It is done...

I think he had a look on the Rpi site the other day when we got the Disco back. If my Dad was still alive I don't think there would be any hesitation in doing the work between them. Dad's favourite past time was taking engines out of cars, rebuilding them, visiting scrapyards and getting them going again. Bruce says thanks for the advice anyway.

Suspect the cam then! Sorry - - -

On or around Tue, 28 Oct 2003 14:22:33 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

Just put mine back together, now it don't go.

sounds like low compression, which I vaguely recall from a previous head-gasket change, except that was only one bank, so the other side was OK. dunno why it does it...

however... if I can get it running past experience also indicates that it'll perform correctly. Meanwhile, both gaskets showed evidence of blowing into the valley, which begs the question, really, whether taking away the inner 4 bolts that the original engine had on the edge of the valley... the new composite gaskets (and yes, I did torque 'em down properly...) have bolt holes for 'em, so I assume they also fit the Buick/Olds engines, presuming anyone still has 'em.

On or around Wed, 29 Oct 2003 14:15:55 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

just thought now that running on gas only, if the bores have lost their oiliness, it'll not seal so well, and petrol floating about in it would make it seal better, if there was any which there ain't. Got it running now though...

ran it at fast idle, no leaks... topped up the coolant, up the road, moderate-powwer test up the nearby test hill, seems to be lacking power and felt like running lean. Richened it up a bit, now it's fully warm, back down the hill, full-ish power test up to about 50, OK, up hill and down again, back home... "shit! where TF has the oil pressure got to?" jumped out, looked for leaks, none evident. Shut down and checked oil level, oil still there.

fired up again, oil pressure lower than should be by about 10 lbs.

I reckon it's washed a load of s**te round into the oil filter - it's due an oil-and-filter change anyway, so I'll hope that cures it... Had proper oil pressure initially and before charging up the hill - even, cold, got up to about 20 psi at cranking speed, before eventually starting. Newly-bought jump leads came in handy, after mostly-flattening its own battery with it not firing up already.

Motors, love 'em or hate 'em, you can't leave 'em alone...

On or around Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:12:04 +0000, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

changed oil and filter, and now it looks OK again, though not got it really hot yet - up to very-nearly normal temp though, and still got pressure. Phew!