A piston query!!

[garyeanderson]

You hit it right on the head Dan. Regular, spirited use and good maintenance is the key to a happy Elan. Mine thrives on it ! Too many of these cars spend more time sitting around being "improved" instead of being enjoyed.

Amen Brother

4 inches of Snow with the added salt on Sunday, 52 degrees and rain last night and the roads are washed off, the sun is out and 50 F so time for another drive to nowhere.

[andyhodg]

Hi All

I can cast some light on why the valve to piston contact occurred on my engine. Sometime in its past the engine had been modified to "Big Valve Spec" by Vegantune. The standard big valve engine only has big inlet valves and the exhaust valves are the same as the standard engine.

Shortly after I became aware of the car (it was bought from S J Sports Cars by a good friend of mine. It was suffering with a badly burnt exhaust valve due to use of unleaded fuel. The head was removed fro the car, stripped, cleaned and sent to QED for a set of new valves, guides and seats. QED fiited their own larger diameter exhaust valves. Both my friend and I where complete novices when it come to twin cam engines and did not think to check the clearance between the vlves and pistons when rebuilding the engine. The consequence of this ignorance was the contact you can see in the earlier photos.

All in all I consider that I got off lightly compared to the other possible consequences of this oversight.

I actually bought the car off my friend about 5 years ago and yes he is still a good friend.

Incidently the pistons where in good condition I fitted new rings as part of the rebuild and their fit in the grooves was good.

Andy