I think that just comes back to maintenance, especially correct and fresh coolant. With the amount of love Nix gets it shouldnt be an issue. Ive had a long string of iron block alloy head engines ranging from Datsuns in the old days to the 635 today and never had an issue. Maybe I just need to keep them longer? :-)

 

A better pic of the timber



Before.




About ten coats later.

 

It's been several weeks since my last post and forward progress has been made, but I have need of expert advice. I have no oil pressure!



Engine bay so far

So, what's been done?
Oil cooler checked and refitted. It has been off the engine for a looooong time
Oil filter replaced and 10+litres of new oil installed.
Manifolds and carbies refurbished. (Big job)
Bores checked and lubricated.
Cams checked and lubricated.
Wiring thru Death Valley replaced.


Engine now cranks over smoothly, plugs out, with nice suck blow noises from all cylinders. So, today I thought I'd see if I can get some oil pressure. I cranked and cranked but nothing. Cranked long enough to get flow out of the transmission onto the floor. Oops, forgot about the cooler hoses to the radiator. Nothing on the gauge. As I said before, everything is an unknown including the sender, gauges and wiring. So I just cracked the banjo bolt at the sender unit to see if I had any flow. Cranked for about a minute. Nothing!
I'm wondering if I need to prime something first? Maybe try and fill the oil cooler? Perhaps something made its home in the oil cooler hoses during the 15 years it was disconnected and its blocked?
Any thoughts gents?

 

Alan,

Remove the oil sender, either one, and attach a suitable fitting to allow priming the system.

Pump oil in via here, and the filter will fill, the oil supply pipes to the pump will fill and then some prime inside the pump will occur.

The o/rings on the suction side and the supply side of the pump are probably a tad dry, and need a little help.

Worked for me a few times.

 

Thank you Grant. Had a bit of time this arvo. Pulled the pressure switch and screwed in a bit of fuel hose and pumped about a litre and a half in.


Popped a bit of clear tube in and gave it a bit of a crank. Looks to be oil pushing back up the tube. Yahoo. Seems there is a bit of prime on the pump. Grant, how much oil should I inject in the oil lines to be safe. Also, how do I check the pressure switch, Sender and gauge? When I first turn on the ignition, I get a short glimmer from the oil pressure light then it goes out. Obviously this should stay on till there is pressure!? Thoughts?

 

As dry as I read that sucker is, 2+ ltrs should be OK, and you already seem to have push back now.

The oil light should be bright without pressure. Probably a dud earth path in that small switch. Nothing special, I use generic 1/8 bsp with a spade terminal, Ford/Toyota, etc etc.

The gauge one is unigue, and a PITA from new.

I would screw a master mechanical gauge into the light socket for now. Easier than adapting for the gauge socket.

 

Thanks Grant,
New pressure switch purchased and light now goes off after several seconds of cranking. I've gone through all the connections on the back of the Smiths gauge cluster and can confirm the pressure gauge now works, but the sender is cactus




Cleaned all contacts with steel wool

So having established there is pressure, I moved on to spark
In the many boxes of old and new bits were two Opus ignition modules. I've read a lot about them and was quite prepared to have to fork out for an aftermarket unit, but also hoping at least for now to have one that worked. One of them looked pretty good and unmolested wiring wise. The other looked pretty ratty and has obviously been modified to sit outside the Valley of Death. This is the one that is giving me a spark. The other one....nothin, except sparks when grounding the casing. Looks like it has a shorted transistor. Any expertise out there on repairs to these? There's not a lot inside them, couple of dodgy looking caps, some old school Lucas transistors, resistors, etc, etc.



I'll tidy up the wiring on the modified unit and mount somewhere for now. Looks like it might have sat behind the radiator on the shroud. Can someone confirm the gap that the pickup is supposed to have to the ferrite rods. Is it 20 thou? Next is to find twelve good leads amongst the 30 or so I have in the boxes. Then maybe think about fuel. Getting exciting. Can't wait to fire this beast up after it's been dormant for so many years.

Didn't know Lucas made their own electronic components.

 

Alan,

The 2 slotted screws on that large power resistor thing have been the main issue on the ones I have played with, play being the prime word, and loosening them, and then retightening them has brought the cars back to life instantly.

Lucas was huge in the early days, and had some really neat stuff, and reliability was always hanging around, but not as bad as the jokes etc make it out to be. Bad connections was the 99% cause.

Memory, is 0.014" for that gap.