sm engine rebuilding

Help! After more than 100000 miles driving various SM's, the 7th SM I have owned was the first to give me engine trouble (not as unreliable as some people say...). I have started a restoration of this car. You can read all about it on the SM restoration page. I'm also having the engine rebuild, including some popular modifications. You'll find a progress report on this page.

August 1999

Engine dismantled and delivered to a professional rebuilder. Their verdict: engine is in good health and shows no sign of wear after 50000 miles except for some valve guide and chain and chain limiter wear. Also noticed were unequal length valve springs. The engine will be rebuild with new valve guides, springs and valves (update). Crankshaft and conrod bearings will be replaced and the crank dynamically balanced. The primary chain tensioner will be updated and the head will be fully polished to improve gasflow. Now I'll have to source the parts from specialist and clubs, and work can commence...

August 2001

Engine is back from the rebuilder and installed in the car. The engine originally came from a rusted out European car and is now in a low mileage USA car which suffered from a broken engine. The engine would not run properly on the carburettor setup so I tranferred the electronic fuel injection system. This is causing some frustrations right now. I'm chasing what seems to be a faulty earth. Untill now the problem hasn't been solved. Check the mailing list for the latest...