engine building (a 2007 for 2008)

[nicolas]

hey i will put a new engine in the fastback to ket it live up to it's name a little better. i have been posting and asking questions for the last half year or so and i feel it is time to have them sorted in one topic and not randomly annoy other people in their posts.
so this is a recap off what has been done so far and i hope i can update it on a regular basis. i have most off the parts now and now i will start to build the engine and show all the things i can come up with.
by now you all know i am not a mechanic, but i will try to get it done in the best way i can. i will get help from different people and shops to complete it, but the main aim is to do most off it myself.

[nicolas]

ok i may be paying some expensive lessons at the moment...
i have brought my stuff to a good headporter yesterday to let him finally see what i am up to and we had quite a talk. a good one. like last time he showed me some insights and stuff that is really important in enginebuilding.
the bad news is that after the talk my engine doesn't quite defines that 'ideal'... i am not worried yet as he will measure everything up and see if the stuff is done correctly and we'll see from there.
anyway some bad stuff came up, like the longawaited cam... that i wanted to have some Magnum straightcut gears but turns out to have some cast iron thingy insted...  and that doesn't have too many balancing marks on it either... there were other things that didn't 'fit' either.
so that pissed me off quite a bit, but i am glad to hear it now and not find out when something brakes when all is bolted together and i dump the clutch on the poor thing...

so not much i can tell and no pictures for now. i just keep my fingers crossed and hope everything turns out OK. but that is a slim chance at the moment ( my stars and planets don't line up like they should these days ... or something like that) but i hope i didn't pay a very expensive lesson...

[roland]

Keeping fingers crossed for you!   

[wolfswest]

That realy is a bummer...  I also been on that road when I “trusted” a famous enginebuilder here in Belgium.  I’m not going to mention any names but he grabbed me with the b*lls…        
The engine was cheaper than other shops but in the end ( 5 miles later) it turned out how this was possible:
I payed for stuff that wasn’t in the engine, it came with a crappy cam, crappy cam-lifters etc… 
I was furious but didn’t go back to the shop….  I searched another shop and everything worked out well.  Unfortunatly there was I think a 2500 euros down the drain…
Heads up man.  Dark clouds will disappear someday, just keep going!

[Jim Ratto]

Are you saying the machinist didn't balance the cam? It isn't supposed to be balanced.

[LGK]

Jim,

You would be surprised if you send out a cam WITH the gear on what needs to be done to have it well balanced.(not all of them,it depends)
It's not that much money on top if you already have your crank assembly,rods,pistons  at the balance-shop.

QUESTION; if you would balance all of your rods to let's say within 1 gram,and so you do with the pistons,why not balance the cam+gear?

Regards Steve.

[nicolas]

hey thanks Roland and Wolfwest for the words. i was hoping to have some 'cruising buddies' this summer,but it seems like my project is not coming through like it should for the moment at least. but like i said i liked the honesty and good advice i have gotten. it's that these things don't make you jump for joy in most cases.
anyway it all sounds like a good old NOFX song/lyrics: "follow what i say not what i've done" and this time i tell you to go to other people who do the same thing and can give you a different opinion. i didn't know untill yesterday there were such things as steel bearings... (serious). by this i don't mean i didn't want to know, i just was the unlucky person to have opened engines with the crappy ones and installed the crappy ones as well...  so there was no way i knew off others. oh well, i know now and will see that they get installed as well.

ahh and if it all doesn't happen this year i will have to safe up some more money and make it happen later. it's just a shame my car wouldn't run this year. or with the stock engine from the squareback... but we are not there yet, i am still hoping for some good things to happen and an engine that runs for this summer.

[nicolas]

allright!

here is a small update on the matter.

i have been on the phone with steve and he says that the crank and rods are good and balanced. so no problem in using those. but the case is OK, but not good enough to use in a highpower output engine that needs to be reliable. so that sets me back a little, but not too much i guess. better safe then sorry is the new device. 

anyway that is all fairly good news, BUT....

i also have the 84 journal crank with rods and a FK10 and a set of 48 dells.... 
so what do i do? do i build the original engine 78x90 that should have been good enough for now and that i would have build myself. but now it seems like i am outsourcing that work... for the better i am sure. but not budgetwise better.
Or do i just break the bank and get the 84x94 engine in the pipeline again and just get it done and over with and make that very big engine???

the way i look at it i am for both engines (budgetwise) at a same investment. but they are two different combo's with different parts in the longrun. so any suggestions are welcome. i am no longer looking at budgets or money anymore as it never adds up like i thought it would do. so i am going for the most FUN combo

thanks

[Frank LUX]

Nicolas,

Whatever you do, listen to Steve...

I might take some Time but he is one of the Best...

Frank

[nicolas]

Nicolas,

Whatever you do, listen to Steve...

I might take some Time but he is one of the Best...

Frank

that is what i will do, but the enginesize is really up to me he said. so i try to do the smart thing here and make the decission on a 78x90 or 84x94 engine.

[Frank LUX]

Nicolas,

Whatever you do, listen to Steve...

I might take some Time but he is one of the Best...

Frank

that is what i will do, but the enginesize is really up to me he said. so i try to do the smart thing here and make the decission on a 78x90 or 84x94 engine.

What are you looking for, all out performance and high refs or a lasy Nice build high Torque motor...

I would go 84x94...

Frank

[Peter]

me too 

[nicolas]

OK here is the new and final plan. i have had a couple weeks to make up my mind and think this over.
my best option for now seems to be a 78x94 engine. there seems no issues with cooling so i go for that.
the 94 comes from the fact that my case was not deemed good enough for a highhorsepower engine.
so i ordered up a new case fully modified and ready to be used.
the nice thing is that it will push the horsepower even more up... happy,happy, joy, joy
AND it seems that i have scored a set of 48IDA's... never thought of owning a set (ever). but it seems like i joined the darkside and will be hearing the bark of 48IDA's...

i am well up for that.

so all i have to do is save up a big pile of money as i wont do the work myself... that is a bit of a bummer, but i have lost money on trying it myself and ending up with basically nothing. that really sucks, valuable lessons learned, but they did not come cheap. case that was not good enough to start with, parts being held back for months, parts balanced with the wrong pressureplate...
all stupid trivial stuff that costed money and which end up to not much engine..
the good news is i am happy with the honesty and good service i got now and i am trusting him to make something nice out of all this.

[j-f]

Bad and good news.

I'm in the same case as you. Lot's of ideas and motivation, but no one to teach me and also no time...
I've decided to build my first "perfo" engine by the most classical and cheaper way . A 1600cc with w110 and Kadron! As this, if I break it with wrong mounting, I will don't loose too much money. But, I try to build it as good as possible. Everything is balanced, heads are new and rework by a well know French guy with stainless Manley valve, CB springs, chromo, HD rockershaft. I take time to calculate and increase my CR to 8 or 8.5.
I hope learn to build my next engine.
The best lesson I take, is that you learn a lot with your mistakes.

[nicolas]

make a topic out of it. i like seeing all the highperformance engine builds with all the special tools and special parts. but i would like to see some more DIY enginebuilding.things build at home with your average garagetools. 60's and 70's style.

wish you all the luck with that.

i  have been thinking about it myself. looks like nothing will be used from the original 1641engine... i could have left it like it was and have a new engine commisioned from scratch.

[Peter]

Hey Nicolas,
hows the progress?

[nicolas]

well it seems like my enginesize is only shrinking... it looks it will be running a 1776 for this season. funds and parts are the main reason the project is put on hold. 

[JS]

Are you saving up for the trip to SCC Nicolas? 

[nicolas]

yes of course that as well...

i have allready the stickers on the car. now i only need a better engine and a clutch that works and the breaks bleeded and it seems like i am all set to go. but first there is bugtour in two weeks and maybe very maybe DVK next week. allready a very busy season and i haven't done much yet