I'd suggest doing it before putting rocker covers and upper inlet manifold on. There's nothing like the warm glow of confidence you get when you see oil coming through both banks of rockers when spinning it up to get oil pressure.
I'd pull the supply plugs to the coil packs too, just to make sure there are no spurious sparks flying around

Martyuk wrote:

Given the inlet manifold situation on the Thor, covering the rocker covers, is it worth me doing that, before even putting the rocker covers, upper inlet manifold on? or just fit the rocker covers, inlet manifold, and spin it over to get oil up there and keep an eye on the oil pressure light?

That's the way I'll do it, have a helper turning the key so I can check if the pushrods etc. are seated correctly while dancing up and down. Or check again the torque on the pedestals after a few turns.

C'mon lads, where's the P38 porn? I'm currently helping out and working 12 hour days (with an hour each way travelling too) so need something to break the boredom.

I've seen it and even given it a bit of a feeling up!

It is very pretty.

Sloth wrote:

I've seen it and even given it a bit of a feeling up!

It is very pretty.

TMI, Sloth!!!

Well, I haven't got at much done as I had hoped as the last few days I've been elbows deep in other people's RR's swapping heater boxes, O-rings or heater cores... also been sealing plenums and swapping cooling system hoses - so haven't really had a lot of time to get anything else done of my own!

That being said, most mornings I've been trying to do a coat of paint on parts, so that way they can then sit inside in the warmth all day and dry. So far the throttle body has had 3 coats of paint, and is now all back together again. Picture of that to follow... Pricing up the rocker gear (springs, pedestals, washers etc) was silly expensive - so for £20 from eBay I bought 2 sets of rocker gear, which have now been stripped and the old shafts, pins, and rockers have been discarded. The pedestals, springs, and washers have all been cleaned, and have one more dunking in parts cleaner to go before they will be in a position to rebuild on the new rocker shafts, and with the new steel rockers. With any luck that will be this evening's task in front of the TV!

Lower inlet manifold hasn't had anything more done to it yet. I need to order LPG nozzles, and then drill/tap manifold (have you got a picture of your one Richard so I can take a look?). I also need to decide if I cut that nozzle off and then drill/tap a hole and fit a brass one... I'm leaning towards doing it as the steel one isn't going to get less rusty! After that's all done then it will get masked and painted too.

Nick was up yesterday for us to do his heater box/core/replumbing the whole cooling system.. but he kindly gave me a hand to unwrap the new engine, mount it on the engine stand adapter and lift it into place...

I know, pics or it didn't happen, so here's some eye candy...

The front cover got masked up the other night in front of the TV, ready for painting:

And then sprayed on the front yesterday morning, and the back side this morning. Other parts of inlet have had 2 coats on the bottom, and a third on the top this morning:

This afternoon's task list is to do a final wash on the rocker parts, and let them dry, Also to finish cleaning the first rocker cover and get stuck into cleaning the second one aswell.

I might look at installing the cam in the engine - but I also have to finish reassembling and bench testing a BECM that I've cloned this morning from a drowned one that was sent to me... so will see how I get on!

Oh, and yes the pistons on the new engine are all pocketed... It was something listed on the V8 dev website, but I wasn't expecting it to come with them, as I figured it was a copy/paste from the 4.6 performance engine, rather than the standard one that I ordered. Would allow me to run a more aggressive cam, but think the Torquemax will be fine for what I use the RR for...

Mmmm, looking pretty but isn't it all going to look a bit, ermm, black? You really need some shiny bits for contrast.

I'll try and get you a picture of my lower inlet but it might be difficult before Wednesday. I'm leaving home (in the works motor) at 7am, when it's still dark and not getting home until 9pm, when it's dark again. Might be OK with flash though, I'll give it a try.

A beauty it is Marty! You did a perfect paintjob aswell. Maybe it is an idea when placing the cam you can temporary mount the sprocket for exact control of movement when sliding in. Looks great!

Thinking I'll try to mount the cam tomorrow... I have the piper cam lube, and engine assembly lube, so think I'm good to go with that. New thrust plate and bolts ready for it too..

The rocker covers are soaking in a bath of degreaser overnight, and they will get a scrub in the morning, and wire brush over on the stubborn bits, before they can also be masked for painting.

Sump will then get a final scrub down, and masked for painting too.

Upper inlet manifold is being called done with painting now, so tomorrow's task will be mating it back with the throttle body and bolting it all up. Though, I am toying with the idea of getting some stainless steel flange head bolts to put it back together with - it's either that, or painting the heads of the original ones black to match as they're a bit rusty at the moment.

The real thing that's pissed me off tonight, is I was all ready to sit down and build the rocker shafts... to find the pedestals don't fit on the sodding rocker shafts do they...

Rockers fit on the old and new shafts, pedestals fit on the old shafts (which are scored, so don't want to reuse them) but pedestals won't fit on the new shafts. They are blue bag specials, and about 4 years old... but even so... it's a sodding steel rod with some holes in it... get it right... so another £36 lighter, I've ordered a pair of Bearmach ones from LR Direct... I think I will hit the roof if they don't fit..

That's a pain that the rocker shafts are different, I'm thinking if you put them ( the pedestals ) in the oven then installed,would they be ok, I've had similar before,the ends of shafts tight, but once on were ok

If you do go down the SS bolts route, make sure you use ceramic anti-seize on them. I tend to use it on any dissimilar metals to stop corrosion and furring.
It would be interesting to mic up the new shafts compared to an unworn part of the old ones to see if the blue bag ones were the same size

What temperature is good to bake your rocker pedestals at? I didn't see cooking instructions on them ;-)

I'm going to get the micrometer out soon and compare the old ones with the new. If they measure up ok, then I might try chamfering the ends of the new shafts to see if it is a case of its just catching. It shouldn't affect the shaft at all as it's right at the end past the split pin, so not going to affect oil ways or anything like that.

Ceramic anti seize... might have to get that, as the bolt kit I bought for the engine is all A2 stainless. I'm guessing there's a difference between using ceramic anti seize and standard copper grease?

As Chris says, try to make the pedestals fit, you might even ream them a bit. After all there is no movement between shaft and pedestals after install. It's always a problem when having an assembly (rockers) of different aftermarket makers.

As for the SS bolts be careful to avoid reaction with aluminium, Best way for not getting rust is a leaky engine ha ha.

This is the stuff I use:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Putoline-Ceramic-Grease-100g-anti-seize-anti-corrosion-40-C-1500-C-/350879023416?
The logic behind using it is that it's inert. Copper grease introduces yet another dissimilar metal into the mix (stainless, copper, aluminium), increasing the potential for electrolytic corrosion.
Don't use on your ARB studs though. Use the ARB lube supplied.
With the exception (again) of ARB, SS fixings require different torque values as well. Don't have the numbers in my head, but will try and dig out the conversion factors from somewhere

Martyuk wrote:

Ceramic anti seize... might have to get that, as the bolt kit I bought for the engine is all A2 stainless. I'm guessing there's a difference between using ceramic anti seize and standard copper grease?

Chuck the shafts in the freezer or hit them with a good blast from a CO2 extinguisher as well as heating your pedestals. Around 150 C in the oven should do it

Martyuk wrote:

What temperature is good to bake your rocker pedestals at? I didn't see cooking instructions on them ;-)
I'm going to get the micrometer out soon and compare the old ones with the new. If they measure up ok, then I might try chamfering the ends of the new shafts to see if it is a case of its just catching. It shouldn't affect the shaft at all as it's right at the end past the split pin, so not going to affect oil ways or anything like that.

Reducing torque values by 20% when using SS and anti- seize is the rule of thumb.
Worth running a thread chaser (not a tap!) down the holes and giving them a blast of air to clear out the crap that builds up at the bottom of the holes below the end of the old stud/ bolt as well

OK, will look at ceramic anti seize. I wondered about copper, and the fact it's another metal.. good to have confirmation on that though.

SS bolts in the kit are for sump, front cover, water pump, lower inlet manifold and exhaust manifold and rocker covers. All the more 'internal' engine bolts, eg cam thrust plate, oil pickup strainer and the likes I've ordered as LR parts and will be normal steel. I'll chuck the shafts in the freezer now whilst I go scrub the rocker covers in their degreaser bath. I should have though of that and put them in overnight.

The above are all from hard won bitter experience building Triumph Stag V8 engines. Iron block, aluminium (crap LM25 aluminium) heads etc and coolant leaks make every thread into aluminium a seized/ stripped nightmare

Heat wise , I've never had a one off setting, 180 and above, of course you could put pedestal in a clamp and warm with a blow torch, then you've got something to push against, but obviously this is more time consuming as 1 at a time

Nice pics by the way

Right, a bit of an update...

Rocker shafts in the freezer all morning, tried putting a pedestal on (haven't put them in the oven yet as been doing other things this morning) and still no go - binding on the end of the shaft.. so will try heating the rocker pedestals a bit later and see if that's enough to get them on, but I somehow doubt it.

ARP head studs didn't come with their 'if you don't use our specialist stuff then you will trash your engine' lube in the box... Looking at it again, it's an additional purchase... FFS... if it's that bloody critical, then why don't you include it... like Piper do with the cam lube... So, with that now being discovered... should I now source special ARP lube, or will something else do? I gather they say not to use motor oil as it's quite thick, but would a lighter weight oil suffice - like penetrating oil, or WD-40? As it's a LOT thinner then motor oil, but still rather slippery...

I've been doing a few bits in the garage today, and now about to ship a couple of BECM's back and things like that, so will update with pictures later in the day once I've got them off my phone and onto the laptop!