My Father acquired items from two other local Regals which has proved very fortuitous. Three engine blocks and gear boxes were found in the clear out. Having the old V5 I could verify the cars VIN plate and find the original engine and gearbox from amongst the stash. Engine #68921 had been removed when the car was taken off the road so I had already suspected all was not well. I started to strip down one of the other engines as a learning experience before trying out the same procedures on the cars original engine, but it soon started to donate parts ! These pictures show the original block being stripped down. I was particularly concerned at the amount of limescale in the coolant channels as well as some signs of leakage around one of the cylinder head gasket apertures. A look at the head revealed a sorry state of scorched valves. I am not sure why I found this surprising as my Father always ran any engine at maximum load.
I'm guessing cylinder 2 was low on compression !
As the bottom section of the block was investigated and cleaned out I noticed silvery flecks in the old oil. So I proceeded to fully strip the block.
Removing the timing chain and the sprocket.
And finally I get to the reason why the engine was removed in the first place....
This type of failure seems to be quite common in the early 600cc engines as the finishing of the journals was sometimes at fault. Luckily I had another engine partially stripped.
And after cleaning and inspecting, it donated a crankshaft.
24/07/2013 . With the innards of the block removed it was given a thorough cleaning, including flushing out the oil channels. The surfaces on the cylinder head cleaned up nicely & on inspection the inner surface of the wet liners looked good.
A large amount of limescale was flushed from within the coolant void. Being an early 600cc block, parts are not so readily available. So whilst waiting for items such as bearing caps a start was made on the gearbox.