[Spooky]

We have had a bit of fun in Spooky since the circlip drama but it recently started to run rough and was slow to crank over before starting. Using a bit of oil too. Time to rebuild.

Pulled the head off and found some scoring in the bores from the gudgeon pins and a broken head gasket between No 2 & 3 Cyl. Also found the left engine mount was broken which hopefully will stop the transfer case jumping out of H4 back to H2 when you hit deep sand wheel ruts.

Placed the head on upside down on a towel and a badly damaged screw fell out. Wonder how that got missed during the last rebuild? Also found the Cam Belt tensioner spring missing and a steel plate with holes in it mount under the tensioner post to stop the tensioner plate from moving. Looks like a bit of bush mechanics.

[bagnkat]

Wow, that's really untidy. I don't think much of whoever rebuilt your engine last. Bad luck eh?

[want33s]

Looks like a chronic lack of corrosion inhibitor too...

[Damo]

Yeah those little screws that hold the rocket gear in always seem to come out.

I have a suspicion that they are more likely to back out if the engine/head has seen some high temps (eg, overheating). It's certainly a common thing.

[Spooky]

The 1.6L Engine Upgrade (very neat job) was done in 1992 by Suziworld in Melbourne and I really suspect that the previous owner or some bush mechanic has been doing (butchering) their own servicings. Owner told me it had only done 2000 kms since engine upgrade but Suziworld records and speedo confirmed it had done well over 80,000 K's. Hard to check these things on Ebay Auctions. As for the lack of inhibitor and Cam spring, maybe they don't sell them in central Victoria.

The engine is currently being fully rebuilt and a new/reco radiator is on the to-do list.