Orangebean wrote:

A strange coincidence that both the GEMS and Thor top-hat engines he's selling have 25000 miles on them?

I thought that; between him and the Aberystwyth crowd also on ebay, I felt that neither looked particularly trustworthy. Both look like breakers, yet want your engine back, and as you noted, magically engines have 25k on them etc.

Gilbert, whilst I wait for V8 to get back to me, what level did you tear your block down to before taking it in to them? Did you clean it up to save them some time?

Cheers Marty, I have read your thread a few times with interest, was just looking for a condensed version to save me another few hours looking at shiny things ;)

V8 developments mentioned a high torque can, wonder if that's the piper one you mention.

Gilbert/Marty: What did your respective engine builds look like? Replace everything that moves to original spec, or just replacing stuff that needed to be? Did you uprate anything?

Think I'll go V8developments on this, partly because I can't afford the Turner one now after receiving a highly unwelcome > 1k gas bill.

Re dye penetration test (pen test) you're basically looking for pink or red lines. As to how they should look on a good block.. Don't know :(

Should they be absolutely flush? Ie were the blocks decked after liner installation? As we are talking less than 0.1mm I'd say. Would try to feeler gauge it but its such a small amount.

Pen test on 8, 6, 4 from left to right:

Pen test close up on 4:

Pen test close up on 6:

Pen test close up on 8:

Is there anything more definitive I can do to confirm slipped liners? The pen test on 8 shows a vertical line near the water jacket, but I'm not convinced its a crack, it looks too straight, possibly just a scratch?
Around the top of the liner its showing a "crack", not sure if that's to be expected with two dissimilar metals simply butted up against one another.

It's really hard to say. I can catch my fingernail on the liner/block interface on all four. Maybe, and its hard to judge with a nail, 4 and 8 are slightly more recessed, but it could be because they are cleaner.

Dye penetration test on 8:

RH cylinder bank:

Cylinder 2:

Cylinder 4:

Cylinder 6:

Cylinder 8:

Head off, and... Gotta be honest it all looks OK to me. Rh block
Individual pictures of each pot are in that album. Hard to post on phone.

Head checks out fine with the engineers straight edge. Gasket looks a1. Tiny amount of moisture in 8 but that could be from taking the head off. 4 looks quite clean but from memory that's the one Gordon had a go at cleaning originally. Tiny bit of oil snail trailing in 6 as you rotate the crank, so oil control ring may be a little worn. Not surprising really.

Hard to get straight edge on block, but looks level except between 6 and 8. Well within the tolerances for the head - I couldn't see a tolerance for the block face.

I've been told (and based on the leak down results I'd agree) that you'll not be able to spot a crack without doing a dye penetration test. I'll take it off today and see what's what.

I suppose you are right, but means potentially wasting more money pressure testing stuff again. Meh.

Not had time to take the head off, but pretty much everyone I've spoken to says the same thing, cracked liner. That's why I'm resigned to buying a block.

So I'm assuming the worst with the liner and pondering which short engine to go for. Was just about ready to drop money on the Turner one, then noticed the v8 developments one is significantly cheaper. And of course there's RPI.

The nice thing is that I can get the Turner stuff delivered for Wednesday, assuming I order before noon tomorrow. Lot of money though :|

Thoughts?

I definitely feel your pain OB. Enjoy your holiday and come back to look at it fresh.

Re centre rail, I find the easiest way to get it out is to take the skuttle panel off, and unbolt the top part of the metal framework on the passenger side. That gives plenty of flex room to get the bar out. Getting it back in is a little harder, for whatever reason, but just line stuff up on the drivers side and have someone hang off the framework on the passenger side whilst you slip the cross piece in place.

I may have to eat my words re matrix, I don't think these o-rings will ever seal on mine.
How well does it fit in the heater matrix slot?

Hopefully will dig deeper with Gordon later. I wasn't really able to convincingly reproduce bubbling etc, although I didn't pull the feed off to the throttle body which it occurs to me is higher than the other two pipes. The water level in the pipes did increase slightly at one point, but that's not smoking gun stuff.

I'm currently crossing my fingers that it's just a torque issue and the ARP studs just need wound down a bit tighter, after changing the gasket again. Wife acceptance factor (and bank manager) won't really entertain a new short block I suspect.

Oddness. Took the top two hoses off and no bubbles. Camera down that cylinder does look fairly clean, but its not the greatest camera in the world.