342 replies to this topic

[TORLX8]

Very impressive machine Tiny!!

I've sent Dad the link too.

Might get him motivated to do some more work on his.

Cheers,

[Tiny]

Thanks Brett! I cant wait mate.. Gotto get the engine out and oil problems sorted then were off to the track basically!

TORLX8: Thanks mate Lots of blood sweat and bundy to get to this stage! And it never ends!

Denis: I must be getting old *Grabs his bad back..* LOL I dunno man.. I guess i'm just scared of yoru diff centre claiming ANOTHER axle

[Tiny]

OK well it's been a LONG time since ive posted.. and thats simply because ive been doing nothing with it!

BUT! Things are moving along once again.

Ive taken teh car to EZE-10s performance wehre Mark is looking after it well.
We;ve taken the engine out to find the reason behind this oil pressure problem and we found out this morning what's been happening!!

The bloody head of the pickup HAS broken off! It didnt fall off but was rotating around the pickup tube!

Now.. the problem that this has caused is a fair bit of crap right through the oiling system, which in turn has hammered the bearings. Now luckily ( so far) it doesnt look like theres any damage to the crank, but a few of the main bearings are the worse for wear!

Were also taking out the gear drive, because it seems it's caused a problem. But i'll let you know more about that once ive confirmed whats happened.

SO! Hopefully theres not alot of damage, but theres defiintely some to fix! GOing to strip it completely and measure everything to see that everything is still in the right condition, and if everything is ok.. give it all a bath to clean the gunk out and re-assemble her!

Fingers crossed we dont find anything else!

Cheers.
Tiny.

[makka]

time for a new crank, stroke it to 427

[Tiny]

Hey guys, Thanks for the replies!

Turns out i found the cam bushing in the bottom of the timing cover How it got there i'm not 100% sure yet.. but i'll let you know when i find out!!

MRNOS: Naaaah... not at this stage mate! To be honest i want ( need) to get the car back ASAP so there's not alot i want to do to it! (well.. thats a LIE... but theres not alot i can afford to do to it right now!)

makka: Not a chance mate if the crank IS damaged ( so far things look good that it isnt), then it'll get an eagle 400 replacement crank.. to change combo now would be a mammoth task and i really cant afford and dont want to do that!

Hatchman: Your right mate.. Definitely good news bad news! THe good news is i listened to my gut instinct ( and the great people on here who were kind enought o give me advise) and NOT "just drive it" with low oil pressure! THeb ad news is.. the little i DID drive it has caused a bit of damage.
To be honest.. the bearings COULD go back in if they were cleaned up... BUT i'm not the kind of person to do that!! I need to know that it's spot on to the best we can possibly make it otherwise i drive myself nuts!!

Torana: I had a good look at the gear drive ( from what i could see under the timing cover) and it looked ok.. The particles look like theyre from the pickup and bearing metal!!.. But the part we found was teh cam bush.. so i dont know how the hell that can come out, but ive had enough of risking it with teh gear drive.. so it's coming out!

Lostit: Yeah i know mate.. i told you at the time you were right.. and you were! BUt ive only just really gotten the shits with it all bad enough to DO it
And i'm just really glad i found Mark at Eze-10s Performance who's doing the right thing by me and the engine. Honestly i couldnt have picked a better mechanic!!

Cheers guys! Will keep you updated!

[Litre8]

Bad luck there Tiny. ...Maybe try one of the Jesel/Edelbrock internal/external cam belt drives... presumeably the best of both worlds (except if you like the gear drive noise..).

[Tiny]

Thanks for that Howard!
I did like the gear drive noise.. but not to the point of killing my engine for it

I have seen these belt drive setups, but to be honest... A rollmaster timing chain set ( dobule row) will do for my engine no hassle! By the time i buy one of the jesel style drives.. i can have my rollmaster AND a new cam!

Cheers mate

[Tiny]

HAHAh thanks for that dave

I was under the impression that rollmaster make about the best timing chain sets? I also know that my block as been tunnel bored, so i would also need an oversize crank gear?

The Kiwi -Pro Lighting 220cc cast heads should be capable of sustaining any power i decide to run through this thing...Especially forced induction

I'll keep that in mind regarding the cranks too. I'm hopeful that it wont come to that, but if it does i'll be in touch!

Cheers

[Tiny]

Awesome! Hopefully we'll have a fulllist of parts required and things that need doing by monday!

DO you have any idea how long rollmaster take to make and deliver an oversize set? Especially nitrided?

Cheers mate!

[Struggler]

Hi Tiny, good to hear your've finally got around to having a look at the beast.

Looking forward to seeing you at WSID soon (I've seen Mark there the last couple of times I've been.)

Good luck with it !!

[Tiny]

Hey guys!
Thanks for that struggler, ( didnt see your reply till now mate!! sorry!)

Ive got a bit more news and it looks like bottledup was right!! i've ordered a scat 4340 forged crank for it as no 1 pin was pretty badly scored. The crank guy reckons it *might* clean up at a .20 grind, but i dont really want to take it that far!
So i decided to go for the new crank, and that way i can be certain its good, and i know its a good basis should i decide to chase more power down the track.

Dave: please dont give me any other advise... So far everything youve mentioned has needed doing! AHAHAHAH!!

Apparently the timing set isnt a problem, so i'm very happy with that, so yeah! things are moving along with it.

Dont expect to see me here too often.. I'm going to be busy working... to pay for all this stuff!! HAHAH!!

Cheers guys!

[Struggler]

Hey guys!
Ive got a bit more news and it looks like bottledup was right!! i've ordered a scat 4340 forged crank for it as no 1 pin was pretty badly scored. The crank guy reckons it *might* clean up at a .20 grind, but i dont really want to take it that far!
So i decided to go for the new crank, and that way i can be certain its good, and i know its a good basis should i decide to chase more power down the track.

Personally I would have no problem grinding the rod journals to 020 or even 030 under. That is nowhere near SJ pin size, and less surface area means less friction, which means more HP !!

FWIW my 350 crank is 030 under on the rods.

I guess you can't put a price on peace of mind. Is the current crank a stock 400 one ?

[Tiny]

Struggler: Yeah mate its a standard cast 400 crank. It's been in 3 engines that ive built now and it did have a few marks on it that we werent 100% happy with previously.

As you said, it *might* be ok at 20 under and i fully understand what youve said about the less surface area, but to be honest i dont want to open this bottom end again in a hurry and this way at least i will know that ive got a good bit of gear. As you said, what price for peace of mind!

The only thing that wont have been changed is the conrods... They are still std chev rods, but theyve been beam polished, crack tested and shotpeened after being balanced so they should cope perfectly with the abuse i'll dish out.. Simply cause its not going to rev past about 7 grand!

Chop: Thats it mate.. Unfortunately thats my belief to a large degree for the peace of mind, but it gets expensive!!

Cheers!

[Tiny]

That's the way i work mate, and thus far it's served me well!

The way i look at it is that as you said its peace of mind, good insurance AND extra capacity for if and when i want to step it up a bit more!

I now know that the crank i will have is the best value for money strength items i can get, and that the rest of the combo can handle "x" sorts of power and rev levels safely. Nitrous or blower is always a possiblity in the future and at least now i know ive got a good basis of the engine! ( also inclusing the crank, Oil Pump, Pickup and sump!)

Cheers

[355LX]

Tiny you poor bugger!! Thank god you got it when you did, could have been worse! When do you hope to have the old girl back on the track?

Can't wait to catch up again when you guy's are back over,

Dave

[Tiny]

Heya Dave!
Well.. I'm hoping that mark from EZE-10s will have it back up and running again within weeks! He wants to get it done so that the cars not sitting around as well!

So yeah, it's defintiely sooner rather than later! And pretty well as soon as its ready i'll be taking it for a few laps of WSID!

We'll DEFINITLY catch up mate! Keep an eye on the forum!!