Special getting closer...

haasad · Post by **haasad** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:51 am

Thankyou very much indeed....

andy

Alex Postan · Post by **Alex Postan** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 5:50 pm

Have you finished the decorating yet?

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:29 pm

No.

Been a bit occupied.
Daughter got tangled-up in an M6 nose-to-tail and the last guy to stop wrote the MX5 off.
Not a straight panel in sight!
She's ok, and now is the very excited owner of an Alfa Romeo GTV Twin spark.
My spanners and voltmeter are at the ready!

Gearbox all done by Mike, 2nd well shattered.
Have pistons and barrels now off Bob, but only one wall wallpapered, one skirting board painted, bed on order, looking at wardrobes.

If i can't weld it, it does not flaot my boat, but the Brownie Points will be humongous

Expecting to kick-off after the Classic Car Show or weekend before.

Will take a lot longer this time to rebuild it, but with so much cleaned off last time it should be 3 weeks and going back into the car.

Xmas is the target and back to Bob's rollers in the new year weather permitting.
Might try to borrow an enclosed trailer from a hillclimb mate.(salt gets everywhere.)

I have 'opened-up' the geat selector so the lever throws 30% more than the gearbox needs, the clutch has been tweeked too so have 1.25" travel to clear the clutch.

Next after the engine will be the seat (I slide about a bit), a mega clean and polish and then to the body.

Thinking of a fully enclosed body, but cash could be an issue to do anything at all with the body.

Needs about £4K no matter what.

Also hounding down the quest to find the real chassis number; not sure if i will EVER crack that one.

This is the original Thunder Saloon body it had in the mid '80's

Alex Postan · Post by **Alex Postan** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:14 am

Glad to hear that your daughter escaped injury and that she now has a car of considerable character.
My attitude to your thoughts of a roof, and it is a personal point of view only, is that the special saloons of the 1980s are hybrids, chimeras and limp attempts at frankenstein monsters. They were dull to watch in their heyday (I was there...) and are a blind alley. The Lola Porsche is much more interesting as your own creation and to turn it in to another silly silhouette would be loads of work for no gain. (If it moves you into a different class where you can win an abundance of trophies, then that is a different matter)
Reading about your quest for a proper clutch release and your reports of moving in the seat raises the question of the travel at the pedal. I expect that I am stating the obvious but would it help to ensure that the leverage is set so that maximum release is available with a short movement of your left foot?

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:58 pm

Thanks for your thoughts Alex.

The Ghia body would be from the original mould of the time and the interest tin the super saloons is rocketing, and so is the car's value as it is the real thing, but not with the 911 engine!

To the clutch:

I slide up the seat about an inch in fist from the line so when i press the heavy pedal down I'm about an inch short on travel for 2nd.
This is possibly how i shredded 2nd a few months ago. The pedal did not clear the clutch while I pulled the lever back..

I've simply raised the pedal foot pad (!) to its max height (floor mounted pedals as 911) and all seems well. But I've thought that before.

Need to get the belts tighter all overesp the lap belts.

Alex Postan · Post by **Alex Postan** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 1:13 pm

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:59 pm

Decorating coming to a close for a while (till Xmas) so the engine looooms...

My replacement barrels are 40K miles old and to perfect spec (ring groove width etc) but i wonder if i shold 'hone' the boores to glaze bust them and add crosss-hatching.

These are stock Mahl 3.2 pistons and barrels, look nice and smooth.

Any thoughts?

I was going to take the engine down to the crank, but the bottom end seems very strong with oil pressure rising fast and high, so I'll just do the top end again keeping the stock 3.2 cams as 964 cams are £400 a set, best offer i've had unless someone has some cheaper?

In my hurry to do this job last January I managed to create a small but v annoying oil leak from between the cam housing and the heads, plus a bit fron the tensioner covers and the flippin rocker cover lower, all on the same side of the engine!

In the new 911 engine rebuild book i've bought they assemble the engines with dry gaskets, no sealant.

Do you all do this too on the gaskets I've mentioned?

Not sure if i've put this up before, my typical class at a hillclimb with the lola in it's best runs this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGJidaA1G5c

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:00 pm

OK, back to the oily bits.

Took the engine top apart after a full 7 miles of running since the quickie top end refurb.
Thought you might like to see the combustion chambers:

Here is cylinder side 1/2/3

And the other side:

All the chanbers were cleaned to alum and the valves too.
The exhaust ports are all black.

The barrels look superb and there are no broken rings.

this is obviously an unhappy burning engine, esp the contrast from thick black to almost clean.
Mut have been a lot of oil getting in the pots.
Remember bob measured two cylinders 20% down on leak-down test.

Any comments?

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:07 pm

Plucked the pistons out of the engine this afternoon. Forgotten how fiddly it all is.
First pin C clip flew out and across the garage somewhere.. but i caught the rest.

At least I know its not in the engine.

That took 1.5 hours to do.

Down to ringing the 'new' pistons now, always a nerve wracking job i hate almost as much as squeezing in the rings into the barrels.

The pistons to barrel matching has been lost along the way but they are all very close to each other, so I'll just take pot luck and hope they are ok!

It all takes ages to do.

No responses on the oily heads then.

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:00 pm

If the previous build only ran for 7 miles how did you break in the new rings? A long run on the rolling road?

Are the heads oily or just sooty from a very poor burn?

Good luck, as always.

gridgway · Post by **gridgway** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:14 pm

How long does it normally take to get new rings bedded in to old cylinders?

Bruce M · Post by **Bruce M** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:09 pm

The edges of the rings need to wear down so that they perfectly match the cylinder wall giving a air tight seal. I'd be looking to clock up 2-3 hours on an engine to get max compression.

Of course the correct answer is however long Neil B.'s automated dyno programme (for running in) runs for.

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 10:14 pm

This is a race car, so the only bedding-in is the time on Bob's rollers, ie minutes.

Just weighing-up the idea to place the pistons in the barrels and then onto the rods or the normal way i've done before to place piston on the rod then the barrel over the piston.

The piston gudgeon pin clips sure are a pain to get out but maybe not too bad to put in(?)
Just ordered the omega shaped ring compressor to make life easier and less risk on cracking a ring.

gridgway · Post by **gridgway** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 11:29 pm

Presumably you could do a test day (or track day) to run through a bedding in process?

911hillclimber · Post by **911hillclimber** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 6:22 am

Yes, indeed that is possible but not now.
The local sprint track (Curborough) is closed till March and my plan is to get the car built back-up and to Bob's before Xmas.

I imagine Bob can break the engine in for me on the rollers, and cost just the same.
The pistons/barrels are 40K miles old but re-ringed, those are the only new surfaces.

I still find it hard to see why the chambers are so different and so carboned after such a short running time.
The one in particular looks like it has not been firing hardly and would explain the persistent temperature difference from one side to the other of the exhaust gasses.

I plan to open the PMO's and air line all the galleries through along with a complete ignition change from the Aldon device i have because maybe the spark is not reliable to that pot.

I'm running out of time on this engine/car in my heart and head.

My 911 needs a gearbox rebuild on 2nd, but after that, just a set of slicks and the car would be a cracker again on the hills.

All so simple too.

DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker