Brake servo utter, utter despair....

[jeff jackson]

Hi All,
It's getting worse. I pulled apart the servo, put it all back together again, bled the brakes and started the car up.
No brake fluid is being lost by the master cylinder like before.
However....
I am wondering what is going on with this engine. This time last year it was running superbly. Brand new 85 A alternator, new distributor, Magnecor leads and hall effect ignition.
Then, I had a pressurised water system. So the head was pulled and I had it skimmed. In order to compensate for Valve timing I saved up and bought Vernier cam sprockets. Now the valve timing is spot on.
As mentioned before I noticed a leak from the servo, hence the rebuild.
Whilst waiting for the servo parts to arrive, I started the car up to time the ignition: - all was well. The car sounded better than it had before.
So replacing the servo resulted in huge clouds of white smoke and disappearing brake fluid.
Now that I have rebuilt the servo again, I did expect a little white smoke from any residual brake fluid in the vacuum pipe.
Now I still get clouds of white smoke, but only when the car has warmed up. Also the exhaust is spitting out "black spots" that look like engine oil.
The head newly rebuilt, without the servo seemed ok. Now with it on I get smoke.
the bottom end was rebuilt by Miles Wilkins about 5000 miles ago, using new QED pistons.
damaged piston ring (s)? What on earth is going on? I have run out of money for yet another rebuild, so I'm hoping this is something simple.
Kind regards
Jeff 72+2

[billwill]

Well the engine will run with the rear & front vacuum takeoffs blocked so that should be your first test, to ascertain if the problem is due to the brake servo. I think you said it is a Plus 2 so I understand that the rear vacuum takeoff is used for the brake servo and the front one for the headlamps lifters.

I guess you need some short bits of rubber pipe to go onto the take-offs in place of the existing pipes and close the open ends with a bolts as a cork or clamp it shut with a mole wrench or some such.

You will need to run it a while to clear any existing fluids such as brake fluid that might be in the wrong places.

[AHM]

Hopefully just brake fluid that is still in the exhaust system.

If it is oil it will smell like burning oil.

[jeff jackson]

How long do you think it would take to burn any brake fluid that is in the exhaust off?
Because it is still smoking like a Royal Navy destroyer.
This is with both Vacuum hoses blocked off, so its not the servo, or the headlight reservoir.
I'm going on holiday tomorrow, so I'm going to try and forget about it, but the thought of pulling apart that engine again fills me with despair.
I had hoped to get the car MOT'd ready for the summer. That's not going to happen. Looks like another year off the road.

Thanks for all the support and help.
Kind regards
Jeff

[Galwaylotus]

Head gasket?

[jeff jackson]

I really, really, hope not, because that is why I pulled the head in the first place and had the head skimmed.

[billwill]

When you get back try disconnecting the exhaust down pipes from the long pipe inder the car and run the engine a while.

It will make a heck of a lot of noise, but will tell you whether there is any fresh source of smoke, coming from the engine.

Oil/Brakefluid in the silencer box might take quite a while to burn/get blown away so this test will be a short cut.