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

After 4-5 years of planning, picking others brains, buying parts and building a shop, my 3.3SS engine build is finally underway! I spent a couple of hours this afternoon disconnecting the shift coupler and removing "stuff" that won't be going back on the new engine like the heater blower motor, the distributor and plug wires and the MSD ignition box. Also pulled off the a/c compressor, but it will be put back on the new engine.

Interior with passenger seat removed to access the shift coupler
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367453779.jpg

Engine compartment with bits removed
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367453864.jpg

The new engine will use LN Engineering slip fit 100mm cylinders, Mahle 10.1:1 pistons,
964 cams, a very nice set of ported (slightly) Carrera twin plug heads that were refreshed by Xtreme Cylinder Heads in Florida and a direct fire iginition system. The pistons will connect up to a reconditioned set of rods done by Ollie's. For now, at least, the exhaust will be via SSIs and a two in/one out muffler. The intake chores will be handled by a large port CIS system. Of course the Dilivar studs will be replaced as will the old fiberglass top engine shroud.

I hope to have the engine out in the next couple of days which is when the real fun begins! Armed with Wayne's engine book and a potload of measuring tools, etc I have high hopes that this will be a fun learning experience and will result in a great street engine.

Day two............
 

Spent about two hours today putting the car up on jackstands and continuing to disconnect bits and pieces. Got everything in the engine compartment done except for the ground strap that goes from the block to the firewall. Underneath, disconnected the throttle and starter wires and removed the clutch operating levers. Will drain the oil and disconnect the oil lines over the weekend. Still have some misc wires, etc to remove. I have decided to do this in a civilized manner, work for a couple of hours and then let the body rest! Should have the engine and transaxle out in another hour or two.

Day Three.....
 

A couple more hours and the engine/transaxle are out of the car! The tranny separated from the engine without any trauma. After pulling the drivetrain, I found these things. First, the starter was not seated correctly and the top nut was loose, the backup light switch was damaged and I found one of the driveshaft bolts on the tranny end was loose. I had the syncros in the gearbox replaced about 4 years ago by a shop in the Atlanta area. The first time around, I did the R&R and the shop replace the gearbox parts. When I installed the "rebuilt" gearbox, I could not get it to go into 1st or 2nd gear. The shop agreed to redo the gearbox and to do the second R&R at their expense. They did the work, straightened out the gearbox issues and reassembled the car. I have not had any reason to go back into the drivetrain since then so I am glad that I finally pulled it back apart now. Some pictures.

The starter w/loose nut.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367606154.jpg

The broken backup light switch.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367606215.jpg

I apologize for the blurry cell phone pictures. Don't know why they turned out like that!

The next step will be to pressure wash the engine and transaxle, put the engine on the stand and start the teardown. More to come in a day or two!


This is why I don't like to let others work on my cars!

The engine out on it's jack.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367606309.jpg

Any shots of the shop/car? Sounds like a lot of planning and effort up front here- best of luck to you.

Shop and Car...........
 

Andrew, per your request, here are some pictures of the car (1980 SC) and the shop.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367616969.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367617034.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1367617111.jpg

Is it 8x16 (951) and 9x16 wheels you have ? Nice car !

The wheels are 7x16 front and 8x16 rear.

Engine teardown..........
 

Just got far enough into the engine to now know that my existing cams use the old style large nut. The new 964 cams require the small bolt and associated washer. Are there any other parts that will need to be changed to go to the newer cams? Also, any good ways to check/measure the cam gears for wear?

Thanks!

The new bolts and washers are all you need; they are otherwise completely interchangable.

regards,
Phil

Right side almost done.............
 

Got most of the right side of the engine removed. Down to the cylinders/pistons. The left side will (hopefully) come off tomorrow. Sometime in this car's past, it appears to have been torn down on the right side to replace a stud. When the unknown mechanic put it back together he failed to put the rocker shafts back in correctly which made for a bit of extra work taking it apart. Also, the head barrel nuts were somewhat rusted to the studs, coming loose with a noticible "Pop" sound. I've got the left side soaking in penetrating oil overnight so maybe it will come apart more easily. I also found that the engine did not have two broken studs on the left side, but three! Fortunately each of the broken studs were on different cylinders. I'll post some more pictures later.

Engine rebuild ......
 

Got both sides torn down, only have the block left to split. In the process of removing the pistons and cylinders, I found a great tool for removing the piston pins. Of all things, it is a brake adjusting "spoon". It is just the right shape and size to fit in between two cylinders and press against the pin, pushing it most of the way out!

In the process of removing the rocker shafts, I discovered that whoever worked on the engine last not only put the rocker shafts back incorrectly, but also managed to damage the hex socket that the 5mm wrench fits into. With a lot of luck and some breath holding I was able to get all of the shafts out except one. Fortunately it was the front one on the left side of the engine and I was able to drill out the nut to release the tension. Some pictures.

Stalactites
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368037947.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368038293.jpg

I've got to clean up some of the already removed parts before splitting the block. Will probably be a day or two before opening it up.

More to follow!

With the broken studs, did you notice during the tear down if there has been any exhaust leakage around the heads?

I will be headed down that road fairly soon as well, so thanks for sharing!!

May I ask where you purchased the LN cylindres and Mahle pistons?

Thanks,
Ben.

Cylinder leakage..........
 

Did not notice any. Fortunately each broken stud was on a separate cylinder which helped prevent the heads from lifting. The engine did, however, develop a pretty severe oil leak at the base of one or more cylinders!

That's very interesting as I too have broken studs on my SC, my mechanic advised waiting for the tell-tale air leakage noise before tearing into the engine as well, it's now been 5 years and still going strong!
My engine leaks a bit of oil too, but they all do that.

Good luck with the rebuild!

Broken studs........
 

Just keep in mind that any head leakeage can damage the head and the cylinder! I was pretty certain that I would be replacing both so that did not particularly bother me. As it turns out, I did not see any damage to either heads or cylinders. Still, if I was going to build an engine using these parts I would have them machined to make certain that they were "ok".

You'll have to use new (or good used) rocker shaft bolts. They are M7 thread size and not something easily found via most hardware sources like industrial supply as an example. Good to hear you were able to get the last pesky one out w/out issue.

Since Ollies is doing your rods, you could have them offset bored to allow for use of Carrera compression height pistons. Carrera pistons are lighter and the rod/stroke ratio is better when the rod bushings are offset bored, allowing for a engine that spins more freely.

3.3L short stroke is a good engine. We have one in our old MotoDelta 1970 racecar and it's made a solid 248 WHP for many years with Weber carbs and Electromotive ignition.

Bits and pieces.........
 

I'll just buy a new rocker shaft to replace the damaged one. The rods were done by Ollies some time ago, already in hand! I'm using a set of Mahle 10.1:1 pistons, again, already on the shelf!

I'm excited about the possibilities of this engine. With the increased displacement, better heads, uprated cams and the XDi ignition, it should have good low and midrange torque and rev well to 7k or thereabouts.

The boss' 3.3L revs to 7500 no problem and makes good power there too. Of course it helps to have Webers, race exhaust, Web 120/104 cams.

Nonetheless you'll get a peppy engine. The 3.3L we have is similar to yours with a stock SC crank balanced, stock rods balanced w/ARP bolts, EBS valve spring kit, ported heads, JE 10.5:1 pistons and LN 100mm Nickies. Close ratio trans helps it rock & roll pretty good too.

https://vimeo.com/14703417

Block split......
 

Got the block halves separated this morning. Not too bad of a job, but it did take a few "thumps" from a dead blow hammer to get it separated. I guess the best news is that the main journals on the crank look very good. I haven't pulled the rods off yet so I don't know what the rod journals look like. Next step will be to remove the rods and mike all the journals. Some pics.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368213558.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368213586.jpg

Crank and rods......
 

Pulled the rods off the crankshaft yesterday. Did a bunch of measuring and found that the mains and rod journals appear to be in great shape with little or no wear. The only bearings that showed any wear were the thrust bearing and the intermediate shaft bearings. Will get the crank journals polished and measured at the engine shop just to be certain that standard bearings will go back into the engine.

Meanwhile, I have been cleaning the block halves, chain housings, cam housings, etc. It is going to take a while to get 33 years of grunge off of everything! Unfortunately there is no place local that can blast the parts with dry ice or anything that would not damage the sealing surfaces so this will involve lots of "elbow grease" and time.

Dilivar Stud
 

With the help of a Mapp gas torch and my left handed metric pipe wrench I managed to remove all of the Dilivar studs out of the block this afternoon, also did some more cleaning on both block halves. Another cleaning session or two and they should be ready to reassemble. Also made a thread chaser out of one of the Dilivar studs by cutting slots in the threads and then cleaning the threads of old debris. Will use this to run in and out of the threaded bores to make certain the old sealant is removed. The next step (Monday) is to take the crank to the engine shop and have it polished and checked for wear. I believe it will be ok, but "just in case"! Once it is back from the shop I will be able to order the bearing sets. Who knows, I might be ready to start reassembling the engine in a week or so! A picture of one of the broken studs.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368394575.jpg

Cleaning time
 

Still working on getting things clean. Here are before and after pictures of one side of the engine block. Still have some small spots to work on, but it's almost there. The right side of the block is in about the same condition as the after picture, just have a few small areas to work on. Once the engine cleaning is done, it's time out to clean the shop floor!

Before
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368405618.jpg

After
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368405673.jpg

Nice work Fred. I used the same dilavar chaser for mine. Also works great for chasing the case through bolt acorns clean with wd40 and then a little carb or brake clean. :) Keep it up- you're moving at a great pace (much faster than I).

Moving along...........
 

Finished cleaning the block halves, the chain housings and the cam housings today. Installed the new lower head studs using "red" thread locker. Also (finally) got my pressure washer started and gave the tranny a good bath! Jobs for tomorrow include cleaning the SSI exhaust headers of grunge from the oil leak, installing the rings on the pistons and (maybe) installing the Mahle pistons into the LN cylinders. Also need to do some light cleaning on the crankshaft. If time permits, I might even put the black wrinkle finish on the cam covers! Still trying to decide what color to paint the fiberglass engine shroud. Don't particularly like the red, might use a bright yellow which would match the seat belts and door pulls. Also need to find time to start installing the XDi ignition system. Hmmm, looks like the rest of the week will be a busy one!

One more cleaning chore done.......
 

Got the SSI exhausts cleaned up this morning. They had gotten very oily/dirty from the oil leaks. Took me about 3 hours to clean both sides. While I had them on the work bench (after cleaning) I did a test fit on the Carrera heads. Discovered that I will have to replace the exhaust studs in the heads to accommodate the thick flanges on the SSI exhausts. Some pictures.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368557702.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368557800.jpg

Wow Fred, those SSIs look like new. Could you expand on the cleaning process and the chemicals used ?

Dish pan hands.............
 

I used some POR15 marine parts cleaner, a can or two of brake cleaner, a couple of wire brushes, a water hose and about 4 hours of labor! Some of the grunge on the SSIs was baked on so hard that I had to use a small screwdriver as a scraper to break it loose. At least it was fairly cool and most of the time I was working in the shade just outside my shop. The nice thing about the POR15 Marine cleaner is that it is water soluble and biodegradable. I use it in my parts washer as well.

Todays progress..........
 

First thing this morning I worked on the heads a bit. The exhaust studs were too short to work with the thick flange SSI exhausts that I have so I had to remove the existing studs and replace them with longer ones. Must have had a Leprechaun or two in my pocket as all of them came out without too much trouble. Replaced them with some 8nn x 50mm studs. Was really glad to get that done without breaking any! Next I started working on putting a black wrinkle finish on the rocker covers. They turned out pretty good but need to dry overnight before I buff off the "Porsche" letters on the uppers and the ribs on the lowers. Pictures tomorrow when they are done! I also finished putting the rings on the pistons, installed one wrist pin circlip in each piston (what a pain!) and installed the pistons in the LN Engineering cylinders. Oh, yes, I also swept out the shop in preparation for a floor mopping tomorrow! Tearing down a dirty engine REALLY makes a mess! Received a parts order from PP late this afternoon, so now I have main and rod bearings, new head nuts and washers and some other bits needed for the new engine. Thanks PP for the fast delivery, ordered on Monday, received on Wednesday! Here are a couple of pictures.

Cylinder head with new exhaust studs!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368647565.jpg

Another view showing the combustion chamber and the threaded holes for the twin plugs!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368647609.jpg

Nice fat intake port!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368647685.jpg

Mahle 10;1:1 piston in LN Engineering cylinder
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368647762.jpg

Another view of piston and cylinder
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368647847.jpg

Thursday..............
 

Finished painting and highlighting the rocker covers. Detail cleaned the crankshaft and a couple of other small parts that were still dirty. Painted the engine shroud and made a set of hold-downs for the cylinders. I also did a trial fit of the cylinders/pistons and marked them for location. Also did a trial fit of one cylinder head while I was at it! Boxed up and stored some parts that will not be reused. Tomorrow will do the final cleaning on the block and start putting it back together.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368740472.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368740564.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368740646.jpg

Wow! Thanks for sharing.

Ben.

What type of paint did you use on the valve covers? I was going to have mine powder coated, but what you did looks good.

Looks great Fred. Moving right along.

Don't forget to notch the chain box for the lower spark plugs- note how the lower valve cover only has a half-circle. The other half of the circle is made by opening the "blank" on the chain box.

Rocker cover paint
 

I used the VHT brand "wrinkle" finish black paint. If you can warm up the parts before painting you will get a more pronounced "wrinkle" effect. The best way to warm the parts is to stick them in the oven at a low temp for a few minutes. Of course, it is best to do so when the wife is away! Good luck on your project!

Lower Plugs
 

Thanks, I had not thought about that! Good tip!

Moving along
 

Spent most of the day cleaning parts, sorting out stuff that won't be reused and cleaning gasket surfaces. Finally, late this after noon I got the new main bearings installed and the oil pump/timing gears and chains installed. I put the rebuilt/balanced rods on the crankshaft last night after giving the crank one last cleaning so it will be ready to go into the block tomorrow. Then come the fun of putting the sealant on the block halves and getting it bolted together in a timely manner! Some pictures.

The old Dilivar studs. Notice the one new coated stud. It came out of the right side of
the engine.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368836652.jpg

Crankshaft and rods waiting to go into the block
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368836735.jpg

Block half on engine stand w/oil pump assembly.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368836780.jpg

Top half w/bearings installed
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368836997.jpg

Block assembly
 

Put the crank and rods back in the block, put sealer on, added the 3 oil passage seals and put the block back together. I discovered that I was missing one of the special washers for the thru-block bolts but used a regular washer temporarily to torque the bolts. Will order the special washer along with a couple other items on Monday. When the block bolts were tightened, some of the Loctite sealer "squished" out around all the edges so hopefully there won't be any oil leaks (fingers crossed!). Put the breather cover, oil thermostat, oil pressure sender and the two oil relief valves back on. Some pictures. Next step is to install cylinder #1 and check the deck height. Once deck height is settled, will add a head and verify piston to head clearance. Since these pistons are only 10.1:1 with a relatively low dome, I don't expect any problems with the piston to head clearances but will verify anyway!

Right side of block. Wires hold up the rods so they won't bang on the spigots.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368966552.jpg

Left side of block
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368966643.jpg

Will fit #1 piston and cylinder next to determine deck height.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1368966736.jpg

Monday's progress............
 

Let's see, installed the rear main seal, flywheel and XDi front pulley/sensor wheel. Also installed all of the piston/cylinder sets......except for one (1) wrist pin circlip that decided it would rather deform than go into place! So, a call Don at EBS to get a couple more of the 23mm clips on the way. Put the cylinder heads into place mainly to keep trash out of the cylinders. Not torqued, just "in place". What do you know....... starting to look like an engine!

If you are reading this thread, I am sure that you also read Henry's thread about the 3.1SS engine built for a customer overseas. Well, I liked the looks of his air diverter pieces so much that I ordered a set from him. Got notice that they were shipped this morning. The old set that was on my engine was in pretty sad shape, peeling paint, rust, etc. so it wasn't too hard to justify getting these parts. So, it looks like I get a couple of days off until the piston circlips and the engine pieces arrive. Probably should start looking at how I'm going to mount the coil units for the XDi system. Also need to do a little porting on the intake runners that match the air box to the heads. The runners are 38mm inside diameter and the head ports are 42mm. So, they will need to be opened up about 2mm all the way around! Where's the Dremel?

XDi will take some work with your CIS in terms of spark plug wire routing and the wire lengths.

The DFU (coil board/Direct Fire Unit) platform that Clewett makes is very nice when you've got carbs or throttle bodies, which allows the area between the throttles to be very open. Platform mounts on standoffs that screw into the engine case breather cover studs.