The Mechanical Restoration And Repair Of 680

Bill seen below working on the engine of 680, now another enthusiastic member. Bill a retired heavy goods mechanic is now in charge of the mechanical side of GBB 516

The engine in the process of having the cylinder heads and valves overhauled this work is also advanced with the heads back in place

BILL SMALL

Following the 2004 Teeside run the radiator was found to have a massive water leak the rubber seals around the core tubes had given into age and collapsed so a new radiator had to be fitted.

The new radiator in place after a bit modification

On Friday 25th June 2004 680 was checked over and found to have two problems that needed to be rectified before she could pass a MOT the offside rear brake was not holding and the the air compressor was passing oil into the air system. So at the moment these two problems are being sorted by Bill Small the mechanic member, the brake is now working but the compressor is beyond repair and a new one has been secured, but we have had to replace the seals and the head on the compressor to get it into working condition, it is now in the process of being fitted.

The offending compressor removed and now scrap

The replacement compressor with the replacement head and seals fitted

The compressor and injector pump and all pipes back in place

Barry had a chance to give the bonnet a second coat of paint when the rear panels were off. Hopefully the Mot can be rebooked and 680 can then continue her rally schedule.

Monday the 5th of July saw us put the finishing touches to 680 after the work had been carried out rectifying the air problem and paintwork. Now for the next hurdle the MOT, booked in for the 6th of July. I went with Fred to this harrowing experience and yes 680 failed but on only two minor faults which were rectified and she will have a retest today the 7th July, just on these faults. The faults, two insecure seats, fuel filler loose and headlamp alignment out. Now 13.17 hours Wed 7th. July 680 passed her MOT

LATEST NEWS 13th JULY

On our return journey home from the Leyland Rally tragedy struck 680 on the final stretch of the A1.M when a serious engine problem caused us to breakdown, this in turn caused hot oil to hit the hot exhaust manifolds which led to a vapour flash which resulted with the engine compartment of 680 catching fire, this was quickly extinguished by Fred before the police and fire services arrived, they were quite pleased with the safety measures that had been put in place by Fred. We then had to have 680 returned on a a suspended tow. This was already in place in the event of such a breakdown ever occurring. Bill and ourselves will now have to find and determine the extent of the damage caused to the engine by this breakdown. The body work was only soot stained which was quickly cleaned off and back to normal. Unfortunately the rest of the rally season will be in doubt after this problem. 680 will be repaired though! with more safety rules and features in place

680 After The Incident Awaiting The Recovery Truck

Wednesday 14th July 2004 latest update

Bill has today taken the the first head off and found that number one piston has blown the rings, and has damaged the cylinder liner which means at this stage the repair job is going to be extensive and with his findings, possibly further rings and liners maybe found to be extensively damaged

Monday 19th July 2004

Fred And I with Mary and Linda travelled up to Inverness on Saturday and aquired GFS 427N a ex Lothian Transport Atlantean as a source of spare parts with a reconditioned engine for 680 The only part of this that hurts us is that we will be stripping GFS 427N for parts and it will no longer be around. The work on GFS will continue until 16th September in order to follow the story click here

LATEST NEWS 16th SEPTEMBER 2004

The engine of 680 is now only held in by the mounting blocks and will be removed next week, in the process the engine sump had to be removed as we will be splitting the engine from the gearbox and lifting only the engine out, the reason for this is our lifting capabilities are restricted and for this operation there is not enough clearance between the sump and chassis. In large bus companies they usually lift the whole power unit out with a forklift truck. When the sump was off, it was found to be full of metal slivers and brass particles obviously from the bores and bearings which meant that the engine, had we had it repaired would have taken the repair bill out of our reach. Another piston was found to be damaged also. The work of removing the engine of 427 is now underway and hopefully this too will be lifted out next week.

NEWS UPDATE 20th SEPTEMBER 2004

The engine of 680 was lifted out today hopefully the replacement engine can be lifted out tomorrow from 427 where it can be cleaned and sprayed silver below are the latest photos

above the damaged 0600 engine of 680 now out and on a pallet

Fred cleaning the engine compartment and 680 minus her engine The whole engine compartment will be sprayed silver while the engine is out

Wednesday 22nd September

The second engine is now out and will be cleaned and sprayed silver ,any parts that need to be changed will be changed at this point. the flywheel connecting spigot was the first snag the flywheels had to be swapped over so that the engine and gearbox can be mated up when the refitting of the engine takes place hopefully according to Bill Small this will be on Saturday next. Today Wed we are taking a rest then on Thursday the work of preparing the engine will continue when I will take some more photographs

Sunday 26th September

The Engine bay cleaned and sprayed. The engine waiting to be fitted.

This is a 0680 engine and needs some slight adjustments made for it to fit into our vehicle

The engine was fitted on Saturday without much trouble we do have one more problem our power steering pump does not fit onto the new engine.

Friday 1st October

This week a new steering pump had to be purchased and a trip through to Weardale on Thursday to see one in situ on another an68 Atlantean. The work progressed slowly through this problem but the sump is back in place and hopefully other ancillary parts can now be refitted to the engine. Work will continue tomorrow Saturday

Friday 8th October Success!

The new engine in 680 was ran today everything went well but there are a couple of diesel leaks to cure. Getting spare parts for the power steering is proving to be a problem . The work will continue continue on Monday but we are slowly getting there

Saturday 23rd October

Bill tackled the steering problem but but it seems to Bill that the pump is not meshing into the camshaft driving gear wheel. We now have to remove the timing cover to determine this and see if the steering pump gear is meshing properly within the timing gears or if there are different size gears. The diesel leak will not be a problem. We to need to replace an injector which is blocked and causing the engine to run erratic Fred will be going up today to remove spares from the chassis of 427 which needs to be scrapped

Saturday 30th October (this paragraph updated)

The timing covers are removed on both engines and we may have to change the timing cover and back plate on the engine in 680 with the ones from our damaged engine and also fit the original steering pump. As it was found that the new pump will not mesh with the timing gears Changing the timing cases seems to be the easiest way to overcome the problem with the power steering. We will then have a new power steering pump and gear for sale. That is as far as we have got this week as work at home needs completing. We will start this work on Monday the 8th November when we find what parts/gaskets has to be ordered.

Wednesday 24th November

Today the timing gears were refitted with the original backplate in place the timing cover was mounted and the compressor and injector pump were also refitted .

Tuesday 30th November

The rebuilding of the power steering system and timing case assembly has taken great strides and is nearly complete, this week fingers crossed may see GBB running again as only the alternator and fuel feed pipes have to be fitted but again this is time consuming and Bill is very thorough in his work.

As you will see from the photographs above the extent of the task that had lay ahead of us, but the end result is the power steering pump is now insitu

Saturday 4th December

Today the water was put into 680s cooling system and the alternator and belts fitted and adjusted then the engine was started and all seems fine. The power steering now works and all the connections are sound. The bonnet and side panels were then replaced and now all that remains is to road test her and wash off the dust that has accumulated over the months.

As 680 stood today the 6th December 2004

The Brakes were re-adjusted after they had to be released when 680 broke down in order that she could be towed. The injector pump is also to be removed to cure the diesel leak which is coming from rear of the pump The lower skirt bumper still needs to be replaced but we need to modify this to fit a towing bar onto 680. It has taken from the 13th of July to today the 6th of December after a lot of hard work to get where we are now.Bill Has cured all the leaks! and he is pleased with the way she sounds. 680 is now ready for a road test!

18th December

680 was road tested today and all went well only a couple of minor adjustments to be made.

680 out of the storage facility for the first time since July the 11th ready for a road test.

Standing at Fourlane Ends Metro Station

Two Photos Taken at Walker Bus Terminus

We then travelled to the Stagecoach Depot at Walkergate and had the months of dust which had gathered washed off, and then a tour around Newcastle just running her in and making sure all was well she now sounds better than before the incident.

The work will cease for the Xmas period and start again in the new year

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