Valve Stem Oil Seal Replacement

[lotuska]

After a little beer therapy last night I start today with a bit more enthusiasm.

First things first, many thanks to Sy for the use of his spare gasket set.

Anyway, I have now removed the cylinder head, boy that’s a job that I don’t want to have to do again in a hurry…if you thought changing the cam belt was hard then don’t try replacing the head gasket. A couple of highlights would be trying to undo the 3 nuts on the exhaust, trying to see let alone disconnect the oil return from the turbo…

Couple of pics, plus I’ve done a video of my new technique for checking if you’ve blow your head gasket (oh and this was only with 50psi, originally I had 100psi, enjoy.

Oh and at least changing the oil filter is easy now...shame I've only just done the alternator.

[GeoffSmith]

Bad luck Mark, but excellent video. Is she going to make Donny?

[lotuska]

Don't think so...

It's not so much replacing the head gasket, that will be done before the middle of the week, its all the other jobs I'm now considering while its in pieces such as possibly porting the wastegate.

[Monty]

Looks like i`ll be doing the same thing in a couple of weeks, nice video. BTW watch u don`t soak the coils with the water over flowing the expansion tank

[Sy V]

Mark

Good to meet you after all this time, yesterday. Good luck with the work.

I tried the engine blast to re-lubricate the HVL yesterday, but to no avail, so I've had to ask Nick Whale to book it in on Wednesday.

[lotuska]

Sy bad luck, I've got mine apart and its easy to spot which one has trapped air...when you press on the plunger inside its spongy, the others are solid...but still a fair bit of work to actually get them out.

What oil are you using? I've heard that thinner is better, maybe Mobil1 0W40 also what about adding a Hydraulic Valve Lifter Cleaner?

Was wondering if you could identify the faulty one by removing the cam cover and then press on each HVL, find the one that feels spongy and that's the bugger. Whether pressing it down would work or help is debatable.

Monty, good luck...first time I connected the air line I had the cap on and when I removed it water went everywhere.

Was thinking that there should be a club/register for people who are brave (dumb) enough to work on their own M100.
- Normal servicing (oil, filter, plugs) rank as novice
- Brakes & suspension rank as intermediate
- Cam belts, alternator and head removal rank as advance

[GeoffSmith]

Was thinking that there should be a club/register for people who are brave (dumb) enough to work on their own M100.
- Normal servicing (oil, filter, plugs) rank as novice
- Brakes & suspension rank as intermediate
- Cam belts, alternator and head removal rank as advance

I like it. You would be an advanced tinkerer and Gary would be a novice God.

[lotuska]

Right moving along nicely on this...cam belts and idles etc on order from States, also 2 gaskets sets (one to replace the set provided by Sy).

Now what I want to know if anyone knows if I can replace the studs, nuts, washers etc with Stainless Steel items? Looking at all of the fixings for the Turbo, exhaust manifold and down pipe to exhaust.

I'm nervous because I don't think they have the strength...

[lotuska]

Slight project creep....ported the waste gate, nice and easy once you've got access.

But in the mean time decided to try a bit of diy porting....also trying to match the ports, picture below shows that there is plenty to do. Inside the chambers there is a lot of rough casting and even a large stud like object sticking up in the inlet track. (you can just see it in the first picture).

I will also have a go at the exhaust and inlet manifolds.

(PS: Sy got the new gaskets sets now, so will have to arrange a time to drop off your replacement set - many thanks)

[Monty]

Very interesting, what did use for the polishing? and what are those studs all about in the inlet track

Be intersting to see how u get on with this project, even thou i`ve just done my head gasket it will be good reference for next time

[lotuska]

I've tried to take a better picture of these "studs" for lack of a better term, they are part of the casting.

They appear in all 4 of the inlet tracks, are about 3mm high and about 10mm in diameter, seems an obvious obstruction that you don't want.

Also amazed at how bad the finish of the casting was, and the poor flow around the short side radius due to its sharp edge.

I'm using a porting kit from Standard Abrasives, who also have a good free guide here.

[Monty]

yeah see what u mean now, so will u grind them flush? just wonder whats on the other side and if it`s hollow may cause a weekeness Thanks for the link, i`ve saved that and i`ll have a read of it later. Like i said wouldn`t mind doing something similar in years to come and maybe do an engine rebuild.

[lotuska]

I've done all of the inlets now the exhausts...

far more scope for improving flow here as the port seems rather small and the valve guide doesn't stick into the flow at all (unlike the inlet one). However the casting around the valve guide protrudes into the flow a lot.

[lotuska]

More progress...Finished the head port/polishing, will take some pics over the weekend.

Now I've moved onto the inlet manifold, its amazing how much scope there is for porting this...

[Sy V]

Blimey Mark, I have to say that you're really turning this into a labour of love mate. Well done.

I have a concern though mate, and as you know I'm not an engineer: But all this porting is, I assume, to make the airflow factor within the engine more efficient.
Given that we have to port the turbo waste gate (if the car is chipped and equipped with a large bore exhaust) to restore the airflow equilibrium therein and subsequently negate overboost. Could you be reintroducing another imbalance whereby the turbo won't be capable of evacuating fast enough?

Just a concern from an uneducated, well wishing admirer of your efforts.

[paulwatkins]

I'm sure someone has told me that the inlet ports have a rough casting surface in order to introduce increased turbulance into the airflow; hence improving the fuel/air mixture within the combustion chamber.

I may be wrong though! But I seem to recollect someone mentioning it before.

Cheers, Paul

[dapinky]

Paul, that might have been me.....

..... however, i know darn little about turbo applications in general, and Elans is particular, so i can only go on what i've picked up over the years of building competition engines for Fords and Triumphs running short inlet manifolds and f***ing big carbs!

I AM NOT AN EXPERT, please see my views as more of a sceptic than an authority

[Enright]

That makes a lot of sense Paul.
It also all ties in with what The Pink One said here.

So excuse the cowardice, and I am following this with great interest (and hope), but I'll wait to hear what Lotuska's results are before mullering my own head!

[lotuska]

I have considered most of these issues carefully before I started, I have had previous experiences in head work from my days with the old mini and mgb engines and a really good book by David Vizard.

Trying to address the issues in no particular order:

1. Lack of a flow bench, as I'm not increasing the size of the valves or dramatically increaing the overall size of the ports, I considered this acceptable. Most of the work is an attempt to improve the poor casting and match the inlet and exhaust ports, i.e. so there isn't a step change.

2. Polishing of ports, agreed, I believe its generally accepted that polishing the inlet port is a bad thing, however leaving the rough finish from sanding with 80 grit paper is sufficient to encourage the mixing of fuel and air. However polishing of the exhaust port is something that helps the overall flow of the exhaust and should improve performance.

3. Chamber polishing, all of the work I'm doing is in the ports I have avoided anything to do with chambers because I believe this can have a more significant impact, i.e. altering the compression ratio, something that should be avoided.

4. Trashing the head, as I haven't got a scrap head and I haven't seen a sectioned one I've decided not to open up the ports as much as I would on say a mini head. Therefore I have hopefully reduced the risk of ginding though into the water or oil galleries. I'm really trying to get the engine to operate more like it was designed to and remove the problems introduced during the mass production processes used.

5. Turbo issues, I have ported the wastegate and the increase in size should be more than sufficient for what I am doing (I hope, time will tell)

A good article that I previous referenced is here....

My theroy has been that while I've got it apart I'd like to try something that I haven't see anyone else try, the worst that can happen is that I trash the head...(anyone got a spare?)

[dapinky]

Mark,

It seems that you are well up on the theory side of it, and i agree totally with matching the port sizes to each other.

If you have experience of the 'A' & 'B' series engines, and have read any book by Vizard (2nd only to ACBC in my opinion of modern day engineers) then I won't insult your intelligence or ability.
When i wrote my original bit on Monty's thread, it was because (by his own admission) he had no previous knowledge of the way things work - besides that, how can you insult the intelligence of a MUFC supporter

I agree that a flow bench will not be absolutely necessary, but it would be advantagious if we had, say, half a dozen spare heads that we could do comparisons on - anyone gonna lend me a few spare heads to practice

Good luck, like Neil, I'm hoping for great things here!