My Series rebuild

Bit wet today but I'm gonna try to pop out later to put the chemical metal on the front so I can put the entire body on tomorrow rather than just the rear tub

Will be attempting to change the thermostat over and fire it up for the first time in weeks too seeing as I just re-fitted the fuel tank. Hope the thermostat fixes the overheating

Moment of truth tomorrow finally going to change over the thermostat as the weldings all done now, so after a morning fibreglass and chemical metal session to cover all the small holes I'll be swapping the thermostats over

Praying I find the old one jammed slightly open if not I'm really dreading this

Talking to a mate today he said one of his friends had a V8 and the big end had gone or something like that and it was the cause of overheating so again thats another thing to add to the list of paranoia

Might end up just cutting my losses and selling the bugger if its going to be something extortionate, full engine rebuild will bankrupt me at this point

you need to talk to a mate with mechanical knowledge big end would give you a big rattle/knock under power and low oil pressure wouldnt effect cooling system ,overheating if 3.5 is usually rad,head gasket ,stuck shut thermostat,block full of crap between bores,

ahhh thanks James, there was no knocking when running just a nice rumble so I suppose I can cross that one back off in that case

I will get a compression and sniff test done after I change the thermostat if theres no change to the heat issue

Been scouring ebay for new engines too just incase


Are 3.5's very prone to cracked head gaskets as the mechanic down the road from me said he hadn't seen too many 3.5's with that problem also how would bores be cleaned ? would that be a case of taking the engine apart and steam cleaning ?

3.5s are the only v8 out of 3.9 ,4.2,4.0and 4.6 that dont crack blocks behind liner as they are 200 thou thicker on aliminum bores , head gaskets go sometimes, inlet manifolds can leak, why would you need to clean bores ,if worn need rebore new pistons ,if not run a high detregent oil to keep engine clean v8s prone to sluge up ,that will keep rings clean ,you may need a set of hyd tappets ,cam ,rocker shafts these wear on underneath,remove side core plugs and steam block out

Mmmmm sounds expensive, would you suggest rebuild or just replacing the engine with a newer 3.5 RV8 ?

replacement unless your bloody lucky may well be worse were not talking about getting a 10 year old motor ,yours may well be sweet, tappets if needed genuine from britpart erc4949 £3,do you know it over heats

It overheats in under 10 mins if thats what you're asking

Wouldn't be anything as simple like hoses the wrong way round would it ?

Basically symptoms are;

Top hose hot but soft
Bottom hose cool and soft
Temp gauge spikes to near red in under 10 mins
No oil in coolant
No white gunk in engine
No water in oil when I drained it
No knocking when I drove it round the yard
No coloured smoke

And thats about all I can think of off the top of my head

Since driving it I have changed the oil over and thats about it

rads ****ed

flush the rad

jamesmartin said:

rads ****ed

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pessimist

Sean said:

flush the rad

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optimist

Quoting yourself is so 1997

jamesmartin said:

rads ****ed

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THANK **** FOR THAT £210 delivered for a deep, custom 4 core high performance one over £1000 for a rebuild

Sean said:

flush the rad

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I gave it a quick 5 min rinse with a hose before I put new coolant in so I'll drain and re-flush but if that doesnt work I'll be ordering the new custom rad


Thanks for that guys, thats made me a lot happier knowing its a bit less serious than I thought

storm99 said:

Quoting yourself is so 1997

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sorry Gok

Dr_evil said:

Thanks for that guys, thats made me a lot happier knowing its a bit less serious than I thought

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now ya being overly optimistic young man

Sounds like yur engine is blown.

Sean said:

now ya being overly optimistic young man

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Buggered rad is better than buggered engine I'll definitely make sure to get a sniff test and compression done before buying it though just to be safe

Dr_evil said:

Buggered rad is better than buggered engine I'll definitely make sure to get a sniff test and compression done before buying it though just to be safe

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indeed, but don't assume it's just the rad

storm99 said:

Sounds like yur engine is blown.

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the grim reaper has spoken