18/1 Tear down

[puterboy]

Thanks DieselGMan.

Thanks Quinnf. My heads are cast iron, and the head bolts are not torque to yield bolts. Luckily, it only boiled out a little less than a gallon of antifreeze. The likelyhood that one of the head gaskets will blow is less because of the retaliative low antifreeze boil out. However, it is never good to overheat an engine. I'm going to have to fix my temperature gage so I don't have to go by smell, and the boiling sound coming from the surge tank. You are right. I would have to do some preventive engine work had it had aluminum heads and/or torque to yield bolts, but good ole cast iron gives me a better chance of relaxing after work instead of working on my truck.

BTW... don't read my response as a slam. Please keep giving advise because I don't know everything. I was a mechanic for 17 years, but my knowledge is dated. I quit wrenching 15 years ago in 1997 to work in Information Technology. Back in my wrenching day, GM engines didn't use torque to yield bolts, or maybe I should say one didn't have to tear them down because they were too new. On the other hand, Ford was using torque to yield bolts in some engines back then. I hate Fords. Did I say that out loud.  Also, back then GM didn't stand for Government Motors.

[puterboy]

I wanted to update everyone on the tear down and build of my 18-1, but I've been busy doing other things. Getting a calf has sucked my time into rebuilding the fence around the farm.

My valve tappets were rough and slightly concave, which I didn't know they were concave until the machine shop ground and polished the faces. Also, my cam lobes were very rough, and the top of the lobes looked like they were hit with a grinder. After receiving new lobes, I could see the duration was way different than what I had. Also, the quality of the lobes were much better than mine. I am going to upload pictures of the lobes when I get a chance.

[puterboy]

Attention all lurkers and people thinking of buying one of these engines. Buy yours from DiesleGman when you finally decide to buy. My experience has been very good. He replaced a head gasket based on my word that it was damaged in shipping. He replaced cam lobes based on my word they were questionable... I now know they were more than questionable after receiving the replacements. He threw in gib keys and cylinder sleeve O-rings for my trouble. Perhaps I made a good case for the parts, but he did all this without asking to see the parts, and said nothing more than "give me your address." I was expecting to pay for the parts. Things don't always go right, but it is nice to know there is someone who stands behind what they sell. There is another thread on this forum where he replaced the parts in a listeroid meltdown. That was way above what anyone would expect. In my opinion, my parts and the parts he replaced on the meltdown were not his responsibility, but he didn't see it that way.

[dieselgman]

We live and operate by the "Golden Rule" here... happy to be of service and simply hate it when things go wrong. Our commitment to these old engines includes one of the largest single Lister parts and engine stocks in North America and we do our best to always have plenty of spares for rectifying problems when they do arise. I know that most of our customers have very few problems and that we are dealing with self-reliant types who like to solve their own problems if possible. Supplying replacement parts is our commitment to help assure a good and proper outcome and we make this same commitment to all our customers. We are blessed to be able to still do what we do despite various governmental hurdles and steadily escalating costs. I enjoy all you guys... (don't know about any gals around here??? I only seem to hear about disgruntled wives or girlfriends!).

Thanks Bill for your kind words!  

dieselgman

[38ac]

Again superior service from Gary! We had one particular Lister part that gave us fits but he stood behind all of it.  You should have two distinctly differant lobes. The one with more duration goes on the intake ( I think? Doped up on flue meds this AM )   I just got done building a cam for a Lister twin L gasoline engine and used parts from Gary to make it.  In case anyone else ventures into this those #6 taper pins and the reamer to fit them are available from McMaster Carr.

[TPXX]

Not to hijack (but we are talking about painting here ) Has anyone ever powder coated the outside of the engine? I'm going to use glyptal on the inside but thought powder coating would be a good way to go on the outside.