A Rolls Royce Silver Shadow found me.
Discussion
Nobody would buy a 41 year old car with a dead engine from Ebay unseen, right? Wrong. I did.
It was in Yorkshire, I'm in Southampton with an 8 week premature baby in hospital, so heading to Yorkshire to check it out wasn't going to happen.
I'm hopeless at bodywork, but engines, gearboxes and wiring is easy peasy and I've got the kit.
Car arrived this week courtesy of shiply.
Collecting a replacement engine next weekend.
It was in Yorkshire, I'm in Southampton with an 8 week premature baby in hospital, so heading to Yorkshire to check it out wasn't going to happen.
I'm hopeless at bodywork, but engines, gearboxes and wiring is easy peasy and I've got the kit.
Car arrived this week courtesy of shiply.
Collecting a replacement engine next weekend.
I paid £2700. Didn't expect much and was mentally preparing myself breaking it for spares. Turns out the bloke at RR and Bentley breakers Westminster Autos is an honest and genuine guy, its actually in really nice condition. Red with chocolate broon leather.
Not metallic, this is a bonus.
Its not looking so good under the bonnet. Currently 'failing to proceed'.
The drivers door was fine when the car arrived, but we had a little drama saturday when trying to manoeuvre it into the shed, the drivers door wouldn't unlock. I pulled it apart tonight from the inside and got it open, so that's a small step in the right direction.
Does anyone have any experience of pulling the lump out of one of these? If I take the bonnet off and the rad out, but leave the gearbox in, will the lump come out?
Exhaust is missing and one manifold is cracked.
So far so good.
Not metallic, this is a bonus.
Its not looking so good under the bonnet. Currently 'failing to proceed'.
The drivers door was fine when the car arrived, but we had a little drama saturday when trying to manoeuvre it into the shed, the drivers door wouldn't unlock. I pulled it apart tonight from the inside and got it open, so that's a small step in the right direction.
Does anyone have any experience of pulling the lump out of one of these? If I take the bonnet off and the rad out, but leave the gearbox in, will the lump come out?
Exhaust is missing and one manifold is cracked.
So far so good.
dbdb said:
Ooooh that's lovely - and a great colour too!
Do you know what's wrong with the engine yet?
It had an overheating problem and was taken to a garage, heads off and pistons out, the bill was running away, the owner sold it to the garage to cut his losses. The garage disposed of it to a breaker who decided to sell it as it was. I'm that nutter.Do you know what's wrong with the engine yet?
Heads are missing, 2 pistons are missing, bores have water damage. I'm collecting a 63k miles complete engine on Sunday.
The Spruce goose said:
how much is your recovery fund.
Dunno, maybe £3000? That would be fine. Expecting to need a few other jobs along the way.Found the exhaust is missing....
silverfoxcc said:
Huntsman
Join the RREC at once!
They do weekend seminars on the various models at the club HQ near towcester and i think the one on Shadows are in March, ( bst cehck with them) thy go through EVERYTHING and evn have a sectioned one for you to look at. I have done the Spirit one three times and although the basic talks dont change, what you learn from other guys is invaluable
Most of th later model owners are ok ( normal people) its the earlier models where the braying donkeys reside who go on on who they know rather than what they know, although the erlier odels 20hp etc have the DIY faction.
Se if you can get onto the RREC forum as well
Thanks, I'll mull it over, not really a fan of car clubs.Join the RREC at once!
They do weekend seminars on the various models at the club HQ near towcester and i think the one on Shadows are in March, ( bst cehck with them) thy go through EVERYTHING and evn have a sectioned one for you to look at. I have done the Spirit one three times and although the basic talks dont change, what you learn from other guys is invaluable
Most of th later model owners are ok ( normal people) its the earlier models where the braying donkeys reside who go on on who they know rather than what they know, although the erlier odels 20hp etc have the DIY faction.
Se if you can get onto the RREC forum as well
n3il123 said:
Is it in yet?
Bugger orf.Here's a pic of the Silver Shudder in the manshed, the eagle eye amongst you will notice the lump of turf caught by the spare wheel holder, no wonder it got stuck going through the doors.
Went to collect engine with my mates beaten up Previa.
Post engine collection we stopped to chow down (only 1 measly sausage)
Note, at this point things wern't going exactly to plan.
TR4man said:
OP - does your missus know what's lurking in the garage yet?
There's a very clear set of ground rules. I am allowed as many cars and boats as I like. (Hence the Huntsman username). As long as I don't re-mortgage the house I have free reign.I am not allowed motorcycles, light aircraft or winged flying suits. This is a good thing.
Having put some thought into this, as space in my manshed is limited and as I'm 44 years old, unfit fat b
d, I'll break this into chunks.
You can't just pull the lump out the top. Its either gearbox out, then engine out, or undo subframe and lift the body off......there's a sort of combo method that includes all the work of both and twice the swearing....let's not do that.
I'll pull the box out. I can break this whole job into a few distinct phases.
1. Prep the replacement engine - over a couple of weeks.
2. Remove box - one day.
3. Clean box and replace filter - few evenings.
4. Old engine out and new engine in - one day.
5. Gearbox back in - one day.
6. Finishing off - months probably!
Is there any items which I should replace whilst its out that are difficult jobs when its all back together? I wonder.
Do the engines have specific lifting points?
(Yes, I fully realise the folly of my ways, still, there's no turning back now is there!)
d, I'll break this into chunks. You can't just pull the lump out the top. Its either gearbox out, then engine out, or undo subframe and lift the body off......there's a sort of combo method that includes all the work of both and twice the swearing....let's not do that.
I'll pull the box out. I can break this whole job into a few distinct phases.
1. Prep the replacement engine - over a couple of weeks.
2. Remove box - one day.
3. Clean box and replace filter - few evenings.
4. Old engine out and new engine in - one day.
5. Gearbox back in - one day.
6. Finishing off - months probably!
Is there any items which I should replace whilst its out that are difficult jobs when its all back together? I wonder.
Do the engines have specific lifting points?
(Yes, I fully realise the folly of my ways, still, there's no turning back now is there!)
jimboobs said:
Just out of interest where do you get a 2nd hand RR engine from and, if you don't mind me asking, what's the going rate for one??
A bloke on ebay breaking a rusty Shadow 1. Prices vary, one breaker who lists masses of stuff on ebay wanted £1250 plus vat. I paid £750, its done 63k miles, coolant appeared clean and blue so suggests its been looked after, they can suffer with problems if the coolant hasn't been looked after. Fingers crossed!!davepoth said:
I'm surprised the motor didn't drop straight through the earth's crust.
I looked on a lat/long website, if that did happen, the antipodal point to my manshed is a couple of hundred miles off Chatham Island in the South Pacific Ocean, nearest major landmass New Zealand.*Right then, ordered some parts...that's easy.
Started to clean the engine, made a lot of mess...I also found that my engine stand wasn't big enough to mount on the back of the block, so borrowed one from a chum. Faffed around with some bolts and satisfied myself it would be fine, only to find that the engine hoist and stand legs clash...no current plan to resolve this....it was all getting a bit wobbly and looked like the "f
k up Fairies" were heading to town, so I drew stumps.
- I really did go look at website to see where it would come out. Nutter.
BigMon said:
Great thread OP. You have cojones the size of small planets!
Really? Do you think that? Its just a pushrod V8 with carbs, points and a couple of extra oil pumps and accumulators for the brakes. Its way way way less complex than anything built this century. Ok its big, but you need an engine hoist for a Morris Minor engine and you need one for this.jeffw said:
Great thread.
Closest I've been to a Huntsman was a Fairey Huntress which was the Captain's Launch on HMS Antrim. Great little boats.
Great boat the Huntress. I had an ex Navy one for a year before I moved up to the Huntsman 28 which I recently sold after 13 years. Just bought a Huntsman 31 (in bits).Closest I've been to a Huntsman was a Fairey Huntress which was the Captain's Launch on HMS Antrim. Great little boats.
Anyhoo, people come here to read about my Rolls Royce antics (and find themselves wondering about the madness of it)
On the advice of the DIY section of PH, I bolted a couple of bits of timber to the shed roof joist either side of where I lifted the lump onto the engine stand. After a bit of faffing, its on the stand.
Now the grotty job of cleaning it.
The car is missing its wiper arms, won a pair on ebay for £2.20. Result.
ecurie said:
I am interested in the products you'll use to clean the engine.
As it's alloy you can't use a traditional engine cleaner as it will make the alloy turn white.
I have just removed the automatic gearbox from my '79 Shadow so I can rebuild it and also have to clean years of oil and mud of it, but haven't figured out the best way yet to do it.
Old two stroke petrol for the mower, meths from a night in the park, carb cleaner, engine cleaner, thinners, panel wipe, white spirit, parafin, anything I could lay my hands on. Get a box of pervert gloves.As it's alloy you can't use a traditional engine cleaner as it will make the alloy turn white.
I have just removed the automatic gearbox from my '79 Shadow so I can rebuild it and also have to clean years of oil and mud of it, but haven't figured out the best way yet to do it.
I think I might rebuild my box once its out, I read that RR did a mod to slow the gear change down to make it even smoother which has a detrimental affect on the life of the clutch plates and that this mod can be reversed.
v8250 said:
To stop the furring that takes place when using an acid based cleaner on bare alloy use a good degreaser, then steam off the residue and dry with a heat gun. This is usually good enough to paint with a high pigment engine/gearbox enamel. The key is to use heat to your advantage, it neutralizes any impurities on the alloy surface. You can also use panel wipe or methylated spirit as a final surface prep' followed by a good heating from the heat gun. Here some finished engine and gearbox pics...
btw, huntsman, this is a cracking project...
That's all jolly posh! I'm not aiming for that smart!btw, huntsman, this is a cracking project...
Right then, bit of an update.
Left hand head came off without too much bother. Pulled a couple of valves, inlet looks fine, exhaust a bit pitted.
Right hand head caused a few weeks of delay and remains in place....I have got it moving, its come up about an inch, I can see its one particular stud, I guess the gap between the bore and the stud is full of soot/sludge/oil/corrosion. I have managed to move it up about 2mm, another evening with an extra pair of hands should see it off. It has been there 42 years afterall!
Left hand head came off without too much bother. Pulled a couple of valves, inlet looks fine, exhaust a bit pitted.
Right hand head caused a few weeks of delay and remains in place....I have got it moving, its come up about an inch, I can see its one particular stud, I guess the gap between the bore and the stud is full of soot/sludge/oil/corrosion. I have managed to move it up about 2mm, another evening with an extra pair of hands should see it off. It has been there 42 years afterall!
v8250 said:
Huntsman, was thinking of you/your RR the other day wondering what's new? Re' head stud, either pull it out completely with an extractor or use coca-cola poured into the head stud bore and leave for a few days...the head will come free. CC has some amazing properties and have used this on a good few XK/XJ engines when removing their similarly large heads. And it wipes off cleanly with a good solvent.
There's 20 studs. 19 of them can be wiggled in their bore, which suggests they are free. One of them is solid, that's the one that's stuck. The exposed end is hollow and threaded for a rocker pedastel bolt and the solid section where the head nut rests is down in a deep bore....I might try coke. Not had success with it in the past tho.
Exhaust valve looked a bit pitted. £80 each. Ooof.
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