Entertainment

Few old vids from 04.


The car was fully steel panelled, full concours interior, no alloy bits, but with a half decent engine. Since then the real business began - I have extracted alot more power from the ignition curve and switched to DHLA carbs plus lost a shit load of weight!.

Video's were filmed on extended progression Weber DCOM (not E) carbs as used on 205 rallye.

These gave great throttle response, the DHLA worked as well out the box power wise but I couldn't match the response. After testing around 100 main, tube, pump, corrector combos on the road in proper situation I found about 5 working setups ranging in style -on DHLA its so easy to setup 5 different types of power delivery via the tubes and idle tube settings, on the same engine, lazy road, economical, punchy, less punchy and retain the same WOT power....I went round the block completely testing mains from 100-145, tubes 1-6-8-5-7 and correctors from 130 to 230. I finally found the DHLA setting which gave it all (50idle, 1 holder, 112-114main (temp dependant), 7 tube, 150 corrector, 30 choke, 35pump)This is not actually how I see most DHLA setup that I buy in, usually non emission are using bigger mains and correctors, I found these worked well but my settings give you such active response, fantastic!

-------------------------

http://home.clara.net/oph616e/churchbends2.AVI

old school! short while after buying the beast(ette) edit date is wrong must be 2001, a lovely standard car on 155's and fixed rear spring, excuse the dodgy camera position and my hair....

http://home.clara.net/oph616e/waitwaitpower.AVI

wait, wait power.

http://home.clara.net/ppowell/VERYsteephill.AVI

a very steep hill, as a fit cyclist this one hurts alot, can now goes up here much better as you can run 2nd all the way up 8-) I broke a rocker going up here on the 3.63 diff due to a dodgy pushrod and trying sustained 7000+ in 2nd (what was motorway limit?)

http://home.clara.net/david.powell4/justenoughgrip.AVI

wet, squirrly rear end grip on exit, just yawing about and a bit of wheel wiggling -depending on which wheel was gripping...

http://home.clara.net/david.powell4/raining.AVI

just having a laugh provoking it in the wet

http://home.clara.net/david.powell4/bark.AVI

how to reach 6K in 4th very quickly, note the quick change, no moan from the box, gotta luv the 1850box!

http://home.clara.net/oph616e/justforfun.AVI opps didn't really enter fast enough for a slide, oh well lets create one! or two. The box engages first at speed without any moaning.

RING VIDS! a few Opel Estate Diesel clips, very slow car, had fun basting it

http://home.clara.net/ppowell/hatzen.avi

http://home.clara.net/ppowell/wipperman.avi





Copy and paste the links to your brownser.

Engine assembly

A view inside the block.

I had been thinking about trying to get some oil out of the tappets while running. I decided to drill a small hole through them as you can see. It protrudes out into the block while the tappet is not in lift, so should possibly let some oil out all over the cam and reduce the weight of the follower and also the ammount of oil flying around the top of the engine at full revs...also oil the walls of the tappet holes while in lift as they spin (until they go bad!).

It will also possibly hold some oil in the followers after shut down, on the followers in lift then dump it on the cam as you start the engine. I don't think the little holes will cause any problems with strength , they go upwards slightly through a thicker part of the base than the thin upper walls. I noticed Jigsaws have holes so why not copy them!

Incidently on the fast road 89 with guite aggressive ramps the followers had been 25,000miles guess, they had not a mark on them, could have reused them after a planish.

Dialled the cam into the stated 103deg figure, I will try the TH5 and hopefully be able to get more top end from it on the 1.75 roller rockers, I'd be hoping the engine gives a "REAL" 110HP not a bullshit figure 8-) of the "I added a cam and dremeled my head which of course gives every engine spitfire 100HP" bollucks.

If it can pull 127mph and still going and it must have over 100HP anyway, its got a few CC now and CR is raised a bit.

I can't wait to drive it again - orgasmic in 2nd when you can overtake lines of cars from 40mph with shed loads of performance, can do tractors in first!

Anwyays, I am confident to say its dead on 103, joys of vernier and dial gauge. The timing cover marker is 2deg out from the old mark of TDC. I punched another mark to account for this, if I use this mark at TDC on the timing gun I wont be 2degrees out now thinking the old mark was right, if I just bolted it all up and didn't make a new marker then I'll be thinking 8deg BTDC is 10deg. Now I have a marker to suit the timing plate, just need to find a protractor and punch a mark for 10-20-30-40 deg BTDC.

Used just a smear of sealant here and there, not a bit came out in squish. Too much sealand = bad...the spray on hylomar could be good...

Shame I am lacking a couple of things...Could have it finished tomorrow. Back to rubbing down then, boo.

Below is my current gearing, with 7500 reliably useable would seem and possibly attainable in 4th gear with the wind behind it.

RPM 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
750 5.1 7.6 10.7 13.5
1000 6.8 10.1 14.3 18
1250 8.5 12.7 17.9 22.5
1500 10.2 15.2 21.5 27.1
1750 11.9 17.7 25.1 31.6
2000 13.6 20.3 28.6 36.1
2250 15.3 22.8 32.2 40.6
2500 17 25.3 35.8 45.1
2750 18.7 27.9 39.4 49.6
3000 20.3 30.4 43 54.1
3250 22 32.9 46.5 58.6
3500 23.7 35.5 50.1 63.1
3750 25.4 38 53.7 67.6
4000 27.1 40.5 57.3 72.2
4250 28.8 43.1 60.8 76.7
4500 30.5 45.6 64.4 81.2
4750 32.2 48.1 68 85.7
5000 33.9 50.7 71.6 90.2
5250 35.6 53.2 75.2 94.7
5500 37.3 55.7 78.7 99.2
5750 39 58.3 82.3 103.7
6000 40.7 60.8 85.9 108.2
6250 42.4 63.3 89.5 112.7
6500 44.1 65.9 93.1 117.3
6750 45.8 68.4 96.6 121.8
7000 47.5 70.9 100.2 126.3
7250 49.2 73.5 103.8 130.8
7500 50.9 76 107.4 135.3
7750 52.6 78.5 111 139.8
8000 54.3 81.1 114.5 144.3
RPM 1st 2nd 3rd 4th

Adjustable Wishbones

Finally got them welded. Its just 24mm solid box section of steel cut to 1.25" lengths and pressed into the wishbone section, then welded all round. There is a 3/8th tapped hole to take a 3/8th by 3/8th rod end. Should be strong enough, I may drill the suspension tower holes to 7/16 and re-drill the holes bigger in the blocks, to 7/16th and use bigger rod ends., but the car is light and 3/8th would be fine.

I had to set the blocks to match each fitted position to get a roughly centred rod end in the mounting section on the towers. So each wish has a place. I just need to pop down to the engineering shop and get the lock nut faces recut as they are smoothered with weld, probably a quick job the valve seat cutting machine...

I suppose they will have cost about £100 with the rod-ends, but who cares, there is no SWMBO here whining, the car will cost as much as it costs!!

I have the urge to buy up some alloy hubs and hi-spec princess alloy pattern calipers next. I don't care how much it costs I must have that huge saving in weight and most important, unsprung mass. I imagine the suspensions residual velocity will be much improved by effectively halfing the mass unsprung without the wheel...

Talking of wheels I'd like some mag minilites really these Minilites are quite heavy (cheap) a noticable increase in residual suspension velocity when I fitted them, not good - the suspension wanting to carry on in the direction it has been wacked by a bump..The bane of the rotoflex thing or any lead suspension setup...

On the alloy hubs you best watch the bearing track reciever issue, I think Jigsaw's are more expensive as they are made from higher quality alloy and worth the cash I suspect, they look very different to Canley's (I don't think they are up to the job of racing, road different matter however, talked this over with another opinionated person, a past TSSC champion a while back). Either way you can expect them to be scrap after 3-4 changes of bearing tracks as the alloy track reciever will be prone to unlarging and also takes the heat/hammering from fitting the tracks, its softer than the tracks of course so will be the first thing to be damaged, so if the tracks enlarge the reciever grooves when removing and fitting eventually they grow to the point the track's spin and wreck the hub as they rely solely on friction to stay in place, if you change tracks regulary beware.

I am sure the guys selling them would rather you didn't know that, but its a fact. Alloy items are much more fragile than steel...Also wonder how much testing was done on the units, probably fark all.

Looks like HE15 type copper bearing alloy Jigsaw uses is far higher quality than the cheap canley units.

Marks units look like the ones Merlin Motorsport sell for Fords much shiner denser material different animal, these they have had many years of testing on race cars, unlike the cheaper units, I wouldn't risk my car to save £100.

I can endorse the front alloy engine plates as good, bar the weld was a bit pigeon shitty in one place so I got it redone and beefed up.

Few bits

Ended up stripping it, looks like respray time! as it needs nothing more than the seams repainting and bits cleaning up will prep it myself and send it off for a topcoat.

Engine coming on, made another better plate to blank the fuel pump hole, added an extra bolt, a baby M4 just to pressure the base of it as the bolts are at the top and will pull it in more here and be prone to leaks atthe base.

Notice the nice black relief valve cap and plug? Just wire brush them up and heat them with a blow torch till before your very eyes they go black, leave them to cool you have now effectively anodised the fitting, this gives some protection without having to paint them, it just oxidises the surface so it can't rust, like all those black bolts?! Nice tip, isn't not hot enough to change properties of metal.

Test built the front of the engine up to check everything fits, its all perfect it would seem can't get a 0.0015" feeler in anywhere on the gasket, I don't want a leaker!!

Cam endfloat set @ 5thou, probably 6 once I torque up the nuts and squeeze the gasket down 100%. Book it 4-8thou, it had only grown 1 thou in the previous engine over its mileage, probably running the plate in as it was new, I am reusing the old plate as its perfecto.

I lapped in the relief valve with a tiny bit of paste.

Before I added the blackened blanking plug below the oil filter I taped up the oil pump opening and plugged a few holes and attached the vacuum cleaner to the blank hole and sucked the buggery out of it. Nice to make sure there is nothing stuck anywhere- even after being jet washed and pipe cleanered about 5x! You could see it gathering up traces of assembly oil at the end of the main gallery i put there for a test - so the force was quite powerful and worth doing?!?

Sump is painted and baffle finished.

County brand rear main oil seals are a tighter fit on the crank than the red ones, I am trying a black repo one this time as there is a slight line on the crank from the seal and the black ones feels like it should be decent.

Rear oil seal housing and front alloy plate were cleaned with boiling water in the sonic cleaner, came up like new!

I will run a trace of gasket sealant along the tappet side edge of the head and round the rear corner, just a whiff, as this sealed that leak last time!! miracle. Even with the oil way blocked in the head there was a leak most its life. As they all do...I seemed to have fixed it anyway, its the tappets forcing oil out here or something.

I would think it'll be done soon. Head is ready to go on.

Hopefully I can get it painted in late Feb...Get the engine in and running by end march...Another year ?!

Time flies...I think our society makes life go far too quick, not suprising for most folks who are at work wishing their lives away, living for the weekend....

I was in Western Samoa living a local life, mucking in and time stood still in an ever increasing pattern, the rush just evaporated from me, I lost all stress and just blissed out. I got a dose of polynesian paralysis.... 3months here was like 12 here!

I came back from my travels with a bad attitude to our ways, especially after Samoa, maybe the best of all pacific islands for culture and unchanged life, not ruined by our consumer bullshit - a bad attitude to our society that never went away...I think it changed me alot, maybe not for the better, I don't aspire to that many of the things the great masses do thesedays.

Perfect life change for me at this time, moving to Germany and buying a pad near Nurburgring, renovating the house and setting up a seasonal B&B for Ringers, big garage with facilities for suspension setup and fiddling, tyre swaps fo bikes etc for guests. Do tours and possible tution for noobies. Earn enough to live and drive my Spitty at the ring in a house I own, come back to UK in winter or stay there and clean carbs, oh and find a proper women of continental value keep my guests happy 8-)

Small engine jobs

Top image is a new improved woodruff key, made from a 6cylinder one...I had some problem with the alloy pulley settling down years ago, or being crushed over time by the nut and loosening torque, resulting gear and pulley not being locked super tight - the key wriggled out forwards and the timing gear spun on the crank by a few deg....My key fits the slot in the pulley and gear perfectly so it cannot move in the extremely unlikely event of the similar issue.

Its never happened again, luckily...I added a 2nd key after event -that slotted in the end of the key groove on the pulley and runs forward down to the thread of the nut stub...its was 0.5mm longer than needed, so it is was pressed into torque on the key by the nut when fully loaded, held the key in place, it couldnt really move anyway but it had wriggling for a while and was manged a bit.

This gave me fear, so I wanted to remedy it with a special key...

Timing chain cover was a spare I used a mirror to level it and adjust it to be perfectly flat, finished off on a massive flat belt sander. Perfect!

Tar stuff in the bottle? Wellseal, odd stinky, sticky and waterproof stuff, super tacky an horrid to work with. Beats the pants off silicone on core plugs, this stuff is cool! Goes hard and seals like, Well.

Baffled

Should work, need to get some pop rivets! It's bolted through the sump on 3 bolts to mount the brackets that hold the plate in location...I made some tiny wennie copper washers to on the outside under the hex bolts.

Just need to clean the sump up by blasting it and then paint it! Another job done.

Baffle is a pretty tight fit on the sump sides, its surge I am trying to get rid off. As you can see I added a 2nd baffle which sits about 3-5mm from the bottom of the sump and should stop slosh and control the movement of the oil in the sump directly around the pickup, reducing surge yet again.

Making an alloy engine back plate also. Dead easy with a jigsaw and some drills, using the old one as a template. The front is taken care of. 4kilo total saving.

These weight reductions are becoming hard to find now. 4kilos is alot, the car is bare! I was going to make an alloy alternator bracket, just a block of alloy cut to rough shape and drilled as per normal one, theres a 300-400 gram saving.

Since stripping the car its really shown how much weight just cains performance and road holding.

Only obvious items for weight saving are alloy hubs and calipers what 12kilos?, could save a good 3kilos switching to fuel injection with some nicely hacked Dellorto bodies.

Sorting oil surge for good! Not so baffling...ho-ho!

So the standard 1500 pump pickup goes out at 45degrees to the back left corner of the sump (if viewed from the back), this gives simply massive oil surge under braking, even light braking gives a big drop in pressure, if followed by a right hander you can be without pressure for many seconds, much worse than the straight down pickup of the smaller capacity original oil pump for early models.

Its really really bad. So I have cut two slots in the straight pickup tube (as per pics) taking out two wedges so it will form a bend, will then weld it up. This means you can use the 45degree starting angle to your advantage in the fact you can get the gauze on the oil pickup on the bottom of the sump and move it up and down a bit on the thread. My image shows its near the centreline of the sump now and also it sits near the centre from the side axis, so should give the best all round performance, most modern pickups go to the pan centre....

I was thinking about making some trumpet affair to go on the end of the pickup pipe, with a 50mm diameter base, with gauze in this end, this sits on the bottom of the sump with about 7.5mm clearance and gives big area for oil pickup...but i think its not needed, also the hole in the baffle plate would to be excessively sized to clear this thing and allow you to get the sump off with the motor in the car, so i forgot that idea.

That brings me to the gauze filter, i bent this into a different shape, still got 6mm between the pickup pipe and gauze. I just bent the two sides up and down to reduce its size. The reason for this is that i wanted the hole in the baffle as small as possible really, I found with it at normal size i needed a big opening to enable the sump to go on with the back plate in place...as on car...also need to account for the front cross member, to get this holes position took about 7 dummy card templates!

I will dish the baffle towards this hole from all directions and also radius the edge of it downwards by about 5mm.
With the distick in, minimum oil level is 15mm over the level of the baffle plate 40mm or so under max level...So there should be no issues with it refilling unless you are completely out of oil....

So I think definately worth making that hole as small as possible as modifying the gauze shape....

I will add a few another baffle or two underneath the baffle plate itself...I have a few ideas I'll try tomorrow...basically like a central well around the pickup. I'd think the plates will be probably enough as it is...as the oil cant get out can it unless your upside down!

Not sure how to mount it, will be making it all from alloy, so may weld 4 blocks in the sump, drill and tap the blocks, then bolt it down with 4x M4 bolts + loctite.

I mean having oil pressure helps !

The very grey block!

One freshly painted block...happy with it, got good adhesion, when you cut the excess paint off surfaces with a blade it grates through leaving a firm deposit needing a few scrapes to get the stuff off...so hopefully it'll stay grey! Need a few days to go fully hard its bit cold, had to heat paint and block/head with a fan heater and spray warm. The little gun I was using is a little underpowered for two pack and needed extra thinners but got the job done. Bit more interesting than black, Lotus Twinks were Grey. Have to sort a decent rocker cover! want a SAH one.

Few runs on the manifold side! bar that i sprayed it good 8-)

Got my head back, got the exhausts seats triple cut on the serdi. Blasted out the exhaust ports and chambers so its nice and clean! There was next to no carbon on it before, don't think my engines have time to suffer from that 8-)

Need to get on with some proper work, might paint the engine plates and timing cover tomorrow, just need to get some paint stripper then blast em.

Need to get another dissy pedestal and convert it to a crank case breather and make an alloy plate for the fuel pump hole, will tap an M5 sized hole about 5mm deep into the bottom of the fuel pump opening gasket surface so I can give a bit more tension on blanking plate andgasket as it weeped here before, the two nuts are high up.....close to main gallery but theres 10mm atleast...

Block Painting, Crank Balancing, Head Work

Block work done, new core plugs fitted.

After various previous experiments this is a 2pack Acid primed block, ready for 2pack top coat. I think this will be as good as anything, high temp is a waste of time, as if over 110C the water would be boiling constantly...As 2pack can take far more temp than that should be just the job, took ages to clean it and prepare it, mask it.

Should be stuck like shit to a blanket.

Will be painting any other bits like timing cover, sump same way.....I like things to look nice 8-)

Crank and bottomend was balanced yesterday, dynamically, rods end-end weights and matched. Midland Balancing highly recommended quick while I waited service and got to watch and smoke fags, chances your paying twice over for his services at quite a few Triumph specialists so give him a call 07768577222 save your pennies.

Just need to paint the block, chase all the threads, clean any gasket surfaces back up etc etc - clean the buggery out of it again including all the oil ways, power wash it, and start assembling something.

My favoured masking tape for these things is insulation tape for the edges, as it doesnt leave a mass of manky glue and crap behind like masking tape, comes off real clean and does a lovely job. stick it on overlapping the edges, trim with a blade to size.

Need to get an engine stand my back aches.

Finalised my wiring behind the dash took about 4hrs, as it was just a load of spaghetti having rewired the car but not wanting to commit to final cuts, as building a loom was a staged process for me, I tied up the fuse box, rear end and dash, leaving only the bonnet end, which I will add a modern 6 way cable splitter block to, so making easy removal of bonnet and wiring, on a simple clip junction screwed on the chassis. My custom loom is now basically 1 piece and easily removeable if needed as a single unit. It retains hardly any of the original wiring...I wouldn't want to be the next owner (unlikely) as most of the wire is just red/green and black 8-) but I know whats what so WGAF.

Oh and my head is ready for assembly/paint once I consider some new valve springs... I blasted the head yesterday, had the ex guides fitted and seats recut. After some pondering of ex guide clearances we ended up polishing each valve stem to fit each guide to get a perfect fit on all, worth the effort. A downside of these funny valves!

Too much to do, 3months till March!!!