Pretty. But don't get too enamored of making everything pretty or this project will take even longer. BTDT.

Eric, since you have mentioned that your work is designing engines for GM, have you started or added to any threads here where you discuss that? I'm an ME myself, although most of my engineering work involved analysis of weapon systems. Of course, being a life-long gearhead, I've always wanted to know more about the challenges and tradeoffs in designing engines.

@PeteKz, I have not started any threads relating to engine design. I've commented once or twice on other's threads where I thought I had something to add to the conversation, but otherwise...
I'm really trying to keep this build thread going in part so that I can ask questions, but mostly as a "pay back" for all the info I've gleaned from this forum. It just seems to me unfair to not give something back, however small. I'm not the social media type though, and keeping up with it is a struggle.

That said, if you or anyone else has questions specific to the design of internal combustion engines, I'm happy to provide my thoughts. I've been a designer at GM now for better than twenty years. Another half dozen before that as an illustrator. I started on the production side, and then moved to advanced engine design. I'm now Base Engine Diesel Architect - Design, so design responsible for any new (or significantly redesigned) diesel that comes out of GM. If you like engines it's the holy grail of jobs in my book. Okay, race cars sound sexier, but I've done that. The fun part is the problem solving. Designing an engine to be as inexpensive as possible for example, can be just as challenging as eking out a few more grams per second of airflow from an intake or exhaust port. I like that.

This is the first engine I've ever fully rebuilt, or will have been once I complete it. I should have started with a small block. It'd have been way easier, made more power, and cost a quarter of this thing! But, my parents were English. I grew up liking sports cars, not muscle cars. And it's been interesting learning how Porsche did it. These motors are very Teutonic.

Beautiful!
So where did you send the case, heads and cam towers for cleaning? They turned out great.

That must have been a bear to remove all the studs for recoating, but Man, that looks killer.

Keep the progress coming and thanks for the info!

Steve

Eric, great! So you were responsible for the new 3.0 I-6 diesel? From what I've read that's a great engine design. FYI, I bought a 2021 Ford F150 with he 3.0 V6 diesel 2 years ago. I looked at the GM at that time, but really didn't like the "big wall of chrome" front ends of 2 years ago. The GM engine has been getting great reviews, better than the Ford version, but the Ford V6 actually started life about 15 years ago, and even though it was changed significantly for the F150 application, it wasn't a clean sheet design. If I had my druthers, I'd prefer an I-6 to a V-6.

But I do have a question on which you could shed some light. I'm very curious about oil specifications for diesels, and gasoline engines generally. I doin't want to rehash the "which oil is better" arguments, but to get some insight into what's important in oil formulations and how manufacturers decide on specifications. I know, that's a big question, so if you could provide some comments and point me to online resources, I'll do more homework. I'm already familiar with the PQIA site, "Bob is the oil guy," and "540 Rat".

To bring the discussion back to our 911's, I saw some wear on the rocker pads on my engine, and then decided to switch to an oil with about 1500ppm phosphorus and zinc. That seems to be working well now

@AcidGypsy, thank you. I will do my best to keep the updates coming. Unfortunately, it's going to be a couple more weeks before any further progress. I'm headed to Florida for a spell.

@PeteKz, I really can't help you regarding oil formulations. We've got technical specialists that dive into that kind of minutia. What I can tell you is that we try to use as light an oil as possible primarily for fuel economy. There are a lot of factors that go into it though. Tolerancing, aeration, cost, etc. We won't know exactly what oil we'll use for a given engine until thousands of hours of testing. Durability, especially for a diesel, is number one.
And, I did not have anything to do with the design of the L6 diesel. That was done in Italy before my time. I've only been in this particular role for a few years.

I finally made a bit more progress last night. The heads and cam boxes are on. Temporarily at least. Per Wayne's suggestion I'm assembling it to the point that I can check the piston to valve clearance. I don't think I've ventured too far into the unknown in terms of engine modifications, but it's probably best to check. And, I figure it'll be good practice before doing the job with sealant...


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690401054.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690401054.jpg

Detroit, are your aluminum parts cleaned with a Vapor Hone? Also, I see your Yellow Chromate over Zinc plating is very nice. Are you doing both yourself?

@porschedude996, yeah, the aluminum was vapor blasted. I did neither it nor the Zinc plating. I think I posted earlier that replating everything on the engine cost $60 at a local plater, Wolverine Plating. Though now that I'm thinking about it, it might have been two batches, so twice that.
The vapor blasting wasn't terribly expensive either. A guy in Grand Rapids did it for me. I've used him several times since to do some carburetor sets. Super nice guy. I had the block steam cleaned at a local machine shop first. It degreased it, but did nothing to the Locktite, discoloration, or other sealants. The parts looked brand new when they came back from vapor blasting.
However... It strips the plating off of any steel part, which is why I ended up replating everything. Well, that and Henry Schmidt's pictures. And, the process uses a grit. That's my biggest fear with this thing. I cleaned all the parts no less that half a dozen times. Pulled and cleaned gallery plugs, chased threads. I really don't feel I could have cleaned them any better, but I still worry about grit having been left behind.
Fingers crossed...

Here are a couple of pics of some carburetors. The first is of the castings prior to and post vapor blasting. Then after restoration...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690457815.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690457815.jpg

Great thread, been enjoying your slow and steady progress.

Detroit, I thought I recognized the outcome of the process. I rebuilt a set of Dellorto carbs and a set of Cater AFB’s. In addition it zinc plated the steel parts.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690504707.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690504707.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1690510834.jpg

Man, I'm glad my plater doesn't make me wire all the bits together!
Pulling all the studs, etc. is kind of a pain, but replating all the hardware transforms the overall appearance. And, it's so inexpensive... This motor is going to be buried in the back of a 914, so one can question the necessity. For me, however, it makes reassembly much more enjoyable.

On an unrelated note, for whatever reason, this site make me re-login virtually every time I change pages. I have to copy whatever I write, because it'll take two or three tries to post things. Each time I click 'submit reply' it sends me back to the login page, and I lose what I write...
I've fumbled through the user settings, but can't find anyway to fix it.
Any thoughts?
I struggle enough to keep this thread up to date.

Write everything out in Word or similar then copy paste into the site.

Detroit, you’re starting to inspire me to delve deeper and overhaul my 3.0. Right now, I have the eng/trans out for a trans overhaul. The engine is partially disabled to cure some leaks and install chain tensioners. After seeing your spectacularly pretty engine, it makes me want to continue my disassembly and… “##>€^%#|%|>%~€~ MUST CONTROL URGE”

I’ll continue on with my existing plan of leaks, tensioners, sprockets, sprocket supports, chains, front and rear seals. But it’s nice to follow your build.

And one can spell check.

Well... So far it looks great. I've no idea whether or not it'll run.
But thanks.

Cool thread. Good work! Saving for the future!

I work for an Engineering company that does vacuum impregnation on lots of automotive/motorsports castings. I'm in Cleveland so maybe I can bring my 2.7 engine down if you want more experience refreshing one of those too :D SmileWavy

Question to you and the community. Why Supertech vs. ARP? I’ve used ARP on several US V-8’s and though they were high quality. The price that i’ve found was a tad cheaper.