It's been a (three years I guess), but life got in the way of work on this car.

Rescued it the other week from the barn I share with a good friend in Northampton:



and he kindly brought it down inside his iveco van:





Sorry for the bad quality pics. Jobs to get done on this are:

finish off welding including:

weld in floors
weld in new inner rear wings
patch seat box and bulkhead

recommission engine (hasn't been run for 15 years or so)
recommission brakes

MOT

paint

Aim is end of January. I had hoped to get all welding done by the end of this week, but I've returned from a week's work in Turkey with gastroenteritis. Nice.

cool. If it's GTV then it was in the December 1992 Practical Classics magazine. Brian Mark had been given it by a neighbour & had spent £500 restoring it! It looked bloody lovely!



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PRACTICAL-CLASSIC ... 2ea966771a

If it isn't GTV, then it didn't feature in the magazine!

It is GTV and I got it from Brian Mark. Unfortunately, someone had smashed the windscreen and the water rusted the windscreen surround (hence the replacement), the floors (again, replaced) and chassis (replaced with galvo Citroen one). I think it hadn't moved for 10 years when I got it from him (last tax disc was 1995, iirc).

Ian Seabrook kindly photocopied the article for me, it's a good point of reference for the work I'm doing currently.

Once again, Neils (quite frankly) amazing encyclopaedic memory strikes again!

I *think* I have that magazine somewhere, god knows where though, if I ever come across it then it's yours.

Cheers Russell - that'd be superb, but don't go searching just for me.

Finished the welding and started refitting windscreen and new roof. I thought I'd try and get the engine running, but went about it in completely the wrong way. Engine then just locked up, after a little petrol and oil marinated in the bores over night, it moved a little further but then locked up again.

So - heads off. Nearside first:


Mmm. Gungy.



bit more gunge.

Offside is playing harder to get, the head not wanting to be parted from the barrel. Any tips on separating the two? I thought I'd just take it off together and separate on the bench, but it seems to have come so far and stopped. The engine will now spin a 1/8 revolution, but that's with moving the barrels in and out... so looks like the pistons are stuck in the barrels.

Ben,
post mortem time.
Judging by the burnt oil stains on the head fins, that engine had been leaking from the head to barrel joint so was probably pinking merrily during its last spell on the highways.
If you clean off the mating surface, it will probably be possible to see where it was leaking.

You could try using a screwdriver on the flywheel teeth to wind the engine round and pull the pistons down the barrels.

If that doesn't work, maybe try putting some pieces of wood between the lower end of the barrels and the crankcase, then use another piece of wood and a hammer to _gently_ tap the piston(s) downwards.

ken

Could you explain that connection in more depth please ken? Why does a leaky head/barrel joint lead to pinking?

Joolz,
probably just my poor use of English, since prolonged detonation/pinking usually precedes (or precipitates) leakage at a barrel to cylinder head joint...