V8 Freak

Exhaust tests done today... CO2 still well under required. Hydrocarbons... I was told the engine spec could go as high as 470 but the reading was in the area of 300. So no excess of fuel unburnt in the mixture out the back and with a reading that low, unlikely to be much oil at all ! Last things will be the over-run and plug chopping tests tomorrow and if as I suspect, the valves guides etc. all are ok, I'll be blaming the oil stealing pixie my car has obviously managed to aquire... Neil

I have a number of app here you are welcome to try. I've not used them all and if I remember rightly, most will want to copy off the HD in order to give you a clean recovery. See PM....

Have to agree with others comments Tony... Looking very good indeed...

Careful Ralph... Someone else doing your part numbers job here... I recon you either need to fight it out in the quick draw round or just rest easy, let it slide and have a good time..

ok. Ian.. Will have to wait until the weekend for the next tests..... We have a hill nearby that is 2 miles long and approx. 1 in 15 so will use that... re. the plugs, I don't have any new spares but have the old set (Not bad condition at all) I can give a good clean up and check gap etc..... I'll replace with those. The ones looking everso slightly different from the rest are 3 and 6... Both being slightly darker which could indicate some oil I suppose....7 has some sort of additional pitting around the back shoulder of the spark element which I'll get closer shot of too. I'll chop after a few miles at 50 on the three indicated and get shots. Replace all three with cleaned plugs, do another 5 - 10 miles at 50 and grab some shots of those too. Any value in getting the exhaust gases analysed ? May be able to get that done tomorrow if the things is still working.. Been in the corner for a year collecting dust ! Thanks for your help thus far.... I may just sell the lump in good working order on E-blag and slap in a 4.2... I'm getting tired of this lark ! New Weber 500 and Edelbrock should help the sale !!! You can grab the posted picture above and zoom in quite well. If I were posing the picture, what view and level of detail would you desire.... (Should be able to accommodate most things..)

Ok.. Head thumping and cold taking hold, but I promised some numbers tonight. Engine stone cold. (Not started for 20 hours ish) Plugs in same order as cylinders. (i.e. bottom right = 1, next up=3 etc.) Readings.... Unfortunately I forgot to hold throttle open so rotations were slow. If I feel up to it I'll do again tomorrow and re-post if readings any different. Right bank: (LB/in squared) 1 - 152 3 - 154 5 - 154 7 - 157 Left bank: 2 - 152 4 - 159 6 - 156 8 - 152 It's a 3.5 V8, nothing special sort of engine.... I've been reading up trying to see what's normal and found no results but most are suggesting that doing this on a warm engine and yes... Hold throttle open for better rotation speed... Sorry, brain dead and off to sleep now.... Ian, if you advise doing again, hot or cold but with throttle open, please say so.... Happy to go again when feeling better. Neil, feeling carp, signing off.... Edit: Just had email from the company that did the re-build and they are suggesting from the core plug temerature picture I sent that the engine has run excessively hot at some point..... Tring to suggest the unconventional fan setup (Twin electric fans, no brand name, fitted to rad...) is insufficient, yet they keep the engine at normal on the guage on tickover or when crawling in low ratio for hours.... Can someone reading this give me their opinion if 100 degrees Centigrade reading on a core plug is considered dangerous for a V8 engine... I'm baffled as the coolant system it placed under pressure to get the boiling temperature of the water in that system over 100 degrees.... And.. Given the proximity of the core plug sticker thingy to the exhausts, wouldn't they potentially affect the reading ?

Breather tubes are clear...... Also removed the oil filler cap and nothing out the top.... (After aborting the test there was a small amount of oil smoke from oil filler, just whisps though and it was sub zero last night when we did this so not sure if it was temperature difference related..) When I collected the car after the re-furb, I ran it in for 2k ish.... Run home was 150 miles straight off and didn't go over 50 mph. It was horribly boring but it happened.... Only occasionally above 4k RPM and never laboured... Oil level was and is checked weekly as I was expecting the engine to use some while it was bedding in.... Also found a tempremental exhaust analyser that I may be able to get on the car on Friday... If it works and gives readings I'll post... If it's glazed bores... What is the solution ?

Can you get a few of those stones moved out of the way before we come across Paul ! Might scratch my raider bars ! (Then again... I could just take them off for the weekend, but that would mean getting under the car again !)

Ok..... Ran for approx. 30 minutes at just under 3k.... Not a drop ! (Well there was one drop from the PAS pump... New thing on the list of things to spend money on...) Lifted filter off and nothing out of the breather tubes from rocker cover that go into the air filter. So we are now waiting on a compression test, hopefully tomorrow, to try and prove some other theories... Regards temperatures.... Is 100 Degrees considered excessive for the core plugs on a V8 ? Considering the water system is placed under pressure to get it to go to above 100 degrees, is it unreasonable to record 100 degrees on the core plugs ?

If we have stopped the oil losses by then we may come with a car full.... Mrs. Freak has shown some interest and so long as we are not going to be wading stuff like Tony's famous "My seats's wet" river crossing or stuff that will frighten the kids, we may be on for this. Because it's a V8, I'll fill the back with 15 - 20 Jerry cans so it will have to be a hotel as we won't have any room for camping gear... Pru (Mrs. Freak) liked the pictures Mark90 posted....

Thanks for your words of wisdom Ian.. I'm gonna do the fast idle MOG suggested this evening and see if I got a river of oil flowing out the engine somewhere... Will also pull the air filter off to see if I'm getting vapourised oil out of the breathers while all that's going on... Halfrauds do a compression tester for £19 so will grab one of those and aim to do the tests and post cylinder readings tomorrow all being well.... I'm not trying to accuse the builder of shoddy work, as you say, things are not always perfect. If a ring did break during the install and is not obvious until stripped down, it isn't malicious, just unlucky. The owner of the company that did the work has been very keen to sort this for me and I'm sure if we have anything that points to the correct solution, he will get it sorted... Results to follow....

Stickers.. Someone mention stickers !! Do we bribe Les H ?? Is it just ok to put some more in the pot Tony and a note to Les... I've seen some cars with the forum address on them but didn't realise it was something that was done professionally... Glad to advertise !

So let me get this right Fridge.... If the oil is being burnt /turning to vapour in some way outside the normal piston compression routine and sucked through the carb as vapour (off the rocker covers) it could burn and might not be seen as blue cloud !! WOW.... As for engine re-build.. I'd rather not say. We are still on good terms and I'm not convinced this wasn't an un-lucky re-build.. Met quite a few of their other customers while I've been sitting in their offices over the various visits and no-one has had a bad word to say either over the counter or listening to the phone calls they are handling. Ian... Using 10w-40.. Went for it to get the viscosity at higher temps as I had read V8's can run hot.... Did I get it wrong go the wrong way ? Also looked at the little temp label on the core plugs tonight. The 99 degree one has coloured some but not as black as the 88 degree bar. (Ignore the oil stain.. It was there after re-sealing the sump.... Had a good look and not leaking now....)

I couldn't find the slot for the 50p when I got the bandwidth message !! Very swift action getting back online..... Well done...

It was a total re-build. Re-bore, re-sleeved , pistons, crank, bearings etc..... I'm in touch with them regularly so no fear they know what is going on and I'm sure they are aware that I will not rest on the matter if I have any feeling that the build was compromised in any way.

Engine breathers are clear.. Checked last week... (Assuming it is meant the breather tubes at top of engine from rocker covers to air-filter...)

I decelerated from approx. 70 to 50 with him behind me, engine braking only but on the flat..... He didn't see anything for the whole run. I'll see about finding a hill and some daylight next weekend and employ Rupert again.. Not done compression test. (But engine runs smooth on tickover and revs fine... ) Will see if the boys in work have some gadget to do that for me....

Thankfully Steve it is still under warranty. I'd like to try and nail it as I can't find leaks now and would like to be relatively confident of what I'm saying if I need to I take it back and get them to take it out and make good !! No oily deposits at the rear.... But I like your suggestion of drip counting.. Will get that sorted one evening this week or next weekend... When gasses were sipped for the MOT it was running a little rich but was under the required CO2 levels. Nothing else was monitored though. Thanks for the suggestion of stationary running.... Drip tray and camera here we come... Tony / oilIT..... Rear axle pretty clean. Was seeping from diff seal, that's been replaced and now axle looks pretty dry... Back door not covered in oil. I can't see where all this oil could be going.. Like you suggest, it would see it under the car... But the underside is fairly devoid of oil. No wading plugs and last week when we took the plate that covers the bottom of the bellhousing off, (Can be seen in the pic posted) it had dust but no evidence of masses of oil being thrown off the flywheel ! If you need any specific pictures of the car to help diagnosis, please suggest away and I'll snap and post them...

I guessed the final comment would appear in most posts.... (Getting predictable) If I were burning that much Tony, I would have turned your car black when you were behind me on Salisbury Plain ! I had Rupert follow me today for a few miles.. Nothing out the back ! (Even when being pushed through the revs..) I'm wondering if those drips are all that's left when I stop. (i.e. what has come before has been blown off as I drive along..)

I had a re-engineerd engine put into the 110 approx. 6k miles back... From day 1 it's been using / losing oil. Initially I thought it was using oil as it was running in. Nothing out the tailpipe though ! Then discovered seeping rocker cover gaskets... Went back to people who fitted it...Replaced. Then found leak to rear of engine at top... Went back to people who fitted it and was sealed. Then found evidence of sump gasket leaking. Back again and sump re-sealed. Then drove 175 miles with average moving speed at 57mph (i.e. not being pushed at all..) Dipped the oil and...... It was on the "W" of the word LOW.... So back around the engine, under it and nothing except..... The engine oil is clear.. When you dab the drops, it's apparent the oil is clear but has picked up what could be clutch dust or similar... Could I have a worn/badly fitted/leaking main shaft bearing or seal ? There is oil collecting on the transfer box during journeys. (I don't think this is leaking from transfer box now) There is no evidence of other oil under the car apart from on the lower part of the transfer box and parking brake. This doesn't look excessive but I'm guessing most will be blown away durning travelling. No clutch slip that I've noticed but losing approx. 600ml of oil per 200 miles now!!! I'm confident the engine is not burning the oil. The exhaust gasses are clear and no blue clouds have ever come from the exhaust. Are there any suggestions ? I'm happy to answer any questions that might help diagnose this. Thanks in advance Neil

I may sneak up and say a hearty hello...... Anyone heading from this area wanna share a vehicle.... Send me a PM.. (Will help secure the visit when I enter into negotiations with Mrs. Freak !)

Wish I could.. Was a great day out on 30th..... Sons birthday party so I'm on duty...... And it's a bit of a jaunt to do too often !! Have a great day regardless....

Most of us would be happier with a 9" jobbie.......

Welcome Francis.... Sounds like a bargain as others have said.... But now you are on that journey of eternal expenditure, upgrades, must haves and endless hours of "tinkering" Loads of people in here will show you how to spend thousands on the car so beware...

You are getting under there a lot lately Ralph.... Any noticable difference in the sound ??