1960 Bugeye

[jeff10049]

put a little positive pressure in the crankcase and spray some soapy water around that plate and see if it bubbles. I use a shop vac just stick the hose on the outlet side and poke it in the oil fill no need to seal it as obviously you don't want too much pressure and push out a seal or gasket somewhere. Don't forget to clean out the vac and hose good before doing this. I have used an air blower on the compressor as well little harder to control the flow through.
found many hard to find leaks this way over the years.

[jedduh01]

For the Mudwater = i highly suggest Evaporust - Thermocure

I treated the 'moke' that sat for years with this = it took multiple flushes +  heats + drives but the coolant is cleaner than ever now and is staying clean

[MiniDave]

Where do you get that stuff?

[94touring]

Does it give active ingredients?

[BruceK]

Where do you get that stuff?

Looks like Amazon has it.  Doesn't mention the ingredients but says it is non-acidic, non toxic, and biodegradable.

[MiniDave]

How much did you use at a time?

[MPlayle]

Manufacturer's website says to use a quart of the product and fill the rest of the system with water.

[MiniDave]

OK, thanks Michael

[MiniDave]

Having a fun time with the exhaust leak.....the owner is willing to buy a new exhaust manifold if we could find one. Turns out there are two different ones used on the 948, early and late style. Late style manifolds are all over the place, early ones not so much, but since they use the same headpipe I'm not sure it matters - he has the later one on the car now but the engine number calls for the early style -  and the problem could be the bastardized headpipe and that's all.

I gave the US version of Moss Motors the early part number from their UK site but they use a completely different numbering system. However the fellow said he could cross it over and bingo! they had one in stock - and only one. We ordered it. What came in was a set of headers!

So, now I either need to convince the owner to use the headers or use the new downpipe and old manifold we have and see if it all matches and seals up.

Worst case Moss UK shows a correct early manifold in stock. This one is OK except for a little corrosion where the headpipe meets the manifold and I think I can use some Walker sealer on that. He's bringing the header and new headpipe over this afternoon, so more as it happens.

[Scargo]

Let us know how that works out. If need be, I can check thru my stash to see if what I removed my tired old 948 would work for you.

[MiniDave]

Well, he brought all the new parts over and right away I can see a difference in the headpipe, the flange is much deeper and the pipe is at a slightly diferent angle, it's also smaller in diameter - I'm thinking someone bought a 1275 pipe and modified it - it didn't work btw!

so now the decision came down to using the new header system - which he's not opposed to - go with the existing manifold with it's somewhat corroded end or see if we could find a correct exhaust manifold. I was sure just like Scargo, someone has one lying about from when they swapped out their 948 for a 1275 but have not had a lot of luck finding one. Moss UK shows the correct manifold in stock on their webpage, but when he called to order it he ws told the pic is wrong it's really a set of headers. However, they scrounged around and found a used one and sold it to him.

It arrived today.

The front part has quite a bit of pitting but the flange is in much better shape than the one that was on the car and it's the correct early style manifold so I'm going to see if I can grind out some of the pitting, then we're taking it to a local place that can ceramic coat it. Then I'll put it all back together again and see what happens. I'm talking to him about bringing it to the dyno day in October. We only have 3 slots left for that event, BTW.

The black manifold is the correct early style, the gold one is what was on the car.

[MPlayle]

Interesting that the bad (gold) one also has even deeper pitting on the same branch.

Edit:
Seeing the black one, it looks almost the same as the exhaust only portion of a small bore Mini manifold.  The usual Mini one is conjoined with the the intake though and would require the intake portion be cut off.

[MiniDave]

I figure the front branch is most exposed to rain and dirt/debris being blown back by the fan.....that's my guess.

I ground the worst of the pitting off the front branch, I'm going to take it down to the coating place tomorrow and they will sandblast it, that should blend the work I did in.

It won't come back for about a week, then I'll see how it looks.

[MiniDave]

So the manifold came back looking great, and I've fitted it and the new headpipe to the car. This pipe lines up perfectly but even with a new clamp it does not draw up tight to the manifold. After studying it a bit I've decided the bell pressed into the pipe end is too big in diameter, and doesn't allow the clamp to draw in far enough to pull the two pieces together, the way it's supposed to. It's a cheezy cheap design IMHO, but it's what they used since new so it must work if I can get all the parts lined up right and to fit each other. Now I know what body guys are up against when trying to fit "pattern" parts instead of originals.

The old pipe had a much smaller bell on the end, but the pipe really didn't fit the car correctly and the two pieces never mated square, so it leaked exhaust like crazy.

The owner really likes the way the new manifold looks so I'm going to machine off the edge of the bell in the pipe and see if I can get it to fit and pull up tight. If I can't he says he'll take the manifold and pipe over to his shop and make a better clamp than this sheet metal pressing they used to use.

[MiniDave]

I think I solved the problem, I ground quite a bit of the edge of the bell off the new pipe, and now the clamp fits further around and draws the pipe up tight to the manifold. Result! as Edd would say......

Now I just need to reinstall everything and get it running and see if I can figure out where the damn oil is coming from. I'm also going to flush the heater core and block out thoroughly before I put the radiator back in, the amount of mud I got out of the radiator was amazing.

[94touring]

The inner diameter of the manifold and down pipe match up? Looks really tiny in comparison.

[MiniDave]

Yes, they do now. The pipe that was used before is larger in diameter, this one matches perfectly all the way back to the muffler where the other pipe was necked down where it goes into the muffler.

[BruceK]

I'm also going to flush the heater core and block out thoroughly before I put the radiator back in, the amount of mud I got out of the radiator

I purchased some of that flush mentioned earlier in this thread and I plan to use it for multiple flushes when I get my engine ancillaries back together.  From what I've been seeing, users are getting progressively cleaner flushes each time.  Seems the stuff has the chemical strength that keeps pulling rust out time after time.   

[MiniDave]

I'm just gonna take the garden hose to it till it runs clear, then I'll put new coolant in and go from there.....

[MiniDave]

Got the exhaust all installed and cinched up. I think this is going to do the trick. I had to run up to Vicky Brits yet again as the pipe that was on the car was 1 1/2", and the new pipe was 1 1/4", so none of the clamps would fit. Anyway, that much is done...

I've decided the oil leak is coming from either the timing chain cover, or the motor mount plate right behind it. I bought all new gaskets and I'll tackle that next. I'm going to try and get it off in the car, if I can't then I'll have to pull the motor and trans. That's not that hard on these cars, except for getting the damn bonnet off...and then where the heck do I store it?

[MiniDave]

I may have found the source of the oil leak. All along I've known it was coming either from the bottom of the timing chain cover or the motor mount plate behind the timing cover, so today I tore into it. I didn't see anything really badly wrong, all gaskets were in place and so on until I went to reassemble it. The bottom of the timing cover gasket was oil soaked and the last bolt on the bottom of the timing cover would not tighten - of course I didn't find that till I was almost done. There was just enough room so I put a nut on the back and used a slightly longer bolt. Hope that was it!

I'll know for sure once I get it all assembled and running again.

[jeff10049]

That's where the pressure test I mentioned earlier could have come in handy soapy water and a small amount of pressure in the crankcase works wonders for spotting where the leak is coming from. We do it often at the shop just be careful on the amount of pressure it only takes a 1/2 psi or so.

[MiniDave]

I imagine you're right but I'm working by myself, and have no way to pressurize that and be under the car at the same time, best I could do was wipe it clean and see where it dripped the next day. Plus this engine has a road draft tube, I would have to plug it and the valve cover breather. I know it's all do-able, but like I said - working alone.....

I've now got the exhaust completely done, sealed and tightened up and all the clamps installed. I had to modify the bracket off the transmission to fit correctly so it would sit square and not hold the pipe over.

Next up - reinstall the carbs and start it up and let it run a while - while it's running I'll flush the cooling system some more. I'll bet I wind up pulling the engine in the future, the trans is leaking too and I know of a freshly rebuilt rib case I can install for not that much money that will fix the leaks and give him a synchro 1st gear - he'll want that.

When I came down this morning I found a big ol puddle under the car - turned out to be antifreeze - I figure it leaked out when I tipped the engine up to get the front motor mount plate off.

[MiniDave]

Finally found the oil leak for sure......the oil feed pipe from the oil filter housing has a tiny pinhole in it. I'm guessing that when the oil is cold it can only drip out of the hole, when it gets hot after driving a while it turns into a fine misty spray. So, they don't make this pipe anymore, although they offer a replacement kit of a stainless braided hose and fittings - I put one on Dan's engine and it looks pretty good.

When I first started the engine it didn't leak, then after running a bit I saw this puddle on top of the filter housing and on the floor below the filter cannister, I thought it might be the fitting, but it was good and tight. I wiped it all down and took the filter housing off, inspected the fittings, put some Teflon tape on the one that went into the top of the housing and replaced the gasket for the filter cannister just in case, then put it back together and fired it up again. Immediately I saw the oil oozing out of a pinhole on the oil pipe......

I may have one hiding around here somewhere, or I'm sure a guy with a Tig could fix this easily, might be a bit much to do it with a Mig....it'll make a pretty big gob on top the pipe to grind off. We'll see what the owner wants to do - me I'd fit the new braided hose on and call it good, but he's really after originality on this car so I'm betting he'll want to fix it.

Edit: the owner is coming to get the pipe, his shop has a guy that can Tig it up.

[BruceK]

Good detective work!  That crooked oil filter adapter looks weird.