Category: 1300 rebuild

Goodness I’m tired! Saturday was a long day but I got close to being back where I should be. Let’s see, where to begin. So I got the piston/connecting rod that was in backward out and took it to Norman Racing Group on Thursday afternoon. Dan Marvin agreed to check the rod for straightness and pointed out that the piston was making contact with the head, something Tom Sahines told me to look for. I brought the head along too so they could tell me if there were problems with valve clearances etc which was a good thing as it was needed to cut the pistons down to clear the head. I asked if they could do a one day turn around on Friday so I could reassemble everything this weekend if I got the other three pistons to them first thing Friday morning. They said they would try.

I left their shop and pulled the other three pistons. I can’t complement Norman Racing Group and Dan enough. I had my wife drop the pistons off on Friday morning about 10am and they were ready when I got there at 430 to pick them up. I guess the bag of pastries she brought them probably helped but I doubt they were necessary. He gave the backward connecting rod a clean bill of health. I bought a new head gasket and set of Viton oil passage seals and away I went.

I guess you can’t really see the orientation in the manual, but I can tell you the offset goes toward the center on 2 and 3. Continue reading “101 1300 rebuild 15: almost back together”

I’m usually pretty good at analogies. I am thinking maybe my current situation is like flying to Italy and finding out you have to fly home to San Francisco, turn off the oven and then fly back to Italy to get on with your vacation.

Okay, what did I do that is so bad? A total rookie move so it’s a good thing I’m a rookie. I put the number three connecting rod in backward. The Engine ran with a not terminal sounding but noteworthy knock. “The engine ran???” the attentive reader will ask.

It goes something like this…

I’m not sure why but it is somehow immediately apparent that this engine runs. This was right before the steps back announced in the title began.

Continue reading “101 1300 part 14: two steps forward and, er, 10 steps back”

The build goes ever on. I had been resisting working on the Sprint for the last two weeks and concentrated on organizing and consolidating my parts, tools and the like. Yesterday I had a surprise few hours of freedom so I decided to run to the shop and get back on the Sprint. The first order of business was hooking up the new exhaust front section I got in the mail a few weeks ago. I used M8 x 1.25 stainless socket head cap screws with flat and lock washers I had laying around to bolt the exhaust to the manifold with an NOS copper gasket in between sourced locally. I needed help supporting the exhaust to get the bolts started but after that it was easy. The pipe is closer to the floor than I like so I will have to see if it’s a motor mount, engine mount or pipe bend problem once everything is installed.

Here’s the new pipe mounted to the manifold with the asbestos heat shield bent out of the way. The oil pressure line is very close to the header with the heat shield in between. I plan on seeing if the pressure line can be bent or turned on the banjo bolt.

Continue reading “101 1300 rebuild part #12: The devil in the ongoing details”

You may remember I earlier wrote about distributors and what I should do for one for this engine rebuild. I had the Lucas unit that was originally in this car in a box so I assumed I would just get it re-bushed, put new points, condenser etc in it and use it. I dropped it off a Jaan’s shop and a few days later he called me to tell me the shaft and drive section was all home-made and that it would not be cost effective to fix it, and that at its best it still wouldn’t be as good as a Bosch or Marelli unit. The next day I started pulling the 1600 apart that is going in the SS and I realized the Marelli distributor installed on it would be perfect for the 1300 rebuild, especially if I ever went with a Veloce spec conversion as it is a 750/101 spec unit.

Here it is, fresh off the 00121 engine I am going to start rebuilding soon for the SS. It doesn’t look like much but the shaft spins nicely without having any side to side play. I am told these are pretty hard to find and expensive, so I will be careful.

Continue reading “101 1300 rebuild part #11: Marelli Veloce distributor set up”

I spent rainy Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the shop this weekend working on all the little loose ends that need to be tied in order to start the engine for the first time.  I started out with painting and installing the starter.  Once I had the starter bolted up and looking good I found the gasket and all the fasteners I set aside for the intake manifold and went to mount it.  The height of the engine didn’t allow the manifold to clear the rail in the engine bay so I had to jack the engine up about an inch on the passenger side and this allowed it to slip by.  Once the manifold was on I found the new thermostat and gasket along with the used thermostat housing I bought from Glenn a few weeks back.  This was all straight forward to install.

As usual, the finished picture first.  The red in the engine compartment came out good.  Not great, just good.  I think the level of finish in the engine compartment will match the rest of the car if I leave the valve cover alone.

Continue reading “101 1300 rebuild part #10: hooking it up”