BMC 1.8 Dismantle

[Tony Brooks]

From memory, you have to be careful when you put that starter back together. The pivot for the lever that moves the pinion into mesh is adjustable. The shaft is on eccentric pivots.

 

You now have to set the solenoid up to get the timing of hitting the end stop and engaging the contacts right

 

Richard

 

I thought about posting that yesterday but as the OP has the same solenoid and seems to have taken almost nothing off the contacts I felt it was better not to complicate the issue.

 

I have known the outboard bearing and part of the pinion housing be knocked off by a badly adjusted solenoid throw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jimfin]

I think I found what could have been the problem. When I was taking off the end cap of the solinoide I noticed that after unscrewed the 2 screws, one side of the cap poped up and was not held down by the soldered joint. So, I'm thinking this was not making a good connection!!!

 

After I cleaned the connections I replaced the end cap. After I soldered the terminals I unscrewed the cap again and this time the cap stayed down.

 

Off down to boat now to check it out.

[Tony Brooks]

I assume that the side that popped up was the side with just a single wire soldered into it. If so that would have caused problems for the pull in coil circuit so really the solenoid should not have worked or only worked very weakly. If it was the blade terminal side with two wires then the pull and hold in could should have been equally affected. However if the thicker wire was making contact but the thinner one was not then the machine gunning is exactly what would be expected.

[jimfin]

OK. Got engine fired up the other day and all sounds good. Just one or two small things.

 

I have a leak out of the CAV injector pump at the stop & accelerator shafts, so I want to replace the rubber O rings.

 

Anyone know the correct size O rings? The shaft is 13mm the depth of the grove in fits in is 1.5 mm deep and about 2.5mm wide. Measurements are the best I can do!!!!

 

Think I'm looking at 4 rings that might do the job. 10mm or 10.5mm X 2mm or 2.5mm!!!!

Edited March 14, 2016 by jimfin

[Tony Brooks]

I would expect any decent diesel injection overhaul specialist would have them in stock or be able to get them. that way you get them made of diesel resistant material.

 

Make sure the control cables are not still pushing on the levers when in the at rest position. This can, on older and somewhat warn pumps, push the spindle to one side of the bore so they leak.

[jimfin]

Thanks Tony. Thanks to a read of your advice, I again, think I have the machine gunning sorted. You will see in one pic that the small wire is bent and in the second pic I have it back where it should be. Have the cap back on now and I will fit tomorrow.

 

Re. The O rings for the pump. About 3 months ago I got a seal and gasget kit for the pump. I had the pump apart and replaced the O rings with the ones in the kit. These are the ones that leaked!!!!

 

I went to a friend who I had got O rings from before, (And they worked the last time,) and got some more. These ones are a much tighter fit then the ones in the kit. Hope all goes well tomorrow.

[Tony Brooks]

Yes, that thin wire is for the hold in coil so it would machine gun. Well done, many would not have spotted that.

[jimfin]

Went down to the boat and fired up the engine. It sounds nice. A lot better than before. One of the nice things I see is a nice tick over at 600rpm. Before I had to tick over at about 800/900 rpm. I put this down to not having a cracked head anymore. Although the one on my shoulders is still under pressure!!!!

 

 

The machine gun starting is gone thanks to Tony pointing me to the problem.

 

 

I still have a leak at the injector pump where the accelerator/stop housing bolts on. I think it’s coming from the bolts that hold the housing. As I said before I replaces the O rings and they feel nice and tight but moving OK.

 

 

In the original bolts there were fibre washers, and I replaced them. Should I try fitting rubber O rings instead of the fibre washers??

 

[jimfin]

This is a pic on the injector pump housing I am on about.

[Tony Brooks]

An O ring is likely to squeeze out and leak even more. I would try new washers, Dowtey if you can find any small enough, copper or even nylon. If that failed I might even be tempted to dress the screw head and washer with a thin smear of sealer as its nowhere near the guts of the pump.

[jimfin]

Got it sorted. I had only changed the fibre washers as I was replacing the O rings as well.

 

I refitted the original fibre washers I had taken out and all is OK

[jimfin]

OK guys we are all up and running. The engine sounds and runs very nice.

 

So. What started as a gasket fix turned into an overhaul! Guess I was lucky I took it out as it needed a lot of work even if I did not know it at the time.

 

Hind sight is a great thing. When I think back to the way the engine was running, there were signs!!!

 

It used to use some water. Say about ½ pint over 8 hours. Think I can put this down to a cracked head.

 

It was always a good starter. I guess with all the pots loosing compression with the ring gaps being so big helped this, but now with a good engine it still starts handy enough.

 

If you are thinking of doing this job yourself to your own engine. Go for it.

 

Only special things I had, and you should get, is an engine hoist and stand. Of course you need some mechanical knowledge and a good few tools, but the older engines are straight forward enough.

 

To end this I would like to thank all who contributed their thoughts.

 

And also to Richard (Primrose Engineering) who supplied me with a complete second hand head. This was the only one offered to me and I might still be waiting!!!!

[Tony Brooks]

Snip

 

If you are thinking of doing this job yourself to your own engine. Go for it.

 

Only special things I had, and you should get, is an engine hoist and stand. Of course you need some mechanical knowledge and a good few tools, but the older engines are straight forward enough.

 

snip

 

 

 

Jim must have a very comprehensive tool kit, far more than an average boater would normally have.

 

Unless you want to do frequent head gasket renewals or want to play jigsaw puzzles with the rocker gear you will need a suitable crows foot spanner so you can torque up the head studs under then rocker shaft. That means you also need a torque wrench.

 

If you do any work/replacement related to the timing chain you should really try to get your hands on the correct tool for setting the injection timing pointer on the pump mounting block. Otherwise you can only set the injection timing by eye/ear. I know many professionals now do this but they (I hope) have lots of experience that a typical boater will not have.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22, 2016 by Tony Brooks

[jimfin]

Well said Tony. I have built up my tool kit over the last 40 years and have most things.

 

 

I did not touch the timing end of things and punch marked the injector pump before removing it.

 

 

Maybe I was being a little bit simplistic in saying it was an easy job!!!

 

[Tony Brooks]

Well said Tony. I have built up my tool kit over the last 40 years and have most things.

 

 

I did not touch the timing end of things and punch marked the injector pump before removing it.

 

 

Maybe I was being a little bit simplistic in saying it was an easy job!!!

 

I think that they are very easy to work on, even easier than a petrol unit unless you touch the valve timing gear, because you just put the injection pump back in and line the pointer and scribed lines up again.