3.3SS rebuild finally underway..........

[fred cook]

Spent most of the day today working on the CIS system for this engine. Some time ago, I had acquired an early, large port air box and runners for this project. I removed the fuel distributor, throttle body, cold start valve, frequency valve, WUR, AAR, etc. from the small port air box and moved everything to the large port box. In the process, a good bit of "stuff" got removed from the system. Now, I've got some vacuum ports to plug and some new vacuum hoses to run to connect up what's left. Hopefully, this will eliminate a handful of potential vacuum leak locations as well as making it easier to work on once installed in the car. One thing that I have not done yet is to make the WUR adjustable. Will try running with the WUR as is and work on that later if necessary. With the extra air flow, the system might need to be richened up a bit on the top end. Don't want to burn a valve or overheat the engine now!

[fred cook]

Had to take the day off for a trip to Marietta (just north of Atlanta). While there I picked up a fuel distributor gasket, plug wire separators, plug wire numbering clip-ons and a couple of tools. Will be back in the saddle tomorrow!

[fred cook]

Spent some time this morning working on the SSI exhausts that are going on this engine. The Carrera head exhaust ports are larger than those on the SC heads so I decided to flare the inlet tubes on the headers that project up into the exhaust ports. The diameter that they were would have caught some of the exhaust gases and directed the hot gas between the head and the exhaust tube. So, by using a variety of tools, I finally managed to flare the header tubes to just fit in the larger portion of the Carrera head exhaust ports. Now (hopefully) all of the exhaust gasses will be directed down the pipe and out the muffler! Also, I finished putting all new gaskets and seals in the CIS system. All that is left to do to the CIS is to plumb up the AAR and make a small repair to the sub-harness that plugs into the throttle position switch and the safety switch.

CIS system



Last thing this evening, I bolted the right side cam housing to the heads and then installed the complete assembly on the block. Once everything was bolted and torqued down, I inserted the camshaft to check for any binding. That sucker turns slick as a whistle! Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good! I just had to stick the rocker covers on to see how they looked! I'm stalled on the other side. I need one more wrist pin circlip to complete the left side and run out to the mailbox everyday to see if it has arrived, but so far, no luck. Don't know how to act with all of the head studs in place and holding torque!!

Block assembly with heads on one side!


More to come!

[Flat6Heaven]

Fred, that's looking very nice... Great combination of black, raw aluminum and silver painted fan. I think it will look great in the black body!

How does your new tinware fit on the LN cylinders?

Would love to learn more on your "light" version of CIS... Did you follow another thread or just go about it yourself?

Thanks in advance,
Ben.

[fred cook]

Ben,

The new SuperTec tinware fits quite well. Very nicely done. The kit does not come with the retainers that run across the top of the cylinders. You have to use the original ones that were on the engine. SuperTec is having some made but they are not available yet.

Thanks for the compliments on the engine. I like the combination of black and aluminum. The engine shroud will be painted black also. Will probably use the black wrinkle paint on the timing chain covers as well.

Ah yes, the CIS system. I am pretty much stepping out on my own here. Not much info available about hot rodding the CIS system. When I get it in and running properly I will share all the details with the folks here. My main goal was to 1) simplify the system and 2) optimize it's ability to make power. I've been thinking about this for a long time (years actually) and have a couple of ideas to try.

Later,

Originally Posted by Flat6Heaven

Fred, that's looking very nice... Great combination of black, raw aluminum and silver painted fan. I think it will look great in the black body!

How does your new tinware fit on the LN cylinders?

Would love to learn more on your "light" version of CIS... Did you follow another thread or just go about it yourself?

Thanks in advance,
Ben.

[fred cook]

Spent the morning assembling the left side cylinder heads to the cam housing. Once together, did a trial fit on the engine. Cam rotates easily so I presume that the housing is mounted correctly. Had to back up a bit, I installed the right side heads and cam housing last night but forgot to install the oil return tubes! So, off with the right side heads, install tubes and reinstall/torque the right side. After lunch, I installed the right side camshaft and the rockers. No issues there. Have not adjusted the rockers yet, will wait and do that (except for cylinders 1 and 4) after setting the cam timing. Some pictures.

Supertec air control tin installed on engine


Covers on front of cam housings just to keep junk out of engine


Starting to look more like an engine!

[fred cook]

June 2nd,

Was out of town yesterday, so nothing was done on the engine build.

This afternoon, I cleaned up the oil cooler and installed it to the block. Also repainted the top shroud a gloss black. I was going to paint it a bright yellow, but decided that the black would look better. This way everything will be natural aluminum, black or cadmium plated! A couple of pics.





I also cleaned up some bags of small parts, nuts, bolts and washers that will be needed soon. Still waiting on a wrist pin circlip to show up so that I can button up the left side of the engine!

Later,

[fred cook]

Monday,

Put the right side camshaft sealing plate and associated hardware in place, checked the cam gear alignment, etc. Three shims did the trick. The 964 cams use the large washer and bolt rather than the wave washer and large nut so getting the torque to spec won't be as difficult! Spent some time cleaning parts that will be going back on the engine soon and then spent some time cleaning up the shop and putting tools away. I've been boxing up and storing bits that will not be reused on this engine so I am finally starting to see the surfaces of my workbenches again! I have been waiting on the arrival of a 23mm piston pin circlip needed to finish the left side of the engine. I finally "gave up" and ordered a set which hopefully will be here in 2-3 days. Once I get that small part, progress will speed up exponentially. Meanwhile I'll continue to do the little jobs (which have to be done anyway) and have subassemblies ready to go when needed!

Before


Now


If nothing else, the car will be pounds lighter from all the dirt and grime that has come off!

[fred cook]

Took some time today to mock up the plug wire routing for the twin plug ignition. It took a while to decide which length wire should go where, both top and bottom! With the DFUs mounted between the shock towers just ahead of the engine, the wires will have plenty of length. Once I got everything sorted out, I put clip on wire numbers on each wire to make certain they get plugged into the correct terminal. I did get some good news, the set of 23mm wrist pin circlips that I had ordered have been shipped and should be here in a couple of days!!! Some pics.





That's a bunch of wires to have to keep straight!

[Flat6Heaven]

Looking great Fred! Really nice. And I for one am duly impressed by the progress.

Found some old CIS enhancement threads and saw that you've been scratching your head over it for several years: I look forward to seeing what you end up doing!

Thanks again for sharing,
Ben.

[fred cook]

I figure that by the time I am done, I will have built this engine at least twice! Each step gets a dry run to make certain that everything fits as it should. Only then does it get bolted and torqued! The good news is that (so far) everything has worked/assembled as it should. Don't need any problems at this stage!!

Later,

Originally Posted by Flat6Heaven

Looking great Fred! Really nice. And I for one am duly impressed by the progress.

Found some old CIS enhancement threads and saw that you've been scratching your head over it for several years: I look forward to seeing what you end up doing!

Thanks again for sharing,
Ben.

[fred cook]

Spent some time this morning going thru the engine wiring loom. Cut the old wrappings off, removed the coil wires, the distributor "green" wire and the wires for the heater blower motor. Also took out the wires running to the old socket for the voltage regulator (alternator has an internal regulator). Once the un-needed bits were gone, I rewrapped the harness with a couple of layers of black electrical tape. Where the tape ended on top, I sealed that with some self-sealing, stretchable tape, the stuff that adheres to itself and has to be cut off to remove. Just one more small job that needed to be done!

Main harness


Wires that were removed (heater blower wires not shown)

[fred cook]

Finally got the wrist pin circlips that I ordered to replace the one that I damaged trying to install. So, the last circlip is now installed, the left side heads and cam housing are in place and torqued and the left cam is in. I'm working on the cam gear alignment check now but stopped to check on a question about the measuring process in Wayne's book. Got that all sorted out, so after supper I will proceed with the festivities! I made a list of things remaining to be done (about 40) so I will be able to scratch off at least a couple of them tonight. I hope to get everything ready to do the cam timing tomorrow. I believe that will be best done when as fresh as possible!

Later,

[fred cook]

Hit a roadblock last night. When I was setting up the cam gear alignment on the left side, I discovered that I have misplaced the cam gear key! Sooooo, that part of the rebuild will have to wait until the replacement part comes in from PP. Not wanting to pay $5.00 shipping on a $1.00 part, I also ordered a new clutch disc and some other bits. That way, I get the $3 air shipping! Ok, so meanwhile, I have reinstalled the SSI exhausts. This is the first time that I have put a set on an engine that was not in the car. Much easier with the engine upside down on a stand! In fact, it might be worth pulling an engine just to do this job!!! The SSIs look good, sound good, work good, etc., but it takes me a wide variety of tools to install a set and get all the fasteners properly tightened down! Here is a picture of the tools that I wound up using to bolt these puppies back on the motor.



And a picture of the engine with exhausts attached.



At least there are now 6 holes leading into the engine that are closed up!

[fred cook]

Can't do much more until the cam woodruff key comes from PP. I did take the time to cut a new hole in the left engine tin for the backdated heater hose, removed the curved tube from the front tin and made a filler piece to close up that hole. I realized that I had not bought spark plugs for the new engine, so this morning I went out and secured 12 NGK plugs. I went ahead and installed the top plugs, but will leave the bottom ones out until I time the cams and finish installing and adjusting the other rockers. This morning I discovered a small interference between some of the bottom head nuts and the sparkplug socket. So, I removed them one at a time and ground a small 45 degree bevel on the top of the nut. Not enough to weaken the head nut, but enough to allow the standard plug socket to slide by. Once done, each head nut was retorqued before the next one was removed. I went ahead and plugged the top plug wires into the DFUs and left them draped over the fender on each side. The bottom plug wires will go in with the engine.

[KTL]

Do the lower plug holes use the same size plug (14mm) as the uppers? Usual trick is to use smaller spark plugs with 12mm threads to allow better access with spark plug socket.

[fred cook]

Originally Posted by KTL

Do the lower plug holes use the same size plug (14mm) as the uppers? Usual trick is to use smaller spark plugs with 12mm threads to allow better access with spark plug socket.

Yes, both are drilled and tapped for the 14mm plugs. They were done like this when I got them. Thanks to Henry at Supertec, I now know about plugs that are 14mm but have a reduced hex size. The work that I did this morning solved the interference problems for me but might not be the solution for everyone!

[fred cook]

The care package from Pelican Parts arrived this afternoon. Included in the goodies was the camshaft woodruff key that I needed to proceed. So, with tiny little part in hand, I went to work. Got the left cam timing gear assembled and both cams timed. I am using 964 camshafts and set the timing at 1.26 with the rockers adjusted to 0.1mm clearance. It took me several tries on the left camshaft to get it right, but then the right cam just seemed to time up easily! Once both cams were timed and the bolts torqued, I went back to the left side and rechecked it. Torqueing the bolt changed the setting slightly so I made one more adjustment and re-torqued the cam bolt. This time it checked out right on the money! The right side checked out ok and did not require any more work. Once the cams were done, I installed and adjusted the rockers for cylinders #5 and #6. Installed the rocker cover gaskets, rocker covers and added all of the washers and self locking nuts. Tomorrow I will finish up the left side and then go to work on re-installing the Carrera tensioners and associated plumbing. The CIS system and the wiring harness have both been gone thru and are ready to bolt on the long block. Looks like I might be ready to take the new engine off the stand soon!

[fred cook]

Originally Posted by fred cook

Can't do much more until the cam woodruff key comes from PP. I did take the time to cut a new hole in the left engine tin for the backdated heater hose, removed the curved tube from the front tin and made a filler piece to close up that hole. I realized that I had not bought spark plugs for the new engine, so this morning I went out and secured 12 NGK plugs. I went ahead and installed the top plugs, but will leave the bottom ones out until I time the cams and finish installing and adjusting the other rockers. This morning I discovered a small interference between some of the bottom head nuts and the sparkplug socket. So, I removed them one at a time and ground a small 45 degree bevel on the top of the nut. Not enough to weaken the head nut, but enough to allow the standard plug socket to slide by. Once done, each head nut was retorqued before the next one was removed. I went ahead and plugged the top plug wires into the DFUs and left them draped over the fender on each side. The bottom plug wires will go in with the engine.

Here are a couple of pictures of the modification that I made to the lower head stud nuts to allow clearance for a spark plug socket. These are two of the old head nuts that I used to experiment on. The engine has new head washers and hex nuts (6 of the lower ones with the bevel ground on them).

[fred cook]

Installed the tensioners and finished sealing up the front covers. Added the Carrera oil tensioner lines, etc. Now that the cams are timed, I put the fan assembly back on and tightened the holding strap. A new (to me) Carrera motor mount arrived. I had bought this piece because the a/c pulley on the XDi pulley assembly is larger than the one from the stock SC engine and the old cover would not fit over the larger pulley. So, some time was spent doing a few mods to make it fit the 3.0 block (one mounting stud is different), added a muffler support bracket, modified the SC a/c bracket to fit the new motor mount and made some changes to the front (pulley end) engine tin so that it would work with the new mount. Now that all of the changes are done and checked, it will come back off and get painted before being installed for a final time!