12/28/19

After the last Outing to Clay city in September 2018.. The Mega Race that unfortunately got Rained on a lot, The Oil pressure problems that I had earlier in the year probably had already done the damage to rod and main bearings.

Car started to run .1 sec slow and then it totally smoked a rod bearing on the starting line.. Complete toast again.
After driving home in 8 hours of rain with the open trailer the car was a bit soaked and wet. Ruster dried out after about 5 days in the garage.

I finally pulled the engine after about a year after I parked the car. I guess I was burned out on rebuilding racing engines that fail. Either I can't setup the bearings correctly or I have bad luck or something to that effect. I had also been working on the Grüne Hölle project most of last year which was fun and refreshing.

I pulled the engine apart and needed to order a connecting rod which Mr. Molnar and staff are always nice enough to just sell me one rod at a time. It mooshed piston against the head too.. I have another one to choose from amazingly.

I also have been at work redesigning the Timing sensor mount. The steel one I made that bolts to the front of the water pump where the coolant enters the engine moves around and causes wacky things to happen with MS3. As I am not in any hurry to get this together and decided to design and prototype a new mount. I am able to design it in CAD, then then Prototype in wood/foam before the design goes to a machinist to make.

Here are some pictures of the new part:

Old Steel Timing Sensor in Black steel.



New Prototype in wood / foam. This will be made from a single piece of Aluminum. If I had access to a mill and tooling I could make it myself .. but I don't.
3 Set screws on the Front for easier air gap adjustment.


Took Time to refine the exit position of the Sensor so that the middle of the sensor falls in the middle of the Timing wheel's Teeth.












More engine work, Building and Cleaning the Glitter out of the block to come!



Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Glad to see you making some progress on the Ruster car Greg!!

It is easy enough to get burned out on something, even if we love it! It can become a job! After a break the joy of working on these jewels can return!!

I know on my race engine I had the engine shop install the crank and bearings. Everything else I felt really comfortable with. If I bought a good set of inside mics I probably would do it all myself.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Good to see you making progress Greg. I fully understand the burnout thing.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Yep, good to take a break rather than push it and make it no fun. We are all excited to see Ruster run again...

Cheers mate,
Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Are you sure that is really a problem? Your steel bracket looks well designed and heavy enough to do what it has to do.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

When i set the airgap cold to say 0.010" there were witness marks on trigger and sensor after.. it happened more than once.

Maybe its because i have the water pump in front of the block plate and the whole thing moves? I am not 100% sure but I won't know for sure until I try other Ideas.


Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Greg,, that is really tight, IIRC crank position sensors are typically .040 +/- .015

when setting the initial gap, be sure to use a non magnetic feeler gauge or suitable substitute,

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Yes sir it is. Car would not send clean square waves to ms3 with it much looser.

Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

1/26/20

I have been Getting a bit of work done.

With the New shop I have a small blasting cabinet, and area that I can do some painting as well, so I have been cleaning up some things as well as choosing parts for this build.

On disassembly, it was found that one Rod was totally trashed, that of course means the crank will need to be turned or fixed later. I had 2 fresh cranks ready to go.
The 1 single rod that I ordered came from Molnar's about 3 weeks ago, and I Put a bit more valve clearance in the pistons before reassembly this time, and I had some witness marks on them.

This Time around I decided to measure and check everything just to be sure. I don't have a dial bore gauge, so I am just using the futzy telescoping bore gauges for now.

The Main Clearances come in at 0.0012" - 0.0017" I have the Rod Clearances too, but they are written down at the shop.


I also Decided to Clean everything a lot better than previous attempts at the engine build. I had Lots of "glitter" from the Rod bearing getting thrashed and it was everywhere. I sprayed lots of brake cleaner and brushed out all of the oil galleries and then went in to clean all the oil passages with rags. I repeated this same process with the passages in the crank.

Got 5 of the pistons and Rods installed today, as well as the Cam slid in the block.
Maybe some more butting up next week.


Hopefully Brushing the block will keep the machine shop away!



Got a DRO Torque adapter to check my clicker gauge - I am not always sure the clicker gauge is accurate, or I am at least skeptical.


5 In one to go. - Getting there slow but steady!



Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

You are doing it right by really going after the cleanliness, don’t forget to also flush and brush the drilled passages in the crank.
It is too cold outside in our geographical areas now, but if it was warm outside to clean a block / crank for assembly I would have the bare block on a roll over, a garden hose hooked up to hot water, my bottle brushes and a bucket of with Dawn dish soap and hot water,, then flush and scrub the heck out of the
block and crank and head and all the internal passages in each.
The hot water will evaporate/dry quickly, but still clean towel dry the exterior and using compressed air and a long extension blow out all the internal passages.
Then keep the clean parts wrapped and covered and complete the engine assembly process in the next few days.

_________________
Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8

Yep I did clean all of those this time.

It was warm enough in the garage yesterday to get the soap and water out for cleaning.
I had done some flexhoning to remove surface rust in a few cylinders. I washed the whole block and brushed a bunch too!

Greg.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Glad to see progress being made Greg!

Just me, but those mains seem a little tight.

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I was going to ask that also?

Greg what are the center main studs out of?

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Nice progress, Greg! Mmm, I have the same concern as Dennis.

Do you know what your valve-piston clearance was before, that gave you the witness marks? Just curious...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Hmm, If that is too tight what can be done to fix? Does the Torque of the main caps affect this dimension at all?

I have never had trouble with the mains in any of my builds. What clearance measurement do you think it should be at?


Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack