Will try to start doing something in it soon. Not keen to let it stand for anther 3 years...
Yes, that wood is coming down as soon as possible. It is one of the things that the old owner left "in case it was useful" (read "I'm a cheap bastard and it might cost me something to have taken away"). I have it a poke yesterday and it is a bit scary.
Edit: it's not attached to the door mechanism at all. But still shonky.
It was a brass one that somebody on nutz made years ago. It was something like 800g, and my wife took the piss out of my golden knob and how fond if it i was.
It was a brass one that somebody on nutz made years ago. It was something like 800g, and my wife took the piss out of my golden knob and how fond if it i was.
I started it up again today, and unsurprisingly it doesn't magically sound perfect.
This is the first start after about 3 months of sitting still. I turned it over with no spark first to try to get a bit of oil moving, but it had good oil pressure before this. This is what it sounds like. I haven't run it to warm it up yet.
What do people think? Just lifters, or something more serious?
I started it up again today, and unsurprisingly it doesn't magically sound perfect.
This is the first start after about 3 months of sitting still. I turned it over with no spark first to try to get a bit of oil moving, but it had good oil pressure before this. This is what it sounds like. I haven't run it to warm it up yet.
What do people think? Just lifters, or something more serious?
Just lifters. You've got multiple leaked-down lifters on different cylinders. If you think about how many different opportunities there are for the a ticky lifter to sound per revolution, it's 4 opportuniuties per RPM on a 16v 4pot 4stroke. In your case I think I can hear at least 3 ticks per rpm - the the tone of a single tappet is about 10HZ at a high cold 1200RPM idle (1200rpm /60 seconds/2 revs per cam = 10). Yours sounds closer to 30HZ or 40HZ, meaning, probably more of your tappets across the cylinders, are leaked down.
(Go here - www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ - set it to 30HZ and the wave form to 'saw tooth' since this isn't music, it's impacts..)
When I took a month or two to do the front oil seal on my turbo car, I rotated the engine enough without building meaningful pressure to replenish the HLAs that at least one pumped down. It sounded like yours but around half the HZ, so 1-2 less tickers per rpm 1/2 or 1/3 the hz.
Your engine is still running so I suggest just getting the steel balls out, warming it up and revving it to over 3K for a few stretches of road (or pretend road, if that's all you're allowed). With the warmer oil and higher oil pump speeds it'll have a better chance to repump the ticky lifters. In my case I took my car with this noise active, car down a country lane a few KM and by the time I came back to the house the noise was all eliminated. Didn't even get on much boost. 4-5K RPM max.
If it doesn't go away after this then you should get the cam cover off and check the state of the lifters (you don't _have_ to take the cams out to do this). It's possible an HLA is so buggered it won't pump up after a decent drive.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply - makes me think you might be correct rather than just a "nah, mate - you'll be ok".
We have moved into our house now, and so i have a decent bit of drive, and we live on a private road. So I have a bit of space where I can do some pootling/razzing the nuts off it. Although, I am not sure I will be able to get on and off the drive without taking the front bumper off... The mini scrapes, and the mazda is a lot lower.
The last time i took the lifters out and cleaned them all up, I remember it being a very satifying job - so i'll give it a bit of a spin, and then maybe do that if it doesn't improve...
Just catching up on your thread. Glad you are all settled. I have garage jealously! That is huge.
Going down the Mini route shortly too I think (All change with the cars, due to economic situation). What do you think of it?
Sorry - compeltely missed this one.
It is a lot of fun. My first FWD car some time.
It came with ditch finders on it - may as well have had bits of PVC pipe on the wheels. Got them changed, and it is a rocket ship. Until I put the winter tyres on it - weather is a bit up and down in temp at the moment, so they have good days and bad days!
It is the JCW one, but even when I test drove a Cooper S I was very surprised at how quick it felt. The clubman is quite useful with the barn doors - It's still not huge... but I think I'd struggle for practicality with a normal one.
HLAs have all been out and cleaned up. Still making a hell of a noise, but reliably informed that i just need to get it revving.
So the next job on the list is to get it a title here in the US and then register it.
I have the list of docs I need (i think) with two possible issues.
1. I have been told by a random that i should have done all this within 10 days of it being in the country. No idea how true this is.
2. The car is grey but the V5 still says silver.
I think I am going to stick with silver on the paperwork, and hope they don't want to look at it...
Given my difficulty in getting a driving license (more on that another time) i am not very hopeful that this will all work.
I have found a tuner and they are about an hour away. I could trailer it quite easily there, but i do want to get it out on the road first and get some miles on it before tuning - hence trying to follow the rules and get it registered.
Exciting admin updates will follow...
I also have a replacement gear knob now after some thieving shipping bastard stole it:
It's booked in for a tune - but not until April. That should give me time to make a new exhaust, and fix all the other bits and pieces (some gauges not working) and maybe even sort out the cops (that i bought the parts for about 5 years ago)
Exhaust parts have been ordered - just went for non-stainless, so very cheap. But the welder and gas cost me a small fortune. I plan to build some other stuff with it though (a welding cart... and some wheel racks and other shelving and workbenches in the garage.
I have no interesting car pictures, but i offer up this picture of the dog being kept away form the snow blower (he is dumb enough to run stright into it). Zoom in on the window...
He makes less noise fortunately, but he is far more annoying. He just wants to be by my side at all times. Hence the staring out of the window at me...
Simon: 600 quid to get through an MOT 2 weeks ago and now my crank pulley has decided it would like to be Bluetooth le sigh
Jul 15, 2023 20:03:52 GMT
atlex: at least you can get new crank pulleys!! :-)
Jul 18, 2023 10:29:14 GMT
Simon: Alas! turns out the keyway in the crank is knackered!
Jul 18, 2023 15:45:49 GMT
Zed.: there are other ways to repair, how bad is it?
Jul 25, 2023 15:55:37 GMT
atlex: And a murray murray crimbo to you all :-)
Dec 24, 2023 22:20:35 GMT
Zed.: condiments of the seasoning?
Dec 26, 2023 11:10:41 GMT
queenie: Hiya fellas and fellettes. My name is Gary, I am 72, live in rural Victoria (Australia), am an unashamed Anglophile and own a gold 1998 NB. I bought her in 2016, reflecting at the time that I had wanted a car like this since age 15. Yep, took me 50 years!
Dec 31, 2023 5:58:34 GMT
Deleted: Hey guys, I’m 49 & from the UK here! Currently restoring/upgrading a Mazda MX5 Eunos Roadster. Got a lot of work to do 🤯😩🫣🤣
Jun 30, 2024 16:21:03 GMT
Simon: Nice and quiet in here, but I'm back with vengance! Car with a knackered crank is now having a full rust and engine resto at Basset Down! Will be spenny, but excited to have a 'good' car again.
Jul 2, 2024 16:29:20 GMT
le sigh
Jul 15, 2023 20:03:52 GMT
le sigh
Jul 15, 2023 20:03:52 GMT