his TR4, details below:

Solid axle TR4 on wires. Some of the usual rust. Machine shop fresh spare engine with 87 mm pistons, performance cam. Crank turned, rods reconditioned. Complete valve job with new valves & guides. Assembly required

Butch runs a leakdown test

After the close of World War II the product planners at Bentley Motors (1931 Ltd.) concluded that the era of the bespoke coach built car was at an end and that most new Bentleys would be owner driven.  Accordingly, the primary new model was a “Standard Steel Saloon” with a body built by Pressed Steel (who later on built bodies for MGB’s).

The engine is an in-line six cylinder with overhead intake & side exhaust valves, and pumped up a little bit compared to its Rolls-Royce counterpart by a slightly beefier camshaft & twin SU H6 carburetors.

Lock-wiring the Jag. Mk2 intake cam sprocket on Tuesday

Another Rolly-Royce innovation first appearing on this engine was a chrome cylinder sleeve in the upper half of the cylinder bore which had a disasterous effect on piston rings after the lower part of the bore started to wear while the upper portion did not.

Your scribe has previously had the gearbox of this car spread across his workbench and as described elsewhere, strength-wise, it’s entirely suitible for a fire truck.

In the first picture, Butch is chasing a rhythmic misfire by running a cylinder leakdown test after a standard compression test yielded no abnormalities.  Regrettably, the engine didn’t leak down, so we’re still stymied.

Stripping a steel dashboard out of an MGB for refinishing

After replacing  a bent camshaft bearing cap stud and lockwiring the cam sprocket bolts, a step apparently overlooked during a recent rebuild, and re-installing the cam covers, I went looking for a “does not run” condition of the RHD Jaguar Mk2 sedan.  This turned out to be a failed  electronic ingnition, cause of failure unknown.

A reversion to points & condensor and the temporary substitution of a rebuilt E-type dizzy has it  up and running again.

Jaguar Mk2 on test Tuesday

Next up with this car is a complete lubrication as well as fresh  gear oils and brake & clutch fluid, then it’s a comprehensive tuneup.

Tuesday I got it out for a brief road test ahead of the rains that have been with us all week now.  I ran it back in the barn and brought in this red MGB in order to strip out the dashboard for refinishing as per the owner’s request.  It’s over at Excel Powderwerks in Walpole, N.H. now because we’ve found that while crackle paint lasts for a few years, powdercoating is forever.

Report from the Big Easy

Middie O’Malley’s car has finally made its way back to New Orleans and he sent along this picture and these kind words:  ” I am tremendously happy with the results of your work which have absolutely transformed this car.  It is so good, in fact, that I can’t stop myself from driving it.  The car is an absolute joy to drive.  I strongly recommend to anyone contemplating serious suspension work on their TR3 that the Revington Fast Road Suspension kit that completely replaces and upgrades the original front and rear TR3 suspension be given serious consideration.  The ride and handling improvement is amazing which make it more than worth the money.”

Last Call

Jim Coffey our UPS driver made his final appearance here  Wednesday afternoon after 30 years of work.  He’s got a big smile on his face because he’s kissing all of it goodbye.  No more 14 hour days during Christmas Week snowstorms or inane Supervisors who know his route better than he did, even if they’re never driven it.

I was once in the terminal for an early pickup of a critical Next Day Air package when I tail-ended one of their driver safety meetings.  When shouted out  by a Napoleonic-sized Supervisor for a useful safety tip, one of his conscientious drivers shouted back”  KEEP YOUR SHOE LACES TIED !”  And that is also my advice to you.