Hey Spencer,

Glad to hear your project is progressing.
Very curious about your new ignition mod....waiting patiently to hear more ;)

Very tempted about your FS pencil coils and amplifiers.....I will need them in my next phase. But I have to manage the budget to get the car running 1st.......already tumbled way too far down the slope!

Cheers

PS. I really really like your ethrottle implementation. I have started looking for the same Bosch/Audi unit for my project.

Hey Costa, I'll shoot you a PM later. The throttle is from a 997.1 Carrera ;) In the UK, folk like Porsche-Apart sell such things, it was a long time ago now, but iirc, I bought from them via their eBay store.

Time for another update, it's all about the ignition system at the moment while Chris is looking after the cylinder reworking.

The plan was to look at using some Ford Ecoboost coils, from the Fiesta 1.6, a direct injection lean-burn engine. I'll confess, I thought this was going to be a lot easier than it's turned out to be, and had the coils not already been ordered in specially (miscommunication), I probably would've scrapped the idea and kept everything as-is. But. That's not how it turned out, and the curious side of me wanted to press on and see what could be done.

It took a good month or so of me scratching my head, staring at the head/valve assembly for inspiration, trying different things, experimenting and prototyping until I was happy to then commit to the project by making some permanent changes to the valve covers, and ultimately selling the original Denso units I had been using.

The Ecoboost coils as they arrive from Ford look like this.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...95A7826734.jpg


Clearly they're too long for Porsche use....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0928C00968.jpg

...but they are easily broken down into their component parts.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4e4866f3df.jpg

Having bought one unit to play with, I set to and started cutting the centre section to length.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...BB0009209F.jpg

This bit is the part that caused me the most thinking....what plastic is it (for glueing)? What temperature do I need to be thinking about? How best to shorten them? Is it something that I can get a mate to 3D print, as a whole new centre section? Is it financially viable to get 12 made by a machining shop on a CNC lathe? Do I want to make new ones myself on my lathe?

In the end, the option of chopping a section out of the middle was the way I've gone, and then sleeving and glueing. Having tried a number of glues, I've now found one that is super tough, I can't separate the prototype unit without potentially snapping the tubes. This option means I don't need to think about messing about with the rubber boots at each end, they just pop back onto the barbed ends of the tube, as usual.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...02069552A7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...12B0597CB0.jpg

However, there are 3x lengths that need to be considered. The inlet side valve covers are all the same, and 5 of the exhaust lengths are the same, but #1 exhaust is shorter than the other 5 (a detail that I hadn't noticed on the valve covers before, strangely).

Once the tube has been shortened, the centre spring then needs to be cut, in a way which still allows good electrical contact with the in-line fuse but removes enough length to prevent any coil binding. The spring has a fat centre section which engages with a shoulder in the ID of the tube to prevent the spring falling out, so the spring can only be shortened from one end, otherwise it won't make contact with the spark plug.

Next consideration was how to bolt them down. Each unit has 2 lobes with holes for M6 fixings. A couple of thoughts; I could remove both lobes from each coil and use RSR style fingers to hold them down, but these are quite top-heavy coil units; the drivers are pretty chunky, far more so than the previous Denso units which are super-small and compact.

On the other hand, do I really need 2x M6 fixings per coil? I think that's a little excessive, and it also means that one of the fixings would be on the "wet" side of the valve cover, meaning more work to make sure its oil tight. So, removal of the longer lobe from each unit means that the shorter lobe can be used, and on all 12 they are on the dry-side, no oil leaking to worry about.

Coil with one mounting lobe removed….

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...D418C838E4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...02829F5712.jpg


I wanted to keep each unit as tight as reasonably possible to the valve covers, so for each one I needed to make spacers, and think how to hold them....do I go for bolting down the coils into a tapped spacer (how do I then retain the spacer into the cover?)...or do I use a flange nut onto each coil, on studs?

I've gone for the latter, making 12 spacers (in 3 different lengths) to sit the coils as low as possible without actually touching the covers. A length of 13mm AF hex bar was used, and essentially each acts as a locknut to the caphead stud, screwed in from the underside. The valve cover material is thick enough to also M6 tap, with 3 threads just to act as something to tighten against. All will be Loctited in place. The spacers will be black anodised, the bolts will be gold passivate plated, all to match the other engine fixings.

This is just a quick reassembly, no polishing or deburring had been done for these pics…

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...4475BEA192.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...350F9BA0FC.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...92CC68608B.jpg

Final challenge is the coil for #6 inlet, which sits inside the tower casting for the power steering pump. This is tight, but by chopping a corner out of the lobe, it *just* about fits in the diameter of the original plug lead hole, sitting nice and square to match the others. Thankfully not a very large notch required, still leaving plenty of material on the lobe.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...54BF51D809.jpg

So, with all that established, time to get the remaining 11 coils....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...99A6988B6A.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...A6E36DF016.jpg

Now I've got the task of modifying each of the remaining coils, both the mounting lobes and the 3 different lengths. All the mounting posts are made, capheads and flange nuts need to be ordered, then the plating work needs to be done after Xmas. Loom is already with Sileck, ready to rework for the new coils.

Continuously in awe of your ingenuity, skills, and perseverance.
Plus positive attitude in the face of setbacks -- even if some are self-inflicted ex: re-engineering an ignition system from scratch. ;-)

Haha, thanks Chris....yes...I'm never one to take an easy option. Keeps it interesting though. I guess.

Last update for 2016...

Plodding along with the ignition system - this has truly GOT TO BE the most tedious job of the whole project so far....I guess that 12x "anything" is going to wear thin very quickly, but glad to report that all 12 new coils have been amputated of one of their lobes.

All have come out very nicely, no scarring or mishaps. Once you get a couple done, you soon figure out what techniques and tools work; by the end I was knocking each one out in about 25-30mins - quite a production line! A nice sharp Stanley knife was definitely the way to go, steadily shaving off the plastic right into the nooks and crannies of the moulding.

In fairness, they look a little dull where the excess plastic has been filed back with steadily smoother grades of file, then finished with wet'n'dry (lightly wetted), then finally with a metal polish to try and bring some OE sheen back. I may have to spin on some polishing mops onto my offhand grinder to see if I can improve upon this.

Todays job was to get the car up on the lift, to remove the front half of the wiring loom. This was far easier than expected, only a 10min job to snip some cable ties that were routing it along with the clutch line. Two SureSeal connectors to the front wheel hall-effect sensors for the TC, and it's now just a case of removing the transmission tunnel carpet inside the cabin, and pulling it through.

Finally, with the car up in the air, I want to rebuild the oil cooler thermostat behind the RH sharkfin. I did test the thermostat years ago when rebuilding it, but it niggled me that I didn't just replace the unit at the time. All the parts have been sitting in a box for over 6mths now. As it was only fitted 300-400miles ago, removing it was a doddle, none of the huge nuts were corroded on. Any remaining contaminated oil also drained out of the tank, and the next job will be to either flush through the pipes to the front of the car and the cooler rad (using flushing oil and a pump I have) or to remove everything, rocker panels, hoses, pipes, front bumper and cooler rad, to clean it out thoroughly. I'll sleep on it, it may be a bit OTT to do that - there were no fragments in the engine after-all.

Once that part has been done, it's back to ignition coils, this time shortening them. This shouldn't been too much of a pain, 3 different lengths, rinse-and-repeat with making the joining tubes on the lathe and waiting for the glue to set.

The cylinders have now been reworked, and should be arriving back with Chris on Monday/Tuesday, then it'll be time to get the thinking caps on, re-check the maths and order the new Carrillo pistons.

More later - wishing everyone a very happy New Year! Hoping it'll be a little more successful than '16 (for me, at least)

Cheers
Spencer

Hey Spencer,

It is nice to hear that things are progressing well.

2017 is the year ;)
Before you know it, she will fire up again.

Cheers
Costa

Hey matey,

Yeah I'm really hoping that it'll be done this year. I used to have hair when I started this adventure - and I was in my 30's. Mid-30's.

I'm sure we'll get there, by hook or by crook. Maybe I'll host a "wrap party" - everyone's invited, haha! (warning - I'm worse at cooking than I am at engine building. I'm sure you're braai's are a little more worthy of eating than my BBQ's)

S

Spenny,

We could have chosen an addiction with much less pain and suffering……but no other hobby is as satisfying as wrenching on these gems.
....as for braai's and BBQ's....the meat always tastes good after plenty of beer ;)

So cheers to completing this project....and then starting the next one :D

Costa

Cheers matey, I'll drink to that! (maybe not the next one, eh)

Another ignition update. Sorry.

Yep, it's probably as tedious for you as it is for me, but I'm almost there. Another good productive couple of evenings in the workshop, heater going full blast, TV on.

Over last weekend, all of the plastic centre sections were chopped. Some careful measuring of the 3 different lengths had to be done;

- 5 of the 6 exhaust side plugs are the same depth, but...
- #1 exhaust is shorter by a good margin.
- All six inlet-side plugs are somewhere in-between the 2 exhaust lengths, but they are all of equal length.

Can't hold either of the ends in the chuck of the lathe, quite a brittle plastic (ask me how I know - the prototype I did before Xmas got a little damaged), so it was a case of hacksawing each tube in half, then using the lathe and hoping my maths was correct to shorten and face each half. You end up with lots of component parts....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...F0AE249712.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...15B0B3B641.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...992A41C9FB.jpg


Two of the valve cover stand-offs I ended up remaking - wasn't happy with them, so that's also now finished.

The stainless steel hardware which I'm using for the mounting studs arrived last week, so time to mock up each of the valve covers, and dummy mount each coil pack (no tube or rubber fittings at this point)....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...856D6974B8.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...43ECC9DE0B.jpg

All good, they're sitting nice and level with each other (apart from #1 exhaust, which would've looked stupid floating in mid-air).

Next job for this evening, was to start making the sleeving tubes which join each half back together. Again, some careful measuring to ensure that they're not too long (preventing each face from butting up to each other, thus a stronger joint), nor too short, which would prevent the sleeve from being glued to the chamfered faces on each end of the tube. Some before and after vernier measurements were taken with and without the sleeves in place, to make sure that this is spot on.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...19B04F87EA.jpg

Next task, dead easy, was to Dremel cut each of the internal electrical springs. The springs are symmetrical, but the chopped end will sit coil-side, and actually now has a stronger pressure onto the internal fuse.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...91ED5A62AC.jpg

A few hours later, we have 5x completed exhaust coils. Glue is going to harden for 24hrs, before I attempt to install onto the heads.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...79BE6DD974.jpg

All will be marked up to ensure they go onto the right plugs. The coils themselves are universal apart from #6 which sits in the middle of the power steering pump assembly (see last pic on post #804). I'm really pleased how they've come out. Not the work of a moment, and I'll be honest, I much prefer the look of the original Denso CoP's, but nonetheless, quite rewarding seeing months of thinking and making, come to fruition.

I've got a few outstanding days vacation to take from work - use it or lose it - so I'll be cracking on tomorrow to get the inlet side coils finished. Next job then will be to finally glue the centralising sleeves that sit within the collars, to the correct position.

Last job is to send the stand-offs out for anodising in black.

Aside from the ignition, another job I want to do is finish rebuilding the oil thermostat, and then disassemble the front bumper, remove the oil cooler and flush everything through, to rid the whole system of the petrol contaminated oil.

It is looking very smart (as always) Spencer.

How do you plan to do the flushing?
(Some sort of pump and tank arrangement?)

Cheers
Costa

Thanks mate!

No, I did consider using a pump on one length of pipe, and catching it from the other but the pressure needed to flush that through the whole circuit, especially with a top entry/exit oil radiator, would be more than my pump could do.

So...Mondays job will be to remove the front bumper and remove the radiator, wash it through and re-install. I may be able to clean the pipes and hoses in-situ - I'll give it a go before removing the rocker panel. Although to be honest, that's a quick job, and would make life easier to flush if I were to just get on and remove everything.

A quick update on stuff....no pics, this has all been shown before in previous pages.

Per the above intention, I did get the front oil cooler out, and in the end I just decided to bite the bullet, remove the sill trim panels and get the oil lines removed; I was kind of right with it being easier to flush once they're removed, but I had forgotten how ungainly they are to handle!

Picture the scene....a funnel with brake cleaner being poured into one end, the other end precariously balanced vertically on garden furniture, then a thumb over each end, arms at 90º and doing some strange rotating windmill yoga move to get the cleaner flowing from end to end. I'm glad my back garden has 100% privacy!

Anyway, it's all done, and the oil cooler has also now been flushed twice, given a good external clean and is ready to be refitted now that it's also been heated using a hot air gun (from a decent distance) to evaporate any residual cleaner.

The oil lines are now loosely fitted to the chassis, and will be nipped up once connected to the thermostat unit.

The thermostat unit has been stripped, thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt using a new thermostat module and spring. I read in another thread that it's been observed that the internal springs do weaken over time - perhaps why they're sold as a complete rebuild pack from Porsche, rather than an individual item.

Tomorrows job is to finish the installation and get the bodywork refitted, out of harms way.

I'm also going to follow Chris's advice and remove #2 & #5 con-rods to investigate the shells. There would be nothing worse than going to this trouble and then finding there was an oil starvation or contamination issue that had damaged the bearings, which had gone unaddressed.

Meanwhile, I'm going to continue to be lazy this evening and watch the Daytona 24hrs. :D

Just a quick update this evening; the final job over the weekend (after much swearing at the front bumper and trying to get it aligned correctly - and then deciding to leave it), was to remove the #2 rod to inspect the bearings.

Quite easy to do in-situ. A quick dab of the paint pen to make sure the rod and cap go back together in the same orientation, and it's just a case of some gentle tapping with a nylon faced hammer onto the rod bolts, in order to separate the halves. Literally, a few light-as-possible knocks, and there was separation. A magnetic stick from the 4-5-6 side of the crankcase made sure that the cap didn't drop. Remove the rod, then rotate the cap around the journal, and extract.

Thankfully, all looks good, no oil starvation. And breathe.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...84202714B0.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3DEAB5D7C7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...DB7F84085F.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...E6534BBCE0.jpg

I'll reassemble at some point over the next day or so, using Red Line assembly lube and ARP moly under the heads of the nuts.

Had a long chat with Chris last night - always a pleasure - but amongst the general chit-chat, the cylinders have now arrived back with TK, looking resplendently new again. Time to start looking seriously at getting the pistons on order. Approx a 6wk leadtime, plus the time it will take for the additional heat coatings to be applied. We're getting there!

Courage Spenny! ;)

Cheers Pat - Are you well?

Personally I am well Spenny, thank you, on the other hand he(it) is there otherwise(differently) for my car, anything bad but his(its) restoration(catering) takes an infinite time, it is always at the coachbuilder's in Belgium! I know that the car is redone from A to Z but maintaining it has been 3 years since it drove... I take my evil in patience and I do not lose hope to present her(it) to you one day! I cross fingers also for your! ;)

Spenny, I've just read your thread from start to where it is now, I've never come across such a comprehensive engine rebuild and major engine modification thread, I can't help but thinking that you've just had some major bad luck recently, and now you've just had to strip your engine again and have gone about it as though all you've had to do is pull some spark plugs.

Major respect mate, I hope you get to the route of your problems and .... Wishful thinking that it won't cost an arm or a leg, I'm sure you'll get it fixed and I look forward to reading about it when you do.

Hi AVI_8, thanks for the very gracious comments, very much appreciate it!

Haha - if only the walls could talk. Believe me, it took a good day or so of realisation with some major sense of humour failure episodes. After that, it's best to stick the radio on and get to it. Tearing down is easy and quick, it'll be the second rebuild that takes some concentration.

Ha! Contrary to the popular saying, there are actually 3 guarantees in life....tax, death and Porsche projects costing a bloody fortune. Believe me, another small fortune is in the process of being spent.

Hi Spencer,

Also for me at the moment, but she will be magnificent! What is even more crazy it is that I have already in mind the future evolutions, the passage of which in EFI with "among others" the kit proposes Chris ... :D In brief, we do not finish it! I wonder if it is not sick ..., we live only once. Courage Spencer. :D

Patrice

Fantastic Build, Your work is amazing, any updates ?

I'm putting back my 965 for road use, I don't remember how the right side heater blower motor is installed, Would you be kind enough to take some pic's of your right rear heater blower motor mounting for me. many thanks.

Good luck with your build

Funnily enough, was thinking about writing an update at some point over the weekend...so with a convenient teabreak underway, a quick brain-dump....

Yes, there's some stuff happening in the background in terms of re-working the cylinders and getting new pistons ordered, as well as some loom re-working. Chris is looking after the metal bits; the cylinders and old pistons were sent over to AZ for assessment, then over to LN Engineering for them to get the cylinders round again, and re-plated.

I've been deliberately holding-off on hitting the "Go" button to order the pistons until we knew that the cylinders were fixable (they were, of course) and frankly, until funds allowed. Some unexpected other expenses in the meantime, which will become clear in time; a little bit Brexit related, where it made sense to commit before the exchange rate worked against me.

Sure, I'll be working on the car this weekend; if I can't access it well enough, I'm sure there are a couple of pics I have saved somewhere. Have you seen the ones that I posted at the time, in this thread?

Thank you!

Evening folks, project revival time....although in reality it's been constantly alive in the background to me....but nothing that makes particularly interesting reading whilst things are happening.

So..."what has been happening?" I hear you ask...

A week or so ago, I received a nice big couple of boxes from good old Chris and the gang at TK!

1) A set of reworked cylinders
2) Beautifully coated CP Carillo pistons
3) Some new Ni-resist flame rings
4) A set of TurboKraft rocker shaft locks
5) A pair of Z blocks; I now have 2x Mitutoyo digital DTI's, so why not be able to mount both simultaneously onto the engine?
6) A set of Stromski cam chain tensioners (I really didn't like using some G-clamps to try and do this the last time I built the engine...a bit too unrepeatable for me)
7) A Wrightwood top-end gasket set
8) 4 sets of cylinder base gaskets, various thicknesses, in order to dial-in the compression ratios.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0337.jpg

Speaking to Chris over the last year or so, it very much made sense to ask the guys to look after the whole-shebbang, seeing as they're looking after getting the cylinders reworked, and spec'ing the pistons. So, Mike (TK) has looked after the ring-gap setting, thoroughly cleaning the cylinders (i.e., mega-cleaning them to ensure no honing residue is in the grain of the cylinder walls), and then assembling the pistons into the cylinders.

Piston assembly is something I have done dozens and dozens of times before, on many engines, and a few times on this engine whilst building it the first time.....but...such is my paranoia with making abso-bloody-lutely sure this second rebuild goes perfectly, that asking TK to ship them over to me pre-assembled means that it's another thing off the list of things that can go wrong.

Also worth noting that the rings on these new pistons are now 1mm rather than the previous 1.5mm. The crown and underside is also significantly different from my old Omegas, they look mega, really pleased with them.

So this weekend was my first opportunity to actually get started with the rebuild. First job was to think about how to accommodate the pair of knock sensor bridges I bought many moons ago.

Mulling over several options, and after saying to Chris that I was determined to keep the 3x heads & cam housing all built (to save time with the rebuild)....it turns out I couldn't keep it all in-tact. Firstly, mounting the whole thing upside down to them machine the 3x mounting holes was very tricky. Not having a proper mill with a bed that's big enough to mount it, is the limiting factor; my pillar drill is uber-heavy and more than ample to do light milling duties, but my X-Y table just isn't big enough to mount it.

So....time to break it all down, remove the cams, rockers, shafts and then separate the heads from the carrier. This needed the use of my floor-standing hydraulic press....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0024.jpg

A nut onto each of the head studs (to save damaging the studs), and then a 13mm socket with an additional nut inside it, and a 3/8" extension bar, and it was all freed up very easily. A lot more elegant and less risky than smacking it with a hammer.

The cam housing will be fully cleaned up in due course, but onto machining the underside of the heads. Unfortunately I don't have a 16mm spot-facing tool, so I used my 8mm end-mill to machine a square landing area for the bridge to mount onto.

Heads clamped down nice and tight, and the job's a good'un....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0327.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0329.jpg

Refit the heads to the cam housing to mark the hole centres...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0332.jpg

Once marked-up....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0331.jpg

...time to then re-mount each head for drilling and tapping...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0334.jpg

Lovely job. I'll clean the cam housing before re-fitting the heads and checking the bridge mounting. This was for just the 1-2-3 bank; tomorrow night it's time to do 4-5-6. Should be quicker, as I now have the procedure sorted, blocks of wood at hand, machine clamps set up, etc, etc.

Very satisfied to reread you Spencer, I wondered what you become! :)

Pat

Haha, hey Pat...yeah, I'm still here, I've just had my focus on other projects while background progress was happening on this one.

Welcome back. Always love to hear your updates.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Cheers Brainz....however....

Oh bollocks....
 

....just when things finally get underway again, and decent progress is being made (and frankly, my enthusiasm has returned)....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0346.jpg

Running into the house to answer the phone after a nice BBQ outside on Monday evening, enjoying the summer evening whilst watching the Athletics, smashed my toe on the sliding door frame, then completely lost my footing on a wooden floor. Didn't even manage to get a foot down to break my fall, before going down like a sack o'(you know what) onto my left arm.

Hurt like hell, and an x-ray yesterday confirmed that I've broken the top of my radius ("radial pivot"?) in my elbow, as well as my toe. I thought I'd also fractured my wrist, but think its perhaps just a sprain. Thankfully it hasn't displaced, so I didn't need it pinning, but...This. Is. A. Complete. Pain. In. The. Arse. Not only can I not do any engine work, but I'm not allowed to drive (legally in the UK...insurance is void), meaning I've had to cancel the summer holiday in the Vendee in western France. I think my daughters being more circumspect about the loss of holiday than me, she's been great with helping out (as has all of my family)....but I can't tell you how fed up I am. 6-8 weeks of inactivity.

Sorry to hear of your mishap. Hoping for a speedy recovery. In the meantime, we'll have to figure out a way to turn that frown upside down. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif

Ugh. Get well soon.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Really no chance, courage Spencer and good recovery! ;-)

Hmm. . . breaking your Radius. . . is not Humerus. (Anatomical pun!)

Sorry mate but breaking your arm is no excuse. . . 6-7 weeks of inactivity is 6-7 weeks more rebuild research! :)

I'll say it again Spencer. . . the entire global community of Porsche enthusiasts is WITH YOU in this moment. . . we've been following your progress for YEARS and we are not about to quit now.

This too shall pass. . . broken bones will heal and the fire of frustration will die down. Maybe it will take a long time. . . but I know you, and I know you will Never Ever Give Up (to quote a famous Bulldog).

Hang in there. . . post Xray of shattered bone with West German stainless pins installed. . . Take Courage and remember that WE are with you.

Lol!!! You ARE the original Mr Motivator, my friend!! Thank you, that did make me chuckle.

Alas, no x-ray pictures, nor any need to pin it (like Lucys arm, if you remember?). That's what I was dreading. No plaster either, as it needs to remain mobile or else be locked in position. It's getting so much better each day, I'm really pleased. Not quite able to extend arm outstretched fully, nor can I fully bend it. When walking without the sling, I do resemble an AWOL Thunderbird who's puppet strings have been cut, lol.

For the first time this evening I can now use both a knife and a fork simultaneously!! (just). Wrist rotation is getting a little easier, and lifting light items is do-able. Laptop bags into London on the Underground, however, is still too heavy. First fracture clinic appointment this Friday, so we'll see what the prognosis is. We have a public holiday on Monday, so a long weekend coming...I'll certainly be having a go at resuming works.

In regards to following the project for years, yes you sure have, and I'm very grateful for everyone hanging-in-there with me! I've started posting "digest" updates on Instagram recently (of course, limited at the moment)....look me up if you want as "spenny_porsche" and with the tag of #spennybengineproject

The next job will be to look into a replacement service for Photobucket, as I read the other night that they're now starting to charge outrageous amounts per year for an account that allows image hosting onto forums!!

Okay, time for a petit-updatette....

Last weekend, after spending a very nice chilled out few hours in my back garden, enjoying the sun, watching various sports on the iPad...I got a little fidgety and could resist no longer the temptation to do some engine work.

First job, finish off the drilling and tapping of the holes on the underside of 4-5-6 cylinder heads. A gentle test of arm strength, and all was good, working very slowly in a considered manner.

[Sidenote] My arm had been healing really well for the last 3wks, and a consultation with the fracture doctor the day before had been very positive, even going so far as to say that I could try driving (in a safe empty car park), and if in full control, then I could drive on the roads again. His parting words were that unless I fell on it again, I won't displace the fracture at this point in the mending process.....(you know what's coming next, eh?) [/sidenote]

Cylinder heads finished, no problem at all, very pleased. Basically a repeat of the 1-2-3 procedure from a few weeks ago. Another job off the list.

While the heads are broken down, now was the time to perform my cylinder head volume measurements. I had a piece of thick perspex from years ago, doing the original CR checks, but it was a square piece made in a rush and needed rounding off. So I moved my belt sander outside and set up on the workbench (messy job, sunny day) and carefully sanded the Perspex into a circular disc that matched inside diameter of the cylinder head. This was working brilliantly, I just needed to drill another hole to let the air escape from the chamber whilst I was filling it with water.

As you can see below I set up a rig to hold my new burette and had two attempts to fill the cylinder head chamber. The calculated volume this time was 87.7cc versus the calculation I did a few years ago using a stacked flame ring which gave me a volume of 90 cc. The G-clamp is just nipped up enough to seal the perspex to the head (with a layer of grease),not tightened enough to deflect the sheet concave, and alter results....in fact, fill #2 I did it without the cramp, so I could position the head with the air pocket uppermost.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0696.jpg

So everything is going very well but it was time to pack up the tools outside. I went to carry the belt sander indoors, which was fine until I got within a foot of the workbench, at which point I must have twisted my left wrist in a way that it wasn’t supposed to go and the next thing I knew I was in excruciating pain. The sensation was very much like a dislocation combined with the trapped nerve sensation you feel when you’re back "goes". Apart from anything else it was actually quite scary and for 30 minutes I could barely move. I was quickly turning the air blue with some robust Anglo Saxon, turning a not-so-great shade of red and foaming like a rabid dog. Long story short, and after nine hours in our local hospital A&E department, a before-and-after x-ray showed that I had snapped off the top of my radius bone (the radial tip, which was previously "only" fractured), see the photo below.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0698.jpg
(in the LH pic, the shadow at the radius of the bone was the original fracture, which I can't help feeling doesn't show the full extent of that first break. Spot the difference to the RH pic)

Without a word of a lie it was an order of magnitude more painful then when I originally broke my elbow! I’m currently waiting until Tuesday afternoon when I see a specialist who focuses on elbows and shoulder injuries (not the same guy as last week! So much for his confidence in its strength), and it will be decided whether I need to have an operation to pin that bone back into place. Until then it’s a case of taking a concoction of painkilling tablets. That’ll teach me!

I don’t think I’ll be able to do any more work for at least six weeks and at this point I ought not to be too adventurous. My arm really is now permanently in a sling, I dare not take it out. Arse.

I hate this update.
Worst episode ever!
When can we expect to return to our regular programming, i.e. reviews of trick little machined bits and forward progress?

(Post *complete* healing)

Yeah, I really don't know mate...I think the reality is that any plan to get the car roadworthy this year have just evaporated unfortunately. :(

Thinking back to when Lucy had to have her elbow pinned (this really isn't a weird family ritual...promise), she was in a cast for over 6wks, an operation before and after, then very light duties until the incision heals...call it 2-2.5 months. That takes me up to early/mid November. Yup, 2018 it is...