Hi Alex, Unfortunately, I think that grey substance in your oil is the bearing shells overlay that has been worn off while the engine was running. The overlay is usually an alloy of lead. It's very thin, probably only 1 thou thick. Lead of course is not magnetic! May be worth popping off a main bearing cap to assess any damage before going too far(?) If the bronze substrate is visible, the shells are toast and should be replaced. I was always taught that before running a freshly built engine it's good practice the crank the engine over with the spark plugs removed to make sure the oil light goes out or pressure registers on the guage before attempting to start it. Hope I'm wrong about the shells but it's worth checking. 🤞
Excellent advise. I have already recounted the oil pump, and pan. But not yet refilled the oil. I would bevs good idea yo remove a rod bearing or two for a quick inspection. Look for a follow up video on that next week Thanks?
I agree, whilst the sump was off I would have checked the bearing shells because that look like the soft bearing material has scrubbed off into the oil. IT only takes seconds for dry crank to pick up the bearing material when there is no oil circulating.
Sorry to see that you had an issue. I hope everything works out ok. I just started putting my 1980 MGB back together after a fresh new paint job this week. This will be its second ground up restoration since I first bought this car back in 1986. I saved the car from the crusher. It had a minor engine bay fire caused by the roll over fuel cut off switch installed on the last MGBs. I think it developed a fuel leak and sprayed fuel on the exhaust manifold. fortunately it was a tiny fire and no damage was done to the car. Sadly the owner or the insurance company must have totaled the car. By the time I found it it had been mostly been picked clean. Fortunately It still had the engine block and overdrive transmission still. The hood, trunk lid, tires and rims, windshield, seats and all the gauges were gone only. After a few month of gathering parts and a new black paint job (The original factory paint was a Flame red/Orange like) I began the first restoration. I have now changed the color to a nice Subaru med blue.
On my 77B I had the same issue of more expensive/higher quality oil filters causing my oil pressure to bottom out. Now I ask for the base model, aka cheapo oil filter for my car which work fine. The "higher quality" oil filters are just too restrictive.
Alex didn't mention the name of the correct filter, so here you are: Line: NAPA Gold Filters : Part #: FIL 1068. Btw this is actually a Wix brand filter which most MGB owners recommend .
On a newly rebuilt engine, I NEVER give it fuel-and or spark until I verify it has oil pressure. Always backfill the block through the oil hose fitting and then rotate backwards enough to suck some oil into the pump, then it will build pressure fairly quickly. Also it is surprisingly common for someone not familiar with these engines to put the wrong oil pump gasket in on the 5-main engine (gasket set comes with both 3 & 5- main oil pump gaskets) then it will never build any oil pressure.
It may be that the short filter may have worked if the car was set up old style when the filter was screwed in upside down. Could the grey sludge be bearing cap coating if the crankshaft was oil starved. (Meybe not if if was only run for a few minutes). Or if the old oil was stored and re-used could it be oxidisation and contaminated with old fuel or water, (condensation) especially if stored in open containers. Im currently restoring 72 MGB GT and have been watching all your videos of the build, particularly the engine rebuild. Thanks again for taking the time to document your work. Good luck.
I find it kind of crazy that the oil filter could be so wrong for the engine... was it maybe a mistake at the counter (as in they gave you the wrong box)? I mean, that's one of the things you are supposed to be able to count on, is that the part should fit and work correctly 99.9% of the time, but there's a bigger problem if the part number listed for your vehicle isn't even correct. Glad you caught it before any damage was done!
I had this issue on a reconditioned engine I purchased.. turned out a big glob of silicone was completely blocking the oil pickup hole between the engine/gearbox interface… mine is a front wheel drive/east west engine.
Hi Alex, Unfortunately, I think that grey substance in your oil is the bearing shells overlay that has been worn off while the engine was running. The overlay is usually an alloy of lead. It's very thin, probably only 1 thou thick. Lead of course is not magnetic! May be worth popping off a main bearing cap to assess any damage before going too far(?) If the bronze substrate is visible, the shells are toast and should be replaced.
I was always taught that before running a freshly built engine it's good practice the crank the engine over with the spark plugs removed to make sure the oil light goes out or pressure registers on the guage before attempting to start it.
Hope I'm wrong about the shells but it's worth checking. 🤞
Excellent advise. I have already recounted the oil pump, and pan. But not yet refilled the oil.
I would bevs good idea yo remove a rod bearing or two for a quick inspection.
Look for a follow up video on that next week
Thanks?
I agree, whilst the sump was off I would have checked the bearing shells because that look like the soft bearing material has scrubbed off into the oil. IT only takes seconds for dry crank to pick up the bearing material when there is no oil circulating.
@awalk5177
I also suspected that...
And did a follow up video.
ruclips.net/video/DbPBwjIer1A/видео.htmlsi=f3UKpRh1GruyG0Oo
good thing you did such a good job with the assembly lube - that enabled it to survive the short run with effectively no oil..
Sorry to see that you had an issue.
I hope everything works out ok.
I just started putting my 1980 MGB back together after a fresh new paint job this week. This will be its second ground up restoration since I first bought this car back in 1986. I saved the car from the crusher. It had a minor engine bay fire caused by the roll over fuel cut off switch installed on the last MGBs. I think it developed a fuel leak and sprayed fuel on the exhaust manifold. fortunately it was a tiny fire and no damage was done to the car. Sadly the owner or the insurance company must have totaled the car. By the time I found it it had been mostly been picked clean. Fortunately It still had the engine block and overdrive transmission still. The hood, trunk lid, tires and rims, windshield, seats and all the gauges were gone only. After a few month of gathering parts and a new black paint job (The original factory paint was a Flame red/Orange like) I began the first restoration. I have now changed the color to a nice Subaru med blue.
On my 77B I had the same issue of more expensive/higher quality oil filters causing my oil pressure to bottom out. Now I ask for the base model, aka cheapo oil filter for my car which work fine. The "higher quality" oil filters are just too restrictive.
Alex didn't mention the name of the correct filter, so here you are: Line: NAPA Gold Filters : Part #: FIL 1068. Btw this is actually a Wix brand filter which most MGB owners recommend .
On a newly rebuilt engine, I NEVER give it fuel-and or spark until I verify it has oil pressure. Always backfill the block through the oil hose fitting and then rotate backwards enough to suck some oil into the pump, then it will build pressure fairly quickly. Also it is surprisingly common for someone not familiar with these engines to put the wrong oil pump gasket in on the 5-main engine (gasket set comes with both 3 & 5- main oil pump gaskets) then it will never build any oil pressure.
It may be that the short filter may have worked if the car was set up old style when the filter was screwed in upside down. Could the grey sludge be bearing cap coating if the crankshaft was oil starved. (Meybe not if if was only run for a few minutes). Or if the old oil was stored and re-used could it be oxidisation and contaminated with old fuel or water, (condensation) especially if stored in open containers. Im currently restoring 72 MGB GT and have been watching all your videos of the build, particularly the engine rebuild. Thanks again for taking the time to document your work. Good luck.
Good video.
I find it kind of crazy that the oil filter could be so wrong for the engine... was it maybe a mistake at the counter (as in they gave you the wrong box)? I mean, that's one of the things you are supposed to be able to count on, is that the part should fit and work correctly 99.9% of the time, but there's a bigger problem if the part number listed for your vehicle isn't even correct. Glad you caught it before any damage was done!
I had this issue on a reconditioned engine I purchased.. turned out a big glob of silicone was completely blocking the oil pickup hole between the engine/gearbox interface… mine is a front wheel drive/east west engine.
yeah those short filters are 100% wrong, really messes with pressure, right filter is purolator L20195