Two Door Restore 1978

Prepped for first engine start last night,all ancillaries checked and levels topped up.Lucas sae 30 break in oil filled,took 7.5 litres from dry.

Being a 3.9 with crank driven oil pump,i didn't have the luxury of priming the oil system via the distributor drive,so had packed the oil pump cogs with vaseline,but in the interim, the crank has been turned a bit,and the vaseline was evident downstream in the pressure ports noted when connecting oil cooler pipes and sensors,so a bit freaked that it had all been pushed through..

Turned the engine over,which meant the starter was engaging,phew:)and tried to prime the oil system for 5 secs to get the oil light to go out.Did this twice,being fully aware that the only lube these metal surfaces had was some red machine lube on the cam/lifters and everything else a light coating of 3 in 1..

The oil light stayed on!the port to the sensor had quite a bit of vas in the line,so stauched up and decided that this was likely needing to pushed through to get proper pressure and grinding away on the starter was not going to do it..

Light touchpaper and stand well clear!!,bit of anxiety here knowing that every single metal part in that engine had been put together by a first time amateur..

Reconnected the +ve from the ignition amp to coil,
Two secs of turn,then light off:)the oil light went out in two secs.
The engine throttle linkage was set to give it a fast idle(2000rpm for cam breakin),and away she went,much smoke and noise as the tappets pumped up,and the paint on the headers smouldered,hahaha it runs beautifully,shock and awe.

20 mins later shutdown after varying smoothly between 2000-2500 rpm ,set timing and CO idle .
As a note the water temp got quite hot on the gauge,likely air trapped during the break in.I could see a glow from the headers too,slightly scary!
I do understand that a new build like this will run hot with lots of new metal close tolerances.
I did stop the engine and topped up the fluids after the reservoir looked close to flowing over with the cap off after a few mins,then back straight up to 2500rpm to continue the break in.

Too busy for little dance ,although the garage was resembling a smoke filled nightclub,the zooming around checking of noises,coolant,exhaust,leaks etc that follows a first rebuild start could be a dance move,any suggestions'manic maccarena?

Well done mate!!

:banana:

Very exciting West1!

Great stuff mate nothing quite that first start up! Particularly if nothing too drastic goes wrong:D

Gidday Meccles,cheers,How's your mint two door progressing?
I had one issue only realised today.
I attached a fuel pressure gauge to the rail,this will stay there permanently,to check how the two pumps are performing.

I noticed that the fuel pressure dropped to 23 psi during the run,and couldn't recall at that time whether this was normal having never seen whats normal at rpm on a gauge previously.
It makes sense now as the old original lift pump picked that time to pack a sad.
On the second start i thought i didn't hear it clacking away,this may explain why the engine got hot so quick,and the exhausts rather warm.

The efi pump was having to pull fuel through a prefilter,the dead lift pump and then deliver it through an efi filter ,hence the drop in pressure at the rail.
My hope is that no heat damage has been incurred here,will install a new lift pump tomorrow and check it out.
That fuel pressure at medium rpm should have been up at 30 plus?,so surprised she ran so well considering efi likes high pressure.

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Originally Posted by westy1

Gidday Meccles,cheers,How's your mint two door progressing?
I had one issue only realised today.
I attached a fuel pressure gauge to the rail,this will stay there permanently,to check how the two pumps are performing.

I noticed that the fuel pressure dropped to 23 psi during the run,and couldn't recall at that time whether this was normal having never seen whats normal at rpm on a gauge previously.
It makes sense now as the old original lift pump picked that time to pack a sad.
On the second start i thought i didn't hear it clacking away,this may explain why the engine got hot so quick,and the exhausts rather warm.

The efi pump was having to pull fuel through a prefilter,the dead lift pump and then deliver it through an efi filter ,hence the drop in pressure at the rail.
My hope is that no heat damage has been incurred here,will install a new lift pump tomorrow and check it out.
That fuel pressure at medium rpm should have been up at 30 plus?,so surprised she ran so well considering efi likes high pressure.

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My 2door is coming on it will be back around 19th Oct more photos then. Only problem I have is the paint job is so bloody good it has set a very high standard that I now have to follow:o. Re running hot I can't quite see why fuel pressure would do this? But I am running a carby so only have a Low pressure pump and am not too familiar with EFI set ups. I reckon I am 4-6 months away from start up primarily cause all wiring /brakes and some interior need doing. Little things like a steering column, pedal box etc.:D

Good to hear the paints mint:)no bush bashing for that baby..
Looks like I've got a small head gasket leak,combination of things lined up.
The coolant had an air block
Viscous cooling fan(not the coupling,my bad)turns out to be stuffed,freewheeling.
Low pressure pump failed so was not getting Full mix for cooling potentially.

Might not have turned her off in time with all this going on.
Bit of steam after warmed up.

Likely could live with it for now,but will do a leak down test anyway.
Compressions are all even tho,but that a broad test for gaping holes;)

I can hear a hiss from what sounds like #8 after shutdown,guessing she's sucking in a small amount of coolant and the coolant level is dropping very slightly after a hot run.

Not too concerned,just a pain really,Want it to be right so hopefully only one bank and can knock that off in an arvo,and will see what's up:)

It's the car Parks that are the worry:mad:those shopping trolleys are lethal! Understood about the head gasket not sure what set up your radiator is but I always used to run them with plug on TOP left of radiator removed after coolant change. Then you can see when thermostat opens up and add coolant as it drops. I never ran it as pressurized system until 100% sure it was full no air locks. A head gasket isn't end of the world but a pain nonetheless. Not as bad as getting say a rear main oil leak at start up:o

So, you are one of the lucky 1% of folk who DON'T have a locked up Viscious Coupling...:D

Make the most of it, as you can have an 'All Wheel Drive' car around town, with what is essentially an 'open' - or Hi-4WD (Unlocked) centre-diff. IMHO, it's the constant, partial coupling of the VC which loads the Output shaft splines...and wears them out.

Wish mine had failed. .. 'unlocked'.. . :(

The Lady Sarah, '95 Vague SE with working air suspension, BW transfer case/ RWD only, and a sunroof that leaks.
Now a Front lawn Sculpture.:eek:

Haha,so true on both counts,
I had hole open,and it rose up when warm,then spilled a bit,topped it up,and carried on,might not have been air locked after that but could have been a factor.that viscous fan,not the coupling sorry is definitely stuffed tho.

I had hoped that some of the existing ancillary equipment that came with the engine had a 50/50 chance of being usable,else where do you stop,haha..

Pushed on getting the right side wing panels all done,looks good.
Re hung the right front door,man they are heavy!!and shimmed so it's fairly lined up with the guards and panels and closes nicely.

Changed the oil in transfer and gearbox.good old castrol gtx 20/50.
Someone had hypoid 90 and something else in there,horrible green slime!

Been up and down the drive and gear change is much better.

Bled all the brakes.
Hint here,no need to remove the rear wheels solely the front two,as there are three nipples on each side up front,and can't get to them wheel on.

Tried to bleed the power steering three times,no joy so far,once again using the pump that was with the engine,so it may be stuffed.
The fluid won't drop from reservoir hardly,turn full L/R release bleed on sterring box till fluid seeps,retighten repeat many times,no joy.any tricks here?