• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Does this make sense to you guys?

Share this page

Would be my opinion George. Also the rod bearings, is my understanding the rod bearings are more critical oil pressure wise than the mains. However, both are done at the same time.
 
Sadly, George, if your bearings are worn enough that you are loosing oil pressure, it's a safe bet you are going to have to have the journals turned. Drop your pan, pull the caps and have a look. If you can see or feel any grooves, ridges or wear on the main or rod journals, out she comes. If it looks good, buy some Plastiguage at your local parts store and use it to check your clearances.

Ps. Be careful not to mix up the bearing caps.
 
Admittedly I don`t know spridget engines, BUT ...... I do know American engines. Your main bearings and rod bearings and cam bearings all have to do with oil pressure. If all three are worn you will loose a considerable portion of your oil pressure. The first thing I would do is attach a RELIABLE guage and take another reading just to ensure that the readings you are getting are correct. If you still get low readings I suggest that your entire engine is due for rebuild. Reasoning: If the engine has enough wear on the bearing surfaces to loose oil pressure then the rings and valve guides are not far behind in wear. Just replacing the bottom end bearings is only a temporary fix at best. I don`t know about britt engines but they do sell 1, 2, and 3 thousands oversized bearings to compensate for wear in american engines. Use the plasitguage method to asertain which bearing you need to purchase. Also you might want to check and see if you can replace the oil bypass spring in the oil pump, some britt engines have an external adjustment for oil pressure. Possibly the spring has become damaged in some way or even stuck partially closed.
Just some ideas!
I`m sure the spridget boys will be assisting in info here
 
Time for main, rod, and cam bearings along with a head job. Don't forget the thrust washers. Do it right one time and never do it again on a street car, should be good for 70 to 100K miles if done correctly.
 
Thanks, guys, that's what I figured. After all, she's got 135k on the engine with nothing except routine maintainance.
 
yep yep. Oh while it is out budget for a new clutch plate and throw out bearing and by all means replace the oil pump. also check the carb throttle rods for new bushings. If the rods wiggle in the bushings have them replaced, and I mean if you can tell any wiggle at all.
 
jlaird said:
I mean if you can tell any wiggle at all.
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/blush.gif Did Joe get em back to ya?
 
I am going to disagree with Jack just bit on the 70-100k. That's prolly true for the A-series. But the 1500s flexy crank and long stroke make it wear through bearings fast. Redo your engine, but plan on using the technique you posted above to renew your bearings and thrust washer every 30-40k. Then you'll get the long engine life you want and deserve.
 
And speaking about the carb bushings-- I just pulled one of my carbs apart and found that the bushings had worn .003" at the worst point but the shaft had worn over .017" giving me about .020" of play (lots). So when you go to order new bushings you may want to check the shafts ($20.00 each)too.
Bill
 
Joe says carbs should ship today, I hope I hope. As he is on vacation next week I hope I hope.
 
Back
Top