Just a quick entry today as it has been a while since the last update.
Yesterday I order some new bearings for the crank (main bearing set) and a replacement sump gasket kit (complete). To my surprise they turned up at the door today, so that's more work I can be getting on with now.
Before that can happen though I need to finish off cleaning up the cylinder heads and regrinding the valves. I was quite sick (with fever) last week and so didn't get round to doing anything I wanted to, but the good weather is still with us and so on with the job in hand.
The new camera has finally arrived and so more pictures are on the way. Just to show you that I've not been idle you can see a picture here of a before and after view of an initial clean of one of the cylinder heads. As you can see they were both quite very dirty. You can see the bottom here too.
My in-laws arrived on holiday this week, staying at a camp site not far. John has brought down with him the repainted rocker covers and I must say they look a whole lot better than they did. Here's how they look now.
Today I started re-grinding the valves and managed to do four on the one side before it started raining and getting dark. So everything was packed up and I'll continue tomorrow. Having never reground valves before I was surprised how easy it actually is, but you must take care that you don't get any of the grinding paste down the main stem of the vale. I covered mine with oil just to make sure. The oil also helped the valve move easier when turning.
The valves are now reground and the cylinder heads are back together. They certainly look a whole lot cleaner. T'was a rather painful process, with 16 valves needing to be done. But now that it is complete, hopefully I should see some gain when (if) the engine actually starts.
Now for the next job. Tonight I took off the sump so that I could see what was in store when replacing the main bearings. I'd never seen to inside of an engine before this projects and when I finally removed the sump I could see what I had expected. A nice crankshaft, lots of pistons, and no oil. When I turned the engine upside down, with Jim's help, what oil was left in the bottom of the sump poured out all over the drive and carpet in my garage. Fortunately I had plenty of rags to hand and so managed to catch most of it before it ruined the drive.
Having successfully removed the sump another filter of sorts was revealed that lies at the bottom of the engine. I guess this is to catch any large dirty bits that may float around the block itself. Along with this filter was another cover that was hiding the majority of the crank. This needed to come off to so that I could get to the bearings.
The first bolt that I took off this cover dropped straight into the block and rested on the underside of one of the pistons. Bugger! I took the remaining bolts off more carefully and put them to one side. With the internal cover removed I now needed to get that bolt (and washers) out of the piston. Tried my fingers - too big. Tried some long reach pliers - not long enough. Had an idea - chopsticks. Not enough room. Tried some precision tweesers that I got hold of from a computer repair man some years back. Ideal. Problem was though, my hands are too big to actually use the pliers inside the block. Enter Kathy. Within 10 minutes both bolt and washers were lying with the rest of them. Thanks Kathy, see you do have your uses!
Having wasted enough time tonight it will now be tomorrow that should see the start of replacing the bearings.
