View Full Version : Building a hot vintage engine with Jonny69
About a month ago the engine in my old Pop expired. It was kind of expected because it had stood for about 15-20 years before I had it and I just put some petrol in it, cranked it over and it ran. Well it was getting slowly worse, lots of noise from the top end and it was weeping a bit of water. Then I took it on a long run on the motorway and the obviously very perished rear seal gave up and I was losing oil out the back.
The decision was taken to convert it to a later lump, out of a car called a 100E because it's a fairly easy swap onto the original gearbox and it's free extra horsepower for the same displacement, 1172cc. Plus I had one that was overbored, cammed, flowed and breathed on and it was going to liven the car up quite a lot. Given a bit of time I realised I really haven't got enough time to do it when my Anglia needs some time so a quick change of plan and I decided to work the original lump. It would all need a rebuild anyway so it's not much more to slip in a cam, do a bit of flow work and get the head ground down for some more compression.
So I'll be needing some vintage speed equipment. Aquaplane inlet manifold, check:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/aquaplane1.jpg
Aquaplane exhaust manifold, check:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/aquaplane2.jpg
Twin carbs, check:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/carbs.jpg
A trolley full of junk parts, check:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/trolley.jpg
And now I need to do much head scratching because everybody who knows anything about these engines is now dead so I'm pretty much on my own!
Saturday afternoon me and a mate hoiked the old engine out the car. Literally took the radiator out, took the grill shell off the front of the car and lugged it out with a tow rope and a chunky luggage strap. This is the offending item:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/07-07-07_1717.jpg
I have a spare engine I picked up for £30 that I'm using as a test bed. I was hoping it might be a runner but it has had water in it and the valve guides are shot but it's a good block to experiment on:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/07-07-07_1718.jpg
That's half a shopping trolley it's sat in, they make great engine trolleys. Please note: Sainsburys charge £1 for their trolleys but they are free at Waitrose. I stole mine from Sainsburys because I feel by not charging me Waitrose has trusted me not to steal their trolleys. I will honour that trust. Sainsburys on the other hand has made me feel like a petty theif so I honoured that too and nicked their trolley. And very nice it is too.
Here's my hot 100E engine. Head off and I'm going to be taking the cam out as it's the same fit for both engines. This one is a re-ground high lift item. Note how the valves are next to the bores, it's called a sidevalve engine and most vintage engines are this design:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/07-07-07_1719.jpg
First on the priorities is to increase the compression. These old engines have super low compression so they can run on ultra low grade petrol. The Pop engine is 6:1 and the later 100E engine is 7:1, both are too low really and it can be increased by machining the head down. With the extra lift of the cam I need to be sure that the valve isn't going to come into contact with the head if I start machining the face, because it's going to decrease the height of the chamber:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1837.jpg
I've measured it in the 100E block and it comes to 9.5mm, direct lift from the cam so it will be the same in the other engine. Next because the inside of the chamber is rounded at the top I need to know I have enough clearance at the sides of the valves when they are open:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1838.jpg
Here's checking the standard lift, I measured to be 7.35mm so my reground cam is quite bumpy in comparison:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1840.jpg
I discovered something interesting. Earlier engines were only 950cc and had a smaller combustion chamber to suit the lower displacement. The stud pattern on the head is the same throughout the range so an easy way to get some more compression I figured is to use an early head on a later engine. Also I'd have to take some 4mm off the metal which is going to make it very thin and probably prone to cracking. The early head would only need about 1mm maximum thus leaving me plenty of metal left.
Here you can easily see the difference, it's about 1/3 smaller which will instantly take it up from 6:1 to around 7.5:1 I worked out. Early head is on the left, later one is on the right:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1846.jpg
It's a lot more shallow so I have to check I will have enough clearance once the face is ground. It comes in somewhere between 10mm and 9.5mm so it's going to be close once the headgasket is on.:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1852.jpg
I'd also better check it's the same width in case the valves don't fit in across. All ok, the valves are 58mm across and the chamber is over 61mm:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1853.jpg
On the chamber on the right hand side where I've cleaned it up you can see there is a bulge either side of the spark plug hole. I am going to get this machined down so that it is flush. That way I can take a bit more meat off the face of the head and hopefully get it up to about 8:1 compression which is plenty for a sidevalve:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1854.jpg
Ooh I'd better quickly check it actually fits on the studs, phew that's a bit of luck!
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1855.jpg
So here's a shot straight down on the bore on my spare engine. I'm going to be doing some flow work here to improve the efficiency. There's a sharp edge on the side of the bore and the plan is to round that off in the area under the combustion chamber. This is an old well proven trick from years gone past and I am going to follow that advice. Gas flows over a smooth curve easier than it does a sharp edge, it's quite simple:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1856.jpg
So it's too much for me now, I need to see a mockup...
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1903.jpg
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1905.jpg
And finally I decided to get the head off the engine I'm going to be using. This is a matter of clubhammering the hell out of it, driving wedges in the side, wriggleing and more hammering. It gets well rusted onto those studs. Here I've numbered the valves so they all go back in their correct holes. I'll be regrinding them but it helps if they go back where they came from:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/09-07-07_1942.jpg
So tomorrow I'll be talking to my mate who is going to grind the head and a week later I should be able to fit it. This week with a bit of luck I'll be cleaning it up, flowing it and screwing it back together ;)
I'll have a proper read tomorrow, but my grandad used to work on these back in the day. He's in his 70s now but used to be an engineer in the RAF as well as a motor mechanic for a good few years. If you need any advice he would love what you are doing and would gladly give you some info from someone who actually worked on them :)
This is another one of those times where I wish my father was still alive. He used to race Anglia's in Vancouver MANY years ago. He probably could have spent at least a couple hours reminiscing over your cars and given you quite a few tips on how to get the best performance out of them.
I hope to carry that flame forward Darrin. There aren't many people who can still build an engine the old way but it's the only way I know how to do it. :)
I agree. I'm still very much old school myself. Give me a set of points and a condenser and I'm happy. Let me rebuild an old NSU side draft over a fuel injection assembly any day.
I agree that the newer systems give better performance and reliability, but I am just more comfortable with full-on mechanical systems (even though I'm an electronics technician). There's just WAY too much PFM in electrical systems nowadays.
And I hope some day to be able to carry on the torch over here. I just wish I still had my Hillman Husky. I'm pretty sure you would have drooled quite heavily over that old Vauxhall engine. :D
Justsomebloke
10-07-2007, 15:47
*Pulls up comfy chair, picks up reading glasses*
I'll be here for the juration matey :cool:
Just wish i was close enouth to pop round & get my hands dirty. A retro ride is on the cards for me, it's all i want to be seen in these days & perfect for my current budget ;D
Dunno what yet but i am hankering for a Tina like my old & favourite x car. A Mk2 Tina 1600GT 2 dr with a lovely old crossflow in it to tinker with.
Looking forward to watching your build, good Luck with it :)
p.s. I'd also like an old Imp with one of those rally x packs on it. Never had one but i have a serious soft spot for rallied up Imps.
Pikey, you just reminded me of the the Cortina I had at a very young age. Why I couldn't have found it now instead of when I was young and stupid berates on my soul in an uncomfortable way.
On with the build...
First task is to get the old head studs out. I would have to hammer the head back on because they are rusted and bent and I don't want that so I'm going to replace them with shiny new straight items. I was a bit worried about them shifting but the oldest trick in the book worked on all of them so I was happy. Basically wind a nut on the thread, hold it with a spanner and crank another nut onto it really tight. Then 99% of the time you can undo the whole thing with the bottom nut:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1832.jpg
To get the nut back off is a matter of mole grips round the stud and undo the nut:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1829.jpg
Luckily it was only the last one that was REALLY tight and mangled up:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1845.jpg
Now I want to take the valves out. I had to buy a slim valve spring compressor to do this because the springs are incredibly small in this engine and my old one wouldn't go in. Normally what you've got is a retainers at the end of the valve with a pair of tapered collets that hold it on the end of the valve. You compress the spring and the two collets pop out and you can withdraw the spring. It's a bit different on this engine because the end of the valve is tapered itself and the retainer has a slot cut out of one side and you have to pull it out with pliers. It's fiddle and requires a bit of brute force:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1859.jpg
You have to jam the compressor between the bottom two coils of the valve spring:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1901.jpg
Then grab the retainer with a pair of needle nose pliers:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1902.jpg
Then pull the valve up like the top picture and get a hold of the spring with pliers and yank it out:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1905.jpg
The valve then doesn't just come out because it's tapered at the end so it won't fit through the valve guide. This took a bit of head scratching but the valve guide is in two pieces and is pressed into place. One has to drift it out with a special tool, or in my case a clubhammer and a couple of screwdrivers. This is what it looks like when out:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1924.jpg
I spotted a flow improvement opportunity here. Take a look at this very poor photo and you can see the top of the valve guide protrudes right into the port, semi blocking it up:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1921.jpg
Well I'm not having that, so it's going on the lathe and it's coming off. There's still plenty of length on it to support the valve so that's free extra flow to me.
Lining up the valve springs I spot a little inconsistency:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_1956.jpg
Apart from the fact that they are about as strong as radio controlled car springs they are all different lengths so I will replace them all for uprated items. There is no way the standard items will be able to cope with increased revs, these ones are destined for a pair of spring loaded shoes or something.
One major annoyance is that this engine has solid cam tappets and you can't adjust the valve tolerances. To reduce the gap you have to grind the valve seats to make the valve drop down a bit and to increase the gap you have to get the end of the valve stem ground back. This means that as it stands I can't use my high lift cam because I will need different length valves and the process of getting them to the right ground length isn't something I can do at home, which goes against the aim of this project. Luckily Small Ford Spares do aftermarket ajustable tappets which is a lifesaver, by no means cheap, but it means I can use the cam afterall! Phew!
After a quick cleanup I can see that the surface of the block is good, the valve seats are all in good condition despite being used with unleaded fuel and the pistons are in good condition. There was hardly any carbon in there at all and the bores are in very good condition. All good news.
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/12-07-07_2039.jpg
Final job was to flip it upside down and strip the block bare. Took the sump off, removed the flywheel and timing cover and started scraping all the old gaskets off. I'll be taking the cam, crank and pistons out next so they don't get contaminated with grinding paste or any of the muck when I start relieving the bore edges, then it's out with the power tools to do the fun bit. Mwahahahahah!!!!!
Hooray for sidevalve engines :)
I think the last one I worked on was a Suffolk COlt - lawnmower ;D We do have two in the family though - a Talbot 10 and a Morris 8.
Must admit I'm sold on mechanical fuel injection and early electronic ignition. Ultra reliable and dead easy to diagnose and setup if there is a problem :)
I *hate* points ignition ;D
I love points :cool: :shocked:
Finished stripping the engine. Took the cam, crank, oil pump and pistons out now so it's a bare block. Tomorrows job is to get some Gunk and give it a damn good clean all over then I can do that grinding. I think I might give it a paint after all, for the sake of a fiver in paint while it's out in bits...
So when you take a cam out and you haven't got a manual it's a good idea to take a note what way round it goes in. The easiest way to do this is to turn it so the no.1 piston is at top dead centre (TDC) on its firing stroke and make a mark with some white paint, or in my case some Tippex which I stole back when I was working at Marconi. That was a long time ago but I still steal things:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/13-07-07_1806.jpg
It's also a good idea to mark your pistons so they go back in the right bores, this saves you having to re-balance the engine but more importantly the bottom ends go back on the right crank journals. So make sure you also keep the big end shells round the right way and with the correct conrod:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/13-07-07_1814.jpg
With a bit of luck over the weekend I'll also get to take a grinder to the block and relieve it where I deem fit, then next week I just have to order some bits and get it assembled ;)
Edit: by the way I don't read The Mail, it was in the recycling bin downstairs and I needed a paper to soak up any excess oil...
Jumped straight in at the deep end this afternoon and got on with the relieving around the bores. Popped the headgasket in place and secured with a couple of head studs:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1525.jpg
This is so I can mark around the edges so I know where to grind and where not to as the chamber in the head is reasonably tight around the area:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1526.jpg
Scratched my marks in with the tip of a chisel and removed the gasket and I was left with this on each of the bores:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1528.jpg
Took the bulk of the meat off with a grinding disc on the angle grinder which made pretty light work of it and was left with this lovely rough edge to clean up with a half-round hand file:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1535.jpg
Which left me with this lovely smoothed run into the bore rather than a sharp step. I gave it a quick lick over with some 400-grit wet and dry just to take the file marks out and all was done:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1605.jpg
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1606.jpg
It's a bit difficult to see in the photos but it's about 5mm down from its original position and will let the piston suck in quite bit more as the sidevalve design is quite flawed. Then I gave it a good old wire brush, a clean down with Gunk followed by water, washing up liquid and a rinse, same with the sump which was lined with slime.
Went against my normal rules and fired on a coat or two of fire engine red, won't get much time tomorrow but I will be able to sneak in a few extra coats of paint ;)
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/enginebuild/14-07-07_1841.jpg
Looking good, mate. Wish I'd had time to do that to my truck engine before I put it in.......
Sooooooo my bandwidth got caned so all the old images are dead until the 28th :shocked:
No worries because I can make like a gypsy and move in on someone else's land as such. Yeah I'm stealing some webspace temporarily...
So here's what I've been up to. Got on the lathe on Tuesday night courtesy of a particularly generous bloke I know and turned down all the valve guides. Had to swap on the 4-jaw chuck to get a hold on them because they are in two halves but after a bit of setting up progress was good and I'm happy with the results.
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/17-07-07_2031.jpg
Before, after and, er whoops:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_1401.jpg
Broke one of them so I'll have to pilfer one out the spare engine. Cast iron I think and it's like machining something between glass and china. I'll cut the remaining one by hand since it's not critical how square they are, I just want them recessed out the way.
I also got my head back. Nice bit of work, bit expensive but NOOOOOOOO! he's taken too much out the chambers! Ah well I guess I didn't explain it to him properly. I asked him to cut the base of the chamber down flush and I think he took it a bit too literally and cut right into the slope in the end of the chamber:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_1358.jpg
The bit between the two dark areas is supposed to be a nice smooth curve but now it's a deep step. Well I ummed and arrrrred about it quite a lot today but I think the only real solution is to add some metal back on. This is what the head looks like though, nice skim:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_1359.jpg
So this metal-on mod. This is going to involve welding to cast iron which is brittle. I decided the best way to do this is to get the head hot and weld it hot so the concentrated heat buildup isn't as high as if the head were cold. This will reduce warpage and reduce the likely hood of it craking. So the SWMBO is out tonight which is a piece of luck because I'm banned from bringing car parts in the flat let so please no-one let her know I've been sticking them in the oven.
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_1916.jpg
225 degrees for 30 minutes until smoking nicely, which it did and the flat smells like it's been on fire. Severely. In the meantime I stuck the thick wire in the MIG and ran a couple of test beads on a spare head. When I was happy with the results I ran up and grabbed the one out the oven, ran down with it in my welding gloves (choking on the smoke and yeah it was bloody hot!) and zapped in a couple of runs of weld to fill the gap:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_2000.jpg
This is what I was left with after a quick wire brush. Once the head cooled down I thought I might un-shroud the sparkplug a bit. It sits right in the thread and is practically covered so I reckoned a good healthy chamfer would come in handy, get that flame front moving a bit quicker like:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_2023.jpg
Then while I was working on the ports in the block I gave the head a few licks of paint, red again:
http://www.rodwaters.com/uploads/enginebuild/18-07-07_2107.jpg
Followed this with a rather nice shish kebab, chips and a few glasses of wine while I watched California Kid ;)
Flibster
19-07-2007, 00:51
Can supply a ftp and some hosting if you want.
I'm only using about 100mb of my 20oddgb of transfer.
If I can remember the password to the admin panel....
Simon/~Flibster
Thanks for the offer, I might have to take you up on that.
I reduced all the pictures from 640x480 to 450x300. Hardly any difference onscreen but the images drop from some 5Mb to 1.5Mb in total. Should help quite a lot but once it's on my website rather than on the forums it should be sorted because I think it's been linked to on other forums hence spanked 3Gb in under 2 weeks! I might start using some kind of photohosting for the forums then transfer it to a tech article hosted on my website when it cools down.
When I'm at work I'll set you up an account / space on my server in the data centre if you want? I have no bandwidth restrictions at all on it :D
Well that could be seriously cool. And it's ok to hotlink images to it? I won't be taking the pee, maximum size will be 640x480 for stuff like this.
Didn't get round to doing much this weekend but had second thoughts about the welds in the head. Took my comically underpowered cheapo fake Dremel to the welds and cleaned them up. Got through loads of wheels, grinding stones, a miniature burr and managed to destroy both the cheap brass collets and the arbors that the grinding wheels mount on. Never mind, it made a good job of them and here's my mate Chris lending a hand:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/21-07-07_1649.jpg
Little did he know he'd later end up in hospital with a chunk of this in his eye. It had gone rusty so they had to dig out not only the chunk of metal but a piece of his eye where the rust had set in :D
So there's my safety tip for today folks, when you do this make sure you squint...
Last night I got in the ports with the cut down valve guide and boy does it make a difference. With the stock pointy ones the port is really blocked up but with the cut down jobbies you can stick your finger in the port and out the valve hole!
Meanwhile continuing my kitchen theme I took some pictures of the goodies that turned up before the weekend. Here on the microwave we have the valve springs:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/23-07-07_1831.jpg
The one on the left is the uprated one, it's about 3/4" longer than the original and a lot stiffer. This is good because it'll put a lot more preload on the valve when it's shut and prevent any blowby with the increased flow and compression. This was a problem even in standard form because I could turn some of the valves on their seats with the end of my thumb. This said to me they weren't very tightly closed.
They came in the most awesome dog eared box pictured here on the chopping board next to the courgette:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/23-07-07_1832.jpg
Finally, and apparently hovering over the dishwasher is one of the adjustable tappets next to an original solid one. They were expensive but when you see the amount of work in them you do have to wonder how they did them at that price:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/23-07-07_1833.jpg
They will adjust right out so can accomodate the extra lift on the cam and will make doing the clearances much easier than grinding the valve stems or seats.
These will be the last lot of pictures until I get back off holiday unfortunately but the aim is to get it back in and running ready for the Nats. Will probably use the standard intake and exhaust manifolds at first then upgrade to the Aquaplane bits when I have time to fettle the linkages and rebuild the carbs. Clock is ticking...
Valve grinding was tonights job. It's been a while since I last did this and I remember it was one of those jobs to put off because of the blisters and bruised hands that follow. Anyway enough of my complaining and on with the build...
My local spares shop had this old timey tub of valve grinding paste sitting on their shelf for what looked like about 50 years. I bought it over a decade ago and it sits on my shelf becoming history awaiting my next engine build. You use so little of it I doubt I will ever get through it!
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1824.jpg
You get coarse paste at one end and fine at the other. To apply it you need a stick with a sucker on the end which you can get for about 50p from any good spares shop or alternatively Halfords does one which comes with two little tubs of grinding paste for £2.99:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1826.jpg
The paste is like grease with grit in it:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1950.jpg
And you apply it with a mucky finger:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1951.jpg
You do this with the springs off so the valves are free to move. Apply some coarse paste to the valve seat and stick the sucker to the top of the valve:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1827.jpg
Then twizzle the stick back and forth between your palms, lift the valve out, turn it round a bit, repeat and so on until you've taken the valve and seat back to clean metal and there is no pitting:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_1928.jpg
Then repeat with the fine paste which takes the surface down to a smooth finish and clean it all off thoroughly:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/08-08-07_2008.jpg
Mine were particularly bad so this took me about 2 hours all in, plus the valve guides drop out so I had to put all the valve springs in to hold them in. I did a simple test to see if it had worked. I pressed down on the valve lightly with my thumb, puckered up and blew into the port as hard as I could. No leaks!
Today my hands are bruised to hell but surprisingly no blisters :D
Dude, you ARE going old skool on this, aren't you?:D
Hell yeah
Funny I posted this up on the HAMB which is full of old timer hotrodders and they were like "dang I just opened my checkbook and bought the bits, you're doing it properly kid!!!"
Remembered the camera this time so on with the valve assembly. Before I put the valves in I want to scrape off the debris that forms on them. It's a kind of carbon build up but there was quite a lot on some of the valves. I used the Dremel at first but it didn't cut through it so moved onto a blunt chisel that got through the scale but didn't cut the valve:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1854.jpg
The adjustment for the tappet is here on the top. This is shown with the cam lobe up, when it's down this is all down the hole:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1858.jpg
Getting the new spring in is a bit awkward. They are longer than the originals and a lot stiffer so I reckon the stock springs could be forced in by hand. Not these. With the valve up I hooked the end of the spring over the bottom of the stem and over the valve guide. The spring holds that in place too:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1900.jpg
Then I get the cup on the bottom of the spring compressor round the bottom of the spring and with all my strength yank the spring up into place. This is a sitting on the floor job with the engine clamped between your legs and your arms round it:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1901.jpg
Then to get the spring cup on the bottom of the valve it's a matter of jam the compressor between two bottom coils and compress the spring as normal so I can slot the cup in
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1902.jpg
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_1903.jpg
I tried loads of ways to try and do the valve clearances. The problem is in the valve closed position the securing nut on the adjuster is buried down the tappet bore. The other problem is the nuts are very thin and all my spanners were too thick to get in there. The only way I could see round this was to modify a couple of spanners. Got the grinder out and minimised them a bit.
Before:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_2002.jpg
After:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/16-08-07_2017.jpg
This was better but to tighten them up full the valve needs to be in the open position and then the hole through the tappet is out of reach so I can't stop it turning in the bore. After much head scratching the only way round this I could think of was to set all the tappets with zero gap, then take all the valves back out so I can measure the length and subtract the gap. Then it's a matter of tightening it up at the adjusted length outside of the engine then re-assembling. I did one of them but it was getting late and a valve spring pinged down onto my thumbnail so I called it a night before I got too hurt.
Right... that's it... I'm going to have to pop round and have a look at this! You free tomorrow?! :D
This is the final installment of my engine build and I will take you through some final checks and how NOT to fit an engine to a car.
Late Saturday after shopping etc I found a handy dodge doing the valve clearances. I took the valve springs back out and figured that the best way would be to stop there and do the clearances by pushing down on the tops of the valves. Then I could just poke the tappets up and adjust:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/18-08-07_1823.jpg
Then check with a feeler gauge and adjust again if necessary:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/18-08-07_1824.jpg
Basically I adjusted these tight to the lowest gap I could get away with, a tight 12 thou. The reasoning behind this is there's going to be a little wear at first as the cam and tappets bed in and because this is going to be a very tricky job once the engine is in the car I hope the total wear won't exceed the maximum gap of 15 thou. With a bit of luck it'll settle somewhere in between.
I'll skip most of the assembly because it's all nuts, bolts, gaskets and rope seals but to make life easier putting the engine in you can use a clutch centering tool. I don't know how you spell centering in real English. This lines up the clutch with the bearing in the back of the crank or flywheel and when you're trying to line up the splines on the gearbox shaft if the clutch is in line with everything it will slide on a lot easier. It's basically a ground shaft with a pair of tapers and you pick the two sizes to suit the crank and clutch spline inside diameters:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/18-08-07_1944.jpg
I've used a 100E clutch friction plate as it has springs in it and appeared to be identical dimensionally. The Pop one is solid and is a bit rough taking up drive. This used one on my spare 100E engine has plenty of meat on it and no scoring so I scuffed it up a bit and on it went.
Sunday I had reserved as engine fitting day. First I had to run through a few last minute double-checks just in case anything was going to go wrong.
First a dry turn of the engine to check everything is clear. I put some blu-tack on the the tops of the valves:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_1447.jpg
On goes the head without the headgasket, secured by a few studs and nuts:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_1448.jpg
In with the spark plugs and turn the engine over a couple of times by hand. Then take the head off and see how thick the blu-tack is on top of the valve. Mine is just under 1mm, exactly as calculated. I could probably go closer if I wanted because the thickness of the headgasket will raise the head further but I don't know how much valve bounce this engine suffers from, even with the uprated springs, so better to be on the safe side...
Later it's time to fit the engine. Here's NOT how to do it. Don't do this by yourself if you can help it becuase it's so much easier with two people and don't attempt this without an engine crane. Engines are heavy, this one is about 85Kg, and as I found out I don't make a very good engine crane.
I put two luggage straps round the engine, deadlifted it onto the crossmember, then got up onto the chassis rails and deadlifted it onto a trolley jack:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_1645.jpg
The it's a matter of wriggling it onto the splines on the gearbox shaft and sliding it into place. A hard job with no crane. I postitioned it close and I could feel it was on on the splines so I used a couple of long bolts in the back as guides while I shoved it on and used the bolts to nip it onto the dowels:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_1729.jpg
Then it's on with the head:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_1914.jpg
And finally it's in place and nearly everything back on:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/19-08-07_2332.jpg
I knocked it all on the head at 11:30pm on Sunday, didn't quite get it ready to fire up unfortunately. However there's always Monday night after work...
Did I mention IT RUNS!!!
Get in.
You'll be wanting some videos:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0806.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0807.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0810.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0811.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0814.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0818.3gp
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0832.3gp
Had it up to about 65 on the way into work this morning. It's exceeded my expectations and there's only more to come with the twin carbs and exhaust!!!
You're too late Will, it's in!!!
Boooo! :( Still, looks great! :D I'll have to pop round and see it for myself! :D
Good work sir, been following this with interest :)
Good work sir, been following this with interest :)
Same here. I really wish I had even a fraction of your skill with cars :cool:
Absolutely superb work sir, I take my hat off to you :)
Cheers guys, it's been a worthwhile journey :)
Bump from pits of hell :D
I should have done this when I built the engine but the clutch is on its last legs and shuddering the car to hell when I pull away. There are 3 things that can cause this and I plan to remedy all of them because I don't want to have to pull the engine out again once I'm done.
First is a warped or worn friction plate. That's the disc bit here with the springs in the middle:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/18-08-07_1944.jpg
I can get a new one of them and I'm going to replace it. Second is a warped or worn pressure plate. That's the spring loaded cover that goes over the friction plate and again I can get a new one so I'll replace it.
Third potential problem area is the surface on the flywheel and I can get it refaced to make sure it's flat. Since it's on the lathe it would be rude not to get rid of a bit of excess material wouldn't it? I got my friend to shave my spare down a bit:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/flywheel1.jpg
So the clutch mounting face and the back face were trued up by the same amount so the clutch depth remains the same. I got him to machine down the ring round the outside that locates the clutch and the ring-gear so it's just a minimal lip to locate the clutch and a chamfered step to hold the ring-gear. Then on the back face I got him to machine a few millimetres off the surface all over and chamfer the squared-off back edge right down:
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/flywheel2.jpg
http://www.dropfiles.net//files/319/EngineBuild/flywheel3.jpg
That's a lot less weight on the outside edge so it should spin up a lot faster with no loss of strength. It's not as light as an aluminium flywheel but it was only £20 compared to £200! All I know is it's over 2.5Kg because the scales for weighing the mail can't take it :D
RIP engine - it expired last night in a spectacular ball of smoke :D
Oops, any idea what caused it? Something you did or just bad luck?
Yes it was something I did. I ragged it hard every day for 5000 miles and it couldn't take it :D :D :D
Oh no :( :( I hope you're going to replace it???????
Any chance of using parts from it and getting your spare block operational?
Would be an utter shame for all that work to have gone to waste.
Flibster
28-02-2008, 20:32
V8....
V8........
V8............
I'd be more inclined to run a 4.3L Vortec Chevy V-6 in there. But I'm not sure the transmission could withstand it....
What are the odds of you getting it fixed? What let go?
It's either the bore in number 1 letting oil through or I've holed a piston. With the rubbish gaskets it chucks all its oil out and I have run it dry a couple of times and that has not helped.
I've put the word round I'm looking for another and I think I might have one by Sunday that a friend can pick up. I'll probably leave it standard for now because the other car needs the TLC.
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