OF COLLETS AND COLLARS

Ooh, I have two followers now, it's good to know that my kitcar adventure maybe of interest to others. I have also had a 'comment' on my last post, from Peter, I have had a look at the pics of his finished car and it is superb, I only hope that when I eventually finish mine it looks half as good.

I took advantage of a dry, bright morning to set up my workmate in the front of the garage to take advantage of good light. Carefully using sharp chisels I removed the firmly stuck cylinder/base gasket, it is important to keep the blade absolutely flat to the surface to prevent scoring and eventually all trace was removed.

Next job was to remove the valves from the heads. I have a choice of three valve spring compressors and it was my old standard black one that did the job. Initially the springs wouldn't compress as the split collets were stuck in the collars, a small socket placed over the top of the valve stem and an extension bar, when tapped with a mallet unstuck the collets and the valves removed. Everything was washed off with paraffin, dried and again carefully stored in the correct order..

The fourteen allen headed screws, not forgetting the four bolts that held the sump pan to the crankcase, were removed and the pan dropped down. I had remembered to drain the oil first, always a messy job, but it didn't take too much mopping up afterwards. The oil filter was removed and the pan then washed with paraffin and dried. The next day it was all packed up and along with the carbs, it was delivered to Dave at  TSR Vapour Blasting at Sevenoaks, who said it should all be ready for collection in a week.

In the meantime I visited Corsa Italiana at Walton on Thames and returned with a full set of gaskets. a smart set of conical air filters for the carbs and smart braided oil lines to replace the tatty ones between timing cover and heads. I also ordered a polished aluminium alternator cover. I can't wait to start putting it all back together.