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Years ago I did the king pin bushes on my A35 using expanding reamers. But I was fortunate to have had the use of a set with the the screw on pilot guides.
The trafficator switch has a long tube that goes all the way down the centre of the hollow steering column. The wiring goes down this tube.
Lay on your back at the front of the car and you will see a brass nut with the wires coming through. Undo this nut and it should all come free.
Mike
Dave,
Well actually I’ve never anealed a car gasket myself!
But I have any done a few classic motorcycle head gaskets over the years. Which are a bit smaller. And I’ve built a few live steam copper boilers for miniature locomotives which involves a lot at anealing.
So assuming you have a propane torch, I would hang the gasket on a wire hook. Maybe 2 books because the blast from the torch might make it swing about a bit (coat hanger wire would be ideal). Start heating an area to red heat and work your way round until it’s all been heated to red. You don’t have to get it all red all at the same time, as long as it all gets to red eventually. Then dunk it into a container of cold water.
I think the gasket could be a cause of water in the oil. also examine the joint faces carefully for cracks.
BTW, I rebuilt my A40 engine last year (I used a NOS asbestos gasket ). Before you refit the head. Get a bit of stuff wife and probe down the holes in the block into the water gallery. It should go down around 100mm all along and all the way round all 4 cylinders. My block was horribly choked up. Almost solid at the rear . It took me ages to clear it out. I had my head and block skimmed. If your waterways gallery is blocked your engine will run not and your gasket won’t like that.
MN
Copper only needs heating to dull red to anneal. Heating to cherry red could end in tears (if you are using a gas torch). Then either quench or allow to cool. It makes no difference to the resulting softness/hardness. Scrub With a scouring pad or scotchbrite and water to remove any scale that forms during heating.
With a solid gasket your joint faces must be in very good, flat condition. With an engineer’s straight edge or ground parallel test bar you can check for distortion with a feeler gauge. I would think any distortion, or hollow areas over .003″ on either the head or block would require rectification.
Mike
You can buy automotive “chrome” vinyl wrap. I don’t know if it’s suitable for this particular application but it’s cheap and there are tutorials on utube on how to apply it.
Can I make as suggestion. If you have the engine out and the head off. Before you refit the head get a piece of stuff wire, like a wire coat hanger. Snip off a length and insert it down through the water holes in the top of the cylinder block . It should go down about 100mm , maybe more. If it doesn’t then you need to investigate why. The water gallery may choked with years of rusty crap and this will probably cause overheating. Note there should be a free passage of water from top to bottom and all the way round all 4 cylinders. It took me days to clear out the rubbish from the block on my car. It was quite alarming the amount of stuff that I got out.
Hello, Well the smart arse answer is, I don’t know why you don’t have a dipstick perhaps you’ve lost it? But the more helpful reply is that the hole for the dipstick is located on the right hand side of the engine in front of the starter motor and behind the oil filter. It’s literally, just a hole about 7mm diameter. If the dipstick is missing then there’s nothing to stop dirt falling into the engine.
Just had a thought. If you dont have a dipstick, maybe you were putting to much oil in and that’s why the engine smoked badly?
Forgot to say, these engines did originally have a stem “seal” but it’s not really worthy of the name. It’s a rubber washer (more like a tap washer!) that goes around the top of the valve stem and is somehow supposed to stop oil running down the stem and entering the guide.
BTW, The later B-series engine has valve stem seals but the stems are a different diameter to the 1200 engine. So no use.
I rebuilt the engine on my Devon pickup last year. I asked this question at the engine shop who carried out some work for me. The guy disappeared and came back with a handful of stem seals from an A-series ( he said) which he gave me. he also showed me an a-series valve guide so I could measure the end.I bought bronze valve guides from the club spares scheme and had to turn down the end a bit to accept the seals on my lathe. I’ve done nearly 3000 miles yet and haven’t had to top up the oil yet and the valves haven’t seized , so I’m very pleased.
Mike
With the Speedo removed from the car I would test it with a cordless drill. Find a bit of metal rod and file a suitable square on it .
If that works connect the cable and put the cordless drill on the other end. If that works. Jack up one rear wheel. Crawl underneath. With gearbox in neutral revolve the propshaft with your hand and see if the speedo drive is turning. If not then there must be a problem with the skew gear drive which you will have to investigate.
BTW the Speedo on my pick up works but is hopelessly inaccurate so I always drive using my sat nav to indicate speed and miles driven.
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