Getting back on the road

So, latest work. Weird clutch feel was actually the replacement shim in the master rebuild kit I fitted earlier this summer. Turns out it had no temper to it. I had a spare master cylinder on the shelf and replaced the shim while keeping the nearly new sesls. All feel good now. The rebuild shim looked to have been stamped from brass and not a wave spring steel job as per the original.

Master cylinder part two: so, a couple of weeks ago I went out and had smoke from under the car. Sure enough brake fluid was dripping onto the down pipe. The O ring on the brake master inlet (duel circuit nada jobbie) had failed. I felt above the pedal inside and sure enough that was bad too.

So, order the kit, pull the cylinder. Dismantle, cylinder had been reseleeved a few years back so bores were clean. Work is busy at the moment, so had to wait a while. Finally fitted today and bled the system. Go to start her and not a dicky bird. Spark is really weak. Pull dissy cap rotor and reluctor wheel (I have Lumenition Magnetronic fitted). I hadn’t routed the wires correctly, sure enough they were both worn through the insulation. I tried cutting and re soldering along with new heat shrink. But I think the damage has been done. New module ordered, I guess I’ll get it next year though. Hey ho.
 
Well, I’m an idiot. Turns out I’d knocked the breather pipe off the back carb. Successfully starved the rear cylinders and flooded the front! A good rest with the plugs out and she started right up. Glad I found the wiring though, I have a new module on the way and will fit it to be safe though.
 
Well, oh dear! If you've seen my recent question on the 4 cylinder thread. Slight miss at idle with popping exhaust

Looks like I have a burnt exhaust valve on cylinder No. 3. I also have the exhaust manifold off to weld a crack running around the No. 3 pipe and collector. I was hoping I might find a 2200TC head seeing as it is the last piece of the 2200TC engine I've built. But no luck with the usual suspects. I have a spare 2000TC head, however 5 of the 6 screws that hold the rear water jacket plate on are sheared off in it. I'll brave most things, but I've never had great luck with drilling out bad bolts, I think I'll drop off at a machinists for them to do the deed. Before that I will dismantle the valves and check for play in the guides and seat/valve condition.

Compression was 180psi, 175psi, 80psi, 170psi respectively. Funny thing was she didn't feel that down on power. I'll get her back running soon I'm sure.
 
She’s been pretty good until this. This cylinder head hadn’t been rebuilt with the rest of the engine. I felt it was ok when I did the rest, that and I ran out of money for that.

The spare is pretty good, but next step will be dismantling it to check valve, seat and guide condition before it goes on. Beryl will fly again!
 
Compression was 180psi, 175psi, 80psi, 170psi respectively. Funny thing was she didn't feel that down on power. I'll get her back running soon I'm sure.

They do run remarkably well on 3 cylinders. I went through a series of burnt valves a couple of years ago so I know how you feel, especially after having done so much work. I purposefully run a little rich now to help keep the combustion temperature down.

Dave
 
Yep, I have richer than standard needles in the carbs. The spark plugs are a nice biscuit colour so I wonder if I should push a little richer too. If I find a couple of hours I’ll pull the head this week one evening. I have a spare head that needs a little work but I think is in better condition so hopefully I’ll be up and running soon.
 
I was hoping I might find a 2200TC head to complete the block and HIF carbs. But as you can imagine they’re pretty hard to come by.
 
They do run remarkably well on 3 cylinders. I went through a series of burnt valves a couple of years ago so I know how you feel, especially after having done so much work. I purposefully run a little rich now to help keep the combustion temperature down.

Dave
Hi Dave, I've just been reading your write up on bad valves. Did you ever find out what caused the second failure?
 
Got a little done over the weekend. Between work commitments and life generally. I had some help from my good friend Albert. He runs a Saab specialist shop up the hill from us in Montclair. 4 of the 6 small bolts that hold the water gallery cover in place on the back of the head had broken off when I took the corroded plate off. Albert has much more experience at drilling out broken bolts than me. With his help I was able to remove them.

I was able to helicoil the damaged holes just to be safe.

The head itself looks to be in reasonable condition, I cleaned up the face and valves of carbon. Lapped the valves and seats. They look to be nicely matched, although the exhaust valve on No. 2 cylinder seems closer to flush than I’d like, I’m hoping this will be a stop gap head until I find a good 2200TC one to match the rest of the engine. One bit of good news is that all the guides seem a lot tighter than how I remember the ones on the car now. Well, I just need to find some time to finish removing the head on the engine at the moment, put this one on and adjust the valves.
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Hi Dave, I've just been reading your write up on bad valves. Did you ever find out what caused the second failure?

I haven't positively identified the cause of the second failure. I put it down to cheap valves, but I haven't used the car a lot in the past 18 months so I won't really know how things are until I've put a few hundred miles on it. It was more a concern when it was getting used as my sole daily driver and now that it is an occasional use car I suspect (hope) it won't happen again.

Dave
 
Well, after finally finding time to pull the cylinder head off I’ve had a chance to examine the old valves.

Worryingly, the only valve with questionable sealing was the No. 1 exhaust valve. No. 3 was the low compression cylinder. Having looked the head and valves I think I can just lap the valve back into shape and keep using this head. The other head had been rebuilt at one point in its past, but none of the valve seats were at the correct level (no 1 exhaust valve is flush with the deck of the cylinder head).

This means one of the three possibilities.

1) I didn’t secure the compression tester properly when testing No. 3

2) I had a head gasket leak. There was no evidence on the head gasket when pulling the head. So I don’t think it’s that.

3) There’s a problem with the piston rings on No. 3 piston. There’s no signs of scoring on the cylinder walls. However the oil seemed dirtier than I would expect after 200 miles of driving. There didn’t seem to be any blow by from the breather tubes and no oil leaks from a pressurized crank case.

I’m hoping it’s me screwing up on the tester. The popping could be from No. 1 exhaust valve plus the cracked exhaust manifold.

Next thing will be to pull the sump and take out the piston. Not today though. It’s now 99°f (37°c) outside and the garage doesn’t have AC. Ive lost about 5lbs in sweat just doing the head.
 
3) There’s a problem with the piston rings on No. 3 piston. There’s no signs of scoring on the cylinder walls. However the oil seemed dirtier than I would expect after 200 miles of driving. There didn’t seem to be any blow by from the breather tubes and no oil leaks from a pressurized crank case.

Fill each cylinder with the same amount of paraffin and see which cylinder loses it first. If it's No3 you've proved that is faulty somewhere below the head, if they all drain the same you c*cked up the compression test. Just remember to change the oil after you do it if you don't end up removing the sump and pistons.
 
@harveyp6 Thank you! I’ll go out and grab some later. They call it kerosene over here. Oil change is due anyway as some coolant made it into the cylinders when the head came off. Thought it was drained enough, I guess not.
 
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