Sick Bluebell

[Bulldog Bri]

Just before new years eve Anna dropped down into town to pick her Brother up from the station. On the way home Bluebell broke down. No power. Engine would start but not rev.

I've been working on it, found 2 dead spark plugs, all were very oily and altered the mixture. When turning over (only at cold) good compression but when driven a smoke screen James Bond would be proud of is left behind and runs very lumpy...

Looks like the engine has had it's day and looks like the engine swapping session is gonna have to be brought forward

I've still got to get the Locost diff sorted, waiting for new parts and a bit of welding. To clear space in the garage to work on them

On top of that Friday (not feeling very good) I serviced the front wheel bearings as on braking my car had been pulling to one side a bit, when putting back together I didn't fully tighten one wheels set of wheel nuts, and yes the wheel came off not far from home and another rescue had to be done Luckily no body damage 

All in all a crap start to the new year. I have 3 cars here and all sick in one way or another... Roll on the spring when all should be sorted

[benchmark51]

If you need a hand Bri, let me know.

[Bulldog Bri]

If you need a hand Bri, let me know.

If your any good at welding upside down and in a fairly tight area, let me know. Top rear shock mounting bracket

Cheers

[Hairy Santa]

Just before new years eve Anna dropped down into town to pick her Brother up from the station. On the way home Bluebell broke down. No power. Engine would start but not rev.

I've been working on it, found 2 dead spark plugs, all were very oily and altered the mixture. When turning over (only at cold) good compression but when driven a smoke screen James Bond would be proud of is left behind and runs very lumpy...

Looks like the engine has had it's day and looks like the engine swapping session is gonna have to be brought forward

I've still got to get the Locost diff sorted, waiting for new parts and a bit of welding. To clear space in the garage to work on them

On top of that Friday (not feeling very good) I serviced the front wheel bearings as on braking my car had been pulling to one side a bit, when putting back together I didn't fully tighten one wheels set of wheel nuts, and yes the wheel came off not far from home and another rescue had to be done Luckily no body damage 

All in all a crap start to the new year. I have 3 cars here and all sick in one way or another... Roll on the spring when all should be sorted

Right bummer mate 

[benchmark51]

If you need a hand Bri, let me know.

If your any good at welding upside down and in a fairly tight area, let me know. Top rear shock mounting bracket

Cheers

Hard to say without seeing it as they all seem to be different, but sounds like fun.
On Ratbag if I had a problem with the top s/a bracket, I think I would remove the whole plate with the
bracket. Weld the bracket to the plate and then weld the plate into position.

[benchmark51]

Had some thoughts about Bluebell too.
Seems odd that all the plugs are oiling up, have you checked it for crankcase breathing?
I'm thinking it is a BMC 1300 engine? The filler cap should be replaced on full service and can bung up, otherwise causing crankcase pressure forcing oil past the rings.

[Bulldog Bri]

I'm in all morning most days and your welcome to come and have a look. I'll take a look at the filler cap, would that cause poor running as well?

[benchmark51]

Yes, without a doubt. I'll nip over tomorrow after Rex has taken me for my walk.

[Iancider]

Yes, without a doubt. I'll nip over tomorrow after Rex has taken me for my walk.

Don't forget to take that stick out of your mouth or everybody will think you are barking!

[Iancider]

Brian sorry to hear about this cascade of disaster.

Dave makes a good point.  Crankcase pressure sounds like a good bet before you change the engine.  A good old chemical decarb or using some Redex might help to free up the piston rings if they are stuck.

Good luck
Ian

[Lucky Ed]

Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck Bri, I hope you get sorted soon.

[garry h]

Good luck with it all Bri if  it helps I had similar problem with the pinto I run and that was down to fitting a new oil filler cap that didnt allow it to breath properly it blew out loads of smoke and ran terrible,swaped it for original one and hey presto good as new. 

[longtimecoming]

If your still trying to get the plate welded on your car Bri' give me a shout and I'll have a look at it. I have my own welding gear and should be able to do it.

['The Gaffer']

Might be an easy fix then Bri

[Pilgrim Anna]

Yes, without a doubt. I'll nip over tomorrow after Rex has taken me for my walk.

Hi Dave. Thank you sooo much for your help with Bluebell. Really appreciate it!

[Pilgrim Anna]

Thank you everyone for helping Bri out with advise and support. Means a lot. Great club spirit

[Moleman]

Good luck on getting it sorted mate.

[Bulldog Bri]

Just to add to all the other problems, my car has also been playing up, since around the end of October I've had a growing pull to the right on braking and a pull to the left when releasing, only very slight to start with and one you could cope with as you drive

But in the last couple of weeks it's gone from bad to worse, so last weekend I had a look a the front suspension and found the top arm on the drivers side had forward backward movement in it, thinking this was causing some steering problems under braking I replaced the old original front set-up back to the car from the adjustable shock set I'd fitted only a year or so ago, but that didn't solve the problem, in fact it got worse. Next I checked the callipers and wheel bearings. A tiny bit of play in the bearings but nothing major. The pistons in the callipers would move so put it all back hoping I've sorted it. On my way home Tuesday eve, I could barely go above 15mph otherwise the car would shake horribly, so I limped home letting cars pass I made it back. I checked the calliper's there and then and one was very warm the other very cold. The next day I checked it out both pistons still moved but couldn't squeeze both back to send the fluid back to the cylinder, something was blocked. I had a spare set from the Bulldog I was given that is now my trailer checked them out they looked new, fitted it on and tried it but still it didn't feel right. (no back flow) I'm now looking at replacing the plumbing to the calliper and the thought of replacing the copper pipework didn't appeal but made a start, removed the flexi pipe off the end and the copper pipe started to drip, (that must be clear) took the other end of the flexi pipe off the wheel end and tried to blow through, nothing. That was the problem! The brakes weren't releasing after being applied. Swapped that for another and the car is like new drives nice and stops in a straight line

One car fixed , 2 to go Still waiting for the parts of the diff for the Locost and Anna's Bulldog needs a good seeing to Will get there in the end, just getting a tad annoying now

['The Gaffer']

Good detective work there Bri, glad you got it sorted.

[benchmark51]

Flexi's do deteriorate on the inside and can act as a one way valve. I had this happen on the rear brakes on a RR Shadow. When I got the new ones I was told this was fairly common on the Shadow.

[Moleman]

Nice one Bri. 

[garry h]

Glad you got it sorted Bri and you may of sorted a problem I have on the Spartan.She brakes fine but seems to drag a bit after the pedal is released so will check flexi and see if this sorts it out. 

[Bulldog Bri]

Been getting stuck into Bluebell's problems this last week. It would start but then after a short time the blue smoke would pour out the back. Dave (Benchmark) came over and we did make a little improvement but still the smoke was too much.

So this week I've done a full decoke n the cylinder head and blimey did it need it! nearly a whole millimetre of carbon build up on the exhaust valves and through the head the valve seats themselves were still pretty good but a little re-grind before putting back can't do any harm put it all back together and it would start but only on full choke and run at very high rev, lessen the choke and it would die, turned out the servo vacuum pipe from the manifold had a split in it at the manifold end, this was obviously letting air in to the engine rather than pulling through the carb' with the pipe fixed Bluebell runs nice and smoothly again (I've just seemed to have lost the oil filler cap for now )

2 down, 1 to go.

 

[Hairy Santa]

Been getting stuck into Bluebell's problems this last week. It would start but then after a short time the blue smoke would pour out the back. Dave (Benchmark) came over and we did make a little improvement but still the smoke was too much.

So this week I've done a full decoke n the cylinder head and blimey did it need it! nearly a whole millimetre of carbon build up on the exhaust valves and through the head the valve seats themselves were still pretty good but a little re-grind before putting back can't do any harm put it all back together and it would start but only on full choke and run at very high rev, lessen the choke and it would die, turned out the servo vacuum pipe from the manifold had a split in it at the manifold end, this was obviously letting air in to the engine rather than pulling through the carb' with the pipe fixed Bluebell runs nice and smoothly again (I've just seemed to have lost the oil filler cap for now )

2 down, 1 to go.

Result

[Lucky Ed]

Nice one Bri - nearly there

[Daley Down Under]

Good work  Bri 

[Moleman]

Well done mate. 

[Iancider]

Excellent news!

['The Gaffer']

Well done Bri

[sanzomat]

Glad its fixed and wasn't anything too serious. Taking off the head to fix a vacuum pipe is quite extreme though! Sounds like it was worth it to get the decoke done though.