Checking for sand

[Grael]

Well, as some know, I finally made the journey to Lethbridge (7.5 hours one way) to Troy's and got myself a 6/1 and a gen head. Troy mentioned that there may be some sand somewhere on a ledge by the cam. Now how do I get at this spot to check? Remove the cylinder head & cylinder and look down through where the con rod comes through? Anywhere else? Anyone have a picture? I have removed the inspection plate and checked, and I haven't found a speck of sand, and Troy mentioned that these were a pretty clean set of engines. So that's good.

I'll be relying on this engine a lot this winter, and I want to make sure there is less chance of it going wrong.

One more thing. The exhaust tappet will not turn on its own. I can turn it by hand a bit, and it will then go around on its own, but will stop in the same spot again. Where should I start investigating?

[SteveU.]

Hey m-o-n!
Troy is a pretty good guy isn't he?
The ledge he is talking about is the casting boss in the side cover on the exhaust valve side of the engine that the end of the cam goes into.
Good excuse to remove the flywheels to remove this cover for cleaning and get your gib keys hand fitted so you know you can do this in the dark and cold with a flash light.
Other areas are up inside the cast iron piston,  up on the underside of the crank case ceiling where the head/cylinder case studs come through and down in the lower sump pocket ceiling.
On your exhaust valve tappet: first try losening the hold down clamp and rotating the tappet holder in 90 degree increments to establish a different alignment.

Regards
SteveU.

[Grael]

Thanks Steve. While I didn't get to meet Troy, since he was on a holiday, I got to meet George, his father, instead. Nice guy. 

Could I just remove the cover you speak of without removing the flywheels? I really don't want to have to do that unless I have to. Also, If I were to remove the whole cylinder, do I need to replace anything when I put it back together? Like seals? How about tools? A ring compressor comes to mind. I'm used to working on VW diesels and they are a bit picky, so I'm a bit excessive compulsive in this regard.

I'll go try turning that tappet holder. hopefully it's just some paint jamming it or something. Now where's my paint thinner...

[Doug]

Sugestion:

Completely strip the engine and buy a gallon of paint stripper and completely strip all the paint out of the crank case.
Scrub clean scrap.......
Presure wash.....

Then paint it inside and its clean.....

Clean everyting every where every part.....

Then you know your good to go

[Grael]

There's no paint on the inside of the crank case on my engine. And I don't intend to paint it on the inside. The last thing I need is to have the paint start to flake off or bubble.

[SteveU.]

Hello again. Doug and others are right - you really need to do a complete teardown and cleaning to be sure. These are such simple engine with such a low bolt count that in comparison to a water-cooled VW it is ridiculously easy.
Better to get those India hammered in gib keys out now and properly hand file/stoned fitted now not on some cold dark Canadian winter night. It will only be much harder in the future with a little corrosion and metal to metal stick-tion welding. Disassemble now and reassemble and then future repairs and maintenance (when you are cold, tired, sick and/or drunk) will be a piece of cake.
If torn down before heated up and coolant run most gasket and seals will be reusable. Best to always have a spare gasket set anyhow. Less than $20.
A universal Liesle brand crinkle band ring compressor is $20. too. Or with a spare ring set as a back-up use the careful strong finger method.
Crankcase paint or not can be argued both ways. Your engine - your choice.
The tappet (camfollower) is an individually machined piece. The tappet holder is individually machined inside and out. The tappet holder fits in a bored hole in the crankcase. Nothing is perfect. What you are trying to do is find out before remachining anything is if you can restack these inperfections to cancel them selves out into your favor. Match mark pairing to achieve the best concentricity, balance and fit is done by manufacturers with wheel and tires and pistons and cylinder bores all of the time.
Hey! It ain't really yours until you start nicking and chipping the factory paint off of the bolt and nut heads. Then you will have a known workable set of tools lined up in your engine kit. Hint: flat file any of the "wierd" too big/uneven India hex heads down to fit the tools. Be good practice for saving specialized rounded off bolt heads you WILL run into on neat acquired machinery in the future.

Regards
SteveU.

[aqmxv]

I'll third/fourth this.  My Metro was pretty clean inside, but some determined tapping with a pick and hammer found several small pockets of casting sand here and there.  You won't know what's there until you take the thing apart. 

Besides, if it's an Indian 6/1, you need to take the flywheels off to properly fit the gib keys anyway - they put them in with a sledge hammer in Rajkot.

[12 gauge]

middle of nowhere,
The odds are that your tappets ends are not square with the axis which makes it hard for them to rotate properly.  Chuck them in a lathe to test and use a toolpost grinder to grind the ends square, as they are hardened.  It's one of several flaws these engines typically have and they really should be disassembled and made right for a long lasting engine.  It's pretty easy to figure out a way to fix all the problems on these low tech machines.  I also agree that it should be assumed to have some sand somewhere and needs cleaning. 
Best of luck,
RH 

[Grael]

Well, I do have a bit of an update. I tried turning the exhaust tappet holder bit by bit and now it tuns perfectly.