OAX9F a 1968 Bristol RELH with Leyland 600 engine and Eastern Coach Works body.

REbuild of engine

REbuild of Leyland 600 diesel engine

For several years Ruby's engine has been difficult to start, especially on cold days. This is typical of a diesel engine that is suffering from a lack of engine compression. This is usually caused by a failure of the piston rings to grip the cylinder liners sufficiently well, which means that the compressed air escapes down the cylinder and into the crank case.

Ruby has also suffered from heavy breathing i.e. steam and exhaust gases coming out of the crank-case breather pipe. This was caused by coolant water getting into the crank case, from two broken injector sleeves, warn piston rings and a crack in the engine block itself.

So the engine was stripped-down and re-built using the block and crank case from a donor Leyland 600 engine (from a Leyland Leopard). The top (heads) and bottom (sump-end) of Ruby's own Leyland 600 engine were in a good condition, so were re-used.

Below are a series of pictures that show the old engine being stripped-down and the rebuilt engine in place.

She now starts quickly and no longer breathes like a steam engine. But still sounds absolutely fabulous!