Harry's Heart Bypass.......

Once the sobbing had subsided, I pressed on and got down to action, and this is what's happened.

The old pistons look a little sad. Five of eight have chunks missing, all where the pistons are at their weakest. Close inspection shows that they have "burst" from below. The jury's out on the cause of this, at first I thought it was down to detonation, now I'm not sure. Detonation usually eats from the top - doesn't it?
Discuss (email me with your ideas).

Now for the rebuild:

The block has been honed out to 4.140" by Anglian Engine Services, to suit the very very nice CP Pistons. Knight Racing Services at Daventry have supplied gaskets, and the rest is my handywork.....

The bare block... Nice and light, it's lighter than one of my old 1600cc GM Nova/Corsa blocks!!


Add the crankshaft, and the weight piles on - the crank is a lightweight billet steel job, and weighs about 38lb, compared to th 68lb of a standard nodular iron crank.

The honing process leaves a slurry in all sorts of places that you don't want it, so a good clean out is required.



Here's the block, with those lovely shiny pistons fitted, and the sump pan fitted.



Here's one we prepared earlier.

The front pulley assembly proved a challenge, with the Harmonic Damper on the front, which required a hefty puller to get it off, and then a sort of "pusher" to press it back on. I didn't have the proper tool, so I made one from a 7/16UNF bolt, and a length of 5/8UNF threaded rod. ( I have since purchased one from Snap-On to make sure! )

Here it is, back home in the shell.



Now to put it to work....

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