Acquired a project Griffith - wish me luck
Discussion
I've taken on a project precat Griffith. The previous owner sadly died and consequently not much is known about the car's history, other than it's been dry stored it's whole life, and done very few miles over the last decade.
It's done just over 50K. The outrigger corners appear good so much as I'm able to ascertain; what's visible is solid, and the metal I'm able to reach on top of by cramming my fingers in is also solid. Half of the body-to-chassis nuts and washers have been replaced (they look brand new), so may be an indication of the body having been lifted at some point?
Engine sounds good, and it goes well throughout the rev range. No shunting/stuttering even at slow crawling traffic speeds. There's a puff of smoke on start up, but nothing else. Ride is good and it tracks well. Still seems quite stiff and tight handling wise (once you get past play in the steering). It has red coilovers if that means anything?
Bad points:
-Takes a lot of cranking to start when warm.
-You can smell fuel in the cabin as soon as the car starts.
-Steering has play in it
-Dash is falling apart
-Sidemirrors flop about all over the place
-Engine oil looks new and is still a good colour, but smells of fuel when you take a sniff down the oil filler.
-Diff whines a bit on overrun
-Sits at 90c on the temp gauge (not sure if this is normal, but seems a bit too close to the red zone for my liking), but it made it 50 miles home OK like this.
-Oil pressure never gets much over 50
So a few things to keep me busy, but I'm relieved the chassis seems good, and the engine is sweet (I think).
I'm going to change all the fluids, and have a look at the plugs. It's the fuel smells which concern me the most....any tips guys?
It's done just over 50K. The outrigger corners appear good so much as I'm able to ascertain; what's visible is solid, and the metal I'm able to reach on top of by cramming my fingers in is also solid. Half of the body-to-chassis nuts and washers have been replaced (they look brand new), so may be an indication of the body having been lifted at some point?
Engine sounds good, and it goes well throughout the rev range. No shunting/stuttering even at slow crawling traffic speeds. There's a puff of smoke on start up, but nothing else. Ride is good and it tracks well. Still seems quite stiff and tight handling wise (once you get past play in the steering). It has red coilovers if that means anything?
Bad points:
-Takes a lot of cranking to start when warm.
-You can smell fuel in the cabin as soon as the car starts.
-Steering has play in it
-Dash is falling apart
-Sidemirrors flop about all over the place
-Engine oil looks new and is still a good colour, but smells of fuel when you take a sniff down the oil filler.
-Diff whines a bit on overrun
-Sits at 90c on the temp gauge (not sure if this is normal, but seems a bit too close to the red zone for my liking), but it made it 50 miles home OK like this.
-Oil pressure never gets much over 50
So a few things to keep me busy, but I'm relieved the chassis seems good, and the engine is sweet (I think).
I'm going to change all the fluids, and have a look at the plugs. It's the fuel smells which concern me the most....any tips guys?
Good luck.
Check the rubber fuel lines in the engine bay for leaks. They perish and leak fuel on the exhaust manifold and then car overheats...
Rover V8 doesn't make much pressure so maxing out at 50psi max is normal. 20-25 hot idle and 40-45 on the move is fine.
Thermostat should be either 88 or 82C so sitting at 90 is normalish. I'd expect it to be a bit lower as they normally overcool a bit. Mine sit at 70-80 on a run and only hit 90 in traffic.
Edit: Don't trust the gauges too much. Use an IR thermometer to check the real temp against the gauge.
Check the rubber fuel lines in the engine bay for leaks. They perish and leak fuel on the exhaust manifold and then car overheats...
Rover V8 doesn't make much pressure so maxing out at 50psi max is normal. 20-25 hot idle and 40-45 on the move is fine.
Thermostat should be either 88 or 82C so sitting at 90 is normalish. I'd expect it to be a bit lower as they normally overcool a bit. Mine sit at 70-80 on a run and only hit 90 in traffic.
Edit: Don't trust the gauges too much. Use an IR thermometer to check the real temp against the gauge.
Edited by gamefreaks on Tuesday 24th October 23:25
There are many threads on PH about repairing the mirrors, but the search on here is dreadful. And many photos have now gone due tothe change to photobucket from being free. 
Use your search engine of choice and search for Chimaera Griffith door mirrors (they are the same). The internal parts are now available I believe, the support is fragile and easily breaks. Fitting different mirrors (from VW Corrado, Audi TT etc) is also a common thing to do. Best of luck!
Use your search engine of choice and search for Chimaera Griffith door mirrors (they are the same). The internal parts are now available I believe, the support is fragile and easily breaks. Fitting different mirrors (from VW Corrado, Audi TT etc) is also a common thing to do. Best of luck!
Engine oil does get contaminated with fuel over time probably due to the inefficiency of the ported inlet system at lower revs, high lift cam and the likelihood you’ll be pottering along a lot of the time.
Some change the plugs to a hotter 6 grade to help get a cleaner burn and generally your plugs tend to soot up less on 6’s.
7’s are correct if you drive harder say on track days which is why they were fitted in the first place. 6’s tend to work better for most Road driving applications.
Poor starting when hot
Where should we start
Coil, ignition amplifier
Plug leads and all ignition components get cooked so checking for a good spark at the king lead and then moving on from there is a good idea.Do these tests when engines hot. You might have a poor lead or two, bad plugs or metal plug extenders which are also known to be problematic. Many owners remove the extenders and just use heat socks over plug caps or buy ceramic caps and leads to remove this problem. Most hot start problems tend to be a cooked coil or ignition amp breaking down.
Run some injector cleaner in fresh fuel to lubricate and often quieten down any injector rattles as a precaution. It might run better too.
I fact fire your engine up and listen at the injectors as soon as you’ve added the cleaner, my engine had the odd annoying rattle I assumed was camshaft wear or follower issues but it never stayed in one place so I constantly chased these noises around the engine…
Completely ignored my injectors then added some injector cleaner/ lubricant to my fuel and almost instantly those little clatters disappeared.
Keeping the injectors lubricated is something of an afterthought for most but since using it I’ve never looked back.
Some change the plugs to a hotter 6 grade to help get a cleaner burn and generally your plugs tend to soot up less on 6’s.
7’s are correct if you drive harder say on track days which is why they were fitted in the first place. 6’s tend to work better for most Road driving applications.
Poor starting when hot
Where should we start
Coil, ignition amplifier
Plug leads and all ignition components get cooked so checking for a good spark at the king lead and then moving on from there is a good idea.Do these tests when engines hot. You might have a poor lead or two, bad plugs or metal plug extenders which are also known to be problematic. Many owners remove the extenders and just use heat socks over plug caps or buy ceramic caps and leads to remove this problem. Most hot start problems tend to be a cooked coil or ignition amp breaking down.
Run some injector cleaner in fresh fuel to lubricate and often quieten down any injector rattles as a precaution. It might run better too.
I fact fire your engine up and listen at the injectors as soon as you’ve added the cleaner, my engine had the odd annoying rattle I assumed was camshaft wear or follower issues but it never stayed in one place so I constantly chased these noises around the engine…
Completely ignored my injectors then added some injector cleaner/ lubricant to my fuel and almost instantly those little clatters disappeared.
Keeping the injectors lubricated is something of an afterthought for most but since using it I’ve never looked back.
Edited by Classic Chim on Saturday 28th October 07:32
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