Da Groj

Whoa. I'm over 14 and can do 55mph thanks to Carter. Who'd have thunk a Japanese steakhouse OR a Sonny's in Bushnell? Never dreamed ANY of this stuff let alone a 2/3 mile cart track. I guess some people actually PLAN their retirement. Should have followed the mustang trail. All i ever went to is the car and motorcycle events up there. And the cemetery of course.

I'm ripping this little gem apart..the good news..remarkably, it seems the engine is not in need for an overbore..I will check on that further before I declare it law however.. Let me show you guys a few things if you ever get into this..
So I ran the piston assembly through the bead blaster.. that works well, but you will have to clean the assembly REALLY FREAKING THOROUGHLY if you plan to run it later. During the process you'll need to clean the ring grooves, there is a tool for that, there is also broken rings..which can be used as a tool for that and is already the correct size, just use the "square " end, not the jagged end.
Yes, the red stuff is blood, rings are sharp..




A little wheel cleaner goes a long way in cleaning the funk from the places you can't get. and it helps sterilize the wounds from the ring cuts




As the skank bubbles to the surface..




Clean it with carb cleaner, Simple Green and soapy water and POOF a clean piston and rod assembly, spray some lube on it at this time to preserve it, because it will start to rust/corrode right away. BTW, if used, this will get cleaned at least 3 more times.




So let's say you want to find out the condition of the cylinders, here's the way to do it without the hi zoot tools..
Drop the piston in the bore and slide some feeler gauges into the bore, check it at different spots..




This is the part that really counts, you need to measure the piton to wall clearance on the thrust side, in other words, the barrel of the piston, below the rings



FWIW I also checked the piston at the bottom of the bore, remember the very bottom of the bore will not have as much wear, and the rings don't go all the way to the top, avoid both of those places if you want a legit measurement.







So the piston to bore is within spec, but..t o make sure, I'm going to check the ring gap, that will add further evidence to the condition of the engine..
Stuff the ring into the bore and square it with a piston.






Then measure that gap and check the specs..




Remarkably, that was also within spec (different specs for top and second rings, so make sure oyu check the right one)
Then...it all went awry...

see the crack?''




Fortunately the pistons were forged so the piece broke off and just hung around without further fracturing and scoring the bore..





So now we're looking at a set of pistons. At this point, it's hard to say whether I should pull the trigger on a line bore, cylinder bore and all that stuff.. I'm kind if an either go all in or, just repair what's there, there is no real middle ground, sacrificial 5.0s are everywhere, so I'll have to think about it since I'm on a budget.
The other issue is that there a re NO machine shops around where I live, the closest is over an hour away.
To be continued

oohh looky here

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Speed-Pro-H273 ... AC&vxp=mtr

OK the pistons came in and I splurged on a set of rebuilt rods with FP bolts, so now I need to assemble them. The really trick way to do this, since they are press fit, is to heat the rod end and run the pin into them. I'm not that trick and only have 2 hands and I don't have a rod "heater" I had to do it old school.
First I located a suitable piece of round tubing from a drop rack, I notched it out to miss the rings lands.



Then, in order to try and keep it all straight, I found a base plate and placed it all in a press so it wouldn't move under welding. This meant I had to tack one side, then the other side, and gradually work my way around the press to try and prevent warpage.




I then located some solid stock and machined it down to fit the pin.





and now I have a fixture to press in the piston pins

OK, got side tracked with the whole engine thing, but I did finish the fuel tank cradle and got it in the car.

Ever thought about retrofitting a plastic fuel tank out of... oh, anything? They're super light weight. Already have provisions for fuel pump and venting and all that. Might not be good enough to pass tech for a race series, but is good enough for USDOT, and would be plenty good enough for autocross. Probably a bunch cheaper, too.

The one in my Mirage is only 9 gallons.

I actually did find a used one for around 100 bucks, but this aluminum tank has a foam bladder, a sending unit and came with the hose and fittings...I forget the price but it was an e bay special for around $200...like you said, from China to your door.

I cleaned the engine using mineral spirits and wheel cleaner, I'm starting to really like the use of wheel cleaner as a degreaser..it works great. Then using a standard hone I honed the bore, I like using a standard hone because it keeps the bore straight, that being said, it's a standard bore block and I don't want to take off any more material than necessary, so I'll finish it with a berry hone.


After cleaning with Dawn detergent and warm water I painted the block with a self etching primer..

Thats some cool stuff you're doing! I hope one day I'll be mechanically inclined to even attempt anything what you're doing .

My grand children think a V8 is a healthy vegetable drink. I keep having to explain it to them. "It's what papa uses to dust his competitors." "You mean like endust?" They ask me in an imoroncon text.

Most of this stuff I learned to do because I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it for me

blacksheep-1 wrote:Most of this stuff I learned to do because I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it for me

That's how most true hot-rodding happened. That, or the trick parts and/or cars just hadn't been invented yet.

Ok I finally got some time to work on the engine, I finish honed the cylinders, there are 3 hones that I use, the 2 "shoe" hones and the 1 berry hone. Keep in mind the goal here is to save the standard bore block, which means we can't go nutso on the hone. So I started with the shoe hones, they come in a couple of grits and their sole purpose is to keep the bore straight. So when I'm done with those the bore will have a dark wear spot on it where the shoe hones can't get to. The danger is that if you keep using the shoe hones you will end up boring the block out too far in order to cover the entire bore area. So...at some point, you have to take the bull by the tail and face the situation, the bore is so..so straight, but you need to finish hone the spots that the shoe hones can't get to. That's where the berry hone comes in, It will get every spot in the bore but it will do nothing to keep the bore straight, so proceed very carefully when using a berry hone because you can really screw yourself over if not careful



if you look closely at the top of the bore, you can see where the shoe hones could not effectively cross hatch the bore



Here's another shot where those dark spots are gone, this was done with the berry hone



One of the greatest tools ever, the ring expander..no more broken rings





I installed the rebuilt crank, at the rear main, dropped a bit of aviation permatex to prevent a rear main leak..



After thoroughly washing the block after the final hone, the pistons went in






So, a few things, I check everything with Pllastigauge..just to make sure, there shouldn't be a problem since it is all new but..it doesn't hurt to check. Now Plastigauge is not that accurate for checking clearances, but it can tell you if you have any major disasters on the horizon. I also install a main cap, spin the motor, torque it, and spin it again, if you do that to every one, you can tell if there is a problem. If the crank feels tight, you probably made a mistake on the last main..rod..or whatever you installed. If you wait until you are done, or halfway done, and spin the engine over, you can't tell where you made the mistake at.

I'm starting to explore the wheel situation, and being held to my own philosophy about cheap wheels, I'll restate that here.

If I was king of the racing world, I'd make a class where you had to run steelies and bias ply tires. Instead of several thousands in a wheel setup and trick rubber you'd have $400 bucks in wheels and $800 in tires..

15x14 on the rear, and 15x12 on the front is the plan, I'm looking for some either modified or Can Am tires to use..durometer about 45.

Based on my superpower...the ability to scrounge parts..I located a 94 GT k-member this solves a myriad of issues,
1. the 302 will fit, no problems
2. It is a metric crapload lighter than the standard 99-04 cross member and I won't have to cut it up to lighten it...much
also 3..it will allow the car to be moved around on the old piece while I prep this part
I know many of you are saying.."well Rob why don't you buy an aftermarket one and go coilover"...to which I respond..I have a $4500 budget..it's supposed to be cheap. Tires and wheels will probably eat up at least 1500 of that.

Keep something like this in the back of your mind

Yep. Grocery getter for sure. Explains the 12" and 14" wide 15's to keep the price down.

twistedwankel wrote:Yep. Grocery getter for sure. Explains the 12" and 14" wide 15's to keep the price down.

Well, it's like this, a set of hi zoot wheels is $4K, not so hi zoot around $600, the steelies can be had for around $400.
The 18 inch tires are radials and run $2500 for Pirellis, around $1600 for Hoosiers, and the compounds are again, limited, so you're gonna have ..minimally, $2200 in not so trick rubber and the offsets are limited, so are the widths.
The steelies..you're limited in brake size, but who cares it's an autocross car, the offsets are infinitesimal, and you can get a set of tires around $1K , albeit, non radials,so the total will be around $1400.
This opens the door for some serious trick rubber, like the tires made for old Can Am cars, and supermodifieds. Which, even though the car is on a diet, it will still be heavier than any car in the class. so it needs all the help it can get.
Also remember the budget is $4500, I'm already in for $1400 thanks to the engine issue and I've yet to source a clutch. The problem is, once the engine is opened up, you might as well fix it right since you're right there, so new cam/lifters/springs/valve job/oil pump is all unaccounted for $$$

What class are you building to?