Wot, not another '79 Targa resto thread

[The Garage Bitch]

If I didn't know better having helped take it out, put it in, take it out, shook it all about I would think "Naaaaaaah, no way that is going in that hole

[PeterK]

Wedding successfully completed – a great day.

A sneaky trip back into the garage this afternoon, having promised that this week would be painting the house. I said I was going to tidy up my tools, but I might have got a bit distracted. Is this a good sight ????


It can only mean one thing, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

First, the tinware was attached


Well, apart from the rear bits, as the engine stand was in the way, so ……

Take engine off stand


Add clutch


And then the rear tinware can go on



I suppose that there’s only one thing left to do, so on went the gearbox and starter


I must remember to find something to plug the small exhaust hole (the little pipe that would run to the air pump on the SC originally) and the hole in the front tinware (more pipes to the air pump) before everything goes back into the car.

I did then tidy the tools away, so I guess it will be cutting the grass and painting woodwork tomorrow (before I go off sailing again )

Alex, the Garage Bitch now has a planned meeting with my garage floor, so hopefully, we can get the big lump (the engine & gearbox, not Alex ) back into the little hole.

[The Garage Bitch]

None taken

[PeterK]

It lives !

[rhd racer]

Excellent, well done Peter

[PeterK]

So, with many thanks (again) to the Garage Bitch, the engine was hoisted in. It seemed to go in quite quickly this time – rather than leaving the car high enough in the air for the engine to be wheeled under, we temporarily raised it and then let it down a bit once the engine was in the bay area. This enabled the motorbike engine platform to raise the engine high enough, and coupled with a small trolley jack under the nose of the gearbox, it all went into place quickly. Much better than raising the engine, supporting on jacks, adding big blocks to the jack and raising it more, putting jacks on blocks and adding yet more blocks to the jack, etc – I’m sure you’ve got the idea by now.

Anyway, engine in.


Attach the usual parts, including the two fuel lines, fill with oil and spin her over (CDI disconnected and spark plugs removed). The spinning over went well, the oil pressure built nicely, but then Alex got a tad exercised at the splashing noises. One I had connected the third fuel line, and there wasn’t a petrol shower operating under the engine lid, he calmed down.

Added the spark plugs, connected the CDI and turned the key. That was more disappointing – a little trying to start, but overall a poor effort from the SC. Checked the plug leads – all correctly attached in the right order. Moved the dissie fully each way, but little difference, so moved the plug leads one hole around. That’s better – mucho noisiness and hold at 2k revs for 20 minutes. I saw a recommendation to use a watch as time is slow. How true – after 3 minutes I was convinced that at least 10 minutes had passed.

Checked the oil level with the engine running, stopped the engine, topped up the oil, restarted the engine, drove the car all of 2 metres forwards, then reversed it into the garage.

Happy bunny right now – engine needs a good tune up, and there's a few parts to refit still, but it lives…..

As usual, many thanks to the Garage Bitch.

[The Garage Bitch]

Definitely a successful waving of spanners session (other tools are available)

You looked really excited at the prospect of another 17 minutes in the drivers seat when I rolled away on my bike.

Laughed at the "calmed down a bit" comment above although channelling my inner Gene Kelly doing a rendition of Singing in the Petrol is unlikely to catch on

[jb]

It has been an incredible thread.
thank you for posting all the gory details.
It has been just brilliant.
btw what is the 20mins at 2000rpm for?
Is it the rings or the bearings?

[PeterK]

Thank you

20 minutes at 2k ensures high enough oil pressure while the cams bed in. This needs to be followed by some mixed speed driving, including as much downhill, foot off the gas that I can manage to help the rings bed in.

[Bruce M]

The 2k also insures any “splash lubricated” parts get a good coating during the early break in period.

[PeterK]

So, sailing, taking SWMBO away for a few days, followed by chores means that there’s been limited time on the SC recently.
I refitted the rear under bumper valance, mopped the oil from under the engine that appeared to be the result of poor aim when filling the oil tank.

I swapped in my new wheels & tyres,
… from these

(anyone want to buy a set of garage wheels & tyres ??)
..to these

Much shinier

then roughly checked the camber angles – about -0.5 on the front and 1 – 1.5 at the rear, which is good enough for now.

Ride height was a little high at the rear and a lot higher at the front, but after a drive around today (more of that later) the rear is about 25”, so spot on. The front (with almost no fuel in the tank) is around 27”, so about 1.5” high. Yes I know, I should really be doing my measurements in mm.

I fitted the headlights


I did manage to think ahead, and checked the lights were working before buttoning everything up. We all know that if I hadn’t checked them, then one or more bulbs would have not worked.
The black vanity rings are on, but they keep slipping off the top of the headlights, so I guess they need some further fettling.

Then in a moment of boredom, I gave the rubber a bit of a clean to remove some of the surplus and dried on rubbing compound



Hardly the most important things, but I added the engine bay decals (from Matthew at Type911)



Having adjusted the ignition timing last time, we were all systems go for the first test drive. Or we were once I set the tracking (near enough using my Trackrite gauge).


The car has almost no fuel in it, so it was a good job that the first drive is not supposed to last too long. I passed 2 fuel stations without fuel and the third had a mahoosive queue, so I didn’t bother waiting. Always a stressful time when you first hit a traffic jam - will the car behave or not. With Jonny’s electric aircon running, on a couple of occasions early in the drive, the charging light came on when I stopped. No matter though, turn the aircon off and the light went out. Didn’t seem to be any issues later.

Not sure how many miles I did, as although the speedo works, the trip meter is no longer working !. I’ve fitted a smaller steering wheel – I have to contort to see any of the gauges, apart from the rev counter that I had twisted around, so that the important rev range is right in my field of vision.

What else – the gearbox synchro graunches a bit going into first, but the other gears are fine. Might need a slight adjustment to the selector joint or maybe the Seine system, but not too far off.
The car exhaust (2 in, 2 out) drones a bit, but it’s far less noticeable when I close the windows and turn on the aircon instead.

Things to follow up on - there’s a very slight oil leak from somewhere. Can’t see where it’s coming from yet, but I’ve got a thin film of oil along the parting line, maybe coming from behind the engine mount area. Plans are to finally buy a scissor lift, so maybe I’ll wait for that before crawling around underneath looking for a leak and adjusting my front ride height.

Still need to refurbish my targa roof and polish the froot and front wings. Probably ought to make some time and build a list of all the ‘spares’ that I should sell (wheels & tyres, pre-74 heat-exchangers, boss for mom wheel - to suit earlier cars, cam tensioners and cover plates, camshafts, set pistons & barrels, etc, etc). I’m instructing (sailing) on the weekend of the next Swap Meet, so I’ll have to start an advert thread on here instead.


Oh, and I need to cut my flapper boxes – they are from the later cars, with the long outlets. These leave no room to get a flexible pipe to the heat-exchangers, so when the lift arrives …..

[rhd racer]

Looking great Peter.

I had the same issue with my beauty rings, they are frankly knackered so I used a little double sided (cough) foam tape to secure them lightly at the top. A bodge I know, but good enough until I find some better ones at repaint stage…….

[PeterK]

Good tip - thx

[911hillclimber]

Getting close to the very end.
Can't imagine the luxury of a lift of any type, I certainly am getting old enough to need one.
You can lower the front end (and possibly need to check the front tracking after) with the car on the ground though a scissor jack under the tank crossmember to take some weight off helps.

two long lengths of fine line down both sides to set the front/rear tracking works so well.

Great job done, it will be very nice when all smoothed out, but there will always be something that needed most weekends.

Does The Boss like it?

[PeterK]

SWMBO likes the sound of the engine.
Somewhat surprisingly, she came and listened appreciatively, rather than with her annoyed face on, when I ran the engine at 2K for 20 minutes.