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Bordfunker

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Everything posted by Bordfunker

  1. Thanks all for the feedback. I was hoping to get the head on today, however I think I’ll need to address the heater feed stub as that is looking very crumbly, so for now the head is just sitting in place. Thanks everyone. Karl
  2. Quick question before I torque up the head on my Herald, what is the correct orientation of the head gasket? The WSM appears to suggest flat side down, as per the photo below. Is this correct? Thanks Karl
  3. After a somewhat longer than anticipated hiatus in updates, time to actually share what has been going on over the last 2 and a bit months, which is not a great deal. We left the engine with the crank in, but little else, therefore the focus before Xmas was getting the bottom end of the engine built up, a task that was really not assisted by the low temperatures in the garage, and which also had an unforeseen impact on the rebuild. The bulk of this went as expected, taking time and care to ensure that everything was oriented correctly, and that there was no undue drag or friction as each element was added. The pistons went in without a fight, and lashings of assembly lube. When the temperatures rose following the extended cold weather before Xmas, the garage turned into condensation central, particularly the block, which suffered significant flash rusting. It looks worse than it actually was, as a quick rub over with a fine Scotchbrite pad soon removed the rust. Leaving me able add the dizzy pedestal and oil filter. My NOS oil pump was next, having first been primed with more assembly lube. By this point the rear oil seal and front bridge were both in, both without any issues, rapidly followed by the sump. And then onto the other side of the engine, including the freshly cleaned up brass drain tap. At which point it was time to assemble the timing gear on the front of the engine. Which leads to a question around the set up of the timing gear. I've got the older WSM, pre-GT6, and I have a strong suspicion that it doesn't reflect the correct set up on my late engine. In the picture above, I have aligned the the dimple on the large timing wheel with the dimple on the camshaft behind, though you can't see this in the picture. The WSM doesn't show any dimple on the camshaft, but looking at the guidance for later engines, it does show the two dimples aligned, which is what I have gone with. Is this correct? Note I have set the locking tab. But what about the head I hear you cry? Well, I was attempting to lap in the new exhaust valves, but no matter how much I twiddled away, I was still left with a pitted valve seat on the exhaust valves. I therefore decided that the best solution was to get a set of hardened valve seats fitted to go with the NOS exhaust valves. The head has therefore been away at Knight Engine Services over the border in Northamptonshire since early January having the new seats fitted, and is due for collection tomorrow. So what started out as a quick seal and gasket refresh, on what was expected to be a fairly sound engine, has escalated into a significant rebuild, if still someway short of a full scale rebuild. The upside is that the engine should be good for a few more miles yet, and will now be able to run on unleaded without any concerns. We also welcomed a new vehicle to the Bordfunker household before Xmas, our first EV, a Citroen Ami. It's flat out at 28mph, which means it's an urban runabout only, but that is exactly what we bought it for. Driving wise, although it's electric, it drives like a classic, with no power steering, suicide door, just the one, the other one is normal, left hand drive, and no rear view mirror, just door mirrors, which work just fine. That's it for this update, though the aim is to start putting the head back together next week, before re-uniting head and block. Karl
  4. I’ve got the same punch as you have, and found out the hard way that you need to crank up the power quite a bit on the welder to get good penetration with a plug weld. Which is fine when you know that, but does mean you end up putting more heat into the panel than you want to, and means having to cool everything with an airline after each weld. Great progress on the tub, it’s starting to look whole again. Karl
  5. Given the current temperatures, typically around zero, time in the garage has been limited over the weekend. However, even freezing temperatures couldn't prevent me from doing something on the newly painted block, starting with core plugs. I had cleaned up all of the core plug holes with a wire brush in a drill ahead of painting, in an attempt to ensure as clean a mating surface as possible, and everything had been masked off prior to painting to be on the safe side. Even having done that, I took Colin's advice, and went belt and braces, applying a thin smear of RTV around the edge of each plug before insertion. Putting the plugs themselves in, then went without incident, leaving me with a plugged block. All of which took less than half an hour, following which I fled back into the house for a warming cup of tea. Just the plugs on the back of the head to be done now. Speaking of the head, this has been fully painted, I ended up bringing it into the house to brush paint as it probably would have bloomed if I had tried painting it in the garage. I went with brush painting as it avoided the need for masking, however I forgot that the pushrod tubes needed masking, so out with the tape again, and cue half an hour of me getting stuck to masking tape as I always seem to. It's now fully painted, but I haven't got around to taking any pics yet. Having warmed myself up overnight I ventured into the garage again to make a start on reassembling the bottom end of the engine, starting with the new bearing shells and thrust washers. Everything went in very smoothly, with a dab of grease on the backs of the thrust washers to hold them in place while I lowered the crank in. All the surfaces were given a coat of Graphogen assembly lube, and the crank checked for free movement as each bearing cap was torqued up. I am very relieved to say that there were no issues, and the crank rotates with no tight spots. With that out of the way, I turned my attention to the bridge piece and associated gaskets. Again, I applied a thin smear of RTV to either side of the gaskets before seating the bridge and tightening up the set screws. My gasket set came with a couple bits of wood for the wooden seals either side of the bridge, but mine were too wide, with no chamfer, so came the wood chisel and file to get them into a shape that I could tap home. Once they had been hammered fully home, I simply used the wood chisel to remove what was left proud of the block. The next job will be to reinstall the camshaft and front plate, which I'll probably try to do one night this week if I can summon the courage. Karl
  6. Pete, keeping Olive away from wet paint is the biggest challenge! Being a Beagle, she is into everything, whether she should be or not! She’s our 5th Beagle in the last 15 years, and our first, Willow, is still going strong at almost 16 now. The weather has got worse if anything, as the temperature is now topping at a heady 0 degrees! Karl
  7. You under estimate my stupidity! Why is it, that when the weather is mild and pleasant, you never have time to attend to those jobs which require, mild and pleasant weather? Such as painting the engine and attendant elements. Cue yours truly desperately trying to heat a garage from a less than friendly 4 degrees, to something near 15, which meant trying to create a little bubble of warmth in which to paint. I hate to think what my leccy bill is going to be after this. Beans on toast for Xmas dinner may be in order. Before I mixed up a batch of black enamel, I decided to attempt painting the previously primered rocker cover in my makeshift booth, just to check that the paint wasn't going to bloom. Not looking too bad given that it is a rattle can job, and certainly a huge improvement over how it was when I took it off the car. Comfortable that I could safely paint without fear of blooming, I set about the block, but prior to that it had been treated with rust stopper, and then masked up prior to spraying. As always the masking took a lot longer than the actual painting. The paint finish isn't perfect, with the odd run here and there, but given that it's an engine, I won't be losing any sleep over it. I even had help with the painting! Though, I think Olive was more interested in the warmth of the garage than anything that I was doing! Also in the queue for the paint shop were the engine front and back plates, I wasn't happy with the previous finishes, and the rocker cover breather filter. I have ended up with some fish eyes on the breather, no doubt from silicone contamination, so it will need sanding back and cleaning up, before I try again. I'm still not overly happy with the finish on the front and back plates as the drying time of enamel is painfully slow, so it ends up with lots of dust in it, so I may well try sanding it back, and giving it a couple of coats of cellulose instead, as this dries much quicker, and doesn't attract as much dust. Just in case you are worried, the freshly machined surfaces of the head and block were treated with a layer of wax by the machine shop, which will keep rust at bay until it comes to final assembly. But what about the head I hear you cry? Maybe not. I did toy with masking the head up and spraying it, but given how little of the head is actually painted, I have decided to hand paint it, but so far have only managed to get a coat of rust stopper on. I think I might bring the head indoors for painting as the garage is a little above zero at the moment, and I do like having feeling in my hands! While the weather remains cold, I will make a start on reassembling the bottom end this weekend, but first I will give the engine block a final clean and put the core plugs in. Karl
  8. Colin, traditional classic car shows are not dead, it can just feel like it. We're lucky in having Bicester Heritage just down the road from us and they do a quarterly 'Scramble', (it's based on an old RAF Bomber Command airfield). My loom was in similar condition when I stripped the manky outer wrap off it, and cut out the odd damaged section, having said that I ended replacing most of the connectors. Karl
  9. Great progress there, though that boot corner looks a list suspect! Karl
  10. Thanks guys. Can I use RTV for this? Karl
  11. Bordfunker

    Core Plugs

    I’ve finally almost got to that point in my rebuild where it’s time to fit the core plugs. Question though, do the core plugs require a sealant, or is it just sheer interference fit which seals it? Karl
  12. Unfortunately that all looks pretty par for the course with a Herald from my experience, in that I mean it looks just like mine when I got it. It’s all fixable though, but best done with the body off, as you’ll probably find similar horrors in the chassis. Karl
  13. Chris, I don’t think there is ever any danger of this vehicle being remotely concours! The thought of keeping a car immaculate, and having to worry about every little detail holds no attraction for me. Karl
  14. The block and head are now back from the machine shop, and currently sitting in the hall (Mrs B is very understanding), while I make some space in the garage to get it repainted, and then start the reassembly process. So in order to make some space I decided to finish off the fan with a lovely coat of yellow paint, applied in my makeshift paint booth. I had the heater running to make sure the area was warm enough for painting, hence the thermometer. The end result was lovely shiny fan, ready to back on the pump once it's also painted. I know the shade of yellow isn't quite right, but it will do, after all, it's just a cooling fan. Next on the list was the rocker cover, and oil breather cap, both of which I expected to have painted this weekend, but after applying rust stopper to them both on Monday, by Saturday, they had flash rusted! B*gger! Nothing for it but to rub it all down, and then reapply the rust stopper, leave that dry overnight, then on with the primer on Sunday. Hopefully that should keep them protected until the weekend, when I can get some top coat on. Looking through my diminishing pile of engine bits which have yet to be cleaned/refreshed I picked up the block drain tap, and spent a very satisfying 20 minutes buffing the tap up. Now it may look blingy, but it doesn't work as the lever won't turn, but at least it's jammed in the closed position. It was working after a fashion, but every time you turned it, the retaining plate on the bottom would fall of its shoulder. Hammering the plate onto the shoulder, then locked up the mechanism, so it won't turn. I'm not going to sweat it, as I don't use the drain tap, so as long as it doesn't leak I'm not too phased. Also the thermostat housing got the same treatment as it was looking a bit the worse for wear. Somewhat less blingy, but vitally important, were the reprofiled rockers themselves. They look flat in the pics, but the machine shop have retained the original profile. I removed the push rod pads, I don't know the correct term, and made sure that the oil ways were clear, before putting them back together again. The aim next week is to get the rocker cover and oil breather painted up, and then the block can move into the garage and get a coat of gloss back enamel, following which the serious business of reassembly can commence. Karl
  15. Those are my thoughts exactly! Better get on and order some as the block is now back. Karl
  16. Bordfunker

    Compressor

    I bought a Burisch 3hp 90hp compressor from GT Air about 5 years ago, and that has been extremely reliable, though is marginally more expensive that the one from SGS. https://gtair.co.uk/air-compressors/1-burisch-bt-390t-90-litre-3hp-belt-drive-air-compressor-5060523510009.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAg_KbBhDLARIsANx7wAwQ_UF4szCC5XZUfvov3hztmJJbFEbGzGjDEfcudV10n2CWT_zIsZgaAlCLEALw_wcB Karl
  17. Thanks all! That sounds like an overwhelming vote for Graphogen then. I notice that it’s sold in 50g and 125g packs, would I be better off going with the larger for a full rebuild? Thanks Karl
  18. I am about to pickup my freshly machined engine and head from the machine shop, and start reassembly. The bores and pistons are standard, but all of the bearing shells are being replaced, again standard. The rest of the car is at least 12 months away from being drivable, and therefore the engine will be laid up, with just a regular turning. Consequently what are everyone’s thoughts on the use, or not, of assembly lube? Thanks in advance. Karl
  19. Work has been manic the last few weeks, with long days, and little chance to go and pick up the engine from the machine shop, but hopefully next week I should be able to get out of the home office for a couple of hours to pick it up. Last weekend was a bust, as my boss was in town from South Africa, so Saturday was spent showing her around London, and Sunday, catching up on all the chores that I would normally do on a Saturday. So as I mentioned a few weeks back, focus has instead been on cleaning up some of the ancillaries that have so far been neglected, continuing with the water pump and the oil seal on the timing cover. For some reason, I had decided not remove the oil seal from the timing cover before painting it, which means it was sitting there still requiring replacement, surrounded by freshly painted metal. Anyone's guess what was going through my head when I made that call! As you can see, the seal itself was pretty chewed up, and every time I tried to remove it with a seal pick, a bit more broke off, without the seal itself moving a millimetre. Nothing for it, but to break out a tungsten carbide die grinder, and grind the devil out. Success! And a very mangled old seal. A quick clean of the interior of the timing cover, which was now covered in plastic shavings, and metal swarf. After that, the new seal went in without a fight. Which meant it was time to turn attention back to the water pump. As per my usual methodology, everything has been cleaned and stripped down to bare parts, to ensure a deep clean. It was then given a coat of Fe-123 in order to kill any lurking rust. While that lot was drying off, I started work on the water pump's mate, the fan, which was looking somewhat tired and battered after 50+ years of neglect. Time to break out the strip wheels and wire brushes, and start getting that paint off. Getting there.... Much better, but look at the mess it made on the bench! And time for some paint. Confession time; I went to put a second coat of primer on, and managed to spray the fan with Gunk! The dangers of having two orange cans on the bench, one etch primer, the other Gunk! Lesson learned, and Gunk put back in the cupboard out of the way. The water pump also got a coat of primer as well, but first I had to reassemble it, which meant taking a tap and die to the threads on the studs and threads which hold the pump itself to the main body. Unsurprisingly, there was surface corrosion on the studs themselves, but a quick run through a die had them back to near pristine condition. I used a Loctite sealant on the impeller to body joint as well as the gasket, just to be on the safe side, before masking up all the mating surfaces, as I didn't want paint on them. Note the thin bead of sealant peeking out from the impeller flange. And finally primed. So what next? Time to tackle the rocker cover, which was in every bit as poor a state as the fan. Cue more work with the strip wheel and wire brushes. A vast improvement, but again, not without a degree of fallout. This time, lesson learned, and old newspaper laid out to catch the worst of the crud. And yes, I was wearing a mask throughout these activities. The rocker cover will need a coat of Fe-123, before getting primed. I am expecting to have the block and head back next week, and can then mask it up, and give it a coat of paint, prior to putting the new core plugs in, and starting the reassembly process. Speaking of which I received the new exhaust valves from Mick Dolphin, still in their original packaging. Who would have thought, that one day, seeing that logo on a box of parts would actually inspire confidence? Also, speaking of reassembly, as I was, what are everyone's thoughts on assembly lube, bearing in mind that engine won't probably be run for at least 6-12 months, though I will obviously have the ability to turn the engine over. Karl
  20. I’ve got a Springside Herald Convertible sitting in a draw, unbuilt. I really must get around to building it at some point as I’ve only had it 30 years! Karl
  21. Need to go and check I didn’t do that when I reassembled my diff! I’m doubting myself now. Karl
  22. Thanks Pete L, I might take you upon that. Aluminium fans, obviously a lighter, a performance enhancer for the more sporty Spitfire! Thanks guys Karl
  23. Finally, in this case refers to the fact that I have finally got around to dropping the engine block, head and rockers off at Headline in Milton Keynes. Headline were recommended by one of the local TSSC guys, an hour away from me, tucked away on a tiny little industrial estate, and everything I expected them to be, a tiny old fashioned machine shop. On dropping my engine off, I couldn't help but take a look at the row of blocks awaiting attention in front of the counter, and was heartened to see a Triumph straight six amongst the collection. I managed to pick the wrong day weather wise though, as it absolutely chucked it down, and the wind was blowing a gale, which made for an entertaining trip, staring at the map on my phone, while piloting the C1 weighed down by the Herald's engine in the boot! Before dropping the engine off, it got a final clean, to try and remove the last of the muck, which included spraying Gunk through all the oils ways, followed by a run through with some extra-long pipe cleaners, and finally the steam cleaner. Like a smoking dragon, the central oil way gets a blast! Finally leaving me with a clean block for machining. With the main engine elements out of the way, I took a look at the NOS oil pump that I picked up from Mick Dolphin. It is apparently an FAI manufactured component. Compared with the old pump, the only difference is the rough cast nature of the pickup tube. Anyone ever heard of FAI before? While looking at my growing collection of new parts, I decided to fit the main rear oil seal to the carrier. Which was then put back on the clean bench with all the other components awaiting return of the block and head from Headline, which maybe some time next week, assuming I can get to Milton Keynes to pick it up. So, aside from some DIY this weekend, all I managed to do was finally turn my attention to the water pump, which has been sitting, dirty, and unloved on a shelf since it was removed. No photos I'm afraid, but the pump itself is good, with no unwanted movement, and just in need of a cleanup, and a coat of paint, ahead of reassembly. Were all Herald fans painted yellow like mine? Funnily enough, it looks to be exactly the same yellow as the '47' painted on the side of the block. Karl
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