Hi you lot, <G>
Last night real late I decided to take the head off the B (BTW mine is a
Chrome Bumper with the hard to get at sump) - there was a few problem areas,
mainly the #1 stud didn't want to let the head up so I put a couple of
smaller nuts on the stud, locked them together and moved the stud enough to
break the gunk that must have been binding the stud to the head. Ahem, not
wanting to sound like a wimp here but I haven't taken the head off a car
before - oh boy those suckers are hard to lift out yourself!! I had to
actually *sit* in the engine bay to get enough leverage to lift the thing up
the studs straight. <G> Fun and games.
Well I know what my problem is, and I think it's good news - in a way. The
cylinder appears intact, no damage. :) The top of #3 piston has a hairline
crack (or so I thought last night..) running from the center to the exhaust
manifold side and maybe another smaller one to the left. I got curious and
decided to give the piston a little downward push - "Clonk" - moved about
1/2 inch! I guess my gudgeon pin has gone kaput eh and perhaps the conrod is
smashing the top of the piston?? So it looks like I'll be up for a new
piston, rings, pin - clips etc. Is it likely that the conrod has been
damaged and maybe the bearings too? I guess I'll find out when I try to take
the sump off. I took two photo's of the piston and the head so I'll put
these up on the web later today. One thing, I'm not sure the piston is
cracked because now in daylight it looks to be scored (perhaps by a foreign
body at some time in it's life), not cracked - impossible to tell with it
still in the car.
When replacing the piston etc would I be better to go for an old, good
piston or for a new piston? I was thinking that a piston with a bit of wear
would be better to put in than a new piston as there must be some wear in
the cylinder. I realise the wear on the new-secondhand piston won't be the
same as the one I'm removing but it might be closer - no? Price isn't the
reason for the question. You tell me which is best. :)
To the head - what a mess! I aint used to seeing heads but - #1,2,4 inlet
valves (I guess they're inlet? durr) have around 1-2mm of built up brown
deposits. Except #3 inlet valve - looks gone - ie it's black and pitted
different to the others. The exhaust valves mostly look similar - black.
(maybe I have the valves confused, aren't the bigger valves inlet??) I have
a picture of the head which I'll put on the web, maybe someone can comment.
Don't know if the valves can be cleaned up or if I should just replace them.
Anyways wait for the pictures. <G>
BTW Curt Strohacker from Eastwood says if I send him some of that Moss
engine colour they'll take a look at it and consider making a small run of
powder (50lbs) but it won't be cheap. If anyone is interested in obtaining
some of this powder (MG Red/Burgundy for the early motors -
block,head,rocker cover), please Email me and maybe we can convince them to
produce this limited run. The more support, the more chance that the powder
will come to fruition. I have talked to a lot of people on this topic and
the consensus is p/c is the way to go (chip resistance etc), it's just
curing and preparing big items that's the problem - ie needing a *big* oven
to stuff a block in etc. It's not hard to find these though as there are
heaps of people chucking commercial ovens away for virtually nothing.
Thanks all,
Neil.
--
Neil Cotty - Sydney, Australia
1970 MG B GT / 1959 MG A 1600 Mk1
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