Quote Originally Posted by Mustlust View Post
Started dismantling a 2.0 spread bore yesterday. The sump needs a serious amount of work to get anywhere near the original shape, and when draining, clear water gushed out before cleanish oil. The engine has probably been sitting for decades under the bonnet and I’m guessing that the water must be from the cooling system somewhere. The head gasket and piston liners are in excellent condition and there is no sign of corrosion under the tappet cover, although surface corrosion is evident in the cavity below the head and on the crank.
Where should I start looking for a leak?
Also, how hard is it to drill out and replace the timing cover bolts?
Mustlust,


Clear water usually comes in from outside. Rusty water comes from inside and is bad!. It does sound like you have checked the usual spots for leaks.

Garage/clearing sales and secondhand shops can be a good source for Whitworth / BS sized tools pus taps and dies.

SERIES 1 THREAD INFO.

The threads into the block and head castings are all BSF, mostly 1/4", 5/16", 3/8, plus 7/16", 1/2" etc. The exceptions are the spark plug holes M14 x 1.25 and the screw in water gallery plugs which are 1" conduit thread. Smaller threads are mostly 2BA (about 5mm dia.) commonly used on small fittings, Lucas electrical parts plus 4BA and 6BA. SU fuel pumps (mostly 2BA). Anything screwing into aluminium castings is Whitworth!

Fuel line fittings are mostly 1/4 BSP

Cast iron
water pumps also have 5/16 W Whitworth threads in the inlet pipe flange threads - same as the aluminium pumps!

The Solex carb uses metric threads. Mostly M4 x 0.75, M5 x 0.75, M6 x 1 and M8 x 1 and M12 x 1.25 on the fuel inlet. The M4 amd M5 are the less common 0.75 pitch.

The brake fittings are all UNF, mostly 3/8-24 UNF or 7/16-20 UNF on 80" models with 1/4" brake pipes.

Don't hesitate to ask if you need further info on threads. Getting dead centre with a centre punch is critical. The drill bit size should be just under the root diameter of threads. Once you get yout hole started put the timing cover back on and use a tubing sleeve on the drill bit to keep it straight and protect the drilling in the cover.
Alternatively use some good quality hammer in spline type extractors. Tapered spiral types tend to expand the snapped off bolt and wedge it in tighter. Heat and cool the bolt shank a few times first and tap the end of the bolt repeatedly. This may help loosen it. Good luck.
Mike (5380)