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So 6hrs for stripdown on Monday and 12hrs yesterday for rebuild. Oil and coolant this morning...

So 6hrs for stripdown on Monday and 12hrs yesterday for rebuild. Oil and coolant this morning... Started first time and oil pressure 60lbs when cold. Ignition set well retarded for first test runs....

Someone asked me if perhaps my rebuild had created an engine with too high a compression ratio? The engine should be fairly standard Alpine spec I think. Standard cam, dished piston tops, 30 thou oversize, standard ali head. The three 'good pots all showed 170psi before I removed the head. Does...

I would agree with you totally and I really don't understand really. The bore is unmarked and so is the cylinder head so no evidence at all of an impact.

Not sure of cause. Three pots fine and bore and head on No1 perfect. Only problem is bust No1 piston. I wasn't there but sounds like engine started pinking and got hot before P1 died. Could have been a weakness in the piston (new 2,000 miles ago) or pinking caused it. Three good plugs seem good...

As feared the biggest PITA is I can't get the sump off at the moment. We did lift the engine up off the mounts and lower sump enough to remove No1 bottom cap and remove the piston from the top. Martin not supplying parts now and Speedy on holiday but Sunbeam Spares in Shepperton have all bits...

Yep, that would do it then...

Will look closer when back home on Sunday. From Helens description sounds like it started pinking and overheated and holed a piston.... Hoping it's not too bad when head comes off - on plus side H reports oil pressure was OK at 40psi but temp went into red so might be fixable in situ...

Couple of weeks ago we took Pootle down to the New Forest. Helen was driving and I took my Celica. Helen then went off to S.Wales with youngest son in Pootle and I returned home for work.... Pootle then became 'unhappy' on the way home on the M4 on monday and arrived back at Pattison-Towers in...

Hello all. When I rebuilt the alpine engine I fitted stainless studs for the inlet and exhaust manifolds but they were just made from stainless studding and on reflection this was a mistake and I really want to replace them with proper studs. Can anyone advise if the studs for the ali and iron...

Finally got around to replacing the gas pipework with simple single regulator and pipe to the cooker. No leaks and much safer than the old mess which even had an old style gas tap style outlet that you could just push a rubber pipe on. Looked very scary these days but back in the 60s they were...

It was ok initially but slight movement gave erratic earth. I could have added an earth strap but put in rivet nuts because it was simple and I had suitable ali bits handy. Tank is excellent...

Yes small camping fridges are not very good generally as thrrmodynamics really requires a lot of energy to do the job. I have removed the fridge today - it's a 12V/240V/gas job but not very efficient and, as you say, not really safe without a chimney. Plan is to fit a modern 12V compressor...

Yes, some claim silicone hoses are ok for E10 but in my experience the're not. I have bought a couple of 90 degree elbows from Gates which were pricey at £25 each but if I can't trust Gates to do the job I'm lost and will have to braze up a suitable dogleg from stainless..... Looks like this...

I must confess that the only 'breakdown' we have had in Pootle was running out of fuel - and yes, it was my fault Dear! :) Since fitting Tim's super new ali tank however the fuel gauge has been erratic - works sometimes but sometimes not. This morning I checked the cct. Disconnected the sender...

Well i bought a Prius assembly that looks good. Will check it all works at the weekend but really need a commer steering column next...

Anyone have a spare steering coulmn they would sell to allow me to create a power-steering version to fit to our Tourstar?

The Corsa setup is cheaper and less powerful than the Prius one I think. To make it work it needs the little controller box with the knob which mimics the vehicle speed. The knob in this system sets steering assist power by mimic-ing a fixed speed so you can adjust it to best suit yourself. The...

That looks the sort of think I'm thinking of. I have been having a look around and the Prius gearbox setup looks a good possibility and I now know how it works; On these systems there is normally a vehicle speed signal to the steering ECU so that assist varies with speed. On the kit above the...

Hello everyone. OK so Management would like Power Steering fitted to Pootle and I'm casting around to see folk's ideas. From initial look-see it seems that electrical system would be the way to go so a unit from a Prius or Corsa or Clio all seem possibles. Anyone have any thoughts or...