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[The Idiots' Guide to Bosch Distributor Rotors]

I freed up no.5 exhaust valve and gave it a "rough-as-guts" abrasive-free valve grind with a drill:  Initially I set the air pressure to about 10 psi, but with the weight of the drill on the valve, it didn't stay shut.  So I upped the air pressure to about 20 psi, which allowed the valve to stay shut with the extra weight of the drill.  Then I squeezed the trigger and spun the valve gently.  After a few seconds of that work, the valve then stayed firmly shut with the drill weighing the valve down.  I could hear the blow-by into the crankcase, but couldn't hear anything out the exhaust.  Good sign.  More WD-40 on the valve stem, opened and shut the valve a few times, and a minute or so with the drill.  I un-chucked the drill, disconnected the hose, and spun the valve with my fingers.  It felt smooth to spin on the seat, so I figure the drill did some good.

Meanwhile, the Greystanes Special Tool Company came good with a Lisle valve spring compressor.  I gave it a practice-run on Brett's donor cylinder head.  The tool needed adjustments to get right, including one gotcha:  if you attempt to hold on too far down the valve spring, the compressor's claws bind between the spring coils on assembly of the valve cap and collets.  But it's much easier to re-install the spring using the tool: you have two hands to get the collets in place.



I put the rockers back on and checked the valve clearances in the most basic way possible: Can I spin the pushrods when each cylinder's at the firing instant?

And I turned my attention to the ignition system.  The marks on the electrodes of the distributor cap suggested that the cap and rotor are misaligned.  This seems odd.  And then I remembered something about Bosch FJs having different caps and rotors from the later models.  As a result-

The Idiots' Guide to Bosch Distributor Rotors



FJ distributor rotors are maybe 3 mm shorter than the later models' rotors.
Red motor Bosch distributor rotors have a similar body to the FE-EJ distributor rotors, but the electrode is much longer.  Which leads to this insight:  With care, you can shorten a red motor distributor rotor to suit a grey distributor.  In emergencies, that is.

I had been running the car for what - six years, nine years, with an FJ distributor rotor.  I went through my stash of old ignition parts and found a serviceable FE-EJ distributor rotor.

And then I took the car for a test drive.  It's much improved.  The idle's way smoother and the motor just feels more tractable.  How much of the improvement's ignition-related?  Most, maybe.  But unsticking no.5 exhaust valve will have done no harm at all.

SA All-Holden Day, here I come (fingers crossed).

Rob

Ok, I know this is an old thread.....but.....I am still working on the doors LOL,

I finally found some motivation to get back working on the car.

So I am on the drivers rear door, the dividing metal channel that keeps the rear quater glass in place and holds the felt channel for the window glass is pretty much rusted out.

Can this be replaced? if so, where the hell do you get it?

I have searched Rare spares and Betta Rubber for it, no joy.

Any pointers?

Cheers
J

Letting WD-40 run down the valve guide overnight has yielded results - no.5 exhaust valve now spins freely when closed.  I'll take mother out for lunch, then chuck the valve in a drill and give it a good whirl.

Rob

Today I tried the method out in earnest. I used a Ryco compression tester adapter and a Ryco-style fitting on the air hose. But, as always, it was a little more complicated than anticipated -

- I couldn't slide the rocker along the shaft far enough to completely clear the valve spring cap
- I couldn't squeeze the ring spanner between the rocker and the valve spring.

I ended up pulling the rocker gear off. I decided to attempt no. 2 first, turned the motor to TDC on no. 2, put the car in top gear, bolted in the dummy rocker shaft, pressurized no.2 cylinder, worked the ring spanner into place, and took the exhaust valve spring off. You beauty.



The valve opened under its own weight, and when I spun it by the stem, closed, the valve spun freely. No. 2 exhaust valve's not sticking. I reassembled the spring.

Same deal with no.3 exhaust valve. It's not sticking. No. 4 was the same, but I can tell I was getting tired: putting the collets back took ages.

Number 5 exhaust valve didn't spin freely when closed, and took a bit of a push to get it off the seat. So I've put PVC tube over the guide and sprayed WD-40 into the tube. I'll let it sit overnight, then chuck the valve stem into a drill and attempt to free the valve up.

Don't know what to do with numbers 1 and 6. They've always been the high-reading cylinders when I compression-test the motor. I'm inclined to let them be.

Rob

Thanks for the info.  AL

This topic has been moved to Modification Help.

http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=28604.0

Hi Grey Nomad,
Not sure now mate. I did this back in 2019 and still working well. I currently am only using one as the other spring is ok at the moment. I know I did some leg work before ordering to make sure they would be ok.
Check the rating on the internet which I think will be 380N. It is according the the invoice I got at the time, 320mm in length.
Regards Brett

 Rhett, what weight is the struts lift capacity ?? AL.

Hi Guys,
Attached are the photos of my gas strut conversion for FE/FC and possibly EK/FB boot lids. It is very easy. I obtained the struts from gasstrutguys.com.au
P/N SKU: U320380  
YQ16-120-320/380N
They are $35 inc for a pair. However, I have noticed that their picture no longer shows them with the brackets but apparently you can contact them about brackets. Maybe show them a the pic in the below photos. Hope this helps you guys.
Regards Brett

Hinge View

Rear Mount Front View

Rear Mount Side View

Size measurement

I think my Humpy may have sticking exhaust valves.

I Googled "un-sticking valves" and emerged in the world of light aircraft engines.  I didn't know that you could (legally) work on your own aircraft engine.  Turns out that using various special tools, you can release the valve spring collets and remove the valve spring.  Then, having removed the exhaust manifold and working through the exhaust port, you push the valve through into the cylinder, being careful to grab onto the valve stem with a grippy tool so you don't lose the valve inside the cylinder.  After that, it's a relatively straightforward operation to send a greased reamer down the exhaust valve guide to clean it up.  Starting the exhaust valve back into the guide takes some dexterity, and then when that's done, you reassemble the engine and take the aircraft for a test flight.

Yeesh.  But I got to thinking.  You can remove the valve springs from red motors using Tool 6A38, which is basically a big, bent fork.  Can this technique be adapted to grey motors?  I imagine you'd remove the adjuster stud and nut from the rocker, slide the rocker along the shaft, remove the pushrod and then engage the magic tool, while pressurising the cylinder with air.  The magic tool would be in the form of a cranked lever with a two-pronged or ring-shaped end . . . wait a minute . . . that sounds very much like a ring spanner.  To test the concept, I need

- Assembly, cylinder head, 1
- Shaft, valve rocker, 1
- Pedestal, rocker shaft, 2
- 5/16" UNC bolts, various
- spanner, ring, cheap crappy, 3/4" - 7/8", 1

An old el-cheapo 19 mm ring spanner very nearly fitted.  I needed to grind away some of the webbing to make it sit close to centre over the valve spring cap, and then "enthinnen" the end of the ring so the valve spring cap isn't crooked when the valve spring's compressed.



Here's the spanner in place.  It's not too hard to remove the collets with long-nose pliers.  Getting the valve stem oil seal out was more of a challenge, but my Humpy pre-dates valve stem oil seals.



Valve spring and cap removed.



Next:  slip a length of PVC tube over the valve guide and fill it with kerosene or Redex or similar.



My hunch is that there's gunk adhering to the valve stem, which jams into the end of the valve guide when the valve's shut and prevents the valve from seating properly.  I believe the test for this is to rotate the valve stem when the valve's closed.  It should spin freely.  I'm hoping that a couple of days of solvent running down the valve stem should soften the gunk up enough that I can free the valve with a drill.

The back-up plan, of course, is to pull the head off, decoke and grind the valves, along with checking the exhaust valve stem-to-guide clearances.  That risks turning into a rebore though.

(Thanks to Brett for the donor cylinder head)

Rob