One of the things that many of us have done during COVID is to embark on a project. It might be a renovation, a paint by numbers, some craft, paint a room etc.
For me it has been to rebuild an old 186 engine that I had lying around.
For those of you who are familiar with old Holdens you will know that the legendary ‘Red Motor’ is one of the simplest engines ever built. A no frills inline 6 cylinder, single camshaft, two valve pushrod motor that goes forever and is easy to work on and rebuild.
I’d love to hear about some of the engines that you have had over the years?
Let me know what you have done to a ‘Red Motor’, this is my plan.
Bore 40 thou, fit starfire conrods to good pistons and rings, new bearings, stage 2 cam power range 2000-5000rpm (it’s a cruiser) all new lifters, pushrods and roller rockers. Balance bottom end, fit larger valves to head and double valve springs, clean up ports in the head, new oil pump fuel pump and water pump.
Going to run a small 350 cfm 2 barrel Holley, a set of extractors and an electronic distributor.
I’ll chuck it in my HG Kingswood and it will run for the next 20 years, LOVE IT.
I have found that it has given me a sense of calm, it’s been a while since I’ve swung spanners. Woody
