Morris Minor Owners Club

Just thought I'd update you chaps on the saga of the stuck cyl head. I got it off a couple of days ago, and patience was the key. As I was busy travelling with work I only had a chance to pop down and dribble hyd oil down the studs and over the head each week for the past 4-5 weeks. (also waiting for spares to arrive from UK via a pal)

Then yesterday i had a free day, so went down with new wooden wedge (made from hard wood) and gave it some gentle persuasion and I felt it loosen up, but still tough to lift off. So then I used the oil in cylinders trick (put it in 2 and 4) and cranked it over by hand. That was enough to break the final resistance.

When I got the thing off you can see that where the water/cooling channels were they had rusted and obviously were causing it to stick a 3 or 4 different points.

Thanks for the tips guys I can now get on with the top end o/haul!

Congratulations - I know I would have broken/damaged something weeks ago

Thanks for the update - good luck with it.

Here's a thing, first thing I noticed when i took the first valve out was that there was no oil seal on the valve stem, either no one bothered putting one on last time or it disentegrated over time. ..given local bodge shops I reckon the first option.

My questions are

1. best way to clean out the rusty sludge from the coolant channels?
2. How much carbon to clean off the pistons? leave the edge alone or not?

Thanks guys, you know it really is a bugger working in 28 C, your hands get all sweaty.... Merry Christmas and hope you guys dont' have too severe a winter!

[/img]

I've never yet seen a head with the stem seals, and I've never yet had any oil burning problems through lack of them. Either every one I've had has had the seals disintegrate, or they were simply never fitted.

Opinions seem to differ on carbon removal, but personally I get the whole lot off then polish the piston tops. Probably polishing them doesn't do much for very long, but it feels nice to get previously crud encrusted bits all shiny

MalaysianMoggy wrote:you know it really is a bugger working in 28 C, your hands get all sweaty....

You want to try -5 C instead which we have had recently!

Leave the piston tops alone - you will do more damage than good. Oil seals should be fitted on the inlet valve stems - but not on the exhausts. Don't worry about the crud in the head - but do get the top of the block perfectly clean - best to pull the studs out and clean them and the block - then re-fit the studs. And 28 deg C - I wish !