Balls!

[Call the midlife!]

At either end of the cylinder block there are what I assume to be captive ball bearings in channels.
As my block has apart and clean and shiny for a few weeks now is there anything I ought to do to the balls to make sure they're not stuck in place and will do whatever it is they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do it?


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[Carolyn]

They're supposed to be stuck in place.  They close off the ends of oil-ways. 

[Call the midlife!]

They're supposed to be stuck in place.  They close off the ends of oil-ways. 

Hahahahaha! Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if they were supposed to have a degree or movement for pressure release or something along those lines.
Now all I need to do is find the 2, brand new sets of feeler gauges I bought weeks ago and I can start checking valve lash tonight.[emoji2]


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[Carolyn]

I'm currently in possession of the club bucket bank.

Let me know what you need?

[Call the midlife!]

Will do, thanks, I'm probably hoping in vain that as it's all new cams and valvetrain that I can get away with what I've got. Fingers crossed.


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[shnazzle]

Desperate to do my valves now that my exhaust is finally sorted. Everything sounds sweet except for clackityclackityclackity

[Carolyn]

This is me getting ready to measure mine. That's the really tedious part of the job.  The more different sizes, ready to go, the easier it is.

They went a little noisy after I did the valve seal swap.

[Call the midlife!]

I've suddenly got the Jackson 5 going round in my head.. "Can you feel it??"


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[Call the midlife!]

I'm currently in possession of the club bucket bank.

Let me know what you need?

I now know exactly what I need, nothing short of a miracle.
My feelers only go up to.65mm and the exhaust gap is more than that, so I don't know where to go from there at the moment.
Even dropping the original camshaft in the gap is way bigger than the upper limit so I don't know how big the buckets go up to and if it's even possible to close the gap.
They're the right Supertech valves and springs etc for the engine assuming they've put the right ones in the boxes but it's a head scratcher.


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[jonbill]

Are these new valves in an old head then? If anything I'd expect the clearances to be tight.

[Call the midlife!]

Are these new valves in an old head then? If anything I'd expect the clearances to be tight.

Yup, original head, new uprated valvetrain to go with the cams and I was the same as you expecting it to be more or less good as new so it was a bit of a shock. I'm just looking for standard valvetrain specs to check spring sizes etc.


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[jonbill]

I don't think the spring has much to do with it; I think the lash pad pushes directly on the valve stem, so there's only seat height, valve length, lash pad thickness and base circle of the cam involved. The valves maybe 0.5mm too short.
Carolyn will be along to correct me shortly [emoji4]

[Call the midlife!]

I don't think the spring has much to do with it; I think the lash pad pushes directly on the valve stem, so there's only seat height, valve length, lash pad thickness and base circle of the cam involved. The valves maybe 0.5mm too short.
Carolyn will be along to correct me shortly [emoji4]

Without taking them out to check, which I can't do until Thursday now, everything checks out as far as details on the manufacturers website go. I've binned the packaging the valves came in so can't check any references but I'll take a valve out on Thursday night and have a measure.


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[Call the midlife!]

I should just put the added detail that they're Crower Stage 2 cams so are more "lumpy" but wasn't expecting that much of a gap difference and I'm only laying the shafts in the seats with the lobe facing inwards, it's not an assembled, timed set up.


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[shnazzle]

You went for Stg2!?
Nice... Interested how you get on. Particularly for MOT.
Was wondering why you got new springs and valves.

[Call the midlife!]

You went for Stg2!?
Nice... Interested how you get on. Particularly for MOT.
Was wondering why you got new springs and valves.

Go big or go home! Although the way things are looking I'll not be leaving the garage let alone having to go home.[emoji23]
Fingers crossed a decent tune on the Apexi and the 200 cell cat should keep me within limits, especially with my friendly tester...


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[Call the midlife!]

You went for Stg2!?
Nice... Interested how you get on. Particularly for MOT.
Was wondering why you got new springs and valves.

Go big or go home! Although the way things are looking I'll not be leaving the garage let alone having to go home.[emoji23]
Fingers crossed a decent tune on the Apexi and the 200 cell cat should keep me within limits, especially with my friendly tester...


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And if you remember it was YOU who told me I needed new springs and valves. Sort of.


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[shnazzle]

You went for Stg2!?
Nice... Interested how you get on. Particularly for MOT.
Was wondering why you got new springs and valves.

Go big or go home! Although the way things are looking I'll not be leaving the garage let alone having to go home.[emoji23]
Fingers crossed a decent tune on the Apexi and the 200 cell cat should keep me within limits, especially with my friendly tester...


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And if you remember it was YOU who told me I needed new springs and valves. Sort of.


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Ah man I post so much on this forum I have no idea anymore who I say what to hahaha

I think I post here more than I say in real life

[Call the midlife!]

You went for Stg2!?
Nice... Interested how you get on. Particularly for MOT.
Was wondering why you got new springs and valves.

Go big or go home! Although the way things are looking I'll not be leaving the garage let alone having to go home.[emoji23]
Fingers crossed a decent tune on the Apexi and the 200 cell cat should keep me within limits, especially with my friendly tester...


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And if you remember it was YOU who told me I needed new springs and valves. Sort of.


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Ah man I post so much on this forum I have no idea anymore who I say what to hahaha

I think I post here more than I say in real life

I've got to admit I'll be glad when it's finished for 3 reasons.
It's finished.
I can drive it.
I can stop finding myself drifting off at work and trying to decide what to do when I get home and wondering if the throttle body will ever turn up.
Oh and 4, I can stop haemorrhaging money out of my savings and start saving again. (Although "lending" H the money for a 3 series didn't help with that).


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[shnazzle]

It ain't cheap rebuilding a block is it?
I can't remember the final price list I got up to, but it was enough for me to bin it and add it to the "in your dreams" bucket

[Call the midlife!]

It ain't cheap rebuilding a block is it?
I can't remember the final price list I got up to, but it was enough for me to bin it and add it to the "in your dreams" bucket

It's gone way over budget, some of it on things that can't be helped like the cat and some on things that couldn't be ignored like the kerb rash on the wheels that's now been replaced with shiny powder coat.
There have been an amount of use once and put away tools to be bought also together with a seemingly endless amount of tins of paint and preserver.
And I'm nowhere near where I'd wanted to be in terms of other work while it's in bits, the power steering pump bracket for instance will now be left until next winter.
And I'm heading towards failing my part 3 concrete technology course in May so I'm sure my employer will have something to say about that.
But it'll soon be time for our first meet and all these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain...


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[1979scotte]

It's only money spend it.
Follow my example.
The world is going to end on March 29th anyway.

Which 3 series?

[Call the midlife!]

It's only money spend it.
Follow my example.
The world is going to end on March 29th anyway.

Which 3 series?

It's an 05 320D, poverty spec but in good condition for its age and cheap enough. Although he's only had it a week and already it looks nothing like it did when he bought it. Picked up some M sport bumpers for pennies off some junkie in Liverpool last week [emoji23]


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[Carolyn]

It does sound as though the valves are the wrong length.

What's the story on the inlets?

I'd measure the cams too.  It's one or the other!

Have you tied dropping the old cam in and seeing what the gap is?  That will narrow down whether it's the cam or the valves.

If the cam lobe is close, I'd put the old valves back in....

(This bit is a bit tongue-in-cheek):

There's always putting the whole original valve train back in....

[Call the midlife!]

It does sound as though the valves are the wrong length.

What's the story on the inlets?

I'd measure the cams too.  It's one or the other!

Have you tied dropping the old cam in and seeing what the gap is?  That will narrow down whether it's the cam or the valves.

If the cam lobe is close, I'd put the old valves back in....

(This bit is a bit tongue-in-cheek):

There's always putting the whole original valve train back in....

I dropped the old exhaust cam in last night and it definitely reduced the gap to a probable manageable size, bearing in mind I think that particular bucket is a 42 and the biggest I have is around a 48 from memory.
The other aspect is the Crower recommendation lash gap on exhaust is 0.008 which is even tighter than standard.
I hear what you're saying re the valve train, first job is to quantify everything on Thursday evening and see what the valves actually measure, while I have one out I'll try  an old one just to check but I lapped the new ones in lightly so there'll be a very small area for error there.
All fun and games.
Thanks all.[emoji1303]


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