Eric's "Budget" 3.0L Build

[PeteKz]

Gettin' close!

One suggestion: Take off the coil until after it's in the car. It may interfere with jacking the engine into place.

[detroit]

Thanks, @PeteKz
I'm a long way from putting in the car. The plan is to get it running in this start cart first, so there will likely be plenty to disconnect/remove prior to chassis installation.
I take note of all these types of suggestions though. I'm more than happy to accept any advice that'll save me aggravation down the road.

[911 tweaks]

can you please post pics of your start cart & its set up...?
thx & great job so far...!!

[Ghill]

Good luck on your rebuild. There are lots of very knowledgeable here on the forum. With a name like Detroit can I assume your in the motor city?

[detroit]

@Ghill, you are correct. Born and raised in (a suburb of) Deetroit. I've been working at GM for thirty odd years...

@911 Tweaks, here's a pic of the cart as it sits. All my fuel system hardware showed up yesterday, so I should get that hooked up this weekend. I've got the exhaust to fabricate, and the control panel. Then it's just a matter of wiring it all up. Fingers crossed I'll have it running by my birthday at the end of May...

[detroit]

I had a bit of time after work today, so I mounted all the fuel system hardware...

[porschedude996]

Looking Good. Fun isn’t it.

[draw]

Given your background and experience, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on running the engine on the start cart vs. on an engine dyno or in the car under load. Methinks there's a lot of myths out there...

My rebuild will likely be finished years ahead of the car and I'd like to do the initial break in and tune outside of the car, but I'm paranoid that I'll ruin the cams or the rings won't seat properly...

[detroit]

@draw, I wish I could give you an intelligent answer, but I can't. I design engines. By the time anything I put into math is a real part, six months have gone by and I'm working on another project. If I've done my job well, I'm not involved in the build, and I'm certainly not involved with getting the thing running. I sometimes wish I could walk an engine through the whole process, but it's just not part of the job...

What I can tell you is that every experimental motor we designed and built in the Advanced group used to first get installed and run in a start cart. I don't know if you've ever seen a dyno cell of an OEM, but our cells at GM are so packed with instrumentation, etc. that it's difficult to even see the engine. Never mind trying to work on it. A start cart provides 360 access. You can get a motor running, check for leaks, and do whatever else you might need to easily, and without tying up a dynamometer.

That is my intent here. Start it, look for leaks, sync the carbs, get it timed, and shut it down. Check the valve lash, and put it into the car. I hope it goes that well...

[detroit]

@porschedude996, yeah, it is fun. Being so close to starting the thing is exciting. Though it carries with it a certain amount of anxiety. This is a ton of money for me. I've more money in the motor than I paid for the car...

[porschedude996]

I hear you. In the same boat.

Not just Transmission, oh! the engine.

Now the whole fuel system to include everything up front and all the engine lines

Now the reconditioning the oil tank, thermostatic valve, and then the lines and cooler. Seems like a good time to upgraded the cooler….

Originally Posted by detroit

@porschedude996, yeah, it is fun. Being so close to starting the thing is exciting. Though it carries with it a certain amount of anxiety. This is a ton of money for me. I've more money in the motor than I paid for the car...

[detroit]

Progress has been slow of late, but I did manage to get a little control panel built. I now need only wire the cart and fabricate the exhaust. Plus a half dozen or so little things like PCV hose, belt, oil filter, etc. Not to mention adding oil...
I don't love the distributor wires, which I got from 123Ignition. The lengths are a bit odd - much like every other ignition wire set I've ever purchased. I'd really like to run 4-6 over the top of the fan, but I presume I'd need to make my own to do that. Any suggestions out there?..

[PeteKz]

If you do that, you want to make room over the top of the fan by moving the coil like Porsche did on the Carreras. I moved my coil to the relay panel after I removed the VR because I installed an internally regulated alternator. I have not run the wires over the top yet. My current wire set is too short for that routing.

I understand that Clewett will make wires to your specifications.

[colingreene]

My Coil is mounted to the crossbar that holds the engine, that said it wont help you on a 914.

[detroit]

It's been awhile...
My goal was to have this thing running by Memorial Day weekend, but between a wedding, waterskiing, cycling, work, and like ten birthdays that didn't happen.
It hasn't been all fun and games though. I've managed to get the heat exchangers/mufflers built. I'm not a great welder. Well... Let's be fair. I'm not even a good welder. But, I can weld, and while those welds aren't necessarily that pretty, I'm happy enough with the net result. The heat exchangers aren't huge, though this isn't exactly a Michigan winter vehicle. They should put out enough heat to defog the windshield, and keep my feet warm on cool days. Likewise, there's not a lot of muffler volume. In the immortal words of Gregg Rammel, it'll bark. I'm good with that.
I still need to build the support for them, and then it's back to the wiring.

[PeteKz]

How will you repack it after the packing blows out?

[detroit]

Yeah, I thought about that, Pete, and was going to build them with the ability to remove the cores. If it proves that the packing doesn't last long, I'll just cut the muffler sections off, and redo them...

[PeteKz]

My experience with motorcycle muffs is that the fiber packing doesn't last very long, perhaps a couple thousand miles. Or maybe you will get used to the gradually increasing noise, and then like it.

[colingreene]

Cone engineering has a muffler packing for motorcycles that is much more robust.
id probably try that in the future.

[fabracadabra]

Originally Posted by detroit

The heads went on, followed by the cam boxes, but while torquing them down I had the threads on a stud let go.

Was the thread failure on a cam box stud or a head stud?

I don't think I saw it addressed in the rest of the thread.



Thanks for the time,
Chris