geoffbeaumont

There are nice mods on here? Name and shame! We need to do something about that

Just had a look at the manuals - the Rover V8 doesn't have a tensioner on the timing chain. So what on earth is it?!!

Even though I've already removed it, and it's fine? ^^^ Bit more than that I'm thinking, seeing I can see it's not on the gear any more... Had another look tonight in better light - it's definitely not part of a gear down there. Jonathan suggested maybe the remains of a chain tensioner. Sounds about right - I'll have to take a look at the parts manual and see what's supposed to be there. As I've now aquired an old escort to put on the road for a bit, I might as well take my time and do the engine properly - means I can wait 'til I can afford the parts as well! Nope, but it turned over quite happily without making any nasty noises - I thought at first that it was a purely electrical problem. By the way, are the pistons and valves on the Rover V8 an interferance fit or not? As in, do I need to take the heads off and make sure there wasn't any carnage in there?

Oil light came on, then a couple of seconds later the engine stopped (probably just the time it took to spin down) - it was only at a few hundred RPM at the time. No nasty noises when it happened, or when I tried to restart it.

Don't know - the only certainty is she's going nowhere until I've at least opened up the timing cover. Right now I'm sorting out the aquisition of an elderly eurobox to keep me mobile

I've friends who went, with a mixture of hired and own vehicles, but they were taking a group of cadets so the air force flew them over. Makes things a little easier... Sounded like their main roads equal some of our better green laning

Well, thanks for all the advice on distributor drive gears, but it turns out to have been a bit academic. The drive gear's fine, and still turns the rotor arm nicely. Sitting down there next it, though, is a big chunk of cast something-or-other. Given I can see the inside of the timing chain, I'd say it's part of the top timing gear... I can't believe there were no nasty noises... Tried to take some photos, but you can't really see anything. Might get some film and have a go with the good camera. Time to find myself some temporary wheels

Craddocks have 'em for £25+VAT (part no. ERC1353 which I assume is correct - doesn't seem to have changed throughout the life of the engine, but my parts catalogue is missing the V8 engine post 1991). MM4x4 where I usually get my parts don't list them on their website.

Bet that did five times as many miles to the gallon as a Model T, and ran on environmentally friendly peace and love...

Ah, I have a custom tool for that job Constructed after I managed to drop a socket down the dizzy hole (yes, some mothers do have 'em...). Admittedly it's just a long screwdriver with a small allen key taped to the end, and the socket's still in the sump somewhere... It's a brass gear isn't it? So a magnet would be no use for getting bits out.

I should think there's plenty of space down there for the pin to come out - the timing case is pretty roomy. Given it's open to the sump at the bottom there's a good chance the bits of pin would end up down there without getting into the timing gear. FWIW the engine was at very low revs when it went, as I was stopping at a roundabout. On the other hand the timing has had a tendency to drift for a while now and when I had the dizzy out recently there was no sign of anything up externally, which would suggest the shaft might be sheared further up and has finally ground the broken ends smooth?

Drive gear pin is certainly possible. Would the engaging bit result in loss of drive to the dizzy? If the drive gear pin has gone, will the gear be loose on the shaft? Or to put it another way, is the wretched thing going to end up in the sump when I withdraw the dizzy?

Just arrived home in a recovery truck The distributor drive has broken. Just as well that didn't go at the top of the Gap Road yesterday... The really annoying thing is that I'm going to have to work most of the way through the night to make up the time I lost this afternoon, and the only reason I haven't fitted the new EDIS ignition yet is the stupid amount of (unpaid ) overtime I've had to work recently. What am I likely to find when I remove the dizzy? Might it have sheared low enough down to drop the drive gear and swarf into the timing, or is it more likely to have gone up top? Up top would be good...if the drive shaft is still intact I can just leave the dead dizzy in to drive the oil pump.

Stepper motor not opening enough when the engine's cold? What state were the valve seat and air bypass tube in? I seem to remember the plenum end was pretty cacked up on mine. I'm only going on my very limited experience of my own vehicle though. Someone a bit more knowledgable want to venture an opinion?

Nope, that's not normal - mine didn't behave like that when it had a vacuum leak, either. It hunted until you pressed the accelarator.

Well, at least be warned that you are unlikely to get through without a winch or a tow from the other side of the hole, even going downhill...and if you try, you're going to make it a hole lot worse

Holes in the Gap Road aside, todays excursion down to Brecon was thoroughly enjoyable. We drove a few easy lanes (one of them was a bit on the scratchy side...) round the firing range North of Sennybridge - the plan was to drive through then head for Strata Florida, but there turned out to be a rally using the roads round the range, so we couldn't get through - Steve took off and drove round to Strata, VeryDisco, RobHybrid and myself stopped to watch the rally for a bit then headed back to Brecon and drove the Gap Road. Piccies here. 'Fraid my el cheapo camera was up to it's usual tricks - ended up ditching about a third of the photo's and I left in some slighty distorted ones

There's a large hole appeared in the Gap Road about half a mile up from the South end - looks like water's taken the surface off (it's on a section of boggy ground on the edge of the forest, opposite a drainage ditch) then some numpty's spun their wheels in the ruts and before you know it... I've got a trashed driver's door and wing as evidence that you can fit a Range Rover in the hole Not funny explaining that one to the passing walkers... I think VeryDisco and RobHybrid are going to report it to GLASS and hopefully get it sorted, but meantime best not drive that end of the road.

Time to play hunt the vacuum leak

Why not LPG, just out of interest? I'd have thought it was a much cheaper and easier route than fitting a new engine, you keep the V8s grunt and relative silence - plus at current fuel prices it'll be cheaper to run than a diesel. I can only think of two good reasons to go with diesel instead: You can't get LPG easily where you use the car You need better range than you can easily achieve with an LPG conversion No getting round the former, but if the range on petrol is okay, LPG isn't going to be much worse? Okay, three. Diesels still work when it rains...

So how much of that original car actually finished up in Pig?

That's a fairly convincing argument for not painting 'em. I reckon it'd take quite a while to rust through 5mm of steel, even if I moved back to Aberdeen... it'd look a mess though.

Ah, well. Maybe I'll just put it on as is and see how it goes. If if doesn't tone down enough for my liking I can always paint it later.

Maybe we should survey Greenpeace members and find out how many are genuinely prepared to drive 20HP cars...

How many miles per gallon did the Model T do, anyway?