The Dark Wob

Do you need to remove the valves?

They need checking for wear, and cleaning. There was a lot of gunky crud jammed in there when I first stripped it so its worth doing.

Eddie Honda has offered to give me a spring compressor next week, so all is good.

Remove one at a time to keep them in order. A light lapping in with fine paste and a little WD40 will sort all but the worst pitting.

Keep the springs & collets etc in order with the valves too as they all wear together.

I have never, ever kept them in order. Take them out, chuck them all in a vat of paraffin to clean them. Each valve in an electric drill with emery to get them perfectly clean, clean up each valve seat with a cutter, lap each valve in by hand. Never had an issue.

Keeping springs and collets in order is a new 1 4 me 2.

It's almost as if there isn't a film of oil between moving parts!

Let's say there should be.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2019 12:41 pm I have never, ever kept them in order. Take them out, chuck them all in a vat of paraffin to clean them. Each valve in an electric drill with emery to get them perfectly clean, clean up each valve seat with a cutter, lap each valve in by hand. Never had an issue.

Ahh you see, if you use a cutter to redo the seats it doesn't matter.

I've always been told to keep the collets etc matched up too, it probably doesn't matter. But with them all lined up nicely with the valves you know you've not lost any.

Removed remains of gasket from block and wiped out the worst of the gunk.



It's certainly a "well used" engine, the bores all have a slight lip at the top, most noticeable on No.2. No pitting or evidence of pistons scrubbing against the edges though. Much better nick than the bores on my old engine.

Speaking of which. I took the head off the old engine.












Most of the work was very easy, removing the head was a bastard. It may as well have been welded on. By smacking a paint scraper into the gasket with a rubber mallet I eventually managed to free it off.

The tops of the bores have a considerable lip, one piston noticeably wiggles side to side about halfway through it's stroke. The exhaust valves have a frankly hilarious level of carbon build up and the tops of the pistons are also crusted up.

The most notable issue is this though:

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Yes, it would appear that no.3 has developed variable piston timing, generally not a desirable thing. The engine does spin though, so presumably everything is still connected up, just with slightly larger tolerances than would be specified from the factory.

Given I currently have funds of £0 and am rapidly running out of maxed out overdraft the current plan is as thus:

Complete stripping the Spitty engine and clean it properly, replace the big end/main bearings if needed, hone the bores but keep the current pistons and rings, re lap the valves, nick the rocker assembly from the old engine as well as the Dolly specific bits and ancillaries. Drop it in the car and hope I get 10-20k miles and a few years use out of it.

One day I'll have a driveway/garage/money/time/life and I'll actually fix a car properly instead of merely reducing it's shitness on a temporary basis but today is not that day.