5th April 2010
Having discovered some localised pitting on the valves last week, I decided
to have a closer look at the valve seats and found that these were not too bad in matter of fact. So, I decided
to have another try at lapping in the valves, especially as the inlet valves had responded quite well to my attentions
thus far. With a few (boring) hours of twiddling the valves back and forth with first coarse and then fine grinding
paste, I ended up with quite a decent job.
Flushed with my minor success, I moved on to cleaning the face of the block with a razor blade and then wet and dry sandpaper (2400 grit lubricated with a little thin oil). This removed the remains of the old head gasket and an amount of surface rust, though there is still some pitting that I will not be able to remove without resorting to sending the block off for machining. As I doubt that the pitting is going to affect the performance of the engine I will leave it be. During my cleaning I did unearth some small numbers that were stamped on to the face of the block; I have no idea what these are for, do you?
Finally, I pulled out a die nut and ran it down the threads on the studs that hold the head in place. These are now clean and accept a nut readily without the need for a spanner.
10th April 2010
Over the last seven months I have been contacted both by email and by telephone
by quite a number of truly remarkable Austin 10 owners. Each of them has offered kind words of encouragment, tips
to avoid tragedy and tales that have even on occassion made me laugh! It has been truly fantastic and I hope that
it continues. One repeated question that I have heard from nearly all is, "Have you joined the Austin Ten
Drivers Club?" Well, I can finally say that today I have finally completed my membership form, written out
a cheque and popped it in the post. I look forward to meeting with you at forthcoming ATDC events!
11th April 2010
A very long day working on Betsy today! I was determined to get the pistons
and valves back in the block and I can happily say that my mission was accomplishe
d.
I began the day by honing the bores to remove the rust stains that had built up whilst the engine was out of service; once this simple task was completed I started in on reinstalling the pistons. Now, I don't know who thought up the idea of fitting pistons from inside the cylinder block rather than down the bores in the usual manner, but I would lay bets on him having twelve inch long, double jointed fingers! You see, to compress the piston rings and allow the piston to enter the bore, you have to negotiate your way around the crankshaft and the camshaft with both hands. This is not easy with large hands, I can tell you! Nonetheless, after much cursing and several walks up and down the drive to regain my composure, I managed it.
When refitting the pistons, you need to ensure that the gaps in them are staggered and that they do not face the sides of the piston where the force is going to be taken. Usefully, the pistons themselves are marked with the word FRONT to ensure that they go in the right way round.
In a 'whilst I'm here' moment I decided to swap the big end shells out for new ones. The
old ones were just starting to show signs of wear, so I fitted some new old stock items that I had on the shelf.
Ever
ything was liberally coated in oil during reassembly to avoid damage through oil starvation.
Teatime was coming up, so I decided to slip in a quick job before I was called to the table to eat. I cleaned the copper piping that feeds oil to the three main bearings and refitted it. I used petrol to clean the pipe, though I guess paraffin would be equally effective at removing the sludge. The reason I used fuel rather than degreasing agent is that I didn't want any degreaser getting in to the bearings at a later date, with the inherent risk of failure that this would bring. The fuel, you see, will evaporate off long before I first run the engine. The ends of the pipe rely upon three flared ends matching up to and mating evenly with recesses in the bearing carriers. To ensure that the flares did as they should, I first re-annealed the flares by heating them with a blowtorch. This allows the copper to become malleable again and should ensure that each flared end mates well with its home. I then cleaned the baffle plate that goes in the bottom of the engine and refitted it.
A short break for my evening meal and I was back at it, this time refitting the valves. An easy, if frustrating, job even with large hands. Once the valves were fitted, the mating faces were liberally coated in oil to ensure that no rust would form before I start the engine up.
19th April 2010
Having taken a day's holiday to play in the garage, I'm afraid I was thwarted
by what I thought was a migraine. Managing to lose the sight in first the right eye and then the left for an hour
or so was something of a new, but thoroughly unpleasant, experience for me. As a result, I didn't manage to get
in to the garage after all.
21st April 2010
After 'persuasion' from Vanessa, I sought my doctor's advice on my migraine as it hadn't cleared up from Monday. It has to be said he was a little more animated than I expected; apparently I have had a stroke, so I guess I will be slowing progress down on Betsy for a week or two. I'll be taking some days off over the coming weeks, so as working on Betsy is therapy of a sort, maybe I will still be able to finish putting the engine back together before the end of the month.