Now then,the first attempt was eta short motor used as bought with 320 water pump and pulley with a rebuilt 325 head complete with new standard cam.Car was great,loads of bottom end torque,never needed to drop a gear to overtake..34 MPG but the oil was dissapearing at an alarming rate.Only smoked when revved hard,no leaks.Then I discovered a film of oil in the header tank.Gulp...I had a 320 head in stock,claimed to be a recon..paid 200 sovs for it...stripped it and was not happy with valve guides...the engine shop fitted new ones and new valves and with a skim and gaskets and another set of head bolts it was another almost 400 sobs
As I stripped the 325 head(1500 miles from rebuild)I found oily water in hearing aid biege in all the hoses.I flushed the block,washed all the goo from the header tank and reverse flushed the radiator.Built it back up and test drove.Temp gauge climbed into the red within 2 miles so I turned for home and coasted part way down my torque test hill.Pulled the rad. out again and flushed it out with avtur (RAF version of parrafin..I am almost out of stock,demob was 22years back..) flushed header tank the same way.After several attempts I think I have got all the goo out,it almost matches the oil I put in...Engine will now idle without overheating so I retested.With the 320 head torque seems a bit down,dropping a gear still gives a nice push in the back,though.Time will tell for the fuel and oil drinking.Can I claim the coconut for the most expensive :standard:2.7 conversion?
