FrankenFerrari - V12 Ferrari 308

No rain today....dig.  It should rain tomorrow so I hope to be balancing pistons instead of digging

Are you going to tie the two walls together?

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:

Are you going to tie the two walls together?

Yes.  I didn't core fill the last core so I can tie the new wall in

Have you considered the possibility of causing preignition with the very thin edge on the top of the pistons left after the new cuts? That thin edge is going to stay hotter than the rest of the piston.

I saw the empty core just after I posted, and then thought "he probably will."

I love your work.

NOT A TA said:

Have you considered the possibility of causing preignition with the very thin edge on the top of the pistons left after the new cuts? That thin edge is going to stay hotter than the rest of the piston.

YES!!!!

That is always a concern when you need to cut valve pockets....big cams need pockets, but big pockets bugger combustion.  I will break all the sharp edges and shoot for about a 1/32" radius when I sit down and start the  balancing...pics to come

Spent the morning deburring the valve pockets, which took longer than cutting them but they look good now....ready to balance.

Taking to the vise guy about sending back his vise and he was all but you didn't clay them yet, what do you mean your done?

....fair enough. The crank is not ground so the new bearings won't fit but I think I found enough bearings to get the crank in good enough to check the pockets so that is on the list. This engine is a pain in the butt to assemble so this is a 10-20 deal....but I really want it right so

Wrist pins are frikin hard, but now all 12 are 83.22-83.24g.  We'll call that matched, piston time.

The pistons are 299.31-299.38g.  We'll call them matched

Within 7/100ths of a gram. I'd call that balanced.

I was trying tro figure out why I got 6k youtube views in the last week and stumbled on this....I made #16 on the top 20 crazy swaps list.  Not sure it explains the view as there are no links and its the beginning of the month and the views were the past few days but still someday I'll be able to tell my grand kids about the time I was #16 :) 

Craziest engine swaps

I've recently come across 2 videos/playlists that made me really think of you and expect that you'd enjoy them if you haven't already seen them.

I'm sure you've heard of Allen Millyard and his crazy multi bikes built in his shed. Recently he's started posting videos of how he actually does this work, and his approach and manner are really interesting and engaging. Here's a video of him assembling a pair of Z1 I4 cranks into a single I6 crank:

And another of him making 2 of the same Z1 I4 blocks into a single I6 block:

He's so matter of fact about these remarkable things he does. And he shares a lot about the techniques and the results, very cool.

And I wouldn't be surprised if you were already familiar with what a Spintron is, but the discussion of how this group programmed an ECU and real-time analytics and dash components to visualize valvetrain data in real-time seems like something that you'd find interesting:

There are a lot of talented people out there.

Sunny today so I finished my trench.  I'm pretty sure that if WW1 was fought in PA it would not have involved all those trenches....clay and rocks, even the pick only goes in 3-4 inches, horrible job.  This is my first stepped footer....more time setting forms but less digging so a win!

A little break in the rain so It's a footer

I've seen some spintrons at FCA's facility, holy hell they are loud - the sounds of explosions really quiets that down... 

fidelity101 (Forum Supporter) said:

I've seen some spintrons at FCA's facility, holy hell they are loud - the sounds of explosions really quiets that down... 

I can imagine!

I remember first hearing abotu them back where I was still roadracing....maybe 95?  At the time the first couple engine simulators affordable by mortals were hitting the market and there were problems with what the sims said good cams were and what the dyno said...stuff that worked great the sim hated.  Enter the spintron that showed the valve motion didn't match the cam very well and actual timing was way closer to what the sim said worked. It seems valve springs had gotten a lot better so lifts and forces a lot higher and the pushrods, well they were acting like noodles.  At least thats what I'm remembering and that my pushrods (I was racing an H-D) were like 5/8 or 3/4" OD alum tubing and I think the rockers were  only like 1.5,....but I just don't recall.

Alway, I'm not sure how useful a tool it is for a motorcycle bucket/shim setup like I have....there is basically no way other than valve float to not have vavle motion match the cam....which is of course why I have that setup :)

Sadly this update is still just wall pics. It was a weekend of hard work.  Amazing really how easy it is to mistakenly make q curved wall and how hard it is to make an intentionally curved wall.  But they say rain Wed so maybe car work.  I did order new burners for the grill which will need to be working right to heat the heads to let me install the guides and seats.

Ok, I'm out of patio and basement materials and the truck doesn't come until Tuesday (were still in lockdown)....to the shop!

No doubt.....got up and into the shop before she woke up to work before I start work.  

Picked up the pistons and cleaned off the bench....and noticed the paperwork says the pocket for the exhaust angle is 20 not 21, so as it appeared when i was recutting.....I need to learn to read the stuff that comes in the box

....now just staring at the heads trying to remember what the heck i was doing.....make 1/2 dozen guides and get the seats ready I guess

It was 9 guides not 6 but they are ready to install

Thinking back my oldest son must have been about 4  or so when I was working on heads and really liked to help....buy taking thinks apart and not telling me.... like this hole gage that I see is missing a side now that i need it...they are cheap but I really hoped to use it this morning 

I might be more worried about where the other side of the hole gauge ended up. 

My highschool students (more out of careless and ignorance than malicious intent) lose those all the time - I now red loctite them together when new so they can't.

The seats are ready.  The Ferrari spec is 1.7-2.7 thou interferance but the people who make replacement seat all seem to want more like 6-8....big difference.  I've 3/4 convinced myself the difference is that with controlled finishes and good measurements the Ferrari spec will make the tightest fit....but outside the factory the result is more predictable if you left the parts yield, hence the 6-8. 

Last time I used the Ferrari specs and spend a lot of time measuring and checking finishes.  This time a ferrari mechanic buddy convinced me to just follow the seat makers recommendation and just get on with it, so 6+ it is. 8 holes are about 7 tenths smaller so the red 8 red seats are for those so the fit is the same on all.

Tomorrow I'll make up some drivers and beat them in.

In reply to mke :

Chill(20-30f)  the seats,  warm  ( 200-250f)the heads.