Just bought a Marina!

[JoshWard]

What do I mean about what? :?

Bit confused

[Philip]

That looks a lot solider than mine! Reverse lights are genuine.

Well done, looks like a nice car

Could the expanding foam actually be waxoyl? Good luck getting new wings, they are pricey. I need some but cant afford them Your arches look ten times better than mine.
Does yours have any boot wells? Mine doesn't....

Sorry I meant does mine have bootwells? Yours doesn't.

Also definately expanding foam.

[TC-CLIFF]

he's referring to the spare wheel well & the same area the opposite side in the boot.....common rot spot cos of water ingress & blocked drain holes

[Philip]

Ah thanks. Happilly my boot floor looks immaculate. Inside the car at least!! May be a different story when I look underneath.

[KwS]

The white thing is a first gen apple remote, for use with appleTV, any apple mac computer that uses them, and the genuine apple ipod dock uses it too.

[JoshWard]

Ah thanks. Happilly my boot floor looks immaculate. Inside the car at least!! May be a different story when I look underneath.

My bootwells have completely rotted away Thank the Lord for riveted panels....

[Philip]

Is it safe to put a Marina on a 2 post lift? Are the jacking points obvious to find? I have images of jacking in the wrong place and something going bang.

Also, I have seen some Marinas have chrome running around the wheel arch lips. Mine doesn't but it is an SDL 1.3. Should it have these?

[JubileeNut]

I don't know if SDL did have the trims or not (Possible they did!) But many Marinas a similar age have had them removed and not put back and the holes filled to try and stop the rust in those areas.
Not that filling the holes will help a lot unless done very well!

In fact many Marinas which have been patch up will have filler in the arches, mine had a shed load until Uncle Frank cut both rear wings off and replaced the rusty parts
Look for sharp definition of the rear arches, if there is no sharp edge / profile where the stainless arch trim fits, then the car may have had a new arch cut in and filled or just filler!
check the inside of the rear wing for signs of filler or welding.

I have gone back to the original stainless trims on mine and just used loads of wax oil to protect, plus mine will be avoiding rain as much as possible.
Also some owners use a plastic stick on trim on the arch which needs no holes drilled so better if you want the car as an every day motor

The choice is yours but be aware the stainless metal trims are very hard to get hold of now.

Paul.

[Philip]

Cheers. I will probably go without them then if it helps maintain the car in a rust free state. I've been discussing with Frank the rehabilitation of my Marina.

[Philip]

This afternoon I put the Marina on a ramp at work to change the diff oil, gearbox oil and engine oil and have a nose around underneath. I was very nervous about this and feared the worst.

I didn't need to worry. All very tidy, although it does need some tidying underneath, it really isn't that bad.

The damp petrol tank is from the leaking cap where I overfilled it.




I couldn't find a drain plug on the diff so I sucked out as much oil as I could with a big syringe and filled it up with EP90. The oil that came out was like treackle. I changed the gearbox oil with 20w50, the oil that came out of that STUNK! I also changed the engine oil and that came out like goo too. The old oil filter was really rusty so obviously been on for a long time. Incidentally I had a right old job getting hold of an oil filter for it??!! I refilled the engine with 20w50. I then changed the leaking rocker cover gasket. It is obvious why it was leaking so badly, someone had used rtv on the cork gasket. I was going to do the tappets but I then got told that you have to adjust the tappets with the engine running! Is that true?? I hope not. Never heard of anything so silly.
I had a good look around and have found that the n/s track rod end is seized, both front wheel bearings have play but I hope I can repack them with grease and adjust out the play. There is no reserve travel at the handbrake, all mechanism is free and operates but the handbrake doesn't hold. The only other thing is the washer jets don't work. All in all not too bad.
One thing that started tonight, was at light throttle accellerating a bit of kangaroo juice. Any ideas? Only noticable in 1st and 2nd.

[JubileeNut]

20W50 in the gearbox!!
The reason the old oil smelt horrible was probably because it was EP80 or 90!!!

You don't do the tappets with engine running, and make sure they are not to tight or you will burn valves, so a little noise is better than none!
Also some times you get wear on the tappets in the middle of the rocker face causing a hollow part so when you put the feeler gauge in and adjust it all seems OK because it bridges the wear gap but then then it goes out when the feeler gauge is removed.

If this is the case it would be worth re-newing the rockers!

The front wheel bearings should have play, if they don't then you have problems.
Check the book for adjustment to get the right amount of play.

Looks not to bad!
Probably the large oil leak from the rocker box has spread enough oil every where to help protect the underside
Mine was a lot worse so good luck!

[Philip]

I hoped not to do the tappets with it running, my book says to though and this bloke actually worked on the Cowley line building Marinas and has been a mechanic ever since. I wonder what he meant. :roll: So it is engine cold and .3mm both inlet and exhaust?
You say it looks better than yours did, have you restored yours? Any before and after pics? I put 20W50 in the gearbox and ep90 in the diff, is this correct?

[MarinaCoupe]

All manual Marina & Ital gearboxes should be filled with SAE 90 EP.

All rear axles should be filled with SAE 90 EP.

20W/50 in the gearbox will be way too thin, maybe good to help clean out the casing, but not for regular use. I'd recommend draining again and refilling with SAE 90 EP, before you go too far. The only cars to use engine oil in the gearbox was the Mini/1100/1300/Allegro etc. as they shared the oil with the engine. The Marina gearbox is totally separate

If you buy a 2nd hand Haynes manual off ebay it has all the recommended fluid ratings and volumes listed.

[JubileeNut]

My pictures are in Uncle Franks section under Jubilee has landed!
The car is close to finished now, just got a few things to sort out

[Philip]

Oh no!! I hope I haven't damaged anything. I will fill with EP 90 now. Is modern ep90 of GL5 spec ok in older cars? I will get a Haynes.