Question/Discussion/Decision time!

So, tonight (after I picked LTGal up from work) I thought I’d just see whether I could get the camshaft out… And surprisingly, I could! So, out came the cam shaft, and I got a good look at it… Everything LOOKS to be in good shape, but I’m wondering what I measure on it to make sure (thats the first question)… And shoot, I got so carried away I forgot to take a picture of it! Okay, I’ll put it on the list for tomorrow…

So, then I pulled the tappets… Exhaust tappet looked absolutely pristine and shiny, once I wiped the oil off it…. Intake tappet, however, had this, right where (I think) it sat within the guide….

What do you think? The REST of it looks just fine, I suspect THIS was part of what was sticking open the intake valve when I first pulled open the head…Should I be replacing this tappet?

I decided NOT to pull the governor spool, mostly because a) it seemed to spin freely, the weights moved freely and it looked totally undamaged and b) getting the teeny tiny retaining ring off looked to be a real bugger, with a good chance of having it turn into one of those mysterious flying “J” clips, never to be found again… Do you think I will pay for that? I dunno…

I’m still vacillating over whether I should pull the governor rod out of the cylinder cover, since it ALSO seems to be in good shape…

Now, down to the main event… Having the camshaft and the tappets out meant I could go after pulling the piston… I was able to get the cap/slinger off the rod, after using my NOT thin-walled socket (probably not so important for taking it OFF, but we’ll see what happens when I go to put it on…

Here’s the piston, out of the cylinder…

And a view of the rings

When I first pulled it out, all three rings were cemented solidly into their respective grooves… The oil control ring and expander show visible signs of rust… Should the rings BE cemented like that? I don’t THINK so… I was able to free up the oil control ring, but the top two compression rings are solidly in their grooves, likely rusted in there… So, what do I do? Yank’em, clean the grooves, and replace them? Guess I gotta buy a teeny tiny ring expander (unless anyone has any suggestions)

I found ONE spot on the piston skirt where it looked like it may have had a rust/crud buildup against the cylinder wall… Otherwise, not too bad. Now, I haven’t measured the top and bottom of the cylinder ring travel area to see if its still within tolerances, as I don’t have a telescoping gauge to do that… Guess I need more tools…

The wrist pin IS rusted into the piston, BUT the connecting rod does move, and the wrist pin area inside the connecting rod upper end looks good, so I’m tempted not to mess with it…

Now, onto the good news… The crankshaft, crank bearings and journal…

The crankshaft looks REALLY good.. And the crank pin is immaculate!

The crank bearings look good, everything looks good on the crankshaft and the lower end of the connecting rod

What I’m REALLY missing is my Epson 750 for documenting this… my display went on it a week ago, and it makes it horrible to try to get macro shots… I have an old Canon ELF I’m trying to use, but the macro is not nearly as easy to use…

So, what’s my next steps?

1. Deal with the rings (order new rings, change them out, clean things up)

2. Get a gasket kit and new lock washers for the connecting rod cap on order

3. Clean the valve guides…

4. Clean the intake area and valve guides, possibly replace the intake tappet

5. Reassemble crankcase

6. Order new crankshaft oil seals… Again, how do I tell if the old ones are bad?

7. Lap the valves and adjust them

8. Send the carb out for some TLC at a carb cleaning/restoration place…

9. Get the head back on

Move on from there! Anything you all can suggest that I’ve forgotten, at least about getting the engine together? Once I’m done THAT, then I start getting the electrical sorted out…

Oh right, order new points and get them installed… Obviously I can’t test or adjust them until its running, but…

So, some good progress tonight…

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