SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

That is truly a bad start! Still think it was oil starvation or a dysfunctional valve?

Hi all, well it seams that oil was fine, no starvation as i first thought. It was my first engine build and I had not taken into account the new heads protruding valves which were deeper than my original head. That meant the the valves were hitting the pistons and after about 90 miles one gave up and parted from it's stem. It then rattled around and finally embedded it'self into the piston. The head is toast along with the piston, but thankfully the rest are ok along with the bearings, so I will just need to get a new piston and rings, re hone the bore, get pockets machined into each piston for complete clearance of the valves and of course, a new cylinder head.
I'll let you all know how it goes as funding the engine again isn't great news.
Jason

Jason, I've got no experience with cross flows or any other car engine but is it usual to have to machine the pistons? Is there something modified with your set up that makes it necessary? It sounds a bit complicated to me

I believe there’s 2 different heads for the 1600 crossflow one which has a combustion chamber in it ( giving more clearance ) and one flatter head without combustion chamber. I’m wondering if you’ve got a mixture of the 2 types of engine making it too close and causing contact

Hi all, yeah I'm thinking that too Matt, I just ordered a similar type of head assuming that the original one was correct but I am now thinking the pistons or the head had been changed before i took hold of the engine years ago so that it was a more compression ratio engine. I've got it all apart and the remaining pistons and rods are going to an engine engineering company in Dulwich to asses them and if ok then to pocket the pistons ready for when i find a reasonable head to fit it dry and make sure clearances are ok before a wet bolt together ready to get it refitted into the car.
Steve, I think it might have a modified cam installed, which probably made the issue even worse.
As the original head was the same, and it ran ok for quite a while without any issues, I think the set up should work again as long as I make sure the pockets that could be put into the pistons are sufficient to guarantee no contact can be make by the valves.
Jason

Hope you get it sorted soon Jason, assuming you enjoyed the day beforehand at least that can spur you on.
Rich.

Hi Rich, yeah the 6 hours before my breakdown was an awesome first drive with you guys, and yes I can't wait to get back on the road, I'm going to be a bit slower with a less powerful engine now, but at least I'll be on the road anyway.

Jason

Matth93 wrote:I believe there’s 2 different heads for the 1600 crossflow one which has a combustion chamber in it ( giving more clearance ) and one flatter head without combustion chamber. I’m wondering if you’ve got a mixture of the 2 types of engine making it too close and causing contact

Hi Matt, yep I've been told by the engineering company I asked about the pistons that I had used the wrong type of head, even though it was the same as the original one, so a lesson learned there for me

Jason

so at least you've found the problem and can hopefully put it right with some confidence it won't happen again.

I am glad to hear the block and most of the pistons are Ok. Also good news that you found the problem.

Don't be too concerned about power, my car only has about 120bhp and it loads of fun. I used to have a crossflow Westfield with a fairly mild cam (Kent 234?) and that was a brilliant engine on the road.