DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

hot66 wrote:
It must be a few days at least since we've had "... it's running like a bag of spanners" !

Cheeky buggers

That's only because I'm pre occupied by 964's and the 2.4 is sat quietly in the garage [/quote]

...sat quietly in the garage not working according to you last week!

Yeah..... That's because it's running like a bag of spanners !

Thanks for your comments guys particularly Jason living upto his reputation! Ha Ha "Stupid, rude and blissfully ignorant."
Poor James....

Anyway the Redline thing was an option I took against the traditional DDK way and it was simply due to a couple of people had fiddled with the engine and it ran terrible and Redline had a look at it and sorted it before CLM (James, Jason and Darren can testify how well it ran!!). Redline do specialise in racing (6 cars this year in the British Carrera Cup) and not restoration but as literally 5 miles from my house it was a much better option for me with my work/life unbalance seriously tipped towards the work end! Devil is indeed in the detail but the proof is in the pudding and just hope it goes as well as it did at CLM and look original with your help with the detail.

I really appreciate any assistance/guidance as to what should be done correctly which is why Ive put the resto on the forum. As Jason has pointed out the gold fuel pipes and James the painted red shroud it has ensured I dont do this on mine. Its my first resto and would appreciate the ongoing assistance of the DDK knowledge (and their cats).

Ive halted any further work whislt I can go down and make a list of jobs to do.

BTW thanks John for the fan info, glad I posted this. Do I assume Neil Bainbridge/Canfords would remove and rivet the centre back on?

Bigfoot wrote:Do I assume Neil Bainbridge/Canfords would remove and rivet the centre back on?

Mike Bainbridge and myself did mine.

Bigfoot wrote:James, Jason and Darren can testify how well it ran!!......

.....and boy did it!.......did the engine actually need a rebuild!

I'm sure Redline will prove a good option, good racing people will know their onions!.........a good idea throughout the whole resto, not just engine detail, is to be very, very specific with your expectations......details, finishes, options, specs etc. etc....along with price!....

....you can never be too detailed or too specific......as with everything, communication is key

Thanks guys. Yeah, the main problem is its like the 'blind leading the blind' as Im as unsure as to what the finish should be as Redline but lesson learnt here, I can always ask DDK..... Looking at the 'Mongoral street racer' and the detail that has been put into it is truely astounding!!! (along with the ££££££!!!!)

I'm sure Mike Bainbridge was instrumental with you Darren for many things other than gearboxes due to his proximity to your house, kind of the same for me with Redline as they are so helpful and being a race team quick, but Mike has so much more resto knowledge than Redline... verticle learning curve.... I just need to do more research so to ensure I'm asking them to do the correct task.

Btw do the throttle linkages need to be silver too or are they gold..?

As far as I've always been lead to believe, gold passionate for the linkages. Anyone know different ?

You might be 'passionate' about your linkages James but most others have them yellow (zinc) passivated

Sasquatch, I simply meant that being a competent modern water cooled race specialist does not neccessarily make you a competent pre-74 engine builder/restorer.

They may be excellent mechanics but an engine rebuild is not cheap so you want to try and get it right first time. Race engineers do have a tendency not to do things the same way a restorer would do them also. That is not always a bad thing, but at least get them to do it how you want and achieve the look you want. You're going to be a very grumpy wookie if you start showing people your shiny new engine and all you get back is 'That's wrong' and 'that should be...' which is what will happen with the geeks on here.

So the devil is in the detail - if they don't know the detail then you may have to hold their hand along the way and be very specific about all the little intricacies - do some research yourself first and then share that with them - speak to Mike Birtwistle and others and ask if he has pictures of perfect engine bay's for a 73 E - he will have, he collects everything!

Best of luck with the build, they have a good reputation and I'm sure they will pull it off - I'm guessing things may slow when race season starts though so you will have time.

All the best you big freak.

PS Peter will still be quicker than you.

I'm honestly less worried about the finish on stuff than whether they know how to do things like the oil-bypass mod - that's really basic stuff that will affect the longevity of your re-build.

Originality and people pointing out where you could have been more original really doesn't matter as long as the engine is sweet and not running like bag'o spanners Charnley.

However, the fact that they don't seem to know about the chromated finish on the fan housing / fan nor the colour of the passionate linkages (it is yellow passivated on mine) suggests that they may not know all they need to in order to give you the best job. 'Wrong' finishes in themselves don't matter if it's been a conscious choice of yours - but if it's been because no-one in your team knew better, then I'd be worrying about the internals a bit more - they should have been advising you to go for the four-rib pump, time-serted inserts, case-pins, hydraulic tensioners (if it didn't have them), continuous chains and other things - all those mods do is make the engine more bullet-proof, and that's definitely a good thing 'while you're in there'.

Race engines vs. restored engines are a pretty different brief... happy to chat offline if you want to.

R

Interesting re hydraulic tensioners. Mine (2.2S) has just had these removed during rebuild as in Neil Bainbridges opinion, are unnecessary in a road spec well built engine. But the other stuff inc oil bypass have indeed been done.

I specifically went for old style tensioners .... Eventually with locking collars once the chains have stretched enough to allow them to be fitted.

hydraulic tensioners ... Loose oil pressure loose tensioners too ?

Hydraulic pensioners can have a simple insert fitted to prevent collapse if pressure is not maintained. If I was building my motor now I would fit the earlier pensioners or even consider the fixed ones given our low mileages and passion for maintenance.

Andy

'Earlier pensioners' ..... Is that a breakaway group within Ddk