[Superman]

I know some of you are losing sleep not kowing how my project is going, so here's the latest. John Walker is goingo to finish the heads pretty soon, and they will have all new valves, guides and seals. It was very interesting watching him replace the guides and I'll thank him publicly here for showing me that procedure. I am convinced the fresh valves and re-ground seats will seal much better than before, even though there was no severe leaking problems there.

A few of the cylinders were leaking between the head and the cylinder. After cleaning and upoin close inspection, it seems that a couple of the heads were banging against the cylinder tops. The heads and cylinders will be 'fly-cut' so that a nice seal can be achieved between these surfaces.

After looking at the cylinders, John thought that my engine is likely to accept new rings without smoking, though there are no guarantees. I am now planning to use new rings.

Yes, rods can be removed without splitting the case. We'll see if they can be installed this way too! The rod bearing journals look gorgeous, as though they had been micropolished yesterday.

The cylinders generally showed about .01mm of wear near the top and at least half of them showed around .02mm of wear near the bottom, at the widest point (where the cylinder wears into an oval shape). A couple of them showed as much as .04mm of wear at the widest point. Wear limit is .08mm, so these cylinders are still in spec.

The very, very interesting overall observation here is that almost nothing in this engine (aside from valve issues) is out of spec. The ring end gaps are close, but side gap is WELL within spec. Congratulations to those boys in Stuttgart....they must have been paying attention in those engineering classes!

Now, if I could just get over this extreme anxiety I'm having about polishing versus painting versus powdercoating, and which color or colors do I choose for these aluminum and magnesium engine parts.