rebuilding after the crash

Speak to me !
The Mighty Hemi speaks ! And speaks loudly !


Like the old E .F . Hutton ads back in the 70 ‘s.
My engine is a blown Nitro Hemi,,,,and Hemi says,,,,,,,,,!

Tommy

 

Tom Bailey just called asking if I would like to participate in a 8 car shoot out to be run during the nhra national race in Chicago this may. This could be a big deal.

 

Sounds like a target to hit. Go Man Go!

 

Yessir you should!

 

i was granted vacation for that weekend so i just need to get all of the details to make it happen.

 

Hey it's a fairly short trip.

 

That one is. The following week we go to nitro chaos in south central Iowa. Provided nothing is hanging out of the engine. The local truck stop minutes from the track has some great fried chicken. I get a huge container for me and the crew. I can't wait for that chicken.

 

When Tom calls you, YES, that is a big deal. Congratulations on the invite. Now go show your best, I know you will.

 

Hopefully everything stays in one piece so you can make it out to Lannon again this year. I go out there today to have photos taken of my wagon as it'll be one of three cars on the dash plaques this year. So I guess I have to show up in July ! Found out one of the Nitro cars Jerry Newman tunes will also be on the plaques, so I am in good company !

 

That's cool. I plan on being there. It's a great event.

 

Street zoomies are ready for the powder coater. Do to their weight a bracket was added. This will connect to the frame for support. Extra material was also added at the flange. Silicon bronze rod was used. This rod doesn't crack.

 

Happy Birthday !

 

Thanks. I had a great day. I worked a 12hr shift. It was very rewarding as our team helped alot of sick patients get better. I finished off the day the way I always do. For supper my wife makes home made piroggies and German chocolate cake. That's all I need. I'm a lucky guy.

 

well the sunday fire up didnt go as planned. its still leaking and there is a miss. i leaked it down and found number 7 leaked at 100 percent so that cylinder is dead. number 2 and 4 leaked at 35 percent the rest were at the normal 5 percent. the heads were off in a half hour. what we found is the cylinders that had the bad leak numbers had sleeves that dropped down about .005 below deck. this was checked with a special straight edge. what we figure happened is the engine got up to temp and things moved around. they were seated with a sleeve driver before decking. the only way to fix it is to pull the engine out and tear it down for a decking. it will never seal if i dont do this. so off to iowa i go after work on thursday. i could have it back together by sunday night. detroit diesel sells cylinder shims any size. they go on top of the sleeve. they get tapped down then the extra material is trimmed off. i just dont want to go that route. i could see doing it in a emergency. i have time to do it right. i post the failures so others can learn from my mistakes.

 

Did somebody say CAKE!!!

 

German chocolate cake, no less!

 

I wonder if after more than one time doing sleeves in the cylinders if that I.D. opens up just a touch from being compressed by the sleeve the first go around. It wouldn't take much seeing it is aluminum.

 

Sorry to hear that but you will overcome that setback just fine! Gary

 

I know what you are talking about Brian. I used to counter bore cylinder blocks in cat engines for the shims to get the correct height as per the sleeve and deck. I understand why you want no shims . Because NITRO.

 

the problem with putting in sleeves is the whole block heats up. if its hot enough the sleeves drop right in. when seating one with the installer and hammer the others can move. we are not talking much to screw things up. after the block cools some i hit them again. i have never had this happen before.

 

This is the same issue I ran into. I had the middle 4 sleeves about .004"-.005" low. We decked the block and I ran it a few events. After the next teardown, some cylinders were below deck again. I never did resolve that, and it had good leakdown numbers, but the coolant issue persisted. My machinists thinks my tired old block's registers are slowly shearing off due to the force of the head bolts and the O rings. I haven't been back into that motor for 3 years, so none of it is too handy at this time. Hope you get it squared away.

 

Dimensionally what is the interference fit here (i.e. Sleeve O.D. minus Block I.D)? I wonder if Cyro-fitting the sleeves would be a better alternative. This would entail submerging the sleeves in say liquid nitrogen long enough to equalize the temp and then installing the sleeves with the block at ambient temp.

I forget what the sleeve material is but that will factor in.

 

What a weekend. I worked my shift Thursday after that I drove to Cedar Falls Iowa. Friday morning came early. The block was put in the oven. When it was warm I started hammering on the sleeves to make sure that were seated. It was at this point I noticed the driver was about .025 larger than the sleeve. It was hitting the deck. Hhhmmm. I put in in the lathe to take care of that. I did find one sleeve that moved deeper after hitting it. The deck was cut so both sides match. I got home by 10pm. Saturday I worked until 1am. I got the short block built and in the car along with everything on the front of the car. Today I got the heads on along with the blower. It's lashed and timed. I just need to put the Bruno and lenco in. I will fire it up Tuesday most likely.

 

I received a text from my good friend Joel Naperstak (race car artist) on the hamb. The final art work is ready for the printer. Joel has done all of my t shirt art work and for good reason. I wanted something different. I wanted to feature the drag and drive on the shirt. I will go to the printer in two weeks to get them going. It should only take a few days to get them done. Front and back pics.

 

That looks BAD ASS!!! Can I reserve an XL!

 

You sure can. I will have a few hundred made. Sizes will be adult s; m; l; xl; XXL maybe a few xxxl. They will be nice t shirts not the cheap material. I will post when they are ready.

 

I'm not sure of the fit. I never checked it. The sleeves are super hard. They need to be cut with a diamond cutter. Stones will wear out quickly. The block doesn't wear out changing sleeves. They will fall out of the block when the block is heated. When a nitro car at the track scores a sleeve its all hands on deck to get it out before the engine cools. This whole sleeve mess happens. I learned alot from this. It won't happen again.

 

Put me down for a xxx.

 

1 medium and 1 xl . Hope to see you make some passes in Iowa end of may.

 

Rest up for Jefferson !