Lotusfab

I visually inspected the followers. I know of several builders, now I have started to investigate, who Ping them. If the sound is dull they are replaced. In my case the engine had a catestrophic faillure and was rebuilt in 1987, the entired bottom end was replaced. Maybe they reused the top end parts and this follower had been weakened by the previous Failure? The car did hardly any miles after the rebuild and was put of road. I have the reciepts for the work. I will check the sludge as I still have paper towels with it on.

Sounds like a plan Barry.

The damage on my bearings and surfaces is consitent with that caused by cast iron particles. The are no signs of glass bead damage on the parts. I have the oil startvation damage on the main bearings. I believe the oil pump is a red herring. The initial starting didnt effect the engine probably because of the graphogen. It run well for two months. Then the cam follower started to break apart. The bits circulated in the oil and caused bearing damage. This caused the oil pressure to drop when hot. On my return from Brooklands I noticed the pressure had fallen below what it usually is - I putbthis down to the engine being hot. Finally the camfollower broke apart. The oil pump damage was caused by the cam follower. I would have noticed it and I had all the parts inspected by someone else who also would have spotted it. So this was caused by using old cast iron cam followers! I'm definately getting it rebuilt. The only question is whether me or someone else is going to do it! Im pretty certain now this was caused just by a cam follower breakup. I wont make the mistake of using cast iron followers if I do this again!

I have found a website that has pictures of bearing shell damage. Using this info I think I finally understand what happened. The marks on the shells indicate two types of wear.

I examined it quite closely. It had tiny granular fragments of iron. It may have bead I need a microscope! I guessing ground up cam follower! The piston, rings and liners seem unaffected. The big end journals have very slight damage which will polish out. The front main bearing journal has deeper scoring. It will need a regrind. All the bearings must be replaced. The camshafts must be replaced. One of the cam towers needs replacing the other might be ok. The Auxillery housing must be replaced. Almost a new engine!

You make some good points. The engine ran quite well for two months. Not sure how many miles I covered

Im not 100 percent on what caused this. The only hard evidence is the cam follower breaking up. The pump wear and the rest may have all been caused by this one thing. Well the bottom end is off. Pistons and bores appear ok, but need measuring. All bearings have scoring and must ve replaced. Big end journals need a regrind. A lot of cash! Im not sure whether I want to rebuild thie again. The amount if effortand time I spent this should not have ocurred. Im asking myself if I should just go on holiday, get an expert to do it and come back to a new engine! That way if it goes the same way its their fault! Oh well Imhave a think about it!

To be clear though I was getting 75 PSI from the pump at start, when I sorted the PRV. There must have been a lot of damage in a very short time span.

I would have done but Ive already cleaned it! It just looked like a darl grey sludge. Maybe graphongen mixed in from the rebuild. And this was after the rebuild. My gut tell me blasting media and metal in there. Heres the Oil analysis as promised.They told me the Boron is probably due to oil additives. So no concerns from this report. Have to remember though where the sample came from and it only detects small particles.

Just got the sump off. Shocking! Theres pariticles in there that must have cause the scoring. Whether they are blast bead, cam follower bits or a combination I dont know. I have never seen that in an engine especially a rebuilt one! I will have to think carefully how to proceed. I cant have this happen again. Now I have seen a good oil pump its obvious the one one there was worn. I cocked this up. I should have examined the oil pump more carefully and not started this engine without oil pressure hoping it would come up! If your reading this dont make my mistakes! I will have the crankshaft out by end of today. The oil report came back with nothing unusual, but dont forget it cant detect large particles, there were a lot of the in the sump. It was like a grinding paste!

Thanks. I may outsource this job.

Yep, I'm replacing the rotor and annulus with new. I also have a replacement auxillery housing and oil pump housing thanks to Andy on here and its in very good condition compqred with the existing one. Im lucky and have four micrometers and all the other kit needed to measure all of the components on the engine. As far as the cam housings I really need new camshafts so I can measure the housing to cam clearance and determine whether honing is practicle. Ill take the bottom apart tomorrow. Im really not looking forward to that!

I am busy prepairing Andys auxillery housing and pump which will be used. Im thinking ifbreplaceingbthe rotor and annulus with new. Has anyone used the new ones, there are a few adverse stories? No sure how much will need replacing yet, early days. I have to measure everything again.

Thanks Dave(Lotusman) Awesome test rig. Wouldnt fit on my turbo inlet manifold, but I just happend to have a spare S1 manifold. After testing the pump jet operation I would never bolt any rebuilt carbs in a car without calibration. One carb had no output! After adjusting I found myself screwing the adjusting screw way up the thread. The pump jet spring has gone weak and needs replacing. The other side the spring is passing through the pump jet arm! New springs and it will be really easy to calibrate exactly. Thanks Dave!

Add an oil pump to that, its completely shot!