A Red Head … Deconstructed …

There is only one way to find out what you have … let’s strip her down. It’s a winter (in Western Australia that generally means 'cool') weekend and since we (I) had decided to get started we couldn’t (well, I couldn’t) wait to strip the 186. Poor old Pete might have some other plan for the weekend, I didn't really ask but he became my grunt for the evening … those cylinder head bolts!



Easy start, the valve rocker cover off, then the valve rockers off, lift out the rods and then crack the bolts for the cylinder head. Sheesh they were tight. Once all the bolts were out, next, lever the cylinder head free off the engine block. It actually came off pretty easily. Now, I am not too sure about some people but I am sure about others … I am a little 'retentive' when pulling stuff apart. If I can, I will mark up a large piece of paper on a flat bench and mark every item that came off the piece of equipment. Some people think that is too much, some think not enough. Anyway, we will see if I can get all my parts back together without a bump in the road.



Well, as you can see the engine has has a hard life, almost every single red part was a different red. Yup, she’s a red ‘motor’ as they say but …. she’s all shades of red.



 Cylinder head off and the bores look OK.



The gasket looks like it is in one piece and there is no evidence that it has been 'blowing' anywhere, either between the cylinder bores or between the bore and one of the coolant ports.



Overall, the engine seems to be in very, very good condition. From the photo here cylinder #5 cylinder even still had cross hatch marks in it - all the cylinders were the same. Good result so far. For those that are a little retentive (Poms says anoraks) there was almost no ridge at the top of the bore. This leads me to think either the engine was probably rebuilt/re-ringed not so long ago … a few years … or less than 100,000km’s ago. So, she’s looks OK to work with.



Here’s me being a little organised … Chinese take-away containers, that my wife actually bought in bulk would you believe. Apparently they are useful for a lot more than just engine bolts, springs and washers. I just know the containers will come in useful later … when I am trying to find the parts to finally put the engine back together.



OK, so we pull off the ancillaries … water pump, alternator, fuel pump, distributor, oil pump (yes, that big red thing with the 4 dark bolts and 2 almost red bolts on the oil filter side of the engine.)



Now, the sump off and oh, $#@t … there was still some oil in it. Quick the kitty litter!!!



I know what some people are thinking … if you had an old red oil container nearby, to serve as a drip tray, where was it when the sump came off. Well, a little further away than planned.

Mess cleaned up and the 'red' in bed for the evening. Over the weekend, we’ll have to pull the bottom end down. Crankshaft pulley, con-rods, pistons, crankshaft (... and the camshaft, in the old red) these days the camshaft is, oops camshafts, are up top.