Story so far series 1 resto

[frankxhv773t]

If water is coming out the head face you can probably get some penetrating oil to go in the other direction. I had always imagined straps bolted to the rocker studs at one end and into the plate at the other end. However with the force being deployed, the straps will probably bend up against the retaining nuts before the head moves. If using this approach it would be worth planning how you will remove the strap retaining nuts afterwards.

Frank T

[lancianut666]

Hi All
off to do battle with the cylinder head again. have gone down the route of 10mm U-bolts looped under the rocker shafts then through the puller plate to give a stronger mechanical connection between the head and the plate. only worry is the rocker shafts...also with the shafts on you lose access to some of the studs. I have left it under tension since Thursday night as Matron had a puncture in the middle of hurricane Abigail at 7.30pm just as I was getting ready to give it some serious tightening up. The weather was atrocious...but Got the tyre changed was I relieved to see a spare in the boot of her new car phew!! hopefully the elves will have got it off by now we shall see
Clarkey

[Dikappa]

When I made my head puller for the aurelia B21 engine I did not thrust to fix it 'only' to the studs for the rockers as many do.
Instead I made removable 'side plades' which bolt over the studs for the inlet and exhaust manifold studs.  Maybe this is a better (more secure) way of securing the 'puller plate' to the head on appia's too.
Will try to locate some photo's which I seem to have missaved (is that a word???)

[lancianut666]

Hi all
Good news ...the head is off and on the bench

[lancialulu]

Well done! Studs look fine.

Initial prognosis?

Bores look good but I had soft piston rings from a Fulvia that came out of long term storage. Wouldnt be much to drop the sump and pop the pistons.....

[lancianut666]

Hi
I will give the head a tidy up and get it skimmed if necessary...I'll have a think on the pistons etc as I just wanted to get the engine going so I can move the car as I am moving it to another unit next month and am seriously behind schedule. The plan was to take the engine and gearbox out when I start on the bodywork and do the engine as required in parallel with the bodywork.
Clarkey

[frankxhv773t]

The whole country must have resounded to the communal sigh of relief when that head came free. There can't have been so much interest in the removal of a head since the guillotine was up and running.

Frank T

[DavidLaver]

PHEW!!!!!!

Once again proof of the method.

[chriswgawne]

Forgive me Tim, but what are 'soft piston rings'. And how/why do they occur?
Chris

[lancialulu]

Chris, soft piston rings... When I had a low mileage 1.3 it burnt oil when accelerating badly and had low compression across the 4 cylinders. I took the pistons out and could easily peel the rings off. Putting new ones one was a completely different experience. The old (less than 18k miles engine) could be opened quite easily as if the metal had gone soft. New rings cured the problem. There was obviously no wear in the lands given the low miles. The car had been stored for some years then lightly used after that.....i do not understand whether this was a batch problem on the original rings or whether something metalurgical happens over time.

[chriswgawne]

Thanks Tim.
Never seen that even on old engines with little recent use. I suspect it must be inferior quality from day one.
Chris

[nistri]

Unlike the Fulvia, it is not so simple to take the pistons off the Appia engine, Andrea

[will]

Well down getting the head off. 
I have had problems over the years getting heads off Appia engines I have bought.
My preferred method is to remove the engine from the car. Remove all the head nuts and then spray Innotec Deblocking oil or a penetrating oil on all the studs. 
Suspend the engine with about an 10mm clearance off the floor. Then hit the large central  stud with the nut on with a  hammer that has a copper head every day this took about month and the head came off.  I managed to get the head off an 814 Appia engine this way which had been left outside for a number of years.  The next problem was to remove the seized pistons that’s another story.

[lancianut666]

Hi all and Will
with the puller the head came off with the engine in the car in about an hour and a half so it is a useful tool. Some refinements might include beefing up the five central bolts to 10mm and cutting some slots in the plate so you can check the bolts are on the studs and not just screwing their merry little way into the cylinder head. Once the gasket had relinquished it's grip the central bolt on it's own was enough to pull the head up using the other 4 central bolts to keep the plate in alignment. as everyone has said what a relief. have made some progress on the head today see pics
Clarkey

[lancianut666]

Sorry about the poor photos but in real life the valve seats are very crusty on some of the valves and were not seating properly, some were as can be seen by the shiny ring on the seats.Managed to get a bit of the gunk off in the last piccy
Clarkey