bullzed

There is a Stirling Moss VG Hardtop on eBay at the moment for 2.5k. That sounds alright except first step is selling the Z. My dad having loads of spare parts and guards for A-Body Mopars is a helping factor though.

I know I know! Dad has a VE which he's done as a rotisserie build, it's ready for a motor and a paint job. Up to date we've spent about 4 grand on it, however I'm not going to be a perfectionist with a VG. No rust and a motor that runs is good enough for me! Just, wasn't a good idea to dig myself this deep into debt at such a young age, I have to ease myself into debt slowly

Hey everyone, we've bought the gaskets but weren't able to pick them up from Right Spares today because of the extensive flooding. Once we've cleaned everything up and gotten rid of all this water, we'll be doing the valve grind and putting the engine back together. Unfortunately, my parents and I have decided that it's become too expensive to keep the Z, especially because I just started a new job and I'm not receiving enough shifts to continue payments on all my long term expenses. This means that once the car has been put back together and is running perfectly, the old Z will be up for sale. It's not the ideal situation seeing as I've spent the last 18 months working on it (which is long for me), however it's been decided that it's in the best interests of everyone if I sell it and pay off all my debt, I'll be moving on to a Valiant VG hardtop (still looking for one, if anyone knows of a cheap one? ) with the funds I have after selling it, back to the start again! Thanks again to everyone who helped me along, especially Matt.

Found the thread part of that hose clamp guys! Don't worry, you can stop looking. Stuck above the exhaust valve.

Hey mate, If the hatch louvre has the clips I'll take that off your hands Cheers Zac

Matt, From what we can see the block is in alright condition, would you like to come around and see whether it's suitable to do a swap? I realise that if we swap, the motor I receive will also have to be recondition a little bit but I'm assuming it will be an easier recondition.

Thanks mate, much appreciated. It's definitely time to look for another temporary fix. Scoota, that's definitely lucky as they would have done MUCH more damage than what these little bastards have done. I have no idea where they came from because the only way in or out is the spark plug hole assuming the engine is fully assembled. I really do think something stupid/intentional happened.

Cheers David, You're completely right, I need to start thinking about another engine. Pen to paper would be the most logical thing to do at this moment. Running it with a stock engine until this one can be rebuilt into something more than it is now sounds quite tempting and fits in well with my financial situation. I'll update everyone with what's going ahead after this and that'll probably be the end of it all. Thanks everyone Zac

The valve marks are on all 6 pistons. I wouldn't be surprised if they were bent though. Well, there is a screw head for one, a piece of brass weld and 2 metal clips with "Australia" engraved into them. What the hell did this guy do to this motor ?!

Okay people, the head is off! Bad news. We found these in cylinder 5 and 6 Sounds like sabotage The damage in cylinder 6 is the worst 5 is pretty bad as well though And that's not all, seems like the previous owner didn't even know how to set timing right, what's with the valve marks on all of the pistons? I'm taking a guess and saying that little slot on the right side of all the pistons is cast in from the start. The valves in cylinder 5 & 6 are pretty bad, they took a beating from those screws and other little metal bits of crap. All in all, what do you guys think is the next logical step? Are the pistons acceptable? The head should be fairly easy to work with, just needs a valve seat grind and a few new valves which Matt has already kindly donated to my cause. And no more fishing jokes... please

Because of people making unnecessary and snarky comments. If people don't have anything useful (or even nice) to say, please refrain from posting in this thread.

Exactly, i don't see the problem with using a nylon cord We didn't want to have to take the head off just because of the cost of a new head gasket. One thing I may have no pointed out is that we have limited monetary resources and have to try to take the cheap option where ever possible. I know it's not desirable but it's the way it has to be. If the head (or block for that matter) is ruined to such an extent that a full reco is needed, the next step will be saving for a new L28. If it comes to that the Z will be off the road for a long amount of time. Thanks for everyones help.

Steve, I believe it was Matt who told me about the cord trick. I must say, it worked well. It even pulled that piece of metal out of the cylinder!

This is what I was told to do, nylon cord in the cylinder to hold the valve closed. Nylon cord doesn't shed and leaves no fibres in the bore. However, this is irrelevant as I'm taking the head off now and have the correct tool to compress the valve springs. I'll update as I find out the condition of the bore and valve/valve seats. Zac

LOL, salty, you're a funny one thanks mate I'll be pulling the head off tomorrow and yeah hopefully no damage to the piston or bore. Thanks again for all the spare bits you've supplied me with, you've undoubtedly saved me money AND time. You've helped me so much, we'll have to work something out, you're just too generous! I'll keep you updated with the condition of the bore and head tomorrow.

That's the next step. See the damage that little bastard caused. This is horrible.

So, after different lash pads, different rockers, different valve springs and different spring retainers, it still jumps off. Also, look what we found in cylinder 6. As we pulled the nylon cord out, that snagged on it and came out of the cylinder. Possible valve and valve seat damage I guess.

We've also noticed that there is a large amount for the lash pad to move sideways in the valve spring caps. This could be wear from the dodgy set up plus the rockers?

Matt, It's spitting the number 5 and number 6 inlet valve lash pads. We had it running up at 5.5k and it was fine, we turned it off, went to take it out on a run and bam, starting it up fired the lash-pad off number 6. These are the 2 rockers that started playing up when it had the bad setup (jumping off and whatnot). Could it be that these 2 springs were weakened quicker than they normally would have been? Also, is it possible to get the springs off without removing the cam shaft or is that not an option?

Dad and I adjusted the timing and clearances twice over this morning and the darn thing is now spitting number 5 intake lash-pad. We tried the spare lash pad and rocker on the port and it's still spitting. As Matt always says, "keep it simple stupid". I think the next thing to check would be the valve springs because the lash pad, clearances, rocker and cam are all fine on that port as well and the timing has been readjusted. Does that seem a reasonable deduction to you guys?

Thanks heaps to Matt who helped me out today. The first half of the problem was definitely the massive lash-pads and the fact that the rockers had near no adjustment. I've fitted the rockers and more sensible lash-pads, checked clearances and then started it up. While it now doesn't spit rockers any more, the engine still insists on coughing and backfiring and carrying on every now and then. There's a metallic sound as well when it coughs and carries on which makes us think it's probably a valve spring problem. Anyone have any ideas about this problem?

Cheers heaps Steve, I'll definitely read up on these things. Apologies Lurch. :-\

No offence but I find your tone a little condescending. In no way do I intend to just swap my rockers out and think it's solved the problem, I'm not that ignorant. I intend to let Matt have a look at the head to determine what really needs to be done. I don't want this thread to turn into an argument about personal setups, I will update everyone as I learn more about the head setup from Matt. I appreciate most of your guys patience with me and my lack of knowledge but I would prefer to be treated with more respect by others. Cheers Zac

PM sent Haha, enjoy your New Years, quiet night in for me Cheers again.

I'm over in Chapel Hill. Your help would be massively appreciated. I can tell there's something incredibly wrong with the state of the rockers and the fact that the rockers are jumping out of the lash pads!! I'm home the 1st and 2nd of Jan but work 9am - 1pm on the 3rd. I'm only 17, so, don't be surprised hahah. The name's Zac.