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The compression tester was my idea, I figure if it's got bad compression then it's a head gasket, if it's good then its probably the Welch plugs fault.

I'm lucky that I'm on a farm while working with the LPG, heaps of open space.

I'm not sure what will happen of I try to get the ute registered, I assume vicroads know it used to have an LPG system. I can't find any regulations on removing them, just installing them.

I think I took the photo before removing the mixer ring, what do you mean by the 'spud'?

At the moment I'm leaning towards using the wagon engine; it's older but it's done fewer k's and is already running. I can then take my time rebuilding another EA81, maybe with those spare blocks that have only done 90,000k's. Will see how things unfold as I progress.

How quickly a month passes... Here's an update

The engine wouldn't turn over; after pulling a spark plug out I found that a cylinder had filled with that watery oil. So I'd say it's definitely the head.

I pulled the head off and found that there was also a rusty hole in one welch plug, and a little bit of leakage in another. There were no obvious gaps in the head gasket. I've cleaned up the old gasket on the head, now I've gotta get to town and buy a decent steel ruler / straight edge to check if the heads warped.

Will be staying at the farm where the brumby is for the next month or so, progress should pick up now.

spud mixer is what those on carb mixers are called by the trade.

Vic roads may best be asked if they need a certified inspector of LPG to issue some LPG removed statement, or may just do an initial and state is petrol on forms.

I have also seen that rusty intake manifold staining on outside, also inside, stain trailing off to cylinders ..but heads are off now, a good thing to know you have replaced the HG's if you dont use the other donk just yet. With these engines, individual testing to find best engine ain't always best just going by age or distance - is how they been abused.

steptoe wrote: ..but heads are off now, a good thing to know you have replaced the HG's if you dont use the other donk just yet..

Cheers steptoe
Just one head off atm, the left one. What do you mean by a donk? the other engine/parts?

I've checked the head over now with a 0.05mm feeler gauge (specified by the gregory's manual) and an engineers square as a straight edge; it's got a couple of little spots where the thing just fits through. The 0.10mm (the next biggest I have) won't fit.

I haven't got the head cleaned to the point where it's shiny or anything, I just gently scraped the gasket material off with a screwdriver but didn't want to dig into it too much. I'm considering using this method to finish it off then remeasuring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGZt6jCoIOA

Good work mate, sounds like the HG wasn't the issu to begin with - but you still need to clean out the cylinders!

Be sure to do the other head too. Have a read in my thread about Redback brumby as the issue there was a welch plug that dropped out, flooding the engine with the contents of the radiator into the sump. Engine stopped and left to sit for 6 months - all cylinders filled with oil and water :/

Clean everything up and get it going as it sounds like you've got a good engine there, depending on the condition of the rings - always a gamble when you find an engine like this.

Steptoe uses the old term "donk" for engine

Cheers

Bennie

Cheers Freddo.

I read your thread, my welch plugs were no where near as bad luckily!

How does the cylinder get full of watery oil if the head gasket is fine? I get that the welch holes allow the stuff to mix but how does the stuff get in there?

I'll definitely replace the welch plugs in the other head, they're probably in much the same condition though I haven't looked yet. I pulled the spark plugs out of it and didn't see any water/oil on the plug like the other head. Maybe if I got a long cotton tip and put it in there I'd find evidence of it if it's in there.

I'll do the plugs in the short block too since the whole cooling system is really corroded; I'm guessing the guy who owned it used plain water instead of coolant. The spare engine that's in pieces is really handy for finding things like the location of the welch plugs, the spare head is also holding all my rockers/pushrods etc in order.

the guys in US use a thick piece of glass ~6mm or more, bond a sheet of wet and dry of grade of your choice, hit it with spray oil lube and circular motion to face the heads. Tried it myself and happy Watery oil, fondly known as buttermilk after coolant and oil been mixed with heat and oil pump pressure can and will get caught up in the PCV lines and rebreathed to cylinders

I had another case of rain water in sump up to the level of the bottom of the turbo , sat about at least six months , thought motor would be stuck shut - yet turned freely ! I guess if it had evaporated out then it would have rusted. May never get it running though ...

Yes, donk is not just a character in Croc Dundee

Haha, it's been ages since I've seen the croc dundee movies.

When I drained all the buttermilk out of the sump about 1L of water came out first.

Ordered parts yesterday; head gasket, welch plugs + a few filters and things to make up the amount which qualified for free shipping.

Until they arrive I'll probably focus on the daily drive; a 96 camry wagon which needs the attention that's been lost to the brumby.

Parts haven't arrived yet, and I'm moving to Melbourne for three weeks for a work opportunity (only found out today and I'm starting on Wednesday). Therefore there won't be anything going on here for a month.

No stress mate. Patience. My offroader's been int the shed for about 6 weeks and I've barely had time to look at her :/

Cheers

Bennie

Afterthought: why not pack the engine and work on it after you're done for the day?

Bennie

Haha, I might pack the Gregory's manual for a bit of light reading.

I've got the parts now, they'll be sitting there teasing me until I get back.

Back home again and had more of a chance to look at it.

I noticed that a steel pipe attached by a hose to the water pump was rusted out, so I pulled off a few more things to see how bad the corrosion was. Here's the lower radiator hose connects to the water pump:


There was also a heap of the stuff in the top hose.

I'm concerned how bad it might be inside the block, I'm thinking I'll definitely have to replace the bigger welch plugs that are there.

I'm once again leaning towards using the wagon engine. What do you guys reckon?

Long time no talk. Short story is I finally got fresh welch plugs in the head, cleaned it all up etc then noticed a massive crack between the valve seats in each cylinder I'd missed

Going to start playing with the wagon engine tomorrow to see if I can get it tuned up.

Bugger mate!

I don't know how I missed those pics of the cooling systems all gummed up!

It looks to me like someone has mixed two different coolants and it's all turned to jelly. That would not be fun to play around with.

I hope the wagon engine is better!

Cheers

Bennie

The wagon engine is so keen it ticks with excitement

About to check valve clearances and do a compression test.

Done the valve clearances and it still ticks. Going to have to wait until someones around to give me a hand with the compression tester.


I put up a video of the engine running on the facebook brumby group so you guys can hear the ticking. You won't need to have Facebook to view it, just follow the link.
https://www.facebook.com/tim.dyson.12/v ... 331268050/

Apparently it's rod knock. I don't have the facilities to rebuild engines sadly. Dad has a new workshop in planning for the farm, hopefully sometime this year. So looks like the project will be on hold for now.

I've taken my camry off the road recently, so I'm going to be on the look out (and saving $) for a roadworthy (or close) brumby or MY/L series wagon to replace it. Luckily the family's got a spare Magna that I can use pretty much indefinitely.

Definitely not a healthy noise seems to loud and low pitched to be valve train noise. I've heard similar on one of my own engines years ago which turned out to be a failed main bearing.