Compression ratio; rusty cams

[Ben Dixon <dioxin@domain.elided>]

Andrew asked me for info about head milling to increase CR, but I thought it
might be useful to post to the digest.

This is all the info I could glean from my pile of alfa books:

The CRH doesnt list different measurements.  it just gives reccomended
practice for building a race engine.  it simply says:  "mill head to 1098mm.
standard head gasket is suitable for racing.  thickness 1.5mm"

I have another book that lists the standard head thickness as 1118mm, then
goes on to say that in order to achieve a CR between 10.8:1 and 11:1, you
need to mill 1.5 to 1.8mm from the standard thickness head.

> Saw your post about head gasket.
> Is there any water in the oil?

as for my own car's problems, Ive managed to borrow my girlfriends car
(she's in the UK at the moment) and I have a spare motor that is in the
process of being rebuilt, so I will finish that rebuild and drop the whole
new motor in.  the motor that is in the car has ring/liner problems from
being left sitting idle for too long - 15 years! - before I bought it.  so
replacing the head gasket will just be putting off the inevitable rebuild
anyway.

biggest bummer of all is that when I got the spare motor, about 2 years ago,
I dissassembled it and had the machine work all done, but then moved house,
so the project was never finished.  in the meantime, all the parts were
carefully wrapped in oiled cloth and stored.  sometime in the last two years
though, water has got in and a lot of the parts - in particular the cams and
cam bearings (caps) and associated hardware - have rusted beyond use.  a
real bummer - the cams were 105-45 euro spec cams.  so, I will have to find
replacements.  

I have another spare motor, a 1300, and wondered if the valve train parts
(cams, buckets, springs, etc) were the same.  anyone know?  Also, would it
be ok to use the cam bearings (they look more like bearing caps, but there
is no separate bearing) from another motor?  or would I then have to get the
whole lot align-bored?

fun fun fun...

ben
'68 1750 GTv
'68 GT 1300 Jr

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End of alfa-digest V7 #1070
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