You're doing a great job, I guarantee you this won't be your last engine build, you will be doing more so take this time to acquire knowledge and tools for future builds.
So great to see you learning so quickly. Your vocabulary and understanding has increased dramatically!! I remember the “turning over” segment when I first started watching you - keep up the great work and co to use having fun!!
Saige, I continue to admire your tenacity (as well as your Dad's patience). If I am being honest, I don't know that I would have still been in the game at this point back when I was your age. I would point out that my Spitfire was only 7 years old when I bought it back in 1979. While my car did present some problems, those problems were nothing compared to the extent of the issues you have had to deal with. (I would also point out that the Mazda Miata was not even a thought in anyone's mind back in 1979, lol.) As always, I wish you the best of luck going forward. You and your dad make it easy to root for you.
Saige, you made the right choice to check the engine before putting it into your car. It may have run the way it is, but probably not very well. Your determination to get your car on the road is amazing. When I was your age (50+ years ago) I thought I was doing pretty good because I could change spark plugs and ignition points. I will be starting my first ever engine rebuild this winter.
Nice video! Wise decision! It’s good that you took it apart and yes take the entire engine apart and measure all the parts like Elin taught us. In the end you’ll have a better running engine and the confidence that it was done right and won’t breakdown !
Some things to learn. 1. Everything is a hammer but a hammer. 2. Steel toes boots are must. Because you're gonna need them to kick things when you get super mad. That's why they are invented. Protect them toes. 3. Colorful words are the best tools and it's free. Learn second language incase you need backup. Good luck to you.
Don’t be so hard on the parts. Yea they are not ready to go, but the base parts seem fine. It’s not in a car for a reason. Keep going; you look like you are having fun, which is the most important part.
Also thanking you for your content. It is great to learn from Elin, but also nice to have others at the same level of experience (zero) with the courage to take it on. Fortunately (since Elin installed the wiring harness for me) our car is running, but in efforts to keep Simon and Declan from wanting to do a rotary engine swap for more power, I came across a spare engine for relatively cheap. We are looking to tear it down, add a fast road cam, flat pistons, shave the head to get some extra ponies out of it. We have also ordered a twin SU carb setup with new intake and exhaust manifolds, which means new exhaust is coming too. It is adding up, but will be fun (during and after the build!). Fortunately, if it ends up taking too long, we can still drive it. Glad for you content, keep it up!
Bonjour Saige & Dad ;) Great video as always. You took the right & safe decision about this engine. Better to use off-season to rebuild it in no rush. Carbon buildup can be cleaned easily by using hard nylon brush/toothbrush with oven spray cleaner or by putting the parts (ex: pistons upside down) on a can of paint cellulose thinner overnight. The cracked exhaust valve is a burned valve, mainly this is caused by a rocker gap set too tight so that the valve does not fully close and hot temp cannot be relieved/go away through its seating towards the main head casting. The problem can as well be caused by a badly refaced seat on the valve (thin edge) or on the cylinder head side, also excessively worn guide, a bent valve or very weak carburetor mixture but in the latter case it usually affects several valves. Both exhaust/inlet cylinder seats seem to have recessed on n°2 and will need to be ground if damage not too deep. It would be better to use this head as along with the flat top pistons it counts for the increase in compression ratio to 9:1. It is thinner than the 7,5 cr one. Yes better to put the rocker feed kit on a shelf as it robs oil pressure off the crankshaft/conrods.. Yes you can fit the rear corner bolt to either cyl. head. I recommend using uprated cyl. head nuts here (with a flange, from Austin Mini) as "normal" new ones are made of cheese metal and don't hold torque well.. Bon courage! 😜
if you mix-and-match the cylinder heads, I think you need to use the right pistons for the heads you go with to keep compression the same? might also need to use the same connecting rods in case they are different lengths between them, but youd need to check all that.
It's a good thing you took that apart. I know it's disappointing but fixing everything now will save you frustration later. Looking forward to the next video.
Good job so far. At this point you prolly need to get a valve job and do a full teardown to clean out the block and check your mains. You're 90% there. Keep it up!
Good job! Better to pull that head off now, find the problems and fix them... rather than later after the engine is back in the car. Carbon on the head and pistons isn't a big deal. There is always some. It can easily be cleaned off, possibly allowing some parts to be reused. The damaged/cracked valve is much more critical. That pretty much means replacing all 8 valves and their guides, and a machine shop to do the work. Back on the block, unless you feel a ridge in the cylinder bores or see obvious damage, you really need to measure them, as shown by Elin in some of his videos. That means removing the pistons and con rods, unfortunately. But doing so will let you more thoroughly inspect those parts, too. Lacking an engine stand, you can probably lay that engine on its side on your work bench, maybe with some block of wood under it, to access the bottom end to inspect the main bearings, thrust washer(s?) and con rod bearings. You would need to do so anyway, to measure the wear in the cylinder bores. Before laying the engine on its side, though, carefully remove all 8 tappets (cam shaft followers) keeping them in order same as you did with the push rods. If you are able to reuse them (along with the existing cam shaft), they need to go back in the same order with the followers matched to their respective push rods. You may need a magnetic tool to get the cam followers out of their bores in the block. Do you have a quality torque wrench? You will definitely need one eventually, to reinstall main bearing caps, connecting rod caps, and the cylinder head. Likely for some other things, as well. Assuming you remove them, another essential tool will be a piston ring compressor to reinstall the pistons in their bores. This isn't an expensive tool. Removing pistons, note their orientation and keep them in order too. Also keep the con rod bearings caps each with its respective con rod and properly oriented (same with the main bearings caps). There may be upgraded head studs, con rod bolts and main bearing bolts available. There also may be tab locking washers used under the con rod and/or main bearing bolts or nuts. New locking washers would be important. It is hard to say which head is best to use without properly checking the valve seats, valve guides, flatness of the head itself, etc. Grease, grime and carbon all can be removed easily. Worry more about worn out parts, less about cleanliness! 😃 The added oil feed for the rocker shaft is something you should research more. It sounds like a good idea, unless it reduces oil at the crankshaft, etc. Perhaps some sort of restriction could be added to the oil feed, limiting but still allowing some additional for the rockers. I believe there is internal oil feed for the rockers anyway (so long as it is not plugged up in any way). Other Spitfire 1500 owners can better advise than me. (Again, in several of his videos, Elin demonstrates checking this and other oil passages in these old British engines). Keep up the good work, Saige! I'm sure this is starting to feel like a job with no end in sight, but thoroughness and careful attention to detail now will reward you with reliability and good performance later!
It’s definitely good that I’m going through the engine now! Thanks for letting me know about what parts to keep in order and together, I’ll be sure to do that!
Funnily I’m at exactly the same stage as you right now, just stripped down two heads and one block! With regard to your head washers, yes replace them. In the U.K. many people recommend replacing the head nuts and washers with hardened flanged nuts sold for Minis. No idea about the availability in Canada but worth a look. External oil feed, personally I’d not bother. Thousands of these engines lasted their intended lifetime without any extra add ons, and we as classic car drivers are mainly not going to be doing anywhere near the mileage the cars would’ve traveled when they were just normal cars. The carbon build up on the heads and pistons is nothing to worry about. It’s a bonus you have two heads though, just clean up and pick the best (possibly with advice from your machine shop). I was 21 when I got my Herald, 15 years later an engine strip is still pretty daunting, so seriously plenty of respect for you getting in and getting on with this. Fingers crossed it’ll be up and running in no time.
Great steady diligent progress. But... that pile of tools(?) on the bench and those stuck on the wall. Please tidy them up and give yourself a clean workspace.
i put a post up a few days ago but it seems to have disappeared - i tried to put a link into a forum that had the cylinder head part no's in it i think the link killed the post - it looks to me that you have different types of head - probably 1500 and 1300 you need to check what you have - both will fit but a standard 1300 head will not be great on a 1500 1. Rocker shafts - from memory there is a pin in the end of the rocker shaft - knock it out pull the rockers of the shaft check the shaft and unless its perfect replace it, check the bushes in the rocker arms for wear - re-bush and ream as required. loose bushes and worn shaft will make it difficult to get proper valve clearance adjustment 2. before you strip the head fully check the cc's of the combustion chamber if you cant do a cc check there should be a specification for the head thickness (the original overall measurement of the head thickness from the factory) if haynes has this measurement check your heads - a measurement of less than the factory measurement means the head has been machined some time in its life - it will also have more compression - more is better but more than about 10:1 starts to require a lot more attention to detail _ how far do you want to go? Given the manganese bronze guides in the striped head plus the oil feed mod i would suspect this head has been machined for more compression but i may be wrong..., (if this head is the right head for your build i would use this head subject to the points below as i suspect it has been set up for performance but check check and check again ... make sure it will work for what you want) 3. when you have an idea of what you have - strip and thoroughly clean the head (hydroxide works well but is not good for aluminium and may not be good for bronze/manganese - petrol (gas) is also good) get it crack tested dye penetrant or magna flux doesn't matter which - but make sure there are no cracks (at 10:07 in the video it looks like there are lines emanating from the guide boss of no 3 cyl this might be cracks or spider webs i cant tell) 4. Valve = the valves can be refaced ( the burnt one is toast and will need replacing) but its not worth it if the stems are worn - so check for stem wear replace as necessary also replace any valve that does not have sufficient face margin (edge face thickness) or is too small across the head - check the springs for correct tension (seat pressure) - if the engine has been overheated the springs may loose tension 5. Guides - manganese bronze is good (it conducts more heat away from the valve) but the co efficient of expansion of manganese is different to iron and the guides may fret in their bores and in worse case scenario fall out ( not likely but is a known issue) - check the guides for wear - a worn guide will result in valve seat wear issues and possible oil burning. the original cast iron guides are good for street use manganese bronze is more of a performance mod also the banjo oil feed is more performance mod and put lots of oil in to the rocker system (potential for too much and oil burning) just use the standard bolt and copper washer (don't forget the washer) 6. don't worry about what pistons you have yet - get the head set up to suit the block your going to use (ie 1300 or 1500) and see how much metal needs to be machined off to clean up and give a good head gasket seal (taking metal off raises compression) and then work out how much compression it will have for a given piston type - you can change the piston to give the compression you want depending on how many ccs the combustion chamber in the head your using has after it has been serviced (it may be the case your chosen head will give way to much compression with flat top pistons) - also it is possible to machine the top of the block to raise the compression get you where you want to be compression wise - are you going to stick with the original cam ? if you are you are not going to need more than about 9.5 : 1 bigger cam needs more compression (10 : 1 and up ) then you need to start thinking about fuel = premium (high octane) and distributor and carb upgrades (cost) 7 in summary work out the scope of what you want if you are not wanting big gains in performance pick the head that best suits the engine block you are going to use get it properly sorted and re-machined - you can do the final assembly but i suggest the rest is a machine shop job - you could port the head but its time consuming and messy - a simple port matching is beneficial and a bit quicker but you still need to get into the port with a grinder (with the potential for enthusiasm errors) (if you want to learn find a scrap head to practice on and get david vizards books that deal in depth with this topic) 8 HAVE FUN keep at it do as much as you can yourself and there is no such thing as a dumb question if you want to get into the theory there are plenty of books (be weary of internet sources)
I know you're a little discouraged by the way the inside of the engine looks, but it isn't as bad as you think. The pistons aren't broken, and the valves are only carboned-up. Here's an easy way to decarbonize the whole thing - buy a can of Easy Off oven cleaner spray. Follow the directions on the can for cleaning an oven. The black stuff in an oven is nothing more than carbon too. You may want to scrub a little bit with a Scotchbrite pad to get the really stuck on stuff off. You'll be amazed at how easy it is. Hang in there - it's not as bad as it looks.
Glad you are going to do it right but once finished and running you won;t have that thought in the back of you mind wondering if it will blow up on yea. As for the oil feed line Yes just put that bolt with some sealer so it won't leak in. If you are going to have the engine re-bored may as well have it done right. Don't take it to the guy you did on the 1st engine. Call Elin and have him rebuild it the right way and do another collaborating video! I bet you will have your car at British Car Day next year first!!
Very useful inspection, definitely pretty gunky and coked up, interesting that 2 of the cylinder heads / valve sets seemed to have a lot more carbon than the others, would make sense if the engine had twin carburettors that were not adjusted the same, but peculiar on a single carb setup. Now start clearing some bench space for the stripdown !
Judging by the contents of the sump in the last video you will have to replace the big end shells and regrind the crank shaft so the pistons will have come out one way or the other. The bores should be machined out to +10 thou and new pistons and rings fitted. While you are there, remove the camshaft and have lobs checked, the cam followers should also be checked for wear and cracking on the base. I would keep the head with the block simply because you don't know what changes had been made between the two during manufacture and any upgrades. In short, if you want this engine to run properly and well, you will have to bite the bullet and strip it down completely and rebuild it. Not as hard as might imagine, just a bit of patience, thought and care are all that are needed. Before that please do tidy that workshop up, it's worse than mine!
You're doing a great job, I guarantee you this won't be your last engine build, you will be doing more so take this time to acquire knowledge and tools for future builds.
That’s a great way to look at it!
So great to see you learning so quickly. Your vocabulary and understanding has increased dramatically!! I remember the “turning over” segment when I first started watching you - keep up the great work and co to use having fun!!
Haha yes there’s so much to learn!
Saige, I continue to admire your tenacity (as well as your Dad's patience). If I am being honest, I don't know that I would have still been in the game at this point back when I was your age. I would point out that my Spitfire was only 7 years old when I bought it back in 1979. While my car did present some problems, those problems were nothing compared to the extent of the issues you have had to deal with. (I would also point out that the Mazda Miata was not even a thought in anyone's mind back in 1979, lol.) As always, I wish you the best of luck going forward. You and your dad make it easy to root for you.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I’m very thankful for this whole adventure!
Saige, you made the right choice to check the engine before putting it into your car. It may have run the way it is, but probably not very well. Your determination to get your car on the road is amazing. When I was your age (50+ years ago) I thought I was doing pretty good because I could change spark plugs and ignition points. I will be starting my first ever engine rebuild this winter.
That’s such great encouragement, thank you!
Nice video! Wise decision! It’s good that you took it apart and yes take the entire engine apart and measure all the parts like Elin taught us. In the end you’ll have a better running engine and the confidence that it was done right and won’t breakdown
!
It’ll be great and very worth it in the end!
Some things to learn.
1. Everything is a hammer but a hammer.
2. Steel toes boots are must. Because you're gonna need them to kick things when you get super mad. That's why they are invented. Protect them toes.
3. Colorful words are the best tools and it's free. Learn second language incase you need backup.
Good luck to you.
Haha great tips!
awesome work! and a great engine builder tip is that atf fluid is great for cleaning a block as it conditions.
Don’t be so hard on the parts. Yea they are not ready to go, but the base parts seem fine. It’s not in a car for a reason. Keep going; you look like you are having fun, which is the most important part.
You’re absolutely right!
Also thanking you for your content. It is great to learn from Elin, but also nice to have others at the same level of experience (zero) with the courage to take it on. Fortunately (since Elin installed the wiring harness for me) our car is running, but in efforts to keep Simon and Declan from wanting to do a rotary engine swap for more power, I came across a spare engine for relatively cheap. We are looking to tear it down, add a fast road cam, flat pistons, shave the head to get some extra ponies out of it. We have also ordered a twin SU carb setup with new intake and exhaust manifolds, which means new exhaust is coming too. It is adding up, but will be fun (during and after the build!). Fortunately, if it ends up taking too long, we can still drive it. Glad for you content, keep it up!
Bonjour Saige & Dad ;) Great video as always. You took the right & safe decision about this engine. Better to use off-season to rebuild it in no rush.
Carbon buildup can be cleaned easily by using hard nylon brush/toothbrush with oven spray cleaner or by putting the parts (ex: pistons upside down) on a can of paint cellulose thinner overnight.
The cracked exhaust valve is a burned valve, mainly this is caused by a rocker gap set too tight so that the valve does not fully close and hot temp cannot be relieved/go away through its seating towards the main head casting.
The problem can as well be caused by a badly refaced seat on the valve (thin edge) or on the cylinder head side, also excessively worn guide, a bent valve or very weak carburetor mixture but in the latter case it usually affects several valves.
Both exhaust/inlet cylinder seats seem to have recessed on n°2 and will need to be ground if damage not too deep.
It would be better to use this head as along with the flat top pistons it counts for the increase in compression ratio to 9:1. It is thinner than the 7,5 cr one.
Yes better to put the rocker feed kit on a shelf as it robs oil pressure off the crankshaft/conrods.. Yes you can fit the rear corner bolt to either cyl. head.
I recommend using uprated cyl. head nuts here (with a flange, from Austin Mini) as "normal" new ones are made of cheese metal and don't hold torque well..
Bon courage! 😜
if you mix-and-match the cylinder heads, I think you need to use the right pistons for the heads you go with to keep compression the same? might also need to use the same connecting rods in case they are different lengths between them, but youd need to check all that.
That’s great to know, thanks
It's a good thing you took that apart. I know it's disappointing but fixing everything now will save you frustration later. Looking forward to the next video.
It’s better to fix it now than later!
Half measures avail you nothing which ends saving a penny then later on wasting a dollar
Good job so far. At this point you prolly need to get a valve job and do a full teardown to clean out the block and check your mains. You're 90% there. Keep it up!
I’ll do that, thanks!
Good job! Better to pull that head off now, find the problems and fix them... rather than later after the engine is back in the car.
Carbon on the head and pistons isn't a big deal. There is always some. It can easily be cleaned off, possibly allowing some parts to be reused.
The damaged/cracked valve is much more critical. That pretty much means replacing all 8 valves and their guides, and a machine shop to do the work.
Back on the block, unless you feel a ridge in the cylinder bores or see obvious damage, you really need to measure them, as shown by Elin in some of his videos. That means removing the pistons and con rods, unfortunately. But doing so will let you more thoroughly inspect those parts, too.
Lacking an engine stand, you can probably lay that engine on its side on your work bench, maybe with some block of wood under it, to access the bottom end to inspect the main bearings, thrust washer(s?) and con rod bearings. You would need to do so anyway, to measure the wear in the cylinder bores.
Before laying the engine on its side, though, carefully remove all 8 tappets (cam shaft followers) keeping them in order same as you did with the push rods. If you are able to reuse them (along with the existing cam shaft), they need to go back in the same order with the followers matched to their respective push rods. You may need a magnetic tool to get the cam followers out of their bores in the block.
Do you have a quality torque wrench? You will definitely need one eventually, to reinstall main bearing caps, connecting rod caps, and the cylinder head. Likely for some other things, as well.
Assuming you remove them, another essential tool will be a piston ring compressor to reinstall the pistons in their bores. This isn't an expensive tool.
Removing pistons, note their orientation and keep them in order too. Also keep the con rod bearings caps each with its respective con rod and properly oriented (same with the main bearings caps).
There may be upgraded head studs, con rod bolts and main bearing bolts available. There also may be tab locking washers used under the con rod and/or main bearing bolts or nuts. New locking washers would be important.
It is hard to say which head is best to use without properly checking the valve seats, valve guides, flatness of the head itself, etc. Grease, grime and carbon all can be removed easily. Worry more about worn out parts, less about cleanliness! 😃
The added oil feed for the rocker shaft is something you should research more. It sounds like a good idea, unless it reduces oil at the crankshaft, etc. Perhaps some sort of restriction could be added to the oil feed, limiting but still allowing some additional for the rockers. I believe there is internal oil feed for the rockers anyway (so long as it is not plugged up in any way). Other Spitfire 1500 owners can better advise than me. (Again, in several of his videos, Elin demonstrates checking this and other oil passages in these old British engines).
Keep up the good work, Saige! I'm sure this is starting to feel like a job with no end in sight, but thoroughness and careful attention to detail now will reward you with reliability and good performance later!
It’s definitely good that I’m going through the engine now! Thanks for letting me know about what parts to keep in order and together, I’ll be sure to do that!
Meh I'd bet it would've ran just fine. Haha I'm sure you'll have fun putting it back together!
Haha yep it’ll be an adventure!
Keep going girl, we are all behind you and you will find it rewarding and gratifying in the end.
Thank you for the encouragement!!
Funnily I’m at exactly the same stage as you right now, just stripped down two heads and one block!
With regard to your head washers, yes replace them. In the U.K. many people recommend replacing the head nuts and washers with hardened flanged nuts sold for Minis. No idea about the availability in Canada but worth a look.
External oil feed, personally I’d not bother. Thousands of these engines lasted their intended lifetime without any extra add ons, and we as classic car drivers are mainly not going to be doing anywhere near the mileage the cars would’ve traveled when they were just normal cars.
The carbon build up on the heads and pistons is nothing to worry about. It’s a bonus you have two heads though, just clean up and pick the best (possibly with advice from your machine shop).
I was 21 when I got my Herald, 15 years later an engine strip is still pretty daunting, so seriously plenty of respect for you getting in and getting on with this. Fingers crossed it’ll be up and running in no time.
Great vid! I had the oil feeder in my TR6. Fouled plugs made me research. General concensus on forums was to remove it.
Got it, thanks!
Head is out! Port and Polish time! 😆
Yes!
Great steady diligent progress. But... that pile of tools(?) on the bench and those stuck on the wall. Please tidy them up and give yourself a clean workspace.
Unfortunately the tools are the owners of the garage but soon it’ll be tidied up!!
i put a post up a few days ago but it seems to have disappeared - i tried to put a link into a forum that had the cylinder head part no's in it i think the link killed the post - it looks to me that you have different types of head - probably 1500 and 1300 you need to check what you have - both will fit but a standard 1300 head will not be great on a 1500
1. Rocker shafts - from memory there is a pin in the end of the rocker shaft - knock it out pull the rockers of the shaft check the shaft and unless its perfect replace it, check the bushes in the rocker arms for wear - re-bush and ream as required. loose bushes and worn shaft will make it difficult to get proper valve clearance adjustment
2. before you strip the head fully check the cc's of the combustion chamber if you cant do a cc check there should be a specification for the head thickness (the original overall measurement of the head thickness from the factory) if haynes has this measurement check your heads - a measurement of less than the factory measurement means the head has been machined some time in its life - it will also have more compression - more is better but more than about 10:1 starts to require a lot more attention to detail _ how far do you want to go? Given the manganese bronze guides in the striped head plus the oil feed mod i would suspect this head has been machined for more compression but i may be wrong..., (if this head is the right head for your build i would use this head subject to the points below as i suspect it has been set up for performance but check check and check again ... make sure it will work for what you want)
3. when you have an idea of what you have - strip and thoroughly clean the head (hydroxide works well but is not good for aluminium and may not be good for bronze/manganese - petrol (gas) is also good) get it crack tested dye penetrant or magna flux doesn't matter which - but make sure there are no cracks (at 10:07 in the video it looks like there are lines emanating from the guide boss of no 3 cyl this might be cracks or spider webs i cant tell)
4. Valve = the valves can be refaced ( the burnt one is toast and will need replacing) but its not worth it if the stems are worn - so check for stem wear replace as necessary also replace any valve that does not have sufficient face margin (edge face thickness) or is too small across the head - check the springs for correct tension (seat pressure) - if the engine has been overheated the springs may loose tension
5. Guides - manganese bronze is good (it conducts more heat away from the valve) but the co efficient of expansion of manganese is different to iron and the guides may fret in their bores and in worse case scenario fall out ( not likely but is a known issue) - check the guides for wear - a worn guide will result in valve seat wear issues and possible oil burning. the original cast iron guides are good for street use manganese bronze is more of a performance mod also the banjo oil feed is more performance mod and put lots of oil in to the rocker system (potential for too much and oil burning) just use the standard bolt and copper washer (don't forget the washer)
6. don't worry about what pistons you have yet - get the head set up to suit the block your going to use (ie 1300 or 1500) and see how much metal needs to be machined off to clean up and give a good head gasket seal (taking metal off raises compression) and then work out how much compression it will have for a given piston type - you can change the piston to give the compression you want depending on how many ccs the combustion chamber in the head your using has after it has been serviced (it may be the case your chosen head will give way to much compression with flat top pistons) - also it is possible to machine the top of the block to raise the compression get you where you want to be compression wise - are you going to stick with the original cam ? if you are you are not going to need more than about 9.5 : 1 bigger cam needs more compression (10 : 1 and up ) then you need to start thinking about fuel = premium (high octane) and distributor and carb upgrades (cost)
7 in summary work out the scope of what you want if you are not wanting big gains in performance pick the head that best suits the engine block you are going to use get it properly sorted and re-machined - you can do the final assembly but i suggest the rest is a machine shop job - you could port the head but its time consuming and messy - a simple port matching is beneficial and a bit quicker but you still need to get into the port with a grinder (with the potential for enthusiasm errors) (if you want to learn find a scrap head to practice on and get david vizards books that deal in depth with this topic)
8 HAVE FUN keep at it do as much as you can yourself and there is no such thing as a dumb question if you want to get into the theory there are plenty of books (be weary of internet sources)
Used carefully, gasoline is an excellent solvent and cleaner to get that carbon off your head and pistons with a wire brush.
That’s a great idea, I’ll try it out!
I know you're a little discouraged by the way the inside of the engine looks, but it isn't as bad as you think. The pistons aren't broken, and the valves are only carboned-up. Here's an easy way to decarbonize the whole thing - buy a can of Easy Off oven cleaner spray. Follow the directions on the can for cleaning an oven. The black stuff in an oven is nothing more than carbon too. You may want to scrub a little bit with a Scotchbrite pad to get the really stuck on stuff off. You'll be amazed at how easy it is. Hang in there - it's not as bad as it looks.
That’s great to know, once I give it all a good clean it’ll look on much better condition!
Glad you are going to do it right but once finished and running you won;t have that thought in the back of you mind wondering if it will blow up on yea. As for the oil feed line Yes just put that bolt with some sealer so it won't leak in. If you are going to have the engine re-bored may as well have it done right. Don't take it to the guy you did on the 1st engine. Call Elin and have him rebuild it the right way and do another collaborating video! I bet you will have your car at British Car Day next year first!!
Thank you for the support! Fingers crossed it’ll be at British Car Day!
Very useful inspection, definitely pretty gunky and coked up, interesting that 2 of the cylinder heads / valve sets seemed to have a lot more carbon than the others, would make sense if the engine had twin carburettors that were not adjusted the same, but peculiar on a single carb setup.
Now start clearing some bench space for the stripdown !
or the extra fuel has washed the oil out of the 2 cylinders and the rings are on the way out and its burning oil
That’s a very interesting observation, fingers crossed it’s all up from here!
Look at dry ice blasting some of those engine parts
Very cool I’ll look into it!
Judging by the contents of the sump in the last video you will have to replace the big end shells and regrind the crank shaft so the pistons will have come out one way or the other. The bores should be machined out to +10 thou and new pistons and rings fitted. While you are there, remove the camshaft and have lobs checked, the cam followers should also be checked for wear and cracking on the base. I would keep the head with the block simply because you don't know what changes had been made between the two during manufacture and any upgrades. In short, if you want this engine to run properly and well, you will have to bite the bullet and strip it down completely and rebuild it. Not as hard as might imagine, just a bit of patience, thought and care are all that are needed. Before that please do tidy that workshop up, it's worse than mine!
Keep it that way, so that I can show my wife when she thinks our garage is bad. 😅
I just bought myself a spitfire!!! And i have too say, in some way it is youre folt😂 because off youre video’s i knew i had to have one!🤙🏻
Haha that’s great! Good luck with it!
Hey, do you know what size youre oem steering wheel is in the spitfire? Would love to know! 😄
What a .
great job you are doing
Thank you!
Love your videos Saige, but every time you film in the garage I’m like ‘oh my god it needs to be tidied’ … so much dirty junk behind you :) 😅
Unfortunately all the tools are the owners of the garage but they’ll be tidied up soon!