Good friends Dave Harvey had arrived at mine on Wednesday afternoon and Richard Warr arrived this morning. We started our plan of getting into our Pi conversion and one of the first jobs was to trial fit the throttle bodies. Unfortunately, the studs for the original inlet manifold weren't long enough to accept the new throttle bodies. So our first task was to remove the three inlet manifold studs in the cylinder head. Two of them came out easy enough, but the middle one was stuck fast. We tried heat on it, but it just wasn't moving. One of our efforts was a bit much for it and then, disaster! The stud suddenly snapped! We then tried welding a nut to it, but it just snapped again. We then tried welding another nut to it again, but had the same result. By this time we just had about 4mm of the stud sticking out of the head.
A decision was then made to remove the cylinder head in case we could find a specialist who could rectify the problem for us. After this I made phone calls to Thurston Engineering in Ongar and Specialised Engines in Grays who both quoted three weeks waiting time before they could even look at it. Explaining to them that it was urgent situation as the car was needed for an event fell on deaf ears and they were both equally unhelpful.
My other friend Gavin rang CTM Engineering at Dagenham for me, but they were also a paid up member of the 'three week wait' club. Whilst I was making all of this and other phone calls, Dave and Richard made use of the time by fitting the newly refurbished metering unit.
Colin Wake was my next phone call to see if he had another cylinder head and head gasket that we could borrow while my cylinder head was out of action. he said he would look when he got home from work for me. Unfortunately, for us and for Colin, this was the night that the A12 would be closed for several hours due to a multi-vehicle accident. Poor Colin was stuck on the A12 for hours and didn't get home until around 8.30pm.
We finished what we were doing and then met up with Gavin at 7pm for a carvery in Wickford. After this we set out for Colin's house, north of Colchester, but all along the back roads: Woodham Ferrers, Bicknacre, Maldon, Heybridge, Tiptree, the centre of Colchester and eventually, to Colins house in Frating.
It was worth the journey though as he did indeed have a cylinder head although it needed a small amount of work before fitment. We left Colin's and did a 'spirited drive' homeward bound and just managed to make the local 'Oakwood' pub to try and fit a couple of pints in just before closing time. I felt that we deserved a drink after out stress filled day! The young barmaid though, decided to ignore us for a full five minutes while she flirted with a group of lads, before telling us that we only had ten minutes to order and drink up! No wonder businesses in this country are suffering. The customer service we had experienced today with engineering firms and now this had been proper shit!
We then ordered six pints just to piss her off and stayed in there until we had finished. Perhaps she'll serve people quicker next time!
It was good job that we could only fit a couple of pints in though, as Colin didn't have a cylinder head gasket, but knew someone who did, and I had to meet them in Heybridge, Essex at 8am the following morning. So it was a late night and would be an early morning tomorrow!
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