My Early Mk3 Interceptor Restoration project

[Trevithick]

Junk that old 4 barrel n stick a sixpack on it

hey make sure you get a couple of bottles of zinc additive, make sure all your levels are good to go fire it up keep the revs around 2,500 and occasionally blip it up down for circa 20-30 mins, if its running a dual valve spring break it in on only the outer, some of these new cams can fck real easy matey

Wise words, it sounds harsh but with flat tappet cams it has to be done for the long term Health of the engine.

[Pymmie]

This all looks like concours preperation to me

It's very addictive Dave (DPP)

Keep nipping down to the garage and bringing bits home with me - see below

John P

[Eddie]

This all looks like concours preperation to me

It's very addictive Dave (DPP)

Keep nipping down to the garage and bringing bits home with me - see below

John P

Hope your using the dishwasher for the initial clean

Let me know if your entering the JOC Concours at the international, and what class. I can then enter into a different one to give myself a chance

[VFK44]

Hope your using the dishwasher for the initial clean

Don't. Just don't. And don't ask me how I know.

[Pymmie]

I set about tackling the valves this week.

My guess is like the heads they haven't been touched for 45 years.

It really only took 5 minutes per valve to clean off the oil/carbon deposits using

a drill to mount the valve and rub off with glasspaper.

Heads have been skimmed ready to put back together..

John P

[Pymmie]

While the car is having work done i asked the mechanic to replace the engine mounts.

Really glad we addressed this.

The passenger mount was split into two (See picture 1)

Driver's side replaced but not too bad

Another small improvement

Johh P

[Pymmie]

Today's task was a messy one.

As two of the bolts from the sump attach to the timing cover my mechanic removed the sump. I'm sure it hasn't been off for 45 years.

Around 40% of the oil pick up was blocked with nylon gears/rocker gasket material.

The bottom of the sump had a 25mm layer of black treacle that took some scrubbing after 2 days in a parts washer to remove.

Everything is now clean & shiny ready for refitting.

Also sprayed & polished the rocker covers.. I'm enjoying making small improvements week on week
John P

[Pymmie]

Good progress today...

Heads are back on. Manifold & Carb on.

Water pump / AC / PAS / Pulleys & Rads refitted.

New hoses & jubilees to everything...

Turned the oil pump with a drill to check oil getting

to everywhere.

Getting closer to start up

[Pymmie]

On Friday the car was finally put back together.

Fluids added and checked & every nut @ bolt nipped.

Car was fired up around lunchtime and started quickly.

We had no hesitation in running the cam in for a full 20 mins. Fans were bridged to work from the start.

My mechanic (Dave Bradburn) couldn't believe how hot the headers got, until I explained it was normal.

Later that day I took the car for a decent run and everything worked well. Lots more low down power / torque.

John P

[Pymmie]

As usual the day after fixing my Jensen involves a road trip!

First thing Saturday headed to North Cornwall to meet up with Dave Pearce & Paul Toothill. Dave currently has Paul's SP in his

fantastic workshop/man cave. Great to see a car being brought back to life properly. We then headed to North Devon to spend the weekend with great friends & Healey owners Chris & Rose Roberts who are helping us organise the JOC Tour in Oct.

The routes are now sorted, with lots to see and do over the weekend.

John P

[73Mark111]

John, well done on the engine refurb, looking good.
Not sure how normal it is to have cherry red headers though, I posted my concerns a while back and got some helpful suggestions to reduce the temperature. One was to check the timing, turned out to be way off and causing the red hot headers. Mine looked like yours, left running in the garage it actually melted the soldered starter solenoid connections!
I don't know what exhaust you have but after the engine upgrades, a standard bore might be a bit restrictive.
The other thing you should do is fit heat proof sleeves to your plug connectors, that heat will kill your HT leads and boots.
Mark

[Pymmie]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the tips. The timing seems OK at about 7deg TDC.

The HT leads are from Summit Racing and are have ceramic caps. I did 2500 milkes with

them last year and they look like new. We tweaked the mixture after the initial cam break in

and i think the headers have settled down.

Regards

John P

[Pymmie]

Took the car to Rawspeed Engine tuning in Plymouth this morning.

Turned back the mixture and really that was about it. Timing and advance were

set about right and managed 205bhp at the wheels. I guess this about right for a

low compression G series 383 from 1972.

The charts shows a slight dip when the secondaries kick in...

Weird seeing the speedo read over100mph and the car static..

John P

[colin7673]

Keep nipping down to the garage and bringing bits home with me - see below

John P

Once you start John, the hard part is knowing when to stop, as there is always going to be something you could have done better..

[Joerg]

Timing should be 10 - 12 Degreee BTDC at idle with vacuum disconnected and going up to 34-38 at 2800 rpm.
7 degree seem too early, and cherry red headers are not normal - looks like to much pre-ignition to me.