Ray Vallero stroker build for my '63 ragtop

[dsimas]

So, I am completely new here and found the site because of a hit on Google about Ray's old race car here.  I was around back then, I met Ray in 1983 when he built the motor for my bug, "Hugo".  I was 20 years old, I bought the car in 1978, it was my first car.  I still have it.     And Ray is still working on it.  I just bought a '66 21-window bus and we put that old motor (that is still strong and just fine) in the bus.  I have a project thread for the bus on a local club forum if anyone is interested?

So, it's time for Hugo to get a new motor.  Ray, being who he is, is building a very fast streetable engine.  Nothing in the motor is left stock, so we wanted to document all that is going into it (except maybe a few secrets that he just cannot release).  Ray is currently working with Tony Klink on Zerstorer (race car that is holding the PRA record for ProGas this year) also.   

So, here we are, the same owner, same mechanic, same car, after 28 years...  back in action.     I am writing this for another forum as an educational sort of thread, so keep that in mind when I spell out stuff that is sort of basic. 

Here's what we're starting with, a late model case.  An AS21 alloy case has some very high quality properties, compared to an AS41 (earlier cases).  Note the Auto Union logo indicating it was after VW and Audi merged.  However, it is not an indicator of authenticity, aftermarket cases also still use the logo.



Another feature besides better alloy on the later case is the 2nd drain.  VW added this drain as a response to warranty claims on the flywheel seal leaking.  At rest, the oil level was higher with only one drain and would pool in the case.  There was no silicone yet, early seals were made from neoprene, which hardens with heat.  So they added a 2nd drain to solve this, better design.



So, a little about line boring vs. align bore.  Have you ever wondered what the correct term is?  An align bore is the correct term for V8's and such, because you align the front to the back when boring the case.  But, VW cases are never in line front to back, so you cannot align bore a VW typically (not without running in to off center cranks, other issues).  So, in VW's you are Line Boring, boring the case in a straight line front to back. 



Line bore and cam bore done:



Preparation for flycutting the case for the front thrust bearing.  This is done to clean up the thrust surface at a minimal amount, only until it cleans all the way across.  Others usually cut the case to suit the bearing, then you only get two shots, first and 2nd ovesized bearings.  Ray only takes a minimal amount off the case and makes the bearing fit so precise that the case can be reused many times.  There will be no wear. 



Using the Porta-tool gives Ray the abilty to do it this way.  The basic part against the case is stationary, then there's a feeler gauge at .004-.006 to make it a minimal cut, then remove the gauge, and the outside part will cut to the width of the gap.  There's probably a more "mechanical" way to describe this to you guys, but I'm a girl.  I tell it like I see it. 



Done:



We measure the case after it is flycut for the thrust bearing.  We are now cutting the main bearing .046.  A standard bearing is one size, with the flange is the same size on each end.  A first oversize (for rebuilds) is .020 smaller in the center (edge is wider), and a 2nd oversize is .040.  I know all you motorheads know this, but I am explaining it for all us girls out there.... 

When the case requires thrustcutting, routinely the case is cut to fit the oversized bearing, as I explained above.  Its harder to get a precise fit by cutting the case, so therefore Ray flycuts the front main thrust bearing.  This bearing is double oversized, it wasn't necessarily needed to be 2x, but we didn't have a first oversized on hand and we were custom cutting it anyways.



This chuck was custom ground by Ray because the arc of a standard one this size would bite the inside of a VW bearing and damage it slightly.  This chuck fits VW bearings precisely on the inside, in case he needs to put the bearing back on lathe multiple times. 



Lathe bit on the fixture cutting the bearing on the custom chuck:





Nice and tight, there will be no wear on this.  Just one of the many reasons that Hugo's old engine is still strong after 28 years of daily driving.

[dsimas]

Now, off to the Bridgeport!



Here's my barrel on the left, compared to a stock on on the right.



And my pistons, but more on these later...







Ray built the heavy duty base for this, with holes in it to accomodate the studs in the case.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/w9L_jkSyM1A" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/w9L_jkSyM1A</a>

Centering the hole for a 94mm bore.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QUB4HVrGoGA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/QUB4HVrGoGA</a>

Done in two stages for a step up, one for the piston and one for the cylinder.  Many people bore the hole without a step, but Ray likes to leave more material there for strength integrity.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/XWYGQhEOq3k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/XWYGQhEOq3k</a>

First pass:



Second pass, now showing the step:



All done.  Next is to remove the plugs in this case.... 

[dsimas]

Ray drilled out the old press-in plugs and replaced with threaded plugs, which are impossible to blow out.



New threaded one:



There is no reason to use a stock sized oil pump since our motor won't leak internally.  A smaller pump uses less energy (HP).  A stock engine is designed to have a minimum clearance of .003, we are staying within .0015.  Things we've improved on are:  The main bearing is tighter, the rod bearings, the oil galleys are plugged and rerouted, and the end play in the pump is minimized by shaving down the cover.  All of these things allow internal leakage in a stock engine, creating more of a need for a large pump; in ours everything is on the low side of tolerance. 

Difference in pump and gears, and a picture of the cover:





We are going to have an external 96-pass oil cooler and two oil filters off of Ray's old porche-body racecar (the only original part that will "live again" ).  Two filters carry less pressure. 



The original inlet and outlet for oil into the pump are both blocked with threaded plugs.  Many people only block the pump hole, but not the case's (or vice versa), which can cause an oil warning light at idle. 



Then a 90-degree brass fitting is installed on the case.  It is ground down for a tighter package, more clearance behind the pulley so we don't have modify the sheet metal.




Back to the Bridgeport.     This is a better look at the fixture that Ray made 30 years ago, especially for VW's.



He is now going to top these old steel stud inserts so they won't shatter when we flycut the deck.

Before:


After:


In the picture above, you may notice (barely can see them) a notch in the edge of the holes at the inserts because they are so close.  Some people would worry that this will leak.  It will not.  Many people use improper sealer for barrels and these would leak.  Ray uses Ultra Grey sealer, which has a high silicone content.  Not like normal sealers, it sets up harder.  With softer sealers you can pull the barrels right off the case, not so with Ultra Grey.  If sealed properly, these notches are too high to cause a leak.

Now he is going to flycut the deck so that the barrel has more surface area to sit on (rather than on the raised spigot edge), and so they will not move over time (longevity).  The reason that he did not do this at the same time he bored the holes is that we are building a narrow motor.  And therefore, are not going to be using spacers on the cylinders to make them fit.  The deck height needed to be determined first, so we must know where the pistons are in the bore first.  We installed the pistons and cylinders and then check the deck height.  Only then do we know how much to cut the case.  This is important if you are not going to use shims to make up the difference, if you over cut.  This build is different than most, we have 82 stroke pistons with a 78 crank, so the deck plays a big role in what is needed to be cut from the deck.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/epFM8DGzEAo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/epFM8DGzEAo</a>



The radius on a barrel is not a 90-degree angle.  So he files down the new sharp deck edge.



<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TQOGFXCo7V0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/TQOGFXCo7V0</a>

Now, putting the cylinders in, they rock a little.  They need trimming to sit down solid.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ipazdOKfB3g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ipazdOKfB3g</a>

And they are touching at the bottom a bit. 



So Ray ground them down on the bottom edge to sit flat, and on the fins to not touch. 



Now they are tight, not touching, and need to check that they are exactly the same height.  Checking is important or else the heads will leak.  Once all this is done, each cylinder is specifically matched to that hole, as they are all modified a bit to match one another, so he numbers them with a pen.



Next update we will be assembling the motor to see some clearances!  Looking forward to seeing the whole package.   :cheers:

[speedwell]

hi , sorry to hijack your tread , but you're talking about  ray's old porsche , she was this week end at the das drag day event @ bitburg germany 

and by the way welcome on the lounge

fabs

[dsimas]

Thanks for the great photo and welcome. 

Ray has been talking a LOT about that car and how badly he misses it and would like to get it back!  Is there any remote possibility?  Was it raced?  How did it do?  What did they change?  Oh, okay, I guess I am hijacking my own thread now....   

[Zach Gomulka]

The oil pumps you showed is the difference between one for a dished cam gear vs flat cam gear.

About the Ultra Grey, I used it on my engine and so far so good (but it's only been ran on the test stand). I've been told that it sets up very quickly, so put it on the cylinder then immediately slide it in the case. Do not wait around!

Thanks for sharing

[stealth67vw]

That is downright scary how he "indicated" the cylinder bores. 

[lowfastbus]

Thanks for the great photo and welcome. 

Ray has been talking a LOT about that car and how badly he misses it and would like to get it back!  Is there any remote possibility?  Was it raced?  How did it do?  What did they change?  Oh, okay, I guess I am hijacking my own thread now....   

I think it's for sale at the moment...

[Rick Meredith]

Thanks for the great photo and welcome. 

Ray has been talking a LOT about that car and how badly he misses it and would like to get it back!  Is there any remote possibility?  Was it raced?  How did it do?  What did they change?  Oh, okay, I guess I am hijacking my own thread now....   

http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,16742.0.html

[dsimas]

http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,16742.0.html

OMG, I just PM'd madfrog.  Will let you all know if something develops.

The oil pumps you showed is the difference between one for a dished cam gear vs flat cam gear.

Exactly Zach, thanks for pointing that out.  

Okay, boys and girls, I am behind on this.  We are working day and night to try to bring my bug "Hugo" to the SoCal Bugorama in Fontana on October 8.  So, check back or subscribe, because I am hoping to upload stuff daily on this thread.  

The cylinder is hitting the nut on the deck, so Ray had to grind this to clear.



We put the short block together in order to check clearances.  The rod bolt is hitting.



Took it apart, ground them, now it clears (this is a different one obviously).



Now a little about my racing pistons, compared to stock (on left).  The one on the right is a slipper skirt piston, it has a narrower cross section at the wrist pin to be lighter.  The stock one pulls on wrist pin bosses instead of the skirt.  The racing one pulls on the skirt and the bosses.



Wrist pin on my 94mm on left.  Normal pin (88mm) on right.



The racing piston has oil return holes instead of a slot, which is stronger.



Stock pistons are designed for less clearance.  The racing piston has a flared skirt, the stock one is straight (see the photo below, the one on the left is touching the one on the right at the top of the skirt).   The stock one's skirt does not grow with heat due to the fact that there's an oil slot cut clear through the piston, which allows the head to grow without the skirt following.  



This shows that it's smaller at the top.  This is only when it's cold, once it warms up and swells it will fit tight, within a few seconds.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZVRGxdwy6BA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZVRGxdwy6BA</a>

On to the crank and rods.  I'm using a 78mm stroke CB Performance crank.  It counterweighted, nitrited, forged, 4130 chromoly, 8 dowels.  It has chevy rod sized journals, which are smaller.  This is a stroker, so this gives us more room in the crankcase without machining.   The other advantage is that the surface speed on the rod bearing is slowed down because of the diameter change for less wear and heat.  And the connecting rod is lighter due to being smaller for a lighter combination.



The rods are made of a high grade alloy, are smaller, and note they don't have any nuts.  



The rod bolts are ARP's best bolts, the highest quality on the market.  A difference of $300 just for these bolts, thank goodness Ray had these sitting in inventory for a while, so I didn't have to pay that much or I wouldn't have been using them.  



Next up cc'ing the heads and assembling the long block...  

[dsimas]

I will be using Ray's daughter Lynda's heads from her old racebus.    They've already been machined and were laying around for 20 years....this will save us some time.  Just for giggles, here she is racing her bus from 1983-'84, she got high 14's in the 1/4 mile.







Her motor:



And Lynda with the racecar when she was about 14 years old:



Oh heck, while we are at it, here she is when she just got started into racing with her daddy:



Ahem, okay, back to this build...

Here's Ray describing what had already been done to the heads:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MdElOXacAw0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/MdElOXacAw0</a>

One fin has been removed:



This head is prepared to be cc'd.  It has the spark plug and the valves in it.  We will add water to a level and measure it.



This is the plate that will sit in the cylinder head to measure.





<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/te-OxRQTn9o" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/te-OxRQTn9o</a>

We want 9.68:1 compression on this engine.  So we look up that up on the compression ratio sheet (under the bore and stroke) and we need 46.5 head cc's. Lynda's only came to 26cc.  So, Ray will grind the head to flow better near the intake valve.  This is called unshrouding the valve.



Measuring the seat diameter so that he can set the cutter on the Valve and Seat Machine:



Using the fixture to set the cutter for the correct diameter.  Ray radiused the cutter for shaping head bowls.



Quick note:  On 94's the stud holes may break free as shown here, but its ok since the cylinder seals at the face of the head, not the sides.



Preparing and leveling the head for machining on the Tobin-ARP machine:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MZfjaN7orWg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/MZfjaN7orWg</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HnzzcDZSV-E" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HnzzcDZSV-E</a>




This shows the radiused carbide cutter insert.



Removing the material from the bowl is a reference to get the correct diameter to hand finish the bowl down to the seat without damaging the spark plug boss.  The cutter will damage the boss beyond what is done here, so the rest was done by hand.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/oQ-_RY3EMhk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/oQ-_RY3EMhk</a>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZYCSs_ORaA

That only removed 6cc's or so, and we need to take down 20cc.  So Ray had to hand grind using a ball mill cutter to shape the bowl further.  He unshrouded the bowl to slough off more compression.  We cc'd the head again and still haven't taken enough, so the compression will be about 10:1.



Next up, manifolds and carbs...

[speedwell]

nice job 

[dsimas]

These studs are too long for this narrow motor (bottom of picture).  The rocker shaft and manifold won't fit.  The head studs need to be shortened.



Quickly grind them down.



All better.  



I will be running 48IDA Webers on this motor.  Ray has a secret as to how he makes these carbs very "streetable".  One reason that we are making this a narrow motor is so that they will fit.  But we will have to modify the manifolds so that we won't have to pop out the decklid with the air cleaners on.  

He has some spread port Berg manifolds that we wanted to use.  But it will take way too much machining on both them and the heads, and we don't have that much time right now.  So, at a later date, he will be making a set of heads for the car for the spread ports.  It's my daily driver, that way I can be driving the car in the meantime and he can do the new ones as time allows.  We will tear it down and swap that out at a later date.    But, here's a video of a set that he modified for his old racecar, when it had fuel injection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9JE9QO0DWg

Lynda's old motor had Scat Trak manifolds that Ray ported 30 years ago.  They are the one's on the left, the new ones that came with my Webers are on the right.  The nicer thing about the old ones is that the channel at the base has more material to grind away to make them bigger.





Ray was going to cut Lynda's down for the sake of time (not as much machining), but we couldn't bring ourselves to do that to these beautiful old school manifolds, so we are cutting the new ones down.



He sent them out to Bast Bros. welding since his heliarc welder was moved to a new room and will trip the breaker to do aluminum.  It's not a pretty job, but Ray will machine these later to clean them up.  Here's one with the original length old Scat Trak.





He has started porting the new short ones, but still need a bit more (compared to Lynda's old ones).



The Bridgeport mill knocked out of index in order to do this:



Next up, we are going to put the motor together to see how the top end stuff is going to fit.  It's a lot more challenging and time consuming to build a motor completely from scratch!

[dsimas]

Sorting through $2500 worth of parts from CB Performance.



We are going to assemble the motor on the rack to check if everything fits well.  When building a motor from scratch, it's not uncommon that many things will interfere with other things and need modifying.  We want to do this now before final assembly.

This was done a few days earlier before the manifolds were cut (in order to clear the decklid), so that we could measure where to cut them.  The linkage in this picture shows how it will have to be modified to clear the alternator after they are shortened.



Better pic of these beauties.  Dual Weber 48 IDA's.



The lever on the right is unnecessary, it is just a throttle stop.  We will cut it off so it looks better.  They ran these as singles in Italy originally and apparently needed the lever, and Spain copied it.



Alternator instead of a generator.  The tin behind the alternator is black.  Tidbit from Ray, he prefers black to chrome for quality over looks.  CBP sells chrome and black.  Chrome - china.  Black - VW. 



Competition merged exhaust.



Muffler.  We will have to cut off this flange, it is too small.



Completed motor with exhaust (prior to cutting manifolds).



Here is after they were cut and we decided to raise the linkage mounts on the carbs.  Ray is going to make spacers for the mount screws out of push rods tubes.



Raised linkage mounts.



View from the front of the engine.  Note the carbs are tilted a few degrees inward to help clear the decklid.  Webers can go 15 degrees in or out and still run properly.



It's starting to get exciting to see what it will look like!

[dsimas]

The fan shroud is small, so there's not a lot of room for the coil.  The regulator is inside the alternator.  We want to tuck the coil in behind the alternator mount, but it won't quite fit with the CB mount for it.  We'll need to grind a little off.  How cool that it happens to be red, the car is OG red also?    View from the front of the engine.  "Front" means the front of the car...



After grinding, fits nicely now, with room for the strap.



View from the rear of the car.  The shroud needed a bit of fabricating to fit also.



And with the distributor, a billet based electronic Magna Spark II.

[dsimas]

So, next up on this motor build was final assembly.  Ray always washes his hands well and keeps everything spotless.  The case gets a good bath in the washer.



Using an Engle K8 cam.  Here's its Cam Card.



We have to add the cam gear.  This shows oil pump drive slot.  Ray uses locktite on the bolts so they won't come loose.





All performance cams come with provisions for the gear to bolt on, rather than preassembled, so that the builder has the choice of what gear sets to use.  We are not putting any advance or retard washers and are running it straight up. 



We have racing bearings and they are notched, but the case was not on one.  So, Ray had to grind off the tang.



It's very important to be sure that the lifters clear the case before sealing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Ny7IhSlLw

Here Ray takes this opportunity to explain "overlap".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTmGf5SorOI

Now on to assembling the crank.  Here Ray is showing how to check for proper rod play, it should sit tight against the crankshaft as opposed to tilting side and side or rocking. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMccNTuHY7I

Ray has been getting racing spacers lately that have been tricky to get on without wedging on the shaft (and risking damaging it).  A racing spacer is solid, as opposed to a stock one that has a gap in it to expand.  It goes between the crank gear and distributor drive.  He heats it up on a hot plate and has to be quick about it and this one went on as good as could be expected, yay! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUKUcEQIleU

Don't wait until the motor is together to see if the pulley fits.  You may need to hone the pulley or polish the snout of the crank.  Ray had to heat the pulley to get it to fit, which is nice and tight and will not need any work to get it on later.



You never want to start a new motor dry!  This shows that he has oiled everything well as it goes together.  When we checked for any play, the cam gear did have some backlash, so we swapped it out with another one.   We are looking for is zero backlash, but yet for it to move freely.  In the past you could order cam gears in plus and minus #'s.  Now you have to depend on manufacturers' variations in gear width, so you have to be selective for the gear that you get.



Ready to assemble the case using Ultra Grey.

[rick m]

Ray was an incredible fabricator mechanic when I met him in 1972.  I can only imagine the level of his knowledge now, some 40+ years later.  I learned a great deal just from associating with him and having him do the machine work on some of my early VW motors.

Rick Mortensen

[Nico86]

Thanks for sharing your work, interesting thread 

[dsimas]

Rick, Ray said it was great hearing from you and thank you for the compliment!  He asked me to ask you if you remember the Karmann Ghia that you guys were going to make an H-Gasser out of? 

[dsimas]

"Houston, we have a problem."



So, this isn't that uncommon that you get into a project and hit some snags and rethink things.  Ray was not able to remove enough material from Lynda's old racebus heads to cc them to 46cc like we needed to get the compression down.  Those heads had been fly cut too much and he was going to lose a lot of squench area, not to mention they would just plain lose integrity.  Unbeknownst to me, he was going to press on with the build in order to get the car and I to Fontana Bugorama in a week because he didn't want to let me down.  But we'd have to tow it, rather than drive it, because of the high compression.  The upside in Ray's mind was that we could be a serious contender in the Cal Look Challenge.  He got sidetracked in that it's my Daily Driver and full race is not really my main goal.  He was justifying it in his mind with saying he'd make me a proper set of heads after Fontana, swap them out, and make my Driver later.

Time was running out and Tony Klink came by that night to help with the final assembly.  Tony and Ray are like twins separated at birth, I swear they read each other's minds.  It is spooky to watch, they work together with symbiosis and it's like watching a ballet.  Well, okay, dudes doing a ballet, but still it's like a choreographed dance.     Anyone else trying to help would only slow Ray down.  Tony helps speed things along.  Here are the clowns for the night:



Here's a video of Tony at Test And Tune last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAY8RxSTtPU

Here's his motor, Ray is a sponsor and shares his secrets with Tony only.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az3Hkjf7wcY

At this point I would only get in their way, so I wasn't really involved, other than taking pictures.  I heard a lot of exclamations: "Dude, that's a full race motor!" and other such mutterings, which were a concern to me....but....

They put on the heads and the rockers to measure the push rod length.  



Ray usually uses aluminum push rods, but had some steel ones that turned out to be the right length, again feeling that they would suffice since it was only going to be doing passes and not driven.  To counter act the high compression on the narrow motor, they put in a .040 head gasket and two .020 barrel shims (NOT what I had in mind) to add .080 total distance and get it to a reasonable compression to run.  Add some racing gas and Dawn was going to kick a$$ at the track in a week and these guys were set on high!

When I saw the direction this was headed, I finally had to stop the freight train that these innovative racers were becoming.    Fun as it all sounded, I have been without my Daily for quite a while now and hauling it to LA was not what I wanted, I like driving my car.  And then redoing so much upon return for more down time is not what I want.  There was no time to machine a new set of heads within a week, so I said I'd have to sit out Fontana and for him to please build the engine just once and start working on some new heads.  Boy, it wasn't easy for me as a girl to tell these guys, like two Happy Puppies playing with the best toy on earth, that the fun was over.  

Hugo isn't going to be done in the next few days after all, but we are back on track and not cutting any more corners due to a short time crunch, which is better.  Tony and Ray are still racing Zerstorer next weekend, of course.  We are counting on him still holding the National Record in his class (PRA - Pro Gas) and winning the point series, it's all good!

[dsimas]

Still moving forward...

We got a new set of heads and sent them out again to Bast to be welded to add material to the intake pad, so he can raise the intake port on the short side.

Here's the difference on the intake side.  The lower one is a brand new one.  The middle is mine with the welding done.  The top one is Lynda's that have been machined to show the goal.



Putting a head into the angle plate in order to pick up the angle of the cylinder head from this stock unwelded, uncut head, so that we can then machine the new welded head without knocking the Bridgeport any further out of index.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-KLz3AxcpA

He machined the pad, then was working on porting the intakes.  But the manifolds won't clear a spark plug wrench because they've been shortened so much.  He'll grind a socket to pair with this engine to change spark plugs.  He's never cut manifolds down like this and cannot grind more off them to clear.  Other bugs with IDAs either run cut velocity stacks or pop out the decklid.  We want to have air cleaners under the hood.



We chose to go with 1.3 rockers, which lessens the lift on a K8, it will be .498.   The cam card shows the lift at .534, and we want to stay under .500.  Engle's K8 normally would be ground for 1.4:1.



We ordered 7/16ths double taper aluminum pushrods from Smith Brothers.  Standard is 3/8ths.  But the larger ones will be much stiffer with more strength integrity by tapering at the ends.  The taper also allows them to clear the tubes, provides more clearance, and reduces overall weight. 

In the past, Ray had some custom valve guides made to order that he will be using.  He sells these if anyone is interested.  He will hone them to order, the guide is almost the size of the boss.  It provides extra stability on the outer end by the valve spring, where it needs it.   







Now THAT's a lightened flywheel.  11#.  The stock one is 17#.   I drive 45 miles a day on a mountain road to work, so Ray wants to be sure that I have a nice rapid acceleration rate for hills and passing. Yeah, that's our story and we're sticking to it... 

[Peter]

WOW.
Keep em coming
Ray is a funny guy!

[rick m]

Dsimas,

I remember the GHIA well.  I wish I had kept the body but sold it when moving to Arizona.  Wow....Ray remembers that from 40 years back.  He has not lost a minute from the VW past.  Brought back some memories as the chopped Ghia set in my garage in Fair Oaks before moving from Cal to Arizona.  Tell Ray I hope to visit him some time in the future and reminise about the early days we associated together.  Ask him how Sandy Braden is doing too.   Have not spoken with Sandy for years.

Rick Mortensen

[dsimas]

Hey Rick,

He sees Sandy all the time.  Just day before yesterday as a matter of fact.  I'll tell him to say hi for you.    Also, we are hauling the Zerstorer with Tony Klink to Bugorama in Fontana this weekend.  I know it's a stretch, but any chance you will be there?

Everyone else:  Update:

Ray and Tony have switched gears to get the racecar ready for this weekend.  Ray tried to get to my new heads last night for a while, but it turns out these heads have different studs than stock.  Not sure why, but he couldn't put it in the mill to flycut them.  He'll have to shim up the guides for the studs first, so there will probably be a bit of a wait for my next update.  Maybe tonight if we are lucky, otherwise, next week when we return from the races. 

[dsimas]

We are just getting ready to leave for Fontana for Bugorama with Tony and the Zerstorer.  But last night, Ray got the heads flycut. 

Centering the mill over the cylinder head.



First he cuts the head to 94's, then he cuts the top for clearance of the barrel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhMNGYvzZz0

Then he checks for clearance between the top of the cylinder fin and the first fin on the head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eujenywtu2M

Before (in the back) and after (in front).  It was only a minmum cut to take the step out and cut the size to 94.  It's preliminary since we don't know the cc's of the head yet and there's still a mega shroud right now.



We are going to run zero deck with .040 copper shims, which are needed to acheive .040 between the head of the piston and the squench area.  We don't want the explosion to take place in the cylinder, but in the combustion chamber.  Many people space the base of the cylinders to achieve their targeted compression, but by doing so they have a lazier mix light.  Their barrels are blue on the top from the heat of the explosion taking place in the barrel.  We will achieve the compression ratio by grinding the combustion chamber.   All the heat and power is pushed into the head and into the piston for a more complete burn. 

The copper gaskets serve two purposes:

1)  As the engine RPM increases, the rod stretches and the head of the piston grows up to .035 at 7000rpm.  So if you have less than .040 overall deck clearance, the piston will strike the squench area. 

2)  There is an iron barrel against an aluminum head and they are two very dissimilar metals in their expansion when hot.  Copper absorbs the abrasion caused by the expansion.  The shim follows the head back and forth and prevents the head from being worn from skating in and out against the cylinder. 

Next we will install the valve seats in order to cc the heads.  Then cc them to acheive the 9.68:1, and that will determine how much he will unshroud the combustion chamber around the valves.  That will be next week when we get back.  Off to the races now, wish us luck!

[danny gabbard]

Great post and info !! Thanks for spending the time.

[rick m]

Dsimas,

Won't make the Bugorama in Fontana.  Have someone coming over to pick up a 71 Bay Window from me this weekend.

Rick M

[dsimas]

First and most importantly:  WE WON AT FONTANA BUGORAMA!  Congrats to Tony and Ray for a job well done. He still holds the national record in his class and will win the point series if he simply shows up at the starting line at Phoenix Bugorama next month.  



So, back to Hugo's heads.  Ray's custom valve guides (shown in previous post) are in place on the exhaust side and will be modified in place.  They are much longer and will be ground within the head when Ray ports the exhaust port.  The intake guides cannot be in place during porting and unshrouding the heads because it would damage them.  Here's the head in the Valve And Seat Machine.



Ray will now be machining the bowl and unshrouding by hand with a ball mill cutter.  But we already showed that when we did it to Lynda's old racebus heads, so no need to repost him doing that here.

The intake valve guide is mounted here on a valve guide pilot to be tapered.  It took a while to find the right sized pilot.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLOmewEcJL8

There is now a 2 degree taper on the guide.  The reason for doing this is air flow.  This part of the guide sits inside the intake port, and there will now be less material blocking air flow, along with the shape being important.  Two degrees results in a long slender taper for optimum air flow.

[rick m]

There is a Phoenix Bug-O-Rama in November?  Where?

Rick Mortensen

[dsimas]

There is a Phoenix Bug-O-Rama in November?  Where?

November 6 - Arizona VW Nationals / PRA Championship Finals (Speedworld Dragstrip at Speedworld Raceway Park in Wittmann, Arizona)

Further information and current updates visit www.racepra.com

Rick, you have to come!  Ray would LOVE to see you.  Anyone else in the area for that matter.