crabmaster
Member
Posts: 44
Attribute: http://www.austineighteenhundred.com.au
|
Post by crabmaster on Jan 2, 2014 10:42:28 GMT
Holiday repairs: It is high summer in the southern hemisphere now and holiday season - just the time to take care of a few jobs on the 1800 that have slipped during the winter. Some readers will know that I had occasion to have some work done to my cylinder head recently, and I was very happy with the new valves and guides - I had also handed over the rocker gear to the enginer reconditioners with the expectation that they would have a look at these parts and let me know if anything needed attention. But alas, I was asking too much. After reinstalling my engine, I had a lot of trouble setting the valve clearances at the rocker arms. Close inspection with the engine running revealed a lot of oil coming out from the bush on one of the rocker arms. There was nothing for it but to disturb the head nuts yet again and have a look at the rocker gear. Here's what I found:
I am sure you would agree that the above isn't pretty, and does indeed require some attention - and more than just turning things around by 180 degrees. No doubt the hardening had all disappeared and wear was quite rapid.
I found that a new rocker shaft was quite inexpensive ($28) at a local MG spare parts place, and they even had rocker bushes as well ($4.50 ea). However, there was some difficulty with the new bushes. The rocker arms have a metal plug in the end (called a rivet in the parts book) where a drilling is made through into the bush to allow oil to come through to the ball end of the adjustment screw. The new bushes had no oil holes. I was reluctant to fiddle with the existing plugs without the proper replacements, and so seeing my dilemma, the MG Parts manager very kindly tool pity on me and gave me eight new rocker arms complete with the bushes already installed for the price of the bushes. I think he must have seen that I had driven an hour to get to this place and faced another hour to go home in 35 C temperatures. Of course one could drill the bushes and attempt to install them in the right position, but I suspect no matter how hard one tries, the holes will not align properly.
So, after installation of all these new items, I can report that the clearances are now easily set and the noise from the valve gear considerably reduced. So, this is probably something worth checking if you have the opportunity.
Tony
|
|
|
|
Post by dave1800 on Jan 3, 2014 1:15:48 GMT
That's an amazing amount of wear, no wonder you had trouble with the noise and setting valve clearances. I don't recall ever seeing so much wear on the rocker shaft even on engines with more than 200,000 miles. It's good to know that the new parts are relatively inexpensive. I'm sure those in the UK will find it slightly amusing that you were pitied for travelling in the 35C heat given the weather conditions back there now  regards David Holiday repairs: It is high summer in the southern hemisphere now and holiday season - just the time to take care of a few jobs on the 1800 that have slipped during the winter. Some readers will know that I had occasion to have some work done to my cylinder head recently, and I was very happy with the new valves and guides - I had also handed over the rocker gear to the enginer reconditioners with the expectation that they would have a look at these parts and let me know if anything needed attention. But alas, I was asking too much. After reinstalling my engine, I had a lot of trouble setting the valve clearances at the rocker arms. Close inspection with the engine running revealed a lot of oil coming out from the bush on one of the rocker arms. There was nothing for it but to disturb the head nuts yet again and have a look at the rocker gear. Here's what I found:
I am sure you would agree that the above isn't pretty, and does indeed require some attention - and more than just turning things around by 180 degrees. No doubt the hardening had all disappeared and wear was quite rapid.
I found that a new rocker shaft was quite inexpensive ($28) at a local MG spare parts place, and they even had rocker bushes as well ($4.50 ea). However, there was some difficulty with the new bushes. The rocker arms have a metal plug in the end (called a rivet in the parts book) where a drilling is made through into the bush to allow oil to come through to the ball end of the adjustment screw. The new bushes had no oil holes. I was reluctant to fiddle with the existing plugs without the proper replacements, and so seeing my dilemma, the MG Parts manager very kindly tool pity on me and gave me eight new rocker arms complete with the bushes already installed for the price of the bushes. I think he must have seen that I had driven an hour to get to this place and faced another hour to go home in 35 C temperatures. Of course one could drill the bushes and attempt to install them in the right position, but I suspect no matter how hard one tries, the holes will not align properly.
So, after installation of all these new items, I can report that the clearances are now easily set and the noise from the valve gear considerably reduced. So, this is probably something worth checking if you have the opportunity.
Tony
|
|
