2.5 petrol rebuild and conversion to EFI thread?

[Gazzar]

Cylinder head time.

I finished the clean up of the cylinder head, and fitted new oil seals to the valves guides. The old ones were brittle.

Two different types were supplied in the seals kit, it was fairly easy to figure out which went where, as the guides are different sizes.

If it's loose, it's on the wrong one.

[Gazzar]

The collets are a challenge, I had to mix and match to get them to look half way even.

They were protruding quite a bit on some valves. 

I'll check them when I do the 500 mile service.

[Gazzar]

The spark plug threads were fine. I robbed as sparkplug from the V8.

 

[Gazzar]

I decapitated two old head bolts to act as guides.

Set the timing.

And dropped the head on.

[Gazzar]

The rocker gear was next. 

It didn't take long to figure out the correct way to set the rocker shaft. The locating bolt makes it easy.

The rockers, on the other hand, didn't quite look right.

The manual helps, and following the old rocker layout also helped.

 

[Gazzar]

But it still doesn't look absolutely right.

1

2

3

4

 

[Gazzar]

I think 3 bothers me the most.

I'll look again tomorrow, I might be missing something obvious.

Do these engines have valve caps, like the TDI? 

[Retroanaconda]

I think you can add/remove washers to the shaft to position the rocker arms correctly?

[Gazzar]

9 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

I think you can add/remove washers to the shaft to position the rocker arms correctly?

I think I'll have to do that. Seems like a bodge, though.

[Bowie69]

Normal practice.

[Gazzar]

I shall hunt down some washers. I might cannibalise the old engine from the 109.

[Snagger]

The shim in 3 is much thinner than the others, and that is your problem.

[Gazzar]

Perfect! I'll swap with 1 and add caps.

Job done.

[Gazzar]

That worked. Thank you Snagger.

One

Two

Three

Four

[Gazzar]

I think the TDI valve stem ends are a lot larger, so I've left it for now.

The timing chain was fun.

 

The ACR cam needs to be exactly on the rock on piston#1 at TDC.

Two dial test indicators are required to find this, and some way of measuring the lift.

This is how I did it.

I tightened the rockers so there was no play, and put a penny washer as a land for the tip of the indicators.

Then it's just a case of finding where the two valves are about to swap over and getting the chain to fit.

I did need the 6 way chain wheel, as it was the third key way that got me there.

Fitting the chain is a faff, so I laid the back against the sprockets instead, until I found the best fit.

[Gazzar]

Then it was just fitting the tensioners.

[Gazzar]

I'm going to paint this engine, and, as it's going in an ex army lightweight, I'll do it in blue.

Including the rocker cover and all, just to look right, not because it's badly stained, certainly not!

What's the best way of tackling the bare steel parts around the manifolds? Paint up to the gasket? The port?

And around the front of the engine?

I'm thinking a very light dust of etch, followed by a zinc rich and finally the duck egg blue.

[Gazzar]

Not much done today. 

The slew gear is too worn to use, and I've lost the retainer, so I'll fine an order in to turners early tomorrow.

I'm going to get a new water pump as well, and recondition this one for when the new one leaks.

I've also started tarting up the rocker cover and the other external bits, and turning my mind to painting this block.

I'm going to use the cover from my series 3, rather than the 2.5, as I've got the breather bits for it.

When I paint the block, I'm probably not going to go REME on it, and do a subtle paint job. Including painting the head black where the steel is exposed.

[Gazzar]

The crank pulley needs a speedy sleeve.

 

[Bowie69]

Going to look very smart!

[Gazzar]

As long as it runs well, and doesn't rust, I will be happy.

[Snagger]

Those rockers are a lot better, but I think you still do more. 
 

I would strip the shaft and reassemble and fit it with all the washers removed and then try the washers wedged into one side of the rocker  shaft, for working out what selection is needed to align the pads and stemns.  It won’t be entirely accurate having just one part of each shim wedged between the pedestal and rocker, sticking out like a ring pull, but it’d be an easy way to improve what you have for allocating shims for each position, then rebuilding the shaft properly.

[Gazzar]

There's only 2 sizes of washer, and all stem tops are now covered by pad, so there is 100% contact.  When I tightened up the head bolts I was able to move the rocker shaft pedestals slightly, so the rockers moved enough to align.  I've also asked Frida to see if there are stem caps, which, if available, will introduce a sacrificial part.

It's a sloppy design, that could have been engineered much more precisely, but it's stood the test of time so who am I to criticize!

 

I think it will do, it's better than what came out, judging by the witness marks on the old rockers.

[Landrover17H]

Love this thread. A duck-egg blue 2.5 makes me smile. My rocker and all the 17H I've ever seen lack an orange plastic filler. Not sure why... I think earlier lumps had them. Could be wrong.

Now would be the time to get a trigger-wheel on that pulley, can't remember if you've already covered this.  Needs welding etc, here's as far as I got with mine.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Landrover17H

[Gazzar]

The current aspiration is to fit the trigger wheel to the flywheel. For some reason I've a strong aversion to putting the trigger at the front, though you're y looks neat.