EFI saved a breakdown at the roadside

But more on that later, let the story unfold just as I found out yesterday...

Saturday was the day, to cure the oil leak from the front of the sump, and it was a job that I wasn't looking forward to, so with the engine supported

 

I undid the radiator hoses, and engine mounts, and then lifted the engine another few inches, until I had full access to the sump bolts. The rear 2 into the alloy crankshaft seal housing were missing - threads stripped, but the rest came out easily enough, and the sump came loose, but I couldn't remove it until I undid the bolts holding the oil pickup to the engine. The sump needed rotating through 90 degrees and then tilting out from under the cross member.

Not too happy with what I found in the sump though

I have given this engine regular oil changes, so where this is from I don't know.

But with this much crap in the sump it did provoke an inspection of the oil pump

fairly scored, and beyond reuse, luckily I had a spare new one, so that went on the engine.

I am fairly confident, that the metal particles stopped at the filter, as I had also changed the oil filter on a regular basis, and used good quality ones - I suppose when a big end fails on the RBRR I'll know why !

So as they say reverse the process and reassemble - I have some concerns about the missing rear sump bolts causing a leak, but I did put a smear of silicon gasket goo on the rear of the sump  gasket - just in case.

All went back together well, apart from the usual fight with the engine mounting bolts, these NEVER seem to line up easily.

After filling with oil and water, it was time to remove the distributor, as I needed to fit the oil pump drive and I wanted to rotate the oil pump with a drill to pump oil round, and fill the filter - I had already primed the new pump prior to fitment.

This is what I found - dissy drive gear doll pin broken again

As the dissy isn't needed by the EFI the engine still runs despite this, and the oil pump is still driven.

I am not sure why its failed again, I stripped the distributor and there's no witness marks inside showing anything catching, the shaft rotates easily, etc etc.

Its twice this distributor has done this, so I am now going to fit an old one that I have and see if this fails too.

Finally I collected my leather MGTF seats - and although I need to make up seat mounts for them, they fit nicely and are really comfy