Another Excuse for not Getting Anything Done

I've been making a small amount of progress in getting the engine cleaned up ready for measuring and machining. I've now got a parts washer and a bead blaster, which are doing a great job in converting crusty old engine parts into shiny ready to use parts.  I've also taken three months long service leave from work. Despite that things are going to grind to a standstill for a while now. Baby Adele arrived late last week and between her and big sister Sarah there isn't going to be much spare time.

I hope to keep things ticking over, but don't expect a lot of activity!

Re-Inventing the Wheel

After spending a couple of evenings making the valve spring compressor in my previous post, I find that I've re-invented the wheel. This old tool described as a "valve lifter' is for sale on ebay. Interestingly it has "Morris" cast into it. Its nothing like the one pictured in the manual, but obviously someone else was thinking the same way as me.

Click here, if you need one!

Flamin' Valve Collets

I've been struggling for the last three shed sessions to compress the valve springs so that I can remove the camshaft and tappets. My little hobbyist quality valve spring compressor just wasn't up to the job, the claw on the end of it thats supposed to go around the valve spring cap just kept bending and twisting off. The problem seemed to be that the collets had frozen into the caps and weren't releasing, meaning that all I was doing was trying to bend the valve stem. A tour around the auto accessory shops showed that I could get a professional compressor for about $200, but it was too big for a little sidevalve engine anyway, so I built my own. A couple of bits of scrap steel welded together and shaped up a bit made the all important claw, then I welded them to a quick action clamp.Its not pretty, but it did the job.

Old faithful clamp, now a valve spring compressor

Every single valve required a huge amount of clamping force (the shaft of the clamp was bending) and a few needed an extra tap with a punch to jar them loose, but eventually they all came free and I could get them out. The poor old clamp is a bit bent now, but there's enough life left in it to do the re-assembly.

 Once again everything looks to be in good shape. The valve seats may need recutting but the camshaft looks to be very good. I reckon it has been redone at some stage. The valves aren't the originals, the inlets are marked BMC, which wasn't formed until after my J was built, the exhausts are Dufour.

Getting Dirty at Last

I've managed to get a few hours in the garage over the last week or so. I needed to assess my engine to try to determine which parts are missing, so I craned it out (of the back) drained the sump, and put it on to the workbench. I recently picked up a small set of old Sidchrome sockets in whitworth sizes. They've been getting a good workout. I had a bit of a fiddle getting the pulley off the front of the crank, but once I got it sorted I dived in and stripped the rest of the block down. It didn't take long to drop the sump off, then tap the flywheel off. The big ends came off next and then the main bearing caps. Given the filthy state of the outside of the engine, and the smelly black tar like stuff that seemed to have been used instead of oil I was expecting the worst inside, but got a very pleasant surprise.

The worst big end journal

The bearings were only a little worn, the big ends are 20thou under size and the mains 10 thou under. The journals all look pretty good considering, only one has a bit of a scratch in it, the rest look pretty good.
It clearly hadn't done a lot of mileage since it was last reconditioned. I haven't examined the bores very closely yet but they look fairly good too. The pistons are standard bore and the rings look fresh. It will be interesting once I get the journals and bore mic'ed, but I'm kind of hoping that I can avoid major machining work.

Camshaft, pretty well perfect under that filth

I haven't pulled the cam out yet, but it looked as though it may have been reground too, the lobes seem to be quite close to the shaft (maybe thats normal?). There's no sign of any serious wear on it at all. I'm having trouble getting it out, my KMart valve compressor doesn't seem to like sidevalves (actually its pretty ordinary with overhead valves too). Once I sort out a decent valve compressor I should be right though

One thing that is desperately needed is a thorough clean up. The oil was hanging down like icicles off the oil pump when I lifted it off the sump. It looks like the inside has had crusty oil in it for 1000 years! It all smells really stale and burnt. It doesn't have a lot of swarf in it though so thats a good sign.

You could mine this for coal

Future pristine gems

Apart from a few missing external parts it looks like its in pretty good shape. The clutch housing appears to have sat with water in it for a long time, it was a bit corroded inside, and the ring gear is slightly eaten away on the side that was at the bottom. I'll have to see how it cleans up with a bead blast, but hopefully I'll get away with it. I don't fancy trying to source and fit a new one.

Once I get the valves and camshaft out I still have to pull a few studs, then I can get it cleaned up. I hope to be setting up a parts washer and a bead blasting cabinet shortly. I'm starting to build up quite a collection of parts that are going to need the full treatment.

An Inspiring new Contact

Part of my reason for starting this blog was the hope of making new contacts in the J Type world. Earlier this week I was emailed by Peter Bateman from Sydney. Peter is clearly mad about J Types and has been for a long time! His enthusiasm is infectious and I really appreciate him getting in touch with me.

One of the side benefits of Peter's contact is that he mentioned a book by David Allison and Harvey Pitcher from the J Type register. I'd seen this book advertised many years ago, and it immediately grabbed my attention because the photo on the cover was taken here in Hobart, and was of the three 'working' Js that I used to enjoy seeing around the streets in the early '90s. I always wondered how this photo came to be on the cover of a book produced more than 10,000 miles away. It turned out that Peter took the photo, and better still, was able to send me a copy! Less than 24 hours after the first email from Peter the book was sitting on my desk.

These vans were part of my inspiration for wanting a J type and I remember tracking them down at their businesses and having a good sticky-beak. The red "Globes Lighting" van was the most prominent of them. It was famous for the sign on the rear that read "Warning: Light Commercial Vehicle ahead". Peter was able to give me a lot of background about each of the vans and their owners at that time, as well as where they are today. Peter tells me that the bronzy coloured one at the rear, which belonged to the Village Dry Cleaners, is now in Sydney, working for the Online Party Shop, it appears in the footer of each of their web pages.








Now that Peter has made contact, I'm looking forward to being able to pick his brains, down the track.

Reference Material and a Carby

I haven't made much progress on the J, I've been landscaping the yard and trying to get my shed organised and set up ready to work.

I've received the carburettor from Tim S, and given it a clean up and a check over. It seems to be in reasonable condition and the outside cleaned up pretty well. Its handy to have the banjo bolt and fuel line as well. There is a stripped thread and a missing screw and the spindle bosses on the body may be a little bit worn. I have a set of replacement gaskets on the way from the U.K. Once I get my workshop in order (and find my thread gauges) I should be able to work out what the missing bolt is meant to be like, then I'll be able to repair the stripped thread and replace it. Hopefully I can re-bush the spindle shaft and it will be ready to go.

I also received a nice little descriptive booklet about Solex FAI carburettors with some useful details and tuning and troubleshooting information. It should be quite a useful addition to my reference library. I'll scan it and make copies available to anyone who needs them.

Another piece of reference material I received this week is a document from Lucas published in 1951 with wiring diagrams and electrical test data for Nuffield Group vehicles. It includes both cars and commercial vehicles, and is useful because it allows cross-referencing of the components. Its surprising how simple the J type wiring diagram was in 1951. The booklet is in amazing condition, it shows no signs of ageing and had never been opened before yesterday. Again I'll scan it and make copies available.

Planning to Recondition the Original Sidevalve.

I've been fiddling about with the original engine, trying to determine whether its redeemable and should be reconditioned, or whether I should think about a more modern engine. I'm not ready to fully strip it down, but the fact that it seems to be very rusty on the outside, and was seized (frozen I assumed) suggested that it might take a lot of work to get it right. I cleaned the outside up a bit and it looked a bit better. There is a little bit of damage where the breather tube is meant to come out of the tappet cover, but otherwise it looks OK. After a good soak with Inox the spark plugs all freed up, and came out with the threads in the holes looking nice, so that was a bonus. I poured some runny oil (actually left over two stroke fuel) down the plug holes and watched as it poured out the exhaust manifold (Oh yeah, its a sidevalve and one of the cylinders will be on the exhaust stroke...). Then I gave the front pulley a twist by hand, not expecting anything to happen, but it freed up! The next plan is to take the head off and see how bad it looks. It would be lovely if I could get away with a light hone and some new rings, but I doubt it.

All being well I've picked up a carburettor via ebay, from Tim S on the MCJTV Forum.  I was a bit worried about being able to get a replacement carb, its probably the most important part that is missing. It doesn't look too bad in the photo, I've seen much worse, so I reckon it should be a good one once its done up. I have a bit of a collection of old carbies (mostly for Minis) that all need a good going over, so I'll get set up and do them all. I hope to be able to clean them by soda blasting and replate and blacken the levers and fasteners. I need to get the workshop sorted first though. It looks like gasket kits are available for these Solex 30 FAI carbs, so thats a good start.