wannabefree

Surely that would be the river licence? Was it green? Last years was orange.

Thank you all for your efforts helping me in my attempt to locate this BMC tool. I was unable to get one so I removed the rocker shaft in order to gain access to the bolts. Going by the book with the tightening order shall not be possible but I'm resigned to risking it. I'm getting a proper engineer to have a look at the head and gasket to diagnose what the problem is with the engine - but that's another thread. Thanks again, Alex

Are you having a larger replacement skin tank or an extra one fitted? I'd be interested to know the dimensions...

Hi all. Thanks for the information, suggestions and leads. I'm investigating them all. When I do eventually source the right tool for the job I'll post a link on here for anyone else reading this thread in the future. Thanks again, Alex

I'm not making much progress in my search for the right tool or indeed any tool. In fact I'm going backwards. I bought this: crow foot spanner 5/8 AF from ebay in the end - yet it's 1 or 2mm too small so I am very confused. In any case even if it did fit the tool doesn't allow the access I need to get the nuts off under the rocker shaft. Could someone who knows for sure advise me of the correct size please? What's the difference between A/F and UNF? This really is frustrating - nobody I call can help.

I spoke to Calcutt Boats and they suggested I try snap on too. Are you able to post a link to the product that you bought from them please? Does it look like the image above? I'll keep trying to find it on snap on but I'm struggling to navigate the site. Thanks, Alex

Thanks for the replies. I edited my post to add an image. I'll try Calcutt Boats in the morning. All of the crows foot spanners I can find on the Internet look very different from the BMC tool picture above. I'm not sure I would be able to access the cylinder head bolts located directly under the rocker shaft with them. Maybe I'm wrong? Same problem with the wobble bar suggestion, I think. Why is it called a wobble bar anyway?

This is what it looks like, image taken from a reproduction manual from ASAP supplies:

Hi. (I'm in Cambs by the way). Can anyone suggest where I can buy one of these either in the 'real world' or over the Internet? It's the curvey spanner for removing the cylinder head nuts. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it's called a "crow's foot spanner". I wouldn't ask if I hadn't already tried searching the Internet with no luck. Thanks, Alex

Thanks for the advice everyone. No - there's only a gearbox oil cooler. I'll let you know how I get on, although I'll not be attempting any of this for some time.

Thanks for this. Yeah it would seem that things are not looking great. There was no blue smoke but there was some white smoke, especially when cold. I guess that would suggest the gasket? So I do a compression test to confirm the piston rings are ok and then assuming they are I need to replace the head gasket at least and possibly the head itself? Is there a way to test the head or is it just a case of look and see if there is a crack? I'll do as you suggest and see what progress I can make. There's no compelling reason to move the boat thankfully. For the record I stopped bidding on that replacement engine on Ebay once bidding reached £451. That's what it went for in the end. It apparently had a smoking problem. Oh well, shit happens, it could be worse...

Hi. Thank you. I can afford that, but I just don't know what the right thing is to do....

Despair! Had another look this morning. There's coolant in the oil - lots of it. The oil level is way way too high and the oil is not slippery it's watery. God only knows what damage has been done to the moving parts (big end bearings?). At this point I don't know whether the head or block is cracked or whether it is just the gasket. My theory is that one of the cooling circuits might have had no anti-freeze in it and froze and expanded, cracking the head/block. I added anti-freeze to the heat exchanger filler opening this Summer. This is a serious setback in a boat of this value - deffinately a low point in what is supposed to be a restoration.

Great! Well I hope I don't need one then because frankly I can't afford that.

Just to add because I may have been unclear, I resolved my cooling problems by giving the system a good flush, fitting a replacement radiator and replacing some of the flexible water pipes with copper pipes during the summer. Probably should have started a new thread - just wanted to give some background to my engines history. I'm having an "engineer" look at the engine next week. From our telephone conversation he suspects a blocked breather pipe and/or dirty injectors /contaminated fuel supply rather than a blown head gasket. I was just wondering if anyone else had experience of exhaust gases exiting the rocker cover cap and what this meant. Hopefully it just means the breather pipe is blocked. I'm told that recon' BMC engines are cheap as chips - if you pay about £400 for your chips that is!