I have spend hours in the past week jsut working on the heads and making them clean. I think you will agree from the pics, it makes it worth it. Even if after the first time the car turns over they will be messy straight away, but I know they where good when I put them back on.

 

Here are some before and after pics of the head.

 

 

The heads as it came off the engine

 

 

 

 

The cams dirty oily and out of focus;)

 

 

 

 

Several hours of cleaning valves, cleaning, seating and scrubbing

 

 

 

 

Even the inside got scrubbed and treated to new lifters :D

 

 

 

 

One of the heads sat on the block

 

 

What you think?

Good for you. Ive built loads of engines for my cars and bikes in the past, you get the added bonus of satisfaction from doing it yourself and you know for certain that it has been put together properly.

Paul

nice one :)

 

lets hope it goes as good as it looks

looks great, gonna be on msn later on mate?

Im there now! ;)

Looking great Stu :bow: How did you colour the block on the bottom pic? - looks really good :cool:

nice looks great mate

 

steve

Nice one Stu, fair play to ya for doing it yourself and not handing over 55 squids an hour in labour to some dealer! Plus like Paul and the others said, you know you've done yer best and that's what counts. Hope she purrs when it goes back together, I really do. ;)

Looking great Stu :bow: How did you colour the block on the bottom pic? - looks really good :cool:

 

 

Sand it right down so there are no rusty bits or burned oil bits. Couple of coats of silver undercoat then spray the paint over the top.

looks excellent, and got to agrree there is very little in life gives you a grin like an engine you have rebuilt bursting into life :)

Nice one Stu. When do you think you wil be up and running ?

Nice one Stu. When do you think you wil be up and running ?

 

 

Some time before the next world cup.

Some time before the next world cup.

 

That soon :tongue: ;)

That soon :tongue: ;)

 

 

Well I can dream :rolleyes:

Seroiusly though, looks like a top job. I would love to do the same now I have a daily driver as well.

 

What sort of equipment do you need to lift and work on an Engine like a Z (I know it's going to be "How long is a piece of string" answer :) )

Obvious are crane, engine stand, jacks, jack stands.

A good tool kit with a large selection of sockets both big and small with hex sockets and alan key socket as there are quite a few of those. Have lots of extentions, large and small. There where a number of times where the long extention was too long and the short extention didnt reach.

A big braker bar is very handy too as a lot of the bolts have probably never moved since it was put on. A wire brush helps a lot too.

 

Torque wrench is a must as you have to put everything back on at the right setting.

 

Screw drivers, get a set with lots of shapes and sized. I used a very long thin one to put the collets back on.

 

you will find yourself needing the odd new tool every now and then but nothing really unusuall. Nothing that Halfords dont have.

 

One tool which I probably saved a lot of time, is the arial with the magnet on the end. Picked up many an unreachable dropped bolt. :D

One tool which I probably saved a lot of time, is the arial with the magnet on the end. Picked up many an unreachable dropped bolt. :D

 

 

Thanks Stuart. Yeah that one is pretty important, don;t know what I would do with out it :)

Stu,

 

What head gaskett did you go for in the end and what will your final compression ratio be with those pistons ??

 

Ryan

No idea that the compression will be.

 

I got stock gaskets as they are probably the best for what I am doing. I wanted copper gaskets but I couldnt find any, then I found a place which make them :mad:

 

HOw can you work out the compression?

No idea that the compression will be.

 

I got stock gaskets as they are probably the best for what I am doing. I wanted copper gaskets but I couldnt find any, then I found a place which make them :mad:

 

HOw can you work out the compression?

 

from my college days IIRC: swept volume + combustion chamber volume/combustion chamber volume.

 

dont suppose that helps you much tho :D

from my college days IIRC: swept volume + combustion chamber volume/combustion chamber volume.

 

dont suppose that helps you much tho :D

 

 

No it doesnt ;)

How do I work out volume sweep?

 

When you work out CC size, do you just use piston size or do you also take into account the slight overbore for the piston rings too?

yeah, its bore size x stroke

yeah, its bore size x stroke

 

 

Bore size x Stroke = Sweep Volume?

 

Then the area of the piston x stroke = cylinder cc?

well, almost - you've got to allow for the area in the recess in the piston crown which is combustion chamber volume!

will increasing the engine CC make the compression change? I thought the only real way is to have a larger head gasket so the air isnt compressed as much

well, unless they machine the pistons out to compensate, then the CR will actually increase!

 

say a 3000cc 6cyl engine has a combustion chamber of 50cc, each cyl has a SV of 500cc

 

so (500+50)/50 = 11 so the engine has a 11:1 CR

 

you increase the engine to 3100cc & the combustion chamber remains the same. each cyl now = 516.6cc

 

(516.6+50)/50 = 11.3 it now has a 11.3:1 CR

 

maths lessen endeth here!! :D