Thread: A well used 80''called Klonk

It is a long time (fifty years+) since I have done one of these, but I remember having to put the rod in from the bottom, and the piston in from the top, and install the gudgeon pin in situ, using the exhaust port. Mind you, that was with the engine in, so no option to remove the crank, but if the crank is already out I expect it would certainly be easier.

But I do not remember any issues with the rings, putting them in from the top.

Because the top of the block slopes it is difficult to get the ring compressor down far enough to hold the rings . When the bore is STD the top of the bore has a taper to feed the rings in but once O/S there is no taper. When fitting the rod through the bottom you have to have the rod at 90 deg so it fits up into the slots in the bottom of the bore then fit the piston & pin then turn the assembly back 90 deg & make sure the piston is the correct way around, very fiddle job . Then it is a matter to get the ring gaps at 180 deg to one another with the top ring grove opposite the exhaust valve.

I've been putting off fitting the Pistons in the bores because I'm not sure of the best way to go about it either.
The block is now on the engine stand and its a lot better to work on. Have been reading the workshop manual tonight, rods go in from the bottom with the Conrod bolts removed, they then go into the slots in the bottom of the bores as John and Wayne said. Then the Pistons from the top and because the top of the block is sloped the rings can be fed in without a ring compressor, easy!

Also found out I may have put the cam bearings in in the wrong order so will have to pull it out to check them, ahh well better to to it now than latter.

Cheers Steve

Originally Posted by klonk

........ Have been reading the workshop manual tonight, .......
Cheers Steve

Not wanting to be critical or anything, but wouldn't it have been an idea to read the manual before even starting the job?

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Not wanting to be critical or anything, but wouldn't it have been an idea to read the manual before even starting the job?

Professional mechanics with 40 years experience only use workshop manuals for advise on technical adjustments and tensions, or if you really cant work it out after 2 days.

Seriously though I have been using the parts book to identify parts and their position. The cam and bearings were second hand but are in really good condition, so the bearings were kept in there original position when I fitted them. I did check the parts book and it shows two different part numbers for the bearings, the front one is one number and the other 3 as another. It doesnt identify the rear one as a seperate number. Strange as the workshop book says the rear bearing has 4 longitudinal holes drilled around the bearing inline with the cam shaft and the other two dont. Dont know why they are there. The rear bearing is in a blind hole but it does have an oil return hole to the crankcase so they arent there as oil drains.
Anyway I checked mine and 2 of the 3 had the 4 holes but the rear one didnt. Not wanting to change positions of the bearings I removed the rear one and drilled the 4 holes and refitted it.

Tonight I fitted the pistons in the bores. That could have ended badly if I hadnt tested the pistons in the bores first. The numbered order that the engine shop had written on them was wrong. Found no 2 piston was tight in its bore and number 3 piston was loose. An engine machinist measures each piston and makes the bore to suit each piston, seems he mixed these two up. It would have seized for sure.
I fitted the pistons into the bore from the bottom, much easier than the top. Assembled on the bench and pushed in by hand. easy with the crank out.
Found this lovely big plastic bag at work, unused of course. Good to keep the dust out. Its upside down so you can read the writing.

Cheers Steve

Now to get the valve timing correct . I am sure rover could have done a better job with it. Would have been a lot easier if they put a couple of marks on the timing gears like most other car manufactures . When I was rebuilding my Rover P3 engine ( Because it was a stop gap vehicle Rover never produced a workshop manual for the P3) I was using 4 different books for info & none of then had the same settings , would have had 10 attempts at getting it correct putting it all together & trying to start the motor then pulling it down again. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Pistons to TDC no.1 and 4. Camshaft with valves on the rock no.4, start from there. On the rock means one valve closing the other valve starting to open. No4 on the rock means no.1 will be at the top of the compression stroke.

Sorry I havnt been here for awhile. Progress has been made but Its been hard work.

After fitting the pistons the valves were fitted and tappets set. This is where the trouble started, 2 of the the lock nuts on the tappets run out of thread but 2 were ok. Found that 2 of the valves were from a 1600 engine and the other were from a 2 ltr. There is 3mm difference in stem length between the two valves. So a new set was ordered and they took ages to get here. Ruined the Anzac Day plans and won't make it to Perth for the 70th birthday run.
So to fill in time I fitted the block into the car. There was a big sigh of relief as I pushed the engine side ways half a bolt hole and dropped the bolt in. This was because when repairing the chassis I had to replace the gearbox crossmember and during the repairs the marks I had made disappeared. So after some calculations and an educated guess the new one was welded in. Really glad I didn't have to revisit that.

So to fill in time I sat the cyl head on and finished working out and fitting the rest of the parts.
This included replacing the temp gauge capillary line and making up an oil line adapter for the dual gauge. The valves turned up and were duly fitted and adjusted with enough thread to lock them up. Then every thing was assembled properly.
So last weekend the radiator was sat loosely in place held by the radiator hoses. The sump was filled with Penrites finest running in oil and the only thing left to do was to turn the key and push the button and let there be noise.
Well there was some noise, some smoke but no action, so I advanced the dissy abit more and tried again, this time it caught and run but was popping back through the carbi on acceleration
but would maintain revs. I adjusted the oil pressure and let it warm up but it was not happy, even threw a couple of fire balls from the carbi.

This week I spent rechecking the cam timing and ignition system. Only thing I found was that I was a tooth retarded on the dissy drive. I borrowed a running dissy to try but that made no difference either. I was getting frustrated.
Today I decided to move the dissy to its proper place, so removed the drive tube and advanced it one tooth and refitted it. This time it started and run smooth as, no coughing and no fireballs , just a healthy bark from the tail pipe. No idea what I did, it shouldn't have changed anything.
So now to sort out a few problems. The generator isn't charging, the fuel line has an air leak on top of the fuel bowl and the thermostat housing has a pin hole on the side of it that needs welding up then the front guards will be fitted. That's the plan for now.

Cheers Steve