Ok, first of all I just want to give a big thanks to everyone who chimed in on
my inpromtu top side engine rebuild project. Everyone really made this
project much easier.
Anyone want to know what the culprit was? Drum roll please......
INTAKE VALVE.
I went out today and got a compression gauge and read 150, 0, 140, 150 from
front to rear. The Haynes manual says it should be 130-144, so I guess I was
doing pretty good except for #2 obviously. I put in a little oil into #2 and
retesting with the exact same results. So, not rings. I spent the rest of
the day trying to get to that valve and finally got to it. It looked pretty
charcoaled. It was visably open a touch so that pretty much summed it up.
Questions:
Would I be wise to simply replace all the valves with new ones? Thats where
I'm leaning even though it looks like its gonna run about $90. From the looks
of the head gasket, I think the engine got pretty hot.
What about the valve springs? Is part of the reason for this valve not
closing all the way due to the spring? For only $25 for the set its almost a
no brainer to just replace them all anyway.
So, now I have the valves and the springs covered. Not to mention the
gaskets. But is there anything else I should be thinking about replacing
while I have it all torn apart?
Should I have the head resurfaced?
What about valve stem seals? I could not find any on this thing and the
catalogs don't seem to list them, or is it part of the valve guide? Whats
the deal, how are the valves sealed?
TIA,
David Gates
1973 Spitfire 1500
Hawaii
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