Some may recall a post I made a while back about how I didn't have mch confidence in my Nova. It had spent the best part of 18months at CP's workshop having minor bits and pieces done to it such as;
-Removal of electric windows that were replaced with polycarbonate windows all round.
-Installation of a quick rack
-Brake bias box installed
-Flocked dash installed
-Willwood brakes fitted
-New front coilovers
-Bit of a tidy up
Through a combination of time/funds and enthusiasm, the work that should have originally taken a couple of months eventually got finished.
The car was MOT'd and Taxed and ready to be driven home. CP had kindly offered to set the geometry up and make sure everything was ok before I came to collect it. This is how it stood just before it's test drive:
So there I was, the morning of the collection in Tescos buying CP a 'thank you' for allowing me to have the car in his workshop for such a long time. After literally just leaving the beer isle, I get a phone call from CP:
"Well Jim, you were right to be worried about the engine, it's just let go on me BIG TIME!"
At first I thought he was winding me up, hoping that he enjoyed driving the car so much that he wanted to keep it for himself. I carried on listening to what else CP was saying and it soon became apparent that he wasn't winding me up.
So later that afternoon I get to the workshop. The car was there, bonnet open. I couldn't really see a lot apart from a lot of soot around the front of the car.
It turns out that whilst CP was driving it (and no he wasn't thrashing it before you say anything, ) there was a catastrophic failure of one of the bottom end components (we think it was a big end bearing) this resulted in the con rod being thrown out of the engine via the front of the block, just behind the exhaust manifold. When this happend, CP recalls a "whoomph" noise as the oil that was once in the engine sprays over the manifold and subsequently catches alight. After getting the car to a halt as quickly as possible, CP jumps out, lifts the bonnet (with flames licking out from underneath) and has then been able to waft the flames out with his cap. Without his quick thinking there is no doubt that things could have been a lot worse - especially with the twin carbs and fuel lines only inches away from the flames.
Later that evening I drown my sorrows with a bottle of wine, .
During the next few days and several discussions with CP and MC, we decide to see what the exact damage of the engine is. Bear in mind the engine was about as modified as you could get on a non-motorsport budget I was very anxious about spending the same money on getting it all repaired.
So we begin stripping it down to assess the damage. You can see the soot all over the manifold and in the distance a small crack:
Close up of the crack (I say crack, I mean chasm ):
There seems to be something missing:
So that's what a knackered piston looks like:
Now it's pretty obvious the bottom end is a write off and I accept that. The deciding factor whether or not the engine was to be rebuilt was the damage to the head. Some may not believe in karma, I'm not sure if I do or not, but I've either been very, very lucky, or there is a higher force at work as it turns out the head was undamaged bar a slight blemish on an exhaust valve. Had the head been written off to, chances are a for sale post would have been put up many weeks ago.