Big day today (8am-3pm at my proper job, then 4pm-1am on my real passion!).....so forgive me if I am a walking zombie at warwick (although the adrenalin will kick in I'm sure!).
Cylinders were lapped to heads tonight then cleaned thoroughly. Because no head gaskets will be used, copper coat was applied in aerosol form which (supposedly) promotes carbon build up around cylinder/head junction to help sealing.
Pistons installed in respective jugs and finally longblock has been buttoned up. Yet again a big thanks to Dave for cutting my pushrods to length today - they would have gone in tonight but I need to get some loctite 565 to seal the pushrod o-rings (stays pliable to allow movement) - will get them in tomorrow and rockers on....and then fanshroud etc etc!
Tank back in and thus everything underneath it is all done. Fuel line is plumbed to above gearbox and will be finished once engine is in (and regulator is mounted). Another couple of late nights ahead of me!
Just a quick udpate whilst I sit down for a few minutes (haven't had much of a chance since this morning.....erm...yesterday morning) - engine is in, currently giving the carbs a quick clean (thanks Alan for the loan!), need to mount breather box in the morning when I can make some noise to drill holes....likewise for fuel pressure reg. Will try and update pics later, or perhaps tomorrow since I dare say I'll be knackered by the time I wrap up later. Spring plates (adjustable are on) after a couple hours of modifying and head scratching since the poor manufacturing did not allow them to fit in the torsion housing. JCL retainers are also on and looking schmick - probably the prettiest part of this car!
Hopefully it will be on its wheel later tonight or in the morning. Just need to fill g'box with oil and put axle boots on, hook up clutch cable and sort out linkage and a thousand other little jobs.......back to it 😉
If I get it to warwick and it actually runs, it will be somewhat of a miracle, but I am committed to do it!
Alan :blah
I've run out of puff for the night - will get to pics at some stage.
Getting closer - the to-do list for tomorrow:
- mount fuel pressure reg, cut remaining fuel lines inc braided lines to carbs since Alan's carbs had AN banjo fittings
- Mount breather box and tighten up braided lines
- Stub pipes on, mount headers and muffler (for break in - will run home made "stinger" [ie. straight pipe] for warwick)
- Fill engine and box with oil and install axle boots
- Make adaptor plates for linkage as Alan's hex bar setup is for offset manifolds and with the DTM, it fouls so I will use plates to extend the mounting point for the cross bar toward the back of the car. This will probably be the most time consuming bit tomorrow morning.
- Finish wiring mods (ie. splicing wires to convert from generator to alternator)
- remount carbs and misc ancillaries
That is it to get it started....then there are other things like fixing up the rear apron quickly and remounting it and rear guards, t-bars etc etc.
I have a funny feeling I will be doing the break in tomorrow night at the rate I am going (always unexpected hiccups).
:jesus
Started again at 8am this morning and still going strong. Lots of little things took a lot longer than anticipated due to miscellaneous problems.
Just turned over the engine and got oil pressure so that is a good sign! Lots achieved today but no time for pics yet again. Now a few hours to fab up linkage adaptors to clear the DTM - couldn't find any internal threaded rod (ie. inside of rod threaded) so I'll have to make it from scratch (won't have to modify your linkage Alan which is good!).
Back to it - looks like it will be broken in an eighth mile at a time! 😉 That is if it starts and runs (may do it early tomorrow morning) as it will be too late to do a 20min cam break in tonight!
This is where it was yesterday (hard to believe it may be racing tomorrow (saturday)...
Another reason I haven't got as far as I hoped - despite assurances of quality, the cheaper copies of sway a way spring plates didn't fit into the torsion housing - this shows the amount that had to be clearanced.
Rear bumper hanger was shot - since the oil filter is to be mounted off the hanger, it needed a repair.
New nut welded onto some flat steel and that was welded in - all good now.
Very quick aluminium filter mount was fabbed up
Site supervisor was keeping progress under control today.
So as mentioned above, it turned over to get oil pressure tonight but I couldn't make the carb linkage adaptors since it was too late to fire up the grinder/jigsaw etc etc....so they will be done in the morning, as well as torquing up the rear axle nuts. Rear guards are back on - apron on tomorrow.....then will have to fire it up to see if runs before loading onto the trailer and heading to warwick!
So this will be the last post - anyone going to warwick will find out if it actually runs....I'll update probably on monday. Fingers crossed!
Alan i had a similar problem with linkages when i fitted webers to my old manx , so i made 2off triangular flat plates that bolted to the linkage up rights on the air cleaners that relocated the hex bar 30mm approx further to the rear .
You can also buy what they call "booker rod nuts" which come in M8 , M10 ,M12 threads and are approx 40mm long and the closest shop to you that will have them will be Coventry Fastners on Reedy Crk Rd Burliegh Heads
Hope this helps and i'll see ya out there.
Don't let body work get in the way of real suspension travel
Craig Torrens6 times Australian, 7 times State Hillclimb Class Champion
Well a quick update before some well earned sleep - the beetle got there and ran well all weekend.
Big thanks to Brad (custom offroad) for helping with the starter motor issues - he spent a couple of hours lending a hand which was really appreciated. Also thanks to Col for loaning his starter after blowing up his box.
The car was actually slower than I thought (best 10.8 for the 1/8th mile which was slower than last year!)....but remembering the gearbox (which thanks to Dave performed flawlessly!) is geared for a turbo (ie. really tall first gear), and the tall tyres didn't help. From a seat of the pants perspective it has heaps more torque than before and much more responsive so its all looking good come turbo/efi time. No oil leaks, valve clearances were consistent, really happy with it overall.
Line lock was heaps of fun - yet again though turbo will help keep the wheels spinnning much better/longer (or at least bigger valves and better flow wouldn't hurt either).
So considering the oval went from a 20.1hp split case g'boxed putt-putt mobile to a (semi) close ratio, solid mounted trannied, type IV dual carb powered, line lock equipped beast in two weeks.....I'm pretty stoked. Now time to spend some time with my wife again (and finish the notch for ben!)
alan
PS pics some time soon after I recover some energy!
Sloooooooooow......not even 70mph which was disappointing but such is life.
Not to make excused but I had to remind myself that this is still basically a stock bus engine with a different cam (0.500" lift) - stock crank, rods, pistons, cylinders, valve sizes, and 7.5:1 compression. So I can't really expect too much - so for any of those who were asking "why did he keep that engine considering it is so slow?" - well because this is all part of the learning experience! After teh turbo/efi goes on, if it is still too slow (which I am sure it will be given my expectations will increase!) - I'll start planning the next engine! 😉
Was nice today to have a day off and hit the beach/pool/see my wife etc! All good, now back to the notch.
Alan
bond wrote:al - what was the cam duration at .050?
nick
240 intake and 249 exhaust @ 0.050
Craig I was expecting more - I am not sure how much the 3.88r&p and 3.333 first gear plus 215/70 tyres had to play as it seemed to take a long time to get to second gear despire the engine feeling much more crisp and responsive than before the cam change. Also the dells which were borrowed were way too rich given the jet sizes. So many variables - the only accurate way to tell would have been to run it in the blue bug I had last year with the same carbs and same gearbox, tyre size etc.
As I said, I'm not too worried though - I stipulated the ratios for the 1/4 all along and with the turbo in mind to allow adequate time to spool up.
I am really keen to see how it performs when the dual springs go back in (rather than just the outers at the moment) and when the ignition and fuel can be optimised (all I really focused on for warwick was to get it running so nothing really was fine tuned - another reason why it was so slow).....but it was all about having fun! Got to do a few skids and a heap of passes including beating Brad (brother in law) in our round of Air Cooled bracket racing - just proves you don't always have to be fast to have fun (so I keep telling myself 😉
Huge effort just getting there, so well done Al. Car looked great Al and sounded crisp, afterall she is still in commercial dak configuration. Go forced induction!
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
Not too much has been happening with the oval since I've been working on other friend's cars instead! Since Warwick the type IV has been sold to Michael in brissy for his ghia so it sat engine-less for a little while.
Fortunately Damo stepped in and we struck up a barter deal for his old 1200 engine - I just gave it a quick clean, changed the oil, straightened out a few pushrod tubes, adjusted the vales, chucked in a dizzy I had laying around and an alternator and she fired up! Thanks to Damo and Dave (dangerous) for the various bits and pieces to get me on the road again.
Apart from no engine I needed to sort my headlights out (12V bulbs didn't fit the old buckets) - thanks again to Damo! Must have an earth problem or something because I can only get high beams and parkers though (will work on them again when I get a chance).
Then there was the issue of brake/tail lights. Since going from 6V to 12V for warwick, I had to change the bulbs etc to 12V. For better vision I changed around the wiring so the hearts are the tail lights, and the oval lenses are the brake lights. But the bulb holders on both sides were cactus (kept braking and splitting etc) so I kept loosing the brake lights.
I decided to rig up some fancy shmancy (not really) LED's:
Rather than trying to wire up my own LED panels, I took the easy option and pulled apart the trailer lights to pinch the panel and save me some time.
There are three wires - black (ground), red (tail light), and yellow (brake light).
Because the oval will get a resto at some stage either this year or next, I'll leave everything pretty ratty/ghetto for now (like the seals) - a small aluminium bracket was bent up into shape to hold the LED panel in place:
[im]http://www.manxgallery.org/gallery/albums/album447/Mar18_LED5.jpg[/img]
I've just bent the original bulb holder out the way rather than cutting it off so it can still be resurrected some day if required.
Just had to make sure it cleared the glass lens (bit fiddly but got there eventually).
voila
Safety star will be hooked up as a third brake light soon.
AL
PS pending finances I'll hopefully start collecting parts for a big type I based turbo/efi engine soon. I doubt it will be ready for warwick due to time/finance restrictions however I'll be there even if I have to race with the 1200!! I can still take out the aircooled bracket if I am consistent 🙂
Dasdubber wrote:
Safety star will be hooked up as a third brake light soon.
AL
🤓 Wow! That looks wicked, so subtle & yet innovative - not to mention heaps cooler than the usual bulbs. It's much safer too, the TUV have shown in studies that LED brake lights get noticed significantly more than regular bulbs, due to their instant on/off manner. 😎
