Fingers crossed it's only a light tap and maybe you won't need to touch the bottom end?

If you're reusing the head do check the guides as I found cracked guides when I striped mine

I think I’ll just reshell the big ends, to avoid some other random failure a year later, the worse part of the job is getting the sump off

Yes I’m using the same head, but a good shout on the valve guides. Thankfully they are cheap to buy

Cheers Jamie

So after fully stripping the cambelt assembly, I have to retract my assumption of the cambelt tensioner being the culprit.

What I found was some random piece of metal behind the cover, I have no idea what it is, or where it came from. It got tangled in the cambelt and that’s what threw the timing out, and at least explains that the tensioner was correctly tensioned to start with.

So I’ve stripped the cams and the lifters out, ready for machine work. If the place that I plan to take the head to has a chemical cleaning machine , I’ll have it ‘dipped’ to remove all the tarnish of the last 28 years. I’m going to get a new set of inlet valves cut and fitted and fit new valve guides to all valves on the inlet and exhaust ports, as they are only £1.50 each and the inlet valves are pretty badly bent

New valve stem seals and camshaft seals will also be fitted

I’ve inspected,cleaned and polished all piston crowns, and checked all pistons come to the same height in their respective cylinders, so no problem with a rod being bent.

Also I will reshell the big ends as a precautionary measure, as parts are only £40

Cheers Jamie

Do you have a picture of the offending metal bit Jamie?

Hi Simon, I’ll try and do a screen grab of the I sent Joe

I can say it’s not aluminium, it’s some kind of steel

I just have no comprehension of how it got there

Cheers Jamie

So whilst I’m waiting for the bits to turn up from autodoc, I thought I’d do some cosmetic bits….


The front Eiffel towers on my car have never been great, and when I first bought the car from Graham I tarted them up, but it was a bit of pigs era silk purse…….

So at present I’m working on the drivers side of the car, and also the front cross member are to make them look a lot better(pictures in the google drive link) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bv_IyVF6GCa8Iy3VzYooOsIdeRZLHG4R

I’ve also taken some photos of the engine bits and bobs, I’ll also include the videos I shared with Joe when I was stripping the engine as taking screen grabs is a faff.

So cleaned all the pistons up and put some berryman B12 down each cylinder to give the oil control rings a really good degunk.

I’ve got a bit more prep with the block face and got some good advice from Joe for the the little coolant channels that on my engine were that blocked I didn’t know the channel existed!

Todays jobs will be to remove the passenger side Eiffel tower and get the new ones in place, coupled with finish prepping the block


Next up is to lower the subframe in order to be able to take the sump off, ready to change the shells….


Cheers Jamie

You make me feel envious and lazy at the same time

Keep at it

Paul

Cheers Paul

So today’s task was change the shells in the big ends…….


In some ways doing them now will have saved me some pain later, as they were worn, Check the google drive for a photo or 3

At least now I won’t get a nasty surprise having changed them

The worst part about the job is getting the 3 bolts back in for the oil pick up feed,grrrrrr

Anyway it’s all done, just waiting for a new sump bolt and washer to arrive……


Cheers Jamie

Looking at changing the shells in mine over the winter due to advice on here when I first posted following a top end rebuild following a cam belt failure. Where did you get the shells from.

I got them from Autodoc, they cost about £40

So bit of an update…….

So bottom end of the engine is all done, just put a new oil filter whilst the head is being machined and valve guides changed

In the meantime I’ve decided to redo the front brake calipers as the seals are cooked from the last 2 years of track use

This time I’m doing them red, so I’ve also redone the strut brace just to match colour wise, and also bought a new set of rear calipers and painted those red


More updates tomorrow….


Cheers Jamie

Then the cam-cover, the horns, it's never ending

Yep, I just have to keep selling my soul to pay for it all

Cheers Jamie

Evening all,
Bit of an update from this weekend’s effort ,albeit not much

So reassembled and refitted the front brake calipers after stripping them and repainting them

Repaired the undertray where it’s been hacked around in its earlier life, and also repaired the air duct for the oil cooler assembly

Still waiting for the head to be sorted at the engineering shop

Once I get the head I’ll have to complete the lapping of valves, new oil stem seals and fitting of the valves.

Check the lifters, as a couple of them are tappy at first start.refit the cams, thermostat housing, new water pump and also fit the inlet manifold before offering it to the block

Then fit the cylinder head, time the engine etc

And finally bolt everything else back in so probably 3 or 4 days of work

Cheers Jamie

So update time.......

Head is all assembled and fitted to the block

I've done a compression test to check my work, all OK except for cylinder no.3 which is a bit low but after putting a bit of oil in the bore the compression was good. This is probably linked to using berryman b12 to degunk the oil control rings as prior to the saga, the compression was good across all cylinders.

Had some fun with tensioning the cambelt but after checking with Joe and then redoing I'm happy that it's correct now.

It's just the case of bolting everything back together and firing the car up (or setting fire to the car),so if time and weather permit it should at least be ticking over by the end of the weekend

Cheers Jamie

It’s getting closer!


To do

Fit crankshaft pulley and belt along with the FCSS pulley guard

Fit the downpipe and lambda sensor

Fit the radiator, cooling fans and connect the pipework

Then I can fire the car up

Finally refit the various bits and bobs such as bumper, undertray etc

Cheers Jamie

Don't forget to check the oil....

Already done

She’s alive

Not got everything connected but wanted to get the engine tested

Oil pressure straight up to to 3 bar

Still got a good days worth of ancillary bits and bobs, but it’s running

Cheers Jamie

Been for a little tootle around the block a few times,all seems good

Great news. Must feel good to be back on the road again. Enjoy 😉

Cheers fella

Currently on holiday until tomorrow

Then back to finishing bits and bobs off

Then at the end of October I will start on cutting the floor pan to allow me to both repair the crushed floor sections and also install the lower chassis/subframe braces to really tighten up the body stiffness

Then it will need the tracking and camber adjusting 1 final time to finish the car set up

Next year if funds permit, I’ll get the interior retrimmed and possibly do some paintwork as well to make the car ‘as good as new’

Cheers Jamie