Water Pump Rebuild Fail

When I found the water pump was leaking I decided to try and rebuild it as the kits are cheap enough and the casting had ROVER stamped on it. I like to keep original parts when possible.

I took it to a place in my village this morning that does a lot of agricultural repair but before I'd even finished saying 'water pump' the man was shaking his head. He told me he'd rebuilt loads over the years in combines and tractors and if they didn't break during the rebuild they almost always still leaked afterwards. He told me to buy a new one.

When I got home I couldn't just give up. I don't like throwing away original parts, but there's also something inside me that mourns the passing of our ability to fix things. The people still restoring traction engines today can't just buy new parts. If they need something fixed or replaced they have to machine it.

So I made a start myself, with the plan that once it was apart I could freeze the casting and the new spindle/bearing assembly overnight, which would hopefully make it possible to get back together without a press if I worked quickly enough.

To cut a long story short, the casting broke in the process. I think I can sleep at night fairly certain it would have broken anyway even if a press had been used - you've got to put force on the casting at some point in the process, whether with a press or through the shock of drifting the spindle out.

I started by trying to drift the spindle out from above. No chance!

I noticed I'd got the whole impeller/spindle/flange assembly to move through the casting though, so next I tried to pull the flange off the spindle, trying to keep the casting out of the equation as I'd been told it was the weak point. There's hardly any lip on the underside of the flange so the puller kept jumping off. No joy.

So I tried a bigger puller, this time trying to pull the casting and flange back (up) off the front end of the spindle..

..and the casting broke. Sad, but it does mean now I can just buy a new water pump. And I don't have to worry about not having tried.

Two steps forward, one step back

I've been busy this summer so far and have only got some small jobs done.

Thermostat

I've fit a new thermostat and gaskets. I painted the housing in DEB so it rather stands out at the moment. Over time it will fade and fit in again, and the water pump and timing cover will be painted the same colour anyway, as will the engine block if I ever take it out. I am hoping the thermostat was why it was running so hot so quickly when I started her the first few times. I'll find out when the front end is back together.

Wiper Switch and New Blades

The new wiper switch worked as expected and the wipers work and auto-park correctly. I've also fit new wiper blades, so the wipers are now done.

Front Crank Seal

I want a fit a new front crank seal and tap threads to make it easier in future, but this time I need to remove the whole timing cover. I've had a couple of attempts at getting the starter dog off but have now arranged to borrow an air-gun and a socket big enough. I'm hoping that does the job or I'll be dropping the sump in search of a way to prevent the crank turning while I work.

Water Pump

I have a rebuild kit for the water pump which has a slight leak. It's an original pump so I'd rather rebuild than replace it with a reproduction part, but I will do that as a backup plan if I have to - I need to find somewhere to help me with a good press, about 20 tonne I'm told.

Solenoid

I fit a new solenoid as the old one was just that, and failed when I was trying to undo the starter dog with some Stilsons and the coil unplugged and turning it over and.. bodgery does not pay! I'll try again with the right tools..

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I'm going to have more time available over the next month so I'm hoping to finish the front crank seal, water pump, and that last outrigger, and then put her back together for some simple test runs.

Wiper Motor

I had a fun Father's Day fitting a new wiper motor as the old one was dead. I'd never seen inside one before so I didn't know I'd have to transplant all the gearing from the old one. That took some cleaning up but the parts were all in good condition under the old grease.

I also cleaned up and re-greased the drive cable when I moved that over, and took out and cleaned and greased the wiper drive wheels so they were loose enough to turn with my finger before re-assembling everything.

When I get that new wiper switch hopefully I'll have some working wipers..

Electrics (1)

I recently made a start on my electrics checklist with a view to ensuring everything works before taking to the road. The front wings are still off so I'm starting with all the rear lights, instruments, and wipers.

Electrical gremlins.. don't add water!

Rear Plate Light (In Progress)

This was working but the back case had cracked where the screw fixes the front cover on so I ordered a replacement light. The one that arrived expects bullet connectors rather than the lucar connectors that were on the wiring, and after trying red insulated bullets I found it actually wants the solid brass style typically found on British classic cars. So now I'm just waiting for some decent solder to arrive in the post and I'll fit this new plate light.

Brake Lights (Fixed)

These were not working but it was easily tracked down to a faulty switch on the brake pedal. There was infinite resistance across the pins when the switch should be closed. Taking the switch out the circuit brought the brake lights on. I fit a new switch and now the brake lights work.

Tail Lights (OK)

Rear side lights were working.

Indicators (OK, for now)

The lenses had faded and lost most of their amber so I fit two new indicators. I tidied up some broken wiring while I was there by crimping in some new connectors. The right indicator works 9 times out of 10. When it doesn't work, no amount of fiddling with earth or feed wires will bring them on. I haven't checked the output at the flasher unit yet, but I can't get the left side to fail at all so I currently suspect the indicator stalk's Right switch. I will test this and/or replace the stalk with a period correct one at some point. For now, when it doesn't come on, operating the switch again brings it on almost every time.

Panel Lights (In Progress)

When I went to investigate why the panel lights (instrument panel back lights) didn't work I found the bulbs in place and working ok.. but not connected at all to the Panel Lights switch. I traced the wiring to a relay on the bulkhead operating a long length of cable strung down one side of the chassis to where a rear work light was installed. Call me old fashioned but I want the Panel Lights switch to operate the panel lights, and if I want a rear work light I'll route the wiring better than that.. so I removed it all. The panel lights switch also had a broken contact which only closed the switch when manually pushed up to make a connection, so I've ordered a new switch. When it arrives I'll wire it back up to operate the panel lights.

Ignition Switched Circuits (In Progress)

There are a number of circuits that should only operate with the ignition switch on (side lights, indicators, etc.). These circuits will currently close without the key in. There is some wiring for a radio hanging out the bottom of the instrument panel. It looks to me like someone wired that up to operate without the ignition being on, and brought those other ignition switched circuits with it because that's the feed they spurred their new wiring off. I need to remove this bad radio wiring (and the relayed LED illuminated cigarette lighter nearby!) and return those other circuits to be correctly ignition switched.

Wipers (In Progress)

When I went to investigate why the wipers weren't working I found the wiper motor was dead (supplying voltage directly did nothing, and it looked shot), and after some head scratching worked out the the wiper switch could never have worked..

Four pins, wrong switch..

The wiper switch had four pins on the rear. Looking at the wiring diagram you can see why someone might have bought a switch with four pins (30) and connected the wires like they did; G (fused, switched ignition) to bottom left pin and off again direct to wiper motor, RLG on top right pin and running to feed on wiper motor, NLG on bottom right pin running to auto-park input on wiper motor.. and when that didn't work, they left it there!

But the switch they bought was the wrong type, probably a DPDT (double pole double throw). Single speed wiper motors like this need G (always), plus the NLG and RLG connected to the wiper motor when the switch is off (auto-park), or the G (as always), plus the RLG connected to the wiper motor when the switch is on (wipers on).

Here's a handy diagram from http://www.land-rover-lightweight.co.uk Everything above the dotted line is your wiring and the Wiper switch. Below the dotted line is inside the wiper motor. Where a wire crosses the dotted line, it's where a wire goes into the wiper motor's input connector shown in the right-hand boxout:

Wiper motor wiring (click to enlarge)

When the wipers are on all the time the G feed passes current on RLG which completes a circuit via the motor earth that turns the motor regardless of what the auto-park cam and switch are doing.

When you turn your wipers "off", you still want them to return to horizontal, so you pass G (as always), plus NLG and RLG, which complete a circuit inside and outside the motor and drives the motor only until the cam switch hits the "parked" position on the cam, which then breaks the circuit by opening the park switch inside the motor just as your wipers reach home. (Look, G comes in on pin 4 at the motor, the park cam is turning so the switch is up, the current comes in on G and goes across the park switch, back up NLG to your wiper switch which is connecting the NLG pin with the RLG pin in this position (off for auto-park), then back down RLG to your motor and earths.. all until the park cam presents the park position hole and the park switch opens, breaking the circuit.. and your wipers stop at the horizontal position.)

So the wiper switch needs to connect either G and RLG (always on), or NLG and RLG (auto-park).

The wiper switch that's installed had four pins. By measuring the resistance across the pins I found when the switch was off, no two pins were connected at all, and when the switch was on, the two vertical pairs were connected (top left with bottom left, top right with bottom right). There is no way with this switch to pass G and RLG, or NLG and RLG.

What I need is a single pole double throw (SPDT) switch. And it only needs three pins. G, RLG, and NLG. With an SPDT switch, when it is off two pins will be connected (say, NLG and RLG), and when it is on, one of those two pins will be connected with the third pin (say, RLG and G).

When the switch arrives I'll wire it up and hopefully I will have some working wipers. Because I fit a new motor too.. but that's another post.

Work and spot lights wiring and relays. Binned.

Alternator (And Alignment)

My neighbour looked over the fence recently and pointed out my fan belt wasn't quite running true between the fan and alternator pulleys. He was right, it was out by about 3-4mm, as shown below.

On closer inspection I noticed it was a Ford alternator and packed up for the day wondering if I could remove it and shim it up to get the belt aligned correctly. I had to fit a new fan belt anyway as part of going over things ready for the maiden voyage..

Next session I removed the old fan belt and took the alternator off. I cleaned out its contacts and gave it a brush up. It only has two mount points, enough for the two front brackets, but no mount point at all for the 'through-bolt' that holds the alternator to the engine block itself. I couldn't find a way to shim it 100% straight with the other pulleys. If I moved it behind the front brackets and packed the top bracket out to bring the alternator toward the fan.. I found the bottom bracket had to be packed out too which caused the notched timing indicator to fowl the drive pulley. Oh well.

So I fit the new fan belt and added a more suitable alternator to my list of future jobs.

I recorded the voltage across my battery at 12.4V with the engine off, up to around 13.8V at a fast idle. Opinion seems divided on whether this is "tired" or not, but it's certainly charging to some degree so I'm going to leave it to swap in something better later on. I can risk some road trips this summer I think as I won't be using the lights or heaters like I would in winter.

First Start

Yesterday I finally got to start the 2A after going on two years since I brought it home. If it had been MOT exempt back then I might have been tempted to road-test it a bit and get to know it better before taking it to bits.. but then thinking back, those brakes, those bulkhead outriggers.. maybe not!

Anyway, I put a canister of petrol in the new tank and connected up the old Lucas battery that came with it with some jump leads to my other car. I turned the key once, dash lights came on, the petrol gauge lifted slowly and slightly to the empty line.. choke out, turn the key.. And it started! Yahooooo! :)

It needed a little throttle to go with the choke to begin with and then it sat and happily ran on the choke. I could rev it hard and it wouldn't stall when it came back down. I let it run for a while and then pushed the choke back in, still running nicely. Then I switched her off and tried again on the key without the jump leads and she started quick and easy two or three times in a row.

I topped the water up before trying to start it and noticed it dropping out from behind the fan straight after so that looks like a pump seal, at least. There's also a very brief grating noise from the front of the gearbox immediately after starting up.. first port of call I think is to get it on axle stands now and take it up and down through the gears to check for anything obviously wrong.

Fuel Pump Rebuild and New Points, Leads, Plugs, Dizzy Cap

I rebuilt the fuel pump with new seals, gauze, diaphragm, and breathers, and refit it with a new gasket on the block. It's got a nice squeak to it now on the prime lever and after putting some fresh petrol in ready for the first start it filled the cleaned up glass bowl no problem. Some dirty fuel came through first from the fuel feed pipe and then the fresh stuff out the brand new tank which looked clean as water. Lovely!

I also fit some new spark plugs and HT leads and a new distributor cap as the contacts in the old one were in a bad state. The inside of the distributor was a bit of a mess too and when I went to set the points I couldn't budge the points set screw as it had been worn off by the PO.

Long story short, I took the whole base plate out and used a screw extractor to get the old set screw out. I then ordered a small set of replacement Lucas 25D distributor screws from a Classic Mini spares place for about £1.50

http://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Electrics/Ignition/Distributors/17H5106.aspx?090802&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/17H5106.aspx|Back%20to%20search

With the base plate out I could clean it all up properly and fit the new points before refitting it and setting the contact breaker gap correctly.

Before..

Extracting the set screw..

Looking better!