1985 Lap Rialto 2 (hopefully a more concise version of it) - this may take me time to update it.

22nd July 2012

Second attempt in lapping in #4 exhaust valve into it's valve seat:-

22nd July 2012

Second attempt in lapping in #5 exhaust valve into it's valve seat:-

22nd July 2012

Second attempt in lapping in #8 exhaust valve into it's valve seat:-

Post by jessejazza on 23rd July 2012

Much better. #4 could do with a touch more perhaps.

23rd July 2012

Third attempt in lapping in #4 exhaust valve into it's valve seat:-

24th July 2012

Cylinder head surface after cleaning it up with plain (plastic) scouring pads and used degreaser to get rid of any dust:-

24th July 2012

Some more progress......

Genuine Reliant thick cylinder head gasket fitted to the cylinder block. No reaming was required as it had dropped straight onto the cylinder block and it took me about 20 seconds to fit. Thankfully the oil and waterways on the cylinder head and cylinder block appear to be in exactly the same places :-




Cylinder head placed on top of the cylinder block just before I fitted the cylinder head nuts:-




Cylinder head fitted, the main 12 nuts tightened to 25 lbft and the 3 nuts on the spark plugs side tightened to 15 lbft:-




I'm going to leave the cylinder head nuts to slacken themselves off overnight (or until tomorrow night) before I retorque the cylinder head. I'll then refit the rest of the ancillaries, hoses, exhaust downpipe, etc. and replace the cylinder head's core plug before I fill the engine with oil and coolant.


Cylinder head to cylinder block alignment (they appear to be aligned) after the cylinder head has been fitted to the cylinder block:-

Post by windy on 24th July 2012

Looking good. AFAIK cylinder head nuts 11 & 12 should only be torqued to 20lbs.

24th July 2012

The Reliant and Haynes workshop manuals both state 25 lbft from memory.

Post by kitten3 on 24th July 2012

hope that fixes your car best of luck sure it will be ok.

24th July 2012

I have just read Reliant's Robin 850 Supplement and in section F, step 28 it states:-

"Carefully position the cylinder head squarely on the cylinder block and secure with the twelve nuts, plain washers and lock washers. Replace the three nuts on the spark plug side of the cylinder head of the cylinder head. Check that all the cylinder head nuts indicated in Figure 13 are tightened in the order shown, to a torque of 3.46 kg m (25 lb ft). The three remaining nuts, on the spark plug side, should be tightened to a torque of 2.07 kg m (15 lb ft)."

Figure 13 refers to the tightening sequence of the 12 cylinder head nuts.

Post by windy on 24th July 2012

AFAIK there was a revision to drop the torque down to 20lb on nuts 11 & 12, due to the tendency of these studs pulling out of the block. (Just like has happened the other day to the other chap rebuilding an engine on the forum)

24th July 2012

What revision was that in ? All I have got is Reliant's Robin Workshop Manual, the Haynes Workshop Manual and Reliant's Rialto SE Parts Manual.

I haven't got any of the later tech bulletins.

Also on studs 11 and 12 ??? They are on completely different parts of the cylinder block. I would have thought not tightening the cylinder head nuts evenly would also distort the cylinder head.

Posts by others on 24th July 2012

windy

phade wrote:

What revision was that in ? All I have got is Reliant's Robin Workshop Manual, the Haynes Workshop Manual and Reliant's Rialto SE Parts Manual.

I haven't got any of the later tech bulletins.

Also on studs 11 and 12 ??? They are on completely different parts of the cylinder block.

From memory stud 12 is in the centre of the 2 middle cylinders and has hardly any alloy around it & stud 11 is on the front righthand side as you look at the engine from the front of the car & has a shallow thread depth. Will see if I can find where I read about it later


jessejazza

phade wrote:

What revision was that in ? All I have got is Reliant's Robin Workshop Manual, the Haynes Workshop Manual and Reliant's Rialto SE Parts Manual.
... Also on studs 11 and 12 ??? They are on completely different parts of the cylinder block. I would have thought not tightening the cylinder head nuts evenly would also distort the cylinder head.

i'd agree with that... i do mine to 30 lbs [just like one significant figure]

Posts by others on 24th July 2012

jessejazza

phade wrote:

Third attempt in lapping in #4 exhaust valve into it's valve seat:-

If you want to assess how good your lapping is? After cleaning the valve and insert. Take a black (blue...any dark colour) permanent marker and run it round the valve seat. let it dry and then put the valve back in the block. Rotate the valve with the finger or the stick, take it out and see if the marker has all disappeared. If it has perfect result. If there's a ring of marker... it's not quite smooth enough. Depends if one strives for perfection.


windy

jessejazza wrote:

i'd agree with that... i do mine to 30 lbs [just like one significant figure]

Its no good talking if nobodys listening.......


AzzY

windy wrote:

From memory stud 12 is in the centre of the 2 middle cylinders and has hardly any alloy around it & stud 11 is on the front righthand side as you look at the engine from the front of the car & has a shallow thread depth. Will see if I can find where I read about it later

Had a problem with stud 12 pulling through on a 700 block, torqued it to 15lbs and its done many thousands of miles since and still going strong.
The only studs I've had or known problem ones is 12, I think there is enough alloy around 11 to not see it as a problem.
Out of blocks being a problem it seems more common on the 700's than the 850's, then again its usually down to the person who puts it together and those who over tighten them.


windy (on 25th July 2012)

AzzY wrote:

Had a problem with stud 12 pulling through on a 700 block, torqued it to 15lbs and its done many thousands of miles since and still going strong.
The only studs I've had or known problem ones is 12, I think there is enough alloy around 11 to not see it as a problem.
Out of blocks being a problem it seems more common on the 700's than the 850's, then again its usually down to the person who puts it together and those who over tighten them.

Had the same problem on stud 12 on my 700 Bond Bug many years ago. Unfortunately I didn't know much about engines at the time as I was only 16 & the guy who was helping me fix it made matters worse by trying to tap it out to a larger size, which ultimately scrapped the block. The info I have posted about torque settings is a genuine factory update, and has recently been printed in the RKR Mewsletter.

28th July 2012

A bit more progress...

Hi everyone,

I've managed to slowly put my Rialto 2 back together over the past few days (exhaust down pipe, rocker shaft, adjusted tappets and heater) and this is what the engine bay looks like at the moment:-




I've also decided to replace that rusty core plug on the red top cylinder head that is now fitted to my Rialto 2's yellow top block. Despite appearances, it wasn't too bad but I decided to replace it anyway:-






What was inside the cylinder head, it doesn't look too bad really. All I had to do was to scrape off a load of muck around where the core plug was (I think the irregular edges on the inner diameter of the core plug hole is part of the cylinder head itself):-








New core plug in place:-




I also decided that it would be a good idea to remove the rust from the rocker cover and repaint it yellow (as it's original colour was yellow). Here's what the rocker cover looks like at the moment whilst I'm waiting for the rust killer ("Krust") to dry:-

Post by Wrighty on 28th July 2012

phade wrote:

A bit more progress...

Hi everyone,

I've managed to slowly put my Rialto 2 back together over the past few days (exhaust down pipe, rocker shaft, adjusted tappets and heater) and this is what the engine bay looks like at the moment:-

......

Ah but you no longer have a yellow top, just paint one half red and the other yellow.

28th July 2012

True, it still has got the yellow top cylinder block install albeit with a red top cylinder head. I just decided to paint it as it (sort of) originally was from factory.

The only thing is that the rocker box will be a lot brighter than it was from factory as it was the only shade of enamel paint I could get from Halfords. Anyway, at least it will end up better than bits of silver paint flaking off revealing the original yellow paint and rust underneath.

28th July 2012

I have now partially painted the rocker cover. It looks pretty good from the photo but I do need to sand it down to improve the paint finish

Posts by others on 28th July 2012

Wrighty

VERY NICE


AzzY

First time that's had paint on it since the 90's ish lol

29th July 2012

Rocker cover painted (or at least the best it will get for now as I have ran out of paint, but at least it's better than it was before):-








I'm just waiting for that paint to dry and harden before I refit the rocker cover to the engine (I'm guessing that may end up being tomorrow night or even later than that).

Posts by others 29th July 2012

AMAM

looking good phill


AzzY

Leave in the sun for a short time, should be dry.. I usually have them cleaned up painted dried and new gasket fitted and re-fitted to engine in about 1-2hours.


AMAM

yea dont put one in oven to dry like kev did

29th July 2012

AMAM wrote:

yea dont put one in oven to dry like kev did

Did he set fire to it lol ? I know it definitely makes the paint peel off quickly.

Post by AMAM 29th July 2012

phade wrote:

Did he set fire to it lol ? I know it definitely makes the paint peel off quickly.

it all melted lol

29th July 2012

LOL no more rocker cover then.