Wreck to Race.

[Peter Jones]

Yeah, I'm at a loss what to think right now.

It's back together and I started it up but it's not running right now at all.

Perhaps a piston ring has let fly.

I haven't been able to repeat the noise it made when it let go.

Oil pressure is good.

Something broke and I haven't been able to figure out what yet.

Pete

[Geoffrey Hale]

Pete .... If one cylinder has low comp and the valves are working ok it's going to be, maybe head gasket or piston there's not to many other places it can be leaking from. ......... Geoff

[Peter Jones]

Sump off now and it all looks OK from the underside.

There's nothing in the motor to explain the noises I heard.

Perhaps the noises and the low comp are unelated either way I'm going to have to pull more stuff out.

Sump contained a few little pieces of brittle plastic about 2mm square, could be bit of dipstick tube or something similar.

Of greater concern is the brass coloured silt in the sump.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

OK rattle is clutch related, pressing clutch in and out makes noise come and go.

Compression is unrelated but still needs fixing of course.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Box is out and even beofore I've got the clutch apart I've found bits of the pressure plate in the bell housing.

Pics later.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

It's official, I've blown my first clutch!

One of the spring plates has come off the back.

Bit of a relief really, to have found the source of the noise.

Now to put it all back together.

Pete.

[Peter Jones]

Box is back in re-attaching stuff now.

I fitted the Bildon / Spec clutch - stuff it - you don't win races with your best parts on the shelf.

http://www.specclutch.com/products . Stage 3 - 6 pucks and springs.

Pete

[Jarred]

woah! broken clutch! you're really moving up in the power stakes now aren't you Pete!

does the 4th cylinder even fire with such low compression?

[Peter Jones]

woah! broken clutch! you're really moving up in the power stakes now aren't you Pete!

does the 4th cylinder even fire with such low compression?

Seems to, but what I'm wondering now is was it low before the Dyno run?

If it was low before testing, what's it going to be when I fix it?

I'll have to pull the head to find out what the problem is, need to make a few phone calls today and ask a few experts for opinions.

Plan is to pull the head and pop the old one back on there just to retest the compression. That should tell me for sure if it's in the head or piston areas.

If the head's off for repair I might as well that cam tunnel rebored and the cam refaced as we know it works well now.

If it's rings then I guess I'll do the big end bearings just for fun while it's out.

Only bright side to this I suppose is that I blew the clutch turning into my own street and not turn 4 at Phillip Island.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Clutch carnage.

This was a 16v pressure plate too, should have been up to the task.

[Peter Jones]

New Clutch (shown next to a stock LUK pressure plate.)



The SPEC Unit has double springy plate thingys.







Now to fix the compression.

Pete

[Peter Jones]

Made a few calls.

Dyno people say comp that low would have shown up on the Dyno so it's something I've done on the drive home.

My head guy said I need to find the leak before I pull the head, so that's tonight's challenge.

Basically the process to find the leak is to pressurise the cylinder and see where the air comes out.

• Rotate engine to TDC, compression stroke on offending cylider.
• In gear and handbrake on. (To keep piston from moving)
• connect an air compressor to the sparkplug hole (My valve hold adaptor will do the trick here)
• pressurise cylinder
• Check to see where the air is going. Should be able to hear it.
• Back through the carby - Inlet valve.
• Out the exhaust - Exhaust Valve
• Out of crankcase breather - piston area.
• Into radiator - head gasket

Above is pretty generic, of course it could be something far more sinister, like a cracked head but at least this will point us in the right direction.

Pete

[GoLfMan]

hope it is only something minor Pete and that it gets sorted quickly

[Geoffrey Hale]

Hey Pete like your process for finding the leak. Very good. ...... Geoff

[Peter Jones]

Looks like I might be back in business, the valve clearance on the #4 Inlet valve had closed up and was holding the valve ajar.

I should have spotted that sooner!

Need to go through it all and re-adjust every thing and then re-test.

I made a leak down tester and all the cylinders de-pressurise at pretty much the same rate with the cam removed. About 35 seconds from 90 PSI down to 0 with the piston at TDC.

Fingers crossed!

Pete