Yet another 3B engine rebuild

[audiman]

Got the head completly built up now, will post some pics soon. I have all the valves in after a long debate between Mark and myself about the washers nder the valve spring seats Intake manifold is on RS2 ex. manifold is on with the new blower bolted up to!! 7A cams installed and waiting to turn again!

Should get the crank etc back from Bassat Down Balancing tomorrow, so i can then start to build the block up at least before my hols on friday!

[porkkis]

Those washers are really a strange thing. I can not figure out why they're there. Avoiding worn marks on the head itself? Some heads have the washers and some don't. Weird really.
And they're so thin that they can't be any adjustments for the valve springs neighter.

[audiman]

I know :s

The reason i had a problem was because the new valve guides were externally larger, so the washers did not fit, so i wanted to know if i could not use them. I decided to grind the middle out by a mm or so and fit them.

[Mark Halligan]

Those washers are really a strange thing. I can not figure out why they're there. Avoiding worn marks on the head itself? Some heads have the washers and some don't. Weird really.
And they're so thin that they can't be any adjustments for the valve springs neighter.

Porkis,

Yep you are right, they don't all have them fitted. I am using a late ADU head and there are none fitted to it, I also have an early ABY head and they ARE fitted to that. The debate started after a conversation with Tom, who has them fitted to his 3B head.
I spoke to someone who knows a lot about these engines and he said, like you, that they are not fitted to all heads and that when they are NOT, it has something to do with stopping the valve spring coils binding at full lift, supposedly because there are differences in casting thicknesses and machining tolerances??
One interesting thing is they are not, according to ETKA, fitted to the exhaust valves on the 7A engine, maybe something to do with the 7A ~10.5mm Ex lift as opposed to the 3B/ABY ~8.6mm Ex lift.
Another thing I have noticed is that the early ABY head casting is the same as the 3B, with the hall sensor mount being an add on, screwed to the head. On the late ADU the Hall sensor mount is part of the casting.
So maybe the ADU head I am using is thicker in the spring seat area than the earlier head, and does not need the shims????.........LOL who knows, probably all useless info anyway .

Mark.

[audiman]

Well I have the 7A cams along with those washers in my 3B headand the springs dont go coil bound. It has done over 4000 miles with the 7A cams in it. No problems.

[audiman]

So god knows what is 'correct'

[Mark Halligan]

Well I have the 7A cams along with those washers in my 3B headand the springs dont go coil bound. It has done over 4000 miles with the 7A cams in it. No problems.

LOl yeah I was just reading through my post and thought I had better add 'although Tom's had no problems',........wont bother now

Mark.

[Mark Halligan]

So god knows what is 'correct'

Just thinking that there was probably some 'old geezer' on the production line in Germany, who when he was on his shift forgot to put them in, and Ten plus years later we are all scratching our heads over it .

Mark.

[porkkis]

They are so thin that I can't imagine they're shims.

A bit OT:
Did you know that the earliest AAN urS4 engines had a "dizzy" for the hall sender? So all direct ignition engines don't have the cam wheel sender.
AFAIK they're not sold anymore.

[audiman]

0.6mm in fact

So these early AAN's.... did they use a dizzy AND coilpacks? or was it like the 3B ignition system?

[porkkis]

No or yes. Or no

They had a dizzy like unit that contained only the hall sender, nothing else.

[S2central.net]

Yes Porkkis is right - The early AANs with direct ignition had the hall sender in a distributor. The dissy just had a blank cap on it.... Odd fact that.

[audiman]

Can anyone share any more info on this sytem? Might be a possible upgrade for 3B users to coil packs. Have searched for info in my books but it must be a rare one as there is no info for it

[s2avant]

Tom,

Has that package I sent you arrived yet? There may be some info in there but I doubt it. Looking on ETKA it appears to be the same system later cars use except the hall sender is in an empty dizzy (which is over £300!!!)

Ben

[porkkis]

Tom, you can leave the dizzy to handle the hall. Just take out the HT leads and that's it.