Story so far series 1 resto

[Jaydub]

You will have both valves open at the same time if it has just exhausted the spent gas. I know nothing about Appia engines but general rules apply. Put No. 1 piston to TDC and both valves will be either fully closed ( with the correct clearance) or both rocking,ie. exhaust valve about to close and inlet valve about to open. If both are closed you can make sure the rotor arm is pointing to No.1 and the ignition timing will be there abouts, and carry on in order of firing. That`s assuming correct valve timing of course.  Apologies for preaching to the converted!

I have loosened tight pulley nuts in the past by resting the spanner on the chassis or a block of wood and operating the starter! ( spark plugs removed)

[lancialulu]

I have loosened tight pulley nuts in the past by resting the spanner on the chassis or a block of wood and operating the starter! ( spark plugs removed)

Do you have, or can you get, an impact wrench to the Crank shaft nut?

[lancianut666]

Thanks for the tips on the tight crank nut and valve openings... It is very tight between the chassis and the front of the crank pulley too tight even to get a socket in with a right angle pull on it. I don't have a spanner that would fit so I can't try the starter motor trick! I thought the starter handle hole a godsend but on my own I can't stop the car moving when I turn the crank as the gearbox, propshaft, doughnuts and halfshafts all wind up a little like a big spring so I think a wedge of some sort to wedge the flywheel will do it. I think when I removed it the sump was off and I could lock the crankshaft with a block of wood. I can have a look at the valve openings and rotor position tomorrow the plan was a quick bish bosh and the valve timing would of been checked/adjusted and on we would go but we got bogged down trying to get the crank pulley off to remove the timing chain cover. I had slackened all the valve clearances right off as per Simon's tips but it still seemed to me that the valves were open at the wrong times and thinking back I was concerned how far out the tappet clearances were when I set  up the timing last year. An observation I made was that cylinder No 4 had been firing as the plug was a bit sooty but the other three are still pristine and unmarked.
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

The word is put the car in gear handbrake on and someone to jam the brakes on...so today  I changed both the rear cylinders and will bleed the brakes tomorrow...

[lancianut666]

Hi all
Well we bled the brakes...the provision of the plunger on the fluid reservoir is a Godsend...and tried again but the transmission etc just winds up like a spring so we will have to have another think. I did check the TDC and the position of the rotor arm for all 4 cylinders seemed OK so I reset the tappets and gave it a spin probably my imagination but it seemed better and we got some heat in the block so something is going on in there. Still concerned about the colour of the petrol (now black) so I will drain the tank and put some fresh petrol in.
Clarkey

[Mikenoangelo]

Repeating from a previous post  - do try an impact driver if you can borrow one, those operated by compressed air are very effective and as they work by rapidly repeated short sharp shocks, the problem of locking the engine hardly arises as the inertial mass of the crank and flywheel will be enough to resist turning. The fact that one can hold the impact tool by hand without having an arm twisted off or rotating like a ballet dancer shows how little torque is involved!

I had a very well seized aluminium gearbox filler plug to remove on a 20hp Rolls Royce to which I dared not apply huge force in fear of breaking the hexagon from the flange and thread. I used an impact driver and found it very controllable by pressure on the trigger so you can apply just enough whacker to move it. The plug came out very easily, quite unmarked.

Royce used aluminium washers on these and other plugs and they do seem to seize. A red fibre replacement solved that.

Mike

[ben]

A trick I used successfully on a Dedra automatic a year or two back is to turn the engine to have a piston halfway up on its compression stroke and then feed a longish length of nylon string into the plug hole.Further turning of the engine compresses the string and locks the engine very effectively without causing any damage.

[lancianut666]

Ingenious!

[lancianut666]

Hi all.
Decided to bypass the petrol tank by clamping off the feed from the tank and putting a length of fuel pipe from the pump inlet side to a container of nice clean fresh petrol, put some new plugs in and rigged up an under bonnet starter button...no it didn't start! lots of bangs and pops but with my hand over the top of the carb I could feel back pressure and petrol vapour is coming out of the carb i.e. it is going the wrong way...checked the plugs 2 and 4 are sooty so firing but 1 and 3 are clean. So I have to decide to...

A. drain the sump, jam the crankshaft and get the crank pulley nut of and reset the timing that way
or
B. take the engine out and get the engine on a stand and do the timing that way
or
C. Thrash the damn thing with a stick!
Clarkey
ps I think I have got hypothermia today 

[lancianut666]

The piccies show clearly the difference between 2 and 4 compared to 1 and 3

[ben]

Surely you do not have to undo the crankshaft nut just to CHECK the valve timing.

With the rocker cover removed you can see what the valves are doing and using a rod(with a nicely rounded end so as not to cause any damage) down a plug hole you can detect where the piston is.

You only need to check for whichever cylinder is most convenient as they are either all right or all wrong!

Admittedly from the behaviour you describe they are all wrong! Probably 180 degrees out.

And why ignore the option with the nylon string to lock the engine and undo the crank nut.   It really does work!  And front cylinder would be favourite. ie nearest the nut.

[Richard Fridd]

Compression good? Does the flywheel have TDC mark? Could the distributor be around the opposite way?

[lancianut666]

I might check the compression again as it was only 50psi last time I checked. There is no mark that I could find on the flywheel so perhaps when I set up what I thought was TDC for cylinder 1 this is incorrect. If it is 180 degrees out perhaps that is the problem....My brain hurts...

[lancianut666]

Just a thought the flywheel is from a S3 but the rest of the engine is a S2...

[frankxhv773t]

Regarding beating it with a stick, I believe a small sapling is the approved weapon (or is that only for Austin 1300's?).