jgra1 blog

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 31 Oct 2008, 16:37

right... I am off alone on the 350 odd mile trip to beyond Newcastle..

A bit nervous to be honest... the last two long journeys in the car have caused me a bit of grief...

I have usefully spent the afternoon at work making 4 MP3 cds from my collection, attempting to only put things on that I dont know

almost worked

wish me luck, engine swap for dad first thing tomorrow all being well..

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 31 Oct 2008, 17:24

John,

Good luck, safe journey and if you are passing M1 J14 going to and from and fancy a cuppa, I'm literally only five minutes from J14. Pop in!

I'm sure my tea and hospitality will surpass that on offer at the Newport Pagnell services. You have my number?

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 02 Nov 2008, 10:46

thanks Jim

made it no probs..

but.. at a loss with what went wrong with dads car..
4 cylinders on the engine @ 90psi and no obvious reason after taking head off..

spare engine, we did a cold compression test on that, 350psi in 3 cylinders and only 90 in the other.. the addition of some oil in the fourth pushed compression up way to much (maybe too much oil in there)

we now have 2 engines in bits and no real clue as to why only 3 of 8 cylinders are compressing...

Will investigate further this morning...

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 02 Nov 2008, 22:36

Jim I ran outta time

7 hours non stop

anyway, one thing, a full tank (overflowing WVO from filler on Friday night) so guessing 73 litres or so,

driving carefully (60-70) with about 80kgs in car - 636 miles before it stopped on the A1M.. Doesn't seem to good?

otherwise car was a dream, and the more long journeys I do the more I appreciate electric seats

more to follow

John

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 Nov 2008, 11:21

No worries John, I had to nip out for part of the evening. Phone rang just as Top Gear was starting

It was Robyn wanting a lift home from the city centre after the firework display

Getting into MK city centre when theres a big event on and then trying to find a daughter inamongst the crowds was an adventure

Be interested to see some pictures of the heads John, especially the one off your Dad's 306

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 03 Nov 2008, 11:42

ok Jim, pics soon....

Top gear has me in stitches as usual

I usually go dartford way around M25 as I am only about 20 mins from the crossing, whereas the Heathrow way is about an hour further..

Thinking now to rebuild both engines, and sell one as a recon umit to recoup some of the costs of the rebuild... wonder what a rebuilt TD is worth, with photos ,and new parts... ?

if people pay 1-150 for an unknown, surely 250-300 is a good price for a fresh engine? It will owe us about £250 I think

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 Nov 2008, 12:19

Great stuff John

Top Gear was an absolute hoot last night. I recorded it. One of the funniest I've ver seen

Good idea on the engines John, did you bring the other one back complete or is it still up North? A good 'un has got to be worth £300. A basically serviceable head is worth over a ton.

636 miles on WVO does not sound bad to me John, That's still around 40 'ish to the gallon.

Electric Leathers are really brilliant on a long journey. I'd not be without them and I've yet to find them uncomfortably cold in the mornings either. I've not felt the need to switch the heaters on yet..

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 03 Nov 2008, 12:44

I brought the 2 heads back Jim.... thought I would get the skimmer to skim the least warped but thinking now to get them both done at once....
I am not sure on the order of things:

do they measure the (dirty) head and tell you that it needs skimming (or it's not warped / or too warped to skim) -

or do they clean them quickly and then measure and let you know what they find, before they skim ?

will speak to them shortly...

Seats, I do miss the heating already

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 Nov 2008, 13:11

You need to clean the head face a bit just so you can get the straight edge cleanly along it...

A head is scrap if the warping exceeds 30 thou if I remeber rightly. If it's that bad then the valve seats need sinking lower and if it's been hot enough to warp it that much then the head is likely to be annealed in any case, rendering t doubly scrap. They also "grow" if they anneal themselves. A small give-away of this is binding of the cam caps on the studs. Another giveaway is that the head gasket fire rings will have made deep indents in the head.

If a head passes these tests, it'll be given a good wash, pressure tested and then skimmed.

Normally, a skimmer does not need the valves removed by they do like the cam to be out.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 03 Nov 2008, 13:13

thanks Jim

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 03 Nov 2008, 16:17

£74 per head, wants cam removed and no oil, he will take care of rest..
I have always used him, seems a nice chap

but

he removes the combustion chambers first before skim and remachines them back in later.. says there is a chance the CC can fall into cylinder after a standard skim...

Going to measure both heads myself after I have cleaned them, to see if there is warpage present, if not then a repair gasket it will be ..

still in a bit of shock...

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 Nov 2008, 18:33

At that price John, he can afford to be nice

. £74 each seems a bit stiff. Our local man here pressure checked, washed and skimmed for £24 just about a year ago now... My lad had a 200SX head done about 6 months ago for about the same.

Or has the credit-crunch affected skimmers worse than the rest of us?

I cannot quite see exactly where he is coming from with the pre-chambers. They are often a bit loose in the head but seeing as most of their surface area sits on the gasket, it is impossible for them to fall into the cylinders. Only their throats are exposed in operation.

However, slipping them out is not such a bad idea as they're made of steel and the heads skim better without them in. Also, by not skimming the pre-chambers, he is not thinning this highly stressed item as skimming in-situ would. When refitting them, does he level them into the head or does he just knock them back in and skim them level, thus effectively loosing the advantage of removing them in the first place...

Give the heads a clean and lay a good straight-edge across the face and see how thick a feeler gauge you can slip in. A quick test can be carried out with a bright torch behind the straight-edge. Look for light under the straight-edge.

What does he mean by "no oil"? sounds like he wants the heads sparkly clean if he wants them oil-free

Is his washer broke? Still, if it is, at £74 per head, he'll soon be able to afford a nice new one

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 03 Nov 2008, 19:10

thanks again Jim

no oil leaking about, said it would damage machine

He is normally £30 odd and 24 hour turnarund.. just doubles up as its an XUD..

will measure them myself first as i did with my head.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 03 Nov 2008, 20:06

Yes, come to think of it, the XUD head is not the skimmer's favourite as it won't sit squarely on the grinder table because of the cambox face angle.

They have to use a very accurately machined jig to mount the head so it presents a square face to the wheel.

jgra1 · Unread post by **jgra1** » 04 Nov 2008, 10:31

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2fj8MH_LeQ0/S ... 1+head.jpg

Head 1, no compression on all 4 cyls..

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2fj8MH_LeQ0/S ... 2+head.jpg

Head 2, low compression on Cyl #1

for some reason I cant get these to show as images (I have tried the IMG HTML)

pics not brilliant, maybe able to do better later.