Club 80-90 Forums

A few litres of brake cleaner and a scrub, she's looking a lot cleaner.
Not sure about this head bolt boss by #1 though...looks like a steel sleeve repair, a "top hat" would be better.
Minimal external corrosion caused by leaky hoses and (blue?!!!) coolant, hope all is well inside.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

Bring it on. "Ported" inlet manifold, cast in 1985? Weird assymetric rocker gear, bodged gasket/insulators.
No head stud dramas, but signs of glycol residue so it needed opening up.
Spark plug seats are filthy dirty so that may have been a cause of the low compression & rich running (misfires)

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

Hmm, are you looking forward to the fun of getting pistons 2 & 5 out

1 and 4 are the long reach, my gudgeon pin expanding slide hammer always was a little too short!
Needs a good 120mm adding in the middle...

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

I was thinking more about access for the clips, maybe that's not too bad then.

My threaded bar special tool would do the job without modification, but I haven't got a WBX 6 to play with

I'm just glad that
1: the heads released from the barrels easily and
2: to have released the clamping pressure off the water jacket seals; I think that they will have to go around the clock again.

In fact, they look too good, as though they have been changed before...

I have just realized the amazing coincidence of the inlet manifold being dated October 85, its bang on for the syncro's build date of December 85

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

Right hand head looks ok (slight hairlines between valve seats on 1 and 3, nothing obvious on 2)
Chambers 1, 2 and 3:

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

I can't see the hairline cracks you mention, must be more obvious in real life.

The combustion chambers don't seem symmetrical, 2 & 3 look the same, but number 1 looks like it has a cruder cut out for the valves and there seems to be a ridge between them ???

I thought number 2 had an electrode missing, but I think the plug isn't screwed in as far

#1 is the "worst", which is understandable. I think the carbon witnesses create a bit of an illusion with the chamber symmetry, this was just from a quick wire brush and wash with brake cleaner.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

I noticed that the fire rings are 2.5/3.7 items for 98mm pistons, so it seemed like a good opportunity to cc the combustion chambers.
24cc with the 98 rings, 22cc with the correct 94mm rings.
So it was always down on compression, even worse than a standard MV!
So I can afford to tickle the chambers a little to improve the low-lift flow and not lose out on compression (AMC heads are 23cc and when combined with DJ pistons return a true 10:1 SCR)
The ports are also a different form to a wbx4 and the valve guides are longer too.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

I'm a bit confused, how could a 98mm ring be fitted in a 94mm cutout ??. Is it thicker or wider than the 94mm ?

I have an idea on the CR differences, theory /measured, but now I have an engine in bits I can do some measuring myself. I'll post in the other thread when I've done that.

The barrel socket in the head is the same size for 94 or 98mm pistons, the barrel is tinner at the top for the latter, so it uses a narrower ring.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

Ah, got it, thanks.

p.s... felt the need to add a doh !

937carrera wrote:Ah, got it, thanks.

p.s... felt the need to add a doh !

No problem! The wbx is pretty well at the safe limit for the barrel socket, although I hear tell of a monster 3 litre 4-pot with 100mm bores and 90mm stroke :O

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

As part of this afternoon's efforts, I decided to tackle the seized/cut off middle exhaust port studs. What a joy...
Had to have two goes at setting up after finding that the gasket face isn't at 90 degrees to the head face!
Broke a 1/4" slot drill when it snatched the end of the stud down in the drilling (could have been a disaster but it merely shed its corners)
An M8 tap was still tight down the hole, but the core is now oversize due to corrosion and swarf. I'll Helicoil the lot (stainless wire inserts)
Also discovered a broken exhaust valve spring on #4 which has to be a rare occurrence on any wbx?

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk