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| Joined: | 04-07-2022 |
| Location: | Oregon USA |
| Posts: | 109 |
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I have started to assemble the engine, and of course niggling little problems are percolating to the surface. I have installed the oil pressure sender cover, and installed the oil pump and pump housing.
I installed the rings on the pistons, and almost missed the fact that there is a "front" side to the pistons, although there are no identifying marks. I noticed that the valve reliefs are very slightly different sizes, and at first I was not sure they were in fact different. A quick check showed that they are different sizes, so the larger cutout needs to go on the intake side of the head. Whew, bullet dodged.
The rods are clearly labeled "Front" so no ambiguity there. The rods and pistons are ready to go in, but I am awaiting new bearings so that's as far as I got. The crank has been polished and was in spec, so apparently the oil was changed frequently enough in the past.
I moved on to assembling the head. The machinist found four bent valves as I have already mentioned, so I also had to order 4 valves from Delta. I thought I could install the remaining 12 valves in the meantime. WRONG! The machinist had deepened the valve spring pockets by 0.115" and shortened the valve guides by 0.065" in order to keep the springs from stacking solid with the high performance cam I am going to install. There is now a very small lip around the base of the valve guide that prevents the stock valve spring shim from seating. <mumble> =:-o
I checked Summit racing, no luck finding some appropriately sized spring shims as they specialize in Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler stuff. Nothing was close to the peculiar sizes used by Lotus - probably all metric pieces anyway.
On a whim, I dropped by McMaster-Carr and looked at their machine shim inventory. Turns out they had the perfect item #97063A410 which fits neatly in the valve pocket with a slightly larger hole than the original shims - problem solved. A whopping $7 for 25 of the little rascals - so now I get to wait some more. <whimper>
So I am in a holding pattern (what's new?) until the UPS man drops off some goodies. Stay turned for the next chapter in the never ending saga of Rusty.
Vance