If you're reading this for the first time, you probably want to see the blog from the beginning. You can use the "Blog Archive" list to the right to quickly navigate around. To find the start, click on 2010 (1) to go to the First Post. Use the "Blog Archive" list again (2011) to return to here. Go to the bottom and work your way back up again. Sorry if this is a little confusing but its just the way that blogs apparently work so, that the latest post is the first thing you see.
I was just turned seventeen when I first dismantled an engine. It was from my newly acquired 1934 Singer. Nothing much wrong with it, but it just seemed like an interesting thing to do. My automotive engineering experience at that time was limited to watching an agricultural engineer take apart a Ferguson Tractor Engine. Looked quite simple really. You just take everything to pieces and throw all the bits in the sump. It didn’t occur to me that he’d done this dozens of times before and I can clearly remember him saying that you don't need to make notes because an engine can only go together one way, but my engine must have been the exception that proves the rule. Fortunately my £35 outlay for the car included enough bits to almost build another, including a spare engine which was also then dismantled to see how the first one went back together. The only bit leftover was a small bronze bush which turned out to be the gearbox end shaft bush. I still have it.
I was just turned seventeen when I first dismantled an engine. It was from my newly acquired 1934 Singer. Nothing much wrong with it, but it just seemed like an interesting thing to do. My automotive engineering experience at that time was limited to watching an agricultural engineer take apart a Ferguson Tractor Engine. Looked quite simple really. You just take everything to pieces and throw all the bits in the sump. It didn’t occur to me that he’d done this dozens of times before and I can clearly remember him saying that you don't need to make notes because an engine can only go together one way, but my engine must have been the exception that proves the rule. Fortunately my £35 outlay for the car included enough bits to almost build another, including a spare engine which was also then dismantled to see how the first one went back together. The only bit leftover was a small bronze bush which turned out to be the gearbox end shaft bush. I still have it.
Doing the 120 engine is for me the highlight of the restoration. I’ve not done an XK engine before but have read a good deal about them and never missed an opportunity to discuss the detail with the many knowledgeable enthusiasts I’ve met since getting into XK’s generally.
It all comes apart fairly easily considering the time it's been standing. Everything looks pretty much as it should until I remove number three piston. It looks different from the previous two and closer inspection of the bore shows a small “ding” in the front face around two inches down. Looks like it could have been caused by the end of a broken valve. Examination of the Head also shows some valve head shaped marks in number thee chamber. Measuring the depth of the “ding” as best I can shows it to max out around twelve thou. Its already bored fifteen thou oversize so it won't be possible to clear the problem by taking it to thirty (the max size for forged pistons I believe). Perhaps it won't be a problem at all, not being on a thrust face of the bore. I whizz off an email to Dan in Texas with the question and get a very quick and definite "your divot is not acceptable" response. He says It will be quite straight forward to install a single liner to resolve the problem.
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| Spotless engine oil - could it be that it had an oil change back in 1965 when it was taken off the road? |
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| I guess the answer is yes, and a filter change. This filter has never had oil throughit but has obviously been fitted a very long time. |
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| First discovery - end of timing chain spring tensioner broken off. A dig around in the sump with a magnet finds the missing bit 
I really didn't think that my engine stand would be up to the job,
but it was more than adequate once I'd modified the four fixing bits.
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Ding (divot in USA parlance) can clearly be seen. Also some
rough areas below. This bore looks generally different to the others.
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| Number three piston also looks quite different from the rest. Could it be that its been replaced after a dropped valve and has done relatively few miles since? |
All I need to do now is to find a machine shop that I can entrust the work to. Sounds simple enough but I've heard far too many horror stories, usually involving lots of expensive damage, invariably in the middle of the night, always in some foriegn part, followed by endless recriminations and costly litigation. Strangely, its the journalists who report in the "our cars" sections of classic car magazines who seem to be singled out for dodgy engine jobs, or are they just the ones we actually get to read about?
