29-03-2011, 11:25 | #1 |
Noob
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Socialist Republik of Kent
Posts: 5,032
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An update on the Anglia
Bit of an update as this journey is now getting moving again!
It was some time ago now, but near the end of 2009 I'd just rebuilt the engine in my Anglia and was on my way down to Retro Rides Gathering '09. I'd not had a chance to run the engine in and was straight out onto the motorway. All seemed fine but I took the revs up for a few minutes and the engine decided to grenade. This was where I ended up, at the side of the M3: I left it nearly a year before I pulled the engine out, scared about what I'd find inside , but it had just trashed the bottom end and wrecked the crank journals : Sad, but it was salvageable. No damage to the pistons or block, which would have been impossible to replace for sensible money because all this old Ford stuff has flown up in price in recent years. In the meantime, I'd managed to find a stock 1200 to get the car going... ...and I put the crank and head in for reconditioning. The crank needed a grind and the head needed valve guides. Unfortunately, the engine place screwed up my crank. They'd overground the end float by about 1mm and this was way too much. They promised me a replacement and duly honoured this when I took the block over there for checking. They had, however, also made a right mess of my head. They had to put larger than normal valve guides in because it is a very old modified head and I'd let it get too worn. No biggies, except when it gets to that point it needs to be set up on a mill and measured up for drilling, because they can't use the old valve holes as a drilling guide, so it costs a bit more in labour. But what they'd done is tried to reseat the valves with a cutter that was clearly too big and knocked right into the side of the combustion chamber. It was a mess. Plus the guides were huge and sticking right into the ports. Then when I put the 1200 in the car the bearing int he crank was the wrong size, so it had to come back out again. By this point I looked like this: The following week was Retro Rides Awards night at the Ace Cafe and I got a nice mojo boost. A chap on RR mentioned he was picking up a stash of Anglia bits and there was probably a 1500 engine going spare which he'd relay over via another local RR'er. Great! A direct swap, should have the right bearing on the back and I could just drop it in and get the car back on the road. Mojo truly boosted, I looked like this again: Fast forward a few weeks to the weekend just gone and I managed to blag a lift to the engine place, then collect the 1500 on the way home. They have fixed the head and actually made quite a nice job of it. It has new exhaust valves, unleaded seats, a light skim and they didn't charge me any extra because of the bother. I also invested in a new Kent 244 since everything else in there is now reconditioned. May as well run it all in at once and not have to worry about it. In the meantime, I have this early 1500 to fit: Here's a pic of my flowed head on top for comparison. Check the ports And the gratuitous valve pic: The 1500 doesn't have the right bearing in the crank after all, but I do have one in my toolbox from a nice chap on 105Speed. So I should be able to get the old one out, press the new one in and get this car up and rolling again soon
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