[alfa] Runes on the liner

["Giller,Bruce C." <bgiller@xxxxxxxxx>]

	On Sunday, David Tallerico helped me pull the head off my '73 GTV to
replace the leaking headgasket - the leak was between #3 and #4 cylinder
on the exhaust side.  However after inspecting the headgasket, we could
not see why it was leaking - the suspected oil passage O-rings were all
in place and whole.  Now I'm wondering if the headgasket wasn't leaking
at all but the cam cover was and the oil flowed down to the headgasket
seam and pooled there for all to see.  The oil then got onto the exhaust
manifold to cause lots of smoke.

	Also found out that when I put the timing chain on, the master link was
not situated between the two cams at TDC #1 cylinder but somewhat past
that point.  My thoughts were that I've got more work to do when
reinstalling the timing chain. So when the head was removed, #1 cylinder
was half way down.  And I just had to look at each of the liners to see
how shiny and smooth they were.  And I had to look at #1.  And I had to
see that it was a bit more than shiny and smooth.  I had to see that
there are two .5" wide grooves worn into the liner walls - you can catch
your fingernail on the sides (and on the striations in the middle). 
This was not good since the engine was rebuilt about a year ago or so
with all new pistons, liner, etc. 	

	The grooves are opposite each other and are aligned with the crank. 
The deepest groove is toward the front of the engine.  They end about 1"
from the top of the liner (if my memory serves me well).  My conclusions
are 1) that the wrist pin assembly was floating in the piston and each
end would impact the liner at different times, 2) the con rod was not
oriented correctly WRT the offset.  Any other ideas?

	So it looks like I'll have to pull the liner to put in a new one, put
in new rings, and maybe replace the piston.  But my real question is
that isn't it true that one can do all this on #1 cylinder just by
removing the lower oil pan to gain access to the con rod bolts?

	And I'll need to find someone who will sell me a single liner and
perhaps a Motronic piston.  I've only seen them sold in sets of 4. I'm
going to use Hastings rings which sold per piston.

	But at least I found out why my engine was smoking a bit after only a
few thousand miles on a complete rebuild.

	Bruce

	'73 GTV
	'86 Spider
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