View single post by answerman
 Posted: 12-28-2017 04:31 pm
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answerman

 

Joined: 09-10-2012
Location: Little Chute, Wisconsin USA
Posts: 435
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It's still a project even though I've been driving her for over 5 years, right? So this is still an appropriate place to post?

Anyway, over the next couple weekends I am FINALLY going to get around to installing the stuff I've been sitting on for way too long.

It's time to get the blue Gates Racing timing belt installed: it's not doing any good having occupied space in the boot since last spring.

Also, I need to install the new motor mounts (Land Rover) that I've had for almost 2 years. The logic behind this (ok, it works on paper) is as follows:

I currently have the aftermarket motor mounts from Delta from about 3 years ago, in addition to the Delta 4 into 1 header. When I shim the motor mounts to allow clearance for the steering shaft through the header, it raises the engine up enough so that the timing belt cover contacts the underside of the bonnet. The temporary solution was to remove the top half of the cover, but in doing some measuring and playing with it I found that if I can actually lower the right/passenger side of the engine, I don't have to shim the left side as high since I can get more of a "twist" to the engine rotation. So, I'm going to try the Land Rover mounts since they are not quite as thick as the Delta mounts. I'm probably not going to put the cover back on anyway (the bottom half will come off when I do the timing belt change) but this seems to be the time to experiment with it.

Finally, I need to replace the external O-ring on the distributor shaft to see if that solves my oil leak. What's happening is that I've got oil pooling in the little "pocket" on the block outside cylinder #2 (opposite the spark plug side), which then makes its way down to #3, #4, and out. I've verified that it's not the cam cover gasket or the head gasket, which basically leaves the distributor if I'm not missing something here. Hopefully the new O-ring will be the solution.

That should be it for Jensen-related stuff for the winter: she'll then be ready for spring and I can move on to project "B" which is to (a) rebuild the front suspension on the Metropolitan, which is its own adventure (though it looks to be much simpler than the Jensen), and (b) install the 3.90:1 differential pumpkin that I picked up at British car show this fall (it's from an Austin-Healey Sprite) to replace the stock Metropolitan 4.22:1 pumpkin. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the Met up over 60MPH with this mod. Every little bit helps, right?

Last edited on 12-28-2017 04:40 pm by answerman