Exhaust Manifold Clearance

Engine is now back in, re-wrapped the exhaust manifold and trial fitted it, with so much material removed from the block and the head - close to 1/4" - I had to create some clearance around the turret. This has always been close so out came the grinder - I could have raised the engine but its pretty tight at the top end between injectors and the bonnet.

Also had to put a bit of a flat on No. 1 primary so that it didn't foul the mounting boss on the block.

Spindles and butterfly's fitted, need to get hold of a couple of cap head bolts for the awkward manifold fixings

Should hopefully be running this week if I get some time down the garage.........

Engine Complete

My replacement cam arrived last week so I was able to finish off the rebuild on Saturday afternoon. I opted for a Newman PH3 300 degree duration cam, this had to be timed to achieve full inlet valve lift at 110 degrees after TDC. I initially set this up without the head fitted then rechecked when it was all assembled.

The rest of what can easily be fitted was bolted on ready for installation. Another mod that I have recently been looking into along with some friends was to add a supplementary oil supply to the main gallery at the front of the block - the idea being that it maintains equal oil pressure to all the main bearings. This is nothing new - we were just looking at a quick and easy way to try it. I wasn't going to fit it to my engine initially but following what we suspect to be front bearing failure (due to lack of oil pressure) on a friends car at the Silverstone trackday, I thought I might as well.

It's basically a feed from the oil filter housing directly to the front of the main oil gallery, It will be very difficult to establish if it makes any improvement but it should not have any detrimental effect, in theory it should help maintain an equal pressure along the gallery.

Next job was to get the engine back in, as the gearbox and bonnet are still fitted, I thought I would treat myself to an engine load leveller to aid re-fitting the engine - set off down to machine mart at 4:30 yesterday only to find they had sold the one they had that morning - sods law - not to worry, I have now ordered one off the Internet that should be here Tuesday (cheaper as well).

I will fit the front pulley when the engine is back in, I currently have it at work as I am using it to make a boss to hold a 36-1 trigger wheel for a friends EFi conversion. Next job is to start putting the throttle bodies back together, these were stripped so that they could be ported and matched to the heads, i was thinking about making some new spindles and fitting sealing bushes but this can wait as I need to get the car mot'd at the start of April.

Engine Stand

Following on from a question about my engine stand (another ebay bargain), here are a few pictures. I couldn't find a way of using the original brackets that came with the stand, they really needed to be mounted to the engine backplate - this doesn't help when you are trying to strip and rebuild an engine.

I have used the off side engine mounting bracket on the block with an additional 10mm steel plate, I offset the plate so that the centre of the stand is roughly in line with the middle of the block, this makes it very easy to rotate the block.

When fitting the engine to the stand, I found it easier to remove the rotating part of the stand along with the metal plate and fit this to the engine while it was being supported on the hoist, it was then just a case of lining the stand up with the mounting bracket spigot.

I did have concerns about the strength of the block casting, I initially trialled the brackets using a complete scrap 2500 engine with as much weight bolted to it as I could find, it all seemed to work ok but does become slightly more difficult to turn with a complete engine.

Other Stuff / Cooling

Well the cam didn't arrive so it was time to get on with a couple of other jobs, had an oil leak from the diff pinion seal so decided now was a good time to get that sorted. The diff was another ebay bargain, a Spitfire 3.89 picked up locally for £25 - should have really changed the seal before putting it in, I was more interested to see if it was a better ratio than the 3.63 that I had originally fitted. Removed the prop to make the job easier, this will also help when I refit the engine - should give me a bit of room to pull the gearbox back.

Thought I'd also record what I had previously done on the cooling system, my original radiator started leaking so I looked at what else could be fitted, its all quite tight but I eventually ended up using a Golf Mk II radiator, cost me £50 (new) with the fan temp switch (alloy matrix with plastic end tanks). It has four bosses on the front so I made up a frame which lined up with these and the original rad mounts on the chassis. The frame was also later used to mount the cooling fan and rad cowl.

Found this to be a good site for comparing rad sizes / outlet positions etc. etc. http://www.nissens.dk/uk/index.htm

I was already using an EWP (Electric Water Pump) so it was just a case of re-routing the bottom hose and turning the pump around. On the top hose I used a couple of 90 degree bends and some alloy tubing.

There is also an air bleed from the top of the rad, I routed this back to a custom made header tank mounted on the bulkhead - think this cost me about £40 of ebay.

The whole set up seemed to work ok last summer, the only mod was to add a resistor to the EWP controller to make it cut in at a lower engine temperature. I tested the system by giving the car a good blast down the motorway on one of our "hot summer days" and then parked it in the garage and left it idling for 30 minutes, between the pump and the fan the temperature was controlled at around 95 degrees. Under normal conditions it runs at around 85 to 90 degrees.

I may play around with the fan position to see if it makes any difference with the fan behind the radiator but to be honest it works ok at the moment and it is quite nice to have it all hidden away at the front.

One other point to make is that it is all quite tight to the bonnet line so if you are thinking of a similar conversion, you may need to adjust your bonnet to gain clearance.

Next job is to sort out a cold air intake, not sure if I'm going to stick with the standard plenum or go for filters fixed directly to the throttle bodies, this is something I will play around with if I get it on a rolling road later in the year.

Slow Going........

Been a slow couple of weeks, piston and rods are now in place, these weight in at around 40 grams per cylinder lighter compared to standard rod and dome top piston.


Unfortunately I had to return the new camshaft, just waiting for a replacement to arrive and that will be the bottom end complete. Spent a couple of evenings this week cleaning up the head.
New valves, double springs and alloy spacers now installed

Head was ported and polished by a friend of mine, unleaded exhaust inserts fitted, new guides and inlet manifolds pinned and ported to match the head, looks great, the photo's don't really do it justice.

Hopefully the cam may arrive in the morning and I can finish the build.....................