Head off, injector out, questions.

[Stan]

Nope, no oil near the cov valve.
Stan

[oliver90owner]

Stan , been gone a couple of days, but no, I was referring to your comment "screw up the fuel air mixture"!!

As we are only drawing air into a diesel it is irrelevant, n'est pas? 

Prolly been COVered since then but I thought I would reply anyhow.  PARdon the pun.

Lister used COVs for a long time.  If they are in god condition they will give little trouble.  If they are not, carbon will collect in them and they will rapidly become worse.  they are like the poppit valves - they should be a valve and be closed in normal operation.  Leaky valves are no good to anyone.

Regards, RAB

[contaucreek]

Sorry been away. Heres what I have

 1- a broken compression ring and a broken wiper ring.
 2-a badly pitted and worn head with valves that look like they allow blow-by.
 3-a pitted piston crown
 4- a surprisingly good injector spray pattern
 5- a slightly worn wrist pin/bush
 6- an o.k. cylinder.

 Plan of action:

 I have contacted an engine machinist I have done work for before and will be taking parts to him.He can get new rings for me and we can take piston/jug sizes to make sure all is ok. Says to clean off top of piston with wire wheel. New pin and bush for little end and new big end bearing provided sizes are good.Can build up face of the head and remachine valve seats so new valves, springs and guides and compression should be back to what it should be. Not anxious to do the bottom end as I dont fancy pulling the heavy flywheels but will use my indicator and a prybar to look for any major slop.Will sandblast and primer and am having the injector cleaned and set.I guess the rings were my biggest problem as the smoke was oil smoke.Will also investigate COV.

 Need to know how recessed the valve faces should be from the plane of the cyl head which i assume is totally flat from the factor, save the recesses. I have read 5 to 100 thou but is this right? Cant see 5 being enough to clear the exhaust valve when decompressor is engaged. Exhaust valve seems to now be quite a bit more recessed than my inlet valve. Did it wear this way or is this a factory design to allow the valve to open without collision.

  Sorry about the long winded msg, just wanted to provide as much info as possible.   Paul.

[Stan]

between .055in and .100in.

 For the 6/1, 12/2. (p 15 of my manual).
Stan

[contaucreek]

Cylinder, piston and head all at my friends engine machine shop. Have told him I want to stay with original spec valves and guides so there would be no surprises for the next guy. Will post on progress next week after we take measurements etc. Confirm 55 thou to 100 thou valve head clearence. My manual says 5 to 100 but I believe its a typo. Its an original Lister 6/1 manual loaded from rocketboy !!!

[Stan]

Yup, probably a typo, mine's the original manual that came with the engine, 1949.
Stan

[contaucreek]

Spoke to the engine machinist today and got crappy news . Magnaflux has revealed a crack in the head. It is crescent shaped and is located in an area bounded by the valves and transfer port. We aregoing to weld or stitch the crack, re ring and re valve/guide, hone ring scuffs  and take a wee lick off the cylinder and head.This was what lead to it sucking water and pitting the head and piston crown.The valve seats were leaking badly also so a little of everything was leading to the hard starting/low compression issues.We are rounding up the required parts and will let you know the progress.

[Stan]

Have you priced out a new head?
Stan

[contaucreek]

New heads are indeed cheaper than the way I want to go. I really want to stick Lister as much as possible.I can go really cheap and dress out existing guides,find N.American valves and springs and so on but like he says "how good do you want it" I was looking for a reasonable solution to the smoking and hard starting without spending half of what I bought the engine for. I guess we all start and get into a rebuild but where do you draw the line?? The leg bones connected to the hip bone kinda thing.If I can reasonably renew everything from the connecting rod north without making a non standard change and can go out to the garage and easily start a non smoking CS then I am a happy man, thanks for the idea though

[Stan]

I know what you mean, I spent exactly what I bought Penelope for, just to refurbish the original injector.
Stan

[contaucreek]

Update. Genuine Lister valves, guides and keepers are at the house. Will touch base with the engine machinist and soon get things married back together. Being in Ontario, where is the best place for me to order valve springs and a head gasket from, thanks, Paul.

[oliver90owner]

John F13 is only down the road from you?  OK Ont. is a biiiig place on it's own but just getting to know your close 'Lister' neighbors is good.  Last time I bought spares by post the head gasket was cream crackered, probably by our postie.  If they come from outside Ca. you run the risk of not paying any tax? 

Seriously, for small items like that it is not going to break the bank (I hope!) wherever you get them.  I would have a ride out one afternoon and see/meet F13 and get a bit of low-down on running off-grid.

Regards, RAB

[contaucreek]

Update, anyone want to buy a used kidney? I was able to buy genuine Lister valves guides and keepers (although they short shipped a pair of keepers) and I dropped them off at the machinists a couple weeks ago. He did his work: repair crack in head (that was $$$$), change guides, new seats to proper clearance, hone cylinder,new Hastings rings,new inner and outers,and the service to maganflux.I am awaiting the keepers and I need to get a head gasket then I can reassemble !!!

[contaucreek]

The saga continues. I have pretty much all the parts back in my possession but as luck would have it the shop lost one of my sets of valve cotts so the wait continues.Since the head was a no go today I checked the deck height and done the spill which was wayyyyy late.Removed and cleaned the valve tappets.Popped off the big end which had "felt" good only to find a chunk broken off the surface of the shell right under the rod where it occured probably due to the poor gudgeon/bush union allowing it to pound down on the bottom end.Hello parts man, its me again.

[contaucreek]

Ohh double GRRRRRR . Scraper ring as provided by the engine shop fit the bore well but not the piston as it would have required a deeper groove so no assembly last weekend damnit !! hello parts man, yah it's me again  .