Engine Strip
I've been busy with little things - stripping, sandblasting, painting, wrapping and storing ready to assemble later as I need them for the build phase.
The engine strip down was tedious as the internals were rusted and fought me all the way. The valves in contact with the valve seats were well rusted together, and the valve guides have taken quite a bit of pressure before that ominous 'crack' that indicates the first little bit of movement. Two of the exhaust guides refuse to budge, so I'm having a drift made so I can use the 20 ton press.
The surprise was the state of the bores - no lip at all, not a hint, so the engine had not done much work since being built. Bearings were all standard, too, but the builder had not done too good a clean before assembly, and some are scored.
It appears the engine had ceased to turn over, and was abandoned in that state. The cause turned out to be a jammed tappet - half had broken away, and upon rotation, had dropped the tappet against the cam lobe. The image below shows the broken tappet on the right and the score across the cam lobe. Fortunately, it seems the engine was not running at the time, as there is no other damage evident. Hopefully, it won't need a new camshaft. So with some care, the engine should rebuild nicely.
Mike
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