qualitycylinderheads.co.uk based in Cornwall They were very helpful on the phone and I'm sure will be keen to solve the problem.

I've now taken the head off again and can clearly see that the glow plug holes for cylinders 2 and 3 have what appears to be the remains of previous glow plugs in there. They are pretty solid (but a gentle use of my new tap revealed it to be copper) so I don't want to get too "enthusiastic" and...

I've taken some pictures of the issue with getting my glow plugs in using cylinders 1 and 2. Cylinder 1 glow plug recess looks like this And the glow plug only goes in like this Cylinder 2 glow plug recess looks like this And the glow plug goes in like this It seems that the hole is...

So, it's item 13 on the diagram. If it's been inserted the wrong way around, can it be turned in the head or removed without taking the head off?

Is there a diagram that could be posted so I can get my head around this? I'd love to avoid taking the head off again if I can.

Which holes are we talking about here? Is there a hole in the shroud through which the glow plug passes?

Are these injector shrouds moveable or fixed? Is there any reason why they should be obstructing the glow plugs on cylinders 1 & 3?

It was assembled by qualitycylinderheads. The hotspots were in when they sent it to me.

Doesn't get as far in as the thread. The heating element at the end stops it going that far in. All the hot spots were in the same way so I can't imagine they are blocking them. I'm flummoxed! Can't face it at the moment but I suppose the head has to come off again and possibly back to...

OK, the head is on and torqued appropriately. The rocker assembly is now on and also properly torqued down. The valve clearances have been set (not easy without a crank sized spanner) then I thought I needed a quick bit of progress so I found my shiny new glow plugs -same size as the old ones...

Thanks for that, it's a 1985 so I guess it's 8mm.

What size are these pedestal retaining bolts? Metric or imperial? Probably imperial I guess.

Marvellous, didn't even occur to me. Now I just needs tap and die set to repair my threads!

So, a reconditioned head has been procured and took several weeks. I've now got it on the block and was refitting the rocker assembly when a hitch occurred. I couldn't get the rearmost pedestal to seat properly. In fact, I stripped the thread on the bolt, not the head bolt but the smaller...

I would love to get that done at the end of the summer and then, ideally, rebuild it all myself with the big book of knowledge. Sadly, with no garage or shed that may have to wait a little longer. If I tried to do it in the house, the good lady would get the electrodes out!

RodneyA What are they doing to your engine?

When the time comes, what will it cost to send it off for some engineering and a rebuild?

I'm not surprised to hear that the ridge at the top of the bore means it's worn. By definition, it must be. Problem is, I really need the damn thing on the road and I just won't have time to take the engine out, get it rebored and rebuilt and re installed. I'm hoping it will run reasonably for a...

As far as I can tell there's no damage. There's a bit of blackening which shouldn't really be a surprise. No perceptible damage to the bores than can be seen or felt with the fingers although you can feel a ridge running around the top of the bore at the point where the piston reaches. There is...

Spoke with Turners. Very pleasant and knowledgeable but only had new heads available which make it very pricey. Found a Cornish company that will give me a reconditioned one for a £300 saving. Should be with me Monday next week.