I have struggled to release valve springs using a spanner like you on an 850 mini. And I was young and fit, You have nothing to be ashamed of, whatsoever. Ultimately, I wound up making a special valve spring compressor because I couldn't find one to fit.
One false move on the head skim, and *Boom*!. Definitely need to be skilled operator. Proper old school shop feel. Reminds me of a similar shop who used to recondition starter motors, dynamos, alternators. I used to love going in there ❤.
What a ruddy awful job getting those valve springs off Steph. You do know some wonderfully skilled and great people . That is an old milling machine that needs a lot of skill to use, hats off to the Man Upstairs. Valve grinding is a pain in the butt job. Job well done by everyone.
Hey Steph, Roses are red Cabbages are green You're the most wonderful host I have seen. It's all good, mechanics is fiddly give yourself credit, most people would just hand it to a garage. Keep being you Steph it works! Peace love and hugs to you and the whole gang. 👍✌️♥️
Some things just need brute strength. I remember me and the village garage mechanic were on the forecourt trying to get a bust power steering cylinder off at the top of the engine in my old Fabia, which basically involved grabbing it and turning it by hand. We are both fairly strong, but it would just not come loose and we struggled unsuccessfully with it again and again for about 20 minutes. No luck. A old farmer filling up his Landie at the pump came over, asked what we were doing, took a look and asked if he could have a go, and 10 seconds later it moved and he unscrewed it off. "Ah, we'd loosened it for you!" we joked, but in truth we were both very impressed.🙂
Nice to finally meet "the man upstairs"! I thought he was going to be the Mrs Mainwaring of the Standard series. Often talked about but never seen! ;-) The engine sounds great. Cheers
I always assumed skimming was done on a surface grinder so it was interesting to see this technique. You are very lucky having workmates who will go the extra mile on a "homer".
Steph, one reason you are more attached to speedy than other cars you’ve had is because of the work you’ve put in, part of you is now in that car. This is what classic vehicle ownership is all about, people rarely get attached to show Ponys they only polish every so often. Tip…if you leave the longest stud in, drill a hole in one end of a suitable piece of wood or metal and then pop it on the stud held with a nut. You now have a lever that you can put a suitable sized socket under and apply easy, controlled pressure on the collett and spring👍🏼 I was wincing when you were pressing down so hard, one slip onto the edge of that casting could result in a nasty injury.
Don't feel bad about the springs, Steph, some things takes a lot of practice before you find your own technique of doing them. Physical strength has less to do with it than people think, evolving as a mechanic is much about finding out what tools you need to get the job done. If humans were strong enough to loosen and tighten nuts with our bare hands we wouldn't need tools, but we all need tools, not all men are all muscles either. Sometimes you struggle, and suddenly you find out how to do it. Most important is that you're curious and willing to try. Never give up!
Where to start and stop! I think you made the best choice in this case. You can run the car in and get it nicely tuned up, and then you will know whether the engine needs the cranks shaft and shells doing, or if it is fine. As for the valve guides, if it is not burning oil they will be fine, and one day in the future would can do them at the same times as fitting unleaded fuel valve seats. But for time being you now have the chance to prove the engine, and work out how much more you want to do, and when. It was certainly running very sweet on that first firing after being put back together. You are so lucky to know such fine people to help. Nowadays those hands-on skills are much rarer than they used to be. Young car mechanics often have no idea how actually repair things and often just concentrate on fitting new parts. That is no good for a car so long out of production. You have to work with what you have and what spares can be had. I love these computer-free type engines. Just solid engineering, and made of metal not bits of plastic that heat-stress and inevitably break requiring more useless plastic. I really don't know why any engine designer would approve plastic manifolds and rubber belt timing. These are solid ideas that if cared for can be serviced for a human lifetime. Would any current production car be serviceable decades after production? Electronic modules, plastic parts ... Likely impossible to obtain in the longer term. I am loving this video series! Best wishes from George
We used to this sort of stuff in the garage at home when we were 18. It's really not rocket science . We just gave it a go , read books and asked question. There was no internet. We just learnt on the job and our labour was free. Mini were our thing but Morris minors were also very common. All our girl friends seem to drive Morrie minors and we were greatly appreciated for our limited mechanical prowess.
It's a fine looking car and now that the head has been reconditioned you should have many happy hours driving this iconic British car. A great video, Steph and a shout out for your mechanic's excellent work.
Great video, again, Steph. A head gasket job and valve removal/replacement is always a good thing to show those interested in Classic cars. A valve spring compressor would definitely have made the job easier for you, Steph!😅
@@idriveaclassic its a Hunter shape one unfortunately. I know you drove the earlier type and really loved it, but you should try a mk3 one day, you might be impressed, who knows :-)
@@cdg3818my Dad had a bottle green Hillman Minx - the late boxy one. A friend of my Grandfathers had a Sceptre - silver, black vinyl roof, twin headlamps, fancy chrome hub caps, walnut dash with lots of chrome bevel gauges and sumptuous leather interior! I idolised that car! Thought it was the ultimate in style and luxury when compared to my dad's similar shaped car! Hope you and your daughter enjoy it.
Steph, I am sorry to say that I had a little giggle when you were struggling with the valve spring. I love the way you like to get stuck in, pity you were under such a time penalty. You are very lucky to have such dedicated work mates this makes for great viewing. Looking forward to your adventures next year see you at Rustival 25
Another cracking how to video. Really interesting and helpful as always. Its great to see the ADO guys getting more confident behind the camera too. You make a great team. Heres to many happy miles in Speedy. Its so cold at the moment, i hope the heater works!
Friend of mine had one of these 60 years ago [I had a Morris Minor1000] only thing I rermember about the Standard was that the gear shift lever was a bit sloppy compared to the Morris.
Another fascinating video on Speedy 🙂 Have you fitted the bi-colour LED bulbs in the front indicators yet? On a personal note, I'd want the number plates to be the type with raised white plastic numerals on - assuming they would be period-correct, of course. Oh, and a nice valve radio, of course.
Trouble nowadays, is there aren't many "man upstairs" places around. There used to be two near where I live, could supply shells, rings, Honing tools, also skim head or block even a re-bore, sadly both are now housing estates. I teach at a college (Automotive) and demonstrate cutting seats, lapping valves etc, none of my apprentices ever take an engine apart now! Getting them using mercer gauges, depth gauge etc. They think I did my apprenticeship on the Ark. God 45 years ago seems like a million.
I guess might be a question to direct to the man upstairs. The last time I had a head skimmed - Ford Falcon FFII alloy head, pre-Intec, which is the HubNut engine- I stripped the complete head assembly and when I presented to the engine services company asked why I'd bothered as the car was working fine apart from a loss on Cyl 6 into the coolant system - it's their normal failure point and they can skim with the valves intact etc. I guess they could use some oil in the chambers if skimming from above so any swarf would be easy to remove? Now about to replace the head gaskets on my one-owner 2001 (me) Disco 2 V8 otherwise working fine prior to HG failure and again into the coolant system and still works fine as long you accept coolant loss. What's the consensus on this engine as I suspect many people in this channel will have worked on these? Obviously I'm aware of the risk of slipped liners... It's a Xmas job to pull apart and have a look etc. Love the channel and have been subscribed for ages for these oldies.
You just need a simple lever tool that works with one of the head studs. Description in one the posts above. This video rather milked the job IMO. Got done fine in the end.
"I"ve got plenty of other things to cry about", Aww, I felt that ) =
I hope you are fully enjoying the cute little Standard now.
I have struggled to release valve springs using a spanner like you on an 850 mini. And I was young and fit, You have nothing to be ashamed of, whatsoever. Ultimately, I wound up making a special valve spring compressor because I couldn't find one to fit.
One false move on the head skim, and *Boom*!. Definitely need to be skilled operator. Proper old school shop feel. Reminds me of a similar shop who used to recondition starter motors, dynamos, alternators. I used to love going in there ❤.
What a ruddy awful job getting those valve springs off Steph. You do know some wonderfully skilled and great people . That is an old milling machine that needs a lot of skill to use, hats off to the Man Upstairs. Valve grinding is a pain in the butt job. Job well done by everyone.
I am really lucky!
Hey Steph,
Roses are red
Cabbages are green
You're the most wonderful host I have seen.
It's all good, mechanics is fiddly give yourself credit, most people would just hand it to a garage.
Keep being you Steph it works!
Peace love and hugs to you and the whole gang. 👍✌️♥️
Some things just need brute strength. I remember me and the village garage mechanic were on the forecourt trying to get a bust power steering cylinder off at the top of the engine in my old Fabia, which basically involved grabbing it and turning it by hand. We are both fairly strong, but it would just not come loose and we struggled unsuccessfully with it again and again for about 20 minutes. No luck. A old farmer filling up his Landie at the pump came over, asked what we were doing, took a look and asked if he could have a go, and 10 seconds later it moved and he unscrewed it off. "Ah, we'd loosened it for you!" we joked, but in truth we were both very impressed.🙂
Nice to finally meet "the man upstairs"! I thought he was going to be the Mrs Mainwaring of the Standard series. Often talked about but never seen! ;-)
The engine sounds great. Cheers
I always assumed skimming was done on a surface grinder so it was interesting to see this technique. You are very lucky having workmates who will go the extra mile on a "homer".
Steph, one reason you are more attached to speedy than other cars you’ve had is because of the work you’ve put in, part of you is now in that car. This is what classic vehicle ownership is all about, people rarely get attached to show Ponys they only polish every so often.
Tip…if you leave the longest stud in, drill a hole in one end of a suitable piece of wood or metal and then pop it on the stud held with a nut. You now have a lever that you can put a suitable sized socket under and apply easy, controlled pressure on the collett and spring👍🏼 I was wincing when you were pressing down so hard, one slip onto the edge of that casting could result in a nasty injury.
Don't feel bad about the springs, Steph, some things takes a lot of practice before you find your own technique of doing them. Physical strength has less to do with it than people think, evolving as a mechanic is much about finding out what tools you need to get the job done. If humans were strong enough to loosen and tighten nuts with our bare hands we wouldn't need tools, but we all need tools, not all men are all muscles either. Sometimes you struggle, and suddenly you find out how to do it. Most important is that you're curious and willing to try. Never give up!
Where to start and stop! I think you made the best choice in this case. You can run the car in and get it nicely tuned up, and then you will know whether the engine needs the cranks shaft and shells doing, or if it is fine. As for the valve guides, if it is not burning oil they will be fine, and one day in the future would can do them at the same times as fitting unleaded fuel valve seats.
But for time being you now have the chance to prove the engine, and work out how much more you want to do, and when.
It was certainly running very sweet on that first firing after being put back together.
You are so lucky to know such fine people to help. Nowadays those hands-on skills are much rarer than they used to be. Young car mechanics often have no idea how actually repair things and often just concentrate on fitting new parts. That is no good for a car so long out of production. You have to work with what you have and what spares can be had.
I love these computer-free type engines. Just solid engineering, and made of metal not bits of plastic that heat-stress and inevitably break requiring more useless plastic. I really don't know why any engine designer would approve plastic manifolds and rubber belt timing. These are solid ideas that if cared for can be serviced for a human lifetime. Would any current production car be serviceable decades after production? Electronic modules, plastic parts ... Likely impossible to obtain in the longer term.
I am loving this video series!
Best wishes from George
We used to this sort of stuff in the garage at home when we were 18. It's really not rocket science . We just gave it a go , read books and asked question. There was no internet. We just learnt on the job and our labour was free. Mini were our thing but Morris minors were also very common. All our girl friends seem to drive Morrie minors and we were greatly appreciated for our limited mechanical prowess.
It's a fine looking car and now that the head has been reconditioned you should have many happy hours driving this iconic British car. A great video, Steph and a shout out for your mechanic's excellent work.
Great video, again, Steph. A head gasket job and valve removal/replacement is always a good thing to show those interested in Classic cars. A valve spring compressor would definitely have made the job easier for you, Steph!😅
Love your enthusiasm and have a go attitude always a highlight of a busy week 😊
Brilliant, Steph. Watching with my 11 year old daughter, trying to get her into my old Humber Sceptre.
What a great car for her to get excited about! I’m jealous 😂
@@idriveaclassic its a Hunter shape one unfortunately. I know you drove the earlier type and really loved it, but you should try a mk3 one day, you might be impressed, who knows :-)
@@cdg3818my Dad had one it was blue with a black vinyl roof……..happy times
@@cdg3818my Dad had a bottle green Hillman Minx - the late boxy one. A friend of my Grandfathers had a Sceptre - silver, black vinyl roof, twin headlamps, fancy chrome hub caps, walnut dash with lots of chrome bevel gauges and sumptuous leather interior! I idolised that car! Thought it was the ultimate in style and luxury when compared to my dad's similar shaped car! Hope you and your daughter enjoy it.
love the camera angle very novel and right close in the action
Hi Steph, grinding in valves was always a job for an apprentice in the garage. Soul destroying repetition.
That's a very cute car, and the colour suits it perfectly.
Nice work Steph 😊👍
Steph, I am sorry to say that I had a little giggle when you were struggling with the valve spring. I love the way you like to get stuck in, pity you were under such a time penalty. You are very lucky to have such dedicated work mates this makes for great viewing. Looking forward to your adventures next year see you at Rustival 25
Well done, great milestone
Another cracking how to video. Really interesting and helpful as always. Its great to see the ADO guys getting more confident behind the camera too. You make a great team. Heres to many happy miles in Speedy. Its so cold at the moment, i hope the heater works!
Takes me back thanks Steph.
Great video. If I remember right to release the valves from the springs many years ago I used a right sized long reach socket and a T bar.
So funny watching you try to release the valve spring 😁 I enjoy seeing you get stuck into things.
I’m so weak nowadays. It’s the one thing I miss losing in my weight loss journey. I’ve never got the strength back :(
Good to see that process. Thanks.
The Stanley Scraper! I like them so much I have two 😊
Head gaskets on classics are all part of the game unfortunately - well done Steph
We meet "The Man Upstairs"! Wey-hey.
Payen gaskets; Wow, that takes me back aways to cold days/nights of street maintenance...
Nice to see the machinist doing the head.
Yeah Calum is great!
Well done Steph, Paul and the man upstairs, speedys heart beats again, 👍❤️👍.
Good job guys
Friend of mine had one of these 60 years ago [I had a Morris Minor1000] only thing I rermember about the Standard was that the gear shift lever was a bit sloppy compared to the Morris.
Great video thank you
morning steph it's sounds really fit , well done to everyone including yourself don't forget to pat yourself on the back onesie in a while 👍👏
Never seen valves held in with keyholes!
Being that the combustion chambers are in the head, skimming it can raise the compression ratio.
Good video 👍👍👍
Teamwork! 😃👍
Another fascinating video on Speedy 🙂 Have you fitted the bi-colour LED bulbs in the front indicators yet? On a personal note, I'd want the number plates to be the type with raised white plastic numerals on - assuming they would be period-correct, of course. Oh, and a nice valve radio, of course.
Bridgeport miller ? As a tool maker they are pretty good.
Trouble nowadays, is there aren't many "man upstairs" places around. There used to be two near where I live, could supply shells, rings, Honing tools, also skim head or block even a re-bore, sadly both are now housing estates. I teach at a college (Automotive) and demonstrate cutting seats, lapping valves etc, none of my apprentices ever take an engine apart now! Getting them using mercer gauges, depth gauge etc. They think I did my apprenticeship on the Ark. God 45 years ago seems like a million.
I guess might be a question to direct to the man upstairs. The last time I had a head skimmed - Ford Falcon FFII alloy head, pre-Intec, which is the HubNut engine- I stripped the complete head assembly and when I presented to the engine services company asked why I'd bothered as the car was working fine apart from a loss on Cyl 6 into the coolant system - it's their normal failure point and they can skim with the valves intact etc. I guess they could use some oil in the chambers if skimming from above so any swarf would be easy to remove?
Now about to replace the head gaskets on my one-owner 2001 (me) Disco 2 V8 otherwise working fine prior to HG failure and again into the coolant system and still works fine as long you accept coolant loss. What's the consensus on this engine as I suspect many people in this channel will have worked on these?
Obviously I'm aware of the risk of slipped liners...
It's a Xmas job to pull apart and have a look etc. Love the channel and have been subscribed for ages for these oldies.
So we finally get to meet the mysterious Man Upstairs.
Hopefully it’s not spoilt the magic for anyone 😂
Mr Miller....
Or maybe Mr Turner.
i think paul's having you on there that the valves can be removed without a spring compressor ?
Are you going to do a unleaded petrol valve conversion on the head.
Probably at some point. TBH, ran out of time and money to do if this time. I’ll do it at some point.
Nice video Steph. I sent you an email offering you some classic car books, including Standard.
Sorry! I’ve been so busy I haven’t looked at emails all week x
morning steph - but you had the only 2 cylinder standard 10 ? lol
Hang on - i thoight this car was sorted out, and the show was weeks ago...
Yep as I say at the end of the video, sorry it’s late, I have been mega busy.
Always cut towards your buddy - AvE
I was peeling a garlic the other day and almost learnt my lesson in real time.
team torso hahahaha. new angles !
Steph surely he has a valve spring compressor tool , I wouldn't even attempt it without it
You just need a simple lever tool that works with one of the head studs. Description in one the posts above. This video rather milked the job IMO. Got done fine in the end.