Thanks!! Reading it now, Steve had this exact book. It must be a good one. Looks like we have a low compression 1600cc engine on the stand.Happy to lend you my well-worn Bible.
Fiona, the blowed up 80 build
- Thread starter jps8460
- Start date
Inukshuk
Rising Sun Member
Will a healthy compression 1776 leave it?
After working on heavy LC engines this one will seem so simple
Final post on hi-jacking my own thread. She stayed together for the kids.
She seemed at home operating between 4k and 7k rpm. We sustained 5k for upwards of 40min often. Oil temps were usually between 215 and 260 during the race. I landed on Brad Penn (now penn grade) 20w-50 as the oil of choice. It’s got a ton of ZDDP in it for flat tappets and keeping the cam alive, amongst other favorable properties for dirty nasty racing. It’s green, so it was affectionately nicknamed “Hulk Blood.”
We had the throttle stick a few times and floated the valves at 7800. I put a bit too high of an oil pressure spring in there, so she weeped a bit at the front crank pulley.
On the beginning of day five, we had the engine pulled at 7am with a 10:40 start to try and diag a clutch issue. The clutch and bell housing was so full of silt that the clutch would no longer disengage. We were literally putting the nave files in the GPS and tightening bolts in the start line as we were trying to get off the line on time.
Overall it was an incredible display of persistence, teamwork, everyone found their niche. Those that knew Baja built and modified the chase plan and pit plan. Those that could wrench, wrenched. Those that could weld, welded. Those that could tune, tuned. Those that could wire, wired. Those that weren’t mechanically inclined helped keep us fed and loaded up with Tecate. Every last person there was needed and helpful. Truly one of my most memorable experiences in life.
We had the throttle stick a few times and floated the valves at 7800. I put a bit too high of an oil pressure spring in there, so she weeped a bit at the front crank pulley.
On the beginning of day five, we had the engine pulled at 7am with a 10:40 start to try and diag a clutch issue. The clutch and bell housing was so full of silt that the clutch would no longer disengage. We were literally putting the nave files in the GPS and tightening bolts in the start line as we were trying to get off the line on time.
Overall it was an incredible display of persistence, teamwork, everyone found their niche. Those that knew Baja built and modified the chase plan and pit plan. Those that could wrench, wrenched. Those that could weld, welded. Those that could tune, tuned. Those that could wire, wired. Those that weren’t mechanically inclined helped keep us fed and loaded up with Tecate. Every last person there was needed and helpful. Truly one of my most memorable experiences in life.
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I guess I forgot to mention that the original engine was totally cooked, the only things I reused were the cases, camshaft and heads. 1600cc 8.0:1 compression. Kind of a bear to assemble really with shimming cylinders, the pushrod accordions, and getting the cases together before the 3bond set up.
Note: there is some garbage stuff that is new out there for these engines. 1 empi lifters (get Engle lifters), silverline cam bearings 2 new sets, both garbage (Mahle is the ticket). It took 2 sets of silver line main bearings to get clearances consistent (these are the only steel backed bearings I could find). Silver line Rod bearing garbage (go with Mahle).
Note: there is some garbage stuff that is new out there for these engines. 1 empi lifters (get Engle lifters), silverline cam bearings 2 new sets, both garbage (Mahle is the ticket). It took 2 sets of silver line main bearings to get clearances consistent (these are the only steel backed bearings I could find). Silver line Rod bearing garbage (go with Mahle).
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rckhound
Rising Sun Member
Steve and I basically did Poison Spider in a VW bug. And that was one of many bumpy routes haha.
You guys are simply exceeding the allowable fun amount for normal folks. That's absolutely amazing.
Dan
rckhound
Rising Sun Member
Agreed, I would call it violent instead of bumpy at times. Ha.
gungriffin
Rising Sun Member
I have huge respect for both of you for the talent and hard work that was needed to see the vision into reality. Very, very cool.