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Enjoy.
Ringing (bits) in my head
- Thread starter Andrew
- Start date
Hi Ken, Yes Ugh is correct!
It is part of a ring in piston #1. In the one image you can see a small square bit of piston that the ring blew out up through and en-beaded itself into the surface of the head. She was running and all of a sudden bang, bang, bang. Not a nice sound at all. Now I have to rebuild the engine. I can only assume the I had too much piston to cylinder gap or the ring gap was wrong. One miss fire and she went south.
Andrew
RootesRacer
Donation Time
Engine was pinging for a long time.
That's what breaks rings, particularly in rootes engines.
That's what breaks rings, particularly in rootes engines.
Welcome back Andrew.
This is exactly what my #4 piston looked like 12 years ago and it was on a factory original engine with about 15,000 miles on it. I was running across Wyoming on a hot July day at about 70 MPH (with OD, so not reved too high). I was about 5000 miles into an extended trip. The engine was running hot and I had the heater on to try to keep it cool. (and the top down and a wet towel around my neck to try to keep ME cool). In addition to the busted ring piece, the exhaust valve seat was burned, and when I disassembled the engine I found the #4 ring was broken in several places, but only that one segment was small enough to wobble in place until it busted thru the top.
I am very inclined to believe RR's explanation. But at highway speed with the top down I could hear no pinging. I suspect overheating, especially of the #4 cyl was also a factor. When I rebuilt the engine I found a good bit of foundry "sand and sludge" inside the cooling passages at the rear of the block.
Tom
This is exactly what my #4 piston looked like 12 years ago and it was on a factory original engine with about 15,000 miles on it. I was running across Wyoming on a hot July day at about 70 MPH (with OD, so not reved too high). I was about 5000 miles into an extended trip. The engine was running hot and I had the heater on to try to keep it cool. (and the top down and a wet towel around my neck to try to keep ME cool). In addition to the busted ring piece, the exhaust valve seat was burned, and when I disassembled the engine I found the #4 ring was broken in several places, but only that one segment was small enough to wobble in place until it busted thru the top.
I am very inclined to believe RR's explanation. But at highway speed with the top down I could hear no pinging. I suspect overheating, especially of the #4 cyl was also a factor. When I rebuilt the engine I found a good bit of foundry "sand and sludge" inside the cooling passages at the rear of the block.
Tom
I didn't receive much of a warning. Car had been running good and one morning had some difficulty starting and 3rd or 4th time with the ignition she fired and bang, bang, bang. I quickly turned her off and found this!
Is it possible to fix the head, what do you think?
Andrew
Is it possible to fix the head, what do you think?
Andrew
DanR
Diamond Level Sponsor
Haven't seen your car! IS it a nice original or just a good driver?
Consider a conversion to 2.8 V6? I have a nice group of Conversion Components for converting over to a Ford V6 with a late model Mustang T5.
If not, make sure the engine is torn down completely and run through a competent Auto Machine Shop for rebuild or do it yourself carefully.
There are lots of good videos on How-to now....
Best of wishes,
Consider a conversion to 2.8 V6? I have a nice group of Conversion Components for converting over to a Ford V6 with a late model Mustang T5.
If not, make sure the engine is torn down completely and run through a competent Auto Machine Shop for rebuild or do it yourself carefully.
There are lots of good videos on How-to now....
Best of wishes,
Hi Dan,
I would like to think of it as an original. I don't think that I would ever convert it over to a 2.8. I love the way she rides and handles, power is not a real thing for me. I have been watching the Miata conversions and love the work that one of the fellows did on his car. I would love to keep it original. She needs paint, rear leaf springs are getting tired and now the engine. I will have to do a great deal of reading and find as much info as possible. I just wish there was a mechanic that I know would be good with a Sunbeam engine. I appreciate your communication and input.
This is may old girl click here
Thanks,
Andrew
Very nice Alpine, Andrew!
Keep Her original!
DanR
P.S. I have one also that is original (Original).
Do you have a link to some photos of her?
Andrew, Absolutely the head is repairable. Mine was in worse shape. I had it milled about 6 thou, and that removed most of the dents and all the raised portion of the dents. But I also had a lot of damage around the exhaust valve that required welding up. I'll try to attach pics
In the first pic you can see a lot of dents as the car ran for about 2-3 minutes while it made a deep rattling sound. You can see the embedded ring segment at about 10 O'clock in the pic. But you can't see the burned / corroded area behind the exhaust valve. It all cleaned up pretty nicely with just a 6 thou milling. And I also did a Vizard mode to the head
Tom
In the first pic you can see a lot of dents as the car ran for about 2-3 minutes while it made a deep rattling sound. You can see the embedded ring segment at about 10 O'clock in the pic. But you can't see the burned / corroded area behind the exhaust valve. It all cleaned up pretty nicely with just a 6 thou milling. And I also did a Vizard mode to the head
Tom
Attachments
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Toyanvil
Gold Level Sponsor
It looks like your motor went to a lean condition, I would look for air leaks and check timing when the motor is back in the car. When a motor goes lean it will detonate a piston just like that. Here's a picture of my motor that went lean from the timing being off, I was adjusting it for the Cali gas.
