After wrapping up a 1974 XJ6 project, entertaining myself with a 1967 420, and bringing a 1989 XJS back to life, I felt it was time to visit a decade I haven't owned a car from. I picked up a 1955 Mark VII that had spent most of its life in Arizona and while the paint is rough, the body is very sound with only some minor surface rusting in some areas. Based on the documentation that came with the car it looks like there was an engine and transmission rebuild in the late 1980's.

First up is getting her on jack stands and defusing the tires. They have to be 35+ years old.
Next up is seeing why the engine doesn't run. I'll fill the cylinders with Marvel Mystery Oil and try to turn the crankshaft. The shafts on the carbs seem to be frozen stiff so she will need some love.
Third on the immediate list of things needing attention are the brakes and/or why the car won't roll. I am guessing the brakes are stuck in the on position.

 

She's a beauty, Thorsen! I'll be anxiously following along!

Cheers,

Don

 

That car is a time machine !
Although the body is a thing on its own, the chassis, engine and other running gear is similar or even the same as fitted to the XK sports cars that relied on the greater sales of the saloon to keep the price down. So parts for these shouldn't be a problem. There is far less around for body parts, but the body looks really wonderful ! Can that paint be the original ? I'm sure a really lovely car will result after what will be quite a lot of work.

 

Day 1 is in the books and I was able to start working through my list. Number 1 was taking the wheels off the car and pulling the valve cores. These tires were well past their freshness date.
Tomorrow I'll take them to the tire shop and have them remove the tires, then I'll sand blast and re-paint them.



Next I pulled the left side brake drums. The front had a broken spring and was wet.


The rear was dry and looked like someone had been here recently. Something looks off with the brake adjuster but I'm comparing it to the mental picture of my MGB rear drums.


I considered myself lucky that I was able to find a car with a manual steering box. I'm not a fan of the leaks and the feedback of power steering recirculating ball steering boxes.

The tie rod boots will need some attention though.


Next up was the engine. I removed the spark plugs and poured a couple ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil into the cylinders. I pulled the radiator to have better access to the crankshaft bolt and using my 24" breaker bar and a 6' cheater bar I was not able to turn the crank. I wasn't surprised.


I'm going to be patient for a couple of days and let the MMO do it's thing. It saved my Jaguar V-12 a few years back and I am hoping lightning strikes again.

 

That's gonna be a large paint job...

 

I went out at lunch today and the crank turned very easy. I assume the piston rings were stuck and the Marvel Mystery Oil helped to free them up.

Buoyed by the good news, I went out tonight and bought a new battery. I hooked up my compression tester and checked each cylinder. The odd-numbered cylinders were really good and the even-numbered cylinders were not good at all.


I stuck my borescope through the #2 spark plug hole and didn't see anything catastrophic, so...

With nothing left to lose I filled the even-numbered cylinders to the very top with Marvel Mystery Oil. We'll let that sit for a few more days and see what happens.


Moving along to the brakes, I pulled the brake backing plate off the front left wheel. My plan here is to work up a solution for disc brakes. I know drum brakes are fine even on high-powered applications, but with modern traffic I like a little more margin for stopping power. I need to find a new set of shocks for all 4 corners too.


Has anyone ever removed the wheel studs from a Mark VII hub? Do they press out like modern studs? They appear to be staked in the back so I'm not sure if that means they can't be pressed out.

 

Hi Thorsen,

I have not personally removed a wheel stud from a Mark VII, but SNG Barratt shows that the studs are threaded:



Barratt gives the part number as C13365 and shows them in stock.

I assume you could grind away the staked area, install two lug nuts and jam them together, then turn the stud out.

Cheers,

Don

 

Thorsen
This might do it brake-wise, if the Mk VII brakes are the same as the XK120/140s:
https://www.scparts.co.uk/en/disc-br...on-kit/501684/

But a bit expensive, but it is for steel bolt on wheels, while many kits are for splined ones only, and saves you bothering with the hub studs!

 

Wow that's a beautiful looking kit and I love the 3 piston calipers. It's very expensive plus I think I get to pay a tariff on top of it. I'm saving that link because they have a lot of parts for the old Marks.

Plus, part of the fun is engineering a solution and fabricating it.

 

I don't know what parts compatability is like, but when looking to rebuild the brakes on my '66 S-Type, I learned that it is relatively easy to replace the original front 2-piston calipers with 4-piston calipers from a Volvo 240 series, and replacing the original 3/8" thick rotors with 1/2" thick rotors from a Series II E-Type. But your steering knuckles/uprights probably do not have the necessary mounting points.

Another S-Type upgrade I have read about is to replace the steering knuckles/uprights and disc brake components with those from a 420, which apparently came with upgraded parts from new. I don't know how available those parts are today, but it might be worth a little research.

Greg's thought about the Mark VII suspension being similar to the XK is a good one - perhaps the front uprights and disc brake components from a late XK, or an XK disc conversion kit could fit in your car?

Cheers,

Don

 

Keeps you getting outta bed in the morning, doesn't it.
(';')

 

Got a couple items done today after work. I finished sand-blasting the wheel for the spare tire and got a coat of primer on it. I'll get some paint on it tomorrow and call the tire shop next week. My research showed that 215/70-16 tires will fit so I'm going to order and have them mount a single Vredestein Quatrac so I can check clearances. I have those tires on my MGB and have been very happy with them.

I gave serious consideration to buying a set of Portowalls but decided not to. I love the look but reading through the reviews made me second-guess myself.



In looking at my options for adding AC I checked clearances using an under-dash AC unit I had sitting on my shelf. This style will fit but this isn't the right color unit.


I also stuck my borescope into the fuel tanks. The left side tank was remarkable clean and empty.


The right side tank was about 1/2 full of fuel and was hard to judge how clean it looked, but I will drain it this weekend so I can assess.

Going back to the engine, I filled up cylinders 2, 4, and 6 with Marvel Mystery Oil last night. This morning cylinders 2 and 6 were still full of oil while #4 was empty. I filled #4 up again and will check the level again later tonight. If it's leaking that fast that makes me think the rings are shot.
I also pulled the cam covers and it appears that none of the valves are stuck - from what I could tell without rotating the engine. I'm going to let the MMO do it's thing for the next few days then pull out the cylinder leakage tester.

 

The MK9 had disc brakes. They were a relatively simple bolt up retrofit/conversion onto a MK7 or MK8.
However, I drove MK7s on drum brakes for 15+ years in capital city traffic and outback country roads and the brakes were more than adequate.

 

I had an absolute brutal day in the garage.

First I started spraying the spare wheel. I went inside to take a call and when I came back out it had fallen off the table, paint side down, into the grass.



Next I started working on removing the rear hub. The nut came off easily enough but the hub resisted all my efforts at removal. I put a puller on it, I vibrated it with an air hammer, and I sprayed it with penetrant. No luck there so I moved on to the engine.


I pulled the valve covers off and rotated the crank to make sure none of the valves were stuck (they all appeared to be free). I started with #2 which is the one that showed 0 compression. I hooked up my air compressor to the spark plug hole and with the #2 piston at BDC and both valves closed, you could feel the air escaping out the intake port.

I pulled the head and didn't see any smoking guns. The head gasket looked fine and I didn't notice any cracks. I'll pull the cams off tomorrow and pull the valves to see what they look like.


The one good thing was the brake rotor I picked up looks to be a perfect fit. So I have that going for me.

 

I recommend wrapping yerself around a shot of 2 of Bacardi Gold for Disaster Management.
At least you got to stop on a good note.
(';')

 

Thorsen
The speed with which you get stuck in is just fantastic. And that head looks really good! Great find on the brakes.
Greg

 

Its nice to see something happening in this section of the forum. These cars are so good looking!

 

I like the way he says "I pulled the head and didn't see any smoking guns" ! That usually requires untold amounts of cursing, and days, and maybe even a backhoe...

 

@slofut it wasn't that hard - I drug the engine hoist from the shed and had it off pretty easy



Today the search for the smoking gun that caused 0 compression with an audible hiss of compressed air through the intake port in #2 continued. I removed the #2 intake and exhaust valves.


#2 intake had some build up but it was soft and not preventing the valve from closing. Valve springs were good and not broken.


I didn't see any cracks in the #2 bowl that would cause 0 compression.


I did make sure to tag and bag each lifter, shim, valve springs, and keepers as they came off.


At this point I was frustrated and confused as to why I had no compression so I did what was next. I drained the 2.5 gallons of fresh oil I just poured in a few days ago and dropped the pan. #2 piston came out with only a slight fight.


The two top compression rings were free and rotated smoothly. The top and bottom oil control rings were sludged up but I didn't see any holes in the piston or broken rings that would cause 0 compression. The cylinder wall was smooth with no vertical scoring or holes. The head gasket was the metal version and showed no combustion leakage.


Deciding that the car would share no secrets, I moved on to something easier. The left side steering arm and tie rod came off so they could be cleaned up.


After a trip through the sand blaster and some paint the control arm is ready to go back on. The tie rod needs some more help.


I'm also still struggling with removing the rear hub. Does anyone have any secrets to removing these? I ran a 1" x 14 tpi thread cleaning die on the threads, put on a new 1" x 14 nut, then used my three jaw puller again. It didn't even thing about budging.

 

How did it get a hole in the side of the piston like that?