OK time for a post Christmas update!
Decided that while waiting for bits and bobs to turn up I'd set to cleaning up the throttle bodies, a bit crusty!
Fuel rail a bit tatty so I'll strip this and re-paint it....
Injectors are a rusty mess!
I've done a clean up and stripped rust and paint back on them but they're in a bit of a sorry state, now considering replacing for some new ones, just a question of what I should buy, direct replacements are very expensive and probably not the very best for the job....
So then on to some oily work, crank complete, had to take a couple of thou off the thrusts with wet and dry to get the end float right which took some time but it's now all good.....
So I then retrieved my engine stand and engine crane from my girlfriends dad (don't quite need the latter yet but grabbed it anyway as he's now finished using it himself) and set to on the rest of the build, and spent a good bit of today in the garage; pistons in, end plate where the timing gear would normally go fitted and the oil drain / breather fitted to the oil pump mounting on the back of the block. I've also popped the ARP head studs in place as well.....
This all went reasonably smoothly, albeit I took pretty much a full day doing it!
In the end, having torqued up all the big end caps, I found that the crank was extremely stiff and I could not easily turn it by hand, I had to pop the pulley nut on the end of the crank and could then I was able to turn it with a ratchet and although it turned very smoothly it didn't seem right to me.
So I loosened all the rod bolts, hand tightened them again one piston at a time starting a 1 and working my way along through to 4; all good, I was able to turn the crank by hand, albeit with more resistance than before the pistons were fitted so I was confident I hadn't managed to get anything too seriously wrong.
So once again, one piston at a time, I torqued up the rod bolts in a couple of stages testing out turning the crank between each and while again the crank got progressively tighter by the end I could still turn the crank by hand so I can only assume that I'd over torqued one of the pistons along the way the first time around.
I think this is now good, the afore mentioned father of my good lady will be round again over the weekend and as a seasoned engine builder himself I'll have him check over my handy work before proceeding any further.