[Healeys] FW: Oil again

[WILLIAM B LAWRENCE]

Larry, I don't think they mess with the journals so there should be no problem there. I've seen a website for Vandervell, but they are probably owned by someone else now. If they maintained their old quality and if they still make the right bearings they would be the go to source. As it is it's a crapshoot. I am going to contact them and see what they claim.
My block has been over-bored and after 13 years of service wouldn't quite clean up at 88 mm. I'll be ordering the 88.5 mm pistons. I like the DW route because it allows them to use lighter pistons and more modern metric rings they say will cut down on blow-by. CR shouldn't change unless I do cut the pistons and then it won't increase much. I'm waiting to hear what needs to be done to the head. If it needs to be decked too a lot of things might change.I haven't micced the old head gasket, but i'll need to compare it to the new one at some point. Even though I don't think I'll be driving it at high revs very much I'm still going to change out to the narrow drive belt just because I can incorporate a vibration damper.


Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:12:24 +1000
From: varley at cosmos.net.au
To: ynotink at msn.com
CC: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] FW: Oil again


  
    
  
  
    Hi Bill, don't let them grind the cam journals, it seems undersize
    cam bearings are not obtainable. King bearings had a problem many
    years ago but I believe there are no problems with them now.
    Vandervell  did make bearings for the 100 years ago but they would
    be hard to find these days. The 100 block is very soft iron, my car
    had a massive ring groove even though the engine had only done 8000
    miles from new. I had it bored to 3 5/8 and sleeved it back to 3 1/2
    using good quality iron liners from LA Sleeve. I used semi dished
    plus 0.060 pistons from JP pistons here in Australia. They give a
    final compression ratio of about 9.5 to 1. I would see no problem
    with machining the top of the pistons back flush as it would only be
    a very small amount. My head gasket is 0.040 thick composite
    material with steel rings around the bores. As long as the pistons
    are no more than flush with the top of the bore you should have no
    problem.

    Hope it all works out

    Regards

    Larry Varley

    

    

    On 26/06/2015 2:33 PM, WILLIAM B
      LAWRENCE wrote:

    
    
      
      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 Lawrence
        BN1 #554
        

        
        

      
    
    
 		 	   		  
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