OK. So here are pics and comments for the motor build for HM1103.
General Stuff.
"New"Ford 302 Block from Summit
Balanced Stroker Rotating Assembly from Eagle (Std Bore - 341 C.I.)
Canton Stroker Main Girdle
Melling Oil Pump
Moroso Road Racing Oil Pan and Pickup
World Casting WIndsor Jr Cast Iron Heads
Ford Racing X303 Cam
Roller Lifters and Rockers
Edelbrock Air-Gap RPM Manifold
Edelbrock 650cfm 4bbl Carb
First Things First. Gotta clean up the Garage! Too bad it is not MY Garage!
It was easier to pull the block off the pallet it was shipped on and mount it on the stand upside down. We used the holes in the block for the motor mounts. Hoist and Engine Stand from Harbor Freight. Leveler bar from Summit. "New" Block had really been sitting in a Ford warehouse for 7 years. It is covered with rust protectant. It's bores are finished honed, and the mains are aligned honed from the factory.
Always wear your OSHA approved footwear when working in the garage!
First Step in Block Prep was creating clearance for the stroker crank and rods. Here is the block before any grinding. Main bearing caps are numbered, thank god. They have nice little arrows on them too!
Grinding consists of notching the bottom of the cylinders to clear rod bolts, and cutting a piece of the block to clear a crank counterweight. Got a cool little notching guide from Hawks Racing which showed me exactly where to notch each cylinder. Saved alot of time having to install and pull the crank. They also had instructions on where to cut the block to clear crank.
You cannot go to Harbor Freight without buying SOMETHING absolutely stupid.
This is what a finished notch looks like. Take care to make sure not to damage the bore while doing this.
This is the block after cleaning the crap out of it about a dozen times. We used degreaser, Soap & water, Brake Cleaner, a bunch of brushes, 0000 grit steel wool, and we air dryed everything with compressed air.
Next step was painting the block. We used an engine kit from POR-15.
Applied POR.
Top Coated in Aluminum.
After the block was dry, it was time to measure everything. We already checked deck straightness and height. We also checked the mains line bore for straightness.
Kerianne happily checks the piston diameter. :P
Grumpy old man puts in brass freeze plugs. Block came with stock steel plugs.
Camshaft was installed.
Block came with cam bearings installed. They were protected with rags whenever grinding or painting was needed and held up just fine.
Roller lifters were cleaned and prepped.
Lifters are installed in bores and held in place by little "dogbones" and a "spider" plate.
Notice small silver plug in upper right of block. Forget to install this and you have no oil pressure.
Block was deburred before painting. Now we are radiusing and deburring the main caps.
Eagle Crank had metal burrs left from balancing. These need to be removed or they will break off in the engine.
This is what it looks like after deburring.
You can't clean things too much after grinding.
Putting in the main bearings.
The middle bearing (#3) is the thrust bearing.
More OSHA approved footwear! :o
Main bearings were installed. Main bearing caps were torqued to spec. Main bearing diameter was checked with a bore gauge.
Crankshaft journal diameters were measured and clearance calculated. Crank was placed in block. We will doublecheck clearances with Plastigauge.
Thrust clearance was checked also. A crowbar helps a lot! 8-)
After clearances checked out, we pulled the crank and lubed bearings with assembly lube.
We lubed and installed main caps and installed the rear seal at this time too.
Next we dry fit the main girdle and oil pump to see if it all cleared.
The oil pump was hitting the main bolt. We ground the oil pump to clear.
Oil pickup also had to be notched to clear the windage tray. Windage tray installed on top of main girdle.
Gapping Piston Rings is next.
Obviously we had a little work to do. ;)
We used a Squaring Tool and a Ring File from Summit.
Each bore is slightly different, so you need to gap rings in sets for each cylinder. Keep track of them!
Next we assembled pistons and rods. We lettered each piston, and matched them with ring sets.
We checked ring to groove clearance before installing rings.
Kerianne's fingertips are still healing! :'(
Piston assembly is lubed and placed in ring compressor and inserted in bore.
Piston is lightly tapped into bore. This will not damage rings.
We had trouble deciding which way the pistons went. :o
We finally had to pull a head out and hold it up to make sure.
This orientation is correct but the writing etched on the piston is upsidedown. This is what confused us.
This is why we notched the block in the beginning. The Rod bolt head would have broken off on the bottom of the cylinder.
Also make sure the rods clear the main girdle.
Gene (Kerianne's dad) stopped by to give us a hand and talk us through some things. He built a few performance engines in his day.
Kerianne's torqueing the main cap bolts with the girdle installed. They have to be torqued twice.
Torqueing the rod bolts. These have to be torqued 4 times.
Timing chain was installed next. Line up the marks between the two sprockets.
Windage tray and oil pickup were installed. Notice the tight clearance between the edge of the windage tray and the pickup. Loctite is used on the oil pump and windage tray fasteners.
"Big Assed" Oil Pan was dry fit. It holds 9 quarts and has baffles and trap doors out the wazzu! 8-)Clearance between bottom of pickup and pan was checked.
Very cool never built a motor makes me want to try!!
Great job on the pics and narration. Very fun to go through. Looks like you are well on your way to building a great motor and car.
Keep the pictures coming.
Dan
Evan, that's a great engine building thread. You make it look easy!
We'd be a lot further along if the UPS guy would quit interupting us. Where are we gonna put all these damn parts anyway? The front tires showed up. Kumho Ecsta MX 255/40-17 on the front, the rears are on backorder.
The heads were prepped and the ports were masked off for painting. These are World Casting Windsor Jr Cast Iron Heads. 185 CFM with 58CC chambers.
Heads were painted like the block. Black POR and Aluminum topcoat. The heads came assembled, with valves and springs installed.
While the heads were drying, we degreed the camshaft. It is a ford racing X303. Checked out fine.
Things were going SOOOOOOOOO well.
THEN.....we tried to install the timing cover. :'(
There are about 300 different combinations of covers, timing sets, seals, fuel pump eccentrics and water pumps. only one of them works. no one alive knows which one...or what bolts actually mount it. >:(
2 weeks later.....Timing set was changed to allow the cover to fit over the eccentric. This picture shows our first failed attempt at driving in the crank seal.
Creative engine building 101......the seal was too big....put the damn seal in the freezer and warm the cover.
THEN.....
Evan gets frusterated!!!
THIS is the right seal. It installs from the outside, spring points towards the crankshaft.
This water pump would work great....if we could actually mount it on the front of the engine. None of the bolt kits we tried actually were long enough to thread into the block.
We ended up taking the timing cover, water pump and all the bolt kits down to Summit Racing to figure it out. We spent and hour and a half with John at Summit, and came up with a combination that finally worked. Here we are making sure the harmonic balancer clears. (notice the new Flow Kooler water pump). We ended up using bolts from 2 different ARP kits, plus 5 extra bolts.
With the timing cover finally on....out came the big ass oil pan again. making sure things are happy together before actually loctiting and silicoing everything in.
Sept 14
Rich Lacy delivers HM1103.
Every plan hits a snag.
No harm done. Back on our way.
WHOA! Were are we gonna put this stuff.....that big garage is shrinking rapidly.
Safely Home and on the stands.
Setting the windsheild and marking the mounting holes. set at 35 degrees - it was all we could get.
You can't build something like this without help.
YOWZA! Where'd the garage go??? :o
Removing the front Quickjack mounts. This will give us clearance in the front to remove the body from the frame.
Notice Bill's safety cigar. ;D
Jim and Bill helped us remove the body.
We spent the next day cleaning and organizing the workspace.
A trip to Home Depot for shelves helped!
We also decided to hang the cockpit tub. The door panels, hood, trunk lid, and headers are hanging as well. All the aluminum firewall panels are in the rafters out of harms way.
After disassembly, we need to prep the frame for painting. It came from Hurricane coated with POR. we will topcoat with Sterling Silver. The first step was to remove the IRS system. some of the bolts are difficult to get a wrench on.
The IRS subframe is angled in relation to the main frame. To support it with a jack, you need to drop the front end down so the IRS subframe is level. We supported the front end of the main frame with a floor jack and a 2x4. We supported the IRS with a ATV/Motorcycle jack and 4x4s. Gotta Love Harbor Freight. I knew there was a reason I wanted that Motorcycle jack.
My IRS came assembled from Hurricane. I removed it as a unit. Before removing the unit, make sure to secure the coilover springs and shocks to keep from damaging them.
Disassembly is done. The frame is ready to paint.
Ok. It's Official.
I'm hooked. I'm checking posts....and checking out the progress the engine gnomes are doing during the day, and wanting to spend all evening in the garage. :o
Does that make me the first girl involved deeply in a build? U guys ok with that? ;)
- Kerianne
Well, my wife is on board to get a Hurricane. :D I hope she'll help with the build when it happens. ::)
Mo
You GO girl. ;) Welcome Kerianne!!! [smiley=beer.gif]
I am definitely OK with that.
Glad you are enjoying the experience.
Make sure you call shotgun before one of the neighborhood kids does...... ;D
Dan
shotgun......beet you to it KA. See you in NO. Evan good work keep it up.
Man, this thread is like candy! Keep it coming Spud. Talk about motivation...
-Eric
Back to the Engine.
Lubed and installed the final timing set/fuel eccentric/timing cover/water pump combination.
assembly lube on the timing chain, moly on the fuel pump eccentric. Putting RTV gasket gunk on the block for the timing cover.
Mounted the timing cover and the water pump. All bolts have sealer applied.
Harmonic Balancer installed using a special centering tool.....and lots of washers. anti-seize applied to crank and inside of balancer.
Oil pan seal and gasket installed. RTV applied to block gasket surface and joint between gasket and rubber seal.
Pan is fitted. Bolts are carefully tightened from side to side and front to back in steps.
This allows any pan warpage to be worked out....and then there's always those last 2 bolts that never fit.
Heads are prepped for installation. Painted in POR and Aluminum topcoat. we used a razorblade to clean up the edges.
Removing valve springs to replace with lightweight test springs. This will allow us to check valve to piston clearance. It helps to have a bigassed valve spring compressor. (I knew I wanted one of those things!)
These are the lightweight springs. We can open and close the valve by hand using these.
Studs, Guideplates and rocker arms are installed. We decided to determine push rod length while we were checking clearance.
We had an adjustable push rod that was too long. Another trip to Summit.
Thank God for Dry fitting!! Discovered that the head bolt holes were a tad small for the ARP shoulders. Had to file them out gently and then wash the heads again.
Torqued the head bolts according to the Head manufacturers spec.
Priming the lifters with oil.
We measured our pushrod length for both exhaust and intake. We then bought a set of 16 at that length from Summit.
Engine assembly lube is applied to the guideplates and the valve tips. Don't forget to lube the pushrods too.
Make sure the pushrods seat into the lifters.
Placing the rocker arms on the studs. Making sure they seat on the valve tip and pushrod end. (and that that silly collar thing in the middle is right side up!)
We're using hydraulic roller lifters, which require zero lash. Place the cam on it's base circle and tighten the rocker arm nut while twirling the pushrod between your finger and thumb. When you can't twirl anymore, stop. Now turn the nut 3/4 of a turn more to preload the lifter. Now tighten the center lock nut (without moving the rocker arm nut). Repeat 15 more times. :o
This is why pushrod length is important.
Look what showed up when we weren't looking! ;D
AC wheels from Team III. Fronts mounted. 255/40-17. Kumho Ecsta MXs. Still waiting for the rear tires. These are bolt on wheels, with spinners and bolt covers.
We are running a high flow mechanical fuel pump.
Use gasket shellac on the intake ports and the insides of the gaskets.
Use RTV on the water passages just to be safe.
Intake gaskets are placed on the heads. We're using RTV on the ends of the lifter valley. The intake manifold manufacturer recommended not using the cork gaskets here.
Installing the Edelbrock RPM Air Gap Intake Manifold. Carefully lower it while lining up the bolt holes. This thing is really high. I hope I can stuff it all under the hood.
Dry fitting the carb. I think i'm well into the hood scoop now.
Added the aircleaner. Holy Crap!! Maybe we'll just leave the hood off. ;D
We're using an ignition system from Summit. Here is the billet distributor. Yeah, I think I put in in backwards. :'(
As we added more parts, the extra weight changed the angle of the engine on the stand enough that we decided to haul out the lift and tighten up the bolts. Ended up being a great idea, they had definately loosened up.
A little shellac, some cork, some studs, a couple valve covers... a little blue tape, and she's all buttoned up.
Looks pretty! Our cars are sisters! ;)
Thank You for the inspiriation!
Great pics. I
....... ok, ok - so 3 weeks turns into 7 weeks.....
I think everybody here knows how that can happen. :'(
There's a story behind every picture - and this one is a little convoluted. Ever heard of the "snowball effect" concept????
I am not holding a part HM1103...I'm installing the 220V/50Amp service to the garage. Here's why. We live in Ohio. Strangely - about this time of year - it really does get cold ... and snows! This is not good for paint, hands, or feet. One evening we were using a couple electric space heaters while sanding down POR for topcoating - when we blew the circuit - not once...but twice (picture Kerianne sitting in the dark garage with sawhorses, sandpaper and lots of little parts while Evan goes into the house, down to the basement to turn the lights back on.) This got old really quick.
We realized that to continue working in any comfort at all we would have to bring in more power. Add the fact that we were planning on some mods that required welding and that sealed the deal.
So. We decided to use the electric service for the hottub (which hasn't been on in 6 months) to service the garage. 4 days later, we trenched the back yard by hand. in November. in Ohio. Then we added a subpanel to the garage which had a 30Amp/220V circuit and a couple extra 20Amp/110V outlets.....all the while realizing we only had 1 circuit for the whole garage...and no matter what we would have tried - it would have never been enough anyway!
So - now we have heat - and Evan got to buy the welder he wanted too!
Updating our progress so far. Began topcoating parts with silver POR topcoat.
Putting a topcoat over the POR base keeps it from degrading due to UV light (but of course - if it's already cured, you have to sand and prime it first) We used POR self etching primer.
More pieces parts! ;D
We had to dismantle the IRS to paint the parts. This picture shows the upgraded Willwood rear brakes.
We read a lot about electrical ground issues with fiberglassed bodied cars. So before we painted the frame, we wanted to weld some grounding studs at various places. This photo shows the stud for grounding the fuse block and gauges in the upper frame.
Grounding studs for the headlights and turn signals. The drivers side will also be used to ground the upper frame to the main frame.
We will run a grounding strap from this Main Frame stud to the Upper Frame Stud
Grounding stud for starter, motor and alternator.
Grounding stud for the battery. The battery will be located on the passenger side above the IRS.
Grounding studs for the taillights are welded to the quickjack mounts. The drivers side could also be used for the battery if located in the standard position in the trunk.
Kerianne happily grinding away.
Beware of women with power tools! ;D
Oh, that's what she was doing!! I'd better watch her the next time I pour concrete! ::)
Prepping the upper frame for paint. We bought a $30 steamer from Harbor Freight. Worked wonders in the colder weather. The oil and grime ran right off.
Remind me to ask Rich Burroughs for more Hurricane Hats.
After degreasing, metal ready, more steaming, and black POR-15.
You can topcoat POR fairly quickly after it is applied. This shows the silver topcoat.
She's steaming and she can't stop! Kerianne goes after the main frame.
The frame after the first round of steaming and degreasing. It's just a shame that it's still grimey. We will continue to clean, then apply POR-15.
Looking good! 220 in the garage is a necessity! ;)
I hadn't realized that you were in Ohio! Ran mapquest and you are only like 90 miles from me! So our cars are sisters and nieghbors! haha
Keep the pics coming!
Looks like the two of you are having fun and getting a lot done....and that's in Ohio, sure glad I left for warmer climes...enjoying watching your build. Keep us all in the loop with the photos.
Hey HM 1104,
Yes, you are really close!
Let us know when you start the build! We look forward to letting the "kids" play together when they are done.
You know, Beaver Run is a nice little track, and they have numerous track days and autrocross events.
Nelsons Ledges is really close too!
Tell us a little more about your plans for the car.
Let us know if you need any help!
Evan and Kerianne.
Evan and Kerianne,
Current plans for the cobra are 408 stroker, 17" american racing 427 wheels, Either going with Red or Prowler orange for the paint. The wheel centers are going to be painted matte black, as will the quick jacks, side pipes, team stripes, and roll bar. Haven't decided on racing stripes or not yet. All going into a built T5. Also, HM1104 is slated to be the first hurricane with a full width roll bar rather than a single drivers or dual bars.
The stroker, if I build it how I want and not how I've budgeted, will have Vic Jr's, dual quads, big cam all built around a 69 or 70 block.
I can't wait to get home so all this can begin! I closed on my new house today so I need to build a bigger garage before I start though. We will definitely have to get together! I want to go on power tour 2009 with the car, it'd be fun!
Hey Josh,
Yow, that sounds like quite a motor!
I have not seen any dual quad set ups pictured in Hurricanes. That should be really cool and interesting.
I would think you would need to make sure it all fits under the sloping cobra hood!
Especially with the 351 block, which is taller to begin with. Any plan to modify the hood and scoop?
I am a bit concerned with mine. I have the Air-Gap Edelbrock manifold, and it's REALLY tall.
Dual Quads may need a bigger fuel tank too? I imagine that baby is going to suck some juice.
With all that power, will the T-5 hold up? I went with a TKO600, so I have a little safety margin.
Are you going with the solid axle or the IRS?
Bottom line, we all get to build it the way we want it. That's the fun!
Regards,
Evan
Evan,
ya I was concerned about the clearance because I do not want to put a bigger scoop on the car.
Hey Josh.
Intake Clearance is a common issue. I think we all have faced it. I originally had one of those big, oval "cobra" air filters, and realized the front of it would be above the hood scoop. I switched to the air filter I have now as a result. I still may have issues. I really try not to think about it. Like I said, I may just leave the hood off!
I am sure someone out there has bumped into this issue. I would suggest you post a question about it. If you look at Phil Bernia's build thread, you notice he changed air filters part way through. (I personally love his thread, very detailed and complete.)
It can be difficult to gauge, especially when the body is off and hanging in the rafters.
Evan
Quote
I'm going with a built T5 by G force.
Re T-5 transmissions, there's a guy here in Arizona, Gordon Levy, who sells a beefed-up T-5 that he uses in race cars and he claims it will handle pretty much whatever you can throw at it.
Ya, it's common to see poorly built or maybe I should say poorly driven t5's. I've seen STOCK t5's running great in 500hp cars for a couple years in mustangs. Then I've seen them blown up in stock fox body's. It all about treatment. If you take it to the strip and bang the gears all the time, it won't last. If you drive it on the street and road courses and don't slam the gears, even the stock t5's will hang in there.
The only parts I have so far is the stroker kit, a set of roller rockers, and the pullies. I'm trying to keep my wife happy, she's gotta do the move herself to teh new house. Only 5 more months till I head abck to teh states!
Now back to HM1103! :P Sorry Evan!
Phil, Fuzzy, Jim, Josh, Eric, and everyone else....
I think it's great that all this discussion goes on....
It's honor to have the build thread hijacked by you all!
Contrary to popular belief - we have been getting SOME work done. Frame in black POR.
Sterling Silver POR topcoat.
Silver pumpkins! ;D
Reassembling the IRS after painting. All the urethane bushings were lubricated inside and out.
Another balmy day in Cleveland! 35mph winds off the lake. Sticky horizontal snow, and the Browns have a home game.
We have upgraded Wilwood rear brakes for the IRS. Here Kerianne is safety wiring the rotor bolts.
Kerianne loves to safety wire!!! (she really does!) ignore all the bitching. :'(
Here she is safety wiring the caliper mounting bolts
Here's the finished driver's side brake assembly. The small secondary caliper at the top is the emergency brake.
Lining up the IRS for installation was a little tricky. We matched the angle of the main frame to the angle of the IRS cage by lowering the front of the main frame and jacking up the IRS with the motorcycle jack - a little at a time.
Final installation of the IRS. All mounting bolts were loctited and torqued.
Lookin good Evan!
Really nice looking! Love the silver POR-15 and the Wilwoods! ALready thinking that upgrading to the Wilwoods is pretty high on the list of improvements -nce my car is finished.
Keep up the good work!
Matt
Kerianne thinking "Nordic Trac" while torqueing front suspension pieces.
Front suspension installed. Coil over springs and shocks installed. We will have to shorten the steering rack.
Coil over springs and shocks installed on the IRS.
QuoteFinal installation of the IRS.
Kerianne is safety wiring
Don't be sad Kerianne, the safety wire gnomes will help you!
The upgraded brakes are awesome! But there certainly are a lot of parts! Oh, and every one of these parts needs to be SAFETY WIRED! (helpful gnomes not included with kit) ::)
The lug nut bolts in the front rotor need to be torqued to 77 lbs. How the heck am I gonna get a grip on this thing to torque those bolts??? :o
Kerianne came up with the idea of dropping the hubs into the wheels and tires and then torqueing the lug nut bolts.
It worked like a charm. Maybe I won't make her safety wire anymore. ......hmmm......I don't think so.
(The tires are in the basement because they are summer compounds and can't be stored under 32 degrees. and of course - it gets really cold in Ohio.)
Did I forget to mention that almost every bolt needed to be safety wired?
Sometimes you have to get creative. Kerianne could not safety wire all 3 bolt heads properly without interfering with the Hub when it would be mounted, so this is what she came up with.
Wheel bearings were greased and installed, along with the bearing seal. This shows the finished hub and rotor assembly. Of course there is more safety wiring!
After the calipers are installed, it's important to make sure the disc is centered in the caliper.
Once the calipers are centered, the bolts are torqued and of course.....safety wired.
You need more than just a pair of pliers to safety wire.
Next we have to shorten the steering rack.
To get the rotors parallel, we measured the front and the back from the frame rail.
We figured out we needed to trim 1" from each side.
---
While you have that cutoff wheel in your hand.....HONEY....can you fix that drain????? - K
Touch the threads up with a small file. Then back the jam nut off for a final clean up.
Install the jam nut and the tie rod end, don't forget the grease fitting and the rubber boot. Here we are tightening down the jam nut.
All joking about safety wiring aside......did we mention these brakes are REALLY COOL?!? 8-)
The brake pads slide right in, and are held in place with a cotter pin.
Installating or changing the pads take less than 30 seconds! ;D
Did we mention we liked these brakes? We're thinking they are gonna do well stopping this beast!
Front suspension is done!
Your brakes, your whole build, looks absolutely awesome. I really must say that the itch for an Hurricane is rising for every picture in your thread.
Love your sense for details! Great build!
Merry christmas!
/swetiger
I agree, your build up and pics to document are awesome. Hurricane Motorsports, should be using this on their web site to promote their kit. Seems to me they need to update the site.
Looking Great Evan!
I agree that they do need to update the site. Especially because the car has evolved alot for the beginning cars and potential buyers should see what the cars tehy are producing NOW look like.
It's looking really good! ;D
I do have one question..are you going to paint your spindles ?...they appear to be unpainted. I cleaned my spindles with thinner and hand painted them with black rustoleum so they wouldn't rust later on. They came out great and have held up very well so far. Just one little detail that nobody will ever see. ;D
Best Regards, Bill :)
Thanks for the comments guys!
I think this, and all build threads in this section, are available to everyone, not just members.
Bill, you're right, we didn't paint the spindles. We probably will later on. POR makes a great little "metal" color paint that looks exactly like....well....metal. POR loves to be applied to rusty surfaces too.
All The silver is making us rub our eyes alot!
For now we just wanted to get the build farther along while we have the time.
We are hoping to fire up the motor next week. We are fabricating an engine test stand to break it in on. Video at eleven.......
Regards,
Evan and Kerianne
That is all the further you have gotten Geez???? Just kidding looks good.
I'm enjoying watching you roar through this and particularly the close up high quality photos.
Evan got a wild hair up his butt about breaking the motor in.
We installed the pilot bearing and test fit the belhousing blockplate and the flywheel.
Evan attempting to torque down the flywheel bolts...and inadvertantly throwing the enging off top dead center. Oh, well. we'll fix that later.
Installing the belhousing and torqueing to spec. We have a MacLeod SFI Belhousing which was indexed at the factory but was shipped with no sticker.
Checking belhousing face runout. It was well within spec (if not a pain...we recommend 2 people - and it takes an hour to set up the gauge and 30 seconds to take readings)
Checking the belhousing bore runout after another hour setting the gauge.
Dry fit the high torque adjustable mini starter from (Guess where!).
We adjusted the starter position 180 degrees to put the terminals on the outside.
Remember we mentioned Evan designed the break in stand? it wasn't a myth.
After the belhousing checked out, we attached a mounting plate and installed it on the stand base.
The stand is designed to come apart to make loading the engine on easier and making a place for it in the garage easier too!
Man! Now we really want to start it up!
Ah, we forgot a few things.
We are dry fitting the pulleys and alternator bracket to make sure everything lines up.
After chasing a lot of threads, discovering what a Thermactor Plug is, trimming spacers, and gently filing a few holes, the pulleys and alternator are done. (oh, and we need a longer belt. we'll fix that later.)
While Evan was massaging the alternator, Kerianne put the water neck in.
Evan forgot to tell Kerianne to put the thermostat in first. So. Here Evan is putting the water neck on again.
We don't have to fix this later.
Evan is really glad he spent the extra few bucks on the chrome alternator and aluminum pulleys that Kerianne wanted.
We were originally going to run a serpentine belt. the water pump (see earlier mess on that) is an older style and is not compatible with the serpentine pulleys.
Sometimes ya can't wait till too much later to fix things...
We were going to put the distributor in next so we needed to put the engine back on TDC. We used a screw in stop and gently rocked the engine on the compression stroke.
With the engine now back at TDC, we can install the distributor.
With the work done on the front of the engine, we can bolt the radiator stand on.
QuoteWhile Evan was massaging the alternator, Kerianne put the water neck in.
Oh, We'll fix that later!
Are you serious? I've never heard of that? How big?
Kerianne did remember to tell me to put the thermostat in backwards, is that OK?
I've got the heater kit from Hurricane, who needs a radiator? :-?
Regards,
E and K
Evan, drilling a small hole in your thermostat ensures that should air get into your system, it will still open. Air will not open the thermostat, so if air gets into the system, it can pass thorugh the thermostat and let the water in.
This is the explaination I was given. I've never done this, but I know alot of chevy guys that do. :-/
Quote!
Are you serious? I've never heard of that? How big?
E and K
1/8" hole and mount the thermostat so the hole is at the top. The purpose is so you can bleed out the air when you fill the cooling system. Otherwise you'll get air pockets in the heads and it's hard to get all the air out of the cooling system.
Jim
Hmmmmm.
I do seem to remember something like that from way back, but I think it was a "cure" for overheating.
Ok. Is it really April? Are my taxes really done?
K & I are itching to hear this thing fire up. We bought some wire and a battery and went to work. Here I am wiring up the starting and ignition circuits.
The ignition and starting circuit are done. We added 9 quarts of oil to the big assed oil pan and we can now check the starter and prime the oil pump.
Doncha like Evan's really purty wiring job? (He has a thing about wire ties at work too!)
It may be messy, but it works. We filled the coolant system at this time. We just used water as we will be draining it later and it is easier to dispose of. Plus if there are leaks, we are not spraying antifreeze all over K's garage.
We hooked the battery up and pulled the spark plugs.
Next we added gas to the fuel system.
Got the air cleaner on correctly....still no fuel pressure.
Started checking the fuel hoses which were all dry. Even at the tank. :o
Checked the tank pickup, which was fine. I then remembered that the fuel pump did not have the inlet or outlet marked. Kerianne and I decided to reverse the hoses...and GEE....fuel pressure! I had hooked the pump up backwards, and it was trying to suck gas out of the carb. This photo shows the hoses in the correct position.
We set static timing to 14 degrees BTDC. We put the plugs and wires back in, and tightened down some leaky fuel fittings and lines.
....then we ran to Sears for a battery charger, because it wouldn't turn over anymore.
We have compression. We have spark. We have fuel. If it all comes together at the right time, this pig should start. The first 3 or 4 times we turned it over all we got were a few puffs of black smoke.
We decided to vary the timing a bit to see if it would catch. We loosened the distributor slightly and advanced the timing slowly as the engine cranked.
SHE FIRED! Looks like we didn't tighten the headers enough. We also sprung a coolant leak through some of the hoses. But DAMN, she sounds GOOD!!!
I knew I built that test stand for a reason! After fighting the coolant leaks (we had some loose clamps and the heater bypass plug burst.) We let the engine break in at 1100 rpm for about 20 minutes. Having the motor on a stand made it much easier to fix all the leaks and tighten everything up. And it kept the frame all nice and pretty.
NOW we are HAPPY! ;D
....video at 11.
Just in case you don't believe it, here's a link to the video.
http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee11/kmsidoti/?action=view¤t=HM1103BreakIn06.flv
Yeah, we know, the rocker arms need adjustment. we'll fix that later.
Well, we decided to downsize the project a little bit.
No, seriously. Our neighbor showed up with his tractor and asked for our help.
He gives kids rides around the neighborhood when the tractor isn't being used as a beermobile.
We'll work on anything that's silver. ;D
Ok. So, now we're fixing it later. Here we're setting the valve lash again. and again. and again. and again.
I'm getting really quick at it now and I'll never forget the firing order.
And we still can't get rid of that pesky little click.
The IRS continues to have issues.
Here we've marked how much of the gusset needs to be trimmed to clear the control arm. We will have to move the shock and spring for clearance also.
Gusset trimmed. Fingers almost lost. New edge finished with paint. Shock mounting spacers readjusted.
Now the control arm has clearance to go up to the main frame. It's still really tight and the flex in the uerathane bushings may still let the control arm hit at times.
There was excessive play in the hub bearings. They had to be re-pressed. Harbor Freight to the rescue again.
There are 2 areas to press: The bearing into the hub. And the wheel flange into the bearing. This tightened things up.
The upgraded Wilwood brakes for the IRS did not have the e-brake cabling system worked out. There was no bracket or cable stop at the caliper end.
After a few months of silence from Hurricane, I decided I had to fabricate a bracket myself.
With a little help from some of the other owners and the FFR owners forum, we came up with these.
Kerianne came up with a new racing seat.
Instead of watching paint dry, we dedided to test fit the roll bars and prep them to drill the mounting holes.
Hurricane told us the bars did not need to be bolted to the frame. I don't think so. With the track time this car will see, we need the rollover protection. As some of the other builders have discovered, the bars need a little work.
We're reassembling the IRS. For the fourth time.
This shows where the e-brake bracket lines up. During reassembly, the wheel flange popped out of the bearing race and was loose again. The bearing stayed firm in the hub though.
Much like our Wilwood front brakes, installed earlier, the rear brake calipers need to be aligned with the rotors. The caliper does not float, it is static - so it needs to be perfectly centered on the disc.
If there is play in the wheel flange, we can't align the brakes properly. So we need to tighten up the wheel flange. Which means 250 ft lbs of torque on the axle nut.
To generate that much force on the axle nut, we needed to put the wheels and tires on, drop the frame and chock all 4 wheels.
The axle nut needs a 1 3/8" socket and a big ass torque wrench.
This was a lot easier when the IRS was not attached to the main frame.
We have plenty of clearance inside the wheels for ventilation.
Here's the front.
Evan, would you ask Kerianne what safety wire tool she recommends ;D.
As much luck I've had with Harbor Frieght, their safety wire tool just doesn't cut it.
Matt
Matt -
I've been using the safety wire tool from Harbor Freight....and b*tching about it every time I use it. ;D
But in theory, our safety wiring should be done...in theory. I think.
- kerianne
I told her I'd buy her a nice set from Summit for Christmas, but I guess she wanted something else!
The Harbor Freight ones...well.....suck. But the Summit ones are close to 90 bucks. I guess it all depends how many times I have to take the IRS and Brakes apart.
Evan
Finally got some time to work on the car....sort of. after some solid months of travelling for work....Replacing Kerianne's Side door and having a blast Autocrossing the other toy ;D.
We're at the point that we should drop the engine in the frame. When draining the fluids from the motor, we noticed a small amount of tiny metal shavings in the oil. We decided to drop the pan to see if we could find out why.
Surprise, surprise. I guess we found out what that pesky little ticking was. The best we can tell, this is a cup plug from one of the front block oil passages. It must have popped and fallen down through the timing chain cover. The engine had just been run the day before for a brief period and sounded ok. We did notice a drop in oil pressure from 60 to about 40.
Looks like we'll be taking the front of the engine off......weh. :'( Think it's time to go on vacation.
There didn't seem to be any other signs of damage under the engine. We may have dodged a major bullet. (So glad I built that test stand!) Hopefully any damage is confined to the front cover and timing chain. Not really looking forward to dealing with THAT nightmare again....but it could be much worse.