FLATHEAD buildup. flatoz's roadster gets a new heart

Well,

to say I am feeling less than pleased with everything at the moment is an understatement. tonights effort in the shed capped off what was a otherwise shitty day anyway. I should have known better.

for starters I did something to my neck which has me walking around like an idiot as I couldnt turn my head, then I have to trapse halfway across melbourne to pick up some furniture for a mate ( dont mind helping mates) but it was one of the first hot days and the only thing in my ute resembling aircon is me waving my arms up and down to stir up the air. So now I have the ute loaded up with furniture, I cant see out the back rearview mirror and I'm having trouble turning my head to see the side mirrors and ricers in peak hour zipping around like blowflys...

So, I finally get home... ready to make some headway, my wife is getting new curtians, so I use the fact that she is engrosed in the goings on to slip out into the shed.

Plan one, clean the block from the metal filings of reboring the lifter holes, easy done. step two, and this is where the plan started to come apart. check the ring gap. I had done this cursory the other day and didnt like what I saw. well bingo! jackpot. a great big whooping gap of .020, not a pigs dick near the 3-4 thou per inch of bore, I should be staring at about 12-14 thou WTF!

anyway, I recover from this with visions of me climbing out of bed at 4.30-5am tomorrow to ring reds headers to order another set of rings.




So I move onto cleaning the crank. As so far, I havent felt that I can trust the monkeys that it was tanked post being balanced. so I get stuck into it with this little bottle brush I bought yesterday. thats easy enough.





so I grab my brand new grade 8 hi tensile bolts only to find that instead of being 1/2x3 1/4 like it even says on the bag, which mind you is what I ordered, another set of monkeys is playing with me, thier 3 3/4 long, well isnt that just fantastic!



so I clean an old set of mains bolts and proceed.

next is check with plastigauge the clearances. with my digital verniers, I get them within each other

front .00218

centre .00211

rear .00200

at least that seems good. so I clean down the surfaces and decide to trial torque the crank. so I decide to go to 60lbs to start, I do that and I can not spin the crank. so now its after 9 pm, I havent eaten since lunch and I'm thouroughly pissed off. instead of taking my 4lb hammer and massaging a few things, I decide to hang my head and wrap the motor up and shut up shop.




this will have to wait till another day.

so , i will now miss my deadline of the Ballarat rod run, another run missed. I'm about ready to forget about it all at the moment. but I wont let the monkeys get me down...

bastards.

 

This is why I don't build motors

 

Saw your post - sounds like some of the days I've had. I saw that your ring gap was .020 . . . instead of .012 to .014.

I've found that when I buy presized rings, that they tend to have a bit larger gaps like this -- at least on the flatheads I've built. If I want them to be exact, then I will buy them with a bore of .010 larger and "file to fit" them myself. Don't know if it really makes that much difference - just the way I like to do it. I also take a ring file and break the sharp corner at the gap - just a bit.

Let us know what the deal is on the crank - sure shouldn't be tight. you might check the end-to-end play . . . sometimes it can be too tight in the thrust surface. Did you torque/test without the rear main seal in? If you're running a rope seal, it can bind the crank - I always do my testing without any seals in - then put the seal in later.

Best of luck!

Dale

 

yep thats how I have done it before, not sure what is going on with the rings. will ring the machine shop to see if they actually gapped the rings or not.

 

Keep at it mate, when it's done it will be kick arse.

These things are sent to try us. If it was a Windsor I could help you, but as you know, I'm not up on the Flathead stuff, yet

 

Damn sometimes it doesn't pay to get out of bed.
But you know it will all be worth it in the end.
Don't worry about Ballarat just make sure it's ready for Ben's big shindig.


Binga

 

Ahh Mate,

Sorry to hear your woes. I hate hearing about shit like this, you shouldn't have to re-check someone elses work. AGGGGGG!!!!!!

Danny

 

Bastards. Never trust anyone Corey, and keep at it. Like the others said, this engines gonna kick arse when its done

 

Bugger! But you did the right thing, walk away and leave it for a bit. One thing I have learnt over the years is when things are going really wrong or its no fun, walk away and come back to it later. It may not help with deadlines but its better to try and keep some sanity and get some enjoyment out of it.

Our Aftermarket industry needs a good boot up its arse, too many times we go through shit like this. Is it really that hard to supply the right bit the first time, not second or third......

 

unfortunately Brett, it just got worse.

wifes car did a cam belt,

so the motor gets pushed to the back of the shed until her car is sorted. If I ever catch that murphy bastard...

 

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

If ya catch him kick him for me too.

 

sometimes life just fooks you over so much you just got to laugh.

I put her car in the driveway last night and it was making a different noise. it was 1130 so didnt bother too look, told her to keep an eye on the oil light ( oil in back of car) and watch the temp gauge incase the fan belt goes ( didnt sound like it).

guess who got a call at work to say the car stoped and wont go...

 

Well mate u know how it goes when it rains, it fuckin pours.

Did the valves end up kissin the pistons? When was the belt due to be replaced?

Jeez man, i feel for you.

Rat

 

Would it help if I came around and drank some of your beer?

 

Ah Man,

So it was a cam belt? That really sucks ass.

Danny

 

hehe WHAT GUY....WHAT A GUY !!

Rat

 

nobody drinks fosters in oz!Fosters used to sponsor the melbourne cup and it rightly got its nickname from that "Horse piss"its crap!!!,ps ripper car was the old engine in it at phillip island?if so it seems to have lasted ok until recently!

 

Sorry to hear that the shit has hit the fan - yet again!!!

I'd come over to give you a hand to fix the rubber band in Janine's car.. but I'd have to bring my 7 year old with me, and she's busy driving the porcelin bus ... in forward and reverse!!! :-(

 

What's the news Corey, Any new updates?

 

Hi Ty,

Spoke to the man yesterday, no news on the F-head (the motor, not the cam belt ).

Danny

 

on the last few motors that have been built the cranks locked up on them as well i am not sure on the brand of bearings but the last three out of three all had to be line bored with the bearings in the block and bingo crank turns again

 

QQ, mmmm, don't like the sound of that. And Flatoz, a busted cam belt can be very hard cheese indeed. It's time as well as distance that is the enemy and the books don't always tell you that.
I was at a shop a couple of years ago and a lexus had done a cam belt, apparently the owner was looking at 13K or so. Ouch!

 

This POST is AWESOME! I love it!


Good work!

 

Maybe I should have put one of your spare French blocks in my suitcase for Flatoz.

 

LOL, next you come, you can pic one!

i still have a few...5 or 6... ;-)

 

5 or 6 huh? Swap you one for a......... um....... 6 pack of Fosters??

 

Don't like foster's.........sorry mate ;-)

 

Ahhhh, bugger................

 

Neither does anybody in OZ . . . they just managed to package it up and sell it to us Yanks - who believe that somebody actually likes it in OZ. I'll take an oilcan of VB anytime over a damn Fosters. Wish I was drinking one right now . . . or maybe 3

 

Yeah, I was just trying to get rid of the crap. Hey at least I tried to get something for the crap...........