Help... two cylinders not firing?!

[gtt1951]

Don't touch the rad tap - it may shear off. Pull the hose off the water pump. Yes -Mini 998 gasket locally will be cheaper and off the shelf! Valve gaps -12 thou inlets and 15 thou exhausts. When you fit the head back on - torque it to 40 ft lbf and roughly set the gaps. Don't forget to fill water + antifreeze!. Then run the engine through a short heat cycle - then (when it has cooled - but not necessarily cold) retighten to 44 ft lbf, and set the gaps accurately.

Sorry BMCecosse, but in all the books I have, the rocker to valve clearance gap is 12 thou for both Inlets and Exhausts,
measured COLD. There are other settings for checking when HOT, but these seem to vary.
Other OHV engines I had worked on, in the past, did have different settings for In and Out valves.

George.

[kennatt]

O. Oh here we go again

[bmcecosse]

You set the valves as you wish - my advice is 15 thou for the exhausts. Ignore it if you want to risk burned out valves!!
When were the books written? Probably long before the introduction of lead-free petrol..........

[gtt1951]

Looks like I may have said the wrong thing - sorry Roy (can I call you Roy, its shorter than your tag name?).
Yes, the newest one was 1975 (updated Haynes).
Although I'll be putting that horrible unleaded stuff in, I've inserted one of those "alloy" widgets into the fuel tank, on a wire for future retieval. Would this mean that I will still have to set the exhaust gaps to 15 thou on my refit?
Back in the day, I sometimes ran my 1098 (1963) saloon on 2 star when a bit strapped for cash, 3 star normally, and sometimes 4 star for a "treat".
As far as I remember, when Thatcher introduced "unleaded" (as a political move), all the 2 Star and 3 Star pumps became labelled "unleaded" overnight.
I'm, hopefully, refitting my cylinder head tomorrow - any guidance gratefully accepted.
George.
P.S. When I sold my saloon back in about 1988, it still had 3 star in the tank and the engine ran very well (shame the floor was more like a Fred Flintstone one!).

[bmcecosse]

I'm afraid the alloy snake is a complete waste of money............ On the later engines MG Rover set the gaps all at 15 thou.......for unleaded running. I don't see the need on the inlets - so 12 Inlet and 15 Exhaust is my recommendation. After a bit of hot/full throttle running back in the summer I had some backfiring - and now have my Ex gaps at 18 thou - it seems a bit better, but haven't been able to replicate the conditions fully. No need for any silly additives either - just check/reset the gaps every 3000 miles or so.

[TigerWoody]

Morning,

Me again... hoping to get it all back together today or tomorrow but will update when all done... it was the head gasket, blew between 3 and 4 as was suggested so thank you all!!

I've got something called a System 4 "cannister" fitted in(-line) the petrol pipe it doesn't have a company name on it and I can't find anything about it on the internet... the previous owner told me it adds the lead and lasts forever(!!) surely nothing lasts forever and it'll run out eventually but that aside... this is alchemy and if it's so wonderful why isn't everyone doing it?!!!

Anyway... we've done a fair few miles in our Traveller and it runs well on unleaded, from what I've understood(?) in the above postings I don't need an additive if I'm setting the gaps at 12 and 15... is this correct?

Does anyone know anything about this System 4?

What do you all do about additive or think about this... ie; should I get rid of this wonderful device and put the gaps at the above settings?

Thanks again.

Chris

[gtt1951]

I think the "System 4" thing contains something similar to the "snake" I put in my tank - I'll keep it in there, but will be following BMC's advice on setting the gaps at 12 & 15 (I'm planning to do this tomorrow as it should be "mainly sunny" in my area, as I'm working out in the open).
G.

[bmcecosse]

Both devices are utterly useless. They rely on the fact that the engine runs perfectly well on unleaded fuel for years and years and years...... You give yourself a little extra protection by setting the exhaust gaps to 15 (or even 18) thou - which makes sure they don't close up during hard running when the exhaust valve may get very hot and expand much more than the inlet which is constantly washed by an incoming freezing cold petrol vapour gale ! And yes - don't waste money on additives.......or an 'unleaded' head.

[lowride stepside]

I

[bmcecosse]

It's a 15 minute job at worst.....and that includes searching for the feelers!

[mike.perry]

It saves time adjusting valve clearances by watching which valve goes down then adjusting the opposite valve, 2 down adjust 7, 4 down adjust 5 etc. Mark each one with chalk as you adjust it and when they are all marked, job done

[TigerWoody]

Update...
All done and running well!!
Thank you to everyone who posted to help, very much appreciated... my wife has her wheels back!!
The valve clearances were easy in the end(if you've never done it give it a go it really is simple!!) it just took a while to get my head round it... the bigest problem I had was finding my old set of imperial spanners!! (VWs are metric!!)
Thanks again!!
Chris

[bmcecosse]

Great success,,,,,