The "Distraction" as this is keeping me from my Europa TCST project.....
This begins with ignition troubles that a new distributor didn't fix but a 27 year old distributor off the XR4Ti motor sitting in my garage got going .... but not quite right .... compression test showed 1 and 2 were low ... blown head gasket!
Decided to bring it the 3.5 hours back to my house instead of working on it in an apartment parking lot (turned out to be a wise decision).
Got it home and tore it apart. It looked like it was about to go between all the cylinders. Interestingly the block was notched between 2 and 3, not where it blew .... did the PO blow it and just put in a gasket and send it?
The car ran well, at the MM&FF 2.3 Turbo shootout (2001) it ran a 14.78 stock, spinning the tires all the through first ...this is where I learned about GRM, there was a guy there with a Merkur with his $2000 Challenge numbers on it ...I only put about 9k on it in 20 years bringing mileage to about 68K
Shooting for a bit more power .....
So it came out to deck the block.... which led to the machine shop calling and saying cylinder is 1 is oversize .... project quickly escalating .... heads are notorious for cracking, of course ours was ... more escalation .....
I felt bad since I sold him the car to finance TCST so I bought the pistons.....
Going to try to weld this at a later date ... nothing to lose
CNC ported roller cam head....
Had trouble fitting the crank because Murphy showed up :(
Brand new Clevite mismatched thrust bearings #%@&!
And because suffering builds character ...I have my son experiencing the joy of hand fitting "file to fit rings" by hand ( he hasn't suffered enough yet .....)
I love a good 2.3t build!
The one currently in my truck is likely the last one I will ever do, so I'm following and living vicariously thru you.
Good looking SVO, and appears to not have a sunroof?
What is your power goal, and what turbo are you gonna use?
Only shooting for about 280hp at this point, more will require bigger turbo, injectors and on and on .... hoping for a nice street build my son can take to cars and coffee etc .... until the itch for more hp needs to be scratched....
this car was on the cover of MM&FF prior to me getting it ( I owned it for the 2.3 Turbo shootout issue)
I need to find a Pinto or MK1 Capri for the XR4Ti drivetrain I have .....or a Cobra II
40 degrees in the garage today .... Correct bearings came in and crank is installed, rings gapped, making gated oil pan baffles
Assuming 3 quarts of oil needed controlled, allowing for windage and oil passage capacity,
leveled and filled pan with 3 quarts of water and marked it.
Simulated oil pump pickup (old exercise mat) for positioning ...
Oil control gates will be made from door hinges from Habitat (support charity, Made in USA, Fabricobble, $1 each, avoid chinesium junk)
Hinges trimmed ...but not finished
Putting tape on my simulated oil pump pickup and then putting the oil pan on so it would stick to it, showed me trying to measure it's position was off!
CAD in progress....
Compound angles and add in radiuses makes for fun with cereal box aided design...
Assume the 3qt oil level was established with the pan rail at the same angle the engine sits in the car, no level... ?
I am using the 3 quart height for the gated baffles and 5 quart as height for upper horizontal baffle ...
I will now always buy a dedicated bore size, tapered ring compressor! The other ones can go in the trash!
Progress on a baffling situation ....
This was all fabricobbled with an angry grinder ;)
Copper seems to cure everything, maybe it will cure oil starvation....
Why copper? I have a big roll I got for free and it's easy to cut with tin snips :)
Will TIG with silicon bronze.
Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!
I think number two rod end was machined undersize when we had ARP rod bolts fitted etc.
I can turn the short block over with a half inch ratchet until I tighten that cap, then it takes a 3 foot breaker bar! My digital calipers say it's undersize (not sure how accurate they are) so we are taking that rod back to the machine shop .......sigh .........and the shop is an hour and twenty minutes away .....
Love to see an SVO project on here. A white 85.5 to 86 is a grail car for me. The MM&FF pedigree on this one is pretty cool. Will follow this one closely.
Fubar'd exhaust elbow stud removal fixture ....
Big wrench for extra oomph .... sprayed them with PB Blaster when ever I went out to the garage for a couple of weeks or so
It was also on the cover shortly before I took possession....
1999! I would have owned that issue.
Very cool car, following the build.
Got the rod back from the machine shop, they confirmed what my 6" HF digital calipers told me, about .002" undersize ( I guess the calipers are more accurate than I thought!). He also discounted the machining of the flywheel. He says his buddy has a 500hp XR4Ti .... I want to see his car!
Built up exhaust manifold by bolt holes with weld so I can grind these internal flow restriction bumps out....
Of course cast iron welds beautifully .....
TurboFource said:
40 degrees in the garage today .... Correct bearings came in and crank is installed, rings gapped, making gated oil pan baffles
Assuming 3 quarts of oil needed controlled, allowing for windage and oil passage capacity,
leveled and filled pan with 3 quarts of water and marked it.
Simulated oil pump pickup (old exercise mat) for positioning ...
Oil control gates will be made from door hinges from Habitat (support charity, Made in USA, Fabricobble, $1 each, avoid chinesium junk)
Hinges trimmed ...but not finished
I know the oil pan was awhile ago, but if you use welding rod for the hinge, you can bend it in such a way that it allows the "gates" to move to allow oil in and not swing the other way and allow oil out.
Basically, you run the rod through and bend the ends to stop the "gate" from moving backwards.
I'll see if I can find a pic somewhere.
Edit to add: you obviously made your gates so they swing only 1 way already. This tip is handy if you ever want to do it again and not rely on the newtonian geometry to keep your gates from going the wrong way.
-Short block together...turns over much easier without #2 rod being undersized
- Restrictive bumps in manifold removed and welds blended in
- My oldest son ... current caretaker of car ... I sold it him to keep it in the family and fund my Europa TSCT build.
Rick Byrnes made over 400hp and did 186 mph with a ported stock exhaust manifold...
Minor progress... my son was home for Easter :)
New clutch components installed, tranny bolted to block, motor mounts, starter etc. attached.
