1st November 2006
Just a quick update to let you know what's happening at the moment. I was not completely happy with the head gaskets that I have fitted. After more research I ordered a different pair from the States. They arrived and were a better size, but I did not like the quality. After looking again at different gaskets and making several calls to the States I have ordered yet another pair of gaskets which should arrive tomorrow. I hope to have the engine rebuilt by this Sunday.
I also ordered a new pulley for the supercharger which I got today, only to find they have sent the wrong one. So that has to go back and the correct one should be here next week. Once I have the new pulley I will fit it and start the engine again.
I also now have a spare ECU and new software so all should be good for the restart of the engine.
I have primed the new headlamp covers and will fit them in the next week or so.
More updates to follow soon.
10th November 2006
HEADS OFF HEADS ON
The new gaskets arrived and the heads were removed and cleaned. The block decks were also cleaned ready to take the new gaskets.
In the pic below the heads have been removed. Everything has been cleaned ready for the gaskets.
In the pic below the heads are back on and have been torqued down.
As you can see the pushrods and rockers have been installed. When I came to set the lifter pre-load I found that the lifters had not bled down. They did not want to compress at all. I had to remove all eight pairs and compress them one at a time using a G-clamp and a couple of sockets. Once the oil had been squeezed out of them they could be reinstalled and the pre-load set on all sixteen lifters. The pre-load on these lifters is 30 thou.
ALTERNATOR BRACKET
While the engine was apart I decided to replace the alternator bracket as I was not happy with the one I had. The original one fitted to the old engine was of all aluminium design and it flexed to much. Some Ultima drivers have had them brake so a new one was ordered from Summit Racing in the States.
In the pic below you can see the new installed alternator bracket. This one differs in design to the other in that the rear bracket nearest the block is made of stainless steel and therfore it does not flex. The front bracket is made of aluminium to keep the weight down.The alignment of the bracket is also much better.
OTHER NEWS
The replacement supercharger pulley arrived and this time it was the correct one. I will fit the new pulley before starting the engine again.
I put the inlet manifold and injection system back on last night and hope to have the engine running again by tomorrow afternoon or Sunday at the latest. Wish me luck.
I will update again on Sunday night.
12th November 2006
THE ENGINE IS RUNNING
Just a quick update tonight to say that the engine is running again. I have the same problem in the mapping software. The software is a new version so the problem may be in the ECU. I will change the ECU tomorrow evening and run the engine to see if it clears the fault.
I will do a full update with pics tomorrow night.
16th November 2006
HOW THINGS ARE NOW
Since I ran the engine on Sunday, I ran it again on Monday lunch time using my back-up ECU. The same problem still existed. I ran the engine again on Monday night using a different laptop and new software and the problem was still present. I am thinking now that it maybe an earthing issue so tomorrow I will be running new earths to different points from the different electronic components in the car. Hopefully by tomorrow lunchtime I will be ready to test my theory.
THE NEW SUPERCHARGER PULLEY
I fitted the new supercharger pulley before starting the engine again. The original pulley was 4.75 inch and the new one is 4.25 inch. This will increase the boost that the supercharger will give to the engine. It will also have the added advantage of moving the pulley away from the side of the bulkhead panel as the old one was quite close.
The pic below shows the new pulley fitted to the supercharger and the old one at its base. The blow lamp was used to heat the hub of the old pulley to make it expand so it could be pulled of the shaft by a gloved hand.
The next pic shows the engine back together. The distributer is left out till the last minute as the engine oil pump is primed with the tool shown when I last started the engine.
In the pic below the engine is ready to be started.
The pic above is how it still looks now. Once I have the ECU problem sorted I will start to alter the map so it's not running quite to rich while I go through the running in procedure. Once the basic running in is done I will carry out some other mapping before taking the car to my local rolling road. I also have a few jobs to do before taking the car for its first MOT.
18th November 2006
MAPPING PROBLEM SOLVED
I phoned the technical helpline at Holley in the States yesterday with regards the problem I was having. They were no help at all! I then spoke to Real Steel who have setup engines on the dyno using the Holley Commander system. They told me about some problems they had seen but not the one I was seeing. I was a bit depressed about it all as I could get no further until the problem was solved.
This morning I tried a few things like screening various cables in case it wasa electronics noise issue. It was still the same. Then while running the engine I tried something and 'Eureka' I found the problem. All it turned out to be in the end was that the software only supports one window open at a time. I closed all the windows when the engine was running and then opened the fuel map and all was working, but when I opened the spark map to run along side the fault reappeared. So only open one window and all is well.
Now that the problem was solved I pushed the car out onto the drive to start the mapping.
Here are a few pics.
In the pic below you can see the Tubosmart dump valve. The induction tube running from the supercharger to the chargecooler in going to be remade in one piece.
More updates soon.