Ownership Verified: My Brooklands Green sports saloon...

ScarFace88 said:
Are Vauxhalls even worse? I remember reading that some, like the Royale, are down to less than 5.
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Old Vauxhalls rot at incredible rates, in the late 60s you were lucky to get 8 years out of a Victor before it wasn't worth repairing, by the late 70s they'd reached pretty much the same level as competitors but this was now an age where cars were being seen as appliances rather than luxury items and were leading harder lives.

Survival numbers are mostly due to popularity. Your average BL car lasted about 10 years on the road, A Ford of a similar age would usually last about 12 or so. Fords were always around in vast numbers and were loved by many, as well as cars like the Escort and Capri having the cool and sporty image, they were also for more traditional in their design. Nothing complicated like transverse engines, hydragas suspension etc, much more friendly for DIY and being students cars in the 80s.
Whilst a Ford might rot away at an alarming rate you'd have equal problems from the mechanical side from a BL car unless it was serviced properly, old Fords seem more resilient to rough treatment and being thrashed.

Still, could be worse, Datuns, Toyotas and Hondas from the 70s are now pretty much extinct in the UK.
 
captain_70s said:
Old Vauxhalls rot at incredible rates, in the late 60s you were lucky to get 8 years out of a Victor before it wasn't worth repairing, by the late 70s they'd reached pretty much the same level as competitors but this was now an age where cars were being seen as appliances rather than luxury items and were leading harder lives.

Survival numbers are mostly due to popularity. Your average BL car lasted about 10 years on the road, A Ford of a similar age would usually last about 12 or so. Fords were always around in vast numbers and were loved by many, as well as cars like the Escort and Capri having the cool and sporty image, they were also for more traditional in their design. Nothing complicated like transverse engines, hydragas suspension etc, much more friendly for DIY and being students cars in the 80s.
Whilst a Ford might rot away at an alarming rate you'd have equal problems from the mechanical side from a BL car unless it was serviced properly, old Fords seem more resilient to rough treatment and being thrashed.

Still, could be worse, Datuns, Toyotas and Hondas from the 70s are now pretty much extinct in the UK.
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Doesn't explain 70s Vauxhalls though, they were built roughly as well as the competition, and were just as traditional as Fords, yet have still gone. Clearly nobody has any love for Vauxhall at all. :lol:
 
Cars like the Chevette were cars your Gran drove, no street cred at all, Vivas rotted like nothing else and the bigger saloons fell in to two categories:

1 - Woefully underpowered
2 - Woefully inefficient on fuel

The Rootes Group had the same problem, I mean apart from the Avenger Tiger their cars would have seemed very dull in the 1980s second hand car market, then when they went under people would have stayed back due to parts supply dwindling.
 
If you have to choose between a mk1/mk2 escort and a rootes product, you clearly choose the fords....
 
nicjasno said:
If you have to choose between a mk1/mk2 escort and a rootes product, you clearly choose the fords....
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Back in the 80s and 90s you would have, they all cost pretty much the same. Now of course most people can't afford an Escort so Dolly Sprints, Hillman Avengers and the like are going up in value fairly rapidly.
IceBone said:
Doesn't yours fall in both those at once?
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Well, it's not much slower than the Toyota in the real world and a sorted 1300 will get 35-40mpg, which is more than you'd get out of most 1970s cars of that size.
 
Started work on the engine this afternoon.

Took the rocker cover off:
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To find (in amongst the vast amounts of sludge) this:
537852_10200299112579656_524628828_n.jpg

Also, the rocker cover gasket left a lot to be desired (this was done by a garage too)...
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Took the rocker assembly out.
P1025846_1024x768.jpg

Spilt some coolant while draining the radiator...
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And that's about it... Not really the fastest head off job in the world. :lol:
 
Very nasty. That engine needs some serious cleaning. I can't imagine how it looks like inside the oil pan.
 
I would be seriously looking to see if the valve on that cylinder had encountered the piston, which is the usual reason to shatter a rocker arm like that.

Also, what was the previous owner using for motor oil, grease from a restaurant? That's nasty even for a BL product of that age. Were I wanting to keep it (for some unknown reason) I would definitely be pulling the engine for a total teardown because of potential oil starvation issues in the top and bottom ends.
 
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Right, I dug deeper...

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One of the cam followers is jammed in place, causing the pushrod to fly up and snap the rocker. Judging by the amount of crap that has built up it might not have been operating properly for a while. No idea why it is stuck in place though, not sure where to go from here to be honest...
 
Pull the engine ofc. There's no other way. Take it apart, unjam the rocker, clean it, replace seals and gaskets, and broken rocker arm, and put it back together.

Dr_Grip did it in his living room. :)
 
Either the pushrod/follower got bent or it got glued in place by oil sludge or the effects thereof. I would suspect that the bottom end of your engine and oil pickup looks something like this:

pick-up-screen.jpg


However, that's not why the rocker snapped. The pushrod, as the name implies, pushes the rocker up. It's not possible for it to act as you have described - it cannot 'fly up' and snap the rocker (leaving valve float and inertial over-travel out of it). I would suspect you have one or more bent valves, probably on number 2 (assuming it's numbered like Jaguar did, rear most cylinder being number 1) which is showing the effects of improper combustion, from the valve hitting the piston and bending. Once that happens, if the cam follower isn't letting the pushrod retract and the valve won't open (because of, you know, piston), well - something's got to give.

You now need to dismantle the entire engine and mike (measure) everything to make sure it's still in spec. Assuming you can even get the probably bent pushrod out of the block, which is a problem on some models depending on how badly bent it is.
 
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And keep in mind: enjoy the ride.

Dismantling the engine, cleaning it and measuring it does not cost you any money. And i guess valves and rocker arms for BL products should be rather cheap. Nothing you can't do yourself really.
 
It's so cute! The only engines I've worked on have been big lumps, it would be nice to work on something that can be dismantled and moved without the use of a very large engine crane.

Good luck with tracing the problem, looks a little messy but I have no doubt that it'll live to fight many more days. Just in case you didn't know, Rimmer Bros has this to offer along with many more Dolomite parts:

RL1019R BK.jpg

Linky
 
Good luck man!

I hope you stick with it! If you can learn anything vicariously through me, it's that just because you are overwhelmed doesn't mean it's too hard. Just ask for help. Don't give up.

(Does that read as lame as it sounds in my head?) :p
 
Matt2000 said:
It's so cute! The only engines I've worked on have been big lumps, it would be nice to work on something that can be dismantled and moved without the use of a very large engine crane.

Good luck with tracing the problem, looks a little messy but I have no doubt that it'll live to fight many more days. Just in case you didn't know, Rimmer Bros has this to offer along with many more Dolomite parts:

View attachment 8786

Linky
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He's going to need a full rebuild kit not just that top end rebuild/refresh kit - including big and little end bearings (as you Brits call them), new rings, possibly new wrist pins because I bet those are scarred to hell, the associated circlips, camshaft bearings as applicable, new oil pump, new pickup, seals for everything, etc., etc. Basically, every lubricated part is now suspect. Bore number 2 may be damaged and the other bores might not be too healthy so new pistons and new rings might be called for as well.

When it's all back together, you need to properly tune the carbs and don't set them as rich as they were evidently running (and as apparently Brits are wont to do).
 
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Spectre, while you're right that this is the worst-case scenario, I've seen engines (Russian ones, but never the less) surviving that kind of sludge buildup without too much damage. Maybe, just maybe, when he checks the compression it will be within spec on all cylinders, saving him some expensive work with piston rings and so on.... Same applies for everything else except the seals (which all will have to be replaced due to the dismantling process): Check if it's within spec, replace it not.
It may be as bad as you say, but it may as well not be.
 
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