914 engine core, strip and rebuild

[mdmax72]

The idea. Build a 2270cc

Find a suitable core that l can rebuild without pulling my engine, keeping me on the road till the time is right to exchange power plants.

We'll, finally sourced a suitable core for the right price and local. This one is a W code which is a 1700 from a 411-412 or a 914? Decided to use a W code so its not had a hard life slugging a heavy camper around... So this core has died its death from burning to much oil, so either rings/bores etc are knackered. Not that it matters for what's planed for it.

Here it is.



Now the fun begins

[Bruce M]

A 'W' is mighty fine engine
Measure everything before binning it, you might be surprised to find some parts are still in spec (mains, pump, etc).

[oliver365]

Gonna be interesting this what motor have you got in it now Rich ??

[mdmax72]

Basically the same as above with a little more cc's (1911cc with 105bhp last dynoed), type 4 engine with a upright cooling conversion (dtm).

So the long block(core engine) when rebuilt will be a straight swap. Just a case of swapping out the auxiliary parts etc.

[mdmax72]

The strip down has started.

By the looks of things its had a top end rebuild at some point. It's had valve guides and valves replaced aswell as 96mm pistons and barrels taken it up from a 1700cc to a 1911cc. The cylinder bores have score marks on them and one of the Pistons has had it. Oil ring was broken aswell as part of the piston in between the oil ring and middle ring had completely come apart in several places. See pic. These will be replaced with new ones.



The heads are full of dirt oil and crap etc. Will need to strip these down and a good soak and clean to see if these are keepers or not? I have sourced a new pair of heads for the build. These came from shambly (Simon) on here.



Camshaft being standard has the typical wear on the lobes for a type 4. So this is going in the bin. The cam bearings do appear to be in good condition with no scoring, so looks like its had regular oil changes?



The bottom end without getting the feeler gauges out look to be in good shape to. Main bearings journals again appear to be in good shape with no scoring and minimal wear. Still on standard bearings. As you said Bruce the 1700 bottom end is bullet proof. Will get the feeler gauges out and check the tolerances before l pop the caps of the rods. This will not be used for the rebuild as I'll be using a longer stroke crank. Although I will keep it as a spare for the engine currently in the car.





Next up is to give the engine case and heads a bloody good soak and clean to see how good they really are? Wonder if the mrs will mind me using the dishwasher

[Bruce M]

How good is the quality of the workmanship? Proper case sealer used or silicon? chewed up nuts? Distributed gear chewed?
If looks a bit so so, maybe worth redoing the guides as insurance. Might not be reamed or had seats recut.

[mdmax72]

Bruce proper case sealer and quality case nuts used. To be fair the case itself appeared to be leak free. All the oil was around the tubes and the bottom of the cylinders.

Bruce after closer inspection whoever did the topend rebuild used cylinder shims at the top and bottom. Presume to get the deck heights right or lowering the compression?

The distributor drive look in good shape. Not chewed up. Same as the oil pump, still within tolerances and the gears look good. Will use a bigger pump anyway.

The heads are being replaced with completely new units. Just keeping these for cores for the current engine in the car as it's the same cc's.

[Bruce M]

Keep that pump (even if you don't use it in this engine). Hens teeth these days in good nick and better than a t1 pump in many ways even with the smallish gears.

[Bruce M]

Sounds possible that the case wasn't spilt when the new B&P plus top end rebuild was done. The cam doesn't look that bad considering the low zinc oil that typically gets used. I took one out of a camper short block recently that was totally shot whereas the 2.0 crank was still within std spec.

[mdmax72]

Bruce think your right. The bottom end is all completey stock. Standard size bearings on everything.

Starting cleaning the block up and getting it ready for the machine shop. I know they'll clean it, but I know if l give them an oily case as opposed to a near clean one they'llbe much happier. Plus im getting great satisfaction from cleaning it, strange l know... Looking alot cleaner than it was. Still a lot of staining inside from the oil etc. I've used Gunk and petrol to get it this far but it's not touching the internal oil stains. Outside has come up well but still, could be better.





Any idea's what to use to remove the oil stains from inside the case?

[Bruce M]

If the oil marks are stained oxidisation (ie anodising) then solvent won't shift it. You need to get physical or use acid (briefly) to dissolve it. Looks clean enough for the machine shop though. If they steam clean it that will save you the trouble.

If you don't get any marks on a cloth with a blast of brake cleaner (before it evaporates) then it's clean. Pharmacy grade acetone is handy for the case edge to get it totally grease free for a good seal. I believe MEK is better, but that is nasty stuff. There is no doubt plenty of propriatory products available and I'm interested to hear other opinions.

[Nine One One]

This is meant to be the stuff for sealing the case
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380567967742? ... EBIDX%3AIT

[mdmax72]

So finally decided on a direction with this. I had contemplated going Subaru etc at one point but decided im staying air cooled. l thought of turboing the engine which will give good power although for the weight of the car, thought it would spoil it.

Then took a step back and with the weight of the car in mind, what l want the drive to be like, the sound etc. So this brings me to were I'm at now. Staying with the W case and building on it, keeping it old school l think. We'll see how things go.

The case is now with Stateside to be checked and machined as necessary after the New year.

A few parts have been collected for the build along the journey. Will post more into the new year once a few things have been confirmed.

[hot66]

Sounds like a good plan. As you say, a turbo motor could turn the car into a less enjoyable drive

[mdmax72]

So here's some of the bits I've got stashed so far.

Just back from the balance shop.

78mm 4340 Forged Chromoly Super Race t4 crank shaft, 200mm lightened flywheel, Kennedy stage 1 pressure plate, straight cut gear and csp pulley.