Building Horsepower w/ Displacement & Technology

[admin]

Well, I've been talking forever about wanting to assemble my 2275 with the Megasquirt EFI and my T3/T4 turbocharger.  This has gone on for the past few years, and something has always gotten in my way preventing me from getting started.  Time, other projects, and money are usually the biggest stumbling blocks.  Well this weekend, I got a few hours to clean up my bench, and took some parts out of storage.  (this may be all for nothing, as I may have no time available coming up soon, but until then, I'm going to have some fun )

Here's a picture of the foundation of my beast...  It's a Demello 82mm stroker crank, and a set of CB Performance H-Beam rods.

Click on the picture attached below...

[admin]

Other than clean the shop and layout some of the parts, the only other thing I did was to start deburring the case.
When you send your case out for machining, there are many little burrs left over all around the areas that were machined.  It is a time consuming job but one that definitely needs to be done.  If one of the little burrs were to break free, it could really do some damage.  It could get embedded in the bearing material and scratch the heck out of the journals on the crank or rods.

I knocked the edges off of some of the spots that were clearanced by Rimco.  But I also had the case align bored for the first time.  I did notice that there were some burrs at the edge of the main bearing journals in the case.  I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to get them off of there without screwing up the journals.  Whatever I do, it's going to be slow and CAREFUL!

Scott Faivre

[Kenney]

Looks good Scott.

Can't wait to see more. On that note, I hope you have time to get some of this done.  It's gonna be a little while before I can start on mine.

Kenney

[admin]

Well, I set a goal of getting this long block assembled before February 18th.  That is the day that would be my first day at work for the new company, should I be hired.  If that happens, I'll be a hermit for 6 months to a year.  I've got a ton of crap going on right now, I'm just spreading my time as evenly as I possibly can.  I'll post some pics and some details tomorrow, but I need some sleep first!

Cam end play is set, and main bearings all fit well with the crank!

Scott Faivre

[admin]

Okay, New Deadline... Vegas Bugorama October 2008!  With all that is going on in my life right now, I don't have time to get my turbo and EFI stuff done.  That will be a winter project.  BUT, I have everything I need to put the engine together naturally aspirated.  It's not what I wanted to do, but the Hooptie will haul "arse" with the 48IDF's.  Plus it might be fun to drive it a couple of times and see the progression with the improvements.  Plus, the added safety of more seat time before having WAY TO MUCH power on tap!

So tonight I went out to the garage and removed the towel off of the engine case, and picked up where I left off.  I had already deburred the case, cleaned it, trial fit all the crank bearings, and fit the cam bearings to the case and cam.  But then I got the new job and just slipped the 2 case haves back together, placed a towel over the project and "shelfed" it for 5 months. 

It felt good to be back out there in the garage.  I double checked the oil pressure relief valves for scratches and burrs, buffed them up and reinserted them.  I got a nice Elring gasket kit, but would you believe they only provided one "crush washer" instead of 2?     I have seen some engines with copper washers used in this location as well, so I'll have to double check once I get ready for final assembly.   



I did get my timing gears on.  Since I don't have a hot oil bath (as the Bentley manual suggests ) I placed the gears on the stove for just a minute over low heat.  Wearing one of my welding gloves, I grabbed them and placed them on the crankshaft.  I quit for the night without getting the smaller woodruff key into the crank.  It doesn't really want to go in, and I decided, I'll attack that this weekend instead of fighting it when I'm tired and risk damaging the crank.

Oh and "yes" I am taking pictures throughout the process.  Maybe we 'll get another tech article out of it!

Scott Faivre

[admin]

Working on setting the endplay a bit today.  I've got a unique way that I do it.  Some guys wait until the end of the build then stick 2 shims on the end of the crank and then measure the end play to calculate the thickness needed in the 3rd shim.  Once I've got the crank and cam in, I like to bolt on the flywheel to the crank in the open case half.



This allows me to measure my endplay with a feeler gauge between the shims and the main bearing.  It saves some time at the end of the build as well.  But I usually double check the endplay once everything is all buttoned up as a short block so that I can pull it apart easily if I suspect something is wrong.

I also "double nutted" my drain plate studs and removed them so that I could install the longer studs I need for installing the deep sump.

     

I also bolted on my oil pump and cover to just half the case with camshaft installed.  This is also something I started doing when swapping out the stock oil pump.  The stock oil pump studs aren't long enough to reach all the way through the pump and the cover, so I replace them with bolts.  When you bolt up the pump in this fashion, you can clearly see if there will be any interference with the bolt heads on the camshaft.  I was kinda proud of myself when I did this the first time on my 2165 build in New York shortly before I moved out to Vegas.



Lastly I indexed the distributor drive gear.  That took a good 4-5 attempts to get it right.  Well, I guess I need to go to bed so I can be bright and cheery in the morning. 

But before I quit for the night, when I spoke of that 2165, it reminded me of the journey this engine has taken.  Back in 1999, it started as a 10 year collection of parts and never having any money.  Once my business was off the ground, I decided to go for it and built it.  It started up and broke in nicely.  Then I found out I was moving and I yanked the engine out of the car without ever really getting a chance to drive it.   I sold the car with a stock motor, and traveled 2500 Miles across country in my Astro Van.  Well, the family needed money and I had to sell parts off of it to keep us out of hot water.  Then I started to reaquire the parts in forms of upgrades.  While I'm not YET building my dream T3/T4 Hybrid Turbo motor, with EFI, running on E85, I am very happy to put all these boxes to use!  

Hopefully I can get back out there tomorrow night!

Scott Faivre

P.S.  I'm too lazy to post my pictures tonight.    I'll do that tomorrow night!

[admin]

Well, tonight I had to complete an expense report for work that took up the majority of my evening.  By the time I was done 11PM, I only had time to upload yesterday's photos and add them to the post above.  Let's hope tomorrow finds me trial fitting the rods and measuring side clearances.

Scott Faivre

[Kenney]

Scott,

Thanks for this. I just browsed through again and saw the pics. I had a few questions for ya, too.

What cam are you running again? I think you mentioned it in the other thread but couldn't find it. Are longer studs available that'll clear the oil pump cover? I don't have any doubts about the bolts, but just curious.

So, provided you meet this dead line, are you going to have the WHOLE thing done, or just the engine minus the efi/turbo stuff?

Lookin' awesome so far!

[admin]

Scott,

Thanks for this. I just browsed through again and saw the pics. I had a few questions for ya, too.

What cam are you running again? I think you mentioned it in the other thread but couldn't find it.

My cam is a GB300 (Gene Berg) which is equivalent to an Engle 120.

Are longer studs available that'll clear the oil pump cover? I don't have any doubts about the bolts, but just curious.

So, provided you meet this dead line, are you going to have the WHOLE thing done, or just the engine minus the efi/turbo stuff?

Lookin' awesome so far!

I'm sure you could get studs in any legnth if you look for them.  The bolts just are a bit neater if you ask me.

No, I won't have my ultimate engine done.  But I'm trying to get the long block together and installed in my car with my Weber 48IDF's.  It will be naturally aspirated, but it will be fun.  I missed out racing last year because the dyno session took so much of my time, AND I was just friggin' exhausted by the time we got to Sunday!

I did go out to the garage for just a 1/2 hr tonight.  I unbolted 1 of my CB rods, installed a rod bearing and then bolted it up to my crank.  The side clearance looks pretty good, but I forgot to pick up some plastigauge to check my journal to bearing clearance.  I'll have to score some from a parts store in my travels this week and get it going!

No pics tonight, but I'll add more when I've got more content.

Take care,
Scott Faivre

[admin]

So a day and half and 3 autozones later,  I have green plastigage.  There are 3 versions red, blue, and green.  To measure bearing to journal clearances, you need the green one.  It measures .025-.076mm.  At only $1.47 it's the cheapest tool in your toolbox and one not to overlook!

I'll show how to use this once I get my pictures taken.

Scott Faivre

[Kenney]

Scott,

Any updates? Don't wanna sound pushy or anything, but Oct 5th is coming up awfully quick. 

[admin]

Well, in a nutshell, I'm behind again!   I'm still going to make a good push though and try to get it done.  So here's where I left off...

I tried the plastigage stuff and I wasn't getting squat for crush.  I called upon another buddy of mine to measure my journals and rods with bearings in them, since I don't own a bore guage nor micrometers.  I only have a nice digital set of calipers.  End result was that my retailer sold me the wrong rod bearings as my crank is one size under.  I've since got the right ones, but I went away for a week to Florida.  This week started my daughter's softball and this weekend I'm headed to Sacramento for Bugorama #62.  Monday I'm definitely going to be working on it though!

Stay Tuned!
Scott Faivre

[Kenney]

Right on!

Was it Butch's Speed Shop you bought the bearings from? Did they give you any hassle or anything on exchanging them, or did you go else where?

Sounds like a fun but busy week and weekend. Hope you can get this thing done in time.

I'm lookin' at a 2165 right now, been saving for almost 3 months,  and a 3 week lead time for the build + porting. Just need to get some carbs for it to get the car to the show. If I get lucky, i'll have the efi on their and tuned in enough to drive.

[admin]

Right on!

Was it Butch's Speed Shop you bought the bearings from? Did they give you any hassle or anything on exchanging them, or did you go else where?

Sounds like a fun but busy week and weekend. Hope you can get this thing done in time.

I'm lookin' at a 2165 right now, been saving for almost 3 months,  and a 3 week lead time for the build + porting. Just need to get some carbs for it to get the car to the show. If I get lucky, i'll have the efi on their and tuned in enough to drive.

Boy!  Thats a 180 degrees from selling your car!  NICE!!!!!!!!!!   Right on Dude!

Yes, I bought them from Butch's Speed Shop because they are the only ones that have German Kobleschmidt bearings.  I didn't return them because I accidently scratched one of them.  I figure I've got a few spares for one of my other motors now.

Scott Faivre

[admin]

Long time no post...

Sorry Fellas it's been CRAZZZZY!!!    I've been traveling like a mad man, and work has been nuts, and I'm thrashing on this engine to get it right before Vegas and the wife and I throwing a helluva shin-dig at our place before the Vegas event.  Be sure to check this thread out...

http://www.german-pride.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=63&topic=328.msg1621#msg1621

Also see the related beer poll as to what I should order up for the keg.

The work is progressing nicely on my engine build, but I haven't had time to update the thread.  I've got the long block together, and the heads are on, but I'm now getting the rocker geometry set up.  (That was friday's project that got delayed due to a hot water heater that crapped out on me.  )  I'm still looking into geometry.

But I started to fidget with the carbs and the distributor, as I look forward to firing this beast.  I know that a lot of people now prefer the Mallory distributor with vaccuum advance, but I've had this MSD for 4 years now, sitting on a shelf and never installed.

I was looking at the MSD instructions about their pro billet distributor for the VW (part # 8485) and I wanted to check my settings with those of you that have already installed this distributor before.

Again my engine is a stout 2 liter and it's a street strip car.  I know that we want a max of 32 degrees and we want that all in by 3000 RPM.  Is that still correct?

Well by going by that rule, I set up the distributor with:
- silver advance stop bushing
- (1) blue spring & (1) silver spring

This was based upon the charts I looked at on http://www.msdignition.com/instructions/Products/8485.pdf?terms=8485 (Page 3 Figure E) 

Is there a better way to set up this distributor?

Thanks!
Scott Faivre