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I just had SSI's installed on my 82SC ( I'm no wrench) and it changed the way I felt about the car. It was what seemed missing when I bought the car. Its a worthwhile upgrade.
I'm hoping to have that feeling soon Dwight. I have plans tonight so will not be able to proceed much . I did buy some nickel anti seize as I heard its the best for heat applications, even better than copper so we will see. I have to source some copper M-8 flange nuts today , or maybe get regular copper exhaust nuts with copper washers.
I just had SSI's installed on my 82SC ( I'm no wrench) and it changed the way I felt about the car. It was what seemed missing when I bought the car. Its a worthwhile upgrade.
yeah did them when I did my engine rebuild, still have had 6 leakers so far out of 9 checked. I have a working theory why my rockers leaked but I'm going to keep it to myself for now as I am testing something to see if it holds true. .
often caused by a tiny, tiny tear while putting them in...
Actually not true. The engine was designed to seal without these rsr seals. Rsr seals were an afterthought from the racing program. Admittedly it helps. But they are not the last defence to leaking shafts.
Well all done and started testing. Initially after the first test i do not like the sound at all. Admittedly its subjective.
Horrible drone while on the gas on the hwy for example 3500-4500
Oof, droning at 3500-4500rpm? That's harsh. Mine drones as well but really only between 2000-2500rpm so it's only an issue when I'm puttering around my neighborhood.
On the rocker seals, when they leak where does the oil tend to end up? Not on the valve cover bolts, I imagine, right?
Well Dave , to your first point , I am going to leave it the rest of the season and see what happens. I might be able to borrow a couple different mufflers and see if it improves. Maybe I will spring for a Dansk if I can see it improves things.
Now the rocker shafts .. I am sure I am going to open a rats nest of differing opinions here , but here are my thoughts.
of the 12 rockers . a total of 9 were leaking since my rebuild last year. I installed RSR seals, torqued to slightly over spec 20-24 on a spec of 18 since it was the same cam housing, felt I may need a little more. The issue I personally believe was this .
During my rebuild I did not replace the rocker shafts as they measured within spec. The fundamental error I made was this I believe:
The rocker shaft, uses a conical washer per se at each end, as you tighten the nut and bolt it essentially squeezes the steel shaft and forces the very outer edge to expand and seal against the housing. The outside of the shaft is exposed to atmosphere so that edge is going to corrode as it is made of mild steel. I believe that corrosion on the very edge is what causes it not to seal properly on reinstallation . The new ones of course are very smooth on that edge so should seal fine along with the seals.
as far as leaking goes there are a couple of scenarios. Many of them make it appear like it is the valve covers that are leaking . If the ones on the ends of the bank leak it will leak down and appear like valve covers. What many people miss is the fact that between the upper rocker shafts the cavity leads towards the cylinders. If you have a good valve cover seal it will go inboard, leak between the cylinders, down around your oil return tubes ( which will likely get the blame ) and drop off your lower valve covers and on to your exchangers. If you crawl under and see oil between the cylinders it is likely rocker shafts ( or the triangle of death but that is for another day )
Remember last week I said I had one bank left to do ( the drivers upper ) because I ran out of replacement shafts ( I was optimistic and thought only 6 might leak lol ) . I also left that one because the heater blower was in the way and it looked like a pain .
So any way yesterday after my SSI test , I crawled under and saw drip drip drip onto my shiny new exchangers, so I decided to pull off that last cover with the mindset it is easy to do , maybe I could at least have a look and do something before my shafts get here.
Well I got the shock of my life. one of the shafts had nearly walked right out. !! I had about 2mm of shaft left in the housing. Holy CRAP !!!! . that certainly explained the oil . Imagine if I had left it !!! . so I took it all apart cleaned it up , replaced it with one of my other shafts I took out and polished the edges and we will see.
oh here is a pic of what it looks like when it leaks. .
green arrows show tell tale signs of leakage, red arrows show direction of travel of oil with a good valve cover seal. ( between cylinders and down )
red circles show obvious leakage, this is why it is so important to keep clean, so you can see future leaks.
I have been driving for a few weeks now with the SSIs and I am happy to report my oil leaks are completely gone and so has the drone.
The oil leaks were due to the corrosion on the very outer edge of the rocker shafts. the sealing surface is actually exposed to atmosphere on the outside so this makes perfect sense. When feeling the edges after I took them out it was obvious.
All rocker shafts are now bone dry with zero leaks ( for now ) . This was after a 300 mile trip to a car show.
The drone has completely gone now too. I don't know how or when it happened, but likely with the heating and cooling process maybe gaskets have sealed nicely ? no idea. ! . I did nothing different. The only noise out of the ordinary now is when I lean into the gas , which is fine.
Overall a rewarding project.
old system now proud wall art, along with oil staining.
05-09-2018, 09:47 AM
