In the past few weeks everything has come together for the engine rebuild and although I'll have no idea if I did a good job for a few months yet, so far so good :-)
Cylinder head went away for a refurb which included a skim, unleaded exhaust valve seats and recut and seated valves. The crank was also had the thrust bearing faces cut to remove damage from the incorrectly fitted bearings. They supplied the replacement main, big end and thrust bearings too.
Over the past 2 days I've rebuilt and finished the main painting jobs on the engine. It was actually a lot easier than I'd expected with the main problems being stripped threads in the aluminium sealing block (which I'll repair later) and finding and knowing what bolt goes where.
At the end of today (in order) fit the main and thrust bearings and set the crank (its runs nice a freely). Re-fit the pistons with new big ends and set the caps onto the crank (still running freely). Fit the cam, timing chain, sealing blocks, front and rear engine plates, cam cover and chain tensioner kit. Then the oil pump, the sump, head studs and cam followers. Then the head, the rocker shaft (setting the tappet clearances) and then touched up the remaining unpainted surfaces. phew!
Really happy with the end result. I just hope it runs when all the ancillaries are fitted.
Next job is this beasty! I'll get her blasted before some hopefully minor repairs (the outriggers need replacing) and then I can start the rolling chassis and have somewhere to bolt the engine and gearbox!
Adam