Conversely

Well I was staring at my gearbox earlier.

I know the ratios are gonna annoy me and it'll be near its limit of durability now and certainly in the future.


I think I'll see what I can source in the way of a close-ratio box before I fit the engine, as fingers crossed it won't be coming out again for a while. Tran-X and Quaife. Either a whole box or a clubman ratio set. Something with silly 1st and 2nd gear lengths. I can add my shortened rear extension and gear lever rod to it.

Stock ratios are 1st: 3.65, 2nd 1:98, 3rd 1.37, 4th 1:1, 5th 0.89 or something...

Basically first gear will be useless, 2nd gear will be useless...I know at the Ring and Combe there was nowhere I could use 2nd without being at near on 8000rpm.

Quaife Clubman semi straight cut synchro kits come in the following ratios.


1st - 2.040, 2.200, 2.390, 2.745

2nd - 1.540, 1.690 (so should do 70mph in 2nd at 7000 or so)

3rd - 1.210

4th - 1:1

5th - 0.870, 0.930



I just know it'll be a total nightmare on the normal ratios....Could use a 2.8i box but thats not ideal either...Obviously the perfect solution is the Caterham 6 speed, but unless one falls from the sky into the garage that ain't happening!

Probably be quite painful on the ears with a straight cut box, best design in some large areas for sound deadening on my gearbox tunnel...Also with the carbs right on the bulkhead it'll be a bit brash inside :)

Got a few things kicking around from the old setup and wot not that I can sell to cover the cost.

Conversely to some peoples opinions there are people who enjoy the preperation and engineering side of projects as much as driving them!

Anyways, once this painting is done, its gonna be the part enjoy, the slide downhill to the finish-line!

Tempting Purchase....

Rare to see for sale....R400 Caterham throttle bodies...

Progressing

Boot done. Have to wait a bit for it to fully cure, as it was brushed on, saves tonnes of dust and hassle, it'll be fine in a week or so. Used some fast activator. Once it mostly cured i'll stick a fan heater on low setting under it for a few hours. Brushing is good for getting a thick coat in the tricky areas.
Bulkhead is mostly done. Again sealed the wounds with grey topcoat, where cutting and such like has eaten through the layers of primer, stonechip, and top coats from previous jobs... let it cure and then stonechipped the majority of it, saves prepping up and gives an even finish.

Once the stone chip went off I have given the tricky areas a coat of grey topcoat, brushed again, hard to get a decent coat on the tricky bits with a gun. I'll need to leave the stonechip a week or so to go off fully in areas where its layered on, probably heat the bulkhead for a half day with fan heater on low. You can't rush the stonechip or paint curing as it'll blister or develop bubble marks, has to cure at a slow speed, so its actually good its quite cool atm. Very prone to reaction if you rush the curing, I pray for no reaction when top-coating...Without stripping the whole bulkhead to baremetal and etching it, then stonechipping it, you just have to be patient.

I'll go over the grey areas with some white topcoat, tomorrow maybe when I have finished some other bits by the battery box. Wait for a week and lightly sand off the surface of the entire bulkhead and give it a sprayed topcoat. Never was happy with the paint thickness on the tricky areas anyway.

Same deal on the inside.

I forgot i'll need to weld in some more raduis arm mounts to the rear floorpans/strengthening for the CV jobbie, so that will keep me busy while the stuff cures.

Only had a tiny reaction on a couple of areas so far, so, so far so good.

Always double check.

Well, the reason my K series engine had a manky cam lobe may have surfaced during a pre-assembly dummy run of the cam carrier.

Now...the head has the cams sandwiched between the head and cam carrier...I stuck the cam carrier on and just nipped the bolts up and the inlet cam is fine. However the exhaust cam had some excess play, up and down, worse at the back...So the carrier was not fully home for some reason.

I noticed when I pulled it apart that there was a small bit of pick-up marking on the rear journal housing. Nothing to worry about its a small mark. However on very close inspection some of this material that had picked up had made it into the face area on the carrier...Now if it was put together right, torqued down how can this material form a tiny burr on a matting face that is bolted down flat onto another piece of alloy that is also flat? Thats not possible for it form a burr there as it would need to lift the carrier up and move material to the right into a space that doesn't exist...There was no dimple in the head under it so it cannot have moved there. Bit odd.
I removed the burr and its perfect. I also noticed another small piece of machining debris that had ended up crushed somewhere else into the carrier, removed that too. However that was not the source of the loose exhaust cam.

From my assessment of the engine it may have had the head removed for a gasket job in the past. Being as it had only been 30K miles and had a manky crap factory gasket and plastic head dowels I thought it was unlikely, but it was an older 99 engine before some updates to the gasket...I did notice the head looked like it had been sanded on a special machine (factory reface to save skim) I found this out after I stripped it... It now looks like some slaparsed Rover engineer may have stripped the head and stuck it back together long time ago with this piece of debris I mentioned between the head and carrier, causing the exhaust to be very slightly loose, the gloop used would taken up the gap and sealed ok....the inlet cams would not be effected by being loose as they are centralised by the VVC system at either end, so they were ok. I assume its been run for a while with a loose exhaust cam, thats caused some odd harmonic and destroyed the lobes....Also this all adds up as the rear two lobes were not good on the cam and all the followers were not what I'd have expected from a low mileage engine and all the exhausts needed replacing. These K cams are very high quality.

So my diagnosis is that you should NEVER trust a dealer, or main dealer mechanic to do anything bar wreck your car.

Lucky the carrier and head journals have survived and the engine should now by quieter and not self destruct...Had I not done the usual and trial fitted everything and checked everything it would probably eat cams in no time and be noisey and horrible.

Cannot see it left the factory like that, someone else has been involved, warrent job (hohoho). Also its got a mark inside the carrier, someone has added, some numbers, maybe this would tell me the whole story if I knew what it meant.

Bare Necessities

One altered fuel tank.


Totally bare tub.
Few bits to do still. Have to get in there and key the whole floor pan and bulkhead, snore...

I can paint the vertical section of the bulkhead inside and the outside , hopefully this weekend. Few holes to plug up and drill but the majority is done. I'll blast a bit of stonechip over a few bits first. I can paint everything bar the actual floorpans and brush them with 2pack when I have finished arsing about.
Boots ready for a lick too. Made a few enquiries about the gearbox tunnel, in hand.