Technical ***March 2024 Banger Meet Thread - In Like A Lion Out Like A Banger***

@Dan from Oakland

all the pistons have wear on the thrust side of pistons, ring landings still look nice and square.

 

The holes through the rods were to lighten them? And the others required extra weight to match? That’s crazy.

 

Check the piston diameter toward the bottom of the skirt. You want about .004 clearance. Looks to me like someone installed the wrong size rings from the get go- the pistons are .040 over and it looks like someone may have installed .030 rings. (Its that PI x diameter thing.)
You need about .016 gap on the top two rings and .012 on the oil ring if its a 1 piece ring. Yes, you should be able to hone it and end up with a useable bore as long as there are no scores. What does the wear pattern on the skirts look like?

 

alchemy- nope, that's pretty common on T rods- the weights are all over the map depending on the forging. Ford used several suppliers for rod forgings. Its not uncommon to see 20-30 grams difference in rod weights. Best practice is to pour a batch of rods, assemble them, rough machine the bearing to semi , and then sort the batch for total and big end weight. A rods are a little better, but we sort those as well. Personally, I would never weld a weight on a connecting rod, but that's just me. Back when I was more stupid , we would tin the web of the rod and add weight using babbit, but the sorting is a much better solution.

 

installed a coolent temp gauge..very important for the southwest here..dont want to burn up my new motor
got all sorts of muk and stuff out of radiator..twigs leafy plant stuff sand,pebbles

 

thank you Dan, will do.

 

Pistons seem to be pretty uniform top to bottom when measured 90° from center of wrist pin.

Thinking about reaching out to Chaffins, and ordering a brand new set of 40 over Egge pistons with rings, rather than trying to reuse the existing ones. Thoughts, thank you.

 

I fitted a cast iron Burtz head last year. Seems a good bit of kit with a modified Ricardo style chamber. It uses 7/8" plugs though in the stock location, which creates a pocket in the head, much like the 14.9HP heads. Last year I ran some plug adaptors with 3/4" reach 14mm plugs.

I modelled some spark plug adapters to fit some 1" reach projected electrode M12 plugs. The plan was to move the fire further into the chamber and fill some of the spark plug pocket in the head. I had them turned up in brass courtesy of RKE Engineering. Just waiting for the rain to stop and a daylight hour to try them out.

 

By the looks of it, you created the 1" pocket by using the adaptors. The M12 x 1" are an unusual plug, but get the job done. I would imagine the Burtz head normally takes a 3/4" reach. What is the compression ratio of the head? Any word on the fuel pumps or is it a lost cause?
Warren

 

Sometimes, when you want what you want, you gotta make what you need! Lookin good hotrodfil! I did the same with my Akron-Hed where the 1/2”npt plugs were extremely recessed. Found these 10mm plugs from a snowmobile that have 1-1/8” reach

 

I remember being told when I put 10mm plugs in a head to clear the valves it would not work
How the times have changed
Great stuff you guys!!
J

 

I’m only about 5-600 miles into these plugs… but haven’t been given any reason not to trust em yet. The only downside so far is that they aren’t near as available as 14mm, and standard plug boots don’t fit tight against their smaller diameter porcelain insulators

 

Being a banger rookie, I thought my Diamond block B banger seemed to run ok, except for some ticking that I thought was a loose tappet or two, so I took off the cover to check.

A sense of impending doom came over me when I saw water in the port.



Took the head of and my fears were confirmed.

Number 3.



Number 2.



Number 1.



Not sure about number 4.



I've had the pan off to have a look and the rest of the motor seems fine and perfectly usable, so now I'm looking forward to being told that my block isn't FUBAR!

 

Maybe yur on to sumpin… the V8 guys are payin good money to relieve their blocks like that!

Gotta admit it ain’t pretty. Is that a crack right in the middle? You ran it for this long without the erosion causing any noticeable problems, I say fix the leak, grind the valves, and send it down the road for a bit longer. Step up the valve diameter to avoid cutting in hard seats if you need to

 

Haha, yes I did think about relieving them all to match!

Big crack in #3, repair in #2, crack in the middle of #1.

Good idea about stepping up the valve diameter, if it was only done on the bad cylinder it might make up for the lower compression

I did a compression test a while ago and got 50 psi on #3 and 60psi on the rest, thought it was just leaky valves or maybe a loose inlet tappet which would explain the ticking noise.

Reckon my only option is to do a stitch repair and a valve job.
I have to get the valves out and see if the cracks go into the ports at all, if so it'll have to be K-Seal to the rescue.

 

You can still put pins in the port- start from the port and then go toward the desk. Biggest problem with B blocks is the casting can be really thin on the deck and in the port wall. You just don't know until you drill that 1st hole.............one thing in your favor is the exisiting pin repair appears to be pretty solid and holding well.

 

I currently have a 9" V8 clutch in my banger, no problem. I want to install a 10" clutch in another banger on a Burtz flywheel inside a AA bell housing. The mounting bolts should be the same, but I have been led to believe that using a 10.5" pressure plate eliminates the external weights and clears the bell housing. Is anyone currently using this setup without any clearance issues?
Warren

 

Thanks Dan, it's all bit scary as my deck is already a bit thin and wasted around the crack, what type of pin/screws did you use?

I like the look of lock-n-stitch but haven't found a UK stockist yet, having to spot face with that system looks like it could be a problem in a thin deck. Lots to learn.

 

For cast iron block and head repairs I have been using the Iron Tite repair plugs.
https://irontite.com/c/115-crack-repair
It is a pretty good system, I have had luck pinning thru a valve seat (not inserted) with success.
Pinning inside ports is tough, use the smaller pins, requires less tap thru length. Just more pins.

J

 

Lock and Stitch did not exist when I started doing this- only Iron Tite, so that's what I have always used. Yes, the smaller pins are best for in the port and seat area.

 

Waiting for spring in Sweden!

 

Some really nice work here. Thanks for the lathe shots.

 

30 grams is about 1 ounce - a cubic inch of steel is about 4.5 ounces. The removed and added weight looks far more than 30 grams. I wonder if he was trying to effect crank balance and smooth out the engine.

 

An intake a friend made recently

 

Outback! OK yo win the prize for the week.... that's beautiful- the weld elbows are perfect- mild steel or stainless?? Really nice how you added the throttle linkage mounts.

 

Superb!

 

@Outback
Wow, that’s impressive! I can use it for inspiration in building mine for the Alexander.
Thanks for sharing that, it’s top drawer quality.

 

I was able to find one for my Rutherford with 3 Stromberg 48s. I'm still going to build one to take a pair of Holley 500cfm 2bbl like my engine originally ran.

 

Wow @Outback - that's really beautiful. I don't usually like faux finishes - but the casting effect/scaling looks perfect.

 

He & his brother do some exceptional work. @Dan from Oakland it's all stainless. & Will probably be painted!