Building a hot vintage engine with Jonny69
- Thread starter Jonny69
- Start date
Associate
- Joined
- 18 May 2004
- Posts
- 1,781
- Location
- West Sussex
SB118 said:Or you can just wack a cordless drill on the other end of the valveSOOooo much easier
that just wouldn't be vintage would it
you don't get the feel you get from doing it by hand either
so lazy 
SB118 said:Or you can just wack a cordless drill on the other end of the valve
Nah, it spins all the grinding paste out.
You want the bit of the drill which locks onto the bit, removed and then you lock it on and turn it with your hand.
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
You can buy a little tool that goes in the drill that spins the valve back and forth. To quote someone off another forum "took a while to get the hang of.. kind of reminded me of being on a water bed with a fat lass.... lots of wobbling about and not quite sure when its all going to end up on the floor..." 
![[huzeeee]](/styles/overclockers/avatars/3.png){kind=avatar}
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Started the engine assembly this weekend. Didn't get much time as usual and having not spent much time on it recently (and a bit too much red wine the night before) I wasn't sure where to start. I decided since I got the shaft free in the spare dizzy a nice simple check and rebuild would be nice.
One dizzy:
Inside was pretty grotty on this one so I decided to swap some parts from the other one which I broke the case. To my utter disbelief all the screws came undone without mashing up or snapping. Testament to my use of penetrating oil? Maybe. Act of god? More likely
Under that plate is the advance mechanism, some spring loaded weights and it was all grotty so that's why the shaft was tight. The screw in the top of the shaft (in the breaker points cam) releases all of that:
One dizzy:
Inside was pretty grotty on this one so I decided to swap some parts from the other one which I broke the case. To my utter disbelief all the screws came undone without mashing up or snapping. Testament to my use of penetrating oil? Maybe. Act of god? More likely
Under that plate is the advance mechanism, some spring loaded weights and it was all grotty so that's why the shaft was tight. The screw in the top of the shaft (in the breaker points cam) releases all of that:
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
I replaced those ones with the nice clean weights and cam out the broken dizzy and gave them a liberal dose of grease. Everything moves nice and freely now and *result* because the shaft is less worn in this dizzy than the broken one:
Topped them off with the shinier plate and my new set of points:
No adjustment needed - I love points! Note how I mark the cap with my plug numbers with a bit of white paint, actually it's a tippex pen but it makes working on the plugs and leads so much easier:
Next on the list is the mechanical fuel pump:
Topped them off with the shinier plate and my new set of points:
No adjustment needed - I love points! Note how I mark the cap with my plug numbers with a bit of white paint, actually it's a tippex pen but it makes working on the plugs and leads so much easier:
Next on the list is the mechanical fuel pump:
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
I've had a bit of trouble with it because the diaphragm is perished and out of shape so it doesn't pump very strongly. Basically I've got crap in the tank and though I've cleaned out the bulk of it I can't get that last little bit out so I'm relying on the filter to do the rest of the work. Because the pump is weak it only needs a little bit in the filter and the fuel flow stops so I bought a refurb kit which should solve that:
So there's a set of gaskets and seals, new diaphragm and a new set of valves. Naturally I ordered the wrong one so the valves are the wrong ones but no matter because it was really the diaphragm causing my problems. See here:
So I cleaned up and checked the valves, all ok and once reassembled I could instantly feel a more positive movement on the crank and much more suck and blow than before.
My hangover had cleared by this point so it was onto the heavy stuff. I mucked about with the cam and tappets but the crank goes in first. Block upside down:
I should point out here that cleanliness is very very very important when you are reassembling any engine, especially when it doesn't have an oil filter like this one. I used a fresh t-shirt as an oily rag so I didn't transfer any grit or muck off my other one. Have a little container with some fresh oil and a clean 1/2" brush to apply oil to the parts you are assembling.
Oil the bearings and place the crank carefully into position. Then on go the bearing caps in the same position and the same way round you took them off. I didn't know the correct torque but it helps if they are all the same so I did the nuts up to 50lbs, checked everything moved freely and pinned them:
So there's a set of gaskets and seals, new diaphragm and a new set of valves. Naturally I ordered the wrong one so the valves are the wrong ones but no matter because it was really the diaphragm causing my problems. See here:
So I cleaned up and checked the valves, all ok and once reassembled I could instantly feel a more positive movement on the crank and much more suck and blow than before.
My hangover had cleared by this point so it was onto the heavy stuff. I mucked about with the cam and tappets but the crank goes in first. Block upside down:
I should point out here that cleanliness is very very very important when you are reassembling any engine, especially when it doesn't have an oil filter like this one. I used a fresh t-shirt as an oily rag so I didn't transfer any grit or muck off my other one. Have a little container with some fresh oil and a clean 1/2" brush to apply oil to the parts you are assembling.
Oil the bearings and place the crank carefully into position. Then on go the bearing caps in the same position and the same way round you took them off. I didn't know the correct torque but it helps if they are all the same so I did the nuts up to 50lbs, checked everything moved freely and pinned them:
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
The pistons go in next. They don't just slide in because the rings expand and it's difficult to work them in so you use a ring compressor tool that pulls them closed while you knock the piston into the bore. Oil up the rings really well and tighten the piston into the ring compressor:
The bottom of the piston slides in and the ring compressor sits at the chamfer at the top of the bore...
...then you carefully tap the piston in with something soft, here I've used the rubber handle on the end of my mighty clubhammer:
Once it's in the bore you can slide it down and line it up on the big end on the crank:
Don't forget to oil it all up really well and make sure the big end caps go back on the right conrod and the same way round they came off:
Again I didn't know the correct torque but I did these up to 35lbs and checked it all still moved freely. I'll be doing the valve train on my next exciting instalment, in the meantime it's all covered carefully so no dirt gets in while I'm away.
The bottom of the piston slides in and the ring compressor sits at the chamfer at the top of the bore...
...then you carefully tap the piston in with something soft, here I've used the rubber handle on the end of my mighty clubhammer:
Once it's in the bore you can slide it down and line it up on the big end on the crank:
Don't forget to oil it all up really well and make sure the big end caps go back on the right conrod and the same way round they came off:
Again I didn't know the correct torque but I did these up to 35lbs and checked it all still moved freely. I'll be doing the valve train on my next exciting instalment, in the meantime it's all covered carefully so no dirt gets in while I'm away.
What a big stroke you have there Progress look fun atm, i love getting the bulk of the engine made, its really satisfying. If you dont mind me asking, did you measure the crank journals to check if they are within the tolerances? Or is the engine that old that no tolerances exist anymore?
Progress look fun atm, i love getting the bulk of the engine made, its really satisfying. If you dont mind me asking, did you measure the crank journals to check if they are within the tolerances? Or is the engine that old that no tolerances exist anymore? 
Shouldn't be too long til it's all done.
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
- Posts
- 17,705
- Location
- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Just did a visual check because the engine ran nice and smoothly before I stripped it with no noises or vibrations, all the trouble was with the top end. There are shell bearings in the crank which I don't think are original and they don't show much sign of wear so maybe it was rebuilt at one point, plus there's no play and it moves with about the amount of resistance I would expect so I think all is ok.[huzeeee] said:What a big stroke you have there
Yeah the stroke is quite comical, apparently safe up to 7000rpm!!!
Jonny69 said:No chance! It might fly apart quite spectacularly but I don't want my feet next to it when it happens
Alright, who are you, and what have you done with the real Jonny69?
Keep up the good work, and the interesting log!
Alan Woodford