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G'day Ben I have a mate who melted his engine bearings three times in three successive race meetings, before he discovered the problem. The first melt-down was due to oil surge on corners, and he thought he had fixed that by putting a baffle in the sump. Two more melt-downs later, he discovered the oil cooler was clogged with the metal powder from the melted bearings. Don't ever use a second hand oil cooler. And don't forget you will need to buy the oil hose adaptor to the block, and the adaptor to the oil filter. avagoodday Colin "Colin@SpriteParts"... MORE
G'day Martyn "Stumbling" on initial acceleration is also a syptom of running lean as you crack open the throttle. Once you get to cruising, the combination of damper springs, metering needes and adjustment might give you the right mixture, but the carby piston could be lifting too quickly as you try to accelerate. Try dumping the oil in the dashpots and putting in 20W50 engine oil. avagoodday Colin "Colin@SpriteParts" 31444... MORE
"It pays to check everything (new or not)" Amen to this, Alan. Absolutely. The engine is the heart of the car, Alan. Of course, it's always a matter of one's "priorities" when it comes to spending one's hard-earned cash, though an oil cooler set-up is simply not that expensive when you consider the cost of building (or rebuilding?:) the motor. You might say a "new" (rather than used item) is, in this case, cheap insurance in the foregoing respect, "different strokes for different folks", notwithstanding. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31467... MORE
I've got braided hoses but run an "off-engine" oil filter set-up ('cause I like to use the largest filter I can) and I like the protection the braid offers the rubber from any chaf, etc. Yet, James makes excellent and valid points for using rubber. Also, in the event you later decided to install an "oilstat", it's a much easier job with the rubber hoses. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31454... MORE
Well... Usually, a used oil cooler is not a good idea. Why, you may ask? Problem is you don't know the oil cooler's history...and those channels within are pretty small. If the engine the cooler came from was "making metal"....well....you get the point. Sure...you COULD clean the hell out of it, but...is it really "cleaned out" in the aforementioned case? Is it worth saving a couple of bucks to take the chance?? Your motor...your money... your decision!! :):) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31453... MORE
Roger wrote "Perhaps I am a fussy old git, but if you look after your engine by looking after the oil, it will look after you." I agree implicitly And Ed says never do it , fit a new one . (Ed, JustBrits sells oil coolers BTW :^) I agree to a certain extent, however the first time you use your oil cooler it will be second-hand. You will have the satisfaction that any crud that passes through it will be yours though.!!!! I believe if you thoroughly wash out the oil cooler with petrol or degreaser (paraffin /... MORE
Well after posting the message I cooled off and went back out and looked things over. I know that if the pistons open too quickly the engine will get a lot of fuel and not that much air. So I fiddle with the mixture nut and watched the piston when the throttle was opened. The pistons rose but the headers started to glow red! Argghh, I thought I'd timed the cam in better than that. Has anyone had a vernier cam gear slip on them? I don't remember a torque value on the securing screws, it's the Kent gear.... MORE
Hi Ben The stainless braided hoses look good, but my experience with braided hoses (fuel hose) is not positive. I find that the stainless braiding either eats it's way into the rubber hose and chews through it, or the rubber hose inside perishes without showing any visible problem. The first you know about it is when the pipe is dripping in petrol! Ok, oil pipe is thicker and probably under less tension/movement than a petrol pipe and it doesn't 'melt' like some cheap petrol pipes do with modern fuel. Even so I'd rather see the rubber pipe and be... MORE
hi, so looks like i am gonna get a new one, the kit come with oil lines etc! i was planning on gettign the one with s/s braided hoses, apart from looks have these got any benifits over the normal ones? Thanks again for all you Help guys ben Ben Lawlor 31426... MORE
Martyn... Firstly, check the oil level in the carbs and further, is it "thin" 10 wt or the thicker 20 wt. stuff? Secondly, when it "stumbles" off-idle upon initial acceleration...is there smoke of any sort out the exhaust before it finally "catches" and "go's"? Thirdly...check the timing. For a "stumble" upon initial acceleration is not an unknown symptom of too much initial ignition advance. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31417... MORE
Alan Hershaw....float level Bet you hit the nail on the head Alan, considering color of spark plugs under normal driving conditions. Too much fuel pressure can also be the gremlin. Webers (for the road) prefer about 1.5psi, but no more than 2.5psi even for highly tuned units. You MAY need a fuel pressure regulator? Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31413... MORE
Many would proabably disagree, but I would never use a second hand oil cooler unless I knew its history. If you do there is a lot of cleaning to do internally to make sure that you are not importing some rubish that will ruin your nice engine. Trouble is, you would not know untill things went wrong! Perhaps I am a fussy old git, but if you look after your engine by looking after the oil, it will look after you. R. "Roger Stinson" 31405... MORE
hi all, i got about =A3200 to spend on the car, and i need an oil cooler. do i buy a new oil cooler, or get a 2nd hand one and get some other bits and bobs? I'm never sure of buying 2nd hand parts- last thing i bought was a door from ebay- turned out not be be quite as good as i thought it was. Ben Lawlor 31404... MORE
Ed.. 2 years isn't that long for the engine/ drivetrain though this will most likely not be so for the hydraulics. Have a portable FIREX standing by. Assuming the fuel pump is doing it's thing, add as much fresh gasoline as you can. Pull the plugs and using a healthy battery, turn over the motor until the oil pressure comes up. Do this in 5 second spurts over a period of time so as not to abuse the starter motor. Reinstall the plugs and fire it up, running initially gently. Good luck! :) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31381... MORE
Terry, ask them! When I was insured through MGOC (Lancaster Ins.) for my 1500, I put in a fast road cam, LCB exhaust, overdrive gearbox and oil cooler. I notified them and they said it made no difference to the premium. Guy "Guy Weller" 31365... MORE
Yeah. It probably will handle good that way...:) I live in an area that has steep drive ways and I like my cars "looowww". The two things never mix so that's why Im going air ride. I haven't ran my Midget yet with the air ride suspension. Iv only had the car for about 8 months and 4 of those months its been in my shop being "tricked out". I do have air ride in the front of my 85 supercharged Toyota MR2 and Tokico 10 way adjustable shocks on all 4 corners and the car rides surprisingly very... MORE
James, A couple of points about the fact that lead was not introduced untl mid-30's (and then ommitted again during the war years. The lead does 2 things; 1. It "lubricates" the valve stems. This only became necessary as finer tollerances were introduced and engines ran at higher revs. Not critical for many of the earlier side-valve engines. 2. It reduces pre-ignition. Again much less of a problem on early low-compression engines. I have run an old 750 side valve engine on a mix of petrol and paraffin (kerosene) It was common practice during war year rationing in the... MORE
"Rattle on start-up" Well, sounds like some one has allowed the motor to race upon initial start ("dry" motor) prior to allowing the oil pressure to come up, resulting in pre- mature wear (or damage) to bearings. Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31302... MORE
Nah. This is interesting, James... Lead was used as an additive to permit higher compression ratios than were prevalent back in the early part of the last century (omigod......I AM old!!:) It "delayed" the beginning of the combustion process, allowing gasoline to begin to ignite at a higher temperature (allowed for "anti-dieseling" or "run on" as it is more popularly known these days). Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31300... MORE
Hi Ben Converting the head by fitting hardened valve seats is the only proper answer. I take the view that the worst that can happen by using unleaded is a valve buring out, in which case all that needs to be done is to have the hardened seats fitted at that point(and a new valve of course!) The additives are bad news as not only are they expensive but if the car is not used regularly it can form a gunge in the tank and clog up fuel pipes and jets etc. LRP hasn't been available where I live... MORE
Just to shed some of my personal experience in this area. I had to tackle this area personally in the last week or so. If you follow some of the parts supplier's diagrams you might end up installing this little pesky item backwards. Best advice is, as always, follow your original repair manual. In my case, it's a Sprite Mark I with a 948 engine. If you stop to think for a moment, and ask yourself, what is the logical purpose for this (oil thrower) item? You will soon come to a quick conclusion that its purpose is to... MORE
Strange one this , I suspect it 's not too important. MG book shows concave towards the outside of the engine i.e. Front of car. The Maestro A series 1300 engine shows a slight centre dish concave towards the gear, but the outer rim edge of the thrower is like a normal washer, flat. My Haynes Mini book - (all A series engines) shows the same type of thrower but with an 'F' marked on one side. The 'F' is fitted towards the outside or normally Front of car. i.e. centre concave goes next to the gear. Lindsay Porters... MORE
Hi, Ken... 1275's ran with no exhaust valve seals for better cooling (residual oiling) of the stems. Guess they figured the combustion gasses would be "outbound" in any case instead of "sucking" as in the case of the inlet valve. It would make sense to me to install the oil thrower concave side "in", convex side "out" but I haven't got the manual at hand and haven't built an engine in 20 years so I'll leave this one to another more "current" than I in this respect! :) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 31272... MORE
The gasket set for my 1275 Midget engine came with 4 rubber "boots" which are oil seals for the inlet valve stems. The set also included 5 (!) of the small o-rings which I thought were for teh earlier 1098 motors where they were used on inlet and exhaust. Shouldm I be installing 4 of these o-rings on my exhaust valves in addition to the 4 boots on the inlet guides? The manual is ambiguous. Also, the manual says to install the oil thrower in the timing chest concave side out - then shows a picture of it installed... MORE
P.S. skip the cupro nickel, go with silicone brake fluid and don't drive when the temp is below 32 degrees F or 0 C. No rust and the wheel cylinders last longer. Bob, Troutdale, OR USA "Robert Webb" 31269... MORE
