Zombie - 90 L series sedan
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:20 pm
Needed a temporary car until the Tank is back in action, so took a chance on a $200 L series that caught my eye on gumtree. The motor was seized and thoroughly dead though...
When I got there with a trailer, I had a look from the top of the motor and all i could see was underbody spray all over everything with some silverfrost on a few details to make it look like a motor still. The body has also been accentuated with areas of underbody spray, around the windscreen, front edge of bonnet, grill, bumpers and everything from the waiste down. Guy must have owned a tar factory.
Once I pulled the odd shaped lump out of the engine bay, I decided I just had to pick the scab. I didn't really know where to start, since everything from the middle of the valve covers down was one big abstract shaped crusty scab. Once I chipped away at it and started bravely pushing my fingers into the rotten mess inside, I then managed to tear a chunk loose and see that there really was still an engine under all the red silicone, bit of blue silicone, lots of black silicone, some white bathroom sealant, pockets of half set grey bog, and layers of underbody spry and paint...
The front bumper was another little surprise, when I peeled off some of the grey plastic that had been glued in bits over the whole surface. Yes, it was stuck together inside with scraps of pine and chipboard and heaps of hard-as-nails. Even my xray vision didn't see THAT coming...
Nothing's ever as bad as it looks though. The motor is now completely stripped down and it turns out the previous "mechanic" had poured a bottle of form-a-gasket into the oil to try and stop some of the leaks the his inbuilt drip tray couldn't. THAT'S what had seized the motor. Every big end, main, gudgeon, cam, piston oil ring, etc had been glued solid once the form-a-gasket had got nice and hot. Amazingly, the brown scale scraped off with a firm thumbnail and all surfaces are like new still. I've ordered a full gasket kit and this engine is going back together... PROPERLY this time. There's not even any wear on the pistons, bores or oil pump.
Ok, signing off to go get oily again. I'll post more soon...
When I got there with a trailer, I had a look from the top of the motor and all i could see was underbody spray all over everything with some silverfrost on a few details to make it look like a motor still. The body has also been accentuated with areas of underbody spray, around the windscreen, front edge of bonnet, grill, bumpers and everything from the waiste down. Guy must have owned a tar factory.
Once I pulled the odd shaped lump out of the engine bay, I decided I just had to pick the scab. I didn't really know where to start, since everything from the middle of the valve covers down was one big abstract shaped crusty scab. Once I chipped away at it and started bravely pushing my fingers into the rotten mess inside, I then managed to tear a chunk loose and see that there really was still an engine under all the red silicone, bit of blue silicone, lots of black silicone, some white bathroom sealant, pockets of half set grey bog, and layers of underbody spry and paint...
The front bumper was another little surprise, when I peeled off some of the grey plastic that had been glued in bits over the whole surface. Yes, it was stuck together inside with scraps of pine and chipboard and heaps of hard-as-nails. Even my xray vision didn't see THAT coming...
Nothing's ever as bad as it looks though. The motor is now completely stripped down and it turns out the previous "mechanic" had poured a bottle of form-a-gasket into the oil to try and stop some of the leaks the his inbuilt drip tray couldn't. THAT'S what had seized the motor. Every big end, main, gudgeon, cam, piston oil ring, etc had been glued solid once the form-a-gasket had got nice and hot. Amazingly, the brown scale scraped off with a firm thumbnail and all surfaces are like new still. I've ordered a full gasket kit and this engine is going back together... PROPERLY this time. There's not even any wear on the pistons, bores or oil pump.
Ok, signing off to go get oily again. I'll post more soon...
