Loose Sump Bolt - and I mean loose!

[terryp]

Continuing my pursuit of finding my oil leaks , I had the car up in the air and suddenly looked in amazement that one of the sump bolts was a good 1/2 inch out and very loose and covered in oil (ie only on by about 3 threads). It was the one nearest the alternator bracket! I checked the others and they were all a little loose. I renewed the lock washer and retightened. Has anyone else experienced this and does anyone know why it should happen when using locking washers?

Terry
PS 1 more leak cured!!!!!

[Foxie]

As my head is away getting new valve guides, I removed the sump just yesterday, to check bearings. Nearly all the sump bolts were loose, and had evidence of oil leakage. I had tightened them fairly hard last time I put the sump on, 2 years ago. Seems the cork gasket had compressed. Will have to check more often, and use a better joint compound than blue hermitite

[Elanintheforest]

I was talking with a chap who did a lot of mechanical restoration on my E Type a while back. He was a Jaguar apprentice back in the 1950s. We were chatting about servicing the cars of the 60s and what it entailed. He was very quick to point out that a normal service included a 'spanner job'....a 15 minute work though every nut and bolt on the car to make sure they were all tight...and very often they weren't. I mentioned this to another mechanic from the 60s who used to work on Lotus cars, and his response was of course this was done, at 5000 miles or 1 year intervals....on an Elite every 1500 miles or 4 weeks!

Go back to cars from the 1920s / 30s and this was a weekly task.

I guess we're all so used to modern cars, where the service is an oil and filter change, without even a quick look at anything else on the car. It made me have a look at my S3 a couple of months ago, abd a lot of tightening was required.

Fit and forget wasn't an option on cars in the 60s!

Mark

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

For some reason 4 Cyl. Engines seem to suffer from a lot of vibrations in the area mentioned.
My old Twinks & other Ford engines of that era all suffered from loose dynamo's
Spring washers are archaic & act as a "plaster" for a sick, ever moving, cork gasket.
See that earlier gasket thread & bin the cork gasket & spring washers.
Combined with a modern gasket material or liquid sealant & a good thread sealant the problem should be resolved the until the next major engine rebuild.

Cheers
John

[Elanintheforest]

It's probably why a lot of twink owners think that the original starter motors are rubbish. They've come loose, knackered up the bendix and ring gear, and the owners wonder why starting the engine is laboured and sounds like a chain saw going though a tin roof.

Mark

[terryp]

Oh no........ something else to check!

[elansprint71]

Well, I was planning to put two cars on my ramps this week- make that three.

[bcmc33]

In the 60's it was the golden rule to do a sequence of "tightening" every weekend - miss a week and it would let you down. It was my daily drive then ? not like the sunny days only policy for the current ?big boy?s toy? of today.

I was under the car last winter changing the engine mounts and noticed how wet it was around the sump joint line. No surprise to find the sump screws quite loose. I took one of Rohan?s many priceless pieces of advice and replaced the hex head screws with cap head screws as I found the hex access difficult in a number of places.

The existing sump gasket is obviously cork and there is still some seepage, but I?m not that upset to see evidence of oil vapour travelling down the chassis.

[steveww]

I am sure this is a design feature. Painting the chassis would add weight. This way Colin could save money and weight by not painting it and the oil would prevent rust. An engineering genius

[paddy]

... and like several of Chapman's innovations, that's not entirely original either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Arrows

A story exists that the origin of the Silver Arrows was accidental. The international governing body of motor sport prescribed for 1934 onwards a maximum weight limit of 750 kilograms for Grand Prix racing cars, excluding tyres and fuel. It is said that when in spring 1934 the Mercedes-Benz team placed its new Mercedes-Benz W25 on the scrutineering scales prior to the Eifelrennen at the N?rburgring, it allegedly recorded 751 kg (1,656 lb). Racing manager Alfred Neubauer and his driver Manfred von Brauchitsch, who both later published their memories, claimed that they had the idea of scraping all the white paint from the bodywork. The story continues that next day the shining silver aluminium beneath was exposed and scrutineering was passed.

Paddy