MadaboutKitcars

Just what I thought Ian, its begging for trouble is it not?
In the future, every time I put my foot down, I'll have a mental picture of that stupid little strip!!

I have just come back from the engineering shop, and they are talking about getting the head done for the latter part of next week, so we will see.

On my top-fuel dragbike after each run the head was lifted to check it all,i used a gasket made of copper which was glowed an reused again,these gaskets never failed.
Thinking about lasercutting these days it would be easy to make one for your engine.....

Shelsley Pics



A couple of snaps newly printed from my analogue camera

Thanks for that Mick, I must have missed the XKSS!
What a bummer, as I took pics of the fabulous D Type.

I did ring you a few times when I was there, but could not get hold of you.

There will be other days.

glad to hear you found out what the problem is Scottie I'm sure you'll be back on the road soon. the joys of classic motoring

Because the 1500 basically IS an overbored engine. It was originally designed an 803 cc four pot for the Standard 8, and then enlarged to 947, 1147, 1296 and finally 1493 cc - the gap between 2 and 3 is determined by the centre bearing of the crankshaft, so to enlarge it, they had to reduce the space between 1-2 and 3-4

As you can see from Scottie's pictures, 1493 cc was the absolute maximum they could get without a major redesign of the basic block...

I would say that as you can see from Scottie's, 1296cc was the absolute sensible maximum they could get without a major redesign......or a constant supply of head gaskets.......

This is my 1300 +40 thou -



It's the same as Scottie's - pretty narrow walls. To go to 1500 they stroked it from 76mm to 87.5mm whilst preserving the same 73.7mm bore as the 1300. Thus producing an undersquare design............which is one reason why it doesn't rev quite as happily as the 1300.

Aaah! The plot thickens, That's one reason why a racing 1300 can rev to 9000 revs quite happily, but the 1500, with only three main bearings..........mmmmmmmm.

From Wikipedia -

"An engine is described as undersquare or long-stroke if its cylinders have a smaller bore (width, diameter) than its stroke (length of piston travel) - giving a ratio value of less than 1:1.

At a given engine speed, a longer stroke increases engine friction (since the piston travels a greater distance per stroke) and increases stress on the crankshaft (due to the higher peak piston speed).

The smaller bore also reduces the area available for valves in the cylinder head, requiring them to be smaller or fewer in number. Because these factors favor lower engine speeds, undersquare engines are most often tuned to develop peak torque at relatively low speeds."

Hey Ox, you seem to be pretty clued-up, what sort of life-span would we expect from a new head gasket, given the
thin gaps between cylinders 1-2 3-4 ?

Hi Scottie,

If you use a good gasket, new head studs and torque it properly.........and you are running "normal" compression......and it never overheats...........I would expect a gasket to last as long as it needs to. i.e. I would expect to have the head off for something else before the gasket ever went.

I don't tend to push road engines too hard but others who do might have other thoughts.

I am quite paranoid about engine temp so on mine I may even put a dash light that illuminates when the fan cuts in.

I added a temp gauge to my Morris Minor. I now know why they didn't bother. Once warmed-up it never moves from 85 degrees in summer or winter. The term over-cooled springs to mind but that suits me just fine.

Look after your water pump, coolant and rad and they will look after you!

Their one advantage (I've found) is in the difficult starting scenario- providing the battery will get one piston past TDC on a compression stroke and it fires... it will start.

I can't say that about the oversquare Ford engines I've owned!!!

...and you don't boot it until the temperature gauge needle is off its stop ie the thermostat is open.

I once heard of a Fezza dealer who would demonstrate by starting the car up cold in the showroom and immediately bouncing it off the rev-limiter. Ensuring future servicing revenue perhaps?

Friday

Well, I got my re-conned head back from the engineers, all re-built, and ready for running on unleaded.

I decided to paint it red to match other stuff on the car, ( red black and silver always looked good on F1 McLarens) and treated it to a new water pump. The old one was fine, but an unknown quantity.

I pushed the boat out, and have bought an alloy rocker cover, as I was too lazy to do up the tatty old one.
It should look a bit more presentable under the bonnet when its all back together.

I have new fuel line and hoses to fit, and must buy some quality hose clips, as I am tired of the crappy old rusty things they seemed to use in those days.

pics:

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Could be an ideal time to upgrade to Evans waterless coolant.

Red topped engines are always more powerful

I've done something right then!

Rocker Cover

That ally rocker cover is the twin of one I bought second hand on Ebay. The outside took quite a bit of work to remove paint and lacquer but I eventually got it to shine. However, when I fitted it and ran the engine I was treated to an unearthly high pitched noise. On removing it I found that the casting's so thick that it fouls the rockers!

I put the tin one back and will fetch the angle grinder to the offending area when I haven't anything more important to do.

Rubbish engineering? Yes!

I hope yours isn't the same.

p.s. Send your V5 back to have the model description amended to read XKSS Testarossa

Bloody hell Mick! I wounldn't want a Jaguar linked to a Ferrari name!
What are you thinking of? :-)

I have a feeling it's just a reference to 'red head' (testa rossa in Italian), not a serious suggestion to alter your V5.

It seems your gasket failure may have made you a bit touchy Scottie. Best cheer yourself up while you're off the road by watching Jaguar trounce upstart offerings from Johnny Foreigner in '53 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmclYtEbKo0

Did you not see the "smile" at the end of my post Mr T?

It was humour only, I can assure you!

Thanks for the cheer-up vid, loved it! The music was so period!
Those really were the days!

Well, a couple of people have asked me how my top-end re-build is going, so upon checking, I realised that I have not posted sod-all for two whole weeks!

As I said earlier, I got the head back, and for the last couple of weeks have been idly cleaning off all the mating surfaces, which on the engine block, took two hours, as the old gasket seemed to have welded itself to the metal on the block.

I have managed to get all the nuts off the studs, most of which were seized up, and some nuts sheered off, so I had to order and wait for, new studs.
I decide to re-new all the hoses, which I should have done before, but have done so now. That was an awkward job, as all the jubilee clips had seized and needed to be cut off, and as ever, access was limited for cutting tools.

I stripped and cleaned the twin carbs, and have all new gaskets ready for them.
What with all these fiddly jobs ans real life getting in the way, two weeks seems to have flown by, but I will get the car back together eventually.

To make matters worse, I think the head gasket may have blown on my every-day car too! That went to a garage today, and hopefully will be back on the road before the XK.

I spent about two hundred quid on stretch bolts, head gasket set, water pump and cam-belt kit, before the mechanic has even started the work, and I know this repair will be expensive, but still cheaper than buying another car! Besides, I like the one I have.
So, that leaves me with only my little micro-camper to get about in.

The reception I get from just about everyone in that van has amazed me!

From little kids, right up to old grannies, they all love it.
I enjoy watching the oncoming traffic when stuck in a jam, as they all crane their necks to try and figure out what it is, and almost everyone of them has a huge grin on their face.

One bloke said, "they are really rare aren't they?"

I replied, "this one is, its a one-off I did myself"

Anyhow, if Scottie wants to be "on the road", it currently has to be in the van, which is quite a pleasant experience, so here it is once again, the only set of bloody wheels I have right now that actually work!

[IMG][/IMG]

Thursday morning

I don't know anyone else has experienced what I am going through right now,
but I am finding it incredibly difficult to muster up enough enthusiasm to go out to my car and continue the work needed to finish it of enough to make it driveable again.

I have actually got the head back on the engine, but not torqued it down yet and cannot find a scrap of interest to make me carry on.
I did however force myself to go out and fit the two headlight cowls at last.

Anyone following my build may remember I cracked the drivers side cowl, had to get a replacement.

This time I managed to drill all the holes required without the expensive mistake occurring again, and got them on the car.

They were not the best fit in the world, but I managed to hide most of the
gaps by fitting a chrome strip all the way around.

This was achieved by a lot of fiddly work with a heat-gun and burnt fingers, but in the end, I had a curly bit of flexy chrome strip which once fitted, did not look too bad after all.

I take back my criticism of WCA when ages ago he put forward the idea to me!

It does work, but takes time effort and patience. Only time will tell with the answer to the question: "will it stay stuck on?"



Watch this space.

If anyone has any advice on where I can dredge up any enthusiasm from to put my car back together, that would be most welcome!!!

Is this the normal reaction to finishing a two year build, or has my trolley come right off the f***ing rails?

pics of today's effort:


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The chrome trims look great. WCA and Scottie take a bow.

It sounds to us all like Scottie needs to start another build..........so when you get p*ssed off and frustrated with the new one you can turn to the XK to fettle and drive.

Scottie - I think a bit of "build fatigue" is completely normal.

Especially when you have an "on the road" set back, which will always be more disappointing than a "during the build" one.

Perhaps you should have a re-read of Mister Towed's "On the road" thread, as he had a series of set backs.

http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4482

Yet despite this, the joy he got from driving his car seems to make it all worth while.

So remember this feeling...



And get back out there ASAP, so we can see how the car looks with the new headlight covers fitted.

Good luck, Paul.

PS
Is there a car show coming up that you could use as a target to aim for?