SM: Engine checkout

By December 2006, mechanical work on the engine finally begins. Here are the only pictures I had the opportunity to take during this work, engine heads have been removed and sent to a specialist.

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Here are the right cylinders, they are ok

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Here are the left ones. The middle piston is quite ugly

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Here is the main timing chain housing. A special hole has to be made to improve the tensioner lubrication, this engine didn’t had this improvement made in the past

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It’s nice inside each housing. The oil pump is in good shape also

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Bad news came from the camshafts. Both exhaust camshafts are in bad shape and will be replaced by used but good ones

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Here are the camshafts to replace. As they were in bad shape, the associated valve tappets are in bad shape also and will be replaced

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The upside down engine to check the lower part

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It’s nice, we won’t touch anything

As planned, there were some bad news: 2 camshafts, 6 valve tappets and 3 valve springs had to be replaced. One engine head has been replaced in the past. But the overall condition of the engine is good. It confirms the good results of the compression ratio measurement done before taking the engine out of the car.

Of course I would love to replace all pistons and everything around them, but it would cost a fortune and it’s not really necessary, my goal is not to have a new engine.