I thought I was nearly there, it was running albeit not fantastically which I put down to my first "well its about right" attempt at the timing.

It is booked into Gerald Dale to setup and MoT it on Tuesday next week, and all I thought I had left to do was fit the new alternator and remove the thermostat (both done this evening), and get the timing spot on and balance the carbs.

Anyway, having done the alternator and 'stat I moved onto the timing. I turned it by hand so all the pistons were mid-stroke, removed the cam belt and was in the process of turning no.1 inlet fullly open when I noticed a gap between the cam and follower on no.1


camgap

I'm pretty sure there hasnt been any interference (I've always turned it over by hand after setting the timing and never met any resistence beyond what you'd expect from compression), there arent any marks on the piston.

I've just about had enough of it now and am very tempted to take it to Gerald on Tuesday and just say sort it. But before I do was wondering if there is anything obvious that I am missing/might be causing the valve to stick?

Cheers,
A rather despondent Hugh

Just realised I'm being ridiculously blonde and I havent done the valve clearences, slightly happier now

Pintos are valve safe anyway unless its been heavily skimmed etc.

So don't worry mate...

Take care, you're nearly there!!

Rich

Cheers for the reply.

The standard 2.0l is a safe engine, but the 1.6 isnt.

Mine is a 2.1, skimmed head, Kent GP1 cam which has an extra 2.6mm of valve lift, so mine isnt safe...

Aye, go careful then ! Interesting, I'm running 1.6 and thought it was safe too..

Cheers

Rich

rich if yours is a standard 1.6 head then it should be safe

im running a 2.1 with 50 thou of the head and inlet lift of 12mm and i have no valve to piston issues at all.

as for the original post looks like the valve clearences need sorting before you start getting involved in anything else, lol

[Edited on 21/5/10 by omega0684]

Yeah I must have been having a ridiculously stupid moment, I just completely forgot that the valve clearerances were adjustable...

quote:

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Originally posted by omega0684
rich if yours is a standard 1.6 head then it should be safe

im running a 2.1 with 50 thou of the head and inlet lift of 12mm and i have no valve to piston issues at all.

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If the belt snaps on a standard 1.6, you loose 3 valves, the 1.6 ecomax (a 2.0 with really narrow pistons) and the 2.0 are fine