Tomorrow, I plan on taking my 1500 engine to a couple of machine shops to
evaluate what needs to be done. I have some questions for the list on what
I need to do. and the general overall process.
1) what is shot peening? Is baking the block better that hot tanking? how?
2) how necessary is it to line bore the crank?
3) What does the standard piston look like for a '79 1500? Mine has a
slight scallop or cupping to it, probably a little less than 1 cm deep. is
this the high compression or regular piston (it has stanpart stamped on it
but I cannot find any marking to show if it is oversized). I figured up my
compression at being 8.9:1 but could be wrong. What does the high and low
compression pistons look like, exactly. The piston top actually just barely
exceeds the deck heigth at TDC, normal?
4) I have slight scoring on the cylinder wall and don't know if honing will
resolve it, (hopefully the machine shop will be helpful, and cheap). The
piston skirt is shiny and slightly scuff on the two sides (skirt slap?) is
this fairly common with a spitfire engine, should I be concerned? I don't
want to replace pistons unless I absolutely have to.
5) the rocker shaft has slight scuffing, not anything major, should I be
concerned?
6) Is lightening the flywheel worth it?
7) how about balancing all the rods and pistons as well as crank?
What else am I forgetting? I plan on having the thrust washers pinned in
with brass pins, per ted schumacher's recommenadation. I need to get this
project going as I am now fully enveloped with the SHIPWRIGHTS PLAGUE (that
is one step beyond the disease). Maybe someone needs to send me a fully
mint condition Spitire to cure me.
Thanks, and sorry for the length.
Patrick Bowen
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