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Restoring HB9116754 Lemans

bernd_st said:
Very unfortunate that getting flat tops has become almost mission impossible over the years. When I did my 1600 rebuild earlier and needed flat tops the only source were the JP aussie made ones. However their pistons are not very light plus the oil scraper rings are complete crap. Went through them with a real expert level shop fortunately being close. They are able to manufacture complete piston sets or even the wildest one offs. Bought a modern oil scraper set from them. They do fit excellently. That's how my +0.060" oversize piston set looked like when I got it:

View attachment 32979View attachment 32980View attachment 32981
Click to expand...
Bernd the thumbnails are very small, so hard to see the photos

While I like to support Australian manufacturers The JP flat top pistons I used in my rebuild in 1999 were heavy and also the rings weren't great .....

Buying NOS OEM is ideal... But you have to be careful they aren't factory seconds or stored badly....or mismatched sizes... Especially bearings!

Modern substitution of current aftermarket performance parts like pistons and rods is good.. lighter ans stronger, but you have to then start doing the maths for deck heights and pivot on the pins and the crank offset grind... Worth it ...but not many people want to go to the effort.
 
Michael, the thumbnails were copied from another forum thread and appearantly have been downscaled drastically. Will check for the originals again, but they are stored on my old tablet. Have to see, whether I can revive it...
 
bernd_st said:
Michael, the thumbnails were copied from another forum thread and appearantly have been downscaled drastically. Will check for the originals again, but they are stored on my old tablet. Have to see, whether I can revive it...
Click to expand...
It's ok .. just thought I'd let you know... I know what the JP's are like... ;)
But incase others don't.
 
Each one of these picture montage is a representation of 6-10 hours of shop time spent on this engine project. Most of today was sorting out head bolts to find 8ea. good head bolts. Most of them had some kind of pitting in the head and/or shank after polishing them with 320 sandpaper (so I can inspect them better). The threaded end needed to be chased with a die to clean them up too. I don't re-use the factory head bolt washers, I use new ARP washers (p/n 200-8688, 10ea. in a pack)
With these old engines which use a thick, composite material head gasket, its mandatory to coat it with copper spray sealant. Do not install the gasket dry like on the modern engines.
(Next - Rocker arm assembly)
Jan
cylinder_head on copy.jpg
 
Summit Racing has the best selection of Dorman products, like their manifold studs.
( I sent off a box of rocker arms for resurfacing to Delta Camshaft)
Jan
manifold studs copy.jpg
 
Nice video and really nice to see the set up and operation John has at Delta. I've sent so many cams,
rockers and lifters to them and they're always a pleasure to deal with. They stand behind their work
which is so important!
 
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