01/01/06

Happy New Year

The engine has now been stripped and is ready to go for machining.

Heads off in this photo below just the crank, pistons, rods and few few odds and sods left to take off.

In the photo below the engine block is completely bare less the main bearing caps that will stay with the block. The bores seem ok, although it has already been bored out to plus 0.030" . You can still see the cross hatch honing marks so it should be ok to use with just another light hone. Time will tell.

The new winDscreen

Also along side the engine project I am also removing the aeroscreen and fitting a full windscreen. This involves the fitting of a windscreen surround which I have trial fitted as you can see in the photo below. This part requires some work on it and then spraying before I fit it and bond in the screen.

04/01/06

Here are two photos of my backup engine if it all goes pear shaped. The carbon fibre rocker covers will be used on the project engine. I have had this engine for fifteen years. It used to sit in a Scimitar GTE.

I am taking the engine block to be checked over next week. Hopefully it can be used, otherwise I will buy a new block. Once the block has been checked then I can go ahead and order the pistons. I want the compression to be 8:1 allowing me to make more boost. I need those 600 horses. I am also looking into buying the next size drive pulley down for the supercharger which will give me the next level of boost.

15/01/06

This was the engine wrapped and ready to go for machining.

I dropped the engine off on Wednesday this week. The deck on the block will first be skimmed to make it all square. The the bore size will be checked on all cylinders and also other measurements will be made before ordering the custom made pistons. I have also accurately measured the cc of the cylinder head chambers now that I have the valves. The static compression ratio will be 7.5:1. Yes I'm taking it even lower. The block will have the last remaining components removed i.e. cam bearings, core plugs and oil gallery plugs before being pressure cleaned. The machining will then take place and have new cam bearings intalled. If oversized pistons are to be used the the block will be machined to match the pistons.

I have most of the components for the engine build now, all that is remaining is the camshaft and the fuel injection system. Both of these items are arriving next month from the States.

I discovered  a new problem the other day. The drive belt for the supercharger is too small. I spoke to ProCharger in the States but they didn't have an answer other than to fit a longer belt. It seems strange that it would be be too small as they have sold many of these systems. After some searching on the internet and a sugestion by my girlfriend I came across a UK supplier of belts. Will find out tomorrow if I can get one the correct length. If I end up dropping down a pulley size the supplied belt may fit.

In the picture above the supercharger is bolted to my spare engine. The belt is on the top pulley ok but not correctly mounted on the crank pulley. I will take a better picture in the daylight.

19/01/06 Bad news!

The engine block is no good ( Thanks again to American Speed ).

After taking all the measurements it was found thay No4 cylinder was badly tapered. I could not risk taking the block out to +0.060". It would make the cylinder walls too thin for my application.

After checking my spare engine I found that this was at +0.040". So its no good either.

I may be going to use a Dart Little M Block. Depends on how quick I can get one and of course the price. The Dart block is a lot stronger than the GM block with thicker cylinder walls and an improved oiling system. Hopefully I'll know this afternoon. I'll keep you informed.

And now the good news!

I am going to bite the bullet and get a new Dart Little M Block. It should arrive next week! So hopefully no more bad news. The Dart block can use all the standard aftermarket components for the small block Chevy.

I've also ordered the aluminium sheet today for carrying out the bulkhead mods. This is 16G NS4 grade aluminium which is the same as used elsewhere on the car. I also ordered a sheet of 3mm for bracket work.

21/01/06 change of plan!

Just found out that I can get an early 70's 4-bolt block that is still at the standard bore size. These early 70's blocks were the best castings and good for using with stroker cranks and will also save me a load of money! The block will be machined to take the pistons at +0.030". The block will also be line honed. I am also having a rethink on the compression side of things. Because the supercharger makes most of its boost between mid and top revs I'm going to go with 8.5:1 compression. This also means I can use a standard forged blower piston which will keep the cost down. I saw a Honda Civic Type R at the Autosport show that was running stock compression (11:1) and still managing to take a bar of boost. He was running 20 degrees of retard on the timimg but was not suffering from detonation. The Honda was using a centrifugal supercharger.

I have now found a supplier who can get a longer belt for the supercharger and I should have it next week.

25/01/06 Back to Plan "b"

The early 70's block I was going to use was found to be at +0.030", so no good for my application. So it's back to the expense of a Dart aftermarket block.

I now have the aluminium sheet I need to carry out the necessary bulkhead mods to fit the supercharger.

26/01/06 new dart block ordered

I have ordered the new block this morning and it should be here in just over a week.

29/01/06 New belt and cooling

The new supercharger belt fits perfectly as you can see in the photo below.

Many thanks to my girlfriends Dad for getting this belt for me. In the picture it's on my spare engine just so I could trial fit it.

Due to the positioning of the supercharger the coolant swirl pot needs to be relocated to the oposite side of the engine bay. I will have a new one made as the outlet now points in the wrong direction. This has caused an extra problem because the feed into the bottom of the swirl pot comes from the coolant pipe running through the left side pod. The hose can't run past the engine to the other side due to the supercharger belt and bottom pulley. So I have removed it from the left side and will relocate it with the coolant pipe in the right side pod. I had to cut the pipe to remove it as these are normally fitted before the pod is fitted. I have now trial fitted it in the right side pod. I have removed it again so I can get the ends of the pipes beaded. The beading makes a better fit for the silicone hose.

In the photo above you can see the pipe that was removed from the left side pod and will be fitted into the right side pod. As I said above the pipe is in two pieces. The longer front section has been shortened by about 30cm.

This week I will be visiting Pace Products with regards my intercooling. Hopefully I will get them to also make a new coolant swirl pot for me. I will also speak to them with regards making an uprated radiator for the car. The reason being that this car will be putting out a lot more power with its new engine and the pre-rad for the chargecooler will soon be sat in front of it. I will be uprating the two cooling fans for the radiator,and to also assist with the cooling I will be adding a Davies Craig electric water pump to run in conjuction with the machanical water pump. There is a lot of coolant in this system and the machanical pump is not so good at low speed. The electric pump will act as a booster pump and will come on when temperatures get too high. It will also stop heat soak when the engine is switched off as the pump will run on to cool the engine down. The thermostat that controls the pump is connected directly to the battery.