Nobbie did my head

[Johnny A]

Went round nobbie's today, was a bit late but he wanted to get stuck right in, first off he cleaned it up and was impressed with how well it came up! A lot of oil was used for lubing up too which I appreciated. In the end a tight grip and a firm wrist ment I was done by 7pm!




lmao

You filthy minded fookers!

We had loads of fun with HMS's let cylinder head today, the idea was to replace the stem seals which were suspected to be the cause of the huge levels of smoke out the exhaust. Nobbie pressed the valves out and cleaned up the head whilst I dismantled, cleaned and flushed out the tappets replacing them with fresh oil.

Thing were going really well, none of the valve guides were cracked and the head was in top condition At this point I had finished rebuilding the tappets so we had a break.

Apon returning nobbie decided to lap the valves in very slightly just to be sure, it wasn't really required but worth doing whilst we were there.............

.... are you ready for this??....


....the jippo monkey who rebuild this head some years ago before I owned the car had done something that neither me, nobbie or nobbie's veteran machanic-dad had ever seen before.... as some of you know, the inlet valves are larger than the exhaust valves.... but this head had been assembled with the smaller valves (exhaust) in the inlet holes and the larger (inlet) valves in the exhaust holes!!!!! In english this means the following

Valves don't sit correctly, one let sitting too far out, one lot sitting too far in
Valve sealing angles are wrong, so a very bad seal
Bad performance as the head cannot breathe very efficiently!!

x10

Anyways this ment extra work as now the valves needed to be fitted in their correct sides and all 16 would need lapping back in for a good seal. This surprisingly didn't take very long at all... and even fitting the stem seals was easy with no hassle at all (well apart from when I popped two seals on and forgot to fit the bottom spring seats! MY BAD)

The head is now ready to be refitted to HMS, something I will do tomorrow if the weather holds!!!

Welcome... to a new smoke-free HMS!

[Colonel K]

Smoke free HMS? Never!

Glad you lads had a good day. I was supposed to fit my welded diff today but couldnt be arsed to get out of bed

Anyone wanna help me tomorrow?

So when do I get a ride then?

[Johnny A]

got a few more niggles to sort out, won't be offering rides till I am sure she can handle it

[Colonel K]

box sorted now?

[Johnny A]

yeah box is sorted I think, but I used the old release bearing..... which seemed fine when I fitted it... but makes nasty noises now!!!

Thats the next job

[nickyboy]

Excellent, i've heard he is good at head

[Benn]

if a valve is stickin out..wouldnt it touch the piston top?

[Johnny A]

if a valve is stickin out..wouldnt it touch the piston top?

Something I said, must have been getting FOOKING close, no damage to any of the pistons.

Another bit of interesting info, this head was bought from Vauxhall about 2 years ago. Totally new unit. BOTH inlet and exhaust oil galleries are pre-sleeved to prevent a porous head! Well done Vauxhall, fix the problem AFTER all the engines were fitted!

I removed the grub screws from the galleries to fine a nice hole for my oil temp sensor that comes with those gauges I bought, fits perfect into the inlet gallery end!!

[Benn]

ah ok,cool,

[Johnny A]

Few pics:

Went to fit the head today, weather was perfect for it!

First off the block needed it's mating surface cleaning and the head-bolt holes were full of crap, easy enough job with some clean rag, brake cleaner and a knife. I was really impressed by the lack of wear on the bores, no lip at all (apart from a small bit of carbon). What however I wasn't impressed with was that one of the locating dowels was missing

Although it's possible to install the head without them I didn't think it a good idea and so I had to scrap the idea of putting the engine back together. Never mind!

Rebuilt head:


Block surface cleaned up and ready for action:


Gauge temp sensor screwed into end of the oil gallery on the inlet side of the head:


and to prove I wasn't having you on about the valves being the wrong way round here is the rebuilt head with them in their correct places, note the darker and lighter valves:


John.

[Nobbie]

Still makes me laugh now, took about 10 mins going round and round in my head, thinking, naaahh, never, surely not, but christ what a **** up to make!!

Bugger about that dowel, still won't take long when you find it, and hopefully we shouldn't see any smoke, and it'll probably perform a bit better.

[Benn]

very cool dude,

[Tom Williams]

I have to say with that backing plate at the front of the engine putting the head back on must a right game John. Looks good so far, and glad to see hms will be smoke free and your shares in shell oil will reduce!!