Tag Archives: V8

I phoned the machine shop today – the heads have now been skimmed and cleaned, and are ready to pick up. Nice and clean and shiny now! As for the rest of the engine, I’ve just got to clean up the outside of the block, then the sump, and it’s all done – I can put all the bits to one side and forget about them until it’s ready to be reassembled and installed. Thankfully – I’m starting to get fed up with constantly smelling of paraffin! I also checked all the crank journal and piston sizes, no problems there – they’re all well within tolerances. So that leaves me to get a new camshaft, followers, rockers and shafts, timing chain and gears, rings, bearings, gaskets and seals. It’s not going to be cheap, but as I’ve said before, there’s no point cutting corners here. Next up after this: the … Read More

I’ve now got the top of the engine stripped down – what a mess! Although everything I’ve looked at so far seems to be in very good condition (with a couple of notable exceptions), the whole thing is caked in sludgy oil deposits. Yuk. A couple of examples: As you can see, I’ve got a lot of work to do – and messy work at that. I’m not too sure what’s going on with that chamber on the right – it looks like water has got into it at some point. I don’t know where from though – from the looks of it, it leaked in while the engine was sitting around, certainly the HG wasn’t blown or anything. The heads and block will be getting shipped off for dipping and a light skim, but all the rest of it is going to be cleaned by hand. I’ve done a … Read More