[V8] V8 redux

Roger M. Woodbury rmwoodbury at downeast.net
Sat Jan 3 11:37:04 EST 2004


I had visitation with my V8 yesterday.  It was interesting to see the front
of the engine completely "undressed".  It didn't look at all like the front
of the 5litre V8 in my Ford F150.

Anyway, we think the magic and mysterriou oil leak has been found.  We
believe it to be the 'o' ring on the front of the camshaft housing on the
right hand side of the engine.  A simple fix.

BUT, of course, everything is now off the engine, and we have been able to
inspect timing belt (fine), tensioner, (appears fine), and timing belt
rollers, etc, which appear to have a bit of wobble in them.  (NOT fine).
The water pump appears to be FINE....no sign of any leakage, and the
movement is FINE.

For quite a while, there has been a little bit of weeping from the hydraulic
pump, and a few months ago, we had relegated that project to coincide with
the next timing belt.

Welllll, maybe not.  The entire engine is undressed, and it is a good time
to do everything. So we will.  Timing belt, rollers, tensioner, waterpump
(with new OEM0, and hydraulic pump will all be replaced at this point.

I am tempted to yank out the headlights at this point, too, and install new
European headlights.  But there is a serious debate going on here about what
kind of transportation we need to have, and which toys make sense.

We will close on a new property project in March, and in June, my wife will
open her new shop.  Naturally, her stationwagon will remain, as it is the
most useful car for our normal purposes.  But in addition to all of that,
what we really need is a "hauler", for pulling trailers, carrying cargos,
ladders, 2X4's and assorted materials needed for building restoration.

So, I think the V8 will go, and I will try again to market the car...not
cheap, but a very, very good example.  No hurry, but I sense the appearance
of a new (er) pickup in the year.

And in the mix, I need to make a decision about how much restoration I
really intend to do on the 20Valve Avant project....that will start soon,
with some necessary suspension maintenance, but how far I will go on that
remains to be seen.  If I find some gray sport seats for it, that will help
the decision making process....

Roger



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