XK engine expert wanted

Can anybody recommend someone preferably in the Surrey/Sussex area who could do some work on my E-Type 4.2 Series 1? I'm looking for a personal recommendation, not just a list from the yellow pages and classic car advts - I already have those.

Background - the engine was totally rebuilt (rebore, crank grind, head - everything) about 20,000 miles ago. It has been properly serviced and driven since then. At about 10,000 miles it developed an intermittent problem - occasional clouds of white/grey smoke from the left hand tail pipe. Went back to the people who built it, and they found that one of three carbs was way out; they balanced them and it seemed to cure the problem (although I still can't quite see the connection).

Recently, on a short run, it started running on five. Checked all the obvious electrics - all OK. But then a compression test showed virtually nothing on no 5 pot. Further investigation showed that the sump was pressurising - ever seen a dipstick climbing slowly out all by itself? Scary! I assume this implies a blown piston, or at least rings.

Until now I have had complete confidence in the people who did the restoration, but recently there have been a few incidents which have put some doubt in my mind. And their estimate for even stripping the engine to assess the damage was of mortgage proportions. So, I'd like a second opinion. But it has to be someone I can trust - I'm not just looking for the cheapest job.

Any suggestions, please?

Geoff MacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie
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How close exactly to 'virtually nothing'? It would take a holed piston to drop the compression close to zero. Even one broken ring would leave the others to hold a fair amount of pressure. Maybe there is more than one fault here though. Valve seatings, head gasket, ring/bore/piston problems etc. It's always unwise to assume that there's a single specific fault causing a single symptom.

It's clearly an engine out job so do you want someone who can do that as well or can you remove the engine yourself and deliver it somewhere? It isn't exactly a complex engine to work on so baring the parts costs, once it's out of the car I can't see it costing much more than any other similar engine. The main thing to hope for is that it doesn't need a complete rebore and all new pistons again but that depends of course on whether it was done properly last time. If it's just one faulty piston and the bore is still ok it might not be the end of the world.

Reply to
Dave Baker

The last time I saw this as an intermittent problem was in a Rover P5, and it was caused by a failing seal in a brake servo allowing brake fluid to be sucked into the engine. Is there any sign of brake fluid on the inside of your servo connection? Alternatively, has the fluid level gone down?

I am not so sure about a blown piston. If there is a significant hole, it would not draw enough air in through the inlet valve to fire the cylinder, and therefore not have anything to pressurise the sump with. I have seen an Imp with a 1/4 inch hole in its piston, and although there was plenty of smoke when it ran, it did not pressurise the sump. It could be a crack that opens on the upward stroke though, or scoring from a broken ring, part way down the bore. Have you tried putting a small drop of oil through the spark plug hole and then repeating the compression test to see if this makes any difference? Have you looked under the rocker cover to see if there is anything suspicious in the No 5 cylinder area? Have you tried shining a torch through the spark plug hole (those little LED ones are just the job!) and tried to see the top of the piston - you can probe through the spark plug hole with a bit of windscreen washer pipe to feel when you have got the piston into the right position before you peer in.

I realise that this is the question you really want answered, but I am not in that area and can't help. Is there an Owners Club that can recommend somebody?

Jim

Reply to
Jim Warren

---snip---

Dave - I can't answer that as I wasn't there at the time. Just passing on what I was told.

I was hoping the first stage would be to take the head and sump off to take a look, as it's not a half-hour job to take the engine out! With the help of some other geriartric spanner-wielders I have just succeeded in doing an engine swap on my daughter's A40, but the E-Type is way beyond my abilities.

Geoff MacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie

-snip-

Jim - thanks for your suggestions. Will have a go....

Re clubs - I belong to two, JEC and JDC. But in my experience they won't offer recommendations or warnings; both are large commercial entities and I suspect they would be wary of the legal implications.

Geoff MacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Jim Warren" saying something like:

Heh. A ShiteOldZephyr of my mate's holed (or badly burnt) a piston. Entertaining, it was; when he revved it up the oil filler cap (a hefty lump of metal) blew off, ricocheted off the underside of the open bonnet and whizzed past my ear to exit the garage at a rate of knots.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

to Dave Baker -

Any chance you could let me have your email address? I've just sent a lengthy email to Dave Plowman explaining the situtation which I should like to copy to you. Not really appropriate to post it on a NG.

Thanks,

Geoff MacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie

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