I did get my engine together about the same time dtw did. We did a similar build. (I did not use any coatings on my parts.) I wound up running cams from a 74 2.7, and I have mine advanced to .8 mm. My car fired right up and ran nicely right off the bat. I thought I had HUGE ring seating problems as my car smoked from the exhaust like crazy. After I drove it a few times I found I had a two oil leaks, both from the front of the heads at the valve covers. Once I figured out that the cam tower plugs at the front were lose both right and left sides and were leaking into the heat exchangers the smoke stopped. Once the leaks stopped there was no more what appeared to be smoke from the exhaust. The rings seated just fine. The only other problem that I had was the clutch did not want to disengage an that was due to the shop that rebuilt the clutch disk. They put linings on that were too thick. I had to take the engine out and change the disk and then everything was OK.
I would like to thank the many contributors on this board, way too many to list, and Wayne for his book. But mostly dtw kept my sanity as well. I swear we had up to 10 PMs a night at times. I think I had to empty out my PM box more than once. I will say that 2.7s are a challenge to rebuild. Everything from sourcing parts to pulling studs out of the mag cases when you least expect them to pull.
Some time I would like to meet dtw and dinner is on me!
Ray

Thanks Ray! Glad to hear that your clutch problems are solved.

Donnie - I am not ignoring your email! I actually did go to take a bit of video on Saturday and my memory card was full. The camera was promptly tossed into the garage and I have spent all my free time since then driving the car - but video will be forthcoming. I was hoping to drive the Targa down to the beach this weekend but it looks like logistics will keep that from happening.

Some info on heat management after a weekend of driving. Recall that temps were off the charts prior to rebuild, even with cool ambient temps and low-rpm cruising. Temps would steadily and consistently climb to 280+ until significant power loss occurred. The biggest contributor to this was found to be the heads - the valves and guides were trashed. They were treated to 12 new valves and guides @ EBS. Other heat-management steps taken in the rebuild:

-updated cylinder cooling tin
-later on-board thermostat (bigger orifice)
-11 blade fan
-larger crank pulley
-factory cooler hardline & thermostat upgrade w/huge Setrab fender cooler, thermostatic fan
-thermal barrier coating to combustion chamber and piston dome surfaces
-DFL coating to rod bearings, piston skirts, cams
-Super-secret teflon rocker arm bushings by Craig Garrett (cgarr)

Since the rebuild, temps have not exceeded 205 degF during hard driving. Yesterday on a long cruise w/my daughter, temps stayed pegged at 185 degF and did not budge. Ambient temps in Raleigh were between 90-100' all weekend. Obviously I couldn't be happier with these temperatures.

At the risk of post-whoring, here's some further thoughts on rebuilding a 2.7. In many cases, it just ain't worth it. My costs on this build have pushed 8k, and I do include in that about 1k for the oil cooler setup. Consider how many parts, also, got tossed out:

-case
-crank
-pistons
-cylinders
-all sprockets
-thermostat
-idler arms
-chain housings & covers
-valve covers

The only major components that stayed from the original motor are the rods, oil pump, intermediate shaft, cams, and cam housings. Either due to significant wear of the original parts or the desire to upgrade to more reliable/stronger/better-sealing parts, most of the original engine was thrown away. Shows how much progress was made in development of these engines in the 3.0 and 3.2, for sure.

That's great to hear its running well. I know you are stoked. Of course, the 5 might not be so happy since it will likely sit at home for a bit while you continue to flog the targa.

Dave,

No worries on the vid, that email was a little harsh. I got more bad news that day and I seem to have spread the wealth!

Anyhooo, glad to see it is going strong, and not pissing oil on every curb like mine.

D

Great project! Post some pics!

Dave,

Sounds like a great running engine. Sorry I have missed all the fun but I have been offline for a few months. Toooo many things going on to work on mine much less help others. Hope to see you and your car soon but i need to get some footings dug for a shop addition now. Good read. Have fun with it and if it is staying that cool in this weather you should be safe to hammer it anytime.

Ed and Art, thanks for your comments. The engine seems to be running fine but after 100-200 miles it has developed a bad misfire. I've swapped coils and cleaned the plugs (was way rich prior to fine-tuning mix), now I have to check my cap/rotor/points. If I can't nail it soon I'll probably take it in to EP; the last thing I want to do on a fresh build is break rings or melt a piston.

Ed, yeah man, you've been scarce!! Are you going to the swap meet on the 2nd? I've got mountains of parts, I'm probably going to head down there with some people. Let me know if you know anybody that needs a large-port 3.0, btw.

Did someone say PICS? Now you're speaking my language...

Here's a cool pic of the installed cam(s). As you can see the cams have been DFL coated.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754178.jpg

Pic of the prepped pistons ready to install, as you can see they are thermal-barrier coated on the crowns. Not visible is the DFL coating on the piston skirts below the ring lands.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754196.jpg

Pictured here are the super-secret teflon-coated non-stick bushings in the rockers from Ronco. Also included with my rocker refinish, was a set of high-carbon-steel ginsu knives. Also visible in this pic are the DFL-coated rocker shafts and RSR seals.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754207.jpg

Finishing up assembly of the pistons/cylinders and measuring deck height.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754222.jpg

Completed long block.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754242.jpg

99.5% complete engine just before installation in the car.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1216754254.jpg

Dave, great pics, what terrific work!

How did you come to decide on a DFL coating for the cams etc? I've previously heard of DFL coatings being used in race applications, do you think our street-driven cars would benefit? Do the coatings break down over time? Any potential drawbacks?

Also, did you end up going with the cam oil restrictors in the end?

Hi Peter, good to hear from you over there in Oz.

Regarding DFL. The goal for the engine was to make all possible mods to enhance cool temperature running and longevity. While primarily a race technology when it comes to sports cars, aerospace coatings are a great idea for even street-driven air-cooled motors. Anything you can do to keep oil on critical parts is going enhance longevity. The thermal barrier coatings put more heat out in the exhaust and let less of it soak into the castings. This can actually be observed anecdotally - just holding your hand over the exhaust of this engine you notice it is HOT, more so than a similar motor w/o CERMET coatings.

We're not sure how long the DFL will remain viable. If nothing else, just having the coating on the piston skirts and cam lobes during break-in is worth the investment. The CERMET should remain for a very long time - it is extremely tough and was designed for extremely hostile environments.

Drawback - cost! Getting the coatings done professionally is extremely expensive, and is probably why you don't see it on more street engines. Another drawback is tolerance buildup - not really an issue with the CERMET due to the areas where it was applied. The DFL, however, was applied to critical parts including bearings, piston skirts, camshafts, wrist pins, and rocker shafts. This made parts fitment difficult and required a lot of extra burnishing and finishing to achieve good fit. Even when burnished to barely visible levels, the DFL is still able to perform well. This extra prep, of course, would need to be considered if the engine was built by a shop - at $75-100/hr shop rates, the time gets eaten up fast. The CERMET was applied to the exhaust ports, combustion chambers, and piston crowns. No clearancing issues there, though I do recommend masking the head sealing surface, which I didn't do. Polishing the CERMET off this area was extraordinarily difficult and I was rubbing with the steel wool until my fingers were bleeding. Not fun.

I've been driving the car all week and it has been running great. It does have pretty loud valves. I am hoping this is the mechanic's error (me) and not any problems with the super-secret rocker bushings.

Edit: Peter - yes, I did end up using the updated cam tower fittings.

Hey Peter, you asked for a pic of the car...here it is!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1217606121.jpg

Dave, she's a beauty.

Sounds like a well researched and meticulous engine build.

My 2.7 was rebuilt last year by a shop, I've only got 2 left thumbs when it comes to cars :)

I hadn't really given any consideration to parts coatings at the time, wish I'd done a little more research.

Anyway, the shop did fit the cam oil restrictors, I do find the cold oil pressure registers reasonably high on the gauge, but at warm idle sits all the way at the bottom of the gauge. Certainly have never seen the low pressure warning yet, which being a Sporto is a bit of a treat.

Post the rebuild, the engine barely breaks the 220 degree point after a spirited drive (original trombone cooler), and will prob run a little cooler with the new SSIs just fitted, and some day I'll swap the trombone out for something beefier.

Sounds like you're temps are running even cooler, around the 205 mark?