Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Keith D]

The weather in Western Australia has cooled down finally after a very hot indian summer. So now is the time to do some maintenance work on the cars. New brushes on the Austin Seven starter has given me a magnificently aggresive starter motor. I found and fixed a short circuit caused by a frayed wire on the rear bumper of the Chrysler and the indicators are now working fine. Then on to the problem causing me concern.

A few days ago I went to swing the Morris Cowley engine over on the crank, something I do every now and again when the vehicle is not being used. To my surprise it would not move! Today I crawled under the car to remove the Lucas Dynastart inspection plate hoping to find the chain with a broken link jammed up around the gearbox sprocket. Nothing so simple; everything in there perfect!

So with increasing dread I removed the head, to find number four cylinder full to the brim with extremely rusty water! There is rust on the bore and on the valve faces. I tried placing a block of soft wood on top of the piston and hit it with a hammer, but it is frozen solid. My engineer son-in-law thinks that it's not too bad and we should be able to hone the rust out without reboring and re-sleeving the cylinder. I hope he's right!

Tomorrow the engine comes out as I am going to remove the crankshaft to get the piston out. Happy days! I could really live without this!

Keith

[Richard H]

Good luck with it Keith. But how has the water got into the cylinder? Split water jacket?
_________________
Richard Hughes

[Keith D]

Hi Richard,

I don't know how the water got in there yet! It's nine o'clock in the morning here and I'm on my out to the workshop to start operating!

I'll photograph anything nasty that I find. Fingers crossed! I'm rather nervous as this happened when the car was NOT being used!

Keith

[ukdave2002]

If its any consolidation I used to have a petrol cement mixer that lived outside. One winter for some reason the plug was removed (must have borrowed it for the lawn mower) anyway it spent an entire winter with the open spark plug hole pointing to the sky! .

When I came to use the mixer in the spring the cylinder was full of water and the piston seized, and sods law the piston was right at the bottom of the cylinder.

A bit of oil and brute force freed the piston, the bores were lightly corroded so were cleaned up with some wet and dry.

Prior to all this the engine always used to burn oil with the familiar blue tinge to the exhaust, afterwards not only did it start but the oil consumption was reduced! I can only conclude that that previously the bores had become very polished, and that the light rust and honing provided a better seal!.

Dave

[Keith D]

This job (like most "simple" jobs) has turned into a monster!

I couldn't loosen the piston without getting savage with it, and I am a coward! I ended up removing the engine from the car to work on it. This entailed removing both front mudguards as the panelwork covered the engine mounts. It also meant pulling the gearbox out in situ with the motor, because the Cowley has a wet cork clutch and it is neccesary to turn the crankshaft to reach through the inspection plate to remove the clutch springs. However, the crankshaft was locked by the seized piston! I also had to remove the steering box as this is sandwiched between the side of the engine and the chassis. Once the whole lot was out of the car, I could rotate the gearbox on the back of the motor to release the clutch springs!

I removed the big end on No. 4 piston and turned the crankshaft out of the way. A sharp tap with a block of soft wood on the piston was enough to loosen the piston. I withdrew it through the bottom of the bore. The rings were clogged with sludge, but have cleaned out nicely and the rings are free. The bore will have to be honed out, and hopefully this will fix the problem. The valves are both badly pitted, as are their faces, so there is some machining work to be done here. I will keep you informed when these jobs have been done.

I can't see anything nasty like a crack, but I will inspect a lot closer after the honing and a good clean up of the components.

I have owned this car for 26 years and have never particularly liked it much. I have decided that I will go right through it and get it running properly, to my satisfaction. I also want to pull the 4 seater tourer body off and replace it with a replica 2 seater roadster body. Then it will hopefully excite me a lot more!

When I've cleaned everything up in my workshop, I'll go in there with my new camera and take some shots of the bits!

Keith

[Nic Jarman]

I know how you feel. The Talbot had a small end rattle and I had to work from the rear axle to get the engine out (about 1/3 of the car). So much work for such a small fault.
_________________
1936 Morris 8 Series 1
1973 MGB roadster
1977 MG Midget 1500
Dax Rush

[robert bawden]

kieth, its robert here. i live in byford, south of perth. (armadale).
i have a spare block if you need it. i have a 1929 4door cowley, 4cyl.
i have clutch woes with mine, it gets along ok until you put your boot into it and she will start slipping and for the life of me i cant find a replacement clutch. (nobody answers my ads worldwide).
i have a lot of spares if you ever need any. i have just powdercoated another cowley chassis and i need a body so if you are interested and my bag of gold is big enough then give me a call on 0895262999.
cheers to all

[peter scott]

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the forum.

I have recently been rebuilding the engine of an MG SA and was able to get a cork faced wet clutch from http://www.svwspares.co.uk/catalogue.htm

I don't know if this the same part as your Cowley but you can see a picture of it if you scroll down to the end of this:
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk/new_page_9.htm

Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[robert bawden]

hi PETER, thanks for your reply.WOW my first reply on any forum. the clutch in the picture you sent me looks identical. if i drive "BILLY" (my 4 youngsters call the car billy after sir william morris) sedately there is narey a problem. but i every now and then i get overtook by a blessed vw beetle or the like and i seek revenge for my lapse in consetration. but alak alas i have to sit back and do as im told. its very hard to believe they ever raced these things. but it is our pride and joy as with our 1953 holden fj sedan. we have had a month or 2 two of over 35 degrees celsous and im worn out, (i own a lorry that pulls (3) three 45foot trailers to the north west of australia each week , argyle, kunnunura, broome, darwin, newman, etc etc. and it was 54 in the shade at marble bar.
im doing a slow burn. anyways old mate im out of here.
god bless and cherio 4 now.
lord robert of byford
_________________
did they really race these things

[Roger-hatchy]

Hi Rob
Any photos of your rig.
A few ex truckers on here might be interested.

Biggest I ever hauled was 14 foot wide and 18 foot tall, but a miserly 60 foot long. didn't have a camera with me in them days.

[Rick]

[robert bawden]

peter , if you google road trains of australia you will see plenty of road train trucks. im 55yearold now and started driving trucks at the youthful age of 14. ive worked 3kilometres underground driving a 30ton payload swedish truck called a caruna. ive driven just about evert kind of rig in oz. currently we (my wife and i) own a freightliner, 550cat motor and a 2010 man 7 a westernstar, all 130ton spec. we are pulling 3 trailers state wide at the moment but when the rush is on we will complete about 10,000 kilometers a week. thats sydney perth return or perth darwin return. anyway chum, look at the roadtrains of australia site and if you see a western star (yanky rig) with "BEN HUR" written across the front then that will be mine also. my wife is going to show me how to put fotos onto this forum and then we will see what im rabbiting on about.
cherio 4 now bloke.
_________________
did they really race these things

[robert bawden]

APOOGIES RICK.my last post should have been 4 u.
my sincerest apologies to peter aswell. OH WELL
_________________
did they really race these things

[peter scott]

Hi Robert,

I'm sure after you've posted a few hundred photos and posts we might forgive you!

Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[robert bawden]

phew !!!!!
_________________
did they really race these things