Project or donor?

[Elanlover]

This thread and the superb pictures of the finished product have even inspired me, a DIY no-hoper, to think that I could have a go at that.....but I'd never do it with the original cam cover in case something went horribly wrong. Are spares available, and how much are they? Presumably you need a gasket thingy as well?

I'm with you on this one. I'd like to do the same but want to keep the original cam cover for emergencies and just to know I have all the original parts in the "warehouse". The gaskets are cheap and you could probably get one from SJ or possibly even in the Isuzu world. The cam cover is a different story.

I was quoted about $350 USD for a new part. I've been hoping a decent used one would pop up instead for a far more reasonable price.

[Enright]

I never bothered with a replacement gasket (or even any sealant) and I haven't had any leaks. With this particular type that's not unusual. I wouldn't recommend it on a cylinder head or water pump though!

Just do what I did and keep your eyes peeled for a scrap or blown-up engine. It's certainly keeping me off the streets...

[Readit]

Nice work Neil.! Hope the rest of the engine comes up as good.

On reflection I think that you will find more problems at the bottom end than the shims.. Ken

[Enright]

Thanks Readit. Sy may have helped me to completely bypass the problem anyway:

He had a complete bottom end just lying around that was taking up space.
This included all the pistons, crankshaft and flywheel.

So now it's taking up MY space, sitting next to the dodgy one in my garage. Thanks again Sy.

All I should need to do is check the bearings for wear, whip the pistons out, hone the bores and replace the rings, and then use the best parts from each to do a complete rebuild.

Think I might recon the cylinder head first though, after I've shone up a few more bits and used them to enhance my engine bay.

Which reminds me - anyone know how much a complete gasket set costs?
Or possibly just a head set?
Is it worth getting one imported from anywhere?

[paulwatkins]

Neil,
I originally bought a head set from SJ's, but when I needed to replace the stem seals, it worked out cheaper to buy a complete head set from kmckmc (michael) which included the said stem seals.

The stem seals were £5 +VAT +del each = £100 ish. (from SJ's)

The complete gasket and seal set from kmckmc cost me £65 delivered from far east!

So now I have some spare gaskets aswell!

Give Michael a try, he may have some sets left.

However, you may of picked up in my rebuild thread that the head gasket from kmckmc didn't fit over the locating dowel correctly. the hole was in the correct place but a rubber collar prevented it going on. not sure if this collar can be removed. But in anycase, it would still work out cheaper to have one of these sets from kmckmc and buy a head gasket from somewhere else.

[Monty]

IIRC there`s a uk company that does the head gasket kit, but i can`t find a link to it. I`m sure Sy could tell you or put a link here,

[clemo]

not read the above posts but i have...

replaced the crank in my engine as after the 1st rebuild it had been damaged. the reason for the damage and second rebuild is because it had been reworked beyond crank case hardening.. therfore useless...
i did take the time to balance and lighten (the 2nd one) but this must be done by a competent engine shop...
it may be worth looking at the head to see if that has been skimmed below tollarance as this will to show pressure faults...

and if like you say tit has been worked/bodged i would guess that the head was below tollarance and caused a chain reaction ...

[Enright]

OK I've bought KMC's last gasket set off him.
I suppose if I can't use it I can always sell it on to one of the other interested parties. Which reminds me:
Question - can anyone tell me the minimum tolerance so that I can see if the head has already been skimmed? It may save any further wasted effort.

Yesterday I completely stripped down and cleaned the head (will post pics later).

Top tip: A valve spring compressor is only needed for replacing the collets. To get them out you can put a large (eg 19mm) socket and extension on the top and just whack it - works a treat (satisfying too)!

Another question - mainly directed towards PW & the pink one:
When de-coking the valves, how far did you take them and what did you use? Someone mentioned to me that they MAY have a special coating, and obviously I wouldn't want to destroy that.

[paulwatkins]

The valves on mine were not too badly coked up to be honest.
I just popped each valve into my drill and used a piece of very fine emery paper to remove some of the blackening.

I took care not to touch the seating edge, and not to go past the travel 'tide-line' on the shaft.

Just gave them a coating of wd while waiting for them to be replaced.

Cheers, Paul

[dapinky]

Neil,

If you refer to pages EC30/31/32 in the workshop manual, it gives all the sizes and tollerances for working on the head/valves/valve guides (including the minimum metal thickness of the head).

It is possible to take up to 16 thou off the head before it becomes scrap - mine had a 10 thou skim and is now perfectly flat, and within tollerance.

As far as the valves are concerned, i cleaned the crap off them by giving them a spray with carb/choke cleaner, and a bit of a rub with wire wool.

They were all then measured for wear and checked that they were not bent by rolling them along a piece of plate glass.

A quick recut/lapping in, and then back together!

I'm not sure about your method for collet removal - it might be quicker than a compressor, but how much extra time might you spend looking for the one that got away and is somewhere on the garage floor!

Using a magnetic pencil and a spring compressor, it only takes about 30 minutes to remove them safely, without having bits potentially flying around the garage at speeds high enough to cause damage.

[Enright]

To start with I've posted a before pic of the combustion chambers and head gasket face. Yuk.

The condition of the head itself was most unlike the well-cared-for one that already lives in my car. I think the engine's been badly overheated at some point because it was full of black crusty gunge under the cam cover. It took a lot of cleaning on Sunday, but came up beautifully. There is no evidence of it having been machined before, but it will certainly need checking out for straightness.

Yesterday I managed to get half an hour on the pillar drill in our Dev Lab at work with some marvellous stuff called "Scotchbrite". It's like a cross between wire wool and emery paper, so it doesn't clog. You can press it quite hard against the valve while it's whizzing away in the drill without getting burnt, which is nice!

As you can see from the before and after pics of the valves - they came up a treat.

So I took them home and spent the evening grinding them in. God my hands hurt now - I've never done a 16V head before!


Dave, I know you're suspicious of my collet removal method, but it's a bit more scientific than a case of "just twat it and run"!
Being as you hold the socket down against the "cap" as I shall call it, the force is transferred through this and compresses the spring while the valve and collets stay in the same place.
The collets fall away due to the shock and because the taper of the cap isn't holding them in place any more, but they can't go anywhere because of the socket still containing them.
So when you lift the socket away the assembly is all neatly separated.
I'll show you at Donington if you like - it'll only take 10 minutes to get your cam cover out of the way and you don't mind travelling home on 3 cylinders do you...?

Actually I should be able to have the head finished, and so could bring it along to display on the stand.

[paulwatkins]

However, you may of picked up in my rebuild thread that the head gasket from kmckmc didn't fit over the locating dowel correctly. the hole was in the correct place but a rubber collar prevented it going on.

Neil,
have you been able to check if the head gasket you have received from kmckmc will fit over the locating dowels?

Cheers, Paul

[DeeAitch]

While you're at it any chance of bolting in one of the cams and posting a pic / dims showing how far the valves stick out on full lift - should end the will they won't they bend debate once and for all
Know what my money is going on

[Enright]

However, you may of picked up in my rebuild thread that the head gasket from kmckmc didn't fit over the locating dowel correctly. the hole was in the correct place but a rubber collar prevented it going on.

Neil,
have you been able to check if the head gasket you have received from kmckmc will fit over the locating dowels?

Cheers, Paul

Yes. Just did that last night. It didn't.
I tried to open out the metal insert but it fractured, so I just removed it.
The gasket won't go anywhere, but I'd rather leave the locating dowel IN than the metal insert in the gasket OUT (if that makes any sense)!

While you're at it any chance of bolting in one of the cams and posting a pic / dims showing how far the valves stick out on full lift - should end the will they won't they bend debate once and for all
Know what my money is going on

Yes, good idea. No problem.
FWIW which option IS your money on?

[paulwatkins]

The valves definately go proud of the mating face on full lift. IIRC it is about 3 to 5mm.

I used several layers of corrugated cardboard when I lay mine on a flat work surface.

Also IIRC the manual says to turn the engine 90deg from TDC when replacing the head to prevent the possibility of damage occuring to the valves form the pistons.

[dapinky]

The valves definately go proud of the mating face on full lift. IIRC it is about 3 to 5mm.

I used several layers of corrugated cardboard when I lay mine on a flat work surface.

Also IIRC the manual says to turn the engine 90deg from TDC when replacing the head to prevent the possibility of damage occuring to the valves form the pistons.

But the pistons have a few mill cut out of the top, and the gasket is a few thou thick - so it could be close. (I'm not trying it on mine though, 'cos a head skim might turn a gap into a hit)

PS - great tip about the corrugated cardboard, where did you find out about that

Neil, I understand the theory on the collet removal, and if you're happy with it, no problems - it wont do any damage. I was thinking more of 'safety for the numpty' rather than an engineer who knows and accepts the risks! - perhaps by putting a magnet against the socket at the same time, it will help to keep it all together.

Feel free to demonstrate your method on my car if you want to - how fast can you run? I may have a knackered foot but a 9mm diameter chunk of lead cased in copper travels at 1140 feet per second

[Enright]

Neil,
have you been able to check if the head gasket you have received from kmckmc will fit over the locating dowels?

Cheers, Paul

Yes. Just did that last night. It didn't.
I tried to open out the metal insert but it fractured, so I just removed it.
The gasket won't go anywhere, but I'd rather leave the locating dowel IN than the metal insert in the gasket OUT (if that makes any sense)!

A couple of other people have asked me about the head-gasket fitting issue, so here is a pic demonstrating it.

Just below the blank hole top left, you can see another. Note that out of the 4 corners, this is the only one without a yellow ring.
The yellow was just the flash reflection. They are actually silver washers/spacers. But there is a locating dowel top LH & top RH.
The one top LH wouldn't fit over the spacer/washer, so I removed it and left the dowel in. I'm sure it won't be an issue. Well, 90% sure!

BTW can anyone who has fitted a genuine Lotus head-gasket tell me if it had all the extra holes in blank spaces (e.g top LH and below combustion chambers 2, 3 & 4)?

[Enright]

At Donington I managed to obtain a brand new tensioner and idler pulley very cheaply, and more bits arrived on Friday.
Courtesy of eBay I managed to get a 45k mile turbo, exhaust manifold, precat and all associated heat shields for £150+P&P. Pretty good when the P&P part (£16) was for a package which weighed over 20kgs!
So now the only remaining things on the list are:
A set of piston rings,
Bearing shells (if required),
A cambelt,
A few assorted fasteners.

I think I've definitely moved from the territory of "a few useful bits if ever I need them" to "full-on recon and rebuild".

[Dico]

Are you going to fit this engine once completed Neil? Or wait untill yours goes kaputt?
Looks to be going well so far. Good buy that was

[Enright]

I'm still not sure about the answer to that one Dico.
Originally it was simply a case of making the trip down to Ipswich (to fetch the intake plenum and injectors) worthwhile, which was why I bought the rest of the engine and gearbox too.
I knew that it would be worth having a spare cam cover, head assembly, sump and engine covers/bolt-ons etc, as well as a selector mech and gearbox bits to play with. Those alone could easily save me more than the cost of the auction.
But now that I've got most of the rest of the bits I need, it's worth putting them all together.
If mine goes bang then I've got something to fall back on, but if people can see that it's been done to professional standards, then (what will effectively be) a brand new engine will fetch good money.
It could easily finance a Quaife, which I'd love to get at some point.