Nice work on your case. Did you decide to port your heads? A couple of details I forgot to mention was I went with 39mm in. 35mm exh. On my heads. I Also run a 7:31 R&P in transmission. My car is very quick and great torque off the line. I need to get it on a dyno.

Thanks! I debated porting the heads for quite a while. When I dropped the case off at Ollie's we talked about it for a bit, too. Their advice was if 36mm intakes and 35mm exhausts was good enough for the 2.7 RS then it would be good enough for my motor. When I bought the DC43x-102 cams from John Dougherty, he thought 37mm intakes would work good for my application. So, I decided to go with 37mm intakes and 35mm exhausts. Craig Garrett rebuilt the heads and did the porting.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1699667963.jpg

Now, I'm prepping various parts for the rebuild. Here, a previous mechanic decided to RTV the rocker shaft nuts in. Tried several ways to get these out, but finally settled on heat from a propane torch.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1699668437.jpg

Hi Ward, kind of going the same direction, Cgar and Camgrinder...
 

Hi Ward,
My Dad's old 74 started out with 32/35 porting and i bumped it to 37/35 after settling on DC 43-102 cams. Cgar opened it up while doing the valves and guides. Probably the same Ti retainers and springs, (aasco springs and retainers, IIRC), It didn't seem to make sense opening up the exhaust more than 35, because that is the inlet diameter of the SSI's. and the car isn't a race car.
I too had the case line bored, and the spigots trued, after line boring, 4 bar pump, bypass mod, alum PP and RSR wheel, with .050 deck, the CR was 10.3, which i was ok with - looking for engine life.
X Factory PMO intake, Megasquirt, Twin-plug EDIS - what a lot of work $$$.

Almost done, got a glitch or two in the wiring harness before it will fire - first i have to get the wife's benz head gasket fixed, (after putting in a rebuilt tranny)!!!!!
Chit, I'm 75 and running outta steam - (but still want to track the 2.8)
HAMMER down,
chris

I know the proper proceedure would have been to develop the heads and select the cam in conjunction with flow testing, but this is a bump up hot rod

I'm glad to see there's someone out there that works nearly as slow as me...

There's plenty of competition for that title, including me.

Slowly plugging away on the minutiae that people don't talk about a lot...buggered case studs and built-up gunk meant pulling every stud...thanks to age and prior mechanics, many will need to be replaced.

The chain housing mating surface needed some love, so I wrapped some fine emery paper around a 1-2-3 machinist's block...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701038336.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701038336.jpg

Took a couple of minutes of light sanding to get it pretty flat again. Not perfect, but close enough...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701038336.jpg

I've seen various homemade contraptions for holding up the rods and timing chain during assembly. After trying some different versions myself, I decided that I was going to get the "real" tools. The genuine Porsche P221 Connecting Rod Straps and the P222 Timing Chain Strap are available for $270 from Rose Passion in France.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701038336.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701038336.jpg

Thanks for sharing Chris! I'm 55 and I'm feeling the pressure from Father Time to get this done!

Yes, "analysis paralysis" is my main problem...I keep telling myself that the journey is more important than the destination, but Father Time is tapping his watch and giving me the look like "now or never buddy."

Time to measure, Part A...

With all the machine work that's been done to the case, heads, and the new LN/Mahle cylinders and pistons, I needed to measure the components to calculate "deck height."

First, the case half height...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701555129.jpg

I was able to fit the case half on my granite block, so I measured it that way, too...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701555193.jpg

Next, the LN cylinder...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701555393.jpg

Confirming the wrist pin...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701555492.jpg

On to compression height (plus wrist pin x 0.5) of the Mahle piston...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701555830.jpg

Then, I rewrote the "piston to deck clearance" equation to my liking and entered the measurements into Excel...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1701556669.jpg

LN's website says they can make custom cylinder base shims in 0.050" (1.27mm) so I used that in my calculation.

Looks like I'm right where I need to be with the 1.06 mm deck height. Now, I need to cc the heads/pistons to make sure the compression ratio is acceptable. The heads were flycut 0.25 mm, so I'm curious to see where everything turns out. If it's too high, I'm thinking a 0.060" shim might be needed, which would put the deck height around 1.31 mm.

With all this measuring and calculating going on, I'm finally using "in real life" what I learned in my college physics and chemistry classes.

Good, good..

Time to measure, Part B...

I bought the COMP Cams cc kit that came with the plexiglass plate, burette tube, stand, and holder.

The plate was square and it needed to be cut into a circle...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

I couldn't find my compass anywhere, so I used the old "roll of tape" method to find the correct circumference...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

Traced, then cut out with a jigsaw...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

After fiddling with the clogged burette for 30 minutes, I was able to cc the head...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

It came out to 68.4 cc's...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

Moved on to the piston...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702768786.jpg

Enough measuring, time to calculate...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1702769883.jpg

The advertised compression ratio for these pistons is 10.3 at a 1.0 mm deck height. The heads have been twin plugged and chamfered for the larger pistons, so that probably contributed to the lower compression ratio. I'm also going to use a 0.050" base shim, which will up my deck height to 1.06 mm.

Overall, I'm pretty happy where this all calc'd out. Especially considering that I'm using California gas, the slightly lower compression ratio is probably a good thing. Displacement calculated out to 2,869.32 cc's.

Your Ollie's invoice has a line item for "6 barrel shims 1mm". Mine only needed .5mm. They were stuffed inside the chain area between a pair of cardboard squares. Hopefully you didnt discard it when you unpacked it.

Following with great interest. I’m about a year behind you.
Happy Holidays,
Johan

I went with .75mm deck clearance, not to increase CR, but to improve squish and chamber turbulence. If you went with .25mm base gaskets, you would end up with 0.81mm deck. Tighter, but not too tight.

Thanks for pointing that out! I did find them, but it looks like I won't be using them because I'm going to be using a 0.050" or 1.27mm shim from LN.

Thanks, Johan. I think we took Tony's engine building class together a while back...

After taking my measurements and doing the calculations, a 1.27mm base gasket will give me a deck clearance of 1.06mm. If I went with the 1.0mm base gasket, my deck clearance would be 0.79mm, resulting in a 10.4:1 compression ratio. If I used a 0.25mm base gasket as suggested, it would result in a deck clearance of 0.04mm and a compression ratio of 11.44:1. I crosschecked my calcs three different ways, so I'm pretty sure they're correct.

But to your point, I could go with a 1.0mm base gasket to improve squish, etc., however, I'm concerned about too high a compression ratio for California pump gas. I'm also concerned about shortening the deck height too much, which will affect the timing chain slack and location of the camshaft relative to the chain housings.

Draw: I confused some of your measurements. I meant that a .25mm reduction in the deck height won't change the CR appreciably (maybe 0.1 or so). However, if you are concerned about California pump gas and want to keep the CR where it is, then ignore me.

The timing chain would be affected even less, because a .25mm change in cam gear centerline to cam would effectively "lengthen" the chain by .5mm. If the tensioners can't take up that little additional slack, something else is wrong.

Zq

Time to measure, Part C...

I had Ollie's balance the rods along with the other machine work. I don't have a rod balancing fixture to check big end vs. small end, but I wanted to confirm total wieght...

The min. was 674.0g and the max was 675.0g, for a difference of 1g. I probably could futz around with these a little bit to get them closer, but I think I'm going to call it good.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703965757.jpg

Stock wrist pin weighs in at about 116.1g...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703965757.jpg

The Mahle wrist pins weigh in at a min. of 101.6g and a max of 101.7g. I'll match the heaviest pins with the lightest pistons to reduce the amount of balancing that needs to be done...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703965757.jpg

The stock CIS piston (with a little extra carbon buildup and piston rings) weighs in at 473.15g...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703965757.jpg

The Mahle pistons weigh in with a min. of 442.9g and a max of 443.5g.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1703965757.jpg

I'm going to balance the total weight of piston/wrist pin combination down to 0.1g. So, one piston needs to lose 0.5g, one piston 0.3g, and three pistons need to lose 0.1g.

When I bought the pistons, I wasn't really thinking about the weight difference compared to stock, but I was pleasantly surprised when the piston/wrist pin combo came in at about 44g lighter. Should help make for a snappy revving motor!!!

Snappy Reving Motor - PP & Flywheel???
 

I might have missed it, but what are you using for the Flywheel and Pressure Plate??
I think the Fenlane version of the RSR wheel comes in at about 6.5 pounds, vs the stock wheel at a bit over 11.
Similarly, KEP's aluminum PP is good for 400 hp and comes in at about 7-8 pounds vs almost 18 for the stocker.
It has been a while since i installed them and i haven't had it running yet - LIFE,
But, if you're looking for a snappy motor these two would really help.
chris

I had a shaved wheel and an all-aluminum 2.2 S clutch on a hotrod 914 and it was VERY responsive - I did occasionally stall it taking off.

I appreciate the input! Definitely good to hear other perspectives...

I've thought about going with a lighter setup, but I haven't made any decisions yet. At the rate I work, I have a couple of years to figure it out...

Balancing the pistons and wrist pins...

My target total weight for the piston/wrist pin combination is 544.6g. Unfortunately, the pistons don't have a lot of meat to shave off unlike the stock pistons. I watched a great Youtube video from High Performance Academy about balancing pistons and where to shave off weight. I practiced on an old CIS piston, then went for it...

This piston needed the most weight removed at 0.5g. Chamfered the web a little bit with the die grinder and carbide burr...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1704055554.jpg

Grind, measure, grind, measure, etc., and "bob's your uncle"...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1704055554.jpg

I thought LN used JE pistons ..

Usually, but they don't have to.

Those pistons are still attached to the rods in the pic. That’s how they were installed and it looks like it was able to run like that, too.

My 2.7 is a short stroke. We fabricated steel sleeved 93mm cylinders, and are using Cosworth racing pistons. If you want to rev that engine, make sure your cams have a range high enough so they don’t top out early. We used a crane Modified S grind, Aase racing springs with titanium retainers. We rev to 7300, but probably could go higher. Don’t need to as the car is in the mid 1800 lb range. I would also get the distributor re curved for your application. I had Jerry Woods do mine, after giving him all of my build specs. That and custom hearing makes a huge difference.

Thanks for sharing.

When I'm in the mood to clean parts, which isn't very often, I clean parts. And in no particular order...

It's no joke when people say to clean until you think things are clean, then clean again...I cleaned the rocker shafts twice and then decided to clean them again. On the last pass, something that looks like Loctite 574 appeared...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1706492530.jpg

Some ham-fisted person mangled the swivel foot adjusters by over-tightening them during a valve adjustment, so I had to buy all new ones. Also ran a forming tap through to clean up the threads. Rocker arms were refinished by John Dougherty.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1706492530.jpg

All of the rocker shaft bolts had Loctite 574 on the threads, too. So I ran them through an M7 die.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1706492530.jpg

They have quite a few options now...

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate the feedback. The DC43x-102 cams I'm using are good for 7200+ and I had Aasco springs and Ti retainers installed when I had the heads rebuilt. So the valvetrain should be good to 7500+. I plan to have the engine dyno'd and I'll see how that turns out before "setting" the redline. I'm also planning to use the twin plug distributor from Patrick Motorsports.

As part of the case prep, I pulled all of the studs to clean out all the gunk (oil, RTV, 574, etc.) that had collected around them over the years. And, before I bolted everything up, I also wanted to assess the health of the threads in the mag case.

All looked pretty good except for two where the threads basically disintegrated when I removed the studs. Looks like I "get" to learn how to install Time-serts!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708379018.jpg

Drilled out for the Time-sert and installed (tapping the hole and installing the insert with blue Loctite not pictured)...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708379018.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708379018.jpg

On to prepping the crankshaft...

I took the crankshaft to Marine Crankshaft for all the good stuff.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708733862.jpg

$800 later...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708733990.jpg

The crank was covered in machine shop gunk, so I put on Metallica's Master of Puppets and went to town cleaning the crank in my parts washer. Cleaned all the oil passage ways with brake cleaner and a nylon brush. Looking clean and shiny!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708734185.jpg

Threaded oil galley plugs...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708734336.jpg

Installed the plugs with some blue Loctite...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708734393.jpg

I got myself a "gear and bearing heater" toaster oven at the local thrift store for $10.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708734731.jpg

Heated the gears and spacer to 220F and dropped them on to the crank...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1708734832.jpg

All ready to be put in the case with the intermediate shaft to measure backlash, etc...

Neat microwave trick - happy spouse. Did you use an IR gun to read the temperature of the parts?
Conventional wisdom has been, for the kitchen, not to put anything metal in there. Obviously you didn't explode your garage. How'd you get to the temperature of the pieces you wanted?

Hi Walt,
Its a small toaster oven not a microwave. I have a similar set up in my garage as well.

john

Sorry to disappoint, but John is correct, it's a toaster oven. I have seen people on youtube successfully use an old microwave, and I did think about it, but decided to go with the oven because I felt like I'd have more control over the temp. I do use an IR laser gun and a spray bottle with water in it to judge the temp. Works a treat!

Intermediate shaft teardown, inspect, and rebuild, part A...

My original plan was to clean the intermediate shaft, measure backlash, and move on with the rebuild. But after seeing these witness marks on the case, of what I assume was from a loose chain caused by a failed tensioner, I decided to tear everything apart and replace the chain gears.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

Everything torn down...
(Oh, and I'd just like to say that the Knipex snap ring pliers are one of the best tool purchases I've ever made.)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

Comparison of new gear beside old gears. Definitely some minor wear on the gears, which I could probably reuse, but the slippery slope of "while you're in there" continues...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

Cleaned intermediate shaft. Amazing how much gunk came out of the oil passages...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

"0" gear looks ok...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1710095586.jpg

I need to finish prepping the case so I can put the bearings in and measure shaft runout and end play. That will come someday soon, hopefully...

More minutia...

I started to wrap up work on the case by applying the Hysol epoxy to the case plugs. I know it's probably overkill to seal them all, but better to be safe than sorry...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711933796.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711934620.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711933796.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711933796.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711933796.jpg

And I took care of Technical Service Bulletin 8911...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711934896.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711934896.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711934896.jpg

And, a milestone! 37 months after the motor came off the stand, the case is back on...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1711935345.jpg

One of the reasons this rebuild is moving at the pace of a glacier is that I enjoy researching the various parts and techniques that go into engine building. My latest tangent involved what to do about hardware. Buy new? Send it out for zinc plating? Zinc plate it myself? What about black oxide?

For this batch of hardware, I finally settled on using a black oxide kit from EPI because it includes a sealer/corrosion inhibitor.

I first ran the hardware through an ultrasonic cleaner with degreaser, then made another pass using evapo-rust.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715559263.jpg

Came out clean as a whistle...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715559263.jpg

The four part process. Clean, prep, blacken, sealer...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715559263.jpg

The final product...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1715559263.jpg

Very pleased with how these turned out!

Amazing work.
Cheers,
Johan

Those look great! Which kit from EPI did you end up going with?

I had not heard of grooving / cross drilling the #4 main journal before. I assume this is to help oil supply to #2 and #5 cyl rod bearings. I have a crank at Marine right now (1 month, no word yet...) from a spun #5 rod bearing so this might be a very good mod for me. It is not in Wayne's book, not in Anderson's book, not much in a google search. Found a few threads here on it with some different search words. Henry at Supertec says he does it on all his cranks. That is gold for me. Gonna do it.

This is a great thread. Thanks.