A step into the unknown

[GPW41]

My 3000S started smoking alarmingly a fortnight ago.

The car was fitted with a 40DFI Webber rather than a 38DGAS, and I was informed when I purchased it that it had an unleaded conversion, but I have no paperwork or other history to shed more light on what has been done.

Now its been the best part of 20 years since I was mucking around with engines, and even then it was only karts, but curiosity got the better of me, I wanted to take the thing apart to have a look....

Anyway, the engine came out after much cursing and swearing (Thanks for you help here Bruno) last weekend.

I haven't had much time this weekend, so no real progress apart from a bit of degreasing, and removal of the carb where I discovered this......






Any ideas? I have never noticed anything similar on a 38DGAS Essex before, not that I have ever looked that closely...

Hopefully I will get the inlet manifold and heads off this week and have a better look, but am curious as to what this little mod is for.... and whether to keep it when the thing is reassembled with a 38DGAS in place of the 40DFI.

Regards

Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Sunday 7th December 20:21

[whitewolf]

Its the "W" plate - standard piece of kit to ensure the middle two (cylinder 2 and 5) don't get constant fuel dumped into them... or so I believe.

[phillpot]

An "after market" (or factory original?) mod to deflect air flow from middle two cylinders to even things up a bit?


Pure guess, sure someone far more knowledgeable and experienced will be along soon with the correct answer

[GPW41]

whitewolf said:

Its the "W" plate - standard piece of kit to ensure the middle two (cylinder 2 and 5) don't get constant fuel dumped into them... or so I believe.

Hmm I half suspected that, shame it didn't work. No 5 is where my problem is.....

Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Sunday 7th December 20:59

[Dollyman1850]

the 40DFI is a carb which was good for full bore production racing but does tend to dump gob loads of petrol into the bores. The restrictors are trying to stop a well known problem…..which if you have to resort to such methods negates the use of a poorly matched carb in the first place.
A 38 DGAS will make for a better road car if you are doing a partial re-build.. Pound to a penny you will find increased wear on 3 and 5 due to bore wash which could be the seat of your problem.
Do you think your oil burning is general wear or valve guide / seal related??

N.

Edited by Dollyman1850 on Sunday 7th December 21:12

[GPW41]

More than general wear, smoke out of the oil filler cap, breather the other side and dip stick when they are removed...

compression on No5 was at 150 psi when I first noticed the problem but then fell to 120. The others are all at 170/180 psi



Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Sunday 7th December 22:09

[Dollyman1850]

GPW41 said:

More than general wear, smoke out of the oil filler cap, breather the other side and dip stick when they are removed...

compression on No5 was at 150 psi when I first noticed the problem but then fell to 120. The others are all at 170/180 psi



Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Sunday 7th December 22:09

Blow by being most likely culprit then..120 still not too bad but obviously unlikely to get better. They are a big old heavy lump but easy to rebuild. If you want to farm the work out I can recommend Car clinic in near Darwen, Lancs. There are plenty closer to your neck of the woods though.
N.

[plasticpig72]

hi Dave,
well i see you have bitten the bullet.
I will follow your thread closely and many of us on the forum can learn a few things together.
good luck with the venture into the unknown
Alan

[missingbadly999]

Looking at your username I would have thought you would have seen that before - its to help the air flow and prevent swirling. All WW2 Jeeps have them (or should!). They are good with the WO Carter Carbs as they help to keep the carb cooler a bit by separating the carb from the inlet manifold to prevent vaporisation

[GPW41]

No, my user name has nothing to do with Ford jeeps.....

Well this afternoon the heads were removed and the problem was immediately visible...











The timing wheel appears in VGC but has plastic teeth...



Is this the type that disintegrates and needs replacing with the steel one?

So I now have a shopping list for new bearings and seals etc but don't know whether to add this to the list along with a new oil pump, clutch, fuel pump, and alternator (may as well replace everything whilst its easy to do)

Anyway, I am really enjoying this very steep learning curve and looking forward to getting it rebuilt in the new year

Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Tuesday 9th December 21:45

[plasticpig72]

hi Dave,
i think it could be better to replace Water pump before the Fuel pump or Alternator.
Alan

Edited by plasticpig72 on Tuesday 9th December 21:58

[GPW41]

Will be doing that as well Alan, just forgot to add it to the list.....

Dave

[plasticpig72]

i think also Adrian has spoken about a hot spot near n°5 and removing core plugs to flush out the block as a precaution
Alan

[GPW41]

No 5 overheating? Interesting....

The valley gasket had the waterways in front of the inlets to No 1 and No 2 mostly blanked off, with just a small (2mm) hole drilled in the gasket in each area.


I figured that this may have been a way of getting more cooling water flow around the rear most cylinders i.e. prevent them being bypassed. Alternatively, it was suggested that as it had a manual choke fitted, no flow was needed to the carb so these were partly blanked.... Can anyone shed some light on this?

The thermostat fitted was a 74 deg and had half a dozen small holes drilled in it as well.

Looks like I need to read up some more before reassembly..

Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Wednesday 10th December 13:13

[Adrian@]

IMHO, you are putting to much thought into it Dave, lol, did you get a 38 DGAS sorted and sent to JW...alloy gear rather thank steel, the valley gaskets is OE (the 74 stat mod points to the voltage stabiliser telling the gauges lies) bakerlite/defuser is as Mick says...IT ALL LOOKS normal, and the sort of thing done in the 90's
Adrian@

My computer crashed last week and and and I have not got a program for looking at pictures ATM unit I get all the bits for my Brix system together.

Edited by Adrian@ on Wednesday 10th December 13:36

[plasticpig72]

for mine to start with i put the correct temp sender and also a voltage stabiliser printed circuit. I like to start from basics. I still think you have nothing to loose to give the block a good flushing out. It would be bad news to refit engine only to find you have bad cooling flow. Maybe a silly question but is the impeller on the waterpump pressed steel or a cast one
Alan

[GPW41]

Adrian,

Thanks for that.
As I said, a very steep lurking curve having never done this before......

Dave

[plasticpig72]

GPW41 said:

Adrian,

Thanks for that.
As I said, a very steep lurking curve having never done this before......

Dave

i think you mean Learning curve and it's me who is lurking in the shadows following the events very closely

[GPW41]

Oops, yes typo.

Don't worry about lurking, I don't mind making a fool of myself and asking questions about what is obvious to everyone else


Dave

Edited by GPW41 on Wednesday 10th December 16:20