Austin Montego 1.6 HL Estate (C699OFE)

[H48HPE]

Bought this in February 2011 - I was having a month off between jobs and wanted an easy project to get running and get MOT'd. i paid £80 for it from a mates dad. I think its got 60odd thousand miles on the clock

It had been off the road since some time in 1992 when the previous owner got a company car. the car was put in a garage after only 6 years on the road. The previous owner used to start the engine every month for the first year it was off the road and leave it idling - he thought he was doing it some good - but all he achived in the end was siezing the engine - which i found out after buying (to be fair he didn't know he'd done it he just assumed it wouldn't start)

So my 'easy project' is awaiting major engine surgery and is sat on my drive now. hopefully it will get moved into the garage later this year for work to start.

A few pictures of it in 'As Found' state:







And a picture of it now sat on my drive - receiving regular attention from these flaming scrap dealers that keep coming round

[D87SMW]

That's a beautiful motor, original HL spec too, before the additions that cars of my HL's age received. Best of luck with it, Andy.

[Captain Slow]

And mine got more alterations still! Really looking forward to seeing this.

[Austin-Rover]

Mmmm...delightful. A lovely looking motor. My unused S Series would look lovely in that engine bay...

[Captain Slow]

Mmmm...delightful. A lovely looking motor. My unused S Series would look lovely in that engine bay...

I thought you were keeping that a secret?

[H48HPE]

Seen as the worst of the weather seems to be over - hopefully! I decided to move my Avenger out of the garage and move my Montego in....

I thought Id put a load of photos up etc - as I'm determined this is going to be at BL day this year....


seen here going in, hopefully not for too long!


a few photos of the outside, it's in good over all condition, but would benefit from a respray.

all the doors are in really good condition:


this is nice to see - a clean original filler pocket


the main problem is this, there are a lot of stone chips that had been left untreated and the surface rust has spread under the paint like this:


I could do without the cost of a respray, and whilst I'm now getting quite confident spraying non-metalic cellulose paint, i'm not sure how I'd go with metallic paint, and I'd rather not use 2k paint, I don't even know if you can get opporto red metallic in celly?

the interior should come up really well, the carpet's just dirty, but should clean up. the seats have had these made to measure seat covers fitted from new, which means the seats are unspoilt by sun/dirt... The seat covers will definitely remain, they're too retro cool not to keep....!









the dashboard and all the other brown trim has really benefited from being locked up in a garage for 19 years - its all in really good nick - it really is a timewarp car, the ash tray even has 2 old (pre 1990 - larger than current) 5 pence pieces in - and an AA members book from 1991 was in the door bin, the last 2 tax discs from 1991 & 1992 are in the glovebox.



More photos of the underside to follow.....

[D87SMW]

That's lovely! We must get the four North West Montego HLs together!

[H48HPE]

The underside looks really clean, the odd bits of rust really does just look like the odd stone chip or edge of a panel where there is a spot welded joint - a simple case of wire brishing, treating and then a full underseal.









I couldn't quite see what was going off with the petrol tank, as it wasn't directly over the pit, but holding the canmera up to it i managed to capture this slightly worrying corrosion... will have a closer look at this later, but i'd much reather have a rusty tank that should be an easy swap, then a rusty underside that needs loads of welding!!

[H48HPE]

And so to the main problem - the engine that just wont run - it was really stiff, it would turn over on the starter but not by hand - it was too tight for that.... I tried the usual tricks like puitting oil or diesel down the bores, but nothing made it any easier. I think it was so tight the starter was dropping so many volts it had nothing left for the ignition system. i followed advice in these threads:

http://maestro.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=14488

http://maestro.org.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=15413

in the end I took the head off to look in the bores and to eliminate a seized camshaft, the bores looked nice and shiny so I thought this was unlikely to be the problem, the head gasket looked in good order too, and there was no sign of coolant in the cylinders. the cam shaft was free turning, and seemed unlikely to be a problem.

I decided to take the engine out to examine the main bearing shells and check for crankshaft damage. this is where i startred today, I'd already removed the wiring and other bits of the engine, so it was just a case of pulling out the engine and box - I've got an RSJ in my garage roof, so i strung a block and tackle of that to do the job.

This is where I started this morning after i'd stripped out the remaining bits to make a clear path for the engine (a lot had already been done in the head removal process):



it came out relatively easily - i put slings round it and a bit of chain to extend the sling - being carful not to have the chain in weight bearing contact with the top of the block.



Our Lass' dad offered to give me a hand, which was really useful



we got it on the floor to separate the differential and gearbox away from the block.



The clutch had been stuck together and wouldn't disengage - so breaking it apart was quite satisfying - I've got a NOS original unipart replacement to go in here all being well...



we lifted the block onto the bench by hand, which was a bit difficult, but not too bad, when I'd got the sump off this is what it looked like.



I took each main bearing off one at a time expecting to find damage, but frustratingly all was well, or at least they look fine to me....?



I should have took the big end bearings off first as i would have discovered that they were ok, and that It was actually just the pistons stuck in their bores all along. I had to knock them out using a wood block and hammer, they were really badly stuck. I'm soking the pistons in diesel to try and release the rings now, the bores looked really good from the top whilst the engine was still in so I didn't expect this to be the issue.

the bores don't look bad:


but the piston rings seem look a bit of a mess... (well surely this is all it can be...)



I hope I can get everything back together without too much trouble, hopefully it will live to fight another day.

I want to clean the engine up and paint it, plus clean the egearbox up a bit, and get the engine bay cleaned up and any rust treated too whilst its all out.

I feel like I'm making some progress now. This is my first attempt at opening an engine up - so its a bit of a learning curve...



I'll be back when I've done a bit more to her

Andy

[The Professor]

Looks very nice indeed. There doesn't look to be much wrong with the bodywork . I have always liked the estate and found them to be vey pleasing to look at. I think Opporto is one of the nicest colours they made them in.

[Captain Slow]

That's lovely! We must get the four North West Montego HLs together!

Yes we must!


Those seat covers are great - like an over-accentuated version of the early Chalkstripe velvet which was more pinstripey than the corduroy style stuff in the other 3! Glad they're staying.


Oporto Red is lovely but there are approximately seven billion different shades. A lot of work will be needed to colour match effectively!

[H48HPE]

Some more work done over the weekend...

I've deglazed the bores using one of these tools below - this is so the new rings bed into the bores, otherwise the engine would end up burning oil:



Leaving them looking like this (below) -( obviously i didnt do it with the piston in, this is just a pic i took later), as best I could I tried to get the stones to produce a cross pattern 45 degrees off horizontal... after I'd done I tried the new rings in the bores and they had a gap of 20thou - (max allowable was 30thou) so that was ok... the new rings are those lip dodger types with the recess cut into the top , so i wasn't too worried about leaving the slight step at the top of the bores



I put NOS Cords piston rings on each piston, and fitted each one. I'd already torqued up the main bearings, so I only had to do the big ends... I painted one side of the block in Matt Black engine enamel. before I took the pully wheel off (which took some doing with the engine out) I tried turning the engine over & it is now free running - result!!



when I look at this lot I worry - i hope it all goes back ok!!



the engine bay is ripe for a clean up, which is next on the list after I've finished putting the engine back together.... a task made easier whilst the engines out.



the engine was absolutely covered in oil when I got it, and I think this is why, its the breather off the sump. when i took it off it was solid and you couldn't blow through it. I've been soaking it in diesel, and loads of emulsified oil sludge and wire wool type stuff has come out. obviously the engines been breathing through any oil seal it could leading to the mess! I'm going to have to have a think about refurbing the breather somehow; bit of forum reading to do there...



hopefully i'll have some more progress next weekend...

Andy

[H48HPE]

of course, i don't know if any of this will work in the end as this is my first go at this type of thing, but I believe in having a go and learning from mistakes - so any mistakes can only produce a positive outcome in the end - if that makes sense i know what i mean anyway...

Andy

[Austin-Rover]

Well done, Andy. It looks like you're making real progress!

[H48HPE]

Thanks Rich, it's quite an entertaining project - i can't wait to get it all back together and see if it works... hopefully without any knocking or grinding sounds!!

I've bought the conversion gasket set today (unipart - so should be good) off ebay, which has got all the seals etc in it for the crank, oil pump face and sump etc...

not sure what to do with the head - might put it back on without getting hardened seats put in - just to see how it runs, if it runs well then take it off again later and get it fully refurbed. if i had it fitted with new seats and the bottom end was rubbish - then i'd be really annoyed at wasting the money getting it done. perhaps i just need more confidence!!

Andy