Barnaby the Vusky

[Dave Lane]

Ive been doing key hole surgery on Barnaby .
Yep real actually key hole stuff sorting out the ignition switch , i have the rebuilt electricery stuff but the key barrel is quite knacked , im sure its not correct that you can pull the key oot and leave it running or the fact the keys fall oot whilst driving leaving the ignition on .
Thing is i wanted to keep the same key as it also fits the door and tailgate .
So having pulled it apart it became obvious the 5 tiny springs that operate the tumbler doodabs were shot and had no spring left to hold the key in .
I had another NOS one with the wrong key serial number and obviously the wrong number however being new it had new springs .
Anyhoo to cut a long story short i removed all the 5 springs from the new one and by removing each tumble in turn on mine replacing the springs one by one i got it working ,
not only that the keys now wont pull out or fall out whilst driving
Penny is for scale , only had three springs left in it that still resembled springs ( one twanged into the alternate universe ) , no wonder the key kept falling oot

[John A. Ross]

Ah OK. Seen that happen many times. Maybe Andy has the right idea on dropping it and goil coil pack / EDIS instead Uncle Henry

[Dave Lane]

Damn, at least its lasted the decades Dave, had 2 Intermotor ones crap out in me in a month, Intermotor points l;asting well, drive from Stirring to Errol and crap out !

NOS still the best buy for these bits

This was a non Lucas cap , no idea what one but anyhoo its crapped oot now

[John A. Ross]

Damn, at least its lasted the decades Dave, had 2 Intermotor ones crap out in me in a month, Intermotor points l;asting well, drive from Stirring to Errol and crap out !

NOS still the best buy for these bits

[Dave Lane]

Potential mis-fire , messing about , not a happy engine averted on Barnaby after a routine checkover .

Took the lightening whurler cap off and the centre fell out
NOS Lucas cap fitted - revs its little bonce off now

[John A. Ross]

Found the running issue ( idling on 3 , running on 4 ) , twas this so made a banana shaped one to compensate for Franks zorst fannymould

Not lining up too well



Ma de a banana shaped one to compensate


Much more gooder

Mine was like a bananna on the face, thats been milled twice now

[John A. Ross]

Yes retorque head Dave. Seen someone else do this and it let go at about 1k miles might they were lucky, just a retorque and done.

You never run a heat sheild on the van or did they never have one ?

[Dave Lane]

So back to Barnabys newly headed motor .
Done about 40 miles thus far however even with the instant starting and running OK I thought it might be a tad oot of tune , after all the decades ive had it you get a feel for this type of thing.
Checked the carb balance and sure enough it was way out , rear carb had way more suckage than the front one , Im certain this is due to the different flow of the head , they never go oot of balance normally .
Anyhoo ive sorted this out , checked the plug colour which is a tad rich however il leave this until its bedded in a bit more ,
Ive mulled on a head retorque but seeing as its a new head and its got a genuine head gasket i think il leave it alone ( thoughts please )
Not driven it since the carb balance so tomorrow will be the tell on it all.
Gotta new fuel filter to fit at some point too .
So far all the bits ive fitted are still attached

[Dave Lane]

Moar piccies

[Dave Lane]

So ive dived head on into Barnabys engine issue and decided to change the head anyhoo seeing as its been on 15 years .
No sure where i got the will but there you go .
Anyhoo way back at the national at Swanage I managed to get two L4 NOS bare heads 71981533 - AM4 .
Not seen AM4 ones or ones with the AE trade mark but i guess they are very late . I built one up and stuck it on my spare engine where it still sits .
Tother one was eventually built up in 2017 after id managed to get NOS valves / double springs , collets etc etc eventually building a complete NOS head .
Its been in the loft ever since --- until now that is whereby I ve stuck it on Barnabys block. Also had a couple genuine Reitz gaskets here so used one of these up .
Engine now runs great and strangely is much quieter
Not sure what that head was worth but more than it cost me i bet

[Dave Lane]

Found the running issue ( idling on 3 , running on 4 ) , twas this so made a banana shaped one to compensate for Franks zorst fannymould

Not lining up too well



Ma de a banana shaped one to compensate


Much more gooder

[Dave Lane]

Nice work Dave, I am surprised you never did the oil lite bush mod at least you got it working in the end.

No need , no wear on the shaft or pedal pivots , only the holes for the clevis pins were knacked

[John A. Ross]

Nice work Dave, I am surprised you never did the oil lite bush mod at least you got it working in the end.

[Dave Lane]

Just to finish off the transaxle job I fitted a NOS clutch pedal I bought at national .
No more excess play or clunking when pressing the pedal - the clevis pin hole wears oval causing lots of free play in this case 10mm in total .
Can you do it in situ = YES
Would I recommend doing it like this = HELL NO

[Dave Lane]

Love the arm rest Dave, it actualy looks like it should be there, I might see if SHaron can make me a couple of padded bits like that if I make here the metal parts

First time I ever seen one of these !

Never seen one either , had to have it :)