It worked very well and I was even able to lift the rear of the car with the engine/cradle still in place from this point. I couldn't get a floor jack under the car + the pallet jack to lower the cradle onto the pallet jack. Not a single creak or moan lifting like this.
Edit: The tear in the trunk seal was already there before lifting from this point. The hook + chain will not damage the seal.
[This message has been edited by doublec4 (edited 02-07-2016).]
Might want to add a small clamping plate on the bolt head side just to ensure they don't tear through since you're still just lifting with sheet metal...but definitely much stronger/safer than using the trunk latch. Thanks for the pic!
Other than some more disassembly, things were going pretty slow... then I was told I might be able to get my car in a wind tunnel but it has to be back on the road by the end of the month... so now I'm working against the clock!
Valve springs are in, roller rockers will be put in last to make sure they are well lubricated before I fire the engine back up for the first time. Valve covers have been repainted wrinkle red. Waiting on lots of parts in the mail for my new exhaust!
You can watch my adventure in valve spring removal and replacement here + I show the quick and easy tool I made for the spring removal / installation.
while your valve spring tool does work, I would not recommend that method on an aluminum head engine, because it would probably pull the threads. if you used a stud and nut instead, you would be fine in aluminum because you would have full engagement before loading.
------------------ "I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."
while your valve spring tool does work, I would not recommend that method on an aluminum head engine, because it would probably pull the threads. if you used a stud and nut instead, you would be fine in aluminum because you would have full engagement before loading.
I suppose the potential for that happening is there, however, here is how I see it... The typical design rule I use for threading into aluminum is to have minimum twice the bolt diameter in thread engagement (when being torqued). When I thread the bolt into the head before I start compressing the spring, I was probably around 1 times the diameter in engagement. The socket is being used as the fulcrum of the tool, and the spring is at the outmost end. It is a 90lbs / in spring I believe. At the most, it would have been compressed about an inch, so it would be applying 90lbs upwards. The bolt being halfway between the spring and the fulcrum would have to apply twice the force downwards to counter the spring... so about 180lbs at most, and at this point it would be threaded into the head at twice the diameter of the bolt.
The bolt is a 5/16th socket head cap screw which is min. grade 8 bolt, probably better. At the recommended torque, it will apply 4720 lbs of preload on a joint... maybe if threaded into aluminum the torque is cut in half and so is the preload... so even conservatively say when threaded into aluminum it applies 2500lbs of preload. The 180lbs required to compress the spring is less than a tenth of that approximately... theoretically those threads shouldnt pull.
Main reason I mention it, people frequently strip the rocker threads on aluminum 60V6 heads with full thread engagement, not saying it will happen, just that it is very possible if you're not careful.
Main reason I mention it, people frequently strip the rocker threads on aluminum 60V6 heads with full thread engagement, not saying it will happen, just that it is very possible if you're not careful.
Absolutely. Any threading and torqueing into aluminum should be done with care. Stripped or pulled threads in a head would ruin anyone's day
Had more time to work on the engine today... dropped the oil pan and to my pleasant surprise everything looked pretty decent. For some reason I was expecting to see a lot more metal in the pan and on the oil pick up screen... but it was all very clean. Waiting on the oil pick up tube gasket (Coming in Monday) and then I can put the new oil pan gasket in and button it all down.
The rest of the day I had some time to work on my new exhaust (and practice my TIG welding skills). This is only my third time picking up the TIG torch (so be kind with the welding critique) so I was bit nervous to take the chop saw to my brand new front/rear Plogs from ZZP. I have to modify them to eliminate the crossover and the EGR tube.
On the rear Plog I chopped and capped the crossover:
On the front Plog I chopped the crossover tube, rotated it and welded it pointing downwards:
I also chopped the flared flange and welded it right to the two bolt flange. A little difficult to see in this picture, I should have taken the picture with the manifold off of the engine.
Other than that, I just welded a flex pipe to one of my bullet resonators in preparation for another day where I can start fitting up the rest of the exhaust:
I can't wait to hear how different this thing is going to sound...
Are you building a true dual setup? Curious to see what your plans are, and how it sounds.
Well... crossover is eliminated, but they will merge back up 2 into 1. After that they are going to exit through one of my side scoops... so side exit exhaust but just not down at the rocker
Changed out the oil pan gasket yesterday, buttoned it all back down. Hopefully that takes care of the major leak. I don't see it coming from anywhere else but time will tell...
Had a chance to do more exhaust fabrication today. I'd share pictures but photobucket is down right now... I'll add them when it's back up
I don't have a back purging set up so there was some sugaring of the welds on the inside. I was able to get in there with a die grinder and clean it all up.
Picture of inside before clean up... you can see the sugaring, but you can also see the cuts I had to make. You can also see how the 3" tube goes from circular to shaped like an "8"
Cleaned up the valve covers and gave them the wrinkle red treatment.
I've also removed the door panels and will be repainting the vinyl and replacing the carpet section with the microsuede panels I bought from Russ a long while back. Pictures to come.
Tomorrow will be a big day... hoping to get the two banks connected. I'll finish up the last part of the exhaust (post v band clamp) once the cradle/engine is back in the car
Finished my door panels today... Big shout out to russ who does amazing work. I've had these panels sitting in the packaging for quite some time now. I figured I should do the right thing and install them! Material is like a microsuede with silver stitching, diamond pattern. I also have the matching saddle for the center console:
Can't wait to get them back in the car once the engine is done!
Had to enlist the help of a third hand while I tacked together:
United as one...
Fit is bang on... the next step will be creating the second part of the exhaust that will mate with the V-band and exit out the side scoop. I won't be able to start that until I have the cradle back in the car. In the meantime I have to reroute a coolant tube, make a few heat shields and sort some other small details out.
Finished up the roller rockers and valve covers today. I left the roller rockers as long as I could so the assembly lube wouldn't have to sit too long. Plus I didn't want the valve covers to get dirty while I've been working around them.
I anticipate having the engine back in the car next weekend so I can finish up the exhaust and get it back on the road!
I also installed the N* throttle body, and FieroFlyer came by to flash my ECM for the new throttle body
And tightened down everything else that was easy to get to with the engine out... then put it back in it's home:
I ended up removing the exhaust with the engine in the bay. I had to rework the V band clamp area as the location of the exit was going to make routing the exhaust out the side scoop impossible. Tomorrow I'll build the last section to exit out the side scoop.
If you go back a few pages you'll see the active aero wing that myself and some fellow students made in our last year of university. A new group of students took over the project this past year to build their own control system for the wing and were able to secure some time in the wind tunnel! Unfortunately it's not my car in there, but here are some pictures:
Thanks! I've seen it used before and some guys on the welding web forum also recommend it. Just tough to find around here locally. Closest place that could order it in was a few hours away so I ended up just making due without.
Nice build thread as well, I'm not sure how I missed yours before!
Finished up the exhaust wrap and fired it up for the first time today. I took a video but the mic in my camera doesn't do it any justice. I'll get a nicer quality audio clip tomorrow with a proper microphone.
I didn't hear any exhaust leaks.. finally... music to my ears. I would say that it is about as loud as a stock Viper with it's side exit exhaust. Once the car warms up it quiets down a little and I wouldn't call it extraordinarily loud. I have a few other small details to iron out before it's drive-able so it will be different to hear it under load and on the highway.
My first ever aluminum welds (before cleaning up the tube).
I made a stubby intake from 4" aluminum... going to put a little shield over the filter so water won't soak into it if it rains / during car wash. I also moved the evap canister to make room for the intake.
Everything back in:
Drove it around the block today... I don't know if it's just in my head, but it feel like it's quite a bit more responsive. I didn't even get a chance to open it up.. I think I still need to give the clutch one more bleed as well... stay tuned for a video! ------------------ Check out my build and my website! https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum3/HTML/000100.html Embrace Racing
[This message has been edited by doublec4 (edited 06-05-2016).]
So I'm still working on getting the audio clips. I want to put together an assortment of clips.
However, I drove it around a bit today and I have some good news.. the side scoop doesn't seem to get hot at all. I even let the car sit and idle for a while and I could touch the fiberglass around the scoop and it wasn't even warm to the touch... fiberglass is a good insulator (which is why they make exhaust wrap from the stuff) so that might help.
As suspected, it's pretty loud even outside of the garage... especially above 4000rpm but it can sound tame if you don't get into the throttle too much. I can live with it for now since I don't drive the car daily. In the future if I get tired of it, there are some small "spiral" exhaust inserts, or cones, that I can put in the straight section right before it exits and it should take more of the edge off. It would just require a quick cut and reweld down the road.
For those of you who are interested, I made another video to show how I made my removable heat shields:
Also started up on another project... the exhaust is pretty loud and I'm going to be testing a few methods to drop a few dB. I fabricated these yesterday:
[This message has been edited by doublec4 (edited 07-17-2016).]
