The Dark Wob

I did have a photo update but, as usual, technology has decided otherwise. Fuck this world. It's getting like that film, Soylent Green.

The blue Minor engine looks like an 803....?

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:18 pm The blue Minor engine looks like an 803....?

It is. A gutless bag of shite I was glad to see the back of. I hope a few are preserved with that engine and running gear as a reminder of how bad they were.

Hallelujah, I'm back in photo business.

Not been driving much lately because I catch the train to and from work, and it's salt season now so the cars are very much dry-day only and then only after rain has washed away the worst of the highly corrosive crap from the roads.

As alluded to in a previous post, the Humber fan has been removed for winter. The only noticeable difference has been the coolant temperature creeping up high if left idling for a prolonged period. The fan belt I'd replaced some time last year also felt a bit slack so I was going to adjust that until I discovered it had broken in two areas.


Damn and blast. Good job I had a replacement in the boot and a considerable stock at home. Unsure if over-tightening was the cause or age-related failure, but even with the dynamo adjustment slackened right off these belts are a very tight fit and have to be edged onto the bottom pulley and then turned to fit in place. I'll be monitoring this one closely and will look for an alternative longer belt. Instead of the V970 specified.

Moving on to the Allegro, I wanted to check the valve clearances as I hadn't done it for years, possibly since fitting the engine. The old girl had been feeling a bit down on power for quite some time and not the usual 1098cc which are good long-stroke sloggers.

An oil and filter change every 3,000 or so miles has certainly paid dividends here.


Moving along the valves, most were actually within spec, until I got to number 7 and stopped abruptly.


No wonder it was feeling down on power. I have no idea when this happened, and have been driving like this for ages. God knows how many miles I've done with that broken. It's another case of bad luck. First a Humber rocker arm and now a broken Allegro valve spring. I am going to try and change it without removing the cylinder head and see if I can manage, by getting that piston at TDC and judicious use of the valve spring compressor braced against the block. I hope I don't have to actually remove the head.

Bugger. I've been driving the van with a rear coil like that....Hope it goes well enough to do in situ.

fried onions wrote: ↑Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:43 pm I am going to try and change it without removing the cylinder head and see if I can manage, by getting that piston at TDC and judicious use of the valve spring compressor braced against the block. I hope I don't have to actually remove the head.

Dead easy, TDC, bit of rope shoved in the spark plug hole, etc., etc.

Thanks gents. Cheers for the rope idea, I had been wondering how to prevent the valve from going down with the spring. Will also wrap some wire around the top of the valve stem and ask someone to hold it.

Aye rope or string then wind the engine over to push it up.

On CVH engines there is a tool (I've got it somewhere) that's just a fork to tighten down on the rocker pedestal bolts to depress the spring. You might be able to make up something similar for this?

This is Squire, around 50 years ago.

On the other hand, you should buy this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-MECHANIC ... SwH31eUTup§

Even a '56 Minx on the front. Buying an Armstrong for 100 quid back then was like buying an LS400 now for buttons.

Oh: and two screwdrivers cable tied into a V under the rocker shaft once the rocker had been cable tied back to the pedestal. Hook the collets out with a small magnet.