I guess we should really have a leak-down tester locally. I'll pick one up next time I go for a date with the princess. My car didn't pressurize the cooling system unless you beat on it really hard, but it did share compression.



Definately something I would do by September for this winter. Basic clean up, over-bore and get it down the road. I'm guessing nothing north of $700 (machine work, bearings, pistons, gaskets). I'll throw in the red POR block paint!

Wow!! Thanks for the response gents. I appreciate all the input.

First off, Matt, yep the injectors weren't spraying at all with the airflow plate down and the pumps running. Not a drop. It was a barely millisecond puff when the pump first came on, and you could hear something clicking shutting them off.

As for the urgency of the car being on the road, its not urgent at all. The most this car will need to do this summer is pick up some lumber from Totem. I ride my bike most days to work, so there's no rush. I really do appreciate your offer to come down to have a look....that would be excellent. You're always welcome here, but yeah, its certainly no rush. If it worked out sometime I'd be stoked. The fuel pressures are certainly a big unknown at this point. The idle air valve appeared to be working well when I checked it, but perhaps its not opening all the way.

Hmmm. So oil could conceivably just increase the CR by virtue of filling up the combustion chamber? Gotcha. The frothy blowby is something I had never seen before though. Everytime I pull the cap, there's a fair bit of it there, so I'm guessing that can't be good. The headgasket? Hmmm. There's no leaking that I've seen, but I hadn't thought of it pressurizing the cooling system. In my limited knowledge it seems to be normal. Wouldn't there be coolant leaking somewhere if the headgasket was bad? Plugs were dry last time we checked.

Hmmm. Well, I must say the thought of a rebuild for this car is both exciting and daunting. It certainly wasn't my plan, although I accepted full responsibility for the unknown when this car was purchased. It was more of a novelty at the time. The thought of having some more displacement, lighter rotating assembly etc. sounds great! That would be damn rad actually. A rebuild core/swap and go sounds much better to me as well. Getting everything tip top internally would be prime. But there is no such thing as a quick rebuild in my garage. And this also likely means postponing putting the yellow car back on the road for another year. That's pretty sad for me.

This begs a couple questions:
1. B20....is it worth upgrading to an OHC engine? Getting parts for this K-jet setup is harder that the later cars, and part of me thinks getting an early b21 might be better. Heck, I've got a b21a I could put in there already. Getting that one going would be cheaper. It means swapping wiring, and acquiring all the fuel injection bits, but I've done it before.
2. Is this car worth it? I've already done more work on it than I had hoped. Cosmetically its not awful, but not great either. Spending $700 on a rebuild is silly on a $300 car. I may venture to say its out of the question. It wasn't my plan to do it, and I doubt Laura will be stoked on the idea. A small part of me thinks if the engine is pooched, this car might be doomed sooner rather than later.

Should I ship down my leakdown tester?

I've asked about the compressor because I could bring down my leakdown tester if you've got one, Greg. Maybe I didn't ask... but I meant to at least once or twice in this thread. I do wish I had a scleroscope... scoleriscope... fiber optic camera thingie. Being able to see inside the cylinders would be nice.

You may see coolant weeping, you may not. You may see pressure in the cooling system, you may not. Either of those are a sure sign of a bad HG, but not the other way 'round. I'm also not saying that it's a head gasket - it's just something else to think of, and could cause all of your symptoms (though all of them at the same time is unlikely).

I'll try to get down there some time this month, Greg. This weekend is out, obviously, and next weekend Dr. and Mrs. Pushrod are away so that's probably no good either. Maybe the following weekend. I could bring your B21A back down while I'm at it, as well as whatever else. It would mean the difference between F150 and 780, but I'm game either way.

I'd thought about mentioning a newer engine, like a later B230F, but then you're looking at changing to EFI or retrofitting it with K-jet. A B23E or B21F would work of course, but you've still got lots to change: transmission & clutch, for instance, not to mention all the support systems, hooking the B230 downpipe to the current exhaust (which should be cake, but another hassle nonetheless), getting the B20's power steering pump to work with the B230, or the B230's power steering pump to connect to the '75 rack. Nothing insurmountable, but hassles that'll nickle and dime you to death. If you spend $700 on a rebuild and it's a drop-in deal, and you've got maybe $1500 into a solid 245 (of any year, let alone a '75), I think you're doing fine.

I'm looking for a leak down tester right now - so we should have one in a while (perhaps by the weekend). I think we need to have a long think about a full swap to a tilty engine. The $700 rebuild is a pretty reasonable estimate and as Matt has pointed out - for the price you bascially get a very reasonable 245. Sure it needs some cosmetics (wee bit of paint) - but on balance if you were going to dump that car, I'd be first in line (with a sold 242). I'd talk you out of it.

Drive it for the summer and squirel away the engine parts. We could crack open Dale's B20 (either one if he's willing) and see what needs to be done to it. A quick freshening up and some head work donated by Dr. Pushrod (liking that almost as much as Coburn Performance) and you'll be down the road in grand style.

What we need at this point is some real information. First up, leak-down (come help with the shed on Sat and we'll get that sorted) then we'll start the ball rolling.

Don't know if this is of any help/interest to you but a 1980 240 just came up in Iron Springs for $400. Claims to have 68000 Km but with an unresolved starting issue. I really doubt the mileage is right but might be worth a call for a engine swap with an m46 for cheep?? Ifffff the mileage is 68K it's a potential helluva deal.

http://lethbridge.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi ... Z125672765

Matt:
Yeah, you're right $700 isn't bad really for getting everything done and having a fairly new engine. I think I'd probably consider a b21f if I had a donor car right next to the Smurf to just swap stuff over (like Alex's car), but in the end, its nothing that scares me, I just don't want to go through the hassle. That said, if I had a b23e, with known good internals in front of me, I'd have a hard time turning that down. Actually, that would probably be my dream at this point.

The HG thing makes sense. I'll certainly keep an eye on it, and maybe see if I can't at least check the torque on the bolts at some point. As for a compressor, I'm pretty sure borrowing Dr. Pushrod's little compressor shouldn't be a problem. Sounds like he's on it already. If you did come down, that would rule, but I certainly hope this isn't a point of stress for you. 3 weekends from now works for me. I had thought of that b21a...Alex also has some parts for me that I may ask you to bring down if that's cool.

Craig:
Yeah, you're probably right on some of that stuff. Some head work would go a long way I'm sure, and would help convince me I don't need a b23e! If you're planning on getting a leakdown tester, I would certainly like to contribute to its purchase if this is so we can test my car...but I'm guessing you just really want one.
Saturday sounds good. I'm there.

Woodenshoes:
I'd be interested to know more about that car. Thanks for posting the link. If it is 68,000 kms, that would be pretty awesome. Perhaps I'll try giving the guy a call. Its likely a b21a, which wouldn't be ideal, but if the mileage is that low.....

There's a Snap-On MT-324 now sitting in my kitchen. Leak down test coming up.

HOORAY!

I may be coming down to leth next weekend, I can bring things if needed

Cool. Thanks Andy. I'll let you know how things go.

While I completely agree that nickel and dime is bad and should be avoided, there are lots of rusty B23E donor cars or good flat-top piston B23s out there that make good, more powerful, better fitting, inexpensive more reliable engines than a B20 ever will for a super low budget DD. It is a bit of a tough call since the 75 is so wacky and would take some thought to change over cleanly, but I really don't think a B20 belongs in a 240 and stand by that opinion. Only if it works and is what you have do you keep that thing IMO. I'm also a strong advocate of everything fitting correctly and making what is there run right, but I think I'd draw the line on this one. I do share Matt's view that rebuilt and all sorted in a 240 makes for a good reliable car though.

I think stuck rings are fairly likely given the rust and crud. I'd check all the K-jet parts with a pressure tester before moving forward. I think you can likely fix up the k-jet and make it run good enough. I'd pull the head off the motor before pulling the motor. How are the timing gears on this lovely specimen? When they really get old the timing starts to walk a lot and you will get backfires through the intake at odd times as a symptom. A set of 164/B30 gears is a nice little upgrade. I think I saved a set for a future B20 build. A rebuilt set of SU carbs makes for a real good performing economical B20...not that K-jet doesn't either and it would be too much work to justify switching it I think...going back to my original statement that I think the B20+240 thing was a mistake from the start. In my mind, a B20 driver should be set up with rebuilt SUs, lots of little tricks and attention to detail in an early 140 or older car.

Well, its about high time for an update!
The car is running much much better thanks to a lot of good help from Matt last weekend. We were able to set the timing (this was a good part of the problem), test the fuel pressures, and pull a bunch more parts for it from the Raymond junkyard. After swapping and testing three different CPRs to find a good one, the car starts much much better. There is zero white crap at the oil cap now, and power down low is significantly better. All in all I was very happy to have the car running better. Its a night and day difference. Fuel pressures are decent, so I should be good to go.
The results of a leakdown are below:
#1 - 15%
#2 - 14%
#3 - 28%
#4 - 11%
There was leakage at the rings on all four, some exhaust leakage on 1-3, and a bunch of leakage on the intake, most on #3. Looking back, the compression test was lowest on #3 as well. Still not all that bad I guess, and a relief as it looks like the bottom end may not be all that bad on this engine.

Today, Craig and I ran the test again with his new tester. The goal was to get a base test before and after doing the Seafoam treatment. (boy, was that fun!) Turns out the tester wasn't set up right before we Seafoamed, so we couldn't compare, but the results after are:
#1 - 17%
#2 - 21%
#3 - 60%
#4 - 13%
Different numbers of course, due to a completely different tester. But, #3 is clearly the problem, and it had by far the most intake leakage. I'm not sure why there is a significantly higher discrepancy on #3 between the two tests, but whatever the case, the goal is now to get a new head rebuilt for this car and it should be good to go.

James, in a way I agree with you....a B20 doesn't belong in this car. If I had my way, I'd replace it for something newer, but if I can get a few more years out of this engine the way it is, I'll be okay. Its actually growing on me a little. It has more power than I expected oddly, and once this is all sorted, it should be dead reliable. I can't believe how simple this thing is. I'll be on the lookout for some steel timing gears, though I have no idea how good these current ones are. I think if Craig gets his way with porting the new head, along with a bump in compression I'd be pretty happy with 120hp. Perhaps a cam may be in order too!

Did someone say steel timing gears? I think I have a couple of sets kicking around...

We'd definitely be interested...I'm building the B18 and Greg wants a set for the 240.