1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Now with matching retro caravan..

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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Stuck clutch... but new engin

Postby rizzo » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:21 pm

I remember when i was a lad, lol, we used to buy old cars for the lanes, in them days we were far from interested to remove the engine or box so we drove them from where we found them, off the key and with the clutch pedal depressed, they soon released once warmed up, sorted. :D
HB 1159 1968 10K White
HB 4000 1968 Green
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Stuck clutch... but new engin

Postby yoeddynz » Tue Aug 29, 2017 2:03 am

Yeah I tried that but no go. Poor little starter motor. I'll try a suggestion I had from Oldschool.
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Stuck clutch... but new engin

Postby yoeddynz » Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:38 am

As per the suggestion from Adoom on Oldschool.co.nz I jacked the back end up onto axle stands, started it, clanged it into gear, gave it some revs, clutch in and slammed on the brakes. Ping! Clutch freed off! Smiles and much punching of air. Removed stands, pumped up flat front tyre and took it for a spin up the drive. All good. Parked it inside and wiped all the pine tree pollen off making it look concours mint...

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Rang my friendly garage and its booked in for a WOF.

Meanwhile the new engine has now got new crank seals. I looked down the inlet ports (all two of them..) and the valves look a bit oily and mucky. Because I have a spare head gasket set to suit this engine I think it makes sense to give it a look over. Because I like to treat people to fun things I think I'll get Hannah to pop the head off, strip it down and give it all a good cleanup. She can re-grind the valves in. This is an early engine without valve stem seals but a friend who knows these engines well said they used to slide an O-ring over each inlet stem and it serves to stop too much oil running down the stem? Seems legit? Anyone heard of this? Answers on the back of a pie packet please and post to Bodgit and Scarper race engines, Marahau.

Once back together it can get a coat of fresh paint and it'll pretty much be a fully re-conned race motor.

Took the exhaust manifold off because its studs look like future anguish in waiting. I shall deal to them while its out. I don't see them coming out in one piece....

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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Freed clutch and booked for M

Postby yoeddynz » Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:10 am

Well then... the idea of fitting this engine has ground to a halt for now :-( It was raining yuck outside this afternoon so Hannah stripped the head off and removed the valves.

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While removing the head a couple of valve springs were noted as being quite loose. Loose enough to spin freely by hand. Hmmmm. Bug-ger.

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Number two valve removed, an exhaust valve, had a broken spring.

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Two of the exhaust seats have deep recession and the other two are on their way. You can see how pitted the seat is on the one with the broken spring. Note the amount of recession (probably also had much lapping of valves through out its life by some old Barry owner) Note how bad the surface is on the valve head too.

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The inlet valves are quite thin having been lapped in a fair bit by the previous owner who rebuilt this engine.. obviously a fair few miles back going by the amount of slop in the guides. With the valve heads pulled out to max lift most of the valves have upwards of 2-3mm of sideways play at the head.

Also noted is a repaired crack. This doesn't worry me as usually once fixed they wont do it again. But its not the smoothest repair. Plus there are some bloody hefty scrape marks from some heavy handed gasket removal evident.

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The block has been bored out .030" with new pistons but has worn enough to have a decent lip. Not so bad its not usable but noted anyway.

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So suffice to say I am very happy we decided to strip the head off for a look and found these faults now, rather than having fitted the engine only to discover after doing so that its a dud. Saved quite a bit of grief. I have stashed away all the bits and will now re-think the game plan. Considering the engine currently fitted is purring along quite nicely with its only gripe being a bit slow on the steep hills (I suspect about standard level of slow to be expected though) and that it likes to leave a little mark from its leaky rear main seal, I think I will just happily putt along with that engine for now.

The other Viva is advertised and one day it may well sell. Then I can look at re-powers. Between now and then I'll keep my eyes open for another cylinder head in better condition than this one. I'm not sure if the 1256 heads fit straight on? Any ideas/info welcome.
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Freed clutch and booked for M

Postby jpsmit » Tue Sep 19, 2017 2:01 am

First of all let me say that I have been more than happily married for more than 30 years and I still find myself wondering if Hannah has a sister? :) She is a remarkable woman.

Now to matters at hand - you have a sedan with a perfect engine that hasn't sold and a wagon in need of a slightly beefier engine - badda bing badda boom - Mazda engine in the wagon and it is on the road by the weekend.

Just sayin' is all.
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Freed clutch and booked for M

Postby Johnboy HB » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:29 am

Strangely enough, when I removed the head on mine to investigate poor low speed running I also found a broken valve spring ' Bingo ' I thought, so lapped the valves in, replaced the spring, and....... No difference :evil: . Turns out it was the inlet manifold, probably gone porous, amazing to think that it was effectively running on 3 cylinders, yet made no noticeable difference
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Freed clutch and booked for M

Postby yoeddynz » Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:53 pm

Hannah has three sisters, all in England. But none of them are really into cars. Sorry.

Yeah Johnboy- maybe you just got used to having so much power from the mighty 1159 that one less cylinder just doesnt show?...

In other news..

Picked up my new caravan last night. Been after a suitable art deco style caravan for a while and to find one in the same colour as the wagon is fantastic. I just had to get it!...

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Now where to take it first???
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Now with matching retro carav

Postby jpsmit » Wed Sep 20, 2017 2:57 am

does it have a built in garage? :shock:

Hannah and her Sisters - was a Woddy Allen movies wasn't it?

Coming back though to the car - seriously, why not swap drive trains? and even sell the coupe with the Vauxhall drive train as a project? For what you have into it - even in time - and given that the V6 ticks all the boxes - seems like a no brainer.
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Now with matching retro carav

Postby yoeddynz » Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:58 pm

I love the V6 but even though they are very very lightweight (about 120kg with flywheel but nothing else) compact engines they still weigh in a bit more than the 1159cc and I think this is the main reason the wagon feels so much lighter in the steering, easier to drive around corners.

Plus, because we don't have any modern cars (except our '87 hiace 4wd van) this car has to be cheap to run so we can use it on long journeys. Even at 30mpg the V6 is still thirsty imo. V6 engines, no matter what you do will always use more fuel than a lesser cylinder engine. Its all about friction. The idea of a very modern all alloy 4 pot with maybe a turbo really appeals. If I had the money Id fit the latest Mazda skyactive 4 banger.
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Re: 1969 Viva HB Patina wagon. Now with matching retro carav

Postby yoeddynz » Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:34 am

I am a bit behind on updates here. Catch up time! I have been busy plugging away at a some Hillman Imps- three of them! So this wagn has been our little daily and so far it has been very reliable plus quite frugal @ 35mpg ave.


These turned up in our mailbox couple months ago.

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They're off a Toyota 4AGE 20v Blacktop engine. About 3mm larger diameter bore than the ITBs from the earlier silver top engine. They have a taper bore and seem very similar in dimensions to the SBD units (though not quite as sexy..)

http://www.sbdev.co.uk/Duratec/Fuel%20I ... plates.htm

I wanted these Toyota items as they don't have built in injectors points plus they have a decent enough size bore to suit larger engines compared to many of the bike units..I am aware one can go too big ob ITBs and create slow flow rates at low revs and with this in mind these ones would really be best suited to a larger engine, 2.0- 2.5. I think the 20V gets away with it because there are three inlet valves and good flow at high revs are needed for those engines to breathe properly.

The Mazda V6 has a neat injector setup Id want to keep if I went down the V6 route again (however I'll need to find another set if I go that way) If I go with a four pot then I'm good to go. I'd like to trim these down a little and fit them with the injectors below to keep things really neat. Make an adaptor plate to take the ITBs and also have bosses to insert some injector into.

Anyway- its nice just having them sit about looking good.

Hannah and I had to visit Nelson for shopping today. We popped into a wreckers and had a look at some motors and did some measuring/photos. Hannah jotted the sizes down.

I'm very romantic like that. I like to show a lady a good time...in a wreckers yard, full of old engines. It was very exciting.
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