Project: Gold Snowplough Turbo

[Southie]

Good progress Tekkypoos, I've not looked at your thread for a while. How long till you think its up and running again then?

Keep up the good work

[Nova_Tek]

Hope they dont need much doing... Glad to see your still cracking on.

We'll see... I think it may need a touch of welding on the head (mating face to the block) but that's yet to be confirmed, the crank regrind is a yes, light honing again looks to be needed.

I'll most probably hear from them Monday/Tuesday as I wanted them to call up and give me a price and what's needed. I never tell people to 'just do it' as you may as well give them a blank cheque

I'm still cracking on

Good progress Tekkypoos, I've not looked at your thread for a while. How long till you think its up and running again then?

Keep up the good work

Updates have decreased somewhat lately but I'm still working on it when I have time. Everytime I give an estimate it goes out the window, so I'm not going to guess. Just take things as they come. Although, I don't see it taking too much time. Would be nice to have it done for my birthday (November).

I'd like to take it for a road trip around Europe next summer, kinda an ambition of mine for the Nova. Time will tell.

[Nova_Tek]

UPDATE


Todays task was to clean what I could... I started with this







It doesn't look 'bad' but it was shockingly dirty. Took a whole loads of detergent, a couple scouring pads and lots of water to get half the mess off. Once off a good going over with 400 wet and dry got it to this stage:







Luckily, I found enough etch primer to be able to give the bare metal areas a decent coat... so that was up next. A bit tricky spraying as there were really heavy winds about. I left it to dry for a few hours:







When dry, a good going over was needed with 1200 wet and dry (I'd normally use 800 but as there was none left 1200 was the next best). A good while later I got it to the paint stage.




At this point I was really contemplating whether to paint or not as it was still really blustery and the backing plate would just spin and bounce in the wind. I thought 'what the hell' and gave it as many coats of satin black possible with the amount of paint left in the can. Considering the conditions, it came out like this:






Not bad eh?


Let it dry slightly and then decided to give the back half of the plate a coat of oil/fuel resistant lacquer. The front face didn't need it as it would be protected by the cambelt cover.




Let that properly dry in the garage overnight. Should come out a treat tomorrow. If the dry weather holds out, more cleaning tomorrow is on the agenda.

[Nova_Tek]

UPDATE


After leaving the cambelt back plate in the garage overnight, the lacquer hardened nicely and looks tons better.
Next up was the oil pump. I know that there is a bit of debate over the oil pump normally whether to change it completely for a zLET pump with modified pick up pipe, or to go for SBD gears in standard cLET housing etc. Then again some people swear by just giving the thing a good clean making sure the gears aren't shagged.


Heard of relief valves getting stuck open... what would the causes be and is there anyway to tell if the valve is past it on inspection?
I'm currently going for the later option if the gears are not worn. So my first task was to clean the sh*t out of it as it looked like this



The usual load of elbow grease, carb cleaner/degreaser, tooth brush etc got it to this point (needs a bit more cleaning but I ran out of degreaser)



Will continue cleaning it up tomorrow once I get some more degreaser. Once totally cleaned it'll get a coat of aluminium paint to match the rest of the engine bits. I cracked open the backing plate to check out the gears






Looks like it had fresh oil before it went off the road. Need to go over it with a feeler blade but it looks fine with the naked eye. If it does prove to be perfectly fine, I'll be renewing the seal and giving everything a good flush and clean before it goes back on as you can feel dirt particles when turning the pump by hand.



No news for the chaps at the engine shop.

[Nova_Tek]

UPDATE


After picking up some more cleaning products, I continued where I left off with the oil pump. I wasn't ecstatic with the outcome of the clean up I did yesterday as there was still a bit more filth in places. As I picked up some carb cleaner and Swarfega Jizer (thought it said Jizzer ) I thought I'd give the Jizer a go. Gotta say that it does shift crap real nicely. Very impressed... it is now on my list of useful products.




Here's the outcome




I then cracked open the cover plate again to expose the gears for a clean up




A good going over with plenty of carb cleaner got all the bits looking like this



Then came the fun bit of masking up bits so I could give the pump a lick of paint






First gave the back side a few coats...



Let it become touch dry, then did the front...



Re-assembled the pump internals



Poured a few drops of clean, fresh oil and gave it a few turns by hand. Much better as there was no feeling of hearing dirt getting crushed when turning over like it did before. Closed up the back plate, fetched the oil pressure sender from the garage and fitted that also. End Result



I'll be most likely changing the relief valve as that had some uneven wear by the looks of it. SBD do the Relief valve kit with Nylon valve, spring, nut and washer for £49.95. The Steel inner gear is £130. In terms of parts that need an inspection, clean, rebuild... I think that was the last of them. Just a case of hearing from the engine shop about what sized bearings are needed after the reground and ordering bits to put the LET back together.

[Nova_Tek]

oops double postage!

[Nova_Tek]

odd.. only clicked post once but it gave me two identical posts!

[GRANT !!!]

love the work you doing pal, hope to see at the show's next year?

[nova_niek]

UPDATE I'll be most likely changing the relief valve as that had some uneven wear by the looks of it. SBD do the Relief valve kit with Nylon valve, spring, nut and washer for £49.95. The Steel inner gear is £130.

Sound idea Tek.

After throwing a rod whilst going round Silverstone (Trax, back in 2000) I went the same route with my relief valve. In my case, the suspected cause of death was a stuck relief valve, but I never really found out. All I could find was a spun big end bearing shell and lots of debris. Anyway, as I was spending money on the valve kit I decided to get the steel oil pump gears as well. And never looked back. If you have £130 burning a hole in your pocket, get the gears as well. Peace of mind and all that.

Cheers,
Niek

[Nova_Tek]

love the work you doing pal, hope to see at the show's next year?

Thanks matey

Sound idea Tek.

After throwing a rod whilst going round Silverstone (Trax, back in 2000) I went the same route with my relief valve. In my case, the suspected cause of death was a stuck relief valve, but I never really found out. All I could find was a spun big end bearing shell and lots of debris. Anyway, as I was spending money on the valve kit I decided to get the steel oil pump gears as well. And never looked back. If you have £130 burning a hole in your pocket, get the gears as well. Peace of mind and all that.

Cheers,
Niek

The relief valve has deffo concerned me a little Niek, some scoring generally but more so a shiny spot on one side where there looks to be more friction. £50 is no real big deal price wise so worth doing. The gears look ok with even wear. Couldn't find exact wear tolerances to measure with a feeler blade but all teeth seemed to have even wear. Was a bit surprised as to how many few parts there are to an oil pump two gears and that's about it

The steel gear would be a nice addition but I'd need to find a £130 notes from somewhere.