After successfully marrying the gearbox to the engine it was just the simple matter of returning our dynamic duo to the car.
Again part of the challenge was to wait for a nice day. This duly arrived and everything was hooked back onto the engine crane for the tricky journey down the drive and into the engine bay.......
With the engine and gearbox now bolted together we now had a very heavy item. This was within the lifting capabilities of the engine crane, but as soon as you started to move the whole assembly on it's supermarket trolley-like wheels, it swung like a pendulum and required a rope to steady the whole thing. Moving it down the drive was difficult within the space available and a wheel overran onto a flower bed and stuck fast.
Lowering the engine down and then moving the crane eventually had things back on track and after a lot of tricky maneuvering we had the engine and gearbox pointing the right way to drop into position.
Engine and gearbox is required to slope downwards at an angle of some 45 degree to lower the whole assembly into the engine bay. We rested the engine sump on the front panel and then tilted everything downwards with the weight still taken by the engine crane whilst Andrew guided the gearbox with a rope towards the prop shaft. We had taken the precaution to have bits of old carpet to protect the engine bay but still manged a few scratches and naturally kept our hands well clear.
It was decided to unbolt the prop shaft and feed it onto the gearbox splines after first bolting up the gearbox support to the car and resting the engine securely onto it's (new) bearers and after a lot of "down a bit " and occasionally "up a bit" we could transfer the weight from the engine crane and our rebuilt 1256cc unit was now sat safe and secure on the cross-member in the engine bay ......phew!
Over the next week or so we started to re-connect the wiring which had been left like a bird's nest in the corner occasionally referring to a series of photographs previously taken to help ensure everything went back correctly. Alternator and various bits were put back and we were actually in a serious position to finish the job !!
One of the jobs required before first start-up was to join the exhaust manifold back onto the exhaust down-pipe. This proved difficult after putting the heat-proof sealing ring into position I started to tighten the four bolts. These are 40-year-old bolts and have been exposed to damp and high temperatures and were corroded.
Brass nuts are used in an attempt to minimize stripping the captive bolts but on this occasion one of the nuts refused to tighten down - I has a real problem as I realized the threads on the bolt had literally disintegrated with rust.
Incredibly I managed to source an identical set of bolts and brass nuts on Ebay. They are imperial 3/8" UNC and are threaded all the way along with a 'blank' area that fits into the holes on the manifold. We took off the manifold and drilled out the old bolt and cut a new UNC thread into the hole. This was a major hurdle but nothing worthwhile is easy- as they say.
Before attempting to start our engine there was a still a few jobs to be done. I had noticed the flexible filler pipe to the petrol tank had started to rot. I managed to source a new fuel-proof (ordinary rubber will not do) pipe of the same diameter.
Removing the tank for inspection it was decided to throw away the old contents of dirty petrol and thoroughly clean the inside of the tank. This was done with a couple of gallons of warm water and a spoonful of washing powder and the whole thing shaken until all the rust bits were drained onto the drive.
It was then rinsed with gallons of clean water about ten or twelve times until no rusty bits of residue appeared and the wire mesh filter inside looked nice and clean.
After leaving the tank to dry naturally for a few days I attached an old hair dryer and forced hot air through for about half an hour until I was confident everything was thoroughly dry. A word of warning do NOT do this if there are ANY petrol vapour left in the tank!!!!!!!!!!!
Tank and pipe replaced we were moving inexorably to the day when we would see if our engine rebuilding skills had born fruit
or a lemon that rattled into self-destruction.
Four gallons of petrol mixed with lead additive were poured into the tank and the battery was connected. I had watched an episode of 'Classic Car rescue' on T.V the night before and after spending several thousand pounds on a professional engine rebuild - they could not start it!!!! I was full of trepidation to say the least..........
Oil light on........ check. Ignition light on.......check.
Key was turned, engine turned over - so far so good.
Engine was turned again - nothing. Not too worried as fuel had to fill the empty fuel line.
Engine turned again, this time with a slight tremble - a positive sign of wanting the start.
A third attempt and the engine started to 'spin' with more speed - a sure sign of positive ignition attempt.
A 'thumbs-up' worthy of an old biplane pilot shouting 'contact' and everything erupted into a healthy roar and settled into a steady fast idle as the oil light went out - signifying good oil pressure.
"Huston - we have lift off !!!!!!!"
Even Huston has had it's heart stopping moments - and we had ours - a frantic 'cut' type wave from Andrew was accompanied with smoke from the engine bay. This turned out to be exhaust paste residue from the exhaust manifold/down pipe joint around the two sealing rings. After a few more starts this gradually disappeared.
Our rebuilt engine seems to be smooth with no rattles,vibration or knocks,and good oil pressure. Let us hope it stays that way.................
My last job was to put the Vauxhall British Standard and model specification code plates back..............pop-riveted on as they were originally.
 |
| Engine and gearbox ready to be installed |
Again part of the challenge was to wait for a nice day. This duly arrived and everything was hooked back onto the engine crane for the tricky journey down the drive and into the engine bay.......
With the engine and gearbox now bolted together we now had a very heavy item. This was within the lifting capabilities of the engine crane, but as soon as you started to move the whole assembly on it's supermarket trolley-like wheels, it swung like a pendulum and required a rope to steady the whole thing. Moving it down the drive was difficult within the space available and a wheel overran onto a flower bed and stuck fast.
Lowering the engine down and then moving the crane eventually had things back on track and after a lot of tricky maneuvering we had the engine and gearbox pointing the right way to drop into position.
Engine and gearbox is required to slope downwards at an angle of some 45 degree to lower the whole assembly into the engine bay. We rested the engine sump on the front panel and then tilted everything downwards with the weight still taken by the engine crane whilst Andrew guided the gearbox with a rope towards the prop shaft. We had taken the precaution to have bits of old carpet to protect the engine bay but still manged a few scratches and naturally kept our hands well clear.
 |
| Gearbox support bolted up and prop-shaft in place. Vauxhall Viva. |
It was decided to unbolt the prop shaft and feed it onto the gearbox splines after first bolting up the gearbox support to the car and resting the engine securely onto it's (new) bearers and after a lot of "down a bit " and occasionally "up a bit" we could transfer the weight from the engine crane and our rebuilt 1256cc unit was now sat safe and secure on the cross-member in the engine bay ......phew!
 |
| Mission Complete - engine back in Vauxhall Viva 'ANA'. |
Over the next week or so we started to re-connect the wiring which had been left like a bird's nest in the corner occasionally referring to a series of photographs previously taken to help ensure everything went back correctly. Alternator and various bits were put back and we were actually in a serious position to finish the job !!
One of the jobs required before first start-up was to join the exhaust manifold back onto the exhaust down-pipe. This proved difficult after putting the heat-proof sealing ring into position I started to tighten the four bolts. These are 40-year-old bolts and have been exposed to damp and high temperatures and were corroded.
Brass nuts are used in an attempt to minimize stripping the captive bolts but on this occasion one of the nuts refused to tighten down - I has a real problem as I realized the threads on the bolt had literally disintegrated with rust.
Incredibly I managed to source an identical set of bolts and brass nuts on Ebay. They are imperial 3/8" UNC and are threaded all the way along with a 'blank' area that fits into the holes on the manifold. We took off the manifold and drilled out the old bolt and cut a new UNC thread into the hole. This was a major hurdle but nothing worthwhile is easy- as they say.
 |
| Exhaust manifold bolt renewal |
 |
| New UNC thread cut for new bolts. Vauxhall Viva |
Before attempting to start our engine there was a still a few jobs to be done. I had noticed the flexible filler pipe to the petrol tank had started to rot. I managed to source a new fuel-proof (ordinary rubber will not do) pipe of the same diameter.
 |
| Decomposing - 40 year old Viva fuel tank flexible filler hose. |
Removing the tank for inspection it was decided to throw away the old contents of dirty petrol and thoroughly clean the inside of the tank. This was done with a couple of gallons of warm water and a spoonful of washing powder and the whole thing shaken until all the rust bits were drained onto the drive.
It was then rinsed with gallons of clean water about ten or twelve times until no rusty bits of residue appeared and the wire mesh filter inside looked nice and clean.
After leaving the tank to dry naturally for a few days I attached an old hair dryer and forced hot air through for about half an hour until I was confident everything was thoroughly dry. A word of warning do NOT do this if there are ANY petrol vapour left in the tank!!!!!!!!!!!
 |
| Viva fuel tank cleaned both inside and out with new fuel-proof filler hose fitted. |
Tank and pipe replaced we were moving inexorably to the day when we would see if our engine rebuilding skills had born fruit
or a lemon that rattled into self-destruction.
Four gallons of petrol mixed with lead additive were poured into the tank and the battery was connected. I had watched an episode of 'Classic Car rescue' on T.V the night before and after spending several thousand pounds on a professional engine rebuild - they could not start it!!!! I was full of trepidation to say the least..........
Oil light on........ check. Ignition light on.......check.
Key was turned, engine turned over - so far so good.
Engine was turned again - nothing. Not too worried as fuel had to fill the empty fuel line.
Engine turned again, this time with a slight tremble - a positive sign of wanting the start.
A third attempt and the engine started to 'spin' with more speed - a sure sign of positive ignition attempt.
A 'thumbs-up' worthy of an old biplane pilot shouting 'contact' and everything erupted into a healthy roar and settled into a steady fast idle as the oil light went out - signifying good oil pressure.
"Huston - we have lift off !!!!!!!"
Even Huston has had it's heart stopping moments - and we had ours - a frantic 'cut' type wave from Andrew was accompanied with smoke from the engine bay. This turned out to be exhaust paste residue from the exhaust manifold/down pipe joint around the two sealing rings. After a few more starts this gradually disappeared.
 |
| .........and it actually starts! Rebuilt engine back in place. |
Our rebuilt engine seems to be smooth with no rattles,vibration or knocks,and good oil pressure. Let us hope it stays that way.................
 |
| Ready to Rock n' roll - rebuilt Viva 1256 engine. |
My last job was to put the Vauxhall British Standard and model specification code plates back..............pop-riveted on as they were originally.
