The yellow bulbs, I just quite like them. Any "cool" factor is a bonus.

Dash is sorted with a decent 4w bulb now anyway. If I'd planned ahead I wouldn't have had Halfords finest.

Been busy with this one today. Intended to start with a couple of small jobs, that escalated pretty quickly.

I replaced the breather a couple of weeks before the national which seemed to stop the oil leaks the car had. The whole engine was caked in sludge from the leaks, and I didn't get chance to clean it up beforehand.

The flat spot it had when cold has come back, and it now tries to cut out at junctions and doesn't really want to idle. It was really hard to start from cold on the Saturday night at the national, and the oil level dropped from maximum to minimum on the journey there (51 miles). It seemed to pull fine once on the move. When I got back, I also noticed it's started leaking oil worse than before, and seems to be spraying down the right side and under the engine.

I checked everything over, timing is correct, tappets correct, carburettor looks clean inside, and I've tried fresh Vpower. The main thing that seems untoward is my newish plugs with about 400 miles on are very white.

Partly hoping to fix these issues and partly out of interest, I've bought a full set of seals and decided to strip the engine, clean the sludge off it and replace the seals and gaskets. Now I've got the heads off, I have a couple of questions.

- How much oil should be sat in the bore "above" the piston? There was quite a bit in there, and a little had spilled over into one of the heads. I haven't had chance to check out the ring gaps yet.

- The rear of the points box always seems to have oil on it. There's so much gunk there currently I can't tell where it's coming from, but behind the plate there doesn't seem to be lots, so is that likely to be the front crank?

- Are the 9:1 barrels and pistons worth the upgrade? I'm considering it just while I've got it apart.

Probably a bit extreme when I most likely have one duff seal and an air leak, but it's keeping me busy.

Compression test?
Given the oil consumption of 0.5 litre/50 miles, that would probably confirm that the engine is somewhat goosed...

I was daft and didn't do one before I pulled the heads off, but from memory when I was looking at the flat spot the first time a couple of months back it was showing 135psi. Up until that Saturday it hadn't used any noticeable oil, even with the leaks.

Strangely ,it was only the way there it used so much, coming back it used a tiny bit but nowhere near as much.

Worth noting that the 'apparent' oil level will differ if the car isn't parked on level ground...

Fair point, I topped it up in the field.

On the morning before I set off it was at max (I hope my garage is flat), I topped it back up to max in the field before coming home and then back at home in my garage after letting it sit for 30 minutes, it was just below maximum. It did also smell like hot oil much more than usual when I got home.

9:1 Pistons certainly make a big difference against a tired engine - a decent set of 8.5:1 are still good and the performance difference is only marginally worse than the higher compression ones.....

Hi guys,

Had a little bit of time tonight to get the barrels off and have a good look, and start cleaning. I had thought from looking quickly with just the heads off I was OK, but this seemed to stick out to me.





This is my first time doing proper engine work, but this looks out of place to me. Is this too far gone, or am I worrying too much?

Thanks.

The barrel and piston in those photographs show evidence of a partial seizure, most probably due to overheating from over-advanced ignition timing, with the top ring and scraper ring looking to be 'nipped' in their grooves and also 'scuffing' of both the piston and barrel.
There's staining due to excessive blowby showing below the oil control ring as well.

Time for a new set of barrels and pistons, as well as adjusting the timing so that this doesn't happen again, unfortunately...

Thanks Ken, more shiny new bits heading my way from ECAS it seems. Hopefully when I get it back together it will be better than ever.