Dino Saga 051211 It keeps on coming! As pieces were cleaned and inspected we found a few more beauts. Cam bolt locks were 3 shy of a full deck. Out of 4. Harmonic balancer washer was missing and bolt had been driven into the crank. Lack of threads that deep did not seem to slow things down. Impact wrench I suppose. Final transfer gear nut was beaten up pretty badly. Nothing left to act as a locking tab. Back to GT Car Parts and UPS again. Turns out that only 2 valves had bent, and just a touch. Machine shop straightened them out with no problem. Everything in the heads cleaned up nicely and we are ready to trial fit things. A piece of putty on top of the pistons will give us a reality check on valve pocket clearances. Now is the time to open them up a little more if necessary. Looking forward to a Christmas drive. Maybe! In the meantime, enjoy the pics, or cry. John Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
John I just noticed that you are starting a new thread for your saga each time. We are really interested in your project and would like to see it compiled into one. If you go to the last one and click on reply and post it will keep it all together as well as bring the whole thing forward so we will know that you updated. tnx Gary
John, I know you said that there were only two valves found to be only slightly bent. But, why did you not try to find new ones instead of having the machine shop straighten them? Isn't that living dangerously? You are going through an awful lot of trouble and care--and expense, I suspect--but I, myself, wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that those two valves were put back in the motor. Keep in mind that I'm just speaking from a very general mechanical standpoint, not from a Dino-specific knowledge. Was it because of money, unavailability of matching replacements, or a machinist's advice? Just curious and always willing to listen and learn. Ric
John, It appears you have the soft valve seats. If so, I would recommend having the seats replaced with steel. It cost my machinist 12.00 each for the seats. I orginally purchased the ones from dinoparts in Germany, but they had the same dimensions as the original soft seats. Per my machinist, the interference fit is several thousands more for the hard vs soft seat. It turned out the centerline of the valve guide was about 10 thousands off from some of my valve seat pockets. It took some machining to center the ID of the valve seat to the valve guide centerline and to port it to match the intake. Richard Dino 03510 Nipomo, CA
The original seats are manganese bronze and not all that soft--not as hard as steel but very durable. I was told a long time ago that valve seat recession due to unleaded gas is not a problem with the bronze seats. Maybe someone with greater knowledge can chime in here.
I vote for separate threads, though it would be nice if the title gave a short hint what the topic was, like Engine Rebuild Part III. I am really enjoying this thread. It's sort of like a bunch of guys standing around a mechanic doing his work, kibitzing and making suggestions as he goes along. Everyone learns at least a bit as they read along. The pictures make it real!
Your right about the bronze seats holding up, the are not soft and hold up very well. I did a five angle job on mine and put on about 300 miles before I had to tear down for another reason and the valve clearances did not change.
John, I just found this thread and am saddened to hear your car is out of commission. I'll go back and find the beginning of your saga to get the full story. But it sounds like you've got it under control. I was actually thinking of contacting you to see about a visit. Compare apples to apples, as it were. But someone just backed into my Dino this weekend. As soon as I get the pictures, I'll be making a post. Anyways, I wish you the best. Manny
Gary, This is not a project but John kindly relaying some of the maintenance history (ie. sagas) with this car. We asked him too, ie: Also simply search for Dino Saga and you have them all together. I for one really appreciate the fact that he is taking his Sunday free time up to document all this REAL maintenance for us. Pete
Pete, oh! ya! this is great, I guess theres more than one way to access info. keep it up John any way you can give it to us and we will find it. I guess it was just a good idea to keep it all in one place for us computer boneheads
I can see your point ... but the threads (once large/long) do become really slow to open, read, etc. (especially via dial up). Pete
Nice to know folks are interested. Asked Rob where to post this kind of thing when I started. He is the one to suggest the Technical Q&A forum. The separate thread helps me get an idea of what interests members. I have read many other threads where the replies go on forever and the original subject is long forgotten. I used the "Dino Saga" plus a sortable date so that anyone wishing a complete list could search under "Dino Saga" and get them all in order; or search under my name and again they would pop up in order. The pictures are the thing that takes so much time on a dial-up connection. I enjoy taking technical pictures and want them to have impact. You can't get impact if you scrunch a 640 x 480 picture to 30 Kb. Rob understands this and his limits are right on. You do need a high speed connection to really enjoy the best pictures on FerrariChat. I didn't know that I would have to tear the engine apart again when I started the "Saga." Thought a complete subject every week would be about right. A complete teardown/rebuild takes forever under the best of conditions. This one was supposed to take less time because all significant parts were new. Little did I know that hundreds of little parts were fouled up. Hard to concentrate on past details when the present is all consuming. Just found a head stud that streched. Need a new set. Not to worry, UPS driver can find my door easily by now. Will know more Sunday and will share the details. John
I have had bad luck with Dino head studs and had a bunch made up by American Racing Product - ARP. I had both heads on and doing the final torque with a new Mac torque wrench and two of the studs stripped before being fully tightened. Very frustrating to say the least. ARP studs are mucho better!
