Building a new motor

Progress report, June 6, 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Well, I have not had much time to post here lately, but wanted to give a update on Drew's motor. The block has been cleaned and bored .040" over. The line bore was right on the money, so that did not have to be done; the crankshaft was pretty nice as well -- after I magnafluxed it and straight checket it for run out I then polished it. It turned out great and was able to stay standard. The crankshaft was then balanced: from the factory it was 1.5 grams out on the front, and 4.4 grams out on the back. Now it .6 grams on the front, and .5 grams on the rear.

One of the connecting rods having it's big end weight checked

The connecting rods were then cleaned, bead blasted, and parting line cut on the Sunnen cap grinder. The new ARP rod bolts installed, then the big end sizes to my spec. The rods were balanced: from the factory the rods were out about 4 grams top and bottom, now the rods are all with +/- 1 grams, top, bottom and total weight. The entire rotating asembly is blue printed from one end to the other, and the rod and main clearences are set on .0015". The piston to clyinder wall clearence is .0025".

Balanced parts

The AE21253 piston were good as far as balance right out of the box, all within 1 gram of each other; the pin bore as for clearence were all good as well. The next thing I'll do is check the gaps on the ring and adjust them as needed, then get the piston pressed on the rods. Here's some pics of Drew's motor in progress.

Engine block, painted and ready

A little more about the recipe for this engine. I'm using AE 21253 pistons instead of the AE21251 piston, because the AE21253 has a higher compression height and with a skim just on the head I can get to right under 10.0 to 1 on compression ratio. I'm using APT VP276 cam which is pretty much the same as the Kent MD276. I'm using APT CF-04 chilled iron lifters as well.

The cam David Anton ground for me is done off a late model Mini slot drive oil pump core (of course we're using the later slot drive oil pump as well), then it's Ion nitrited after grinding so the lifter and cam are both around 57-60 Rockwell C hardness range right where you want to be. We'll be timing the cam with a Rollmaster adjustable vernier cam gear set. I'll be advancing the VP276 cam a few degrees to give Drew plenty of grunt. The head will be fully ported and polished. All ARP hardware thru out, everything balanced. This formula ought to net Drew a honest 100 hp.

Progress report, July 3 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Ok the last time I posted, I was ready to start assembly. Pistons, crankshaft, camshaft, oil pump front engine plate, vernier timing gear is installed and the cam is degreed. Other than a new cam thrust plate being too thick, all went pretty smooth. Next step will be to test fit and mod the timing cover so Drew can time the engine from the top like God intended, and fit his new Romac harmonic balancer. I hope to finish the bottom end up next week; I lost a week going to MG2008, but what a way to lose a week! Here's some eye candy.

Degreeing the cam

This is a Austraila made rollmaster vernier timing gear set; I like them a little better than the Kents. Both are very good units, but the Rollmster comes with JWIS timing chain and that's like a $40 timing chain, so that's a very nice touch.

Timing gear set

Here's a shot from the top side, I used AE 21253 pistons which are alot like the AE 21251 except they are built stronger in the oil control ring land area -- just some drillings rather than huge slots and tear drops so a much sturdier piston. The 21253 also has a higher compression height; they claim 9.75 to one with a virgin deck and cylinder head, and they mostly get close to this. I've used these pistons many times. I'll deck Drew's head whatever we need to get right at 10.0 to 1 on compression ratio. Drew's block deck will remain virgin as it was straight edge checked and is good as is.

Block with piston

Here's a shot from the bottom side. Rod and main journal are set at .0015", King tri-metal bearings, ARP rod bolts, the connecting rod's big ends were sized by me. I also balanced the rods top and bottom to within 1 gram; the crank is balanced to within 1 gram front and rear. The cam was really nice so it remained standard; the clearances were spot on with the mains. Of course I controlled the rod's clearance when sizing the rods. I magnafluxed, straight checked, and polished the crank. That's a APT VP276 cam with APT CF-04 chilled iron lifters -- the cam is slot drive as well is the oil pump. Both the cam and lifter are hardened and spec out from 57-60 Rockwell C.

Bottom end

Progress report, July 9 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Ok, a little more progress on Drew's motor. I modified the timing cover so you have a nice sturdy timing pointer on the top side, so none of that "jack the car up and get under it to set the timing" nonsense. Back engine plate is on as well. That's a Romac harmonic balancer in case any of you are wondering; a very nice piece, so much better quailty than the factory pot metal one, and nicely degreed too. The botoom end is all but done aside putting the pan on it and a few minor touches so now off to make some magic with the head now. Nothing like port and polish work in July in a hot shop, yehaw!

Block's getting closer!

A proper timing pointer

Progress report, July 31 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Wow, I swear after last year being mostly pretty stock w/ a cam engines, and a few race motors, I forgot how dang long it takes to build a totally tweaked ported head street motor -- about as much work as full blown race engine. But Drew's jouney is almost over; I worked on and off for 7 days just porting his head and tricking out his bronze guides. Now his head is gone off for hardend exhaust seats and I should get it back tommorow or Friday. Then I'll have to do a little bowl blending on the seats, paint the head, then assemble it. The bottom end is finshed outside a few exterior bolt ons.

I got to address the rocker arm assembly; I'm thinking a new shaft is all that is needed there. So hopefully next week Drew's engine will be done and getting bolted down to a pallet and readied for shipment to him. I move a little slower in the summer due to the heat in the shop, near a 100 for 8-10 stints takes it toll on you, but bottom line this is a very detailed engine with all the TLC I would give a race motor. Time consuming is the key word here, but the payoff for Drew should be well worth it.

Progress report, August 6 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

I just finished rebuilding Drew's rocker arm assembly. Now this wasn't too bad of a job; he didn't need his rocker arm rebushed as the bushing were in good shape. The shaft did show some wear and that was the reason for the rebuild. I've done this job many times and thought I would share this with the group for those who have not done this job.

Since we didn't have to rebush the rocker arm we'll call this a minor rebuild. First off you need to remove the cotter pin on one side of the assembly. Now the stock assemblies are spring loaded so keep some load on the assembly with your hand until you get a few pieces off. I like to take every piece off and line it up on the work bench in the same order as it came off the shaft. Besides there being just the order of rocker arms, pedestals, and springs, you'll also have shims and end washers on the assmebly. Keeping them in the order they came off is important. Also the order of the rocker arms are important; if you look closely at A-series rocker arm (these were the stamped Vandervell 1275 units on this engine) the rocker arms on the base where the shaft passes through the rocker arms are offset, so call them lefts and rights if you will. If you jumble the order of the arms up you can take a couple hour job and turn it into an all day job trying to get everything back in the correct order. Now since everything in Drew's engine is new and real pretty, it be a shame to put oil stained rocker arms and pedestals back on a new shaft so every piece being re-used on this assembly was degreased in solvent, then blown dry, then bead blasted, then cleaned again in solvent. If you have a bead blaster, expect to make many trips back and forth from the work bench as you need to only carry a piece or two at a time so you keep the order correct.

Now once everything is blasted and clean you can start to assemble. Remember to clean your new shaft in solvent as it will be coated with a light grease to keep it from rusting on the shelf. Also after cleaning you will need to lube it; I use the same assembly lube I use in the motor, CRC Moly Assembly lube, good stuff you can get it NAPA stores. For starters just assmebly all the pieces on the shaft as you took them off, including using the shims in the same places. Now one of the pedestals will have a set screww in it, and on the shaft there will be a hole for the set screw to go into. This is what locks the shaft down. The shaft stays constant and only the rocker arms pivot. Now you would think it would all go back together the way it came apart, and if you're in luck maybe it will, but most times it will not. Anytime a new shaft is introduced to the assembly the set screw hole could be off from one to the next by a little bit. You could blame this on third world parts I guess, but I've seen the same thing on OEM shafts.

With the original shims in their original locations put the assembly on the head and check and see where your roacker arms line up on your valve tips. You'd like for them to be dead center, but it won't always work out that way. As long as the tip pad on the rocker is completely over the valve tip you will be good. Also check for side to side play on the rocker arms; this comes into play more on the two end ones because the rest are spring loaded. You may find that in some place an extra shim or even removing a shim helps with alignment. While excessive side play is something on the two end rockers you would like to avoid, you don't want them so tight that the rocker does not pivot freely so a tad bit of side play is a lot better than it being shimmed so tightly it almost locks the rocker arm down. Once you get the alignment and side play as good as it can get you're done. Fully expect to take it on and off the head a couple of times to get it all right; it took 3 attempts to get Drew's rocker arm assmebly the best I thought it could be.

Ok I didn't address bushing rocker arms; you can buy replacement bushing for your rocker arm. Now this a job that is too much for most home builders because you will need to press out the old bushing and press in the new bushing, and on some rocker bushing re-drill oil holes. You will then have to size the freshly rebushed rocker arm to the new shaft. This can be done a coupple of ways, either by reaming them to the correct size or honing them. I do my rocker arm bushings on my Sunnen hone, the same machine you use to resize your connecting rods. Bottom line for most folks it's lot easier to buy rebushed rocker arms from a vendor with a new shaft. These normally come already fitted to the shaft but don't assume this, be sure to ask. Some vendors will want your old rocker arms as cores, some will not.

Anyway, this is a job that not too tough, well as far as what I did today, in replacing the roacker arm shaft. I thought it may be useful info to some of you. If any of you take this job on, hopefully this post up will help you.

I do have a picture of Drew's rebuilt rocker arm assembly but unfortunately the camera battery decided to die, so maybe I can post the picture in a day or two.

The next bit comes from a later post.

Drew yes, your donor engine ended up being a very nice core to work with. Other than adjusting the valves, the basic assembly is done. It will probably take a day or two to finish the detail on a few exterior bolt on parts, but she pretty much done. I think it may be the prettiest engine I've ever built. I've got to call Moss today and see about a new oil fill cap and a Austin sticker for the valve cover; the idea is for folks to look in your engine bay of your Bugeye and have it take them a few second to realize that actually a monster resides there instead of a 948. We'll call it a stealth engine :-)

Progress report, August 14 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

I'm sure a few of you will notice the lack of freeze plugs, the side mount stand kinda gets in the way of that -- I normally put those in after it comes off the stand. Oh and stating that gave a chance to snaeak another pic in.

Here's a run down of what Drews engine is. The whole idea is to give Drew a torque monster, well compared to the 948 he was accustom to, something that will get him up those mountains he like to go riding in.

Ported, polished head with new hardened exhaust seats and reworked bronze guides for the ported heads. New springs were used as well. Drew's valves were in nice shape so we reusued them.

9.78 to 1 compression; Drew was alittle concerned about pushing it to 10.0 to 1 so we used the AE 21253 piston which have a higher compression height, then all we had to do to the head, deck wise, was a skim cut. I used the APT VP276 cam, and APT chilled iron lifters. The VP276 is a nice lift increase but still a good torquey cam that will idle nice for Drew. ARP hardware was used throughout: head studs, rods bolts and flywheel bolts. Everything is balanced and blueprinted. Tri-metal bearing, Rollmaster vernier timing gear set, Romac harmonic balancer, Payen gaskets, all new grade 8 hardware used where ARP is not used.

Overall this motor theme is to be real torquey and pull the mountains good. This motor should pull like a little tractor from 3 to 5K RPM and still be capable of running up to 6K without a wimper. It cosmeticly is intended to look like a sleeper, not that we will fool anyone with a 1275 and HS2 carbs in Buyeye, but the plan is to make it look like it belongs under the bonnet of a Bugeye.

In response to a question about the flywheel:

Yep, we didn't go the aluminum flywheel route, or even the lighten flywheel route as they rev up fine they way they are. Like I stated before it's all about torque. Drew can add a aluminum flywheel to it if he likes, Britsh Parts Northwest has really good pricing on them, but all it does it make the engine a little more revvy. The goal here is to get Drew to the top of those mountains where his tired 948 struggled. This engine will seem like a tractor compared to what Drew was used to.

Progress report, August 19 2008

This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Well Drew's engine is Utah bound!!!!! I make a rigid mount for the engine that holds them rigidly upright and bolts to the pallet, then I cocoon them in shipping plastic wrap.

Handed over to the Fed Ex freight guy

Progress report, August 21 2008

Went down to the FedEx terminal after work and picked up my new motor! Made good use of the borrowed trailer and my engine hoist, got everything safely stored in the garage. It will have to sit for a while until I get the rest of the car in order. The engine looks absolutely fantastic. If it runs even close to how it looks, it's going to be fantastic.

Everything arrived safe and sound -- Hap really knows how to simply and safely ship a motor.

The following is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Yeah, Fed Ex called me yesterday, the fork lift guy jotted your number down wrong and they called to get your correct number from me. I asked them was it there already, and they said yeah, told me it would be 5 service days -- considering I dropped it Monday at 7:30pm, and you got it there Thursday morning, I'm impressed.

As for the the bracketry I make to bolt the engine to the pallet you could very easily cut the excess off from the sides that run out to the end of the pallet and weld them along the sides to turn it into a engine stand. Get some castors for it and you can make it where it can roll.

Drew, glad it is back home, thank you for the opportunity to build it for you, I hope it brings you many miles of pleasure.

This next bit is in response to a question on what color I'll be painting the transmission.

If the natural look on the tranny is what you're shooting for, and it won't clean up, often time the cases becomes quite stained and won't clean up. After you have taken the time to degrease the case, you can use Dupli Color cast coat aluminum hi heat engine paint, it looks exactly like fresh cast aluminum; I use it on tranny cases and intake manifolds and it looks awesome. It's the same color as is on the pulley on the engine and few of the small bolt on pieces.

Drew, those pulley bolts are just good and snug, as I knew you were going to switch to the early single groove water pump pulley. I'll send your oil filter set up with your carbs in a few weeks.

Progress report, August 22 2008

A few final notes from Hap on storing the engine for the winter. It won't be going back into the car until Spring, and I don't want to damage it in the mean time. This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Yeah I'd bag it, or cover it with a sheet or blanket anyway, just to keep the dust off it. There are really no bare metal bits on it from the exterior; either it's painted, aluminum, or plated fastners. Just don't anywhere that big salty lake you guys got out there :-) . I would recommend you turn it over by hand every once in a while, and maybe a squirt of WD40 in the spark plug hole, then put the spark plug back in. Make sure you turn it about once a month or so. It's pretty sealed up, but I saw a guy one time let a new motor sieze up sitting in garage. Now he probably had no plugs in it, but I couldn't get those rings off the pistons -- they rust welded to the pistons.

A few final comments from Hap, December 10, 2008

I was inspired to do my build by Ray, another BCF member. His motor build went a bit farther than mine, but was fundamentally similar. Hap had these final words for us after finishing Ray's motor. This is taken from a post by Hap on the British Car Forum

Oh I want to take a moment to talk about Drew and Ray as customers, these are two great guys, they were both passionate about what they wanted, great to deal with, and two guys who love these little cars and this hobby which always makes my job easier. The thing about this business is that you start off with customers and end up with friends. I want to let them both to know that I am honored for the priviledge to built their engines. Running your own one man business can sometimes be a drag; yesterday, for example, I spent all day long doing books and paying bills, today I need to replace a hot water heater (we'll see if that happens :)) but projects like Drew and Ray's are what makes doing this worthwhile and fun. Thanks guys, I hope they run forever for you.