Thanks for the info.

I worked Watkins Glen last year, so it isn't my turn this year - it is a popular race with us officials as well as racers.

On that score, I towed from Boulder CO to Sebring and raced there finally this year, which pretty much shot the long distance travel budget for the year. Some day.

Instead, I am scrutting at Buttonwillow.

I'm going to take another crack at measuring clearances, and if I have to go 2mm I will also trial fit the cam carrier to see if the three bolt cam seal will fit in the hole in the chain box. I have a thicker chain box gasket (piece of aluminum cut to gasket shape, with gaskets on both sides), and also a pair of undersized chain idler wheels, so I could deal with this. But I need to check some other dimensions to see if perhaps truing the heads, or the cylinders, has had anything to do with this.

Cutting the pistons does seem like the best in the abstract, though it gets thin where the valve pockets are and it is only that outermost area which is a clearance issue. Maybe I shouldn't worry about that. I need to talk with a machinist before I jump either way.

And I borrowed a burette so I can measure the TDC cylinder volume with things installed to see what any of this might do to my CR. Machining a little off the edge of the piston, I think, would do the least on that score.

I have a lot more experience as an engine assembler than I do as an actual builder, so I have to move cautiously when treading on what for me is new ground.

Do you need to replace head studs even if none are broken on a 82 Euro SC?If so what ones are the best to buy?
John

If the lowers are dilavar (non magnetic) then you need to replace them because if none are broken yet one will be soon. I replaced mine with the stock steel ones. They are very strong and aren't very expensive. You could also use the all-threaded 993 ones or something fancy like ARP.

Hit my first snag today while installing the heads and cam towers. After torqueing most of the 13mm nuts that hold the cam towers onto the heads, one of the last ones wouldn't tighten up. It just kept spinning and spinning. Eventually it wouldn't tighten or loosen. I ended up cutting it off with a dremel and now I have a stud that needs chasing or removing. Hopefully cleaning up the threads will work since everything is already sealed up and I'd rather not remove the tower.

So, was it a stud which has stripped the threads in the head? Or a nut which stripped the threads of the stud?

Since you cut the stud off, how do you propose to get a nut back on it? Isn't it now too short?

Sounds like perhaps you will find you need to remove the stud (what is left of it), Helicoil the head, and install a replacement stud.

Going to be hard to do with the cam carrier in place. Take it off. Not a big deal at all until you have installed all the rocker arms. You will be much happier doing it this way.

I cut the nut off, not the stud. The stud is still in place, at full length, but the threads are a little chewed up. I may or may not be able to clean them up with a die. I am going to try that first, and if need be, remove the carrier to remove the stud. The guy who did the head says the stud should come out without too much trouble if it comes to that.

I think the threads of the nut stripped for whatever reason. I had just done several of the other ones, so I know my torque wrench wasn't set too high. The stud threads were intact until I had to dremel the nut off.

I took the carrier off and recut the threads but there wasn't enough material left for the nut to fit tight. So I removed the stud from the head and ordered a new one from our host.

Negative progress...:mad:

I've been on vacation and just got back to the motor today. I replaced the stripped stud and put the right side back together today. Time to move forward now. Like my improvised 2nd work table?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1308187902.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1308187950.jpg

i'm green with envy!

I made my first attempt at timing the cams today. I couldn't even get the cam bolt and sprocket retaining pin out without the gauge moving let alone get it back in, rotate the pulley, then tighten everything back up. By the way, does anyone know the size and thread pitch of the sprocket retaining pin?

Here's what happens when your torque wrench isn't calibrated properly. Don't worry; this is the first time I've used this wrench during the build.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1308962421.jpg

Use a sparkplug to pull the pin.

May we assume that only the #1 intake rocker is installed at this point?

Yes that's correct. That's what the book says. Should #4 be installed too at this point?

No, only #1 until 1-2-3 cam is timed. Install #4 when 4-5-6 is to be timed.

I have always built up the whole set, heads, cam carrier, cam, rockers, adjust the rockers before installing on the engine.
I back the pistons down so I can turn the cams without touching the valves to pistons.
Bruce

Bruce has a unique touch with this stuff.

I like to have as few springs trying to rotate (or resist rotation of) my cams as possible when I am setting them. My assumnption is that this is behind the advice given in manuals. I've never gone so far as to remove the #1 when doing the #4, though.

And I have reset them in the field (actually, in my trailer in a Walmart parking lot) when I had to get in there to deal with a leak, and didn't have issues with cam rotation. On the other hand, the cam didn't budge despite pulling the gear to get at the seal, so I just thought I was very lucky because it dialed in within spec without any adjustment. So perhaps I overestimate the problems having five other rockers and springs involved.

But I am not strong enough any more to want to try to lift the whole shebang. I've always thought that best reserved for times when you wanted to get at a cylinder or piston (or just head studs), and had no need to separate the heads.

Initially I was wondering why the book doesn't say to reassemble the heads and cam carriers the way they were disassembled but now I understand. I'm sure some of the tricks Bruce can employ are too much for a first-timer.

I still can't see how I will be able to get 100 ft lbs on that bolt while holding the gauge steady. It's so sensitive. I'm waiting on a new bolt...

Hold on.

Are your cams attached with the large, flat 46mm nut with the big wavy washer? That takes 100-110 lbs/ft of final torque. But way way before you get to that level you have locked the sprocket to the cam, and it isn't going to change register.

So once you get the nut pretty tight (something you can do by holding the cam with the holder, and tightening the nut with the crow foot, to maybe 30-40 lbs/ft, things are set. Now you can slip a piece of pipe over the arm of the holder, and rest all that on the floor. Turn the crank if you need to to get good angles. You'll want the pipe slid all the way up the handle of the holder, so you don't bend the holder handle. Then crank away. Don't worry about what the dial indicator says.

What I do is get it half tight, and then spin the engine to see if TDC comes back to the dial indicator number I wanted (or close enough). Then I do the final, full tighten. Then spin the motor again, just to be sure.

At either stage, if it is off by more than the allowable tolerance (or whatever tolerance you have decided on that is a tighter spec), go back and do it again.

Now you may have the newer cam with a bolt holding a sculpted cap on. But the deal is the same - tighten to where you can't hold the dial steady, then give up on the dial and go to 30-40 lbs/ft. Spin. Then go back, or go to final tighten, which is 88.5 lbs/ft - not as much as with the old style big nut.

Got it? Key is you don't need to hold things right on the dial. Just snug and a bit, then forget the dial for the moment and crank that fastener down.

Walt- I have the later style with the bolt and thick washer. Your method sounds much more doable. I thought the gauge had to sit completely still the whole time. I was already trying to think of a way to put the handle of the sprocket holder against something to ensure I was getting the correct torque value. Maybe I can use the handle of my jack for that.

Thanks and I'll let you know how it goes.

I actually have 2 sets of Z-blocks and digital dial indicators so I can set up both sides at the same time. That way I can see the change(s) every 360 degrees, not every 720. Also keeps me from doing something stupid like timing both cams on the same stroke.

I also just install the #1 and #4 intake rockers till I'm done with the timing. That way I don't have to worry about having the cam positioned exactly and no worries about valves contacting pistons.