Gee, this sounds familiar. Nineteen years ago, I was in
a hotly contested race for first place in my autocross
class. I picked up a used 1300 engine and trans for $125,
threw a quick rebuild on the engine and sold the trans.
Put the original engine on a stand and rolled it to the
back of the garage. Two houses later, I still haven't
done anything with the original engine. Perhaps one day?
Cheers,
Doug
--
Doug Mitchell
mailto:dbmitch@peoplepc.com
'73 Spitfire 1500
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Strayhorn [mailto:ken@dukecomm.duke.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2000 8:05 AM
To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Driving season is over
BillG related the bad news:
>Well, my driving season ended yesterday with rather loud clattering and an
>almost total lack of oil pressure.
Must be cosmic forces: My '72, with less than 20k on the rebuild,
did the exact same thing last week - and all after my spending
a fair sum for new tires, exhaust system, and paint in order to
get it back on the road after a 3-year storage.
> I managed to get the Spit out of the way
>(I had been in the left of 3 lanes doing about 65) and coasted up an exit
>ramp. I pushed the car around onto a side street and called for the hook.
>The good news is no holes and no large puddles of oil.
I flipped the switch as soon as I heard the loud rattle and noticed
the drop on the oil pressure gauge.
The only satisfaction was giving the finger to the woman in the car
behind me, who thought it was necessary to blow her horn the
entire time I was coasting along the road to a safe stop (no
road shoulder and steep drop otherwise).
> The engine will run,
>it just sounds like a rock crusher. I'm not sure if I lost the oil pump
>first, or if a bearing went and eliminated the resistance needed for a
>pressure reading. Suffice it to say that one of my new winter projects is
>an engine rebuild. I'll definitely be looking for advice from the list as
>the process goes on. But that will wait for a while.
I purchased a rotted-out '72 a few years back and put the engine
in my garage. I have no idea how well it runs, so now my quandary
is whether to put the old engine in the car until I can find
the money to rebuild my original engine, which is now waiting for me to
get up the nerve to open the head and pan to see how many loose
bits of metal are lying around.
Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
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