Engine rebuild in process

I visited my technician today to catch up on the state of the engine rebuild in progress.

The shop he works at specializes in Volvos and old friends. One day there were three of us that were current or former owners of the same car in for the 10:00 am coffee circle. Also sitting in that day was the body shop owner who had last done the bodywork, changing the car from bracken to red about twenty years earlier.

Today, I met the fellow who owned the car for about seventeen years and had had the engine rebuilt the last time. He told me the mechanic's name, a fellow I last met when he worked on my 1959 Austin Cambridge back in 1970.

The previous owner offered me the receipts from the previous rebuild.

To the current rebuild:

Condition: The engine was running smoothly enough, but was consuming about 1 qt of oil in 250 miles. The compression read about 145# all around, even with a mismatched 43ccc head and an 18V block. The valves were receding into the head. The block had already been bored out .030.

Cause: broken rings. The group seemed to think that the rings were too small for the lands and had been flopping around for a while. The previous owner allowed that he had put very few miles on the car during his tenure.

Remedy: overkill on the rebuild. After talking with Hap and consulting this site, I have ordered up the following items:
VP12 camshaft.
CF04 followers.
Pushrods from APT.
Heavier double valve springs to match cam.
Teflon valve stem seals for intake valves.
County pistons to fit .040 rebore.
Rollmaster vernier timing gear kit.
Stellite (Moss) exhaust valves.
Regular (Moss) intake valves.
King HD rod bearings (.020)
King HD main bearings (.020)
ARP fasteners all around.
Rebuilt rocker assembly (old shelf stock from Ebay).
Payen gasket kits top and bottom.
New oil cooler.

Last winter the lump was out and we had done some peripheral upgrades. The rods and mains had looked good, so we chose not to open up the head:
new oil pump.
new water pump.
new timing chain tensioner.
new engine mounts.


I'm looking forward to the engine going back in. The machine shop has the pieces now. The tech will reassemble the engine in his own shop.

Any thoughts on the advantage of balancing the pistons and rods, and the crankshaft? We're now investigating the costs.

Ron;

I would consider balancing pistons, rods, crankshaft and flywheel. It would
improve long-term engine reliability. And, since you have invested
in quality engine components, I would go for the extra assurance.

(I'm not an expert and haven't rebuilt an engine but I would consider
"balancing" when I rebuild mine.)

Ron,

Balance the rotating assembly. Don't do a high end rebuild and leave out this important step. With some of the componets your using you'll be tempted to rev the motor a little higher... a balanced assembly will make that a lot less stressful on the internals components.

Steve