Due to arrive soon

Started by 94touring, August 07, 2020, 01:46:39 PM

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MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Quote from: MiniDave on January 22, 2023, 10:27:38 AMExcept when it's loaded?

For a front jack?  Just hitched to the bus or a block of wood will suffice.

94touring

#552
Got the brake master on.  Feels good!  Now of course the front lines I ordered were wrong, so I get to bleed the fronts again, but went ahead and bled them now just to see how the pedal feels.  Had to make a few custom lines to the master to make things reach and to tie the 2nd pressure sensor into it.

Also the new oil cooler arrived.  Photos shortly...signal bad at the shop.

94touring


94touring

What I thought would take a couple days is turning into 5!  The rockers on a vw type 1 engine are a lot of work.  First you have to mount them umpteen times to get the shims on the rocker shaft within spec, and slightly offset so the rocker doesn't hit dead center on the valve. Then it's setting up the geometry so at half lift the rocker is in line with the valve.  This reduces valve guide wear.  Simultaneously you're adjusting a variable length push rod to determine what length the rods need to be cut down to. If that's not enough the face of the rockers need trimmed back to screw the tip further in, which allows for less shims on the stands the rockers bolt to.  Eventually you run out of stud or hit the rocker cover otherwise. There was a learning curve involved but should be good to go now. The engine builder didn't do any of this when I checked his geometry to wrap my head around things.  Luckily the internet exist.

MiniDave

#555
Aren't the ends of the rocker studs supposed to be curved? Or rounded?

Edit: I forgot they have those little wobble ends on them.....

The ends you cut off fit into the lifters, right?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

#556
Quote from: MiniDave on January 26, 2023, 07:59:46 PMAren't the ends of the rocker studs supposed to be curved? Or rounded?

Edit: I forgot they have those little wobble ends on them.....

The ends you cut off fit into the lifters, right?

Yep push rods go through the push rod tubes to the lifters.  I went with oversized mouths on the tubes to prevent any chance of the rods rubbing with the ratio rockers.  Some do and some don't depending.  The rocker studs in the picture are as they come. They clear the rocker cover anyways.  Pic of the adjustable push rod tool and of the tubes in place right before I did the final assembly on the 1-2 side.  That block bolted to the cylinder jug is for checking deck height (added half a MM of shims to get the proper deck), but it's bolted up here to compress the cylinder to the block since I had just put sealant on that cylinder base.

Edit to your edit:  yeah wasn't sure what you meant at first.  Those are courier style tips, but I swapped those to some elephant feet tips. 

94touring

#557
Courier vs elephant feet.  The elephant foot covers the valve better and I was able to attain better clearance too.  Good up to 500 lift,  and after getting my dial lined up better determined I am around 475, which matches my cam plus 1.25 ratio rockers.  Showed about 420 with the 1.1 rockers bolted up.

jeff10049

Most of the performance v8's I work on have the incorrect pushrod length, incorrect valve spring installed height, and wrong stud length always built by the best builder of course.
Even a relatively mild-performance small block can have 350 pounds of open valve spring pressure with a roller cam.

What you did is a great setup for your engine.
If your ever this far again consider Pauter roller tip rockers when set up correct like you did valve guide wear would be almost non existent with rollers.
 

94touring

Oh I looked at those, but boy are they expensive! 

cstudep

I thought doing a valve adjustment on my 3.4L Toyota with the bucket/shim style was bad enough, this sounds about 10 times worse. The Toyota isn't super hard or anything but damn if it isn't time consuming as hell.

And like jeff10049 said, I have seen a few "rebuilt" heads for said motor that were completely out of spec for valve clearance. Like so far out of spec that compression went from 90ish in a few cylinders to over 200 after adjusting to the proper shims.

94touring

I feel confident I could do another engine in about half the time now.  The 3-4 side went quickly today.  Need to put the tins back on and then just waiting on the transaxle to arrive.

cstudep

I'm sure having the motor sitting outside of the vehicle on the floor helps too.

Spending hours bent over a fender under a hood certainly doesn't please my back any these days.

94touring

Part way into it I wish I had mounted it to my engine stand. But yeah it would be pretty awful in the car.

cstudep

Yeah when I saw it sitting there like that, my first thought was, another great reason to have one of those hydraulic lift table things like Dave has!

94touring

Yes I could have used his lift for this thing!  I do intend to build a motor from start to finish at some point and have a list of items like that to purchase. 

Another thing is this engine has become significantly harder to turn over, between the bump in compression, dual springs, and the not yet broken in rings, it's takes some effort on this dolly. Even with the plugs removed. 

MiniDave

Another cool thing about the lift table is that you can have the motor on it and roll it under the car, then lift it right into place - easy peasy way to install or remove a Mini engine/gearbox too. Of course you need the car up high enough to get under it whether going in or out.

I wish my floor was un-cracked enough that I could buy a Max Jack lift - it would be nice to be able to get completely under a car with nothing in the way. $10K to replace the floor and another $10K to replace the driveway means it's probably never going to happen.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

#567
Got this trailer yesterday in 3 boxes.  Put it together today.  Relatively easy.  For the bed I got some plywood, but they either had too thick (heavy) or kinda thin.  I found some 15/32", which felt a little flimsy but I thought I'd see how it would do. It's actually just fine since the cross braces are close together. However, the top of the frame has a bunch of bolts that I didn't want to bolt through the plywood.  I wanted them directly to the frame without any wood to squish or rot out in between. So I counter sunk the plywood where all these bolts are, and tomorrow will grab a piece of 1/4" to overlay to cover up all the holes I drilled into the 15/32" sheet. I think it will look better and give it a little extra rigity. Then I'll add some screws and can call it good. The sucker is lightweight!  Standing in the middle bolting things together I could just pick it up.  Putting the wheels on was just a matter of lifting with one hand and putting the wheel on with the other. 

Edit:  stopped by the homedepot by my house on the way home and snagged a 3mm piece of nice looking overlay and some water based stain.  Plan to give it a little layer of epoxy for esthetics and water proofing. 

Another thing is once I got the lights officially wired up after my initial post, the turn signals barely flicker with the driving lights on.  I think this might be bus wire related as I used a set of tow lights for the mini and they acted funky also.  Once I swapped to an upgraded LED pair everything worked properly. I did have to buy an adapter for the wiring harness due to how the bus is wired. Can't remember the details of that now, but it was very screwy before the adapter.  I found a pair of the same style LEDs that bolt to a trailer that I'll probably buy. If I had a way to bolt up the magnetic pair I'd just do that. 

94touring

Trailer build coming to an end.  That top sheet ended up being 5mm, not sure why I was thinking 3.  Everything is nice and secure and firm feeling.  Skipped the stain and just gave it a little expoxy for a sealer and look. On the lights, Harbor Freight had leds for 15 bucks cheaper than the exact same pair from Home Depot.  Upgraded to those and as luck would have it my turn indicator with driving lights on problem went away.  This is because they have an additional ground right from the light assemblies.  I also moved the light assemblies up higher on the mounts.  The way it was designed, if you happened to bottom out the back end transitioning to a steep grade, the lights can take a hit and are liable to break off.  Tossed a toolbox on and secured it down.  Aside from some essential tools for trips, it's going to have things like a spare set of wheel bearings for the trailer, the old rear lights, straps, and the legs I welded up that screw to the front and rear of the trailer. Only thing left to do is fab up a wheel chock for the scooter, but that will need to wait until I get the scooter and determine what dimensions are going to be.  Oh, and the spare rims are on the way for those tires sitting where I intend to mount the spares.

94touring

Motor and accessories all buttoned up.  You'd think it would go quickly but it just doesn't.

94touring

Today was get the engine roughly into place to start mocking up this custom exhaust that will wrap around the front side of the motor. Once that was in place I started to fab up a different tow hitch. The one a made a year or so ago worked, although with some flaws. Plus with the new exhaust setup it wouldn't work regardless. Part of the issue with it was on the way back from Yellowstone carrying the cargo carrier loaded to the gills, it did begin to bend.  Another issue was due to the previous exhaust it hung a tad low and would occasionally drag.  Anyway I came up with a better solution that's definitely stronger. Even feels lighter. Got some quarter inch plate steel in a 12x24 inch section and some angle iron.  Need a 2 foot section of angle iron to finish it off tomorrow. Here's what I came up with...  the metal arms that hold the bumper onto the frame overhang about a quarter inch.  I wanted to mount hitch arms to that section of frame, so doubled up plate steel in that section so the hitch brackets sit on the ledge created by the bumper brackets.  It fits snugly between those brackets and the floor. The only way to get the hitch on and off is by removing the bumper.  3 bolts on each side through the frame hold the hitch on.  It's really sturdy!  Pics of what I accomplished tonight.

94touring

Good photo showing the difference in height.  Didn't run the ball that low, had it flipped for a rise when I used it to haul the cargo carrier.

94touring

All finished up.  Jacked the rear end up to see if it flexes at all, but it doesn't seem to budge. Makes for a great jacking point that's for sure.

94touring

Getting some color on.  Vw marina blue. 

MiniDave

What kind of tape do you use between the colors to keep from having bleed thru?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad