Ruby's engine rebuild-Rev1

[daveytrackels]

Can someone please explain it to me?

[efhughes3]

Originally Posted by daveytrackels

Can someone please explain it to me?

Go away troll

[efhughes3]

Beer and cigar time! (and an update)

Pic 1- Cams in with their O-rings and cam covers and gaskets in. Sprockets mounted for the next step-alignment check.



Pics 2 and 3- I checked the alignment of the two cam sprockets and their respective idler shaft sprockets. Supposed to be within .25mm (.010") and mine were all within .006" so that was good. Couldn't find a depth gauge I used to have to measure the LH sprocket, so I treated myself to a new 8" digital caliper the get the reach I needed. You also need a good straightedge for this.




Pic 4- Cam sprockets back in and the chains on them after putting the indexing sprockets in over their woodruff keys. Got to be a bit careful when handling the keys that you don't drop them and they skate down into the case.



Pic 5- The mechanical tensioners and idler arms installed and ready for timing.



Pic 6- The "grenades" cocked and ready with their pins (3/16" cotter pins) in place to hold the shafts in. You need to put them in a vise and slowly compress them while catching the oil that gets displaced.



Pic 7- Installing the #1 intake rocker. One can't have enough extensions to reach the rear most rocker shafts. I'm going with new RSR seals, as I didn't want the old to get compromised with brake cleaner or damaged when removing for cleaning. Another $64 to the total. I also took the tip Wayne referenced in his book back to Walt @ Competition Engineering: I used no assembly lube in the rocker to keep any from being pushed into the cam tower journal by the shaft and creating a slippery situation. You squirt some oil in thru the holes in the rocker to get them lubed after the shaft is locked down.



Pic 8- The #4 intake rocker also installed. I torqued the rocker shaft bolts to 16 ft-lbs. Stock, or really new spec, is 13.2 ft-lbs, but there are some here that recommend as high as 20 on older engines to ensure a good bite and not get the dreaded "walk" from the shaft. Bruce Anderson states in his book that if you go to 15 ft-lbs and the rocker nut gives enough bite to that end of the shaft so that it requires no wrench to hold it, you should have no issues. Mine held well before the 15 ft-lb mark, so I torqued to that and then went to 16 for good measure.




Now to find my Z-block and get the dial indicator out. The fun part (the actual cam timing) is next.

[tobyp]

Nice job Ed. I'm about two weeks behind you building a 2.4MFI motor for Tweety. Great work!

Toby

[efhughes3]

Thanks Toby! Don't count yourself out, you'll probably pass me soon. I feel like I'm moving kinda slow. Too many balls in the air now. Maybe Memorial Day weekend for my target. And if I miss that, I want to be done before I go to Le Mans in June.

If the stars are aligned, and we get another opportunity to work with Patrick later this year, I'm going to try and get Ruby there. Gotta try and keep up with the big boys! Or, at least the Spec Miata...

[jriera]

Ed, seems that I will be able to stop by mid afternoon on Friday on my way back from San Diego. I will call you on Friday.

That is looking very good, even if the progress is hinder by beer and cigars!!

[efhughes3]

I may or may not be home Friday Jordi, but give me a call then to see. I may be up in Orange County.

[lvporschepilot]

Nice work there. Will you be retiming the cams to accomodate a different dynamic compression ratio? With your new compression, you can have that intake valve close at a good 7-10 degrees later.

[efhughes3]

Thanks-I've got some suggested specs that I got from John D.

[jriera]

Sorry Ed, I left WAY too late from San Diego and traffic was hell. I may be back in two weeks, I will let you know.

[efhughes3]

An update from today:

I got the cams timed and the tensioners back in. I worked out a better way to do this than last time. With the higher lift cams and the timing specs, along with the "new" cam design which has a bolt holding the sprocket on instead of the old nut, it is tough to time the cams as the minute you loosen the bolt, then load from the valve wants to turn it back to zero. I was looking for .071" in overlap at TDC. When I released the bolt and pulled the pin, the cam would roll back to .010". The last time, I just experimented with crank position and over-compensation on the cam, so that when it rolled back, it went to where I needed it. This was frustrating at best.

This time, I didn't snug the pulley down-instead, I used a spacer so that the bolt would tighten up on the cam, thereby allowing me to turn the cam to where I needed it, putting the pin in the hole, and then putting the washer back on the bolt and snugging down as it should. This allowed me to "dial" both sides in to within .001", which I'm quite please with. I ran each side thru 720 degrees numerous times to double-check, torqued the bolts down, pulled the mechanical tensioners, then installed the real tensioners. This really worked very well. One could just buy a longer bolt and do the same thing, but try and find one in this thread at HD or Lowe's....

Tomorrow- Check valve-piston clearance and then get the rest of the rockers in. Chain covers, oil cooler, valve covers and camlines, and I should be looking at a longblock again.

The contraption:




Left side:



Right side :



Timed cams:

[efhughes3]

Originally Posted by jriera

Sorry Ed, I left WAY too late from San Diego and traffic was hell. I may be back in two weeks, I will let you know.

No sweat Jordi, I was pretty busy myself yesterday. Hope to see you next trip.

[TibetanT]

Ed:

Good job with the "new" method in cam timing. I like it!

BTW: What type of dial indicator do you use? Make/model. Looks like reading is in both Metric and American. True?

Thanks.

[efhughes3]

Ed- It's an import, inches only, but it reads in both directions. I got the set at LittleMachineShop.com - tooling, parts, and accessories for bench top machinists.

[efhughes3]

I've achieved longblock status again! All rockers in, valves adjusted, oil cooler and cam lines, TWELVE new plugs and the valve covers back on....

[Jeff Alton]

Nice job my friend! Time for a blue moon!

[sp_cs]

Nice work Ed!

Out of interest, what spark plugs will you be fitting?

Mine was fitted with NGK B8EVX during the rebuild, unsure what was fitted during the last service.

[efhughes3]

Thanks guys.....I did have a couple of beers when I got the valve covers on, admiring my work. I probably won't even see the engine again for 2 weeks, let alone work on it.

I'm sticking with NGK BP7ES's on this one out the box. I don't know if this is correct Shirish, sticking with what the stock plugs would be.

On another note, I ordered the new chip from Steve W the other day. He spent about 20 minutes picking my brain on the specifics and is conjuring up his magic.

[Carrerax]

Can I ask what coating/finish you have on your cam covers etc? Looks great!

[efhughes3]

The fan, housing and valve covers were done with a ceramic coating by an automotive-focused specialty finisher in Arlington, TX.

Can I ask what coating/finish you have on your cam covers etc? Looks great!