I've put some miles on the car since the fix and all is going well -ish.

I checked the head torque twice and I've re-checked the valve clearances. They are moving around and the valve train is still quite noisy. I'm not particularly concerned about the noise - better that way than too tight.

I spent some time on the tune and found that it was horribly advanced. I dialled it back to about 15deg at idle and I found that idle speed dropped dramatically. It's now more in a suitable range just below 1000k.

It seems to run well and the points gap and the dwell checked out spot on. The points resistance is showing that it could be better and there is an issue with the low voltage wiring in the distributer. I'll replace the points and see if I can get that a bit better.

I went in and replaced the broken adjuster on #8 valve with a good old one and did a rough check on the valve clearances again. After that Sharon and I took the car for a long ride down to Newport on the northern beaches of Sydney. Great day and apart from a bit of a rattle in the valve train all went well.



I need to revisit the valve clearances and check the head torque again but at this stage all is well.

Well, the bottom line is it's all good!
I did some testing on the head before going to the trouble of cleaning and positioned it level and filled the combustion chambers with WD 40.


After about an hour, which I spent doing the final cleanup of the block, there was virtually no evidence of the fluid leaking through so I concluded that the valves were still sealing and I didn't need to go further into the valve train.


So, after salvaging the WD 40 I used my scraper and got stuck into the head surface. Lots of elbow grease later it was clean enough and matched the block. I put my straight edge over it end to end, side to side and diagonally and it's nice and flat. Not that I had any doubt that it wouldn't be. My straight edge is too long to get at the block surface so a visual inspection with a 300mm steel rule had to suffice here.




I chased out the stud threads in the block with a UNC tap ready for the studs.


I was going to use a thread sealer on these but after a discussion on the forum I just went with a drop or two of oil and spun them in by hand - just so they bottomed but only just.
I had to leave it 'till the next day to continue, it was getting late and the mossies were starting to attack.
Next day I filled in the guys on the forum with what I'd done and asked the question re: sealing the gasket or dry. This tends to be one of those things that generates discussion but the consensus was 'dry'.
The gasket was unbranded but a question to Hap (one of the resident mechanics) suggested that it was indeed a 'Payen' gasket which has a 'sticky' feel to it and an obvious coating of something over the whole lot including the metal bits.
So I was comfortable putting it on 'dry'.
I had a lunch appointment with Chook that day which, coupled together with a job I did at home and checking the 'net' for responses to my questions, meant that it didn't happen until the next day.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the assembly process but it's pretty straight forward and most of the time was taken up struggling with the 'new' valve adjusting screws.
Should've been a simple take out and replace with new. No! Firstly the new ones didn't have the oil feed holes.
The new one's on the left.


AND look at the machining on the ball. Photo's a bit fuzzy but it was atrocious, really rough. Together with that the thread was really rough and not accurate.
I chased the rockers with a P&N plug tap but some of them (most) galled somewhat when I tried to get the new screws in. The thread end was hardened as well so running a die over them had little effect. In fact one of them refused to go in at all so I retrieved the best of the old ones and used it.
The slot end was so hard that during the adjusting of the clearances one of the ends with the slot broke off. Luckily it was number 8 so when it comes time to adjust them again I'll be able to get it off with out disturbing the head. Still it's not very satisfactory. I'll send an email off to Moss UK to complain. I'm not interested so much about a refund it's more I want to make sure they know that they are selling crap.

Well apart from that every thing else went well and I spent most of yesterday afternoon on the car and it's running again without too much drama. It's still early days but I took it for a short run yesterday evening and it was fine.

I need to check the torque settings again and I want to give it an oil change and then see if I can improve the tune so that it doesn't happen again.

Did not expect this so soon! The order from Moss UK arrived this morning and I was checking it out and realised that I'd missed ordering the head nuts and washers. DUH!

Could make a supplementary order but I think I just get them locally.

Gasket looks good - much better than the one I put on before. Got a nice 'sticky' feel to it and the junctions between 1&2 and 3&4 look much better. They have a piece of brass between the thin area which should help in dissipating heat from that area.

Also got new rocker adjusting screws and nuts.

The other thing that I'm pleased about is that I've now got some new studs for the rockers.
If you've been following this journal you would remember that I had some issues with the originals and being unable to get new ones locally I'd made some from some 5/16" bolts and had not been happy with them. The new studs should solve those issues.

I'll jump straight in:
Motor full rebuild 10k miles ago. I put it together myself .

Suddenly developed a motor rattle and I had it towed home. Checked compression, 1 & 2 virtually no compression. Further investigation established almost certainly a leak from 1 to 2. Oil clear. Water clear.

This was confirmed today after taking head off.






Everything else to do with the head looks ok. I'm a little worried about a bright spot on #1 inlet valve next to where the gasket failed.

And I can't see how this gasket failure can be anyway related to the sudden development of the motor rattle. I'm still thinking I'm going to have to go in deeper.

Bit more information, if it's relevant. I believe this break has been there for a little while. I'd noticed a drop in power over the last few weeks before the rattle. I put that down to it needing a tuneup.

This situation is not fresh the car's been sitting for about 2 months - under cover - with the rocker cover off and the plugs out. The bores feel good and I haven't taken the old gasket off the block yet.

I've also had a fluctuating vacuum gauge for some time and just lately noticed a fluctuating oil pressure as well.

I posted on the forum a few months - up to a year? - ago about some variation in compression figures but the consensus of opinion at that time was to forget about it.

One thing, if you look at one of the close ups of the blow through you can still see the machining ribs through the carbon going across the blow through area. I think it's safe to say that the head's ok at that point and there is no groove.
I'll have a closer look at the block after I take off the gasket and clean it up.
I still can't reconcile that the rattle is not something else so unless someone gives me good reason not to, I'm lifting the whole lot back out, putting it on an engine stand, flipping it, taking the pan off and checking everything down there to make sure that the rattle is not bearings, cam, or oil pump.
All of these were new or refurbished 10k ago.

Update! I have the cleanest mind around - that's because I change it all the time. I change it more often than I change my underpants!

New theory! Based on what all of the guys on the forum have said and closer examination of the head gasket after I chiselled it off.
(BTW this is what I made so that I could lay into the block without worry)



Anyway, I digress. After taking the h.gasket off I noticed a few things. (some of which the guys had already alluded to)

Contrary to what I'd surmised before, it does appear that the final failure of the gasket between 1 & 2 did occur at the same time as the rattle happening. There is evidence to suggest that there was/is leakage across the border 'tween 3 & 4 and even 2 & 3. You can see the section between 3 & 4 was close to failing also.



I also went back to my notes about the regular comp. tests that I had done and after tests at 600, 6000, 10000 and 10550 miles the results were all 'fine' in fact 1 & 2 had 150 and 160 at 10550miles. The mileage is now just under 12000 so I think it's safe to say that the piece blew out recently and most probably at the time of the 'rattle'.

I'm thinking that the 'rattle' was the sound of the compression blowing across between the two cylinders. I think the gasket was leaking long before that but the 'blow-out' is what I heard.

My mind is now thinking, clean everything up, new H.gasket, torque and run it/drive it. If no rattle all good - if the rattle still there, well then I go in.

I've ordered a h.gasket set, new studs and a few other bits and pieces from UK Moss and I'll put it back together and go from there.

As promised, this is the description ,with photographs of how I replaced my rusty slider windows with fixed glass windows.
I bought the windows off eBay and they arrived in about a week all wrapped up in bubble wrap and cardboard.




Very happy with how they were packaged for delivery.
Here is a cross section of the seal and the retaining strip.



I had already installed the first window but didn't take any photographs, these photographs are of the second window installation.
This photograph is of the window before removal you can see what I'm dealing with here.




The new windows came with a film over both sides which I removed around the edge but left the centre intact.





The removal of the old windows was much easier than I had anticipated. I started by opening the slider as far as it would go then starting from the open window at the bottom I gave the frame a bit of a pull and it came away from the car.








Working around the frame I was able to remove the whole frame with very little difficulty and I put this aside.

I chose to put the rubber seal on the car first and then put the window into the seal. I'm not suggesting that this was the correct or the best way to do it was simply the way that I did it.

These photos show the tools that I used to do this task you can see that two of the tools I've made myself. A little nylon knife I made up from a scrap piece of nylon and the wire tool is simply a piece of spring wire bent into an appropriate shape. I also had a spray bottle of dishwashing liquid mixed with water.





I was quite surprised at the condition of the windows surrounds they were quite clean and clear of any rust. I had expected some rust on the bodywork of the car but that wasn't the case. I simply had to clean off all the grot and dirt from around the outside of the window surrounds. A little polish helped here as well.








The interior trim overlaps the frames on the outside, I considered trimming it off but I didn't want to risk scoring the paint so I just left it as it was. It is visible after seal goes on.



After it was nice and clean I then went about putting on the rubber seal.




It wrinkled up a bit at the corners and I'll make sure that the corners and nice and open



I paid particular attention to the corners to make sure that the seal was pushed firmly into the corners and was compressed in its length as much as I could as I worked around the window. I was very conscious to ensure that I had not stretched the rubber as I put it into the frame.



The seal which was supplied with the window was significantly longer than what it needed to be and it had to be cut to length. When I had got the rubber onto the frame all the way around at the join I made sure that I cut it significantly longer so that I could jam it in to make sure that it was under compression.



I considered where I would put the joint and decided to put the joint at the top in the middle. My reasoning here was that if any moisture got into the join it would trickle down onto the window and be very visible however if the join was at the bottom it would trickle into the car bodywork and I may not be able to see that it was leaking.
I applied some detergent mix to where the window glass was going to go so that if I needed to I was able to move the glass in the rubber.
A word of caution here I ended up putting too much mix in and around the seal which made it difficult to remove later on.



After a light spray around all the outside of the seal I then positioned the glass in the bottom channel. I need two hands on the glass at all times here so no pictures I'm afraid.



Then using the small applicator that I'd made and working from the back I carefully pushed the rubber seal from behind the glass to in front of the glass working up the sides first. With the back door open and the front door open I was easily able to reach both sides of the glass pushing the seal from the back and pushing the glass from the front all except the very middle of the frame right at the top. If I had a helper this last little bit would've been very much easier.





After the glass had been manoeuvred into the seal it was then time to put the retaining strip around the outside to force the seal in and around the glass. This process was made very much easier by using the little wire applicator that I've made for the seal to go in and it opened up the gap and push the seal in at the same time. I believe these are available commercially and it's probably worth buying or borrowing one of these applicators if you're going to do this process yourself.




This process needs a fair bit of force to work your way around the seal and it's particularly difficult at the corners, so take your time.



Sometimes the retainer didn't go all the way in on the first pass, it was easier just to ignore these and come back to these with the other applicator.



This locking piece is also much longer than is required so it's important to make sure that it's not stretched as you put it in and make sure that you cut it a little bit longer than what is required and then you can force that last little piece in so there is no gap.





A few thumps on the glass around the edge just to make sure that it's in the right place then you can remove the rest of the film and give the whole lot a good hosing down to get rid of the detergent.




Well, that's about it!

There is one process that was inadvertently left out on the second one that I'd forgotten about. Irritates the heck out of me but I'm not taking it off now to fix it.

The original sliders have a slight vertical curve in their profile shape. These windows are flat. I believe the curved ones are available if you search around. I went with these as I was assured that they will go in - and they do - but to make them fit just that little better some slight body work on the vertical flanges before you put them in can reduce the curve almost completely. I did this on the first one with a heavy metal bar held on the inside of the flange and some careful blows with a wooden mallet.
I forgot to do this on the second one and it doesn't fit quite as well. However at this stage it's acceptable.

Had to get a tow home this morning.

On the way into Gosford this morning it suddenly developed a serious sounding knock but only under load. I was just thinking how good it was running and apart from the noise appeared to be still running ok. Oil pressure still ok, about 60 but I had/have noticed a intermittent fluctuation in the needle.

Pulled over but had difficulty getting it to make the noise at idle and giving the throttle blips. Under light throttle it ran quietly and even though I was in heavy traffic I managed to get it somewhere I could leave it.

There was a noticeable difference in the exhaust note, a bit lumpy, not really a miss. Anyway I called for a tow and it's now at home in disgrace in the garage.

When I pulled over, I took off the rocker cover because the noise sounded like a heavy valve train noise but all appeared ok there and the slight noise I could get when blipping the throttle seemed to be coming low down at the back of the motor. Definitely sounded like it was inside and not some ancillary clunking/knocking.

When I got it home I started it and it ran a bit lumpily and there was noise at idle that I couldn't hear before but not the clunking. I shut it off and came inside and here I am.

I'll give it a compression check and go over the motor to make sure it's not something outside but I have this feeling that another pulldown is in my future.

It's only got about 10,000 miles on the complete engine rebuild but I assembled it myself so anything is possible.

I'll get back to you,



Update. Well the head's coming off to start with.

Compression test: Cyl 1 = 0, unable to be measured and severe sucking noise coming from 2 during cranking. Cyl 2 = same as 1 with the same sucking noise from 1, Cyl 3 = 120, Cyl 4 =140.

Definitely something going on between 1 and 2, however, I can't see that this is the main game, I'm pretty sure there is something else going on lower down.

Anyway the heads got to come off so I'll have some more news later.

After that and if there's nothing to indicate the clunk, rather than fiddle about under the car with the pan, I think I'll just pull the lot. It wasn't that long ago that I did that with the gearbox/clutch fix so I think I'll do it that way and give the lower end a good checking out. Best case it's a set of gaskets and a couple of days. But I just want to be sure.