Project Q-Felicia

[TeflonTom]

iirc the land rovers have cast iron valve guides

[pinkskud]

cast iron everything!!!

[TeflonTom]

finally got round to having a proper look at this engine today!

it is a terrible state inside, she looks like she's never seen an oil change since it came out of the factory. it looks(and feels) to me like it will need a rebore, but i will consult an ex-collegue of mine to see what he says.. i think the first thing to do after stripping it completely down is to give the bores a quick hone to see if they are going to clean up... failing that it will be a rebore... which isn't the end of the world but it would mean i would need to buy new pistons which i didn't want to do, my plan was to just re-ring the existing ones......

[TeflonTom]

next i had a good look at the cylinder head, crusted up oil in the top made it difficult to remove the hydraulic lifters. also the collets were jammed on solid, they aren't damaged, just 'glued' on by the grotty oil...

even the valves didn't want to come out without a fight:D

but all in all, this head is in very good condition, i going to have it chemically cleaned....

[TeflonTom]

OMG i cant undo the bolt on the end of the crankshaft

i'll think of something:D

[cheezemonkhai]

Welding torch? :P

Looks a bit mucky in there I'd agree

[TeflonTom]

well i got it out but it wasn't easy...

now the engine is totally bare

i've had a very close look at the bores and measured them etc. they are actually going to be ok after all so i need to take it to the machine shop to get the bores honed and the deck surface ground to give a nice clean surface and the right cross hatch pattern to aid the bedding in of the new piston rings, plus it needs to be spotlessly clean for the rebuild so it needs to be de-greased and thouroughly cleaned as well, and then painted if necessary

[cheezemonkhai]

Ohh looks cleaner... well i can see straight through it. :P

Are you not going to do pistons and rods while it is in pieces?

As for painting, IMHO black

[pinkskud]

looking good.

the block that is!

[TeflonTom]

just purchased myself a set of 8 brand new hydraulic lifters off ebay

[TeflonTom]

just got the cylinder head back.... it's nice and clean now. and the valve guides have been pressed out... plus all the thick sludged up oil from the top is gone.... but it took 2 days in the acid tank plus hot steam/solvent washing to do it:P

the combustion chambers and ports are now nice and clean. i appoligise for the naf photos, batteries are runninglow on my camera:O

now the porting work can commence:D

[pinkskud]

nice, cant you bye ported heads allready done?

[TeflonTom]

nice, cant you bye ported heads allready done?

yes, but they start at about

[TeflonTom]

haha..

the new hydraulic lifters arrived this morning... i'm really impressed with that. only ordered them on sunday night.

happy days!

oh and i've heard word about these throttle bodies this morning too, shouldn't be long now

[WoodieGuthrie]

hoorah!

I finally got started on my touring this week. must be project weather!

[TeflonTom]

right, i've had a minor set back with the cylinder head. i was a bit over enthusiastic when polishing the comubustion chambers and it's cut back a little too close to the gasket line for my liking. so i'm going to have to get my local fabrication shop to drop a spot of weld in there for me, then i'll grind it back to where it's supposed to be..

i've finished grinding the intake ports to how i like them now... just waiting for some small flapwheels to turn up before i can give them a good polish.. the exhaust ports are actually nearly perfect on this head in standard form, all i will do to these is grind off the casting flash from the sides, then give them a quick polish....

after which it's time to put the new valve guides in then grind the valve seats

[WoodieGuthrie]

good work-exuberence can be a bugger sometimes!

Currently, my parts list for the touring stands at over

[pinkskud]

eBay.co.uk: skoda felicia volkswagon cylinder head (item 140125247360 end time 10-Jun-07 22:40:08 BST)

[TeflonTom]

thanks for the heads up on that pinks!!!

still gonna repair my existing one tho... after the amount of time i've spent porting it

[pinkskud]

glad to be of assistence my man

[TeflonTom]

finished the porting work today

also spend a few hours carefully grinding away the casting flash from the intake manifold, then matched it up the the intake ports on the head... next job is putting in the new valve guides

[WoodieGuthrie]

looks spot on! well done

[pinkskud]

nice.

what does putting the valve guides in intale???

[TeflonTom]

nice.

what does putting the valve guides in intale???

erm... depends on what tooling you have available.. i made up a special tool where the valve guide locates in the centre of it the you press down on the top with the a hydraulic press and it goes in to eactly the right height(very important!)

the other important thing to check very carefully is the diameter of the new valve guide, normally new guides are ever so slightly bigger, so you will need a decent micrometer to check the sizes. so you can either lightly clamp them into the chuck on a lathe and rub them down to the correct size using fine emery cloth, or obtain teh correct size reemer to open up the holes slightly.

the thing to remember is that they are an interfererance fit so they dont just slide in, a moderate pressure is needed to push them in.... most people just bash them in with a hammer and a suitable sized drift, but i find this breaks them too easily so i prefer the more controlled pressing in with a hydraulic press.

also i normally use loctite sleeve locking compound on there too to lock them in place....

after they are fitted it is somtimes necessary to reem the internal bore of the valve guide too because of the crushing effect of being pressed in, plus also new guides may have a burr on them from when they are made, plus it is also necessary to get the correct running clearance for the valve stem....

hope this isn't too technical for everybody... i dont mind answering questions like this, but the answers are often very technified:O

[pinkskud]

thanks mate. the tec stuff is not a prob (fully qualifyed engineer) just quite new to engines thats all.