All,
I just bought an early spec Rover 3.9L block and had it honed out to
take the Ford 255 pistons as part of a 4.9L conversion. Without going
into details, I was checking it out when it came back and I've noticed
that two of the caps do not "snap" into place, like I've been taught
they should. They have no perceptible wiggle, but they can be slid fore
and aft when fully in position. Again there is no "click" when you put
them into position one edge at a time like I've has with other Rover blocks.
When you read Des Hammil's book on power tuning the Rover engines,
he would suggest that an engine like this be scrapped, less it succumb
to the "black death" of fretting. He dedicates probably a half-dozen
pages as to why blocks like this shouldn't be used in a rebuild. Can
any one confirm if this is as big of an issue as he makes it out to be?
He also implies that the only solution is to have that part of the
engine machined a bit lower and then align-honed with the caps in
place. Is this the only way, or could I slip in a bit of shim-stock
along side the cap to reduce fretting?
I'm also going to check for cracks tonight. I've already had my
Buick 300 crank turned down for the 3.9 mains and internally balanced,
which is why I'm trying to stay with w 3.9 instead of a cross-bolted 4.0L
V/R
James
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