Not some Brit Iron Motorcycle club but the noisy rockers on my old 78
1300 Kent lump.
It has been clattery for quite a while now and from memory this noise was a combination of (mainly) wear or the tappet face and wear or the rocker shaft / rocker itself.
So, based on the thought that the rockers are already shagged and assuming I'm not building a race engine here, would be any point in trying to (MIG) weld up and carefully re-profile the rocker faces do you think please?
How long would it last do you think?
If that idea is a non-starter, what are the alternatives just to make it a bit quieter and allow better tappet adjustment please (I think it's gone past the thin feeler gauge solution and I can't justify a new Burton cam I'm afraid). ;-)
Hmm, it does sound like it's coming from the rocker cover though and I know I haven't touched the tappets in years .. (and the engine had done 88k when I stuck it in the kitcar)? I can hear a couple of really loud ones on tickover as they are at a frequency lower than the general 'clatter' (but could still be a very noisy follower I guess).
I dare say the cam / followers is/are also pretty tired but do they 'tap' (like a tappet) when worn?
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember T i m saying something like:
Assuming it is the rockers and you can't lay hands on new-ish ones, you can re-caseharden the old ones after profiling them. Won't last forever though, but will keep you going [1]. Problem is, you need a small kiln to do it and a tub of the right stuff. Google it, for I can't recall the name of it offhand.
[1] I've done this quite successfully on several s**te old engines.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Mrcheerful" saying something like:
That's the stuff - I knew it sounded milk-related, but isn't. Afaik, something akin to Casenite could be made up from scratch, with carbon and oil, but I've not tried it.
There used to be a gadget on the market which enabled you to take account of the wear by using the pitch of the thread, instead of a feeler. You basically took up all the play, then turned back a carefully measured number of degrees to provide the correct gap.
I wouldn't normally try to weld cast but this would be adding material rather than joining it as such?
The guy that gave me this welding rod (to try) has previously used the same to build up a cam on his old Lada (amongst other things) and it lasted 30k miles before he sold it. I assume they are also cast?
When you see the sort of things they do to keep stuff running in 3rd world countries and this actual engine is at least 30 years old I can't see why it isn't worth a go? ;-)
Yup, SPQR tappet adjuster or Gunson / others, or, as I did the last time, just do as you suggest and use the points on the lock nut as a angle guide.
With it all being so worn it's all a bit hit_and_miss in any case and the worse it wears the faster it wears and more can go wrong (like breaking to top off the valve etc).
I might get myself a couple of new rocker cover gaskets and have a quick look / check then go from there.
It's only now I have replaced the noisy gearbox I realise how bad the tappets are! ;-)
If you don't want to spend money on new parts welding is a win. I'm sure it will last a while but there is no guaranteed time on that. What happens if it fails without warning is another matter. I've welded cast before but not in such a rough environment. It's getting hammered quite a lot so I would be wary.
=============================================== Welding cast is not difficult at all. The difference is in the join between the cast and the weld, this is the weak point.
You can normally just re-profile them without building up first. But you might find someone who offers this service - including re-bushing and heat treatment. Are new ones not available or very expensive?
I did read that somewhere Dave but assuming this 88,000 mile, 30+ year old rocker is *very* worn then all that will do is just ensure there is less chance of something getting caught up on the hole.
I would think there would be but with all things it could get expensive and way over the top for this particular project.
I currently have 3 Kent lumps in various states of repair.
A long 1300GT I took out of a second MKII Escort when we were building the kit 18 years ago. I believe I heard it running at the time but hasn't been touched since. I think the rockers may be the same as the straight 1300 but the valves could have bigger heads and it may well have a 'GT' cam)?
A long 1300 + box I recently bought on eBay (£26) that I've only used the gearbox from so far but did run up on the floor (so know it runs at least). I could either chuck the whole lot in the Kitcar as-is or use the rockers / cam from that in the existing.[1]
A long 1600 + box that was given to me by another Ranger owner but got rained on when the roof was ripped on my mates garage in a storm. It will probably move with some TLC but I am now holding off because of the increased TAX and insurance (especially if our Daughter want's to drive it).
And then there's the 2L Pinto + box I took out of my Sierra Estate but that will take a bit more fitting. ;-)
The nearest I've seen new are on Burtons web site and they only have the right rockers and for pre-Xflow models but at a reasonable £7.50.
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You can by very pretty roller rockers new and a snip at ~£55 each. ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
[1] I would love to really play with all this stuff properly but I really don't have the time right now.
Understood Duncan, but Burton do sell std rockers 'while stock last (suggesting there just may be no std stuff about any more?
I'll ring about though so ta.
All the best ..
T i m
p.s. My local car spares place used to stock pretty well everything for the MkII Escort and I pretty well built the kit using them and although they have been able to supply most things I've asked for so far, it's now often 'in a few days' (inc air filter and clutch kit).
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