Morris C8

[pauldavies]

The mystery of the two gaskets, having finished cleaning up the head and no4 bore I am in the process of re-assembly, when the head was tightened down I looked to put the two bolts in the water pump at the front/top of the head. They don't line up due to the holes in the cylinder head where the thread is are lower than the clearance holes in the water pump and that's why they put two gaskets on to raise the head up. Silly me. I have taken the water pump off and will elongate the holes in the pump. Yes it is quite likely the head has been machined to cause this, no knocking when engine is turned over so ok..

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by pauldavies

The mystery of the two gaskets, having finished cleaning up the head and no4 bore I am in the process of re-assembly, when the head was tightened down I looked to put the two bolts in the water pump at the front/top of the head. They don't line up due to the holes in the cylinder head where the thread is are lower than the clearance holes in the water pump and that's why they put two gaskets on to raise the head up. Silly me. I have taken the water pump off and will elongate the holes in the pump. Yes it is quite likely the head has been machined to cause this, no knocking when engine is turned over so ok..

Hi Paul,
Well done on solving the mystery, they must have taken a lot off that head unless it had been skimmed several times in its life.

regards, Richard

[Mike Kelly]

Would a compression test tell you how much the head has been shaved ?

I have a Indian made copy of the 1930 Lister CS single cyl. diesel , they recommend using a little piece of lead to check the piston to head clearance. The piston squashes the lead , you then measure the thickness of the lead . Don't know if that helps ?

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

Would a compression test tell you how much the head has been shaved ?

I have a Indian made copy of the 1930 Lister CS single cyl. diesel , they recommend using a little piece of lead to check the piston to head clearance. The piston squashes the lead , you then measure the thickness of the lead . Don't know if that helps ?

Hi Mike
I remember working on Lister engines from many years ago and think this procedure with the piece of lead was to get the shimming correct under the cylinder barrel, due to slight variations on piston height, barrel, etc.

To ascertain compression ratio on the Morris you would fill the combustion chamber with a measured amount of liquid and work the formula out with cylinder capacity. This done with head off and upside down.

[Mike Kelly]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Hi Mike
I remember working on Lister engines from many years ago and think this procedure with the piece of lead was to get the shimming correct under the cylinder barrel, due to slight variations on piston height, barrel, etc.

.

Yes , they recommend 1/16" is the correct piston/head gap. The shims under the cylinder , I sort of guessed that . The Indian built Listers are nowhere as good as the originals. It is necessary to strip the Indian engine down, and check for casting sand in the crankcase , plus many other atrocious faults. Mine had terrible camshaft bearing clearances . The timing gears are prone to breaking , mine has a bronze timing gear . I had to machine a eccentric bolt to adjust the timing gear backlash which was terrible. I had a lot of trouble starting it, the compression is huge , after spinning it over, I flick the valve lifter off and the piston just bounces back , it wont go over TDC ! The good thing is, fantastic spares backup !

[pauldavies]

I have measured the recess for the pistons and there is more than 1/16,"the pistons are .010" below the top of the case and there is .130" at the lowest on the head as it domes up over the pistons(which are flat) this is before I add the gasket which I didn't measure as it will be flattened by tightening down the head. Will do a pressure test once I get it all back together.

[pauldavies]

I had the head off again today, doubts in mind mean going backwards. I was going to elongate the water pump holes but the wall thickness doesn't allow so I filled the original holes in the cylinder head and drilled & tapped new ones where they will fit, all good and removed a broken bolt that was causing some problems. The head was measured again for clearance and as I previously measured the pistons have .100" clearance as the pistons are .020" under the case and the gasket is a squashed .080" so all good. Should get good pressure which I will check in a few days, I added a picture of the head just to remind myself what lurks below. Thanks every one.
Paul