Ben,
since the old stem seals are scrap, a flat screwdriver blade under the edge of the seal then a twist should lift them off the guides.

Btw, it's usually best to remove the old seals before grinding the valves in, then the valves will rotate easier...

ken.

no sniggering in the back please

Cheers Ken! Next time we meet at an event (or otherwise, if you're passing) drinks on me!

What did I say??

spent yesterday with a hangover so just picking this one up

valve stem seals.. the one that fits nicely over the inlet valve is the exhaust one
some come with thimbles to protect the seal from the cotter grooves, if not a turn of electrical tape ...but i usually dont bother and never had a problem.

replacement pistons and barrels, the gudgeon circlips can be a b*tch to fit so keep the old ones from the dead pistons handy

guessing alls well and the crank turns freely?

pinking doesnt come from leaky heads but cuses it as the shock and the heat act like a plasma cutter on the edge of the mating face


Sean

Ah - over on 2cvgb - something along the lines of 'think condom'



Yep crank turns freely, offside piston was well stuck in the the barrel. Nearside evidence of pinking, all cleaned up now. Just need to knock the fins off the old barrel and grind the mating face up.

Thanks for the tips regarding circlips, lost one of the originals already, pinged off somewhere into the depths of the garage!

Ben

Ben,
don't forget to lap the other cylinder head as well, since removing metal will reduce the combustion chamber's volume and it's best to have the C.R. on both sides as close as possible.
Take particular care to clean away _all_ traces of grinding paste used on the heads, using solvent and a compressor + blow gun.
If there's any left lurking in the recess in the head, it will score your new barrels...

ken.

Looked at getting the new piston into the barrels last night. Fitting up the rings - should the middle ring go over the spring steel that is already fitted? The instructions seem to imply so, but it seems a very tight fit into the barrel.

Ben

Ben,
blue box, Kereven branded?
I've noticed that as well, they seem to be a much tighter fit than any other makes I've used.

ken

Yes, that's the one. Fits into the barrel, and after much swearing, I got the circlips on too.

One side is now done (hopefully I got the pushrod tube seals done correctly). Turns over nicely on the cranking handle anyway (and the valves open and close too, which is nice).

Ben

The engine now spins over happily. Got the manifold back on, omitting the tinwear since I'm a novice and not that confident that it wasn't going to leak oil everywhere.

After spinning over, I noticed a couple of oil leaks, all from the two head unions I hadn't done up completely. Oops. Tightened up and seems ok! I get one spark at the plug when it first cranks, but then nothing. Next task is to replace the points and condenser and to reset the timing. Hopefully I've found the correct wires are hooked up.

One other thing I noticed was that the handbrake lever wasn't connected and was resting against the gearbox - when cranking over I got loads of sparks between handbrake lever and drumbrake. Have I missed an earth lead somewhere?

I was surprised to see that the voltage regulator connector has a multiplug connector, which fitted straight onto a solidstate lucas regulator I had kicking about. Or perhaps this means that the car has had a replacement wiring harness at some point in it's life.