LogIK wrote:Sounds like your big ends have been overheating then, if they are blued. Lack of oil possibly.
It did get low enough a couple times to cause surge round high-G force corners (immediately checked & topped it after each time and paid much more attention after) but that was all.
More likely, if the haynes stuff is to be taken as gospel, is all that high speed, full throttle running centrifugally flung and impact-squished the oil out by equal turns.
If they are bad, what sort of condition are the journals in?
I know man, i know, but if i'm to take the clutch off i may as well replace the engine and box. There's a line unfortunately
I'm just praying on them having taken less stick than the big ends as they won't have had quite as much direct pounding from the actual pistons. Not none of course, but less. I'm taking comfort in the fact that the big ends weren't giving any trouble at all and still seemed to be well within size tolerance, if i was measuring them right...
There will be a ridge there, as there is mechanical contact between the piston rings and the bores, therefore wear will occur, leaving a ridge where the piston reaches TDC and the top compression ring is at it's highest point.. It's whether that ridge is still within tollerence that's the important thing.
Well, it's only in cylinder 1, and then only a 120-degree arc, which is a bit wierd (the others have visible carbon stains etc, but are smooth to the touch). I'm thinking maybe a slight lack of lube there compared to the others as thats where the most oil wetting was and the gasket looked to be in the worst state (left an awful lot of clag behind when i removed it and it still looks like it needs a scrub even though it's almost mirror smooth).
You'll have to get it measured up. When this is done, you can also check for ovality in the bores as well. If they are too worn and outside of the manufacturers tollerences, it should be re-bored and fitted with oversize pistons if you are going to make a propper job of it, but I doubt you'll want to do that.
Christ....
Well you know your stuff and if i was going for the full, loving, no-expense spared job that'd certainly be on the agenda. But i have no micrometer or any of that stuff.
Are you going to get the bores honed?
wasn't going to as a matter of course, but with bore 1 i might see if that local tool shop hires hones out and whether they'd drop one off at my house one evening this week so that i could return it to their doorstep with a cheque attached the next day
i have a suitable drill at least - makes a change.
(in fact i might have some reasonably suitable abrasive wheel already in the garage....)
Hylomar is what you need and you'll need it to seal other gaskets as well. GSF stock it.
agh....... what about halfords? still cant get at gsf again til the weekend, as ever, and i want to step the speed up a little (this bore trouble is a right blow).
is that *all* gaskets, or just reused ones? i have a fresh new all-seals kit..
The camshaft will not be 'easy' to turn, as remember you've got to give it enough force to compress the valve springs. If you want to turn it, screw the pulley bolt back is and use a 19mm socket on that to apply the force. Not much point anyway, as you won't be able to close all the valves, as two will always be open, unless you remove the camshaft.
Ah, wicked cool, thanks. Forgot about those close-in-1/1000th-of-a-second springs
and also that TDC on piston 1 doesnt mean TDC on all cylinders, so there'll be some openage on 2 and 3.
EDIT --- ok, guess i'll skip the hylomar then and see what happens. If there's major leakage then i suppose i could, after they haven't been in too many miles, open it back up in the relevant places and add some of that stuff (though that's another round of head bolts etc if if starts leaking THERE..) .. hm. There might be more seals to replace than i fully realise at the moment as the pack GSF gave me looks VERY comprehensive.
bugger - i havent "properly" checked the piston rings yet, other than visually. i've left them in their sealed plastic packets so far to avoid contamination etc until it's actually time to check clearances, endgaps and so on (which i hope to do along with the refitting all in one 2-3 hour swoop). Hope they are actually the right size! What are our rights as regards return/replacement/refund if it's a case of them cocking up and supplying us with the wrong things?
They
look right, guess its a matter of fitting them and seeing if, well, they do. Going to need them to get the thing running again in any shape or form now anyway - though the old ones came off surprisingly in one piece without distortion (for all 12!), i snapped a couple to use as C-section carbon scrapers...
and ditto i would liked to have got it going for BVF (thats the one down at 3 counties, right?), even if just to abandon on a stand with a "free to a good home" sign and the v5 + keys left on the dash..... but its looking like that could be unlikely now
unless i have a purposefully incautious spurt. after all i want to have another bash at debubbling the worst part of the wings (and fixing the previous crappy so-called blend job i did) right before getting rid.
Piston rings aren't different across the range are they? I thought they were standard for all of the small block 1.0/1.1/1.3 engines apart from the G40..