I’m in the same leaky boat with Eric MaLossi (see “rant” thread),
though I’m not ready to give up quite yet.
My engine has been developing a knock. I didn’t really hear it until
my trip home from California last October, but I do recall Ray
mentioning that he heard “another knock” when listening to my
rattling Lucas alternator. I assume it has been there for a bit, but
became quite noticeable on the drive back up from the Bay Area.
Please note: This engine is basically “brand new”, having been
rebuilt less than 10,000 miles ago, by a vendor frequently referred
to as one of the “best” on this forum.
I didn’t really run the car much this past winter, except for when I
replaced the alternator, and did some basic troubleshooting. After
having ruled out the usual knocking suspects (tappet guides, valve
springs, etc) I asked some trusted advisors about possible sources of
the knock. Wrist pins came up more often than I wanted to hear, but
without actually listening in person, it was all conjecture. I wanted
to get the car to somebody with a lifetime’s experience with XK
engines to confirm. My main problem with that was being in a rural
area, at least a couple of hours between two major metro areas with
such mechanics.
After many attempts, I finally managed to align enough of my free
time, with a trailer, and hauled the 65E up to Chilliwack BC (east of
Vancouver) to Geoff Pickard of English Classic Cars have a listen.
Geoff came with several positive references from NW Washington E-type
owners, and I chatted with him last summer at List Member Bruce
MacCormack’s picnic.
http://chuck.forest.net/jag/Trip2ECC/
At my arrival Geoff started moving and talking at well over 3x my
normal speed, and performed a compression test, and a few other pokes
and prods under the cam cover in the time it would take me to drop a
wrench. I ran the car while he listened intently with a stethoscope
here and there on the head and block. We chatted for a while longer
about options and I headed home. He planned on “having a think” about
the issue and will call me later this week.
While there I saw Geoff’s immaculate S3, Bruce’s XK-150 project,
and a rather tired old RHD S1 2+2 that was in for a tune. The latter
I added to XKEdata.com’s database, as it wasn’t there before.
Stay tuned for the diagnosis.–
–chuck goolsbee
65ots, 1E10715
arlington, wa, usa
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