Movin' on up

[Rusty's Uncle]

The cam was one of those dream buys on eBay that I came across by accident when searching for valves. The item had been badly listed and there was only one other bidder. The cam is unused up to now and was kept as a spare by a man who raced a 595 Abarth in the 1960's. Apart from Abarth on the casting there are no other marks apart from what looks like an ink print which could be an 8 , 3 or B. I had a bit of an e-mail dialogue with the seller and he told me that it was fast road / rally spec 
That was the good bit, now for what might have been a tragic ending. In our exchanges he told me that he was having to clear out a garage or unit. He had remarried and his wife had no interest / hated things to do with old motors. So he was going to have to get rid of more parts from his old Abarth racing days. He said that he had an engine with roller bearing crankshaft that would rev to 10,000 rpm also Nani cylinder heads and a selection of racing carbs were on the list. After several e-mails he stopped replying and I kept an eye on his eBay selling name and no other items were ever listed. Even if I did not get my grubby little mits on the parts I liked to think that they went to someone else but heard nothing on the grape vine.
I was left with the sinking feeling that 'er-in-doors got her way with a quick clear out 
So no other abarth stuff I am afraid.

[Alfons1972]

I have some original Abarth parts. I rather prefer having a rotten Original part than a perfect replica.

so I have two oilpans, a Solex 34PBIC (with the correct rocker-cover) and a Solex C28IB-2 carb,  some badges, valve springs, a head gasket, two original mufflers (also a "record monza") and some other parts...  

my actual project is building a perfect replica of a 595 SS engine. For that I have a 500D crankcase, widened up for 595ccm cylinders (unfortunately no Abarth-parts), a F-cylinder head with 34mm inlet valves, compression ration 10:1. All those fine parts will build a fine engine...

If you like, I tell more about it...

[Rusty's Uncle]

Got a bit distracted by other Fiaterama but now back on the case. I rejected the crankcase from the original "fully reconditioned" engine partly because some UNC bolts had been used on the ally casting  and the repair job on the sheared off exhaust mounting studs was "interesting" to say the least.
I would guess that the guy who assembled the engine was unable to read the Haynes manual he had as little things like space the gaps in the piston rings around the piston seemed to escape him as they were nicely lined up. I also reckon that he probably thought that a torque wrench was a competitor for the iPhone.
So new big ends fitted , sump on eventually after discovering that the sump & oil pick up tube designs changed on the later engines. Cylinder head on, the push rod tubes are the solid type with deep seals at either end, so I wondered how the skimmed head would effect the seals but they all look OK 

[Rusty's Uncle]

Movin' on slowly , I want to run the engine in with a standard carb to see how things stand up etc.
The cylinder head inlet port is much modified to take the Twin Choke Weber or Dellorto carbs & manifols so to try and get a good flow pattern just modified the carb spacer to match the head 

[Rusty's Uncle]

It's been a while due to a couple of weeks away but finaly got the whole package lovingly assembled on my bench. Next problem was how to get the engine into my barrow so I could move it out to the car. Seems that Everest do more than double glazing as just as I was getting the car ready to take the new engine a couple of sales guys came round and were going through their patter while I was on the deck with my head stuck in the engine bay. It seems that the set script contained repetition of "so how can we help you?" Each time I replied "you can help me lift that engine into that barrow"
They took the hint after about 4 times of asking, gave up selling & got lifting 
Had no idea how the mix of non-standard, new & modified parts would gel but once I got the timing close I was pleasantly surprised how smooth it ran and seemed to have a bit more go.
But true to form as I seem to have a habit of blowing something up within a week of a rebuild I managed to do just over 100 miles before the engine did not like starting and was blowing out smoke.
Seems that 60 mph in 3rd was not a good idea 
So major engine strip down required 
.
..

to be continued

[fiatmaluch126]

If nothing else, the engine looks lovelly and shiny! Rusty   

[Rusty's Uncle]

I think that I recorded the sad passing of this engine on another thread as it only lasted less than 1,000 miles and that included an engine partial strip down, new big end bearings and a good internal clean after about 500 miles. The powder coated rocker box cover had sandblast grit hidden up inside the internal parts which washed down and ruined this beautiful engine. I was so gutted that I just repaired and put the original stock motor back in and dumped the newly ruined one in my garage. 
As I am now back on the rebuilding trail I have just finished the "post mortem" to see what I can salvage. Luckily the best bits seem to be unharmed especially the Abarth cam . The low compression and oil burning was down to the scoring of the bores (barrels now in for reboring) and the loss of oil pressure was down to the front (pulley end) main bearing being totaly knackered as well as the crank journal. So not good but not the end of the world 
Out of the ashes as they say 

[Rusty's Uncle]

Final word on this one, the front main bearing looked like it had been coated with sugar. What had happened was that the grit had embedded into the soft white metal giving that effect and then just wore down the crank journal rather than the bearing. The only bit I had not looked at was the oil pump but checked it out yesterday and it is totaly shot along with the housing & timing chain cover. So that chapter is over and things are now emerging which I will report on 

[landyman]

done a lot of work on rover v8's rule of thumb if already that deep in a rebuild always do oil pump and waterpump if you don't know its age/history would think oil pump on an aircooled critical to do