[Healeys] FW: Oil again

Thu Jun 25 22:33:17 MDT 2015

Thanks for the advise Larry,
Yeah, I was wondering about the piston clearance since I don't really know what the stock deck height is supposed to be or how much it has been cut before. I'm planning on using Denis Welch's 100M pistons and their MLS head gasket. I suppose I could use a shim to clear the pistons if they are too close, but that would defeat the purpose of the MLS gasket. Instead of that I've been thinking of having the top of the piston (ring around the pocket) cut back enough to clear the head if necessary. The metal seems to be plenty thick there.
I'm planning to do several fit ups with an old gasket (assuming the new gasket will crush to the near the same dimension) and check for interference and clearances with some modeling clay. I've heard there is an optimal piston to head dimension to reduce the squish area while still allowing clearance for rod thermal expansion. If you have any information on that or on any other tricks or rules of thumb I could use the info.
I'm sending my camshaft back to Iskendarian to have it freshened up. I really liked their grind so don't feel the need to change.
Checking over the engine while I was disassembling it, a lot of the grime I thought was coming from gasketed joints was actually from the copious amounts of oil running out of the head joint. Most of my joints seemed to be successfully sealed although I may have had a problem with the rear lip seal. I think I overextended the garter spring while I was assembling it. Not a lot of room for my big clumsy fingers to manipulate the spring. I think I'll assemble it on the crank before I lay it in the block this time. I'm always amazed when I think about the rear cam journal being sealed by a gasket on the end plate. It's a miracle it doesn't leak, but I guess most don't. Extra support there would be a good thing.
Right now I'm working on sourcing parts and I'm running into a blank wall when I look for good quality engine bearings. Moss has some trimetal rod bearings by King, but I don't know anything about them and I would want the same for the mains too. I'd like to find some Vandervells or similar quality bearings, but all their parts lists I've seen don't include the A90 engine.
Again, thanks for your input. I'm going to need all the help I can get.
Oh, and while the engine is down I'm going to be working on the body and interior too. A Healey has an image to uphold and so far mine is falling short.
Bill LawrenceBN1 #554

From: varley at cosmos.net.au
To: ynotink at msn.com; eyera3 at gmail.com
CC: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: RE: [Healeys] FW: Oil again
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 14:25:36 +1000

Hi Bill. .012 is a long way out! Make sure you don’t end up with pistons coming up above deck height. If you already have a rear main seal conversion, check firstly that the rear engine plate is flat, they are quite thin on the 100. Also you will see when you get the rear plate gasket, the gasket may have 2 extra holes across the bottom that appear to not be needed. Some blocks had 2 extra holes across the bottom to hold the rear engine plate. The addition of these extra holes and bolts can help seal the engine plate and stop leaks that can appear to be rear main leaks but aren’t. Also when fitting the new head gasket it’s worth using a little ( very little ) sealer on the gasket down the spark plug side as the water galleries are very close to the edge of the head, so often you will get a very slight water weep from the gasket.CheersLarry Varley From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of WILLIAM B LAWRENCE
Sent: Wednesday, 24 June 2015 1:03 PM
To: I Erbs
Cc: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] FW: Oil again Aw that's nothing. My car has always leaked oil profusely even though I thought I had covered all the bases the last time I rebuilt it. Lip seals on both ends of the crankshaft, careful fitting and Hylomar on all of the exterior gaskets and the rear main bearing block. It still wouldn't hold oil (or a head gasket). Now it is down again (broken pistons on #1 and #2) so I'm doing a total rebuild. The first item of business is machine work on the block and the machinist said (roughly) that the top of the block resembled a ski jump, one corner was 0.012" higher than the other. I guess because of that I couldn't get the gasket to seal around the oil passage and all the oil was running out of the head gasket and down both sides of the engine, not to mention contaminating the coolant system. Looks like some select vendors will be separating me from more of my money... Bill LawrenceBN1 #554Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 11:33:11 -0700
Subject: Re: [Healeys] FW: Oil again
From: eyera3 at gmail.com
To: ynotink at msn.com
CC: glemon at neb.rr.com; healeys at autox.team.netYa know oil doesn't stay in my car very long anyway to worry about. Seriously,  I found the problem m The back of the valve cover was flat, plus the gasket had slid forward Mr. Ira ErbsOn Jun 20, 2015 8:21 AM, "WILLIAM B LAWRENCE" <ynotink at msn.com> wrote:Greg, I don't think the brand matters much. They all have to meet the API specification. I think all the rest is marketing. From: glemon at neb.rr.com
To: ynotink at msn.com; healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] FW: Oil again
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2015 01:02:40 -0500Thank you Bill, although it doesn't tell me which brand to pick, your clear explanation of the oil codes and changes in formulation give a very good background for someone trying to muddle through the oil choice issues classic car drivers face these days, and understand why oil choice/availability had become a significant issue. Greg Lemon From: WILLIAM B LAWRENCE Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2015 6:58 PMTo: healeys at autox.team.net Subject: [Healeys] FW: Oil again  From: ynotink at msn.com
To: michael.oritt at gmail.com
Subject: RE: [Healeys] Oil again
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 03:08:45 +0000I see I'm late to the party on this topic. I was up in the Rocky Mountains participating in the Glenwood Springs Rallye when it started and frankly I wish I still were. However, at the risk of being called ignorant, uninformed, commie pinko or whatever I have a little information that may be of help in sorting out the oil confusion.   Engine oil comes in generations as defined by the additive packages which are blended in to tailor them for specific purposes. These generations can be traced by the API codes which are located on the container.  The API code is two letters found on the label. The first letter is either a C, which denotes the oil is intended for use in a compression ignition engine, or an S which denotes it is intended for use in a spark ignition engine. The second letter denotes the type of use intended and follows the development of the internal combustion engine from the most primitive (A) to the most sophisticated (I think they are at O Now). protective amounts of zinc were dropped from the additive package at SM. Any oil before that, or say from SD through SL, still contains zinc. It may be true that zinc is not necessary for engines after the camshaft break-in, but I prefer to be cautious on that score so I look for oil that is SL or earlier. I'll let the more informed and adventurous members conduct that experiment... Some heavy duty oils such as Chevron Delo or Rotella are rated for both compression ignition and for spark ignition service and will show both a C and an S rating. In some cases those oils will still have an SM or later rating. The one oil type I have found that is reliably rated below SM is four stroke motorcycle oil because motorcycles don't have catalysts. Typically it is rated SF or SG. Since the oil has no way of knowing it is being run in an automotive engine and my Healey doesn't know the oil it's spewing is meant for a motorcycle I have been running Castrol 4T in 20W-50 grade quite happily. As for the controversy part, if we start banning contentious topics we soon won't have anything to talk about like most modern college campuses. Bill LawrenceBN1 #554From: michael.oritt at gmail.com
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2015 06:14:11 -0400
To: javrugtman at htcnet.org
CC: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Oil againWe ALWAYS talk about oil and no one seems to have the answer, so we simply keep talking about it.  For a change let's talk about politics or religion, two topics which are susceptible to absolute rectitude. Many or most of us do not have the correct answers on either and someone here--perhaps an unknown lurker--may choose to now come forward with his or her enlightenment and reveal it to us.   To mix a metaphor, I now listen with a jaundiced eye. Best--Michael Oritt  On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 7:45 PM, John Vrugtman <javrugtman at htcnet.org> wrote:politics and religion, like water and oil, don't mix.  On the other hand, oil and Healeys mix very well.
JAVOn 6/12/2015 7:16 PM, Richard Kahn wrote:I think topics like politics, religion, and oil should be taboo. There is no best in any of these topics.
Rich Kahn

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