The Morbidmobile Blog

[TomSaintJames]

Afternoon all, a little update on this fine sunny day!

Life is busier than usual, I have started doing 12 hour day and night shifts at work due to unexpected temporary governing body registration, this is in repsonse to staff shortages during COVID19 horror etc. Staff who retired <3 years ago and students/others who are almost ready (still has very strict criteria though!) to apply for registration to the HCPC can become temporarily registered. This has actually worked in my favour career-wise as I can start practicing now. The OH is still full pelt at the garden centre taking telephone orders and getting deliveries organised, this is a bit menial for him and sounds very busy, but its all hands on deck!

At home, my exams are next week and these have moved to an open-book online style as all universities are closed, I cannot WAIT for this to be finished. In the meantime however, I am in full revision mode. Not long now!

The hearse was SORN'd at the end of April as the tax ran out and we just aren't using it in the lockdown, I did take to to work a few times but I really should be walking (it is quite amusing parking it in the hospital car park ). I did have a little fiddle with its new engine today in one of my study breaks (writing this in another!), such a small fiddle I didn't even take photos, but I did notice a few things:

-It turns over quite nicely
-Putting ATF in the cylinders via the valves means that a good proportion of it is spurted out of the ports onto the ground! Teaches me to be lazy and not go and find my SP removal socket.
-There are really crusty areas of the engine, but this appears to be surface or more serious perhaps on the ancillaries, but i'm fairly sure it'll clean up.
-This engine has points!? Never played with them before, and will be quite happy to miss the opportunity here.
-The cambelt snapped after a couple of revolutions of the engine by hand!!
-The crank pulley has no bolt!
-The cam pulley bolt is dangerously close to being rounded off
-After removing the oil filler cap, looking inside it looks very clean and nice, hopefully inside the rest of the engine is similarly nice.

Planning ahead, I think once exams are over and I have drunk all of our remaining bubbly supplies, the two major jobs that need doing are dissassembling the Penta engine so it can go to the machine shop and getting the hearse leak free by sorting out the roof and rails. Because we're going to have a load of lovely dry, sunny weather this summer, right?

I hope everyone is enjoying their time off and staying safe, although I imagine it is getting a little long in the tooth for those who isolated fiirst off! Unfortunately I think this is going to be an endurance race rather than a sprint...

Until next time, Tom.

[griston64]

How did you find the engine stand ? I've got my spare engine ready to bring home so just need to purchase a stand

[TomSaintJames]

So far excellent, especially for the price. It was easy to assemble and use, although the wheels are small they didn't have too much of an issue rolling along swept lumpy concrete.

[Laird Scooby]

I'm sure you can sort all those little problems Tom, crank pulley bolt should be easy enough to get hold of, don't forget unless you buy a new one (which will come pre-caoted aka a "patch bolt") you'll need to add some Threadlock to it.

Obviously don't turn the crank with the broken timing belt, i'm surprised it lasted 2 turns by hand!

[TomSaintJames]

Morning folks! I am now finished with eductation for the time being, so I CAN HAVE A LIFE AGAIN! We're quaffing bubbly and pottering about today, but I can do useful things tomorrow, perhaps some gardening or tinkering with my Citroen BX.

On the Hearse side of things can we tell from this photo if this engine is a B280E or B280F? I'm not sure what to look for except the lack/preence of a lambda sensor. The reason I ask is quite locally to me there is a 760 2.8 V6 for sale @ £300, it's has been stood for ages and it apparently turns over but doesn't start. It looks dirrty but quite tidy and may just make an excellent hearse donor vehicle.

My thinking is that the car will have a better gearbox and rear axle for the more powerful engine, also I could take the brakes (which I assume are better than a 2.0's) and perhaps even the dash innards for the a/c etc.

I know I have a Penta AQ151 sat under cover waiiting to be worked on for the Hearse, but this V6 was our original plan and with it being reasonably priced and local i'm tempted to go and have a look.

What do you chaps think? We're both in two minds really.

[Laird Scooby]

Difficult to tell from the photo Tom but the biggest, pwer-sapping difference is the cat so remove that and you should have the full-fat 170bhp engine, even with Lambda control!

You'll obviously need all the looms for the EFi but that won't be a chore - you're gaining cruise control as well!

If it runs and drives, bag it! Changin the loom, dash etc will be a big job but the gains (including A/C and cruise, plus the big V6) will be well worth it!

If the headlights are any good i might be interested in taking those off your hands unless you want to add built in front fogs and driving lamps to your 740 - would be a good move IMHO as the 740 lights leave something to be desired at night!

The rear axle is likely to have a 3.91:1 ratio so probably lower than what you've already got and won't fit anyway - it's the multi-link IRS axle on that one or should be.

Unless i'm mistaken, you'll also gain ABS as well, that may provide more headaches than you want but we can discuss that later.

Go for it, if you can get it cheaper than advertised then it's a bargain as long as it runs as it should. You'll also gain a proper set of wheels and you'll be surprised how smooth the ride becomes on those!

[TomSaintJames]

Dammit! It sold already, the advert was only put up on Thursday. Should have conatcted the seller sooner. Nevermind!

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TomSaintJames

Dammit! It sold already, the advert was only put up on Thursday. Should have conatcted the seller sooner. Nevermind!

Got to pounce on these things Tom!

[TomSaintJames]

I'd left it to *discuss* with the OH, not seen him much until today so we discussed it and decided to look at it. I tend to get in trouble if I 'announce' that i'm going to go and do car things without justification/approval. Probably fully justified to be honest...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by TomSaintJames

I'd left it to *discuss* with the OH, not seen him much until today so we discussed it and decided to look at it. I tend to get in trouble if I 'announce' that i'm going to go and do car things without justification/approval. Probably fully justified to be honest...

Just a suggestion Tom, if (as it seems) you're both agreed on a V6 conversion being better than the Penta then perhaps set a budget and get agreement from your OH on buying a 760GLE with the B280E (or even a B280F bearing in mind you won't need the cat) for the purposes of transferring the mechanical and electrical bits as needed so that if another comes up, you can pull the trigger then and there before someone else does.

That gets round any trouble you might get into and also makes things clear to start with.