muza wrote:
I love this forum for this knowledge!
Your not the only one!!!
I'm very much a researcher/procrastinator in that i research everything before i do anything and this kind of knowledge i just love to soak up! I have never been much of a mechanic and confidence never one of my stronger traits but armed with knowledge and the right set of tools i believe i can have a go at anything...and with the knowledge backing me... succeed!
For me that's probably the best thing about working on this car .... acquiring knowledge ...it really floats my boat!
Besides the forums i have now spoke to at least 3 people that i know about a bent pushrod and adjusting tappets ... to some that sort of stuff might be overkill but to me it means i have all the angles covered and a firm plan of attack. There's always more than one way to skin a cat and i love the little tips and tricks that you pick up that is not in any manual.
I got talking about it today with one old guy who i fly planes with and he started telling me about the old FC he had and the days of the local Hillclimb club which was really popular here. He recalled how they use to have to elongate the holes in the side covers after they shaved a crap load off the head lol.
Alot of these old fellas that worked on these cars in their day are 70+ now and overtime there is less of them about so i feel kind of like a custodian of this kind of knowledge. And they love to share it ... for many of them it takes them back to a different era that they haven't even thought about for a long time and they always smile... That's pretty special i reckon.
Terry the hillclimber offered to help me do the tappets .... and although i am confident id be ok to do it myself....I will call him up in the morning to give me a hand ...because i know he will get a buzz out of it.
SunnyTim wrote:bent pushrod = stuck valve
just unwind the tappet adjuster on the spare engine for one cylinder and pull the pushrod out. Voila = spare pushrod. I have just straightened them with a hammer before gently too....
Hi Tim thanks for the reply!
I couldn't get it out without undoing all the bolts but i got it out in the end and thankfully its the same length. I straightened it first by wrapping it in rag and tapping it on the anvil and also squeezing it gently in the big vice. I thought i was on to the trick of getting it dead straight by rolling it on a hard surface and finding where it stopped was the bottom of the bow, id flip it and tap that side .... but i couldn't get it to roll perfectly. If i was stuck coming back from Wangaratta it might get me home but I opted for the spare which rolled neatly.
Now for the stuck valve
If you are taking all of the tappets off the engine in your car, and you know which valve is sticking,
1. load the valves up with INOX, WD40, CRC etc all over so it runs down the guides and let it sit overnight.
2. Gently tap the tops of the valves with a hammer. If they 'bounce' they aren't stuck
3. If there is one that doesn't bounce (it stays down) play around with it gently tapping, coating with lube, trying to tap it up and down etc gently.....unless it is really stuck it should take much to get it happy again and 'bouncing' when tapped with the hammer.
4. Once they are all unstuck you should be able to give them all a fairly solid whack with the hammer and they should all feel and sound the same.
I did take all the rockers off, disassembled cleaned and reassembled.
The valve in question was stuck down a bit at first so i squirted heaps of inox around it and put a ring spanner over the end (just to save poking my hand) and pushed it down by hand it popped up and now after a day of its inox bath it feels alot better and i can pump them up and down by hand alot easier ... still feels a little tighter than the others but it always springs back. There was also one more that was a bit tight and it got the same treatment. I read your tap with the hammer thing and did as you suggested and they all bounce now... I also gave them all a solid wack and the sound was interesting but all fairly similar!
5. Reinstall the tappets. Despite what anyone says you need to adjust them cold at 8 thou inlet and 12 thou exhaust. Adjust cylinder 1 when 6 is rocking, 2 with 5, 3 with 4, 4 with 3, 5 with 2, 6 with 1. 'Rocking' doesn't mean Johhny O'Keefe, it means that the inlet cycle has come up (valve up) and exhaust valve is about to go down.
6. Readjust the tappets when the valves are hot.
Regards
Tim
Will give this a go in the morning.....
Thanks again, muchly appreciate it.
I am aware my posts are nearly bordering on rosco lengths .... i just hope someone some day can get something from them.
Digging it!
