The larger bore will raise the compression and therefore put a little more stress on the engine, but I wouldn't have thought that a 40-under crank would make much difference to anything in terms of reliability. The centre of rotation of the con rods will remain the same as the extra grinding on the ...

Hi Tim, My plan is to stick with the stock arrangement for the rear oil seal but to put a viton seal on the front end. However, if you have a clutch centering tool then that would be useful. By the way, I've just sent you an e-mail with a picture of my flywheel and a question that I hope that you ca...

No surprise. This is just a test fit to make sure that the crank doesn't lock up with the caps on. It takes 5 minutes to take it off again.

I though that it is possible to put the flywheel on with the crank in place, so I'll try before I take it off again.

Put it on e-bay as a collection only and see what you get. Worst case scenario is that someone will take it away for you and save you the bother. However, I would be tempted to include a minimum price as there are components on the tub that are worth money - e.g. the bulls horn, outriggers and the h...

They just required a bit more pressure on them than I originally felt comfortable with to make them fit. They are all now in, I've test torqued everything up and the crank turns without locking up. The end float is right on the lower end of the range, which is as it should be for a reground crank wi...

That sound you probably just heard was the penny dropping. Thank you.

In that case, I don't understand how the end float is set. I get that the diamond plate stops the camshaft from being pulled out, but what stops movement in the other direction if not the circlip? Maybe something is missing from mine.

On further inspection, what seems to be the excess end float is caused by the gap between the circlip and the rear bearing. It's almost as if the rear bearing is not long enough. The diamond end plate is not worn. If someone has a rear bearing on the bench, could they accurately measure how long it ...

I've started the engine rebuild now as the block, head and crank are all back from the engine shop. I had to replace the thin front camshaft bearing but the other two were fine. I did have a little difficulty at first putting the rear bearing back into the block as I couldn't get it to go in square ...

My block is now back from the machine shop. I got them to crack test the crank and thankfully it was fine, but it needed a regrind from +30 to +40. I've started the rebuild and the centre shell fits perfectly, but when I put the end ones up against the originals, you can see that they have a slightl...

Hi Tom,
Thanks, I think that you have confirmed what I probably already really knew. Sometimes it takes someone else to say it, which I guess is one of the benefits of this forum.

I've now had my head and block back from the engine shop (took a while because their local post office had a COVID-19 outbreak and went into lockdown with some of my rebuild parts in it). The block was successfully bored to +.100 and the minimum skim on the head to make it flat has put it 8 thou (0....

I'm in the middle of restoring my TC XPAG engine. +.080 pistons are available but for some reason they seem to be way more expensive that +.060 or +.100. My engine was +.060 but the bores were scratched so I ended up having it rebored to +100 and it seems fine (to look at, I only got the block back ...

Hi Norman, you would be welcome to come around. I should be rebuilding the engine by then so your advice would be appreciated. Actually, I hopefully will be picking up my block, head and crank from the engineer in Barnsley some time next week, so I could call in and see you as I'll be just about pas...

Whilst waiting for my block and head to come back from the engine shop I've made and installed a new fuel line (in Cunifer) and installed most of the wiring loom (although nothing to connect it to yet). I've also restored the steering wheel. I was going to paint it after I had stripped and cleaned i...

If you think that your steering geometry has gone off as a result of the impact, the easiest thing to check would be the tie rod and drag link. If they have been bent the you will be scrubbing your tires due to excessive toe in, but as said, it would have to be something extreme to notice a change i...

Derby Plating are reputed to be one of the best, but as said, expensive. As an example of pricing they recently quoted me around £500 to do a radiator shell. I've heard horror stories about poorly done chrome work peeling off after a year or two so I would suggest that personal recommendation based ...

Hi Keith, Thanks for the information and the advice. I've spoken to Mike at Ferriday Engineering and he was really helpful - including giving advice that might mean that I don't need to but anything off him. He has offered a solution that will work for me should I need it if I have to over skim the ...

I know, but it would be a shame to waste mine, particularly as the previous owner went to the trouble of having it ported and cut for larger valves.

As I understand it there are quite a lot of XPAGs out there running on +100 bores (+100 pistons are an off the shelf item), but you are right, there are also stories of the rebore going into the water jacket. My engine man says that, whilst he cannot measure the wall thickness, he can get a good ide...