UNDER THE BONNET

What lurks under the bonnet? (that's 'hood' for ya'll in USA)

Quick language lesson here, translation from Australian to American

Bonnet = Hood
Boot = Trunk
Mudguard = Fender
Petrol = Gas

The next probable thing for a barn find car is to if it will run. I have had a 1964 Cadillac that had sat for 25 years that started and ran fine, that never got rebuilt either. So maybe I will be lucky this time...

Dirt. Lots of it. First order of the day was to clean the crap out of the engine bay and see what I have. Several litres of Kero and scrubbing later it still looks almost the same! There is no paint left (as far as can be seen) on the engine at all. Just before cleaning I discovered there were no spark plugs in the engine so I put a set in to fill the holes before starting work.

I had no way of telling how long plugs had been absent from the engine but figured that a lost of dirt may have gone down the holes over time, so a careful compressed air blowout was in order. All but one cylinder actually proved to be remarkably clean. One however produced chunks of oily rusty crud and oil itself.

More questions as to what the condition of the cylinder might be. The engine was stuck fast. After two weeks of soaking them with diesel there was no way it would budge and there grew the thought that it may well be the prudent thing to pull it down and see what we have. If the heads come off then I may as well go the whole way is the thinking as I write (It may turn out to not need a rebuild as it is low miles) and we shall see...

While soaking dozens of bolts around the engine with RP7, I had to jack the car up to get under the LF exhaust manifold (interesting note: The RH manifold is unique to Australian tanks) and found more evidence of the cars hard past. The engine sump is actually sitting hard on the cross member! It would appear that the engine mounts have failed. At some time, someone has put a 1/4'' slice of rubber between the member and the motor. Perhaps another farmer fix?

After 3 weeks of soaking in diesel I removed the heads to find the cause of being stuck...

Number 5 bore was very badly rusted. The other bores show no scoring that I can see and the rust rubs off clean. After a thorough clean up of the crud, the pitting in the bore is very evident.

So at this time, the top of the engine has been put back on and it will await a full rebuild.

Generally any old barn find was parked for a reason other than just stopped being used. There will be some 'reason' I believe, major or minor, that gets it parked and from there on in its all downhill deterioration for them. The condition of this car says to me, a very hard life followed by a head gasket.

At this point the engine had been removed along with the transmission, in the process of sitting jacked up overnight it also proceeded to empty the sump all over the floor from the worn through hole from the cross member. I find it astounding that the car was used long enough after the total collapse of the engine mounts so as to wear a hole!