Pootle's Owner
Active Member
Hello all
Well during the lock-in I'm trying to sort out the workshop so decided that now was a good time to strip the 'spare' Alpine engine to investigate rebuilding it for Pootle... On the plus side it is standard bore, the crank is good and hasn't been reground and the head looks pretty good too. Unfortunately after many years standing, two pistons were really seized and had to be removed by drilling loads of holes in them and bashing them out. In doing this I did gouge a small mark into one of the bores which will dictate the minimum overbore needed. So a few questions;
a) I have some original Rootes workshop manuals which state max overbore is +30 thou which seems rather small for an engine of that vintage? I have seen on t'internet that +40, +60 and even +90 pistons were available from Hepolite. Given my stupid, self created, damage I would think I probably need +40 but size I use depends more perhaps on what pistons I can get.
Does anyone have any input on this?
Given the vehicle we have and its age, I'm not after any particular performance increase over a standard Alpine 1725 but just want a fairly standard rebuild with no temperamental running characteristics. Can anyone advise on overbores possible and a source/make of pistons?
b) I will need lots of bits for the rebuild after the rebore including a full gasket set and standard shells for main and big-end bearings - any suggested suppliers?
c) The engine doesn't have any carbs but it has a dual manifold on the ali head. Given I need to buy something, what carbs should I go for?
d) When Tim can supply a new petrol tank I will fit one but, in the meantime I have silver soldered many patches on the original tank and that will be refitted temporarily. When the Alpine engine is rebuilt and a new tank fitted, is it worth replacing the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one? Would that be better or not a worthwhile change?
As the project progresses there will be many more opportunities for questions I'm sure....
Bye for now.
Tony
Well during the lock-in I'm trying to sort out the workshop so decided that now was a good time to strip the 'spare' Alpine engine to investigate rebuilding it for Pootle... On the plus side it is standard bore, the crank is good and hasn't been reground and the head looks pretty good too. Unfortunately after many years standing, two pistons were really seized and had to be removed by drilling loads of holes in them and bashing them out. In doing this I did gouge a small mark into one of the bores which will dictate the minimum overbore needed. So a few questions;
a) I have some original Rootes workshop manuals which state max overbore is +30 thou which seems rather small for an engine of that vintage? I have seen on t'internet that +40, +60 and even +90 pistons were available from Hepolite. Given my stupid, self created, damage I would think I probably need +40 but size I use depends more perhaps on what pistons I can get.
Does anyone have any input on this?
Given the vehicle we have and its age, I'm not after any particular performance increase over a standard Alpine 1725 but just want a fairly standard rebuild with no temperamental running characteristics. Can anyone advise on overbores possible and a source/make of pistons?
b) I will need lots of bits for the rebuild after the rebore including a full gasket set and standard shells for main and big-end bearings - any suggested suppliers?
c) The engine doesn't have any carbs but it has a dual manifold on the ali head. Given I need to buy something, what carbs should I go for?
d) When Tim can supply a new petrol tank I will fit one but, in the meantime I have silver soldered many patches on the original tank and that will be refitted temporarily. When the Alpine engine is rebuilt and a new tank fitted, is it worth replacing the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one? Would that be better or not a worthwhile change?
As the project progresses there will be many more opportunities for questions I'm sure....
Bye for now.
Tony
