Lagoonblue's MK2 1600 deluxe

[LagoonBlue 145]

Finally got the distributor bushing from overseas.

 

 

 

If I had thought ahead I would of have removed and replaced one bushing at a time though these should go in straight no matter what. I did shorten one of the original bushings to act as a guide for the other end which might of had helped, certainly did not hurt any. I could of have pressed in the new bushings but for finer control I opted to use a 12mm nut & bolt and a stack of large washers. To protect the new bushing I always had old bushing facing it. For some reason these went in better without heating the casting.

 

After this I had to redo all the adjustments, these are detailed quite well in the works manual. I am happy to say that everything now works as it should, though there is still the tiniest bit of points bounce at about ~4K RPMs and beyond (goes away if I "help" the spring with my finger). Points with stiffer springs were available at least back in the day but for my use this will not matter too much.

 

A good learning experience, main lesson being that checking play at the distributor shaft is critical.

[LagoonBlue 145]

Got the head back from machine shop, actually finished ages ago but I only had now time to collect it as I have couple weeks of vacation lined up.

 

Work done;

Parts wash

Inspected (NTD)

K-Line valve guides (8pcs.)

Hardened exhaust valve seats fitted

Intake valve seats machined

Head surfaced

Exh. & intake faces surfaced

Leak tested

 

So apart from using K-Line sleeves instead of Burton valve guides all went as expected, no surprises. Shop recommended K-Lines sleeves since they are familiar with those and had all the requisite tooling ready to go, fine by me if the result is the same.

 

Sorry no pics from the underside as I did not want to drop and mix the valves..

 

 

Not sure if this side got any work done but seemed straight enough for me and there will be a gasket here anyways.

 

Intake manifold also got unbananad.

 

Grand total 582€, 'bout half a grand in £   Sure, I could of found a "guy" that would of done it cheaper but for a professional shop with good reputation and that is willing to stand behind their work this seems to be the going rate these days in this part of the world. It's only money, more get's printed everyday 

 

So what's next? I guess i'll make a separate post below..

[LagoonBlue 145]

Priorities..

 

Those long commutes made me do something that I have not done for a good while; made me think.
Let's face it, I'm 47 and not getting any younger. Seems that between all the work and tinkering I forgot to live.

Here illustrated in a handy chart is what I came up:

 

So I rented an apartment in the big city close to work (Spent my first night there yesterday), kitted out with brand new necessities and actually habitable by humans unlike my old dump.
Thanks to some convoluted arrangements that I wont't bore you with I am able to have the use of my current garage but due to distance that will probably be mostly weekends and holidays. To be fair that has been the case for a while anyway.

For now I will need to take a breather, meet new people, have fun, see new places and maybe find out what the fairer sex has to offer. Heck I would not even count out an heir, at this pace they can finish the job  Though no time to waste if that's something I end up wanting.

 

Fear not, the Cortina shall be done but got to sort this out first.

 

-Peter

[John Mack 328]

Everyone needs a break.   

[LagoonBlue 145]

Now taking a mental break from my (quite very, very, much unsuccessful) dating attempts.. Rebuilding engines is soo much easier...

 

Anyhow here is the underside of the head;

 

And here you can see the hardened exhaust valve seat;

 

So good time as any to put some bits back together;

Used some rather primitive tools but then again so is the Xflow.. Had to do this twice as there was still some crud left in the nook and crannies of the casting. I used the best set of stock springs and retainer plates I had. New valve retainers and (obviously) new valve stem seals. Somehow i forgot to change the core plug at the end of the casting, seemed to be just fine but would be a pain to change later if it starts to leak. Should have couple in the shelve so will do that next time.

 

Since I had a little bit time left I took a quick look at the rocker shaft;

Too worn I might have a spare hidden somewhere though probably as worn as this one. Luckily not overly expensive to replace provided that the arms are good enough to reuse.

[LagoonBlue 145]

First post of the year

 

Ugh what an uphill battle this was. Bought a new rocker shaft from Small Ford Spares (105E-6563-B) but that turned out to be the "motor sport" version and came with no E-clips for the ends. Also a smidge undersized and with light surface rust at places. Probably same as sold by Burtons.

 

Next I remembered that I had a stack of old shafts squared away but those were also a bit too worn, though one was almost good enough but had been incorrectly removed so was a bit bananed.

So off to Ebay.. Got a NOS one (2733E-6363-A, 1433716) that also came with some light surface rust at places, nothing that really matters but still.. Polished and thoroughly cleaned that and finally got around to assemble all the bits I had cleaned in preparation in the ultrasonic bath. Clearance spec for the rockers are (as far as I can tell) .003" to 0.055" but luckily these seem to be harder than the shaft so I managed to put together a decent set.

I really did not want to scratch my shiny new rocker shaft so I warmed up the aluminium post in a toaster oven before assembly;

This really did help. Only twice I managed to get the rockers on in the wrong orientation.. New cotter pins were fitted at the ends.

 

And the finished product;

Usable No excessive play in the rockers, everything moves as a machined part should. Bolts fit through the posts easily but these will need to be tapped to their right places when assembled to the cylinder head. Not be a big deal. Assembly was well oiled, shrinkwrapped & squirreled away for safekeeping.

 

All this happened in small ~1hr sessions throughout the winter, maybe as the weather warms up I can spend a bit more time at the garage. What's next? No idea but loads more left to do.