Project "B"

Page 2

April 2009

Decided to clean and refit the fuel pump and assembly to see if I could get Project B's engine running, this is what I started with, quite a tangle of pipework

And fairly rusty as well

A quick blast in the shot blasting cabinet soon sorted that out

A coat of etch primer

A thick coat of 2 pack primer

After a rub down and a couple of coats of 2 pack black

New fuel pump rubber mounts, not BMW ones but similar enough

Fuel pump also got a rub down and quick coat of paint

The completed assembly

Also cleaned up the fuel tank, now completed and 2 packed

A few weeks ago I started to clean up the underneath, in preparation for this, and in an attempt to stop the rot

Now fitted new fuel lines

Pushed out into the sun

Doesn't look very promising, note no radiator

Or water pump

But that did not stop me trying to start it, with a fully charged battery it spun over freely, but no sign of life. the fuel I had put in was some old stuff that I had drained from some other tanks, so was very much an unknown quantity. Spun it over again, still nothing.

Thought I had better check the basics, took a plug lead off and checked for a spark, very faint spark, took the cap and rotor arm off, they were quite corroded, cleaned them up, checked again, good spark this time, spun it over gain, still nothing.

Thought I should check that the fuel was getting through, took off the fuel line, big gush of fuel, so fuel no problem. Spun it over again, still nothing

Time to check the plugs, all plugs out, all plugs wet with fuel, at least the fuel is getting in, cleaned up plugs, checked gaps, and refitted, spun it over again, still nothing, spun it over again, tiny cough, yes a tiny cough, had I really heard that, it was so faint, spun it over again, nothing.

Bet I have flooded it now, open the throttle and air flow meter leave for a few minutes, spin it over again, bigger cough, ooohhh this is getting exciting, spin it over again, another cough, spin it over again, nothing.

Flooded again, open throttle and AFM, leave for a few minutes, spin it over, cough, cough cough, Bang, 1 piston springs into life, sounds like an old stationary engine, bang, ----- bang ------bang, dies, nothing spin it over again, this time 2 pistons kick in, then 3 then 4 then it dies again, this is getting tense.

Spin it over again, nothing, flooded again, leave for a few minutes and spin it over again, 1- 2 -3 - 4 -5 -6 pistons take it in turn to kick in, forgot to mention that it also has no exhaust so it is very loud, unburnt fuel is down the header backfiring and popping along at the same time, gradually it settles to a full on 6 cylinders all firing together, but then I have to turn it off, no radiator, or coolant or water pump fitted, so can't afford to allow it to get too hot.

Up until now it had been off the road for 15 years, and not run for at least 10 of those, so all in all I was pretty pleased, just got to get that water pump and radiator fitted and give a good warm up.

Cleaned up the water pump housing

Stripped the pump and other parts from one of my spare engines

A quick shotblast and respray for the pulley

A quick wire brush and respray for the water pump

Radiator needs a clean up too, it looks a bit tatty, but it is water tight

A quick rub down and a spray with some Satin Black

Water pump fitted

For some reason the power steering pulley from the front of the crank had also been removed, I took this from my spare engine, but it is very rusty and needs a bit of a clean up

Now all fitted up and working

June 2009

Then it was onto the bonnet, the existing bonnet was totally rotten, so I decided to fit the red bonnet from Project M, as I now had a nice silver bonnet for it.

It was a little rusty on the inside, so I thought it best to clean it up know to stop it getting any worse

So started with the twist knot wire brush on my grinder

After many hours this was it stripped, it took about 8 hours in total, not sure I would be too keen to do it again

Then I treated the rusty parts with Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 rust converter

Then a coat of 2 pack primer

Then flatten down for a smooth finish

And then on with the blue, I used 2 Pack paint, base coat and clear

There are a few bits in the paint, from the less than ideal conditions, but I can deal with these later if needed

Then it is onto the car

Looking a lot more complete now with the front end built up, this is pretty much all it is going to get for the time being, before going into storage