More progress photos:

 

 

All was looking good, until I checked at the #4 Main Bearing. I was thinking of replacing bearings, I'm wondering about what should be done with the crankshaft. Thoughts?

 

Edited April 19, 201313 yr by carbonboy

Don't laugh but spray-on oven cleaner is what my mate swears by for cleaning carbon off. He then uses degreaser and a pressure wash.

 

Vernier calipers, you say. Don't you mean a "very near guessing stick"

Bearing clearances should be checked at a minimum with plasti gauge. I usually measure them with a dial indicator bore gauge and then check em with plasti gauge. Plasti gauge is cheap, save you buying a new guessing stick.

 

On the crank. If you run your finger nail over it can you feel it? Might clean off with a light linish, but I'd get a machine shop to do it.

Edited April 18, 201313 yr by kickn5k

Slightly higher temperatures in an engine than your average oven, but the oven cleaner makes sense. Baked on black $h1t.

 

Wait, so I was meant to check with Plastigauge before I pulled it apart? F**k.

 

I ran my nail over it & yes, I can feel it. Damn, had been hoping to avoid machine work where possible. Can you recommend a place Stu? No fancy knife-edging etc, just a clean up.

 

Wait, so I was meant to check with Plastigauge before I pulled it apart? F**k.

 

 

Nah bro you need to pull it apart to put the plasti gauge in.

*breathes sigh of relief*

 

I made myself confused as hell for second there, all good now. Can see this causing a few sleepless nights, should be good fun. :)

This week I'd been planning to get all the engine components cleaned up, so I could start checking oil clearances (the crankshaft is being sent off to be linished & measured for bearing size). But Blue Thing had other ideas.

 

It started with a flickering/intermittent 'charge' light on the dash, which didn't go away with more revs or tightening the belt to it's maximum adjustment. So started to play around with some spare alternators & still had the same problem, also fitted a new drive-belt while there. It was when I pulled out the voltage regulator & saw the worn carbon brushes that I realised that it was the problem, so a phone call to the parts store & a two hour wait later, I had a new one. Problem: still had a 'charge' light on, Solution: Fit regulator to other alternator, success! Both the regulator & internals of my existing alternator were stuffed, but it was only the regulator of the spare alternator that needed replacing, the internals were fine.

 

So now that BT had a steady supply of electricity again, it was time to discover why she still didn't seem to be firing properly. Renewing the spark plugs made things a little better, but it still seemed like something was off with the spark. Checked the timing, all good there, checked the leads, all good too, checked the coil resistance.....bingo! Swapped over to another coil & we're away, revving much cleaner this time. The motivation to get the new engine in has increased though, feels like I'm milking the last bits of life from the 2A-C.

 

A big thankyou goes to dpb for supplying me with an ignition coil & alternator on such short notice, much appreciated mate!

Took part in a motorkhana practice day today, all organised by TCCAV. There was no timing at all, but we did set up some tandem straight-slaloms (just shortened by a few flags) at the end of the day for some head to head 'testing'. I think Blue Thing held her own quite nicely against the rear wheel drive cars. ;)

 

Updates.....yeah.....those things...

 

Not a lot has happened really, competed in Round 4 of the VMC, first time on tarmac so I found how quickly you can shred a a set of tyres using the handbrake. Fortunately I've since picked up another two sets of 14" wheels with tyres for dirt cheap (I think I have every kind of factory wheel for the AE80/2's now) so I have tyres for both off & on-road use.

 

 

Total count that are not currently on a car: 3 x 13", 19 x 14" & 7 x 15". I reckon I'm sufficiently stocked up! :laff:

 

The engine build has had the 'Pause' button hit due to works at home, they went from re-tiling the shower to discovering it was all stuffed, ripping it out & rebuilding from scratch in a real hurry. Between all my commitments, my spare time has vanished, C'est la vie.

Reactivated my long-dormant Amazon account & realised just how good they can be for things you don't need immediately. Valve-stem seal pliers, valve lapping tool/paste, piston ring pliers & compressor all ordered from the States for two-thirds of what it would've cost me to walk into a store here & buy it. Delivery time was pretty good too, all within 7 business days. :y:

 

Have found a person/business to do the cylinder head machining work for me, one that is also willing to work with me on how much of the work I do myself to keep costs down. It's always a good sign when they answer the phone at 4:55pm on a Friday afternoon & spend the next hour being more than happy to discuss with you what you need based on what the engine will be used for versus what you want based on urban myth.

 

Sometimes customer service isn't required, sometimes it makes or breaks a sale. :)

Did some experimenting with the valves & different chemicals to see what cleaned them the best. Kerosene, petrol, solvent de-greaser, Coles brand oven cleaner & gasket stripper all failed me. In the end, a wire wheel on a bench grinder FTMFW!

 

 

The gasket stripper in conjunction with a nylon brush however, did a pretty good job on the cylinder head. Clean enough for me to go over it & make up a list of what it needs done, acid dipping to clean out the oil/coolant galleries is already on that list. Machining the block-mating surface if required, crack testing & a leak-down test to see if I do a decent job of lapping the valves is the remainder of that list at the moment. Fingers crossed I don't find anything amiss along the way!

 

 

Interesting investigating Luke!

 

Usually use the wire wheel on the grinder at work for the piston crown. A steel 6" rule used as a scraper helps on more stubborn carbon too.

The way I figure it is, if I give the person doing the work a basic list of things to do, I'm sure their experience will find more that needs to be done for me. :wink:

 

Finding time is a problem lately, so not much will happen with the block until the cylinder head goes out the door, the rods/pistons can continue to sit in their little cardboard box.

I'd kind of always said I'd do it as a bit of a laugh, now it's actually going to happen...

 

 

Dunlop Direzza 03G's in a 195/60/R14, after a bit of persistence, someone within TCCAV was able to track me down some semi-slicks in a 14". Should make the next motorkhana a little more interesting. Next thing you know, those MRP coilovers will be going in! :doh:

Edited June 17, 201313 yr by carbonboy

do it!!!

Yeah, 'daily driver'... *cough cough* Steering feels a lot heavier to turn & the road noise at 80-100km/h would get annoying after a short time. Didn't want to do much more 'comparison' to road tyres on public roads with an air temperature of -1 degrees & the weight of two people, 4 spare wheels/tyres & tools in the car. I'd also like to note that these tyres are ADR/DOT approved & had plenty of tread before the wear indicators, my tyre guy wouldn't have put them on the wheels for me if they didn't. The purpose of driving on the roads with them was to clean all the clumps of rubber/rocks etc stuck to them from their previous use off so I had a nice.clean surface. Worked well!

 

 

But once off public roads & in a controlled environment, lets have some fun. Who needs a 4A?

 

 

Oh wait, me, now that there's some new competition. :D

 

Edited June 24, 201313 yr by carbonboy