20/02/09 Engine Basics

The next move was to tinker with the engine. We where just going to change the basics: the distributor cap (dizzy cap), rotor arm, HT leads, king lead, spark plugs, oil filter and the oil. Now I had no idea what any of these parts looked liked or did, so when my mate picked them up from GSF (German, Swedish & French) I was actually quite excited! They came all nice and neat in their little boxes and even when I had taken them out and inspected them, I was still none the wiser where they went or what they did!

We then took a look at the engine. At first glance it just looked like a mass of metal and rubber with tubes flying off in all directions! Then when I started to look at it more closely, I was able to recognise the different parts of the engine, well the parts we where going to replace!

First things first, we started by replacing the rotor arm, which is located inside the distributor cap. We unclipped the distributor cap and took out the old rotor arm and popped in the new one. As we where going to replace the dizzy cap anyway we took the HT leads off one at a time and attached then to the same place on the new dizzy cap. Once we had done that we clipped the distributor cap back on. First bit done!


Dizzy cap with HT leads and king lead attached

Next was the HT leads, king lead and spark plugs. There are four HT leads and one king lead, which are all attached to the distributor cap at one end. We started with the HT leads first, following the lead from the cap to where the other end was attached in the engine. We then disconnected the lead from that end in order to remove the spark plugs. By using a spark plug socket, we pulled out the spark plugs. They were completely black, which apparently means that the engine is running rich.
We greased up the threads on the new spark plugs and put them in, then we changed the old HT lead for a new one. Once we had done all four we changed the king lead and we where finished with this section of the engine. It was time to get our hands dirty and replace the oil and the oil filter!



The engine

We then needed to go under the camper to locate the sump plug (this plug keeps in the oil). We had placed a bucket underneath because my friend had said the oil would just pour out. He meant pour out! I slowly unscrewed the sump plug and before I realised I had taken out the plug the oil had managed to go all over the socket and my hands (luckily I was wearing gloves!). Fortunately, the rest managed to pour into the bucket! We let the oil drain out into the bucket and then moved onto the oil filter.

We used an oil filter removing wrench to unscrew the oil filter from under the camper. Then we just attached the new oil filter refitted the sump plug and wohla we where done with tinkering underneath! The last and final thing we needed to do for the day, was to replace the oil we had just drained. We did this by pouring new oil down the oil pipe, located behind the back number plate.


Unscrewing the sump plug

The camper is now one step closer to getting on the road again!! Glastonbury here I come :). Well M.O.T garage at any rate! It looks like the next thing we will tinker with will be the front brakes. Can't actually wait!!!