135 replies to this topic

[robj2502]

Cracked on again today during my lunch hour so:

 

Head fitted to block:

 

 

and then these pushrods from minispares fitted (these are the 6.35mm extra thick performance versions):

 

Then the rocker gear was fitted and all torqued down:

 

 

 

and this is where I hit a couple of snags and was the reason for getting the parts fitted - to check for this sort of thing.....

 

Engine was a little difficult to rotate at certain points and when checked the rocker arm is touching the valve spring cap:

You can just see in the picture the left hand side of the spring cap touching. Whilst this isnt the end of the world once I looked a little closer the rocker geometry is quite a way off (measured when valve is open 50% with a straight edge through the rocker shaft) and this would obviously be due to the head and block skim. I think with some spacers this should all be corrected but it all just adds up to another delay whilst waiting for parts and further cash outlay which is just a pain. 

 

Also KAD drilled the block and head for 11 stud (I hadnt even realised and not something I had asked for but appreciate its an improvement) and I purchased the 9 stud ARP set (many moons ago) so I now need to get hold of 2 further ARP studs washers and nuts which again is a right PITA!

 

Rant over......I might move onto something else for a bit in case I find something else missing or wrong and completely lose my s**t

Edited by robj2502, 31 October 2018 - 05:09 PM.

[1330RG]

I once snapped and arp head stud (yes snapped!) when torquing it down on its last stage of tightening when rebuilding my old starlet turbo forged engine and i couldnt buy another from anyone so ended up buying a whole new set for one stud (i replaced them all seeing as i had a whole new set) ? just be prepared bud. Although this is a different engine and different parts suppiers.

And yea hopefully some shims/spacers under the rocker posts will see you good.

On a side note can i have your home address, and would you mind leaving the garage open for me? Id like to come round and steal your engine as its a pritty awesome spec ?

[robj2502]

I once snapped and arp head stud (yes snapped!) when torquing it down on its last stage of tightening when rebuilding my old starlet turbo forged engine and i couldnt buy another from anyone so ended up buying a whole new set for one stud (i replaced them all seeing as i had a whole new set) just be prepared bud. Although this is a different engine and different parts suppiers.

And yea hopefully some shims/spacers under the rocker posts will see you good.

On a side note can i have your home address, and would you mind leaving the garage open for me? Id like to come round and steal your engine as its a pritty awesome spec

Wow snapping one of those you must have been going some! I have got a worrying feeling that you are correct and I would need to buy a complete set. I have found an ARP bolt that is meant for the 11 stud 1275s engine (the S block/head had a bolt rather than an 11th stud from the factory) on minspares so have purchased 2 to see if they would work (they were £3.50 each so considerably cheaper than anything else at the moment and no big deal if they dont work) being ARP they would also have the same 12point look as the other fixings. Heres hoping!

 

Lets hope so! shims should be here in the next day or 2 so should be able to confirm. I just hope I have ordered enough/the right size (I made an educated guess on what was required) although I assume I could just use multiple shims to make up the requirement.

 

Haha, yeah of course. You might want to wait until the gearbox is back and the other ancillaries are fitted though 

[Steve220]

I've either skipped it or you havent said - have you got the adjusters all the way out before you buy shims?

[1330RG]

Perfect let me know when my new engine will be ready and ill pop round and load it in the van ?

Funny thing was we just followed the torque settings arp had given us, and it wasnt the first engine id built so we knew what we where doing. My mate who was helping and works for a motorsport tuninng/mapping and noble specialist thinks it was a defect/weakness in that one bolt but arp where having non of it, we found thier customer support naff to be honest. BUT is the only issue either if us ever had with an arp bolt/stud etc.

[robj2502]

I've either skipped it or you havent said - have you got the adjusters all the way out before you buy shims?

I dont think I put that in but yes adjusters were all the way out. 

 

Perfect let me know when my new engine will be ready and ill pop round and load it in the van

Funny thing was we just followed the torque settings arp had given us, and it wasnt the first engine id built so we knew what we where doing. My mate who was helping and works for a motorsport tuninng/mapping and noble specialist thinks it was a defect/weakness in that one bolt but arp where having non of it, we found thier customer support naff to be honest. BUT is the only issue either if us ever had with an arp bolt/stud etc.

 

Sounds like a dodgy one. They are super hard otherwise which is why I was surprised that you even managed to break one. I think even my Welsh built like a gorilla work mate who is used to working on industrial plant and thinks anything smaller than an M20 size bolt is for wimps would struggle to break one.

[robj2502]

So spacers and and bolts turned up. Unfortunatly the bolts didnt work (wrong thread size) but the spacers did:

 

I ended up buying a set of the 3 different sizes available so 05,1 and 1.5mm from MED:

 

I only ended up needing the 1 and 1.5 (used together) and you can just see them fitted here:

 

This meant that the rocker no longer contacted the valve spring cap in its normal position:

It doesnt look like it in this pic but there is actually 2-3mm of clearence.

 

This also meant that the geometry was correct/significantly improved when checked at 50% lift:

as you can see eveything is pretty much in line with the centre line of the rocker shaft as it should be. Also all of the rocker adjusters are at a much more reasonable height and clearences have been set to 0.015" as per Swiftune's spec for the SW10.

 

Thinking on this it would be an easy oversight to make as had I not had any issues with the rocker arm contacting the spring cap I would have probably never checked the rocker geometry and as such might have been limiting the engine/cams performance. Some further info for those that are interested can be found here: https://www.minimani...h_rods_and_more

 

Whilst I was messing about rotating the engine I also thought I would get this fitted:

This is obviously a brand new dizzy drive and was surprisingly expensive at almost £80 but the old one I had was worn and with everything else being new it seemed silly to scrimp on this.

 

Needs to be fitted with number one at TDC and rotated in as per the manual:

 

and with it fitted:

You can see its just out of position here and was corrected after this pic and moved one tooth clockwise

 

I have also been messing around at the water pump end of the engine making sure all of the pulleys etc line up but I  dont appear to have a belt to check so need to get one on order so will hopefully have an update on this by the end of the week. Overall I am happy, or at least happier than I was last week but just hesitating on buying a new ARP 11 stud kit to sort out the 2 missing studs..... £140 for 2 studs and nuts hurts!!

Edited by robj2502, 07 November 2018 - 02:02 PM.

[robj2502]

Also in other news I have managed to get the front subframe painted:

 

 

 

Its not a perfect job but looks decent and this was never intended to be a show car. This also ticks another thing off the very very long list!

[1330RG]

Getting there ?

[robj2502]

So, I have several things going on with the car at the minute but none of them are worthy of an update on thier own. I did end up biting the bullet and ordering the 11 stud ARP kit so this turned up:

 

which meant that the rocker gasket and cover needed to be modified to clear these 2 extra studs:

 

and fitted:

 

 

As you can sort of see in the above pictures I fitted alot of the ancillery components so I could start looking at routing of some of the systems and the first  one to be  messed about with is the breather system. I think earlier in these pages I showed parts of a breather system (with the mocal oil catch tank and a different rocker cover) but hadnt really got to the stage where I had thought about any of the other parts or routing etc. So I  have been sorting this out.

 

This required fitting the major components to the back of the engine so I could check for clearences and routing. With this done 2 holes were drilled in the back of the rocker cover and 2 fittings were purchased to weld on:

 

These were then welded on:

 

And all in place showing the clearence to the carbs with the AN-8 to push fit fittings attached (I went with AN-8 fittings so that I could go to braided lines later if I wanted to but for the time being they will be standard flexible oil cooler line) :

 

the right hand one (timing end) goes down to a 1/2" conector in the old fuel pump hole (I got the one from DSN/Retrosport) which can be seen in this pic down at the bottom of the block:

the left hand one (clutch end) will go to the the catch tank which will likely be mounted to the inner wing. There is also a half inch straight connector (also from DSN/Retrosport) that goes into the top of the transfer case and will either T into the line on the left or will have its own connection on the catch tank - which ever looks the neatest!

 

And just because it looks great heres a full engine shot:

 

I am also working on the routing for the heater system (the beginnings of which can be seen in a few of the pics above) so hopefully I should have a further update on this soon along with the doors and with any luck the gearbox will be back with me as its currently out being built up. This should allow me to get the engine to a useable state.

[Jase]

Amazing work, wished I'd kept my engine stand, this make me want to spend more time detailing my engine before I pop it back in.

[1330RG]

Looking awseome as usual, love this build dude!

[robj2502]

Amazing work, wished I'd kept my engine stand, this make me want to spend more time detailing my engine before I pop it back in.

Thanks, having it on the stand certainly does make it easier. The engine detailing can make or break a project as I think the Mini engine bay can look very "busy" if ancillary bits arent routed carefully. Same goes for the wiring loom.

 

Looking awseome as usual, love this build dude!

Thankyou, wish it was moving a little faster and the updates were happening more often but trying to do up our house (doing that myself too) leaves precious little time to work on this at the moment. 

 

As usual I thought I would get some stuff done during the christmas period but the time just disapeared in a blur of family, eating and drinking! I have however, finally managed to get my gearbox sorted out (thanks very much to John at Guessworks) and I now have a fully built gearbox:

 

So that everything is in one place I will put up some pics of the parts from earlier in the thread that went into the build: 

 

COP:

 

Minispares SCCR ST gearkit, competition baulkrings and competition layshaft :

 

SC drops inc roller bearing idler:

 

MED SC 3.75 CWP:

 

A late edition was this MED helical LSD with ARP crown wheel bolts:

 

And finally all built up:

 

 

 

Ive got a feeling this might be a noisy addition to the little beast!

Edited by robj2502, 07 January 2019 - 05:02 PM.

[imack]

Same gearset, roller bearing drop gears (I'm using 1.04:1 ratio) and crownwheel and pinion as mine - it's pretty loud!

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Edited by imack, 07 January 2019 - 05:07 PM.

[1330RG]

This is the same kind of spec im looking at. How loud are we talking? Livable? Or really bloody loud lol.