Bulkhead - post-painting work

I forgot to take pictures of the results after I finished sanding, buffing and polishing, but here’s a photo of me almost finished sanding last week. The white gunk everywhere is the dried-up clear coat that got taken off during the process.

Since this was taken, I’ve finished sanding, wiped off the excess clear coat, buffed the panel, hit it with some swirl remover, and polished it. I haven’t got around to mounting it yet due to the trouble I’ve had with the brake lines (see below). I’ll post a proper “after” photo next week.

Bulkhead mid-sanding

Engine back from machinist

Because people ask me what exactly I had done at the machinist, here’s a list:

  • Cylinders honed and bored out to 0.004” oversize
  • Head and block decked
  • Chemical cleaning
  • New welch plugs in cylinder head
  • Valves lapped and ground
  • Exhaust valve seats adapted for unleaded fuel
  • Big ends closed and honed
  • Resize little end bushes and hone to size
  • Replaced and refitted camshaft bearings
  • Crankshaft ground to 0.001” undersize
  • Valve guides replaced
  • Rotating assembly balanced
  • Flywheel machining

There’s still a little bit of work to be done, unfortunately. I need to get new thrust bearings for the crankshaft from the UK, and the welch plugs were removed from the engine block. I wasn’t told this would happen, so I’ve ordered replacements for those (from within Australia), and they need to be fitted before I can paint the block.

The camshaft also needs some work - the machinist I went to doesn’t do camshafts, so I need to find a place that does. There’s a camshaft shop reasonably close-by, but they’re only open weekdays.

Interestingly, you can see the ghostly outlines of a “3” and “4” painted on the block - and in the higher-quality version of this photo I think it’s possible to make out a “2”. I’ve never seen these on a block before, and I assume they’re the cylinder numbers. I wonder whether they’re original?

Rear oblique view of machined engine block

View down machined cylinder

Interior of engine block

Right-hand side of engine block

Crankshaft

Flywheel

Head prepared

While I’m waiting on stuff to arrive for the block, I reassembled the head and got it painted (in the ghetto spray booth). This was all pretty uneventful, and it came up quite nicely.

Head with masking still on

Head with masking removed

Close-up of valves and valve springs

Brake lines

Since I neglected to do a blog post last week, I figured I’d write an update about the brake lines. I did a test fit, and found that the suspect lines were indeed the wrong length. I’ve mocked up the final layout using zip ties, and as you can see, the union-to-rear pipe is too long, and the left-hand rear pipe is too short. The left-hand front pipe is only just long enough, too. I’ve contacted the manufacturer for replacement parts, and they’re on their way.

Brake line union

Excess pipe in rear-to-union

Left-hand rear pipe too short

Tyres

I’ve finally managed to source some correctly-sized 600x16 tyres, so I’d intended to get my wheels sand-blasted next week, dropping them off at the soda-blasting place this weekend. Unfortunately they didn’t answer my call (there’s usually someone around to deal with pick-ups and drop-offs), so I’ll try again next weekend.