Engine problems
Tags: bodywork custom engine frenching headlights restoration
And it was all going so well(ish).
First the good news. Quite a bit of progress in the past few days. After a final going over by Mark, the rear is all done, except for fitting the petrol tank and the clearancing. The lower of the two flutes on the rear flank have been hammered out, which works well, and the lines are all looking good.
Meanwhile, Lance shaped the headlight to give a similar effect to the rear lights -- i.e. we've welded on the original chrome bezel (de-chromed, of course) and finessed the shape. I think the result will be very nice when it's paint, with quite a tight radius to it (I'm not a fan of frenched in lights with big, lazy curves).
The bad news is that Mark opened up the engine. First warning sign was blowback on No. 2 piston. Turns out that the piston ring had split in too.
Fortunately the cylinder wall seemed OK at first look. Then we had a look at the cam followers. Not good. The hardened faces had gone on about half of them, quite badly in places, and (perhaps inevitably) the cam had started to wear in places too.
Mark suspects overtightening was the cause of this, and there were other (minor) things that raised alarm bells too (mismatching washers, and the like).
As engine problems go, it's not a disaster, but will obviously add to the total cost, which waved goodbye to the budget some time ago.
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