What's in the workshop? Gareth's Tree-find

[pete-p]

That is a lot of work but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.

[johnny_quattro]

I absolutely love these 'What's in the workshop this week' threads. Especially when you read the first few comments or so, "It scrubs up reasonably well" and within just a few posts we then get treated to the whole front of the car missing, with talk of engine removal etc. Superb stuff. MJ's attention to detail is legendary. Your car Gareth is in the best of hands.

I will continue lurking on this thread to see how Miss September develops. Thanks MJ for the detailed write-ups/posts.

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by johnny_quattro

Thanks MJ for the detailed write-ups/posts.

The battery junction is a tad crusty. I'll replace that:



Here again. I wasn't planning this at the start, but its just the way it's worked out:



The drivetrain has been out before, and someone has treated the cowl drains to a rather unusual modification. Ironically, the bottom of the drain isn't actually the problem here - the leaves and detritus collect in the top of it, not the bottom.



Now the engine is out I can get a better look at things. The mouse or squirrel has been quite busy

Nibbled:



Nibbled:



Nibbled:



Nibbled:



Nibbled:



Nibbled:



I'm going to replace the engine wiring harness I think. The nibbling appears to just be limited to connector boots, which could be replaced, but given all the electronic shenanigans I've already been through I'm not going to risk any problems in the future. Since the engine is out and the harness will be coming off it anyway, and I have a spare on the shelf, at this point it's foolish not to replace it.

[David's8]

That's some hungry, nibbling mouse. And why does it have a liking for the connectors? does it have some flavouring? Liquorice?

[MikkiJayne]

Its interesting isn't it? Only rubber boots on connectors and the shifter, not hoses or cables. It also shredded a portion of the under-bonnet sound deadening pad right on top of the inlet manifold, which it took somewhere for nesting material I think as there is a trail of it down the right side of the engine. The rubber nibblings were probably used for the same thing. Apparently fuel hoses aren't as interesting to mice, which is a bonus! Vera's S8 got nibbled by a pine marten last year and that chewed through the fuel hoses as well as some wiring.

[HPsauce]

Many years ago we used to keep pet fancy rats (my younger son was a fan) and they were often let loose for hours at a time.
They were very entertaining, but to say their tastes in materials to nibble was eclectic was an understatement!
For some reason they particularly liked the silicone rubber mounting gaskets on the double-glazed patio door windows.

[steamship]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

Its interesting isn't it? Only rubber boots on connectors and the shifter, not hoses or cables. ... Vera's S8 got nibbled by a pine marten last year and that chewed through the fuel hoses as well as some wiring.

I remember hearing about car manufacturers using soy and other plant material as 'ingredients' in the making of wire insulation (more environmentally friendly), which seems to get the attention of small critters with big teeth. Odd that this example has only had the rubber boots nibbled on.

Regarding Vera's S8, check out this article from 2016 where the Marten gets top culprit billing. Over 60 million euro every year in insurance damage!!!

https://jalopnik.com/how-cute-ferret...ion-1788013196

[MikkiJayne]

That's a lot of nibbling!

Engine dismantling and inspecting today. Someone's larder here, plus some of the bonnet sound deadening!



Some really odd bolts are rusty in this one. This is one of the starter bolts - I can't just force this out as it'll gall up in the hole and damage the gearbox casing so I cut the visible end off with the grinder then it came out cleanly. I'll replace this with a spare.



I forgot to get pics of splitting the engine and box, but you've all seen that plenty of times before Here's the engine about to go on the stand:



I pulled the cam covers to inspect the tensioners and pads and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. No sludge, and both tensioners are still working fine which is great news. I'll replace the plastic pads and remove the gauze filter which is what kills the tensioners in the first place.

[MikkiJayne]

Got a bit of an experiment going on while I watch the F1 today. The V8 has a problem with the power steering pump pulley seizing to the pump hub due to mixed-metal corrosion between the aluminium pulley and the steel hub. Both parts have surface treatments to prevent this, but after 20 years weathering and moisture coming through the radiator have done their thing and the pulley can only be removed by sufficient force to destroy it.



Interestingly, the V6 with the same pulley doesn't have the problem as the pump is up in the V and out of the way of moisture and crud, so I tend to keep pulleys from the V6 on the shelf to fit to V8s.

So, today's experiment - soak the hub in Evapo-rust to see if it can free it up:



The corrosion is usually a combination of aluminium oxide from the pulley and iron oxide from the hub. I'm hoping the Evapo-rust will eat enough of the rust to allow the pulley to come free. We shall see in a few hours

[MikkiJayne]

Well, the experiment didn't work The pump hub is nice and clean now, but the pulley is still suck fast. Oh well. I can get the pump off and on with the pulley on it so no big deal.

I started stripping the engine today. This is what happens when people bodge the timing belt without using the tools



This is with the crank locked. Bank 1 is fine, but bank 2 is a couple of degrees early.



I replace the temperature sender whenever I have an engine out, since it's a pretty horrid job with the engine in the car and full of coolant. £10 now saves a couple of hours of swearing later down the line when it fails!

This one was a tad crusty:



While I was poking around at the back, my spidey sense was tingling looking at these two coolant unions. They're not leaking, but one has a bit of salt deposit, and the other has what appears to be a damp spot...





The o-rings are toast:





These joints were just waiting to fail as soon as it got up to temperature so glad I spotted it now while its simple to deal with. This is another truly heinous job with the engine in the car, made extra difficult by the SAI valves in the way.





Since the pipe was off, I extracted the temperature sensor and cleaned up the hole with the pipe mounted in the bench vice





Timing gear removed:



The orange colour in the water ways is rust from inside the few steel pipes in the cooling system. The timing belt was last done in 2010 (only 5000 miles ago!) and apparently hasn't had coolant since then so its rust inhibiting properties had expired long before it was parked for three years, although the coolant which came out was fairly clean. I'll run a full coolant flush procedure on this once it's back together to get all the rust and contaminants out.

The back of the engine:



The easy way to do the oil cooler pipe



Again, this wasn't actually leaking but while the engine is out...

Turned out the pipe had cracked at the o-ring groove, so it was being held together simply by the cooler being in position so only a matter of time until it leaked. This will of course get replaced with the aluminium version.





The engine has a fairly catastrophic oil leak from the bottom which appeared to be concentrated around the oil level sensor rather than the sump itself.



On investigation, it appears someone has replaced this sensor but didn't put sealant on the bolts so the oil was just travelling down the threads.

One single bolt on the sump is rusty



I pulled the sump anyway and there were a couple of points where the sealant was beginning to fail so I'll flip the engine over to replace that.

Cleaned up



The inlet manifold will come off tomorrow so I can replace the valley pan gasket which is leaking as usual.