fbekholden.com

Thanks all for the advice. Cleaned up the rocker arm assembly a little:
Definite wear marks on the rocker arms and 'nubs' on the ball end. Also ALL the rocker bushes have a raised bit on either side of the oil groove and directly opposite the oil hole. Picture below doesn't show it very clearly but it can be clearly felt with a finger tip. Both rocker shafts don't look great and the right hand one was pretty well gummed up internally. The shafts appear to have a 'plug' in each end, I assume that can be removed for more thorough cleaning and replaced?

Cheers

Dave

Hi Dave, are the rocker shafts s'posed to look like bananas?.

Brett027 wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 5:37 pm Hi Dave, are the rocker shafts s'posed to look like bananas?.

Ha ha you had me worried so had to duck out to the garage to check them! Definitely just an optical illusion from the GoPro

Dave

That's what they all say

Dave,

The raised bit on the inside of the rocker bushes shows how much the bushes have worn - this is the part of the bush that sits above the oil hole. If you can find a set of rocker arm bushes, good.

Don't remove the plug from the rocker shafts. Use a test tube brush (or a similar arrangement to a rifle barrel cleaner) to clean the sludge out of the shafts. The rocker arm tips will need refacing. An oilstone is good if you're very patient, or a grinder if you have a deft touch. Just follow the original contour.

Rob

Thanks Rob.

Cleaned out the oil pump which was very sludgy although rotated freely. Pressure relief valve was 'stuck' when trying to remove it (once I figured out what it was...). Not sure whether it was stuck operationally or in what position as I didn't know what I was looking at, closed I think. Anyway it cleaned up ok and moves freely now. Bought some feeler gauges and the pump gears appear to be within the clearance range.

Question - how does one go about removing welch plugs?

Cheers

Dave

With a hammer and a drift or screwdriver. Hit the bottom edge until it moves in a bit and then put a screwdriver in the gap that opens at the top. Otherwise just knock them inwards and pull them out the hole with pliers.

Orange Betty wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:50 pmQuestion - how does one go about removing welch plugs?

Sometimes they will tilt if punched on one side, then lever out. Easier to drill a hole in the middle and either lever out with a screwdriver or pull with a slide hammer.

Cheers,
Harv

Thanks Brett and Harv.

I've been trying to clean out the water jackets by blowing compressed air through the holes in the top of the block before realising it's probably waaay easier to do through the welch plug holes

Dave

Aren't you going to get block reground etc? First thing they will do after it's stripped down is throw it into a caustic tank for a few days to clean water jackets out.

Plugs out, and have a good dig down the bottom with a screwdriver/length of wire. Not uncommon to have an inch of silt in the bottom of the water jackets.

Cheers,
Harv

Dave,

Forget the compressed air - use a Gerni. That's if you want to clean out the water jackets yourself.
BUT - do not remove the welch plug behind the camshaft.

And considering the evidence of lubrication failure, I'd say the oil pump relief valve stuck open. Inspect the relief valve piston carefully for signs of wear. If it needs to be replaced, a red motor relief valve piston will fit the grey oil pump.

Rob

Thanks Rob, good to know.

Brett, yes I'll be getting the block cleaned properly but not having done this before I just want to do as much as I can to see what I find

And btw Terry at QIM Engineering is closing down! He's not sure he can fit me in .

Cheers

Dave

That's a bugger. He was very good.

My old motor had an inch deep of dirt and many, many remnants of welch plugs- some complete. They must have just banged the old ones in and moved on.