14 year old seeking advice!

[ThePhotographer]

last night, we took out all of the spark plugs and put kerosene in the pistons. then, when we checked the oil there was some thick sludge in the bottom. it didn't seem to have water in it... does anyone know what this is or how we can thin it out so we can drain the oil?

we forgot to bring the camera, so no pics yet. probably sunday when we bring it home.

ironically, we have two friends in our town that have the EXACT SAME ROVER! and they both swear by rover's north!

i don't have much to work with, because my dad does things like so: this isn't staged, its his pure geniusness at workAttachment 6290 he told me to throw that in for your enjoyment.

pictures on sunday...

ebben

Nice! Where abouts in Vermont are you?

[jac04]

How did he miss that?

Answer:
"...its his pure geniusness at work."

[o2batsea]

I had a brand new Stihl weed whacker that wasn't so lucky. I unfortunately let a greenie try the tractor and his first order of business was to drive over $350 worth of tool. That will teach me!

[disco2hse]

The sludge is old oil mixed with various nasties that both come with oil and from the engine itself. Oil does more than lubricate, it also acts as a way to carry by-products of running away from those parts where it can do damage. Things like carbon deposits, metal grindings, sulphorous compounds, lead compounds (in countries that still put lead in petrol), etc. Mostly, these get trapped in the oil filter (which is why it needs to be replaced regularly) but smaller and heavy particles stay in the oil, which is why you need to replace the oil regularly.

Before running the engine, I would advise you get some engine flush and flush out the engine. Maybe even take the sump off and clean it out. If you take off the rocker cover you will probably find a lot of the same muck in there. While you're at it, pressure flush the cooling system too. It is likely to have globules of coolant (like jelly) and grains of corroded metal (looks like sand) stuck in the galleries.

Turning over the engine while the spark plugs are out and the rocker cover is off will give you the chance to see that important things are working, things like the water pump, alternator, valves are going up and down, pistons are going up and down, carburettor is working and fuel pump is pumping, etc. You can set the timing too.

[cgalpin]

What a fantastic story. Ebben you look and sound like a very capable young man and I'm looking forward to seeing you revive this rover.

There should be a pipe coming up from the sump on the side of the engine with the distributor, and it has a filter on top. You can pull off the filter and pour kerosine down it if you want to try dilute the sludge, but I'm not sure you need to. I'd just drain and refill with fresh oil. I agree on turning it over without the plugs, and if you didn't know you can hand crank it too if needed.

Good luck!

charles
p.s. Don't listen to old grumpy o2batsea!

[GeniusAndHisAssistant]

first, to answer ThePhotographer's question, we're in norwich. near hartford, white river, and thetford.

now for the fun stuff... we finally got it home, and boy will we have a lot of work. all wheels are locked up, so that's the first project. then comes the engine, then if that'll run we'll do the frame. the body and interior are in good shape, so we won't have to mess with them. our plan is to get it running, take it for a few "victory laps", then park it in our new shed and tear the body off to do the frame. luckily, a lot of the rust is just "scale", so it'll scrape off. but don't get me wrong! parts of the frame will probably have to be rebuilt. we have a 95 year old machinist friend who said it looks like we can save the frame.. yeehaw!

here's some pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/1088890...overSeriesIIa#

there's lots, i'll go through and clean them up... just wanted to get them up...

more of the undercarriage/running gear/inside soon... like tomorrow

ebben

[disco2hse]

Doesn't look too bad to me. Seen a lot worse than that. Mostly grubby and lacking in maintenance.

Your little sister is pretty good with the camera too.

[giftshopduane]

"We got ourselves a Land Rover, we got ourselves a Land Rover, whoa!"

The greatest song ever!! That's pretty much the way I felt driving mine back from picking it up... your sister I think is my new favorite person.

The truck is beautiful, I don't couldn't let something like that just sit in a barn for 30 years..

[Partsman]

Good for you Ebben, looks like a nice barn find. Looking at your pics, brings back memories of when I got my first Landie when I was 10. Fantastic, I look forward to watching your restoration / rehab of this one.

[Nium]

Great find! Congratulations that's a nice looking Late IIA (http://www.lrfaq.org/FAQ.2.Ident.LR....andRoverSERIES) though it's not a Bugeye (sorry) still a great looking rig. I imagine you'll be up and running in no time.