Hello everyone, sorry for the delay on any progress I have been busy with other things and life in general. But like my Cobra build I have no time scale for this little project, it’s just as and when I can get bits done.
Since the good weather has arrived I have taxed and insured the Cobra so my free time has been mostly playing with that and fettling with some issues I have been having, which have now resulted in a new clutch master, slave and clutch line all in the name of progress and improvement. But it’s been awesome to clock up some more miles in her again and scare various motorists and weirdo cyclists with loud overtakes spitting flames as I go past!
I have had to put my begging bowl out and asked amongst my more mechanical mates if anyone had an engine crane I could steal for a bit. I’v been on the lookout for one for a good few weeks now through the likes of eBay and other sales sites however nothing had materialised and it was starting to delay me a touch. Luckily my mate John answered my cries for help and lent me his crane, which was sharp put to work and off came the engine and box. He also offered me the loan of an engine stand however I’m definitely going to buy one of those. I can’t borrow anyone’s engine stand and then potentially take months and months to rebuild the engine whilst holding the engine stand to ransom. I potentially have a used one lined up next week if I can get a good price on it. Meantime I have had a quick peek at a rebuild kit for the engine and was a tad shocked at the price, this has now left me with a decision to either commit fully to a full engine rebuild or a top end build and swap out at a later date for a little DOHC block or something more period to the overall final product/design.
The more time I spend with this little 1500 BMC block of iron the more I like it. It’s never going to produce daft amounts of power like the Cobra or even achieve epic emission figures. It’s probably going to cough, burp and fart it’s way along the road when it’s done making various smells of unburnt fuel and occasional pops on downshifts. It really is such a basic little engine in terms of operation and like the Cobra it will be controlled 100% by the driver and physics, as opposed to ECU’s or computer management which in my experience always cause issues at some point irrespective of age or usage.
So an enjoyable few hours has been spent in the garage and the gearbox has been split from the block. We’re still very much in “the dirty” stage of the build/strip down as everything is caked in so much grime and crud, but I’m going to get a big plastic toy box affair which I can fill with thinners/degreaser which will help clean bits up and “should” be relatively easy to contain and dispose of when needed.
The pressure washer has been recovered from the back of the shed and blasted the chassis down which has helped remove a fair amount of road grime, but it’s time to start with the big guns now and start to get rid of all the shite clinging to every exposed surface of the engine, box and chassis…. And now my garage floor also. I intend to finish stripping the chassis down and then get it blasted or chemically dipped which should be the last of the really dirty stuff. I’m looking forward now to the rebuild of the running gear as this is when everything starts to look clean fresh and new and more importantly the start of the build as opposed to the teardown.
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