Post up a pic of the outside of the car ! I want to see what all the parts that were painted black look like !

Jeff

heh heh. That would mean I need to install them. :P

I brought the handles in to be rekeyed to match my ignition. Since I only have one key for the car, we figured we'd make a couple of spares. No dice. I can get a copied key to work in the passenger door, but not the driver's door or the ignition. "hmm", I thought, "no biggie, I'll just rekey all the cylinders to a new cut". No dice on that one. '69 ignition cylinder isn't designed to come out of the car, so I'm a bit stuck as to what my plan is going to be.

Once I solve the key issue, I'll drop the black bits on.

-Dave

Thanks man. I got my new wheels and did a semi gloss black. I was kind of thinking about doing all the chrome semi gloss black as well.

Jeff

p.s. I got your email as well, give me a couple days !

I am now just waiting for my case to be finished at the machinist, and then I can pre-assemble everything before balancing and final assembly.

New engine build will be 1776cc, 40mm/35.5mm heads, forged crank, Scat C20 Camshaft, 1.25 ratio rockers, Scat I-Beam rods, fully balanced with an Accusump to protect against starvation when cornering. Got all the fun bits delivered today, really don't know where I'm going to run the Accusump and remote cable though.

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C20 Cam, which I've had for quite some time..

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Big valve heads, need to see if I can get these port and polished before assembly. Not a job I want to tackle myself.

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Mahle forged piston and cylinder set. Also have Total Seal rings to put on these.

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Scat i-Beam connecting rods.

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Accusump with valve, cable control and cable mount. I'm thinking of working the cable mount into the shifter assembly and placing the accusump in the rear luggage area.

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Scat lightened flywheel.

-Dave

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So, wow, changes the look of the car instantly (at least, to me). My housemate came upstairs from the garage and says to me "you've ruined it, totally looks like a modern car now".

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A few problems though...I managed to mix up some trim and never painted a pair of front quarter trim, so its back to chrome tonight. Still haven't figured out the lock situation, and if I'm going to do this properly I need to source out a "volkswagen" script to paint as well.

Other then that, work continues on the new engine. My evenings have been spent cleaning hardware...reeeeaaaaalllly exciting stuff. It's Kerosene for degreasing, into a light acid bath for rust removal and then oiling to keep the rust off.

I'm about ready to give up and just order an engine hardware kit. Seems somewhat wasteful, and I'm not sure I trust the hardware kits that are out there, but I'm losing braincells to fumes and boredom. Not to mention things like the head studs are pitted from corrosion.

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-Dave

car looks good, like the color progression, I recently blacked out my chrome to make it look more uniform.

keep it up :D

i admire your determination and those sweet ass fog lights

POP!

New motor build is now a high-priority item, as my 1600dp is now just a paperweight.

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-Dave

oh damn, looks like a good one too. Well you've got the makings for a stout 1776 just gotta get it together.

Ouch. Hot, Hot, Hot.

My gosh the cleaning/measuring part of engine building is boring, eh?

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Well, some of it is at least.

Started with the heads on the weekend. I don't have intake/exhaust yet, so no port matching. But I did clean up the exhaust ports a little to get rid of the sharp edge as you exit the valve.
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Before shot above, after shot below. Not easy to see I guess...but you can feel the difference!

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Next up was CC'ing the heads but I'm going to have to go back and recheck them, make sure I'm absolutely dead-nuts accurate on each one. My first go measured a range from 50-55cc's, which is unacceptable. I'll need to rule out measuring method, and then decide how to even it out.

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Piston Rings measured and installed...
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Rod bolts measured, rods assembled, rod bearing clearance checked and axial play measured...
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Timing gear fun! My housemate was rather confused about the camp stove on the work bench until I explained it to him.

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Test fitting
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And measuring the deck height...with which I have a problem. I've got -0.007", and my cylinders aren't even torqued down. Shims will be in here in a couple of days, so I tore it back down for balancing.

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I'll have the parts back from balancing today, they did two-day turnaround for me due to Easter weekend...but I think I'm paying out the nose for it. Garage needs to be cleaned again before I do the real build, and I might try and relax for a few days first. Perhaps I'll hit up some of the other items on the before I go back to to the motor.

-Dave

Yeah the cleaning and measuring and checking and fitting and building and tearing down again is no fun but wait until you get to the nail biting cam break in. Dave and I both just went through that and I think its the worst part of a new build.

Looks like you are moving right along. I see you put the wisperlite to good use. You should have seen the look on my wife's face the first time I had a crank gear on the stove in the kitchen and assembled it on the kitchen island. I did have an old pot and a board to lay it out on.

old pot?

I made breakfast in that pot this morning...

;)

-Dave

Since those are new heads,
Take them to your local FLAPS machine shop and have the guides pushed out of the way.
Not out, just out of the way.
Then port, port, port...
It makes cleaning/trial assembly seem fun.
Chambers too... To get your CR & keep the deck tight.
Have them back-cut the intake valve - cheap, easy..

You will leave a lot of power on the table if you leave the heads like that.
Power is in the heads.
THe rest of your combo is crying for headwork.

-My $.02.. FWIW..

Car is shaping up really sweetly, brother.
Give it some huevos!

(I saw that picture on the Thule site!)

Interesting to hear the photos made Thule's site. I haven't seen them, got a link?

In regards to the heads, it's one area I cheaped out on for sure. Didn't have the budget for the heads I wanted, having blown up the 1600 earlier then 'planned'. I'm torn between spending the money on the machine work for this set vs getting the heads I want and working on those in the summer. I'm also on a time crunch, I co-organize a classic car event called the Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure, and I've got 25 days before I need to have this car running and debugged at the start :)

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The parts are back from balancing, and it's good to see that I didn't spend a pile of $$ to have them unpack and repack my parts ;) I did make them earn it though, tore the engine down at about 2am so they got to clean all the grease off them for me :)

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Engine bits were cleaned for final assembly in the kitchen sink. I keep thinking we could use a shop sink in the garage, maybe next time?

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Light coat of black paint on the cylinders. Still torn on this one...might run them through the blast cabinet and rewash.

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And, here's where I got to last night. Should have the the long block assembled today, need to think about the head work which will probably pause me for a week. That will give me a chance to attack some things on the chassis side of the equation.

Only 25 sleeps until the Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure, which I co-organize. Not a whole lot of time to button this up, test it and organize the event!

-Dave

Alrighty, so time for a little bit of an update on the engine. The weekend was frustrating as all hell...dropped the second half of the case on, and found the rotating assembly was binding every 2 turns of the crank....hmmm. Pulled the case, checked the cam reinstalled...same problem. Finally found a cam tooth that had the slightest of nicks, cleaned it up and that problem was solved.

Figuring it was smooth sailing from there (ha!) and moved onto endplay. Well, actually I went on a search in our small town for a 38mm socket...forgot the Scat gland nut wasn't a 36. Found that, back to the shop later when I realized it was 3/4" drive and then onto measuring endplay! Oh, but wait, we need to make a flywheel removal tool. And hey, look at that, my collection of flywheel shims doesn't have the ones I need. This was becoming a comedy. Fortunately there's an aircooled specialist in town, and he handed me his box of shims to take home for the night. They're used, but I've done that before...

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Once I had a better selection to choose from, dialing in the endplay was no issue. From there it was onto measuring deck height now that I've got the correct spacers to start with.

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I need to go back and add another spacer (for a total of .070"), but that will give me my desired .050" on each of the cylinders. I guess at this point I should mention that I've gone back on my original plans to not touch the heads, and instead had them dropped off with the machinist this morning. I realized they needed to go see him to be prepped for dual valve springs, and I needed him to CC the combustion chambers for me. I've done it twice, and was getting a 5cc difference across the four heads. I wasn't sure if it was my method or the heads causing the problem, so figured I'd have him double check. Glad I did!

I've decided on a 55cc combustion chamber which will give me a compression ratio of 8.0:1 with my planned deck height. This should be conservative enough to give me a long lasting motor, and allow me to use regular fuel most of the year.

So now I'm waiting for the heads to come back and then the final agony of setting the valve train will be upon me :)

------------

While frustrated on the weekend, I opted to take a break and add more weight to the car. Don't worry, it's fully removable in seconds thanks to Anderson PowerPole connections. I also screwed up on the first application of the 'suede', and didn't have enough material for a second layer. Meh, whatever, I'm the only one who's ever going to see it up close. I actually had to finish the sub box so that I could work out whether or not the Accusump was going to fit back there. Forgot to mock it up with the valve and cable though, so I still might be hooped on placement.

Please excuse the wiring, I recently sold the truck that all of this came out of to a friend and haven't yet pulled the expensive wires. Just used some cheap stuff for the moment. Obviously I'll be hiding the wires under the carpet once the final placement and wiring is determined.

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-Dave

There really are days where it seems like nothing will go your way, but I think that gives you "one in the bag" for a day that will go perfect. I feel your pain with the flywheel nut, the last 3 motors I've built have had 3 different sizes and none of them stock. I have a drawer full of giant sockets now.

I think adding a little bump to your car is acceptable ballast for a GL :D You need to have something in the car that's louder than the motor right?

Getting closer on the build...

Oil return fitting installed, and then I discovered that it's going to interfere with the engine tin. Hmmm. How have you guys dealt with this?

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I've got multiple tin sets, and for now trimmed the tin to fit. Ran some silicone hose around the cut-out to make sure vibrations don't rub the tin against the fitting. Looks neater in person vs. the 'testing' shots.

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Pistons & cylinders installed for the last time. Fuel pump, oil filler, oil pressure warning light and some cooling tin installed.

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Here's the head work that was done. All combustion chambers matched to 54cc and smoothed out.

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Intake valves were given a 4-step cut, and the intake tracks were smoothed out and ported. Exhaust ports as well.

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(hard to see, but its there I swear! :P)

Dual valve springs...

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...but I'm still stuck with the engine here for a while. Need a few other items before I can continue.

In the meantime I figured out my oil filter mount, so I can figure out my oil line length and make those. Also wired up the sub, and worked on the Accusump for a bit. The sump is going to be a headache!

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These pieces of wood represent all the space i have to make the sump, air gauge, valve and hose fittings fit. At first look, it doesn't seem plausible...but it's just one more puzzle to solve.

-Dave

Well Humble, I got my 'perfect day'. Everything went so smooth in the garage today, it was faaaaantastic.

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You could say I'm making progress! :D

It's 2am, which is ridiculous on a work night! I started by having a good afternoon in the garage and I just got on a great roll overall. Excuse the zipties and cross-over in the above photos, that's just me mocking everything up so I can set up the linkage/carbs as much as possible before taking them off to install the engine. Basically, once I install the exhaust and thread lock all the tin screws, the engine is ready to go into the car. The car isn't quite ready for the engine yet...I need to put in the new engine bay seals and plumb my oil filter and oil accumulator lines. Not sure how I'm going to do the fuel-line from the pump to my T fitting behind the shroud. I'm starting to think a hardline / softline combo might be the ticket. Mind you...I wouldn't be surprised if my car has that nice big loop of fuel line on it for the first few hundred miles :P

Had a BIG scare tonight...I was adjusting the valves, basically the final thing before taking these photos, when I got to the last adjuster on #4. The adjuster was there, but no lock nut. I had been working on the engine with it tilted 90deg, so the head was straight up. Horror of all horrors, the only place that nut could have gone was straight down the pushrod tube. Couldn't see it with the light, couldn't feel or get it with a magnet. Before starting to tear the motor down to the bare block I figured I'd better do a serious clean/check of the garage. Unbelievably, there was the nut sitting on the workbench...somehow I had knocked it off when backing off all the adjusters and hadn't noticed. I'm 100% positive it's the right nut too, these adjusters use a 12mm wrench on the lock nut. There are NO other 12mm nuts in my garage! PHEW!!

The oil accumulator is causing me real problems due to space restrictions. If it wasn't for that, I could probably fire the engine up tomorrow night and break in the cam/lifters.

-Dave

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Engine is in...but still lots to do. Gotta put in the carbs, make two more oil lines, finish the oil-filter mount and connect a few odds-and-ends like heater control flaps ans similar. Could have it running tomorrow night, more likely to wait until Saturday morning to break in the cam.

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Temporary oil filter mount, and my feed/return line for the Accusump.

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I'll take better photos in the daylight, but I managed to squeeze everything into a very tight space.

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Accusump from the rear window.

-Dave

Great progress! I know how it feels to get in the groove and then you check the clock only to realize it's well past midnight. I can't tell you how many times I've done that myself but it sure feels good to have accomplished a lot. Can't wait to see it fired up, those first few moments are the worst by far :)

Well, it's 100% ready to go! I made two notes of items to check in the morning, its already filled with oil, so tomorrow morning is nail-biting cam break-in. If we didn't have noise bylaws, and my neighbours didn't already "love" me...it would be running right now :D

'Scuze the camera phone pics, I misplaced my camera at one point tonight.

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1/2 the reason for the Accusump is right here...ground clearance galore!

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Oil filter mount is still temporary, but the finished one is just going to be cosmetically better. Feed and return lines covered in DEI fire-proof heat wrap, which should eliminate any risks going close to the exhaust. I might go overboard and wrap the exhaust in the one spot as well.

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Here's the real cherry of tonights work. This is a Moroso catch can which I found on the shelf at the local speed shop. I didn't have a breather setup figured out, and I figured this was likely small enough to work. Mounted using one riv-nut to the firewall, and welded in the corner. It *just* sneaks behind the carb, took a while to figure out how to get it all in there. AN fittings and line were serious overkill, but I had extra. The drain is just a straight hose to under the car. For the moment its just got a plug and clamp on the end, I'm going to figure out a drain setup later. Still don't have any idea how quickly a can like this will fill up.

-Dave

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Finished build pic, taken while I was breaking in the cam and lifters. You weren't kidding, that is a nail-biter of a time!

While tuning the carbs we decided I need to go to a smaller idle jet, and might need to go to a bigger main jet. Gotta switch plugs first to one hotter before I'll know. It's kind of fun going back to carbs and old-school tuning. Learned a WHOLE LOT about spark plug reading from an expert yesterday.

I've got less then 100 miles on the motor, so I've only run it up to 3/4 throttle to set the rings. It was raining on test day number one, and the car gets fully sideways on highway on ramps using 1/2 throttle. Definitely going to be a fun machine!

And, because I thought it was funny...I figured the front better match the back.

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-Dave

The last few days have been spent on short drives, a couple of highway runs, and lots of carb-linkage adjusting and carb tuning. Basically working on dialing it in to perfection...

Picked up a new present today...you might remember these:

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Which are now these:

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For those of you who missed it earlier, it's essentially a completely overboard way to add some height to the gas pedal for heel-toe shifting. Since I'm crazy enough to have this milled out on a CNC rig, I figured I might as well make it height adjustable. We made a last minute change to 5mm hardware vs. my original 4mm, so I can't pop them into the car until I pickup the right stuff.

No worries, I still have a lengthy list to prep the car for the Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure in two weekends.

The Canton Racing cable for the Accusump valve is, not surprisingly, poorly designed for a rear-engined car. With my Accusump placement the cable is *just* long enough to get within reach, but not long enough to really go anywhere useful. Ideally I wanted the handle pointing straight up so that you push down before starting the car, and pull up just before shutting the car off. Alas, that long silver section means no dice. For now I've mounted it beside and just ahead of the seat adjustment lever. It's not perfect, but will work for a few weeks until I determine if there's a better option.

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-Dave

Hi

I went with the electric valve for this reason.

Looking good BTW

Steve

Yeah, I just wouldn't have been able to mount one with the space I had...not to mention my budget was rather stretched with all the other things I did!

-D

Your car is coming along nicely. I've been thinking more and more about the accusump for my daily, but I was worried that the oil temps would increase. Is oil constantly moving in/out of the accusump during normal driving?

My fluid dynamics is pretty rusty, but considering it's essentially a dead-end on an oil line, I doubt it's moving around that much. Depending on your current oiling setup and how you plumb the accusump, it shouldn't add to the heat of your system.

-Dave

Hi

I would have thought that depending on how often the Accusump is activated, the oil would cool off compared to sump temperatures, so it would inject some cooler oil.

Steve

My worry is that while you still have an extra 2qt or so in the accusump the relative volume of oil in the system stays pretty close to stock without an additional sump. I always thought of more oil as additional cooling capacity with an extra sump, even the thin ones, and all that oil circulates through the system. With the accusump the big question is how much and how often does the piston move, and does the oil in the sump circulate through the system. I know the obvious benefit of running the accusump is to compensate for a dry pick-up but I've always been concerned about temps. I guess it's not an issue if you run a cooler but it's just food for thought. If temps aren't an issue I'll drop my sumps in a heartbeat and replace them with accusumps.

I didn't record hard numbers with the 1600dp I had, but I did toss on a gauge at one point and measure oil temps. I too always thought that the additional sump under the engine would cool the oil off, even a little bit, but it doesn't...at least not enough to show up on the temp gauge. Yes they're finned, yes they are exposed to the airstream...but no, they aren't doing any appreciable cooling. Berg and a few others confirm that fact...a degree or two is oft quoted as the biggest improvement.

I do, however, agree that the sump does provide for a chance to allow the oil to "rest", even momentarily before being picked up and pushed around the engine some more. I'll likely do some oil analysis on my changes to ensure I'm not degrading the oil prematurely. With a windage tray, windage pushrod tubes and the accusump I think I'm pretty well protected. I do plan on watching oil temps and putting in an aftermarket cooler if needed. It would be in already, but I couldn't find a thermostat that I liked in time.

-Dave

Steve,

I just installed a moroso oil accumulator and went with my own manual valve and cable setup, but I don't really like it. How do you like your setup? Which electric valve did you use? I got the 1.5L version, however I found that I had to add alot more oil than that for the thing to work.

It depends on which valve you use. If you have a manual valve that is full open while the car is running, is moving in and out of the accumulator whenever there is a change in oil pressure. The electric valve options can include a pressure sensor which can activate the valve to open ONLY when the pressure gets below a certain amount, say if it drops below 25 psi the valve will open or just open/close when ignition is on/off.

The other thing to keep in mind is the manual valves are typically a full port ball valve which, when open adds basically zero restriction so the oil flow happens very quick. The solenoid valves are typical a globe style valve which can add a considerable restriction. This just result in the unit not filling as fast after a being discharged. Which is why for a 'race' application they suggest using a manual valve only, and suggest the electric valve for the street.

Hi

I haven't run my car yet with the Accusump so I cant really comment on how affective it is.

I particularly like the idea of the pre oiling.

A friend of mine restored an old Toyota Celica Bathurst Touring car, it had similar system system, that's what got me thinking about these systems again.

It got by the scrutineers as an "oil cooler" as it looked like a finned cylinder, it had no valve as such, it used a Type 3 washer bottle to pressurise the system so that when the oil pressure dropped below the pressure in the Type 3 washer bottle it would push on the piston in the extra sump and discharge oil and when the oil pressure came up again in the motor it would refill.

Steve

Nice car..

I must say reading about this accusump and other oil related threads.. wish there was a stick that had info on installing and benefits of a accusump, a tuna can/or similar deep sump, full flow, and dry sump setup.. don't mean to derail thread.. just a wish list from reading cool threads like this one.. any takers ;)
Alex

Well...that was interesting!

It's been a month, definitely time for an update. Unfortunately the bug hasn't moved in that month...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IOZP9C_3ik

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I put 2500 miles onto the car before the Spring Thaw Classic Car Adventure started. We made it through day one, but mushroomed a pushrod playing with a 356 4-cam on the way to our lunch spot. A quick change in the vinyard parking lot, and we were back up and running. Day two was uneventful, at least as far as the new engine is concerned. But day three, well, that was quickly roasted in the first few km's as we spun rod-bearing number 4 coming down the hill from Sun Peaks. I think you can see it in the following photos, but the colour change on the big end is significant. The end is completely black.

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Tear down of the motor revealed a pressure relief valve which is lightly sticking in the bore. Definitely don't recall that while building it, and I was sure I checked it a few times. Otherwise everything checked out. Roasted the rod, rod bearings and decided to swap out the crank due to heat damage. The journal has blued, and the crank isn't deathly expensive...so I'm replacing it.

Also found exhaust #1 lifter was pitted, just a little, but enough that it was a problem waiting to reveal itself. So, added to the list was lifters...and a cam due to some marks I wasn't stoked about on the lobes and bearing surface. Hmmmm...I've almost got a whole new motor going here! :P Big thanks to AVR Import Specialties (www.avrparts.com), who once again took care of me in the parts department.

I suspect this will start some debate over the value of the accusump, and why it didn't save the engine, but I don't think we can rule it out as not working...or give it a vote of confidence of keeping the motor together longer. The size I've got only buys me 15-30 seconds of protection, which just means I had 15-30 longer before the oil pressure warning light came on. Based on the relief valve I found...it was hooped regardless.

Not being one to sit back and do nothing, I did find some time to squeeze in a few chores in between coaching in Quebec & Whistler, Traveling to Toronto for a week and my 'real job'. Oh yeah...and the weather has been good for Mountain Biking too ;). Anyways...

Carbon Gravel Guards:
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Took care of the Wheel-wells and inside of the fenders with POR-15. Haven't used it before, but we're using it on the Mustang so I thought why not.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...ab19fa68ca.jpg

Installed some new Eccentrics for greater camber adjustment...and then finally got around to popping the new rubber and wheels on the car. 205/60/15's on 15x6" wheels. No sway bar on the front to make them work, and it definitely limits the turning radius over the 195's, but it's a work in progress!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4055/...24b1d4d919.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/...1a2d8ef705.jpg

Tonight I finally started on the rebuild of the engine. Checked the rod bearing clearances (even at .0015), installed the timing gears and started cleaning off the pistons. Anyone have a quick method for cleaning the carbon off? Usually I use injector cleaner and soak them, but doesn't seem to be working this time. Tomorrow it's off to the balancing shop, and I should be assembling this weekend.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1289/...56d2073fb2.jpg

-Dave

I hate to hear you smoked a rod bearing. Looks like you are on your way back.

Meh, it happens. I probably would be rather chapped that it only made about 3000 miles, but on our first day of the event the 356 4-cam owner came rushing over to the car at lunch to find out "just what the heck do you have IN that thing!?!" :)

After that, I can't really be upset about anything!

-Dave

Dave,

Can I trouble you to take a pic from the side of your car.. those look like Design 90's, same wheels I have, but I haven't got mine painted/powdercoated yet..

I am after a similiar gloss black, or satin look..

Thanks
Alex