Symptoms;

Excessive blue smoke from nearside exhaust
Evidence of numerous water leaks from around top half of engine
Misfire
Oil leaks to rear crank seal, timing chain cover, front crank seal and sump gasket
Excessive oil consumption
Low oil pressure
Air leak to nearside carburettor
Knocking to’ top end’
Petrol ‘breather’ from carburettors leaking fuel

Action;

1. Remove engine.

2. On removal of the ancillaries, it was evident that another water leak had occurred around the nearside rubber ‘T' hose.

3. When releasing both front end exhaust pipes the nearside flange had a stud missing (found to be broken in the manifold later) and a long bolt fitted to one hole instead of a new stud. All other studs were corroded through heat and had threads damaged by incorrect fitting of the exhaust.

                                   
Before removal             Empty engine bay   Components for renewal  Chassis/upright        Filthy block                    Engine bay                        Split 'T' hoses
welding

4. When releasing the torque converter bolts it was noticed that the converter was seized inside the crank.

5. On removing the mixture control long rods on the offside carburettor, an incorrectly sized pin was removed (which would cause movement in the rod and, therefore, cause poor mixture balance between the carburettors). The offside breather was re-routed incorrectly and the wrong type fitted.

6. When removing the carburettors, the gaskets used on both sides had obviously been re-used at some time as both had been fitted with what looked like Evostick glue and the nearside carburettor insulator (gasket) was split completely which would cause an air leak. Both carburettors were found to be very dirty and had a lot of sediment in the float chambers, the offside carburettor having a sticking needle in the float chamber and incorrect float setting causing flooding. The nearside carburettor had very heavily soiled piston and the suction chamber and float chamber were set incorrectly.

7. A number of spark plugs were loose causing poor compression and most were very worn and oil-fouled. Judging by the state of the electrodes, these plugs have been in the car for a very long time. Evidence of poor maintenance.

8. On removal of the rocker covers, the offside gasket had traces of ‘instant gasket’ indicating that either an oil leak was evident or the tappets have been reset possibly to quieten the knocking from the top end (see ’10. Rocker shafts’). Both gaskets looked fairly clean and new.

9. After removal of the cylinder heads, all combustion chambers, valve heads and piston tops were found to be heavily soiled with carbon and oil.

10. The rocker shafts, on close inspection, revealed the offside inlet and both exhaust shafts were bent and the offside exhaust shaft had heavy scoring, so all shafts were replaced. (Only good, used shafts were obtainable at the time). All rockers, push rod ball ends and valve stem faces were examined and found to be in very good condition. The rocker shaft lubrication tubes were thoroughly cleaned to guarantee oil supply to the rocker shafts.

11. All valves were cleaned and measured. All valve heads were pitted and require re-seating, but judging by the stem measurements, it is possible that the valves have been renewed in an attempt to cure excessive smoking from the exhaust. The valve stem measurements should read 0.3113-5” as opposed to their current sizes of 0.311”. After cleaning, the valves were replaced in the heads for measuring against the valve guides. All the guides were found to be worn to excess which would  cause oil to enter the combustion chamber, cause fouling of the pistons and valve heads and blue exhaust smoke.
It is worth mentioning that the collets for the retaining valves and springs cannot, at this time, be renewed as they are obsolete. Therefore, if the neoprene seal on one half of the collet is damaged or missing, it cannot be replaced so, to combat excessive oil consumption, a close fit between the valve stem and the valve guide is essential.

12. Next, the spark plug extension tubes and both heads were immersed in an acid bath for extensive cleaning and both heads measured for thickness. The offside head looked like it had been re-surfaced where the nearside had not. The nearside head was found to be marked between cylinders 2 and 3. Where one head was resurfaced and not the other leads us to consider that an air leak could occur from the inlet manifold joints due to head misalignment. Both heads were, therefore, re-ground to equalise head thickness (and also to remove the marks on the nearside head).

13. The alternator and bracket were removed and one stud was found to be missing from the bracket.

14. The distributor and the drive shaft of the oil pump were in good condition.

15. The tappet block was removed, stripped and cleaned and found to be in ‘as new’ condition.

16. Next the timing chain cover and crank pulley were removed, cleaned and examined. The timing chain, cam sprocket, cam sprocket tensioner and vibration damper all had minimum wear.

17 On removing the sump, it was revealed that both crank seals were wet right across the seals, indicating leakage.

18. Removal of the ‘big end’ shells and main bearing shells revealed even wear on the shells with no scoring of the crank. The crank gave 0.0005” of wear across all journals. All shells were renewed, the crank was polished and cleaned in an acid bath.

19. The pistons had only 0.0001” of wear. The rings were removed and placed in the engine block and the gaps measured. Most of the compression rings measured 0.021”. The maximum gap should 0.014”. All piston rings were renewed. The gudgeon pins had no wear at all. The pistons were cleaned in an acid bath.

20. The camshaft bearings were in good order and the camshaft itself in ‘as new’ condition.

21. Removal of the oil pump revealed the pump gears to be worn to excess. The oil pump was renewed.

Given the condition and measurements of the above parts, the ease of removal of the old gaskets, missing bolts and studs and water leaks in inaccessible areas, it is evident that the top end of the engine has been rebuilt before, possibly only a short time ago, but has not been done thoroughly and probably on a budget (given the price of parts, eg; reconditioned oil pump £89, valve guides £73).

‘Bottom end’ of engine;

22. The cylinder block below the camshaft was found to be full of very thick, almost ‘tar-like’ oil and sediment, which would cause poor oil circulation if not saturation to the cylinder heads and would certainly cause oil leaks to external gaskets due to a build up of pressure beyond the oil pressure switch and over-filling of oil (as the oil cannot drain back to the sump efficiently).

23. The cylinder bores were measured and showed 0.0005” of wear of standard sizes on all bores. The block was cleaned in an acid bath.

A total of three gallons (yes gallons!) of paraffin were used in the cleaning process, as well as two large cans of carburettor cleaner and a large pack of wire wool.
Whilst the engine was out of the car, the joint on the front nearside chassis rail and upright was repaired and the chassis rail to the front offside was also repaired by welding. The rubber boot of the steering column was replaced. All anti-roll bar bushes and both front shock absorbers were replaced. The main wiring loom was removed but only the front sidelamp and fog light wires required replacement.
A total of 14 days over a period of 7 weeks was spent stripping, cleaning, repairing and rebuilding the engine, number 7K4792…

            …and then the battery needed re-charging!

The next problem is to get the car off the driveway! A steep drive and the Daimler’s wheelbase equals ‘bottoming out’. A formula for disaster, but some  judicious placing of bricks and wooden planks means the open road is at our mercy. As there was still quite a few jobs to do (there’s a slow leak from the radiator) only a short and tentative drive was possible. The experimental drive being uneventful, it was decided the car should come home for Christmas 1996. I bought it a present of three cans of original Castrol 20/50 oil.

                       
Tension wheel (arrow) Exhaust studs