Session 12

Clean up of rockers, plenum, and other parts.

Used a variety of Purple Power degreaser, diesel fuel, and Berrymans Carb Cleaner parts soak. Scotchbrite pad.

Found three of the rocker arms plugged with sludge. That little hole was full of dried brown goop.



Head bolts arrived today.

 

Shafts cleaned up OK. But...

Shaft towers won't budge. Even with hammer taps. Suspect the marks from mounting bolts indicated a considerable bolt torque, which would have deformed the tower and/or chaft.

Chrome shaft is slightly scored under rockers.

One rocker would not slide against springs without a knock, smoothed off and it moves now.

Unable to dismantle and look at or service inside of the rockers "captured" by towers.

So what I have is cleaner than what I had, but worn. Could I smooth the chrome shaft - I suspect that may not be productive, may also drop oil PSI at idle. Once back together I had better check oil PSI again.

AB has complete assembly for $399 one side, out of stock. Rovers North, BOAT (bring over another thousand). Rovah Farm, about $262 for both sides, but use your own towers and springs.

Boneyard has crushed and melted the the Discos thay had, just a Freelander waiting for partz vulturez. Will check one more nearby boneyard.

Will probably re-assemble and add valve train to the list of parts to hunt down. 20W50 from now on.

 

the towers do take some umf to get them off they are a very tight fit we thought we were gonna break the first one we did, it takes 2 people some one has to hold the shaft on end on a bench while the other knocks the towers off, initial break loose we hit it on the top/side of the tower to less chance of breaking, I have a feeling these are pressed together?

you did get them real clean considering they have not been apart all the way

 

You can remove them to change out the shafts. Much cheaper. Toss them in the unused beer refrig's freezer for a few hours, they'll break free. Change the shafts because of undercutting and go back to 10W40. A dental pick assortment works for reaching hard to get to places in the rockers. Stiff wire, stainless will work to remove backed oil from the oil port to the push rod port.

 

Are you suggesting new shaft with existing rockers? Like the fridge idea.

 

Session 13

Froze one rocker assembly, still did not move, and as soon as I came out into the 95F with humidity frost formed... tried hammer and block of wood, dainty, as no cheap spares near by. Tried large C clamp, got one of the center ones to move about 3/16". Used clamp to hold rocker arms that I can't remove away from their normal operating spot, and cleaned that up with 1500 grit sandpaper... Shiny now and rockers move smoothly, but swarf will make quick work of the old parts, will be looking for whole assemblies to rework.

Picked up heads from shop and they look great compared to what I saw when the valve covers came off. Tip of the hat to Saul's Cylinder Heads in Savannah. Of course the rest of the engine looks like that as well (in my dreams).

At this point I'm pretty sure we are going for just basic operation, not total rebuild. It would be foolish for me to think that the rest of the engine is in any better shape, but we are ahead of where we were, and there are trucks with 200K plus that have not done much more than HG. At this point in time the vehicle does 5 - 6,000 miles a year, as a college ride, holding down the parking lot.

 

Wow, they did a great job.Super clean,I think my engine would reject those parts on principle.

 

Yes, new shafts with old rockers. If you can't remove the pillars then you can cut the old shafts next to them and remove. It's a cheap way to get some oil pressure back without busting the bank on a clunker.

 

I think that I have the passages cleared on the rockers. I can use a plastic tube over the pushrod end, and blow air or spray carb cleaner into the shaft when I compress the spring (moves rocker oil port to line up directly with shaft hole) and rotate the rocker. When I did an oil PSI test with a gauge a while back I got the following:

44 PSI cold (45 F) idle or 2500 rpm

42 PSI warm (175 F) - 2500 rpm

24 PSI warm (175 F) - 700 rpm

This is with Rotella 15W40 and the Purolator/MANN oversize filter.

Will be a good idea to take oil PSI test again after assembly. For all I know, the oil sludge may have been acting like a gasket in spots and pressure will drop.

 

honestly I was think the same thing, if your pressure was going to drop now that the top end is cleaned. any fears of what will end up in the sump when your done?