Rattle

[Greybeard]

Berger, Only the N/S Inlet was upside-down, the one where the follower has gone bad.

I've been trying to measure the additional movement of the spring. Garry Hearl at SRM says I should see an additional 2mm after the valve is fully open. I cannot get my dial-gauge to do the job, (note to self, get an extension piece for the dial nose). I came up with what I consider a genius idea, (even though I sez it meself). I got a length of plumbers solder wire. It's about 3mm thick. I slightly flattened the end for about 10mm and bent it sideways so it would fit loosely between the valve spring coils. Then as I held it in place I turned the engine over slowly until the valve was fully open, thereby crushing the solder between the spring coils. When the spring was opened again I used the thin ends of my digital caliper jaws to measure the crushed size!
I've added three more pictures to my Dropbox folder showing this process. I'm seeing just under 2mm thickness, and so less than 2mm spring movement. Course this doesn't measure the inner spring but I feel I can ignore that as a source of spring binding. Now, given that I had that bottom collar upside-down, that would have reduced the 2mm on that valve to less than 1.5mm. Have I found the problem!?

[Swarfcut]

GB. Alas, the only way you will get a good night's sleep is to re-assemble that bottom collar incorrectly, as was. Then repeat the solder trick. If you prove the spring was coil bound, faith in your follower supplier may be restored. Try it with BluTac  first, just in case.

 Swarfy .

 Additional...Soundbite on your viddy sounds familiar, seems we have heard something like that every day for the last couple of years!!.

[RDfella]

Presumanly the crushed lead thickness was multiplied by the number of coil gaps? Anyway, 2mm is arbitrary - theoretically as long as you have any clearance the follower should not be overloaded. 

[berger]

hello greybeard personally I think you've found it now , even though I didn't like those followers,

[chaterlea25]

Hi GB,
Try it like this ??
Adjust the tappet clearance to zero, then tighten the adjuster 2 full turns the adjusters are 26tpi so 38.5 thou per full turn, so 2 turns is near as dam 2mm
Then wind the engine over and see if it goes tight at full lift, add the lead wire as well if you want to see how much more there is left

John

[muskrat]

G'day GB.
All looks good to me. Yes the cotters do sit a little proud but don't look to be creating a problem. I take it that when you tried for extra depression of the valve, it was coming to stop as the bottom of the collar was hitting the top of the valve guide. Plenty of clearance there.
Cheers

[berger]

picture number 5 looks coil bound and something softer than solder would be crushed I recon, it looks like it is when zoomed in .

[muskrat]

G'day berger.
I can see what you mean. The rest of the coils look a lot closer than the one with the wire.
It's all academic as there is plenty of clearance at full lift.
Cheers

[berger]

musky just think with the bottom valve spring collar upside down, greybeard I think you should try that even though I still want to blame the follower.

[Greybeard]

picture number 5 looks coil bound and something softer than solder would be crushed I recon, it looks like it is when zoomed in .

That wire is the 3mm solder. It will not go between the coils when the rocker is high unless I flatten it a bit. Does that indicate the spring is too tight?

[Greybeard]

Presumanly the crushed lead thickness was multiplied by the number of coil gaps?

I've been pondering that question. I think I will have to say that the spring would close all its gaps before crushing the solder wire, so measuring that gap equates to total, (additional) spring compression. I hope that's right!

[duTch]

 Can you not measure the gap with a small stack of feeler gauge fingers ?

[Greybeard]

Can you not measure the gap with a small stack of feeler gauge fingers ?

My feeler blades are parallel, about 10mm, too clumsy to get into the springs. Anyway, I reckon my crush guage worked very well.

[muskrat]

G'day GB.
Don't worry mate. Even if the other coils were bound you still have enough room to move.
Wondering if when the valve movement stops is it the springs or the collar hitting the guide? Still don't worry as above.
Cheers

[Greybeard]

G'day GB.
Don't worry mate. Even if the other coils were bound you still have enough room to move.
Wondering if when the valve movement stops is it the springs or the collar hitting the guide? Still don't worry as above.
Cheers

I saw no evidence of hammering on the collets or valve guide edge, but it must be either the inner spring fully compressing or the collet touching the valve guide. What else could it be? I guess the rocker socket end may be touching the roof of the rocker box. Again, no signs of hammering there. Why didn't I think of pressing down only the valve, rather than the rocker arm when I had the head on??? PRAT!

I was running very tight clearances to try to get a quieter engine.

I have been riding harder than normal, enjoying the extra pop from the 356 cam.

My previous, non SRM followers wore rapidly as well, but, I had STUPIDLY blocked the sump pickup pipe by badly positioning the sump filter screen. I sorted that issue before I installed the posh followers.

I've posted the worn follower off to SRM this morning so they can match me a new replacement. Gary Hearl at SRM believes I have found the cause of the problem. I'm pleased that he is not saying I have to buy a whole new set.