Messages

Thanks Keith, all sorted, great website.
Vince

I've bought myself an engine crane and stand as I'm looking to rebuild the old 428 which I took  out of my cobra. Unfortunately, the engine stand has a plate with four adjustable arms which each have a 40mm tube spacers which you bolt through to the engine to hold the engine. I need to buy some 70mm bolts to bolt through to the spacers to the bell housing, the existing bell housing bolts are too short. I've tried everywhere locally to buy these without success, does anybody know what the thread is, it's not a metric thread so I,m assuming a whitworth or af thread.
Vince

Thanks everyone for the helpful info, I will pass all this on to my mechanic for when I next take it in, it does seem a bit better since installing the larger battery but not as easy to start as I would like. I do have the right starter and alternator so most likely the fuel vaporisation is the culprit. Vince

Hi Rob, thank you for your reply and sorry for the delay in responding, I've been away on a family holiday and banned from the internet. I will forward your response to my mechanic who looks after my car for him to check out the possible causes you highlight. I will respond with results of his checks. Thanks again.
Vince

Thanks Graham and Rob, I've tested the battery after a short run out and it reads 12.66 volts. I still need to test the alternator. I believe The compression ratio is quite high at 10.8 to 1. The car turns over quite well when cold on a fully charged battery and starts can take 30 seconds. When I switch it off it tends to over run for a couple of seconds which may have something to do with the difficult restarting. I'm tempted to purchase a higher Ah battery and hope that solves the problem when hot starting.
Vince

Rob , thank you for your very helpful and detailed reply. I have currently a 77AH Varta  battery which I tend to fully charge when I return from a road trip. My concern is this, if I start from cold it can't take 20 to 30 seconds to fire the engine, I then go out for say half an hour, park up for an hour and then the battery seems to struggle to turn the engine over. Is this because the battery is underrated for such a big engine or is it correctly sized and just worn out. Does 77Ah sound about right for a 427 FE?

Vince

I have recently  installed a 427 side oiler into my cobra and I need to replace the battery, can anyone advise the best make and output battery for this engine.
Vince

I would love to take part but not sure how loud my 427 is!

Hi Roger,  the engine which I had fitted 6 months ago is out and completely stripped down. I think you are correct in saying that the thrust bearing has protected the crank. Unfortunately, where the engine had been stored for so many years with the rocker springs under tension, 2 of them had disintegrated without me realising and  the metal splinters have gone through the engine, hence the rebuild.  New  bits include, camshaft, springs, main and thrust bearings, some valves and rods. Also, the aluminium racing fly wheel had warped and needs replacing.  I am hoping to have it all back together in time for Silverstone later this month, but it's looking unlikely.

The end play is around .057. The engine was  newly installed after a rebuild 6 months ago. Because of issues with the gearbox and selecting 1st gear. I was starting the engine with the clutch depressed and in gear. The gearbox is currently being rebuilt and it was the engineer who noticed the end play.. with the sump off the crank and everything looks perfect, however the thrust bearing is badly worn!

Thanks for the reply, I have quite a bit more than that. Is there an easy fix?

Hi David, I've booked for the Friday and Saturday, see you there. Vince

Hi Andy, thanks for that, my cars going into Big Al on the 14th for some work, I will ask him if he can solve the problem.
   Regards. Vince

Rob,I like your suggestion. Do you know anybody who can do this work for me?

Interestingly, when I went for my mot, there was no sound test, no emissions test or brake test and the car  passed with no issues.