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Some more pictures of the engine bloc work: crankshaft, rods and pistons:

In an earlier post I showed the forged rods and forged pistons I bought for that build. Rods and pistons have already been put together: the beauty of the Wössner pistons is that they come with a circular spring to secure the pin and that they can be mounted without having to use a press or to heat the rod-head, etc…
I purchased new rod half bearing shells as well as crankshaft half bearing shells. Bloc and crankshaft have been fully measured to make sure original size shells would fit. For some engine they exist also oversized to compensate wear, usually with a color code depending on the manufacturer.

Starting with crankshaft installation: 5 top half bearing shells first (lot of oil with it), then the crankshaft goes in, then bottom half bearing shells with the inferior bearing bridges. All bridges get tightened to the right torque, free spinning crankshaft with no play
Axial play also gets measured. On this engine the second bearing on flywheel side gets lateral bearings on both sides to deal with axial forces.



Pistons and push rods make their way into the bloc from the top, using proper tools not to damage the rings!! Rods are then bolted to the crankshaft with ARP bolts and tightened to the right torque (careful here with the torque conversion – we usually use Nm “Newton x meter” for everything we torque but the torque for the ARP stuff is given in ft lb : which must sound familiar to a lot of you but not to me at that time: now it’s ok).
And before I forget: oil everywhere you can! It cannot harm.




Had to find the right tool for the ARP bolts: do not try to use something close: use something with the perfect shape. (The other one is for the cylinder head bolts).


I don’t remember if I mentioned that before already but crankshaft has been balanced prior to the assembly together with flywheel, clutch mechanism, timing belt pulley, and accessory pulley (just to ensure vibrations are not coming form that part of the engine )

More on the engine bloc assembly soon

Some more pictures of the engine bloc work: Cylinder head:

The cylinder head I’m using for that build is a 16 valves DOHC aluminum head with hydraulic lifters (pushers in that case: but the principle is the same). Operations went step by step with this head:
1) I purchased the camshafts (from Catcams) that gave me the maximum valves opening considering keeping the hydraulic lifters/pushers. There are some more aggressive camshafts available on the market than the ones I picked but they would require to go for mechanical pushers which on an OHC head is an expensive move as you do not have rockers for adjustment (need to used rectified spacers, other spring cups, need to seal the oil feeds, etc…)



2) I put the camshafts into the head and checked for clearance… of course they didn’t fit and I had to machine the head a little bit:



3) Once done with clearance adjustment: head was sent to a local shop for some work I was not really equipped for: I got a price on a work package:

-cleaning (blasting)
-surfacing
-re-machining of valve seats
-new valve guides
-new forged valves
-new valve springs
-grinding work on intake and exhaust ducts (enlarging for better air flow)
-tightness test
-etc…

I go it back: this is how it looks:






4) Head installation:
Head is placed on top of engine blog with thin spacer plate mimicking the gasket in its final thickness: idea is to rotate the crankshaft and see if you have enough clearance between pistons and the head! Would be stupid not to check and have to throw away a new gasket and new bolts.
("Play-doh-like" paste can be used if you want to know exactly how much clearance there is or in the worst case where it knock together).


To be continued in the next post...

4) Head installation: part 2
I purchased gasket from Cometic (which is a US company making gasket for European engines, isn’t it cool?). As well as new cylinder head bolts, new hydraulic pushers/lifters, new camshaft seals, etc…




Gasket in a multi-layers full metallic gasket and layers are kept together with some rivets: unfortunately I had to remove the rivet as they were all conflicting with the head itself. I did not find any instruction if this was supposed to be installed with or without but at the end it worked fine. Gasket layers are anyway aligned using the main alignment pins of the head itself.



Gasket in put in: head is torqued down using the tightening schema given by the gasket supplier: then pusher/lifters go in:



Everything ready for camshaft, adjustable pulleys, timing belt and timing… (Timing is the fun part).



More on the engine bloc assembly soon

Jule,

what block/head are you using?

do you know the compressed hight of the gasket?

are those lifters hydraulic?

with the cam timing, when does your intake valve close after bottom dead center?

do you know what your dymamic compression ratio is?

what fuel are you using?

why did the rivet in the head gasket interfear with the head?

just some questions as a start, i hope you have done the research.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

Hi John and everybody else

Engine bloc is not really the heart of this topic, so I will try not to kill the ITB topic too much with it. On the other hand I needed to spend some time on it to be able to continue with my project. More to come on ITB soon.

Here are some answers open questions:
-bloc is a cast iron bloc from PSA group (French Peugeot and Citroën group) XU10J4 ("square" with 86mm bore and stroke).
-Cylinder head is an aluminum “RS” type (16V) from the same manufacturer (both bloc and head come from a 2.0 liter engine).

-gasket thickness: I used the same gasket in some other engine rebuild, so yes I know the final thickness, I anyway counted with a margin. High compression ratio is cool but pistons hitting head is less cool…

-rivets: no I have no clue why the rivet are interfering (I don’t remember having the same issue in the last rebuild I made with similar bloc and head). I simply removed them to fix the issue. If anyone ever use such multi layer gaskets: check the rivets as well!

-lifters: yes they are hydraulic ones. It is recommended to put new ones in whenever camshafts are changed for new ones. This is the biggest limitation of this build (CS choice was limited to moderate max valve opening and max RPM will be limited too). Choice not to go for mechanical lifters was simply budget $.

-Static comp. ratio for the pistons I ordered is given at 12.8:1 for the setup I have (no re-shape of the head / standard gasket thickness / etc…). Inlet valve closes around 50 degrees after BDC which would considerably lower the dynamic compression ratio to a calculated 10.9:1 (I used formula found on the web) Car will be running on SP98 gas which should correspond to US “Supreme” (AKI 91) We can even find SP100 in most of the gas station nowadays if needed (I think this would be AKI 94 or 95 in the US).
Note: I’m no engine specialist so information provided here is to the best of my knowledge…

-And yes I have done some research, there is so much to be considered, no one should go into engine projects without tons of research. To comfort you (and myself!) a bit more about this build: this is not a first time build. Lots of people have done the same setup to race in regional rally and other local competitions.

I’m really looking forward to test this all thing

Some more pics of the progress before head goes on and valve timing exercise can start:

Oil pump in place with new drive chain. Pump has been checked (wear on gears and chain sprocket) and rebuilt with new oil pressure release spring



New seal behind flywheel is installed:


Same on the other side before pulleys go on:


Accessory pulley was made on the lath out of aluminum. Reasons not to use the stock pulley are various: reduce weight / gain some room in the engine bay (which is very tight) / smaller diameter to fit the higher engine RPMs without destroying the alternator:




Oil pan is finally sealed and attached to the bloc:




Flywheel is installed and torqued down:

Head installation and timing:

Head is bolt on with correct sequence and torque (I wrote with a red sharpie the sequence directly on the head just to make sure: it’s so easy to get confused or lost in the process):



Camshafts are installed: make sure the crankshaft is in a 90degree position (between TDC and BDC / all pistons at same level) when this is done (some valves will open when CS are installed and we don't want then to hit a piston which would accidentally be in a high postion):


Timing pulleys are installed and torqued:



Somewhere here oil goes into the engine...


Indicators are set for timing:
One indicator pointing on piston number 1 (or number 4 in a 4 cylinder engine like this one) to get the real top dead center (TDC): I had to make a very long nose for my indicator to be able to touch piston though the spark plug hole:


360 degrees disk is installed on the crankshaft: disk was made with a piece of steel plate with a glued paper degree disk printed from the internet -> locost!
I used a piece of welding rod to indicate the 0 degree position (“PMC” on the disk stand for "point mort haut” = TDC in French...):


Second indicator is used to indicate the valve position: first on intake side: then the full operation will have to be done again the exhaust side (indicator is set on the lifter directly next to the cam itself)


Timing belt is installed and tightened: engine is cranked by hand very gently to check for any interferences (pistons vs valves or/and IN valves against EX valves...). I refer here to interferences which could come from the wrong initial timing (at first CS are installed in the head with a guessed position...) not to the interferences which could occur when timing is good (this has to be checked earlier when pistons, valves and CS are selected):


Then timing exercise can start:
-find TDC using the first indicator (always crank the engine in the same direction (running direction)
-set the degree disk to zero (big adjustment by losing the bolt on the crankshaft / then final adjustment by simply bending the piece of rod)
-crank to the max opening of the intake valve of cylinder number 1 (same as the one TDC was setup from): read the second indicator to identify the max opening
-look how angle value on the degree disk varies from value given by CS manufacturer
-adjust intake camshaft pulley accordingly (pulleys I used have a very small adjustment possibility - when the necessary move is bigger than the possible adjustment - belt has to be moved 1 crank and tightened again - not really practical but cheap in that case because I didn't have to buy new pulleys)
-crank the engine (at least 720 degrees) to make sure the move done on IN camshaft didn't create interference with EX valves (for which timing will only be adjusted later).
-crank to the max opening of the intake valve of cylinder number 1 again and check value on the degrees disk (repeat operation until it's perfect)
-move the second indicator to EX valve of cylinder number 1 and do the same
-once both sides have been set - make final tightening of the adjustable pulleys - crank engine a couple of times - and check everything once again

Other notes:
-with hydraulic lifters, no valve adjustment plays enter into the game (which make it easier)
-crankshaft angle corresponding to max opening are usually given in degrees after TDC for intake and in degrees before TDC for exhaust
-other data given by the camshaft manufacturer can also be checked using the indicators and degree disk (like open to close in degree for both IN and EX etc...) just to make sure parts are the right one and setup is OK.

Next to come are:
-valves covers
-exhaust manifold
-intake manifold
-alternator
-and other accessories...

Awesome work so far! It looks great!

_________________
Ford 5.0 into an M3
mikaelvroom.com | @MikaelVroom

Thanks Laminar.

As promised I'm posting update on the throttle bodies’ assembly

I installed the "special" throttle pulley I made a while ago (see older post "double 6"). You can see the 2 adjustment screws in place as well: one for the max opening abutment and one for the idling. And the throttle cable runs in-between the 2!



I also made a bracket to support the end of the throttle cable sheath (painted in red). I used the adjustable plastic part form the stock throttle body (makes it real easy to adjust the cable tension: just in case).

I made a pulley to support the throttle return spring: it's made out of plastic and it's adjustable! The spring pulley center can be moved slightly out the throttle axle to allow a lighter throttle pedal in the end of the move without compromising the return force in a small opening position... I don't know if you can get this bad explanation but basically the idea was to create a constant return force by reducing the radius of the pulley down the move (a bit like a spiral). It works great with the hand, I will let you know how it is with the foot when engine is back in the car.



I made a small aluminum bracket to support the throttle position sensor: the sensor is installed on the end of the main shaft.



I re-installed a custom alternator bracket I made in the past for that engine: it fits the new accessory pulley offset (much closer to the engine than on the stock assembly. It gives more clearance in the engine bay).



This is how it looks right now (note the old/stock fuel rail on the top: the new one is being clear coated to avoid rust as I made it out of steel...)



Next post will be about rear side (with custom exhaust manifold I reused from another build...)

Jule,

last time i did a po-go, i tapped the cam gear location holes in the head and bolted them in place to prevent the cams moving.

do both of the belt tensioners move, as i remember that you had to juggle them to get the correct setting of the cams and crank, adjust the one on the drivers side and then release the other without the cams or crank moving, hence the bolts.

the valves are so close together that they can touch each other and bend if you let them go out of sync during setup.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

Thanks John,

Yes it is a good technic, I did do that in the past with stock camshafts (knowing the location holes on the pulley would fit the head holes) But with those new shafts I wasn't sure from beginning if stock location holes would be anywhere close to the final reality: so I started very carefully And yes the valves are very very close (especially on performance 16V engines) this is why I also warned everyone not to rotate one shaft without the other when the belt is not on. And no: only one belt tensioner moves: the other one is just a roller (this is probably why this engine gets 2 adjustable pulleys on some stock model) so the job is only to be done using the belt teeth and the adjustable pulleys stroke: those stock/locost pulleys allow about +/- 1 tooth which is enough in theory but which is not really practical as it makes you remove and put the belt back a couple of times (competition adjustable pulleys can be turned all around without removing the belt!).

See you soon for some fresh news (and pics), Jule

Jule, this is a very enjoyable engine build, especially liked the details on the cam setup/timing.

_________________
The B-3 build log: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13941 unfortunately, all the pictures were lost in the massive server crash

The beginnings of the Jag Special,
https://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19012
Again, all pictures were lost.

Exhaust manifold:

These are some pics and comments about the exhaust manifold build I made 2 years ago: I will recycle it in this new build because it fits both the cylinder head I'm using and the car the engine will go into.

The room I have in the car is very limited so I couldn't use any stock manifold (not even a modified one). So at the time (2012) I decided to go for a new one from scratch: it has been running in the last years quite a lot under track conditions and proven to work fine - no fire - no cracks in the welds or anything bad.

Here is how it started:

I made paper template for the back plates which fits the head bolt pattern and exhaust duct shape. Luckily I was able to make 4 identical ones: note that the head on the picture has not been grinded yet (ducts openings are smaller than the hole in the plate: but this won’t be the case with the cylinder head I’m using right now: it’s a perfect fit: head openings + gasket holes + manifold back plates)


Then I cut some stainless steel pipe into slices (with a 7.5 degrees angle on both sides: it makes a 15 degrees per slice so 6 of them would form a 90 degrees bend):


Then I started to weld slices with other slices... Building the 4 pipes with the same length!


Slowly it came together:


Here are 2 pics just to show you how much “no-room” there is to build an exhaust in this car (first installation of this manifold in 2012):




Now for this new build I removed the old thermal protection wrapping and re-wrapped it with a new one / also bought new gasket for it


I also added a threaded stainless ring for a lambda sensor installation:

And finally this is how it looks installed on my new engine

I don't know how well it will run, but GEEEEZ oh PETE, it sure is beautiful.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Jule, is there some web site that shows how to do the header like you did? I love it and want to do one like on my car but I have not found anything to do that style. Is the 7.5 deg the key? Looks like some of your cuts have 7.5 deg on one side and 90 deg on the other and some have two 7.5 deg parallel cuts. Love your TB's. Russ

_________________
You meet the nicest people in a Locost Se7en.