In other boring news the airbox and scuttle tray are on for the first time in months and the new oil seperator and hoses are fitted. This means that any oil coming out now can only be from the cam oil seal...I just found one still in the box that I bought months ago so if there is still plenty oil coming out that will get fitted tomorrow

Problem is my battery is dead so I'm not turning it over yet as I simply cba to charge the deadest battery in the world

Edited 12 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

Only picture from today..also forgot to mention that I got a brilliant quote of 120 a month for the bluemotion and breadvan on multi car. I pay 88 for the bluemotion alone so this car could cost me pennies when it is in the road...good thing is I only have to declare a few things as it's almost standard!

New oil pressure switch is coming on Tuesday so I can't do nothing in regards to the leak until it shows up...after tidying the house I got a minute though and thought I would inspect the damaged head I got from Kiran.

In the moment of truth after removing cotters from the first valve stem and decompressing the valve spring clamp I was delighted to see double valve springs pop out! The head will be scrapped and so will followers etc...may save some valves and keep cotters as spares...but most importantly. I will be keeping the valve springs for the 3F when it goes in! [emoji1]

Edited 18 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

It's cracked mate

Yeah can't go wrong with fixing the switch, will be easier to spot wherever else a leak might be with it fixed

Edited 18 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

Well I had some spare time today to work on the car but unfortunately the oil switch still hasn't turned up so I thought time to remove pistons from the 3F.

So removed them..for some reason the con rod nuts on piston one were slack compared to the rest which were very tight.. also piston ones rings were practically welded into the piston and they came off in about 7 pieces. Looking at the condition I'm pleased that I'm going through the trouble of changing this stuff.

Shells looked a bit worn...hard to tell properly really..but they would get replaced regardless so who cares. All other pistons and rings looked good and weren't a pig to remove. Again not that I care anyway as new rings will be fitted.

Slow and steady really...don't want to dive in without doing the research and the focus for now is getting the polo through an MOT so I'm not worried about getting the 3F done right away

dont lay em on the concrete mate...dont want to mark em

is there much wear on the pistons

Fair enough mate, I was pretty careful placing them down just for the photo, they were on rag before that but I'll bear that in mind

Pistons wise spotted a very small nick on one near the ring slot and wear marks on sides of two of them. Up and down wear marks, maybe due to how worn down the rings were..what you think?

I'll take a picture of what I mean tomorrow if you want

Edited 20 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

have you marked where each one came from , sposed to keep em in the same bore

yeah id be intrested to see how worn it all is compared to mine

Yeah Steve I have marked one to four on con rods and pistons to be sure and kept everything down to the nuts back exactly where they came [emoji4]

I'll grab a few snaps at daylight

The first pictures look far worse than they are...it's very smooth to the touch so I don't know whether that should concern me...it was the nick's that I was more worried about

nick doesnt look like wear , i wonder if the lose bolts means someones had it apart and thought its too much work and fitted it back together

Yeah that's the one were the bolts were loose too. And the rings were pretty much welded in and I had to soak them for ages to loosen them up.

I searched a few forums which have people with similar nick's and have all been told the same thing that it is nothing to worry about but to look for cracks and nick's particularly on the top and the corners at the crown...I think it could be fine but I might even pop in an engine shop down Hayes to hear their take on it.

yeah hard to tell with a photo...can you feel em with your finger nail? id be tempted to try and smooth it with some wet n dry carefully but then what do i know

Yeah I can feel em a little bit..I suppose a slight sand down to debur the edges can't cause harm. Better than a rough edge, thankfully where it is won't effect compression as rings will do that but I wouldn't want a rough edge contacting the cylinder wall either so..

You know more than I do lol its all completely new to me so everyone's 2p's worth goes a long way.

I can't believe I forgot to mention I received your flex hone today haha, arrived fine and shall be attempting the hone soon enough, I'll post plenty of pictures when I do it and again many thanks for lending it to me

ah glad it showed up

sounds like a good job you decided to open it up , it doesnt sound like it would be a good runner as it was

rings were stuck pretty bad on mine too , dunno if they release when the engine warms or not , but didnt look great

Yeah not sure about them releasing when hot as the other three looked great and werent stuck at all lol

will see what the engine shop in hayes say about the piston and ill just order a ring set if its fine and some shells, then just clean everything up and hone then paint. Bottom end seems pretty easy and less fiddly than the head...just costs money to do is all

Edited 20 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

no score marks on the crank then?

haven't fully inspected it..only during removal of pistons but no obvious scores, the crank looked very good...i shall try and get pictures of that tomorrow too,

I was going to ask someone a question actually..as I only have the pre facelift mk2 haynes and the oil pump is slightly different on this engine to in the book. How is the oil pump removed? theres the obvious points where the pickup is bolted to but i wanted to know if the crankshaft nut has to be removed too?

I guess it does as it is driven on the crank but it was difficult for the impact gun to remove when I did try...luckily it wasnt really in the way when removing the pistons

My oil switch showed up today although it was the wrong one..I wanted the brown one and they sent a grey one which is for something else.

Anyway I screwed it in purely to check the leak. I am absolutely astonished to find that after a good thrash around by myself and a drive round to demonstrate to my girlfriend that the new AP suspension is comfortable over the bumps, that when I got back there was still not a single drip of oil on my drive, i left it another half hour and nothing! A massive thanks is due to kwijibo steve for suggesting the oil switch as I was completely blind to this possibility. Chuffed is one word to describe how I am feeling right now.

Obviously I need the right brown switch as my oil light is now flashing but I will keep the wrong one in till i get the right one and wont bother getting a refund for 3 quid. Any suggestions who will supply the right one?

To anybody that doesnt know, the oil pressure switches which were brown can be replaced by a blue oil pressure switch too, That is why I've been searching forever and ever for brown ones which only some suppliers make now for stupid postage charges. Anyway yeah...blue is the same as brown.

Noticed my colour vision is not that great...I knew I was red Green colour blind but it has never affected me and it turns out I showed my girlfriend the picture online of the switch I bought and I thought it was brown when she said...John thats grey. I was kicking off about them sending the wrong one haha I already sent them a message about it

New oil switch fitted. No oil light giving me an epileptic fit and no leaking oil.

Well ooze from rocker or cam seal but so minuscule it can't even drip to the floor. It might even be old oil coming down as I tightened the cover a bit and it's pretty much none existent now. Annoying intermittent squeak from brake shield contacting disc...hard to hear really at all but I know it is doing it so it's annoying. Shall sort that out another day.

The car is testing me and it knows it has an MOT coming and it doesn't want to pass by the looks of it..one of my brake light bulbs is gone and I have replaced a different bulb on each corner in less than a month! [emoji38]

I should really add a car picture at some point as this must be driving people mad me just blabbing on

Had a small disaster today in regards to the breadvan. On the cast rocker cover I must have over tightened a bolt as all was fine driving round the block today just giving it a good run for around 30 minutes then I smelled oil strongly so pulled over immediately.

On lifting the bonnet oil was literally pissing out the right corner. Turns out it cracked and the heat of running must have made the crack grow like a bitch and it went round the bolt to the bolt dropped and was having effectively no toe hold on the cover

Luckily I had an old cover and I managed to bodge some cover bolts using some rubber bush bits and washers to get back to the house.

Think I'm going alloy now and should be able to get a cheap 6n cover from the breakers unless someone close has a spare one for cheap..last time I was there he quoted he does rocker covers for 30 quid and there's a tonne of 6ns there.

Pics of the damage

1. Showing the crack (dizzy side)

2. Showing underside of crack and where the seat for the bolt dropped

3. Holding the broken seat part in two bits

4. Seat on left (middle cover bolt) where the seat went on right bolt (dizzy side) obviously had nowhere to anchor so the cover lifted on the right side

...slightly confused as that side wasn't that tight and if anything left side was tighter to eliminate the corner leak. This then must have been cracked for about 3 days and about 45 minutes worth of running before it fully went.

Since I have a G40 one laying about (as you do) I had a quick look at I have noticed it has strengthening points where the bolt holes are, well two of them. The boost return tube will do the same job on the third I guess.

Got a 6n cast alloy cover for £20 at the local breakers. Bargain really and got a couple mirror adjuster knobs and bits for free (got them already but nice to have spares)

Can see already it may not look amazing but it is reinforced similarly to the g40 cover that Steven showed so I'm guessing it's a must on cast covers.

The gasket for the 6n covers is a million times better as well and there's no leaks from the cover now just a tiny ooze as there always was from the cam oil seal (checked mine today it's rock hard and shrunken a bit so could do with a change but I don't know how I'm going to lock the cam sprocket yet)

Trying to get the car sorted by saturday....Sorted the squeak today from the brake shield touching the disc by taking it off and bending it back to shape, I also bent my arch lip in to try and stop contact when cornering at speed but I'm still getting contact but Atleast it's not bending the lip out now.

So I'm gunna go down a profile for the tyres up front short term probably after the mot.

QUESTION: I'm getting a loud tick noise from my OSR wheel area and thought suspension was loose but this isn't the case...It does make the same noise as when tightening the wheel bolts when they get tight and they seem to be loosening themselves slowly after driving hearing the tick every now and then.

Are there different wheel bolts I should be using being that these are alloys and not steel wheels? I've never had a problem using normal bolts on previous cars but I suspect this could be the issue

If they are VW alloys your normal bolts 'should' be fine. Does the noise happen if you spin the wheel or if you grab it and try and move it like you would to check a wheel bearing?

They are Melber wheels, they used to make old BMWs mesh alloy wheels like BBS. The noise only happens if I go off my drive as there is a small drop and if I press the throttle hard and let go to give it a jerk. Normal smooth driving is fine but it sounds like they are cracking loose with brisk movements

I can't be certain right now but roughly 2 months ago I done a wheel bearing shake test and they were all solid

Edited 28 October, 201510 yr by wizardmanjm

Well took the car for its MOT today and it Passed with no advisories!!!!!!!

Cant believe it, they complemented how clean it was and they all seemed to like the car I was so nervous the whole time and i think because of the age of the car they were checking very pedantically so I am quite proud atm!

Just taxed it now and the battery died lmao, The lights were left on with the engine off and the car hasnt been driven but the battery and alternator are relatively new so I'm just going to charge up the battery and then hopefully go for a nice drive tomorrow. I also filled the tank

this vid covers it , isnt the exact polo one but near enough

solenoid repair to the end of this page..i suspect it might be your problem

http://www.thisoldtractor.com/moto_guzzi_loopframe_starter_and_solenoid_repair_-bosch-.html

you will need a hammer action impact driver for some of the screws

That's brilliant Steve, you always go the extra mile with technical help. It is much appreciated! [emoji4]

Not sure if my alternator was killed with the recent oil accident due to the cracked cover but I charged my battery fully and when all lights main beem and everything electric on and the engine on tick over I got a constant 12 volts so I thought it was fine, now after roughly 10 starts and good long drives it's dead again and the battery is a couple weeks old (although I know lead acids don't like going dead which it has once)

So I suspected it could be the battery and hoping really as it's under warranty. What do you guys think?

Also Had my alternator from gsf 13 months back so just out the regular 1 year warranty unless alternators get a longer warranty