hello all,

i have had a mostly complete b14 engine in my garage for a while and thought i'd find out if it would run again. sadly i used its cylinder head for my old 340 and its sat headless for about 18 months out of the rain covered with a bin liner. it was seized but after a week under hydraulic fluid and a few sharp hits with a hammer/wooden block its freely moving again - with the engine secured you can crank it over and over and over with a ratchet.

anyway before i spend upwards of £3 on a replacement timing cover gasket i wonder if anyone has an opinions on the state of the bores. marvel at the 3mp quality of an old mobile phone. and again and again i have a non-matched cylinder head and all the timing gear and push rods and stuff along with a water pump and clutch (no flywheel however...) and would like to see if i can get the engine going. final plan is some off-road buggy contraption (along with prop and 4 speed 'box) but that is currently just a reason not to drag it to the scrapyard.

so question is - can this rust be honed out without needing to get oversized pistons and liners and other things that aren't available anymore?

pointers appreciated,

regards

toby

looks like surface rust but you won't know untill you hone it..

pistons 1 and 4 (sat much lower in the bores) were in much better shape than the less exposed middle pair which puzzled me.

even so i'll get a honing drill device (unless they're useless?) and see what it ends up like.

cheers

toby

I f you did not have clamps on the liners before turning it over you may have disturbed the bottom seals. A pressure test on the block+head assembled will help. in any case dont scrap it as Iam sure ssomeone will use it. regards, steve

i was aware of that little trick. i used some bolts plus big washers spaced out with some spare sockets tightened down. its a little shabby but cost about a pound.

i'm going to keep the engine (its fairly light without the head or clutter attached to it - two people can easily lift it) and build some sort of motorised transport with it and an old m45 gearbox i have.

i've cleaned up and re-lapped the valves in the cylinder head, cleaned up and frankesteined 3 sets of timing gear which i'll fit at some point, cleaned up and oiled the distributor and general de-skanked the other bits i have. all its needs are a few gaskets, some severe cleaning of the top of the block and to be bolted back together. i am however missing a fly wheel.....

i'm not going to hone the cylinders, the rust is very light and the bores are in good condition otherwise. i'll live with the marginal loss in compression given its going to be used for a project and doesn't have to be reliable or fast at all.

Hello

Good luck with the project!

The Volvo tool for turning over the B14s with the head off is basically some large washers and bolts the size of head bolts (but shorter). I used such a "tool" when doing the headgasket on a friends B14. We also left them in place whilst the head was repaired (cross threaded spark plug (not me!!))

S