The eternal rebuild

[Peter Shattock]

That evening I cut off the boot and unpicked a connector and fitted it on my existing one so we were hopefully good to go in the morning.
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[Peter Shattock]

I fitted up the lead fired the car up but it was still on 3 cylinders and you could see some unbury fuel tripping from the exhaust joint of number 4 which was the cylinder with the lead issue. The assumption at this point was that it had killed the plug. I switched the car off and checked to see I’d not missed anything else. Nothing obvious found, but having checked everything and reset the TPS I started the car again and it was back to 4 cylinders. I do wonder if it was a bit of heat which recovered the plug but can’t be certain. I took it for a quick drive to check and to try and weigh the car. The drive was fine, but they were not weighing cars when I was there so it was back to the pits but happily with car on 4 cylinders.

There was due to be a bit of sketchy weather Saturday with some on and off rain, but the forecast for Sunday was really wet so I decided to call it a day and pack up and head home. The only reason I was at the track this weekend was to drive the car there run a 10 and drive it home. With two of the three aims completed I was thinking more about driving home than another run particularly given the clutch issues I’d experienced and not actually diagnosed or fixed.

Decision made I packed everything back in the car had some lunch with the guys before heading home.
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[Peter Shattock]

The drive back was all good but for the rain for the last 45 minutes and it really did rain but the car was all good and pulling back onto the driveway at home this time really was a big deal as this plan to run a 10 in a n/a 1776 street car took some doing.
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[Peter Shattock]

Having arrived home a day early I decided to get the motor out of the car the following day to check the clutch. It looks like the pressure plate has gone south not entirely sure why yet, but I’m working on that and have a plan to be out again at the end of July with a happy clutch and another change which I hope will help improve the cars performance a bit too.
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[Peter Shattock]

That’s about it. I’ll get some videos up on Instagram and try and remember how to put a link up here.

The moment I pulled onto the drive at home job done!

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[wolfswest]

Super Super Cool!  Well done Peter!

[ibg]

What a great story to wake up to 
well done
what clutch are you using at the moment?

[Peter Shattock]

Thanks both it was a really good weekend.

Clutch is a Kennedy stage 1 180mm pressure plate with a black magic disc.

This has been the best solution to date for what I’m doing and will be what I’m sticking with for now. I have a garage night tomorrow night so hope to have a plan if it’s not fixed.

[j-f]

Great story and thanks to take the time to write it up 

[andrewlandon67]

The next challenge ought to be figuring out a way to get heater boxes to work on it, so you'll have your 10 second driver and be comfortable too!

Seriously though, this car's such a masterpiece, congrats on finally getting to your goal!

[Eddie DVK]

Always a good read,
Thanks for sharing.

[Peter Shattock]

Time for another out of date update.

The clutch drama which stopped the fun last time at the track turned out to be the shoe coming loose in the cover. All 3 of the rivits which connect the shoe to the cover via the sprung steel straps were loose at the cover end. One was particularly loose and I’m not sure how much longer it would have taken to break altogether. All things considered when I had it apart on the bench I felt very lucky that I stoped when I did and got to drive it home and get the job done. [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] you can’t see much but the heat colouring tells you all you need to know.
[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] you can see here the slot the spring steel strap was making in the shoe as it moved.

[Peter Shattock]

As fixes go though it was a simple one so I ordered some new pressure plates and centres from Kennedy to get balanced. All I had to do was wait for the bits.
Given all the issues I have had getting the car off the line over the years, I had decided to add some weight to the pulley end of the crank to add some inertia to the motor to see if it would help. Given the motor is built I decided to use a damper pulley to save balancing issues that I would have had with adding a new billet pulley. The previous pulley weight was about 1.5kg all up and this new one would add around 3.5kg. Those of you that have read these ramblings previously will know adding weight to the car is generally not my thing, particularly when it’s right at the very back of the car, but there are exceptions and this is one of them.
I did some research and settled on the ATI damper pulley as its SFI approved (not all are). Unsurprisingly they don’t make one for an ACVW so I knew I would need to make a new hub. The hub that came with the pulley which is for a SB Chevy provided the dimensions for the pulley mount part of the hub. The remainder to fit the hub to the crank and allow for the crank trigger wheel and v belt grove for the fan belt was basically all as it was before. Martin Taylor from Taylor Machine made the original pulleys and still had the details on CAD to re draw the new hub required to fit the damper pulley and Martin was happy to make the new hub. As you would expect the whole thing sits further out from the back of the motor and is a bigger diameter so there was a chance of a clash with the oil pump and tinware but whilst it looked close it looked like it would fit or worst case would fit with some minor modification of the rear tin.
I hadn’t appreciated that I would need to fit the fan belt on the pulley before fitting it to the motor not that it’s a drama unless you forget to fit it or if you break the belt as there is not sufficient room between the oil pump and the now bigger diameter pulley to fit it after the event.
Martin made the new hub and delivered it in time for Bugjam so I was good to go. The tinware fitted without modification too so that was a result.
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[Peter Shattock]

The only other drama I discovered after the last race was that the rivits which hold the rebuildable rear silencer together were lose so I drilled them out with a view to checking and rebuilding the silencer. It turned out that the perforated pipe in the centre had collapsed. I knew I was risking it when it was made as the whole silencer is aluminium and whilst the the really rather lovely looking bit of aluminium tube that I had perforated on a CNC machine did look amazing and save weight I think it’s fair to say that I was risking the possible issues with heat and that proved to be the case. With the silencer apart the perforated pipe has collapsed and separated along its length. I don’t know when it collapsed, but I suspect it would have been fairly early on. [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]
As I’ve been racing recently with the silencer I think it’s fair to say it would not have helped the cars performance. I didn’t get the silencer fixed in time as it’s rather more difficult than you might imagine being a one off part. It will be back but with a stainless steel perforated pipe this time. This meant I ended up trailering the car to Bugjam which was not the original plan, but without a silencer I had no choice. This also meant I’d be running with the stinger which I’d not done for a few years.

[Peter Shattock]

On the basis of potentially having a bit more power and some more weight on the crank I was feeling quite optimistic that I’d done a couple of good things to make it worth going back to the track to see what difference they made.
I packed the night before the race which is a 3 day weekend so was planning on heading off early to get set up and to be able to check everything was OK and get a run or two in to blow out the cobwebs on day 1. I met up with Dave and Lee on the way and got to the track in good time and soon got set up and met up with everyone there in the Outlaw pits.
I had a small list of jobs to do with the car which I went through and got signed in.
I always hate the first run as it all feels so awkward until I’ve got one done particularly as I hadn’t driven the car to the track this time.
So I got down to the line did a quick burnout, got up to the line and did a bit of a scruffy run, but as I shut off the car filled with smoke no nasty noises (that I heard) but I dipped the clutch as soon as I could and switched it off and coasted off the track. It was obviously oil smoke and not just a little bit of it either. I got out to take a look and there was oil on top of the engine and a decent size hole in the top of the crankcase! Needless to say that was not a welcome sight which obviously brought the weekend to and end before it really got going.
Once we had the car back in the pits the case had stoped venting oil smoke. The hole in the case was just over number 4 rod and I’d assumed it would have been number 4 rod having let go, but it was visibly still there and complete when I could see in the case. I dropped the oil which was carrying various bits of nasty looking metal. Rocker covers off and the 3 and 4 side looked normal but on the 1 and 2 side the number 2 inlet rocker was broken. Although the valve looked broadly straight or at least not really bent and the pushrod was straight too.
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[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] fixed it amazing what a bit roll can do.

[Peter Shattock]

At this point I decided it was time to sit down have a beer and have a think and chat things through with Dave and Lee.
It was a easy choice in the end as I knew I was not going to be able to enjoy the rest of the weekend at the track so I decided to pack up and get the car home and get the motor out for a better look.
The only obvious positive at this point was that I hadn’t driven to the track so had an easy way to get the car home. I decided to pack up that evening as I wanted to make the most of the time over the weekend to get the motor out of the car.
Back home with the motor on the stand it was a bit of a horror show with the motor upside down and the sump plate off the number 2 rod had completely disintegrated and unfortunately I’d also broken a part of the head of on of the ceramic followers. I took the 1 and 2 head off which happily looked broadly OK and the number 2 piston was complete and still moved in the bore.
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Explicit photo warning!
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I’ve had a more somber catch up than normal with Johannes to talk about what happened, but realistically I just need to crate up the motor and post it to Sweden and book some flights to get over there and take the motor apart and have a proper look and assess the damage and make a plan.

I know I’m hardly a regular contributor here anyway, but I think it would be fair to say there could be a bit of a break in the updates.

Peter

[Tucson vw]

That looks horrible, hope it’s not as bad it looks.

[ibg]

that is a big sacrifice to the gods of speed 
I look forward to seeing the next iteration as you motor, car and you are a real inspiration to me and I'm sure, many others
Have you got any thoughts at this stage what caused the carnage?

[nicolas]

damn... I feel for you. that isn't exactly what I was hoping to see in this update. I hope you ship it as quickly as possible to not rethink this twice and get on with it it. all the best and hopefully not too many more setbacks and broken parts will be found upon disassembly.

[Peter Shattock]

I like the positive responses, but I think realistically the damage will be bad, but if you play with fire for long enough you are bound to get burnt at some point. I have obviously wondered what it was that caused the problem which resulted in the failure, but there is no point in trying to guess as with the visible carnage I think it will be difficult to be certain.

My plan is to get the motor and myself to Sweden before the end of the year and perhaps in time to get some bits on my Christmas list.

That said perhaps we’ll just have a few beers and build ginger bread houses instead…..

[Cornpanzer]

Ugggh.  Sorry to see that Peter.  D.C.

[andrewlandon67]

A few beers and building some gingerbread houses over in Sweden sounds like a good way to sort out what the next iteration of the fastest beetle in the village will have motivating it... Sorry for all the struggles with it over the years, but I can say with some degree of certainty that myself and the other Loungers will absolutely be awaiting the next bit of lunacy you and Johannes cook up.

[MrIcka]

  Sorry to see that mess. One of my favorite car. I think you and Johannes are going to get this sorted so we once again can hear it scream down the track with the cool gear changages

[Per Ericson]

A few beers and building some gingerbread houses over in Sweden sounds like a good way to sort out what the next iteration of the fastest beetle in the village will have motivating it... Sorry for all the struggles with it over the years, but I can say with some degree of certainty that myself and the other Loungers will absolutely be awaiting the next bit of lunacy you and Johannes cook up.

You don´t drink beer when building ginger bread houses, you drink Glögg!

[Peter Shattock]

It turns out I was a bit early for the gingerbread houses and it turns out the kids have grown up so we spent the evenings watching old videos (yes videos) and drinking a few beers to help fuel the ideas.

So I finally got organised to get over to Sweden and see Johannes this week so we could get the motor apart following the mishap in the summer and asses the damage.

Flying over is certainly a lot quicker than driving, but the drive is always more exciting as you are hoping for a positive outcome. Unfortunately this trip was certainly not one of those given the additional crankcase breather I’d managed to fashion at the end of the track last time out.

As ever with this sort of thing given the resulting carnage it’s difficult to definitively determine in what order things happened. What is for sure is that the number 2 rod bolt snapped which is obviously not going to end well.

We think the oiling system was fine as it’s proved it’s self over time, there were no changes in this regard and all the other bearings were fine with no sign of oil starvation. All in all there was nothing obvious to indicate a wider problem with oiling.

The number 2 piston pin was missing a clip which we did find in the case relatively unscathed. We are assuming that happened in the carnage when the rod bolt let go rather than it causing the problem.

Unsurprisingly the damage in the short block is extensive. In short it’s all scrap, except the oil pickup tube and the dizzy drive….
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Fortunately the heads are ok other than bent valves on number 2. The pushrods were ok a broken rocker is an easy fix, but obviously the pistons and barrels are done too.

We discussed a few options given we are effectively starting again so we agreed to consider these for a while before definitively deciding on a plan as whilst this was certainly not part of the plan it does give us some options we might not have considered if it was all still in one bit with just regular maintenance  and upgrades to consider.

The main problem with doing anything different is that we already had a plan for this winter to make some improvements before this happened so there are ‘itches to scratch’ and it feels like unfinished business all be it the car has done what we set out to do with it.

There are various parts needed regardless of what we do next so parts chasing for those bits can start now. There are bespoke things which will take a long time to organise / make so we’ll focus on those bits first. It will be a long road back to where we left off, but the sooner we start something the sooner it will be back in one bit.

That’s about it. Updates might be a bit few and far between as this is going to take a while….

Peter

[MrIcka]

Oh shit, that was not a pretty sight 

Exciting to see how the new build turns out, good luck.

[Eddie DVK]

Keep your head up.
And keep posting this is my favorite blog.