Well where to begin................. :msn4:
On Friday I was booked in for a rolling road session including tuneup, carb balance, mixture setting, timing and all the other good stuff
Was a long and expensive day with replacement coil being needed, some rejetting of my carbs, power runs on the RR but left feeling happy with the results
Old school tuning equipment - works great though
On the rollers
Wired up for a run
Made a healthy 32Bhp at the wheels! Was happy with that
A video of the action
After the tuneup and leaving the garage the bus was running fantastic - only a 35 mile journey back taking in some motorway driving, A roads and city streets. Managed the trip down the motorway with a big grin on my face as it was running so well. However when exiting on the slip road the engine suddenly lost power, was reluctant to rev up and started popping and banging. I pulled over and checked all the obvious areas to no avail
As it was late I continued home slowly popping and banging the last few miles - after the significant bill at the garage I wasnt too happy but planned to return the next day for some assistance.
Saturday came and I nursed the bus back to the garage - was only running on 3 cylinders and not happy
I was assured it would be a simple fix and straightaway an issue was identified - the rotor arm was melted :shock:
Luckily I had a spare and it was fitted and tested again - still popping and banging
Changed the dizzy after the rotor arm thinking the electronic ignition module was toast - still popping and banging running on 3
Then we removed the spark plugs - finding 3 of the 4 in great condition however the 4th had no gap! It was smashed closed.
On further investigation using a small camera inside the cylinder bore this was discovered
The valve guide had cracked and broken off entering the engine through the valves causing significant damage - strange too considering it was the same valve guide I replaced after bending a valve? Crappy repro parts maybe?
At this point it was decided that the engine needed to come out so the head could be removed and checked
After this news I agreed and decided to remove it myself
So out it came
Upon removing the cylinder head - this was the piston damage :shock:
And inside the cylinder head
Piston had to be removed
After the guys got online and put out a distress call for help I was contacted by Dustrat - cheers Robert, he was able to supply me with the required parts
So a quick drive oop north on Sunday and I had these
Set of 4x Pistons, two cylinder heads and a spare barrel - just the ticket! 8)
Monday arrived and I headed over to the garage with my booty!
It was agreed the heads were good and the pistons would be swapped as a set of four - the best head was selected, stripped and rebuilt like new!
All the pistons were washed, cleaned and inspected prior to installation
Engine wasnt in a good state by now
Pistons all degreased and cleaned ready for install
The barrels were all rehoned using oil stones and the cylinder head was good to fit - so begins the rebuild
The next several hours passed in a blur of oily bits and rebuilding until I was left with this
After installing the now rebuilt engine - the moment of truth arrived! Boom he fired straight up!
Need a little tweak and an airleak sorting from the carb manifold however all was good in the end.
Have great oil pressure, runs great and no oil loss or smoke
Managed to get home at half nine this eve approx 13 hours put in today sorting it
Off on holiday tomorrow 8)