Jammed tappet guide

I started to put my engine back together tonight and I've managed to get myself properly stuck! I was putting a new tappet guide in and tapped it down into the hole as I did the others to get past the slight lip but now its gone about 1/4" too far and the bugger won't budge!

It's just clearing the cam but not by much.

I tried a jack bar with a bolt through it to try and wiggle it out but the bolt end broke off (will have to find that in the oil gallery).

Its stuck very well - has anyone got any ideas short of throwing the block away!

Thought I was going to be driving the bugger home tonight!

is it one you can get at bottom of

I've no idea - its the big sleeve pieces (502473) I'm not sure even if I take the engine out and remove the cam whether I'd be able to get a tool up there to bash it out from below.

My mate's going to try milling something that fits in the slide with a 1/2" socket end on to see if we can twist and wiggle it but I'm not sure how to get upwards pressure on it.

some can be reached with cam covers off ,you cant get at them from any other place apart from top

Thanks James,

I'm not sure how well I'd be able to pop it up from the side holes. Will have to have a look, #3 so towards the back of the first cam cover plate.

I suppose the other option would be to saw through the guide - trying not to damage the block but that's going to mean a more or less full rebuild just to get all the swarf and crap out?

should tap up with a suitable drift

Thanks James, will try and get a look tomorrow evening...for now I think I'll go and drown my sorrows. Was ready to throw the towel in earlier - I'm really glad you're around to help! You are definitely someone who I owe a good number of pints (or whatever you'd take instead of beer)!

D

The other thing you might want to think of trying is a slide hammer with a plate across the bottom. Had one stick a good one on a IIA engine I was working on - sod would NOT move. As the engine had been full of water because of sitting with the valve cover off...not a huge surprise.

I ended up cutting a bit of 1/4" thick metal to fit across the bottom of the guide, put a thread into it, and threaded in a bolt/rod (don't remember which it's been a while) and used a slide hammer to get it moving. If it is REALLY stuck you might want to get a nut on below the plate to avoid stripping out the thread in the bit of metal.

This was with the side cover off - ddepending on the tappet this gives good access.

Whatever you do, do not yeild to the temptation of pryiing against the cam - bad idea.

ajr

ajr

Thanks Ajr, that certainly sounds like an option...

I was trying to think of a dodge not involving the extra work of taking off the radiator, front, timing chain.....but I think I'll just have to bite the bullet.

Cheers

D

Don't need to take off all that crap to take off the side cover - that is just 4-5 bolts and off comes the oil-filler tube or the fuel pump mounting plate.

Leave the front cover on - you don't need to take the cam out.

ajr

Trouble is that the sleeve's gone down so far that there's only about 1/4" (probably a bit less) clearance between the cam and the bottom of the guide. I can't see how I'd get a thick enough bit of bar and a nut in there without taking the cam out. Plus I need to find the bit of bolt that fell in there!

I'll have a proper look later...it might be more obvious when I get a proper look at it...

OK - another tack.

Take a bit of flat bar the width of the slider and bend a hook in the bottom of it (heat, bend, pound it over past the 90-degree just to give it a bit of a hook). Drill a hole in the top of it to allow insertion of a prying lever of some sort (big Fing screwdriver).

Insert, hook bottom, lever it up. Properly weilded it shouldn't screw things up.

aj"Speculating on this tack..."r

Dont worry too much about the tappet housing as it doesnt/shouldnt move , its just a carrier for the roller follower and the bronze carrier , a score in where it mounts is not a big deal . The little bolt holds it in place . HTSH

Thanks lads,

We tried a few things:

1st attempt was a T made from two pieces of solid 10mm bar with a 3mm plate welded to the end this slid down the guide, turn 90 degrees and then use a big sleeve as a slide hammer - the end just curled up.

2nd attempt was a jack handle with a similar but stronger arrangement but this wouldn't fit without taking the cam out so put to one side.

3rd attempt was a chisel through the cam cover - no joy there - angles wouldn't allow it because of the engine mount and would have only got it a couple of 16ths before it was impossible.

4th attempt pictured. Found a bit of substantial threaded bar (old brake unwinder) with a 11/16ths hex end. welded a bit of an old vice handle to the end ground down to just fit into the slider. put some nasty sharp edges on and with one person swinging on a breaker bar and another pulling up on the vice-grips. Half an hour of "to-me, to-you" and one black eye out the f***er slowly came. Holding it up against another old guide this one looks to be ever so very slightly wider...but hard to tell...

Found the end of the original pry that snapped off the other day with a magnetic screwdriver in the oil gallery and quite a lot of swarf. Thing is it's not easy to tell if this is swarf from a long time ago, from the damaged follower or from all the pushing and shoving.

There was some stuff that felt like gritty ground up cast iron and some that looked like shards of brass...bugger! So not sure whether it was cause, effect or aftermath!

Anyway a bit of a relief to get it out, not sure what to do next...put it back together and hope or take the cam out and go looking for more trouble?

vacuum cleaner ,air blower and diesel with sump off