Sylva Star rebuild

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RedStar
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:13 am
Name: Karl Davies
Location: South Wales

Re: Sylva Star rebuild

Postby RedStar » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:00 pm

OK its been almost a year since the last post (where does the time go?) all I know is not enough went into my Star.

Sent the engine to South Wales Pistons with the instructions to hone the bores to 84.1mm maximum and see what they look like. turns out the wear spots and taper were removed by the time it got to 84.1..... 8-)

The reason I gave that number to hone it out to was that a company by the name of Camcoat http://camcoat.com/ have a process which can add a coating to the piston skirts giving up to a 0.1mm increase in diameter.

Pistons were sent off and came back with a lovely charcoal grey coating to the skirts. That just left the issue of piston rings.

The rings that came with the engine were quite worn and the gaps were all over top spec. Looking at Guy Croft's engine manual he states that a 0.2mm oversize ring set can be used as long as the gaps are filed to recommended levels. Only place I could find a set of 84.2 rings for this engine was in America from http://www.midwest-bayless.com/.....my research prior that Goetze/Federal Mogul make them was correct but they had none in stock and couldn't find any in the UK. So that meant paying the extra for shipping and taxes from USA. :evil:

Having got my block home I gave it a good washing out with soapy water until no grit could be seen on a clean paper towel (this took several cleaning operations and a bit of pressure washer use).

The placing the rings in the bore they would live in, measured the gap with feeler gauges and filed them out to specs. This was done for all three rings on all four cylinders.....very time consuming!

Example "old" ring gap
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and what it now uses (nice tight end gaps)
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The rings were then put back on the pistons and everything of the bottom end of the block was bolted back together using new bearings, seals and gaskets everywhere.

Only part of note was the bottom pickup of the oil pump....

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Looks like the mesh screen did its job as nothing was found inside the pump and no wear could be seen. So having been cleaned it too was bolted back in.

All internal parts coated with Torco engine assembly lube, the stuff sticks lovely so should protect everything until full rebuild and startup.

The outside of the block and sump then got a bit of tarting up with paint (engine in primer here which was painted over Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 rust converter).

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Then a new clutch bolted to the flywheel. It was a bargain I picked up at a car show for £5.....yes 5 whole pounds sterling 8-)

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Latest thing to happen (yesterday) was the gearbox bolted back to the engine block.

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I'm wondering what to do with the gearbox as far as outer finish, against the silver engine block the raw aluminium looks a bit drab. Will have a think about it.....
Sylva Star 2L Fiat Twincam with Twin Weber 40 DCOE
Currently being restored after 10 years standing

User avatar
RedStar
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:13 am
Name: Karl Davies
Location: South Wales

Re: Sylva Star rebuild

Postby RedStar » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:09 pm

Front portion of the chassis in primer stage after being fully de-rusted.

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Having given it a coat or two of the Hydrate 80, primer and stone chip paint, I remembered that while trial fitting the engine a while back I noticed that the sump plug couldn't be removed without fouling the chassis frame :roll:

So I got a friendly welder mate to weld in a little notch to allow the sump plug to be removed with the engine in place and change the oil like a normal person while keeping as much strength as possible. :lol:

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And re-primed and painted that area.

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So next step is to get engine and engine bottom end bolted back in.
Sylva Star 2L Fiat Twincam with Twin Weber 40 DCOE
Currently being restored after 10 years standing

User avatar
RedStar
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:13 am
Name: Karl Davies
Location: South Wales

Re: Sylva Star rebuild

Postby RedStar » Tue May 22, 2018 8:54 pm

As we have another Star restoration joining the forum I thought it was long over due to post an update......! :lol:

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best get to it 'cos the cat is waiting.

sorry but I've lost quite a few build pictures (phone issues etc) but if anyone asks questions I'm sure I can remember enough to help if they are stuck on something I have worked on.

first thing was I got the front frame painted with primer and then some black engine enamel paint. its nice and tough and resistant to petrol etc

then bolted the engine and gearbox combo back into the frame

turned my attention to the cylinder head - this was fully stripped and cleaned. checked head for flatness and it was low between cylinder 3 and 4.....so I sent it off to be skimmed flat.

once I got that back I painted the head in the same silver colour as the engine block (etch primer first as its aluminium). lapped the valves in after checking wear in valve stem was alright as per Guy Croft instructions:

Image

head was then re-assembled with new oil control seals and parts bathed in Torco engine assembly lube.

bolted head to engine block with new head bolts (old ones where a bit rusted and dont know how many times they have been tightened).
Sylva Star 2L Fiat Twincam with Twin Weber 40 DCOE
Currently being restored after 10 years standing

User avatar
RedStar
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:13 am
Name: Karl Davies
Location: South Wales

Re: Sylva Star rebuild

Postby RedStar » Tue May 22, 2018 9:04 pm

once the head was on I thought I would be clever and not use the gaskets that came with my set and use some Guy Croft suggested gaskets with a silicone bead incorporated as they are prone to oil leaks using the old style gaskets (that have no beading).

I found some cheaper online than what Guy is selling them for (like half the price) so I went for that.....hey I'm all for saving money!

However when I went to fit them I found that one small area did not line up. just that one bit all the rest was spot on.

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on the right hand side of the image you can see the gasket doesn't quite follow the head. :evil:

turns out this was a gasket for a later year Fiat Twincam!

so I bit the bullet and ordered the correct parts from Guy Croft
Image

so trying to save me money ended up costing me more. :roll: :lol:
Sylva Star 2L Fiat Twincam with Twin Weber 40 DCOE
Currently being restored after 10 years standing


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