What do you do with an old MGB 18V engine? Pull it apart of course.
One of the first items of business was to pull the 12H2923 cylinder head and see what type of condition it is in. The good news…. it looks to be in decent shape and was certainly rebuilt at some stage. Bad news…. the rocker shaft is worn at a few of the rocker arms and the valves need lapping.
I know that if I were really smart I would have the head magnafluxed, have it ground so it’s perfectly flat, install hardened valve seats, install new oil seals and countless other somewhat expensive procedures but this is an engine on a budget.
Here’s the plan. I’ve bought a new rocker shaft, new exhaust valves and new oil seals. This came to about $60 or so which isn’t too bad. I’ll be decarbonizing the cylinder head, lapping the valves and popping the head back together. I may surface the head by hand as I’ve seen this done on a thick piece of glass with sandpaper. In the end the head will be in better shape than when I started. I just hope it isn’t cracked but even if it is I’m sure it will work at least for a while.
