24/05/2014 The repair work has already started and there is a long list of things to fix. Mostly it’s about broken off studs, especially around the exhaust – they have welded themselves in over the last 27 years and don’t want to come out.

The only way to deal with snapped off studs is to drill them out and clean up the thread. This is a laborious process and sometimes goes wrong meaning that further engineering work is required to recover the situation.

This went OK though, two out of the three studs had snapped but they both drilled out without problems, and have been replaced with new items.

Remember the damaged cylinder block?

The edge had crumbled causing the head gasket to fail. I’ve been building this up today to fill the metal back in. It’s possible to use steel filled epoxy but the best solution is to repair it by welding.

This van has future plans for North Africa, Eastern Europe and the north of Norway so reliability is paramount. Because of this, I’m much more comfortable with doing the extra work to weld it.

The modern way is to weld the block with TIG and use a special filler rod made of 55% nickel and 45% iron (none of this is straightforward, is it?) The basic welding has been carried out, there’s a little more cleanup to do then it’s off out to the engineering works to be rebored.

12/06/2014 Star Engineers in Broomfield have dealt with the block and head and have, as always, done a superb job.

The block has been bored +1.0mm and the top “decked” to flatten out the bits of welding I had carried out.

They also skimmed the head to flatten it and fixed up all the valve seats for me. The head is like new, I’m really pleased with the work they’ve done.

 

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