Suffolk Engine Rebuild

Page 5

Refitting covers and head:
Now that the valves have been sorted the valve cover can be replaced. Make sure the mating surfaces are clean and place the splash guard in place, and fit the cover. When tightening the nut make sure you do not over tighten it as there is no stop and you will crush the cover.

Now you can install the head. After cleaning the mating surfaces and making sure the gasket is in good condition and that there are no bits of grit or dust that have settled on the top of the engine place the head into the cylinder. place all bolts in the holds and tighten them finger tight. Now comes the important bit. You must follow the correct procedure to make a good even seal around the head. This is done by tightening opposite bolts. The photo below has the heads numbered in the best sequence. You should go around the sequence twice, the first time gently to make sure the head is clamped down evenly.

Setting and refitting the ignition points:
The ignition points make the spark. If they are not working and set correctly then the engine may run poorly or not at all, this can be a common problem with old engines and all that it requires is a clean. To start with we will clean the contact breakers. These are two carbon points which move together and apart on a cam. You can lever them apart with your finger and run a piece of 1200grit wet and dry paper folded over, between them to remove any crud that might be on the surface. Before we can set the gap however we must fit the unit to the engine so it can be run against the cam.

To fit the ignition unit,

Slot the HT lead through the mount plate
Bolt the unit to the engine making sure that the old bolt marks line up so the timing stays the same
Slide the "wavy" spring washer onto the crankshaft
Slide the cam onto the crankshaft making sure the keyway slot faces outwards

Now you can set the gap at the points when the cam is in the open position, take a feeler gauge and make the right thickness for your engine. On a Suffolk it is 18thou, it will say on the little adjustment cover on the flywheel or in the manual of any other engine. With 18thou of feeler gauge set, set the gap so that you can just feel the points started to grab the feelers when the engine is at high cam. With the points set by adjusting the screw tighten the locking screw and you are done. As a final note, add a few drops of light oil to the felt, this will lubricate the cam and help stop corrosion

With the points set you can now replace the flywheel. Tap the woodruff key into the keyway with a soft drift and then slide the flywheel into place. Make sure the keyway and key are lined up then tap the flywheel home. finally place the washer and locknut on and tighten the flywheel into place remembering it is a reverse thread

Final assembly:
All that is left to do now is replace the carburettor assembly and exhaust then refit the cowling. These should be simple to fit and are just the reverse of the removal procedure.

Before running the engine we must fill it up with oil. Simply fill the engine up so that it comes up to the top mark on the dipstick but not over.

We are now ready to get the engine going and sort out the carb. Second part of guide to follow soon on carb cleaning and setting

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