2 March 2021 Started the process of rebuilding the engine this evening. The block has been cleaned, painted and honed by my local machine shop. They've checked the bores and deck. The crankshaft was also checked and found to be OK and just needed repolishing. The pistons was checked for ovality and are OK too. This evening I started by removing the old pistons rings and cleaning the carbon and gum from the pistons, I used some cellusose thinners to wipe them off then used a plastic scoruing wheel to gently remove the carbon. Then a combination of handheld stiff bristled nylon and brass brushes to clean out the ring grooves. I checked the gaps for the new rings and fitted them to the pistons. 6 March 2021 Started on the block reassembly. Cleaned the big end caps and con rods and fitted the new bearings. Ran all the bolts from the engine through my ultrasonic cleaner, had to clean up the threads on the sump bolts as they were coated in silicon. Cleaned the block oilways with a small bottle brush and brake cleaner then inserted the galley plugs. Fitted the engine core plugs too. Then gave the engine another wipe over with lint free cloths and brake cleaner. Mounted the engine on my stand and wiped out the bores again, then lubricated them with engine oil, lubricated the pistons and slid them into the bores with a ring compressor. Turned the engine over, cleaned the main bearing caps and the. Inserted the the main bearings in the block and placed the crankshaft in place. Started to fit the main bearings to the caps but dropped one and it now has a nasty scratch on the bearing surface. What a pain in the arse I will have to order a whole new set now. Place the crank and big end caps loosely in place so they don't get lost and covered the engine with a bag until I can get the new bearing shells ordered. Made a start on cleaning up the cylinder head. Removed the worst of the carbon from the valves and combustion chamber and then set about removing the cams. I ran the bolts and cam bearing caps through the ultrasonic cleaner and greased them lightly with oil before putting them in to labelled bags. Removed the cams and the tappets and put them in labelled bags as I removed them. I had a go with my valve spring compressor and removed one valve so I could try it out, works well once I'd figured out the best place to bolt it in place. Removed the collets, spring and put them in a labelled bag. I'll need to make up a valve holder so they don't get mixed up. 12 March 2021 My new gauges have arrived early! Really pleased with them, I think they will look great in the car when they are fitted. 13 March 2021 Not much progress in the garage last week, been feeling a bit grumpy after the bearing fiasco last week. New bearings arrived in the week so back into the garage today and get on with the engine build. Started by unbolting and removing everything from the block (again). Gave everything a wipe over with a lint free cloth and brake cleaner. Removed the main bearings and fitted the new ones (without dropping any). Put the crank in and checked the oil clearance with plastigauge 0.05mm which is with the maximum tolerance (0.1mm). Cleaned off the plastigauge applied some assembly lube to the bearings and torqued it up. Crank turned nicely in the bearings so refitted the pistons and lubed the con rod bearings and torqued that all up. Fitted, the new rear oil seal, oil pump, strainer, main bearing support plate. Gave the sump a going over to clean the worst of the corrosion and old muck off then fitted it to the block. Bit annoyed that the crush washer I bought for the sump plug (supposedly the same as the diff and gearbox) are too big so will need to source the correct ones. Drilled some holes in a lump of wood to hold the valves then got on with removing the rest of the valve springs and valves. Labelled and bagged the valves and collets and put the valves in the lump of wood. Removed the valve stem oil seals then got on with removing any remains of gaskets and cleaned up the cylinder head face. Cleaned the last of the carbon of the valves and called it day.
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AuthorThis is my first kit car although I've messed about with cars all my life. Archives
November 2023
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