Video

You need to visit a machinist. It would be a simple job to sort out.

Steve, great video. I have rebuilt half a dozen Mk 1&2 Spitfire engines myself and always replaced the chain tensioner, usually the chain but never needed to replace either sprocket. Your original lower sprocket looks better than the new replacement, so I would reuse it. Keep up the good work, Robert, in Australia.

Sucks for sure. I did the duplex chain upgrade on mine and everything fit perfectly using the old shims. Out of those 2 gears I'd definately go with the old one. Also if your cam retainer is too thick you can take a little off with sandpaper.

Put the chain on either sprocket, how much side clearance does it have? Most likely it's more then your misalignment, though that shouldn't be a deciding factor if it's at the limit. I wouldn't want the misalignment to be much more then half to 3/4 of the chains side clearance. Any bearing supply houses around, check them for shims? Transmission shops may have something you can use..

Steve, I forget how you decided what thickness thrust washers to use when you dropped in the crank. That would be one, and probably the best, way to move the crank sprocket aft. As for reusing the old crank sprocket, that is a good way to quickly wear out your new chain and eventually the cam sprocket. -Andy

You will encounter crank crank and cam end float but being off that much I say it is defiantly the crank gear. Hope it be rectified threw finding the correct gear. Got to love these out of spec parts that they sell for even more than they where 5 years ago.

Rotate the cam gear see if that changes anything it’ll confirm one thing for sure One thing to consider on the smaller camp gear is, where was it made because a lot of those gears were made in India and they are not good at all so find out where it was made in order one from the UK

Rotate the cam gear see if that changes anything it’ll confirm one thing for sure

Go with the old or search for parts in the UK . Yes more expensive and tax plus VAT one and done

They don’t give a shit

Moss and Rimmer brothers were bought by a group of. By from English parts company

Hey Steve, did you check to see where your crank was seated? You may be sitting all the way forward in your end float on the crank. I don’t remember the specs vs how much you are off…just a thought. Also, make sure you check your cam float with the front plate torqued all the way around as it changes things.

Thanks for the shout out. I love those wooden blocks. They absorb any oil and expand (hence the soft wood) and seal up nice and tight. TR4 was the same way. And dont worry about the oil pump packing. You mentioned it, but I'm in the club to prime the oil pump and get full pressure using a drill immedialty prior to first start.

No gasket between the pump body & block? Hard to check fit & clearance down in there, unlike the body to end cover that are easy & should always be done, glass & wetordry. I would've put a Very Thin smear o'goop around its outlet, but it's a very big pump for this size engine and it won't miss a little leakage. Pump was lubed with very viscous stuff, thick enough to take up its clearances so no need at all to 'pack' it with stuff! That hammer(zinc?) looks to be shedding, soft enough to not score the pump & the filter'll catch it, but I wouldn't want it there to begin with. Rant, IMO. Stronger bolts at the stock torque means to me that they don't stretch as much, if at all, and stretch is what keeps them from loosening.

Re the Oil Pump, it should be packed with Vaseline before installation, that gives the pump something to do on first start up, and prevents air locks.

You didn't mention that the alloy sealing block needs checking for straightness because they are often deformed by a DPO by overtightening. Also, those little wooden shims are normal factory standard parts. (Actually, you did, further along in the video, that's why they now make sealing blocks out of steel). I have one in my spares, but haven't used one yet.

Won't be long now to hear all that Horse Power come to life!! LOL!!

First! Always look forward to seeing your progress!

'I'll just cinch it', is a tremendous amount of pressure and no way can that seal move a bit no matter how eccentric/off center it might be. Try your finger between something and 'just cinch it'! Won't move above finger tight, especially with all that gasket goop. Bolt not in a blind hole with the copper washer looked awfully long, much more then 1.5 to 2 times its 5/16 diameter, check it & counterweight for interference. Goop would seal it just as well as the washer. Counter-productive/pointless to center the seal and then just align with the pan rail, though the seal has enough compliance to still work, and the pan gasket is thick enough to handle almost anything, so aligning off of either won't really upset the other too much. Turn the ring thingy so that the ring/work is forced towards the table, not being lifted off, turn it CW. The piston is fine, file/scrape the bulge off. Main thing is to check the ring clearance to see that the land hasn't closed up & pinching it. Wow lotta extra metal on those rings, those that haven't checked & fixed like you have gotten fucked for sure! Also, knock off the corner/edge of the rings with an oil stone where you've just cut them, there will be edge burrs that will dig into that pretty & perfectly machined ring land and the corner that hits the bore.

Great job looking forward to more Noah is a great I spoke with him a few times myself

Great video, yes you were correct recalling having read of the use of a feeler gauge to centralize the rear seal, but that only applies to the earlier scroll type oil seal. The newer type which you have is centralized by screwing the bolts finger tight, then turning the crankshaft a few times, and then tightening, as you did.

Back in the day when I rebuilt engines and there was many of them when I grind piston rings I used the same tool but I grind from both ends of the ring. Never had problems with return engines and think it really depends on the builder on how they do it. I do have a set of ring pliers and ring compressor's still and maybe one day I will rebuild my spit engine or maybe the Tr6 engine if it needs it.

Sorry to hear you damaged that piston! What a PITA, but yes, I agree, it's for the best to replace it to be on the safe side, "do it right, do it once".

Very interesting, I didn't know about the piston ring grinder, although I'm not sure about it moving around on the table while you are grinding the ring, I think I might put some thin rubber below it to stop it moving around while you are grinding, maybe even clamp it down? I liked seeing the piston ring pliers in action also.

I was wondering if you were gonna use it or get a new one. Glad Nigel came through for you.

Who sells that spring compressor?

Don't know about you but I should have bought grinding supplies in bulk! LOL

Hey! I know this was posted a while ago though I was curious if you know the purpose of the bracket you pulled off in the beginning of the video? I have a 62 GT6 and that bracket is not on however I do have it. There appear to be no wires or switches that go to mine?

Sure is funny, when I removed my heal board I had a nice simple plan, but like you in the end I just started hacking!

The guy that installed mine went absolutely crazy with the spot welds! Almost ruin the fenders removing them.

I did not have to worry about the floors since there were none LOL. The carpet was soaking wet and I could actually pull the seats without unbolting therm!

We all leave one way or the other. You didn't force it and listened to it when it told you something was off instead of trying to force it. Good job!

Thanks. Your manual say anything about the bolts(threads & heads) being lubricated or dry for the torque spec? Also oil galley & any other plugs?

like they say, experience is what you get right after you needed it. great job overall, glad you found the mistake

Great video! And I haven't even watched it all yet 😁

All junk 140 Lincoln welders I'm on my 3rd 140 welder from home depot 1and2 stop feeding wire at the end of 1 roll of wire #3 has only wide open wire speed .home depot will not replace it. ALLJUNK not happy

Is there a six speed transmission I can swap for the five speed?

Currently removing my heal board, what a bitch.

How interesting about that wear on your valve keepers etc, it seems to me that someone kept on using the engine at relatively high RPM after the valve springs were past their best and had started to go soft. The stress then gets passed on to the next part in the system

Your machinist is correct, if you keep the revs down, you won't have a problem with valve seat recession, it's the high revs for prolonged periods that causes the damage. You have an Overdrive transmission, that will certainly help.

I don't want to give you the heebie-jeebies, but when I lap in valves, when the sound changes, I lift the valve and stick and turn it 1/4 turn then lap until the sound changes again. Do that until you've made a full circle of the valve in the seat. When you check the grind after washing the valve, the wear pattern should be centered on the valve face and no wider than a 1/3 of the face with a 3-angle cut. The whole point of a 3-angle cut is to center the contact point on the face. Finally, have you taken to heart warnings about buying cheap parts? Two dollars versus 4 dollars for a set of keepers could be the difference between buying chineseium parts and genuine British reproductions. It's one of the reasons I bought exclusively from SpitBits and avoided Victoria British like the plague. Moss Motors bought out Vicky Brit if I'm informed correctly. Beware of Chinese parts from Moss Motors as they do not Quality Control the parts to the level they should and the Chinese manufactures replace imperial screws with metric, etc. Not a problem if you only want to drive the car and have it look good from 10 feet, but definitely not for use on show cars.

Its always better to do it right the first time!!

I’m so glad that you’re replacing all the retainers/keepers! At this point in the game, it’s just not worth taking that chance.

Ask the machinist for a guarantee that the seats won't burn for at least 50K miles. This is a known problem for these engines that were not designed for unleaded gas. If you don't want to confront the machinist about his ignorance, look into lead substitute.

Forward progress! I can't comment from an engine standpoint since I haven't dug into mine, but it looks like it's going back together well for you!

Instead of the springs, I use solid tuftrided spacers between the rocker arms, note that it is not critical that the rocker arms have to be perfectly centralized above the valves.

Make sure that the holes in the top of the new rockier arms go all the way through, just because parts are new, doesn't mean they are perfect!

You might consider red loctiting that grub screw in place, so that it stays put.