Wayne Stambaugh

Sorry the pictures didn’t show up, I’ll try again.

Here are pictures of the oil drain hose and the crankcase vent hose. As you can see the oil drain return hose is fairly large maybe 1 1/4” in diameter. Since the car only had 31 miles on it I have to believe both these hoses are original. They are both hard as glass. I added these pictures for those who may not be familiar with the BDA engine’s features. I worked on the gearbox this evening briefly. I gently pried the gears back and forth while putting a little pressure on the shifter after spraying the rods with WD40 and all of a sudden it shifted. I put the top cover back on and it shifts just fine in all the gears including reverse! I kept shifting it for several minutes and never had a problem. Looks like I’m over that hurdle now. Now it’s time to change the timing belt and get the engine sealed.

Would it be appropriate to replace the oil return hose and the smaller vent hose coming down from the head on the left front corner of the engine with silicone hoses? While the engine and gearbox are out of the car, my goal is to replace any rubber parts that could cause oil leaks when I start running this engine. I understand BDRs often tend to leak oil various places.

Thanks Inchoate, I’ll take a look at the videos. This working for a living is killing my Seven time. Hopefully I can get back on this thing Friday. I’ll post whatever I find. Thanks for the link!

Thanks again MV8, I’ll check it out.

It’s doubtful that I’ll be able to get it on the bench tonight to do a closer investigation but I will see if I can determine what gear it’s in and with the help of the information here try to figure out what is wrong. I have never experienced this with a manual transmission before. I sure hope it’s not characteristic of the T9 Sierra and I seriously doubt that it is. Thanks MV8 for the link above, I’ll check it out. For the sake of saving time, if this turns into a complete tear down I would be interested in finding a reliable shop to get it done quickly. MV8 for the link.

no rust, absolutely new inside. Rust was one of the number one things I suspected but thankfully that not the case.

Worth a try! I may wait until I have a manual to do anything at all.

Forgive my ignorance while navagating this forum. I really don’t understand everything I need to know yet. Minutes ago I separated my engine and transmission. I reinstalled the shifter and the transmission is still stuck. I removed the top cover and the transmission even looks like its only got 31 miles on it. I am not familiar with this T9 Ford 5 speed. I have never been inside one before. I have attached a couple pictures so you can see how clean it is. I think this my be the reason the project was halted. If John jambed the transmission and couldn’t get it to move he may not have had the courage to tell anyone and he put the car in the corner and covered it up. He may have just not had the horse power to pull the engine and transmission, fix it and reinstall it. I’ll see what kind of manuals I can find on the T9 and try to work throught it. I have done MGA, MGB, Ford Model and and Ford Flathead V8 transmissions but never a 5 speed. Ford’s transmissions were almost all about the same from 1928 to 1952, then everything changed.

I have watched this car since he bought it new and have always wanted to experience it. I encouraged him to finish it and I think he just ran out of steam. After removing the engine yesterday I can see the devotion an passion you have to have to own it (work on it). It would be easy to put things off knowing the time and effort it would require. My wife can sell it when I’m gone and maybe she will benifit from it when she does. My plan is to keep it in the garage until I die or can’t drive. I think working on stuff like this helps keep you young.

will get a picture for you later today.

I’m going to install a quick release steering wheel hub, weld on type.

Actually the odometer is showing 31 miles. The way I have it figured, he drove it around the his block about 20 times.

I agree on the foam baffles. I have worked on some dirt track cars and had problems with them. I have a bore scope that I can check the inside of the tank with and I’m thinking he drained this car wnen he put it up. There is no smell of old gasoline so maybe the tank will be okay. I’m going to install the carter fuel pump you recommended before I run the engine as well as a filter. Did I mention the car has less than 40 miles on it.

Today we removed the engine and transmission from the car in a single unit. No doubt, things are tight through this process but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to reinstalling the engine when it is ready. To anyone planning to do this be sure you can keep the engine level left to right and as they say, you need about 45 degrees from to back to get it out. again to say the least, it’s tight. My helper today is an old friend I worked with for years. He is a motorcycle and sports car guy as well. He is from Treviso Italy and and almost speaks english now after being in the states almost 30 years. Seriously he does speak fairly good english now but you have to listen carefully. It’s nice to have friends like him that you can depend on. You can probably do this by youself but I sure wouldn’t recommend it.

I’m beginning to see that!

I don’t plan to change any colors. I want it to look like it did the day it arrived from Caterham. I was assuming the colors were original but you have to admit it’s a strange combination.

Yes, with the lower clamp removed I can slide the column out maybe 1 1/2” then it goes “bang” and seems to hit a hard stop. I can slide it back in where it originally was. This is all I can do with it. Am i supposed to just pull harder after it hits this hard stop I’m feeling? So what you are saying is leave the key lock switch alone, it doesn’t need to be removed. Flood the column with WD40 and keep pulling even though I’m getting the hard metallic sounding stop and eventually it’s going to come out?

I am still trying to get the column out of my 86 Caterham. I have the clamp off the firewall end and have rotated the shaft 360 degrees while pulling on the steering wheel but no luck. May the lock assembly has to come out on mine.

I am curious about the color of the engine block in my 86 Caterham with a BDR 1600. I have no reason to believe this is the wrong color or a repaint but I have to admit the blue cam cover and the maroon engine block and the raw aluminum on the sides of the head are a weird color combination. I’m sure some of you experts out there know if this is correct. I plan to repaint the block to freshen it up before the engine goes back in the car.

I have read that the gas tank in some Caterhams his the foam type baffle inside. I can take the 90 degree L off the filler neck and poke down inside with something to find out but before I do does anyone know about the tanks? Are some baffled with foam? If it is, at 37 years old it would have to be replaced. If anyone can educate me on this I would appreciate it very much.

When I was removing parts from my BDR for engine for engine removal I removed the mechanical fuel pump. Both the pressed in brass tubes the fuel hoses connect to are loose in the aluminum/die cast metal pump body and have fallen out. I want to replace the pump and I’m not sure which direction to go. I would really like to use 6AN hose from the pump to both carburetors. Pegasus Racing has the 6AN fittings for the carbs but the mechanical fuel pump doesn’t lend itself to AN fittings. Is there a mechanical pump available I can us 6AN fitting on or would I have to go to an electric pump? I understand the DCOEs only require about 2.5 pounds of fuel pressure so if I go electric I would probably have to put a regulator on the fuel line to be sure I don’t go beyond the 2.5 pounds. Any advice will be appreciated.

I’m going to retract my statement that they are NOS. The only reason I’m retracting my statement is that I didn’t buy them new. I don’t know when they were bought either. By looking at them I think they are new but I have no way to prove it. As I mentioned they are in original Weber cardboard boxes. I know Pegasus Racing sells Webers like this today for about $639 a piece. How does $850 for the pair sound?

They are original Italian Weber carburetors, not Chinese knock offs.