Another broken valve spring

10th August 2011
Bug Jam had been an excellent trip and much fun had been had up there the weeks after had been initially a discovery of improving the performance of the engine. I changed the distributor by making a new one from parts and found some air leaks from manifolds nuts that had come undone. Further problems where aired out by doing the valve timing and eliminating shorts from the HT leads. THis were going well until there was a pop and the cylinders 1&2 started popping and back firing through the carburetors again. I knew this could only be one thing and took the valve cover of to investigate. It was immediately noticeable that the exhaust valve spring on NO1 cylinder was broken. This was odd as I had had the same problem just before Bug Jam. I decided to take the head off and check for damage. The valve head had been hammered and was difficult to get through the guide. The spring was broken in nearly the same place as the last. I took the valves out and noticed that the Spring had been rubbing around the head. Although this was not disastrous it was damage to the head. I also noticed oddly that I had oil in the top of the cylinders. This suggested the oil rings could be damaged and I decided that this was also need to come off. Whilst I contemplated this some 1641 barrels came up for sale at a low price and I decided rather than buying new rings it was more cost effective to buy these. Further discussion and talk about potential problems with my forumn group suggested that my stock push rods maybe not strong enough and flexing causing extra stress on the stock springs. I decided I would have to but some stronger springs some stronger push rods and rebuild the top end of the engine once more. I was still wondering if I should use steel or chrome moly. I also had to decide what to do about my head and see if it could be repaired or if it could be replaced.