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Ok . . . this is a test post . . . . c'mon . . . . work for me . . . .

Right . . . . . let me post just ONE photo . . .




Son-of-a-gun!!! It worked!!!

OK, on with the show.

Broken head studs removed, I'm getting good at this now, hardly have a problem getting them out






Was having problems posting for some reason but seems to be ok now. Lost my typing, couldn't get a photo to upload. There's a couple of months of work to cover so here goes.

Cleaning 40 years of gunk out of the crankcase



New pistons fitted



Loctiting the bigend nuts, just to be sure . . .



Night Shift starts . . . Engine suspended at each end. I wouldn't trust an engine stand to hold the 288 properly!



Lovely camshaft, not a mark on it. Has been wrapped up in oily cloth for 40+years




Cam in and spins nicely in it's new #2 bearing



New timing chain, extremely tight and took an hour or two to fit. If it had been a millimetre shorter I wouldn't have gotten it onto the cogs

CAN'T POST PHOTOS (AGAIN), FRUSTRATING. BYE FOR NOW.

Larry,

THere is a limit to how many links (which you are using to post the pics) can be in one post. This was done to help prevent spammers from loading up the posts with items that could be malicious.

You may need to spread the links across a couple of posts, instead of trying to do them all in one post.

Thanks BigKev, I'll try that method. Damn the hackers I say!

OK, using BigKev's suggestion, looks like I'll have to limit my photos in each post. I was wondering why I couldn't post pics.

Carrying on from yesterday's blog . . . .Here is the new timing chain fitted. It was VERY tight and I spent an hour or two coaxing it onto the gears. If it was even 1mm shorter I doubt it would have fitted!




Couldn't buy a key that fitted the crank keyway properly in terms of shape, so a similar shaped key was filed down until it fitted. That took quite a while because it was a much thicker key.

Fortunately I have a few cylinder heads including two dated
"1951". The best in terms of straight/ no warping or marking was one of these '51 heads and it cleaned up to look like new.



Photos are a bit out of order now due to posting problems, but what the heck!

One of the rebuild tasks that had me scratching my head a lot was fitting the new rear main oil seal. It was in the gasket set from Kanter, and it just looked too darn big to fit properly. In the first pic you can see how much of the rope seal protrudes above the seating slot, despite a lot of pressing in as per the Manual. For a while I thought it was the wrong sized seal, but after a lot of pressure it finally seated relatively flat into the slot. I tightened / released the rear main cap about a dozen times to get it in, turning the crank slowly each time and lubricating the seal with pre-fit Moly Disulphide spray. More pressing with a round of wood and eventually it was in, but very tight. Had to really lean on an extension bar to turn the crank. Now I am pleased to say that it is just right for tightness and the crank turns more easily.

Seal protruding a lot despite much pressing to get it in



Another view of the troublesome seal



Once again, photo out of sequence. The crank has virtually no wear, is original diameter and unmarked so in it went. Checking the mains and big end bearings was done with Plastigages and finding that the engine was hardly worn was quite a relief.



Here's a shot of all valves held aloft with wood blocks, to allow the cam to be introduced to the engine. This was after the valves had been lapped in, and valve springs and lifters fitted.



My exhaust guides are just within wear limits and inlet guides well within wear limits. Even though I had bought a new set of guides (both) I made a conscious decision to not replace the exhaust guides yet, having read a few posts about jammed valves. My attitude is that it's better to have a bit of extra play in the guides than take any risk of jamming a valve. Maybe I'll use a bit extra oil but will have some extra peace of mind.

Progress with the engine rebuild is going well. Feeling like I'm getting ahead with this project now.

Here's the engine painted, head studs in, and I'm ready to install the manifolds. Tappets adjusted to a reasonable gap also, and timing has been done.

Man, those head studs take some effort to wind in, even when lubricated with stud sealant!



Painted the manifolds with the correct heat-proof POR paint. The wife was not too impressed with me baking these on the stove for a few hours! (I had to take her out for dinner as the house smelt very toxic from the paint).



Had to do some checking of photos etc to get the distributor fitted in correct position in relation to #1 cylinder. I wasn't sure it was oriented OK until after contacting someone with a 288 same as mine for a pic of the #1 plug lead.

So here I've marked #1 with a pen cap . . . .



Also, looking into the dizzie mounting hole I could check that the tang on the oil pump shaft was in its correct position to take the distributor. Pic shows tang sitting horizontal, like the manual DOESN'T really tell you . . . .

I found the Manual quite a bit deficient in some areas, like this one



Here are sump (oil pan), oil pump and reconditioned fuel pump all fitted. I had wondered what the plastic bushings on fuel pump were there for, and later realised they act to insulate from heat passing into the pump and causing vaporization problems.




Now I'm almost ready to move the engine from the workshop (- which is under my house) around to where the car is, in the garage. That will prove to be quite tricky as the lawn slopes every which-way, and front drive slopes quite a lot too. Lucky I have hospital insurance, just in case!

Here the engine is on the crane and ready to move out and around to the garage. Head, water pump (previously reconditioned), oil filter and other parts all fitted.

Great looking work there. Mine should look so good -- but doubt it ever will. Did you get your starter figured out? You may have the pin. The anti kickback Bendix was suggested to be retrofit to earlier cars if owners had complained about the issue it corrected.

Beautiful work, Larry. You're getting to the point in your project where you can be reasonably sure that the light you see at the end of the tunnel isn't an oncoming train.

Lee,

"Painted the manifolds with the correct heat-proof POR paint. The wife was not too impressed with me baking these on the stove for a few hours! (I had to take her out for dinner as the house smelt very toxic from the paint)."

Been there, done that! It's funny that women just don't understand the necessity of doing those sorts of thing.

If you require a hand moving the engine from around back to the garage and into the car please let me know and, if I'm available, I'll be there!

Thanks for your kind comments Howard. Your project is going great guns I think . . . much progress since April and lots of attention to detail. I like the 47's very much. If it turns out as well as your 56 did that will be very satisfying.

Regarding the starter - I've looked at the 55th/56th series starter diagram and it has a ring or circlip as you suggested, which looks like it secures the bendix. I still can't find any way to get the bendix off the shaft on mine. Maybe there's a circlip but blowed if I can figure out where it is, and how to access it. The 24th Series diagram doesn't show it like the 55th diagram does.

So I've done a workaround and will use the whole armature and bendix with the good pinion, and it tests ok. Windings look a bit worse (condition-wise) than my other armature but it's acceptable, so will use it. Other one will be a spare, and maybe I can get a new pinion for it sometime.

Quite a strenuous time was had, wheeling the engine over the sloping yard, to get it from workshop to the garage. The crane had a mind of its own. A crow-bar was applied on a constant basis to lever the misbehaving monster back onto the boards. It's likely that if it had left the boards and sunk into the soft ground we would have had a 'capsize' of the whole contraption.

My good neighbour assists with the move



Hooked up the crane to the car and towed it up the slope to allow for moving it all across and in line with its temporary resting place. Crow-bar was applied constantly in order to move things.



Engine eventually laid to rest where it is close-by to the car