Special K

[fatwomble]

very nice in 'the flesh' aswell.

 

Hope to see it in the flesh, it's also making me think I need a project

[@Lee]

Hope to see it in the flesh, it's also making me think I need a project

If you can find a half decent Favorit, I'll help

[fatwomble]

If you can find a half decent Favorit, I'll help

 

Ebay hunting over Christmas perhaps. Last 2 times I big on vehicles I won, both times it came as a bit of a shock.

[@Lee]

Ebay hunting over Christmas perhaps. Last 2 times I big on vehicles I won, both times it came as a bit of a shock.

there's a girl I see about in a very faded red Favorit, I'm sure she hasn't a clue what she's got. I might get the reg and see when it's MOT's due and offer her a ton to take it off her hands

[fatwomble]

there's a girl I see about in a very faded red Favorit, I'm sure she hasn't a clue what she's got. I might get the reg and see when it's MOT's due and offer her a ton to take it off her hands

 

 

[skodanorman]

That's lovely! 

[Mankee]

What an awesome little car! Is the K-series conversion difficult? What box does it run? How much does it weigh? I love K-series engines, despite people going on and on about head gaskets.

 

In case you haven't seen it already, here is Dave Andrews' website, with all sorts of engine upgrade temptations:

 

http://www.dvapower.com/

[hawkeracing]

What an awesome little car! Is the K-series conversion difficult? What box does it run? How much does it weigh? I love K-series engines, despite people going on and on about head gaskets.

 

In case you haven't seen it already, here is Dave Andrews' website, with all sorts of engine upgrade temptations:

 

http://www.dvapower.com/

Don't tempt him too much.....the gearbox is a standard Skoda item and just about at it's limit where it is!

 

New exhaust looks sexy.....don't know why you want to hide the silencer, that's a RWD Skoda tradition on all the rally and hardcore cars.

[Leeboy]

What an awesome little car! Is the K-series conversion difficult? What box does it run? How much does it weigh? I love K-series engines, despite people going on and on about head gaskets.

In case you haven't seen it already, here is Dave Andrews' website, with all sorts of engine upgrade temptations:

http://www.dvapower.com/

Thanks for the appreciation, but engine work was a previous owner, work was straightforward engineering. I will be tidying up the cooling system though.

Yes, am aware of DVA, and ultimately aim to have some head work done with larger valves and wilder cams, a set of throttle bodies in place of carbs and that lot should see the gearbox lunched! All costs money though so a bit each year I expect, especially as I want to have the interior retrimmed! Need lotto ticket...

Edited 1 January, 2014 by Leeboy

[fatwomble]

Dave Andrews is a  a legend on the Lotus Forum, lots of little plastic cars with K Series engines all wanting a bit more power

[Mankee]

Dave Andrews is a  a legend on the Lotus Forum, lots of little plastic cars with K Series engines all wanting a bit more power

Likewise on the Caterham forum, where plenty of people seem to have tonnes of money and time to play with their noddy cars and drive round Europe! There are a few tinkerers/trackday/techy folk on there thankfully.

[Leeboy]

Had the spanners out this morning to start attending to the engine. So much room to work in, no skin missing off knuckles when usually removing engine ancillaries

There is a weeping oil leak between the cam carrier and head so I've started cleaning up the oil gunk and the block will come up nicely. (All the more reason to have head work done!)

After a bit more cleaning

And obviously with manifold removed (which literally took five minutes to remove entire exhaust once I had the scanners and socket set gathered together end), I had to see what the new shiney one will look like

Now time to remove the Christmas decs!

Edited 1 January, 2014 by Leeboy

[Leeboy]

Time for an update, so since the new year, a few hours here and there have completely wrecked things in the engine department!

Cam lobes and followers look in good order and no evidence of impending HG failure.

I have though noticed forthcoming fails for both servo vacuum take off and coolant hose to radiator, both have been rubbing on the edge of the gearbox adaptor plate.

Box of bits have been ordered and received, what this space.

[Leeboy]

So apart from stuff for the cooling system, I've got pretty much everything together to put the engine back together.

At this stage I'm not removing the head, HG seems fine for now and because K series engines have head bolts that sandwich the block together with the head and oil ladder in the sump, the engine would need to come out to extract the head bolts at the back of the engine.

Cam carrier does need re seating with new sealant so I am changing the cams.

I've scouted ebay for the last few months on the look out for something second had, but resorted to new. These arrived today:

Made by Piper for QED.

Also am replacing the standard plastic thermostat housing with a QED alloy unit.

I've used Rimmer Bros for replacement bits on the engine, like new sump, water pump, timing belt and tensioner, gaskets, oil filter and take off, HT leads, replacement bolts etc. Also shopped for new o rings for the carb float bowls, two were leaking fuel.

Finally, a bit of tarting up so the engine matches the sparkliness of the body work, so some pretty cam sprockets!

[TeflonTom]

crikey you've been spending a few quid lee, looking forward to seeing this bad boy in the metal. oh yeah one more thing, make sure you use the correct type of sealant on the cam carrier, they are really sensitive to it, there used to be a special yellowy orange type stuff which is really similar to hylomar that you could buy from the rover dealer for that purpose.

[Leeboy]

I've got hold of hylomar blue which I understand is recommended for this, but makes it it's applied sparingly without blocking the oil ways.

[TeflonTom]

personally i always prefered using loctite 5188 (red) for k series engines, normally blue hylomar is for water system applications like pumps and thermostat housings but it would work equally well especially because it doesnt set hard, just use it sparingly. pretty much any instant gasket sealer will do so long as you are careful and dont't over-do it so long as it's not silicon based

[Mankee]

Hylomar blue is popular for sealing the liners in the block and you can get the genuine Rover cam carrier sealant for a fiver from eBay. I can't see a problem with using the Hylomar for this purpose though as it should harmlessly wash away rather than setting solid and starving oil from those shiny new cams of yours. A pair of vernier pulleys would be a worthwhile investment so that you can set the cam timing properly, especially if you are planning on using a plenum.

[Leeboy]

Time for an April update on progress as of late:

Decided that block will look better painted, so base coat on

Top coat is a pale grey, but looks white here, gold cam cover too:

Linuished cam follows (inlet side done here) ready for new cams

Which brings me on to a problem. Previous to this photo I had bolted down the cam carrier with the seals in place because with the engine in situ, I can't press the seals in at the rear because of the bulkhead. Consequently one of them partially popped out and wouldn't seat into position , so no other thing for it but to remove the cam carrier again. Still, it gave me the opportunity to check that the amount of hylomar gasket applied was not excessive for blocking oil ways. Back to the cam seal, I think I will try again (with new seals) but keep a careful feel of their position as I bolt down the cam carrier. If they leak at the end of the day, I guess engine will have to come away from the bulkhead in order to press them in.

Meanwhile, starting to work on the plumbing, so lots of bits of blue silicone hose sections acquired. Here is the radiator return to the new water pump.

I'm fitting temp sensors on the outlet and return side of the cooling system to enable accurate monitoring of cooling status, not least because of k series engine dislike of too much heat. So will have one of these on the dash:

http://www.spa-uk.co.uk/Product/TemperatureTemperature%20Gauge%20(DG210)

I am also considering fitting a Craig Davis 80l/min electric water pump and controller up at the radiator; there is a lot of pipe work for what looks a fairly weedy water pump to push water up and down the length of the car, particularly at idle engine speeds. Once done, cooling system should be bullet proof (assuming HG is in good order).

Meanwhile, carbs have new float chamber gaskets, and new linkage cable.

Finally for today's update, a new sump has been obtained and now modified and painted. Because the engine is mounted vertically in this application, the sump retained about a litre of gunk when the sump plug was removed. So a repositioned drain point has been welded up and the original plugged. All painted and ready to go back on. (One bolt on the bearing ladder sheared on removal so needed drilling and tapping.

New plug inset into sump:

Original position plugged with a screw in bolt

And painted

[Leeboy]

This week's update.

New cam seal this time seated correctly, checked with the aid of the front camera on the phone: far better than struggling with a mirror. So happy this time

With cam carrier on, next on with new cam cover gasket

And then finally bolt down cam cover

Next to installing new cam belt, sooo easy with so much space around the engine

Close up of belt train, leaving covers off for show, car will do limited mileage and being out back, less likely to flick up stones to get caught in pulleys

Unfortunately I've misplaced my 22mm socket so still need to remember to torque up crank pulley bolt, must not forget! Meanwhile, wrench on crank turns the engine over smoothly and no crunch at TDC + 90, so not messed up the timing!

So next up was the sump (excuse the rusty bolt heads).

(Suspension lets the side down)

Cooling system is next on the agenda. I've sourced an original outlet flange for the engine and have had this modified ( thanks to Dad ). Original had two screw in senders, plus outlet for top hose and heater. Now accepts original skoda temp sender, heater outlet points directly at bulkhead so has a blanking cap, and the second sender port has been bored out and a brass fitting turned to act as feed for heater. 32mm top hose outlet will go to thermostat and off to front of car.

Need to source a job lot of hose clips and joiners, then can move on to refitting carbs and re-route the fuel line and complete other bits and bobs including tidying up wiring etc.

[skodanorman]

Pimp my Skoda! 

[Leeboy]

Pimp my Skoda!

Are you on the night shift?

[skodanorman]

Yes?

[Leeboy]

It lives! Last couple of weekends have been spent replacing the engine bay insulation and working out the plumbing layout.

So from this at the turn of the year

To this:

Still need to wire up temp senders I've added to the water outlet and inlet hoses and have a electric water pump still to fit up at the front end. Then there are air filters to think about and tidy up the wiring.

Bit of a moment this morning though, despite plenty of cranking could I get it to fire? Main issue is that I had lost my diagram of HT leads to which coil pack. The coil pack did have faint numbers (not written on by me) so I tried that firing order but clearly wrong. So after careful studies of various photos of the engine bay before I stripped it, I had another go. Started pretty much first off but with major mis fire. Swapped cylinders two and four around and perfect. Took it for a drive around the block and ran nicely .

Hoping it'll make it to next Sunday's Skodafest.

Edited 18 May, 2014 by Leeboy

[skodanorman]

This car is stunning.