Lord Gruntfuttock 19,357 Report post Posted July 18 Torqued up heads, 70 lbs on short bolts and 80 on longer ones, supposed to prevent any head gasket leaks after torquing intake doing it like that. Then removed old intake gaskets, cleaned up surfaces with brakleen, and installed a new thermostat while things were apart. Then dug out my old bits, I'd labelled the lifters and pushrods so they went back in same place, sadly I'd dated it too, Feb 2017, that's a long time sitting... Problem with using polystyrene was bits getting stuck in the pushrod holes, glad I checked... So cleaned them out before re-installing them, used assembly lube on lifters and top end of pushrod... And when gubbins were in, ran a bead of sealant on each end of block and insterted intake locating studs.. And a tiny bit of sealant around water passages on gaskets, don't think it's needed but easy to do now... And a thin smear on underneath of manifold... And the beads look like the right amount of goo was used... And assembled, Nice to have things buttoned up... Setting valves next, quite looking forward to a non-messy job... 23 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord Gruntfuttock 19,357 Report post Posted July 26 Adjusted valve lash on the weekend, rotated each pushrod till I just felt resistance, then 1/2 turn more and locked them in position. Did the #1 TDC, then 180 deg, then 270 rotate method to do all valves, and went though each cylinder in turn after that rechecking them, seems ok... Then braced myself for looking at the suspension, that had been removed 3 yrs ago and not looked at since (apart from a half hearted attempt at the driver's side). Wasn't too bad, started by scraping out the passenger side wheel well, nearly 50 yrs of accumulated crud made a greasy mess on the floor, swept it up (filled half a bucket) and cleaned with petrol. All the while cramped up against the wall, wish I'd taken a before pic... Had no idea where I'd got to on drivers side so rechecked torque, some bolts were tight, some only done up with fingers. Had a bit of trouble finding torque specs but went with: Top arm pivot bolts - 90 ft-lbs Lower arm pivot - 90 ft-lbs Lower arm to strut rod bolts - 65 ft-lbs Strut rod to under body bracket - 50 ft-lbs Spring saddle to upper arm bolts- 25 ft-lbs Ball joint mounting bolts - 30 ft-lbs And was going to do ball joints to steering knuckle at 80 ft-lbs but the castellated nut screwed past the split pin hole before any torque was applied, so I'll need some hardened washer spacers, will grab some today... I went though old pics and set the suspension strut camber eccentrics, and thread lengths approximately where they were on disassembly, will do the same for the steering tie-rods so hopefully it's driveable before I get it aligned properly. So things are clean, upper and lower arms and strut rods in place and almost ready to put the new springs in... Looking fwd to seeing how these sit... 13 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord Gruntfuttock 19,357 Report post Posted August 1 Got first spring in the other night, but wasn't happy with how it sat so pulled it and rotated it against the anti rotation tab better. Bloody easy job using the old impact driver on the spring compressors... And sitting much better... And torqued up the ball joints, needed a hardened washer to space the split pin correctly in the castellated nut. Also did some research on which way to align the pin, such a Barry-argument minefield. Turns out this way is the one used by the aviation industry (as opposed to bending them round the side of the nut), plus it is easier when there are clearance issues, but really doesn't make too much difference... And driver's side done, and new shock in, also torqued and pinned suspension rod arms etc. This is the easy side as the other one is against the shed wall... Discovered the new tie-rods weren't painted so painted them black like all other suspension bits, will install them tomorrow... And I'm over the cheap fittings that come with supplied gear, spring washers chewed out at only around 25 ft-lbs. replaced them with decent stainless ones... And installed new rotors. I'd packed the bearings 3 yrs ago but that had gone hard, so cleaned them out with solvent and repacked them. I'm not fitting the brake pads yet as I have to push the car into the other shed and new pads will probably rub. I just loosely bolted the calipers in position till it's moved... And repeated the job on the other side, all went ok but the rotor is rubbing on the dust shield so I'll pull it tomorrow and bend the shield back into place... So a big day, and frustratingly short of getting it mobile, should get there tomorrow though... 13 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord Gruntfuttock 19,357 Report post Posted August 1 Up early to get some niggling things done, quite nice ticking things off... and a few things to tidy up, but she's on 4 wheels for the first time in 3 years... Still got a noise from the dust shield to sort, brakes to install properly, and steering tie rods to align but that can wait till it's in the other shed. Plan is to put this in house garage and shift the bikes out to my man-shed, might even get a couch out there if space allows, will be next weekends job... Will need some manpower to shift it, but the other garage has a large concrete driveway so will be easier to fill the big hole in the engine bay using the crane. 16 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
