Managed to drop a pushrod into the engine this afternoon

Was changing a pushrod, and my poor old fingers slipped.

S'pose I'm lucky the engine wasn't running.

Have got it out now, but it was a manifold off job to get at it. It was also halfway through to the sump.

Oh well.. at least the engine looks good and clean (inside) even after 5k miles.

Could have been worse.

I just dropped me Laptop - it's now very, very broken!

Steve

I was rejected for a job i went for

What a poo day!

After 3 hours of perfect driving yesterday, the kit car made it 5 mins up the road and started to stutter so had to turn round and go home.

Really thought it was just about perfect and ready for some good weather yesterday.

Paul


ps. dropped a push rod into the engine last week - and wasted 1/2 a day getting it out.

broke my glass in the office - had to drink from plastic cups all day. So i'm a glass down and the environment is 5 cups down.

Just off for a job interview so hope its not a case of Friday the 13th!

Discovered the funny transmission noise wasnt the diff - hurrah! Now convinced its second gear - boo. Seems drivable - hurrah! Now indicators won't flash and I can't find whats wrong - boo. Then found out that the £200 target I set the staff at school for me to wax my legs for Comic Relief was too easy to reach - Monday is going to hurt

Having a great day, going out for a good drink tonight as its my birthday......

Best thing in my life happened on Fri 13th March 1970 - my wife and I went on our first date - my car broke down when I picked her up so her Dad drove me home to borrow my Mom's old Sunbeam Rapier, and she lost her contact lens on the dance floor but I found it for her - it was a memorable date and 39 years on she still is the best thing that ever happened to me.

That Rapier was great car to learn to drive in as it had no synchromesh in first and it had failed in second so you had to know all about double declutching not to make a total A_se of yourself - a lot like the 1945 sidevalve Willys jeep that I also learnt to drive in during my early teens.

First trip out with the new shortened sump - car decided to spew it's water everywhere (twice) and the cycle wing bracket snapped off on the motorway.

just fished my cell phone out of the toilet--Don't ask! Better than the day the bus sideswiped my MK1 Capri, or the school bus that turned in to the side of the wifes Skoda, both Friday the 13th.

Managed to knack my PC. Worse still, it was my work PC, and kept finding yet another bit of support software I needed to install before I could use it.

Great. Just great!

Well here we are a week on.
Ive now had the tappets out twice. This time I completely dismantled it cleaned them and checked for burrs, and lumps o' sh*te in them.

Put it all back together again, started the engine, and it sounded sweeeettt!..

Went for a drive, and got it up to temperature, and the tapping is back again, albeit not as bad.

Only thing left is an oil change. So I got a new filter, and went back to the original 20/50 that I had used before (currently has 15/40 in it).
Still no joy, and no difference. I did wonder if when the oil was getting hot it was breaking down. This does not appear to be the case.

Oh well at least its had an oil change.

Its also running hotter than before at about 200f, where before it used ot be rock solid on 170f.

I'm running out of ideas.

Ear plugs? Looks like you may have to get an adjustable pushrod. ? Have you managed to identify which tappet yet?

Numbers 7 and 8 cylinders on mine are, at low rpm, noisy.

Once pumped up at higher rpm they are fine.

It has been suggested to me that I should reduce the oil flow to the rocker gear , as this is excessive and takes oil away from the same gallery as the tappets feed from.

The reason why 7 and 8 are the noisy ones is that they are last on the gallery.

Not done anything about it other that to drive fast so that I cant hear anything above the sweet exhaust note.

Paul

Ps why did I fit Rhodes lifters???

Well spent all day today in the garage.

Did a compression check and its a bit down on No7.

Oh the Tappet is No2 Inlet. Probably about as close to the oil pump as you can get!

Anyway, Have decided to replace all the tappets, as I have Rhoads Bleed down lifters. Have taken the offending one out, stripped cleaned, and reassembled. All to no avail.
So will put in a set of new standard ones.

Have had both my heads off today and replaced the head gaskets. Whilst the compression test only showed one pot down by about 20Lbs sq in. All pots about 165-170, and one at 150.
Coupled with the overheating, it was the way to proceed.
Having done that, I must admit, I could not see any evidence of knackered head gaskets. Still its done now. Only need to get the new tappets, install and try again.

When I built the engine 3 years ago, I had the block tops and heads refaced, and they still look good.

If this does not fix it, I just wont know what to do next.
It really is driving me , and last time the engine was running (yesterday) I struggled to do 10 miles into town and home again (5 each way) without it getting quite hot at 200deg F. It was OK on the open road (usual 170F), but temperature climbed worryingly when in town traffic. Its never done that before.

I knew I should not have touched it on Fri 13th... I just know I shouldnt have

Geoff , does your inlet manifold have a small bleed off pipe possibly going to the top of the red or header tank? Check to make sure it is clear if you have one. Have you changed the thermstat? does the fan work ? at the correct temperature?