Hi Bard,
Yes Washdown and NO compression is common and coupled with a duff coil and 2 knackered cylinders I’m not surprised it gave you the “Run Around” hope the transplant works out OK!
The coils weren’t duff, they were all ok once the fuse was replaced… The engine actually started, but died within seconds. I would expect it to run, albeit lumpy and rough…
I wonder what could have caused this; two cylinders with zero compression, and rather uneven on the rest of them… Does the PO’s story check out; “Drove the car a short distance, then stopped for a while and couldn’t get it running after that.” Sounds very much like a liner washdown to me… His (uneducated) theory was that the secondary timing tensioners had given in and had skipped one or more cogs. I find that very unlikely… Asked if he had heard any noise when trying to start, and he said no.
What do you reckon, Neil?
That descibes the classic symptoms of Washdown coupled with Nikasil liner failure to me!
In which case a Short Block with steel liners as a replacementis definitely the only means of recovery AFAIK.