[Spridgets] My bug eye problems

[John D. Caffrey]

 Matt Hagopian wrote:------------------------------------------------------------------------We dont actually have to weld, we took the piece out of the piston and it didnt break through, smoothing it out. I didnt check the chain myself, I will ask my grandfather about that. As for grinding them down... There is an unneccessary "extrude groove" sorry couldnt think of the word to describe it, and it is scoring the pistons as you can see. Our remedy is to grind that extrusion off of the valves to keep it from hitting. All my grandfather does is build race engines for Jaguars. This is our first experience with a 1275cc and frankly neither one of us knows much about it. I would love some good info about the car itself (yes Im picking up a book on it) if someone cares to share any "secrets". Basically its a cheap racecar for me and whoever else wants to use it as my grandfather runs 2 series one Jaguar XKE's.

Matt,
It sounds like you might be describing a Rimflow valve, designed to discourage reverse flow with high duration cams.  There s a lot of extra material on the head of those valves, and it would still be OK as long as it didn't bend. The Rimflow's have a narrow undercut stem, and have been described as a "Penny on a stick". You will see right away if it is bent when you attempt to reface it. A good book to check out for A-series modifications is "Tuning BL's A-Series Engine" by David Vizard, ISBN 0 85429 4147. Let us know how you make out, and good luck. The season is getting short.
John
Fogelsville, PA