daimler 250 v8 1967 recomissioning

[lhubbard]

hi guys

well the engine is out and in ite engine frame. I have taken off the heads and started to clean the heads down. I found initially that the water ways in one of the heads was very bady corroded and full of what looked like limescale. I carefully removed the scale and reopended the water way using a pressure washer to the point where i could get a good flow of water out the bottom of the head. One problem is though that the corrosion has created a slightly wider water way than the orginal although still within the region of the head gaskit. This gives me a question should I use a chemical to complete the cleaning process and remove any internal limescale. I also want to stabilise the waterways against rust any one got any bright ideas on that?..

cheers

lee

[Luxobarge]

Regarding stabilising the waterways, IMHO all you need to do is to use the correct concentration of a good quality antifreeze, which will give you all the corrosion inhibitor that you will ever need. It's a shame that previous owners clearly haven't done this, as use of tapwater with no antifreeze in it is the primary cause of internal corrosion. People often forget that not only does antifreeze stop the coolant from freezing, it also stops it from corroding, therefore it's vitally important all year round, not just in winter.

If you don't believe me, get two pieces of clean steel and put one in a pot of tapwater and the other in a pot of 50:50 antifreeze and distilled water (I get mine from the de-humidifier, but ice from the condensation on the freezer works just as well) Then leave them for a period of time and see how much rust you get on each piece of metal. The one in the antifreeze will remain like new - for many months too, if you've got that much patience!

This is an ally head, right? If so, I suspect that a lot of what you think is limescale is actually aluminium oxide. I'd clean it out as best I could and put it back together personally.

All the best

[lhubbard]

well guys I have cleaned the water ways as best as i could however there is significant decay around the waterway inlets to the stage where I may be looking for recon heads as the amount of damage is substantial. It is so irritating that a previous owner had obviosuly not used antifreeze. They have gone off with a friend who works for a engineers company for assessment but it is not looking good. The price of recon heads is astronomical!!!..

anyone got any ?


cheers

lee

[harvey]

You can get the heads ally welded and skimmed*, but before doing anything I'd get new gaskets and lay them in position on the heads and see whether the corrosion has gone far enough to be under the gaskets, if it hasn't then it's not a problem.

*On the Rover P6 2000 heads we used to have sleeves made then ream out the waterways to take them ensuring they were a nice tight fit, and then have the head skimmed. I don't know if that would be an option with yours.

[lhubbard]

I have sent the heads off with a mate to see if they can be welded and skimmed. One question though is that on land rover heads there is a skim indicator mark which shows if the head is ok to me skimmed. Do the Daimler heads have the same thing?

where do you go to have this sort of work done?

Cheers

Lee

[harvey]

where do you go to have this sort of work done?

I haven't got involved with that sort of thing for a good while, but I always used:

http://www.thurstonengineering.co.uk/index.php

And I haven't heard anything in the meantime that would stop me using them again now if the need arose. I would imagine they would be able to tell you about the head skimming amounts.

[lhubbard]

sent heads off to be looked at and possibly welded. At the moment the problem is that they look like they may have already been skimmed at some point so this is an added complication.

I may however have located an alternative set of heads just waiting on confirmation as to the status and condition.

apart from that its masses of engine bay cleaning and prep work prior to getting to grips with the engine rebuild.

cheers

lee

[lhubbard]

picked up a spare pair of good quality heads this evening. one of my original is close to being repaired so its all systems go.

cheers

lee

[lhubbard]

Hi there everyone

I am reassembling the engine now and I need to drain out contaminated ATF from the torque converter. Obviously I could refit then fill up the gear box and pump the old out and then change the whole lot but surely there is a better way of draining out the fluid in the torque converter?... Im certainly not drilling it ...thats acting for trouble..

thoughts

best regards

lee

[harvey]

You'll never get all the fluid out of the converter, and if you don't want to drill a small hole on the seam and reweld it (probably a wise move) then all you can do is hold it with the rear end downwards and move it around, but however long you do that there will always be some in there which won't come out. (Although once you think you've got the lot, there's always a bit extra that manages to drain out over your trousers as you carry it back to the bench.... ) Don't forget to clean through the cooler and pipes as well.