MEANXBCOUPE engine build up.

[.bazz.]

Originally Posted by MEANXBCOUPE

i always assumed, but noone could give a difinitive answer to, 6/71 roots blowers do not make the whining noise, it is purely the belts.

some mechanic friends and even my engineer swore blind that changing the belt system would do bugger all. So there you go guys, another engineering challange met.

Also as an experiment, the car will run without the belts attached, albiet a bit rough, the blower just free wheels and the manifold vacuum is higher ( and no boost at higher revs obviously).
good to know, if i break a belt i can get home.

thats great info there, all ways thought the blower unit made all the noise

awesome coupe

[flip]

Very nice hope to see it on sunday

What would 650fwhp convert to in rwhp

Congratulations on all the hard

[gcg2503]

Cant wait to see this car at the Hardtop Anniversary!

[FTE217]

As has been said a number of times Congrats you must be rapt.
I'll check her out Sunday - pity the Plastic not Classic yet couldn't get along and hang with its brothers but maybe another time LOL.....

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Yeah can only drive one at a time!
the P250 needs a lot of work too, been using it as a daily for the last two years really has taken a toll. looking forward to really spending some time on it in the next 12 months or so, bring her back to her former glory... 9 years on and i still love driving it!

come up and say hi, see you at AFD on sunday.

[XB-2DR]

Well done Gary. I really enjoyed following your build. Your vision, persistence and attention to detail will surely be an inspiration to many in the muscle car community. I look forward to meeting you and seeing MEANXB in the flesh at the Hardtop Anniversary. Cheers, Simon.

[MEANXBCOUPE]

hi people,
Thought id mention of an update that has really transformed the drivability of the coupe.
For various reasons, i had been running a mini spool in the coupe, but of late, seeing rubber up the quarter panels after drives with the family has really been pi$$ing me off.
So i bit the bullet and had a tru trac installed.
I had looked at buying OS and installing it myself, but the taxman gave me the need to have it done.... NOW!!!

Craft diffs did the work.
Alloy pinion support,31 spline Eaton Trutrac (preloaded version), 3.5 gears, new bearings and ARP studs and bolts throughout and some new girdles to replace the u bolts holding the uni's in.




much smoother drive now and a reduced turning circle has been a bonus too!

[gtxb67]

looks the goods gary - your car was amazing, and yet somehow it keeps getting better
it is a major credit to you, tracey and your mates who have helped

[MEANXBCOUPE]

ok , so it's like 3 weeks out from coupetopia and I have a little issue. The run of good luck has come to an end!

I took the coupe out the other week to a invitational car show in Wollongong, Hot Car Titles 14 , something like a 150Km round trip for me, it was a great drive, car ran sweet.

Also picked up top coupe/tudor while I was at it.

So coming home on Sunday night, in my street, she lets a little fart out the zorst, hmm what was that about i think. Than bang. a big cough and small amount of smoke comes out the carbies and the blower moved around a bit too. Also, she'd gone way off song, by the time id got home the water temp had crept and i needed to keep a foot on the gas to keep her running.
In to the garage and away for the night, just after checking for oil in the water and water in the oil. All OK.

Tried to start it on Monday, but was a no go.. odd fires and coughs and farts...

Oh dear.. must have popped a blower gasket, so i stripped her of the shiney bits at carefully checked the blower gasket. Looked good to me, scratches head for a bit.

Lets look at the dizzy... Ah ha. loose rotor button, tighten it up (custom dizzy with grub screws holding rotor) that must be the miss fire.

So im feeling good, having a look around in the engine bay... Leads look good, fan belts are good, hoses look good, pushrods sweet..... whoa! pushrods! why can i see them, the rocker covers are not off!!.



Seems the fabricated manifold (built purely to pass rego) has blown the base out. too much fuel and air with the stray spark and boom... haha.

So ive got a bit on before we go to Echuca!
Took all the busted bits off and here is a shot of the manifold side view!




Thats 6mm alloy plate thats bent.


So here goes the account of whats happened.
1. oil leak ages ago at the back of the engine, while trouble shooting it, i tightened the burst plate springs to eliminate seepage from the manifold back there. months go by.

2. rotor button works loose after 200Km of driving and it miss fires.

3. fuel air mix ignites in manifold from miss fire, explodes, no where for the gasses to go because i didnt take the spring tension off the burst plate and blows the bottom out of the manifold.


So, i have to repair the manifold and fix/ repair/ redesign the dizzy.
All this stuff is custom made too, so its not like i can nick down to the shops and grab a new thinga-ma-jig.
Seeya next ime.

[agony]

That sure did make a mess mate, good luck with the repairs.

[74xbkoop]

Ouch!!! What a pain this close to Echuca. The only good thing is it happened now not half way there. Good luck with the repairs.

[MEANXBCOUPE]

thanks guys. should be sweet. im a little stressed, but thats cars eh?

Didnt know you frequented here Agony, love your coupe mate.

[agony]

Originally Posted by MEANXBCOUPE

Didnt know you frequented here Agony, love your coupe mate.

I check out all areas and watch the threads that interest me. Thanks for your comment about my coupe.

[Uncle Raggy]

When is the new manifold we spoke about getting underway Gaz?

[BlueKoop]

Wow that manifold blowout is amazing. Can't wait to see what manifold is going to replace it!

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Originally Posted by Uncle Raggy

When is the new manifold we spoke about getting underway Gaz?

ASAP mate, though i am procrastinating a little bit.. dunno where to start!. I'll get there but, just want to make sure i get all the details i need and i will be ringing you.

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Originally Posted by BlueKoop

Wow that manifold blowout is amazing. Can't wait to see what manifold is going to replace it!

Not to dissapoint you, but we are a little close to Echuca to be getting carried away doing a redesign, so this one will be repaired, believe it or not.
As in previous post to uncleraggy, something special is in the planning stages......

[gtxb67]

how is it coming along gary - hopefully well. good luck in getting it to echuca and beyond

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Been to flat out to reply. haha.
Its back together and running. took her for a drive today with the family and behaved its self.
Sorry no fotos, i was too busy to do so.

Basically i put my 20 ton press to work and pushed the manifold back into place. I bolted two cast iron heads to the manifold ( to stop warping) and heated it up with an oxy set to 350 deg C so that;

1. to burn out any oil trapped where i needed to weld.

2. to pre heat the aluminium for better penetration while welding.

That worked and after welding it was bolted back on after some small machine work was done to the front and back ends to correct some damage from the buckling of the original damage.

Also, (the main part of the work) i built a new dizzy, all new internals and a much finer tolerence on all components, the main shaft is now made from 4140 chromemoly billet, cylindrically ground and then nitirided. The dizzy advance mechinism was then TIG welded to the main shaft.The rotor adaptor is made of 6160 T6 aluminium. Rotor phasing has been corrected too. Still using a (new) MSD cap and rotor button. About 20 odd hours in machine work too.
Also installed a new dizzy drive gear to remove any backlash, new drive belts and pulleys too.

I need to spend some time tuning it back to how i had it, but im going to be busy spending a bit of time helping my brother get his 429 XW ute regoed before we go to Echuca, as NSW is changing their rego/certification rules as of the 29th Sept.

Gary

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Originally Posted by MEANXBCOUPE

Thought id do an update.


So after we come back from the hardtop nationals in September I will be getting back into the new motor that was the seed for this thread way back when. Plans are been laid down now for the completion of the motor.
going to keep it really street friendly and cap it at about the 650 fwhp mark. I'll be running a dizzy /carb set up untill funds become available to do the injection/ ignition job properly, this will limit me to pump premium fuel for the time been and i'll go for E85 once the injection is on.
Should be a good back to back comparision too as i will be engine dynoing it for both setups.

So in the immediate future, she'll get a detail for Sydney AFD on the 31 of July at "The Creek". From there its off to the Nationals in September.

See Ya On The Streets....

So, we are back and as promised im going to start on the motor for the coupe again.
The plan is for all this to be done within the month, so the bank balance is going to cop it!

The ignition issues we had at Echuca finally tipped me over the edge and now is the time to get serious. Turns out my MSD 6A was faulty, though it is 20 odd years old!... the straw that broke the Camels back!

In all honesty, a good majority of the bits have allready been purchased as per the first pages of the thread. so a quick run down of what ive go planned.

FOMOCO Clevo block.
4MA Crank 3.5" stroke.
Eagle H beam rods.
Ross racing pistons 4.020" bore.
AFD heads 75cc for a 9.25 comp ratio.
Crane roller rockers.
Probe rocker girdle.
Crane hydraulic roller lifters.
Custom ground hydraulic roller Camtec cam.
Manley guide plates.
Clevete bearings for all.
Rollmaster vernier adjustable timing chain, with intergral thrust bearing.
ARP bolts/ studs used through out. (mains, heads, balancer, flywheel, oil pump, rocker studs ect.)
Pavtek main girdle.
MSD 6al-2 programmable CDI unit.
*HVC II MSD coil.
Power bond race balancer.
Yella terra steel flywheel (stock weight).
Edelbrock water pump.
Mellings stock volume oil pump.
ARP oil pump drive shaft.
Aeromotive high flow bypass style fuel pressure regulator.
a second Holley blue flue pump.
*Bypassed Fuel return lines and fittings. ( a return needs to be put into the tank)
*Second fuel pickup fittings and lines.
*11" clutch
*Hydralic thrust release bearing.
*TKO-600 5 speed box.
* Felpro Gasket set and MLS head gaskets
* yet to be purchased

So as you can see, 99% of the required stuff has been purchased, push rods will need to wait until the machine work on the block is done and a mock up is done.
I have put off buying the clutch at this point untill all the machine work has been done, just to see what money is left over as a new 5 speed might just squeeze it way into the transmission tunnel!. It will require a different clutch, therefore it will be las on the list, but a decision will need to be made before balancing.

the carbies and blower will carry over from the existing motor.

My main concern at this time is the manifold. The one i have now is basically an open chamber and has all sorts of issues regarding flow ect.
Still not sure what direction i'll go yet.
I need to keep the blower under the bonnet and even discounting the manifold, the AFD 4V's will lift the blower anyway. Bob fisher does a cast low blow manifold, but its about 60mm higher than th one i have now, plus its expensive.
Options?, Fabricate a new one, or get a custom one made (more$$ than the fisher one) or get one custom cast and machine it myself.

The new alloy sump and oipl pickup is 99.9% done too.

Still thinking about that one.


So there you go, i' will try to keep you all updated and the pictures flowing!

Gary.

[gtxb67]

good luck with it - hopefully it all goes together right and you get years of enjoyable cruising out of it

[MEANXBCOUPE]

udate,
all the bits are here at home to finish off the new motor.
I am still minus a clutch and gearbox at this time as im working out budgets still.

I have dummied up the new block to see what fits where. As a result, i found the idler bracket for the blower belt didnt fit the same way on the new water pump, so some machine work was in order.


Machining water pump accsessory bosses for correct fit.


That was then test fitted to the block. ignore the manifold, i was working out some height issues i have.

Also in this shot you can see the new crank trigger i made up. Its made from an AUIII XR8 crank angle sensor and a custom bracket and trigger wheel. it is set for 36 deg advance. The new 6AL-2 programmable will retard the timing to my requirements from there. As a side note, this set up is now on the exsiting engine and is working perfectly, if only i had this finished before Echuca! no backfires clean idle, just sweet as.


View of bracket on motor and crank trigger.



Crank trigger and wheel


In the last shot, you can see the mount and sensor, this is adjustable for gap. Also the trigger wheel is mounted on the backside of the existing blower pulley/ waterpump drive pulley adaptor. It has 4 steel bolts mounted exactly 90 deg apart. They are specially machined at the top to give a round profile for acurate triggering and are loctited and grub screwed into the aluminium wheel. once that was complete it was then mounted back in the lathe and the tops of the bolts were then machined to get an even height. gap is set at 60 thou and works well.
MSD dont do a clevo trigger wheel, so this is my version to get around that and some packaging issues as well.

Also you might notice the other holes drilled radially around the trigger wheel, these are for when i go EFI whit COP. Afte i tap them out to 5/16"unc, 36 "bolts" will be installed, giving me a 36 tooth trigger wheel! i have a cam angle sensor made already for full sequential ignition and fuel...


Another shot of the back side. Note where the plate needed to be machined for clearance of the alternator tensioner. Much clearer veiw of the other holes ready to go.

So im happy now that all the stuff fits, so i'll send the block off for machine work tomorrow, should see it back in 2 weeks or so.

Next in a day or two update will be the oil pump and pickup, the new sump and maybe some manifold work, so stay tuned...

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Sorry for no more updates, my net at home is down. more to come soon.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Uncle Raggy

Bloody core shift. You just can't trust pattern makers and foundries can ya! Lol, I shouldn't say much since I am a patternmaker by trade and still work in a foundry : The only block I've ever made a pattern for was a 4 pot aluminium Ford based speedway motor, not too much of an issue with core shift, it's all sleeved anyway

When I was a very young taka I did this in my Fj , had it stiched and sleeved , thens old it way back in the late 1960's at highschool

[atec77]

Originally Posted by MEANXBCOUPE

Thanks for the replies people.
yeah i did have a very hard time and i got angry, upset and emotional in the time i was there.
But as much as he was a pain to deal with, i dont know that I would be getting stuck into him via name calling, to me he seemed misinformed and was used to clearing stat writeoffs ect, instead of what I presented to him.
I understand completely the point ZcAmbo raised, reguarding losing jobs and stuff, but it was more the poor attitude that i was shown. Demanding and demeaning.

Probably more of a shock, was to hear about the speedo thing as nobody has ever said anything at all before ( 3 seperate engineers have worked on the car and the blue slip guy), infact in the code of practice book it gives information as to where your gauges have to go if you mod your instrument cluster....
I dont know if it is worth fighting over, i'll just wind it over to any given number i suppose to keep him happy, would have been nice to keep track of the miles since the rebuild though. could allways return the odometer to 27 miles after the inspection!

What i hadnt said previously was that one of the first comments were that he had "done my apprenticship on these things", reading off the compliance plate that the car was a onyx black 3 speed auto with a 250 six originally..... try a blaze yellow, tbar, 302 falcon 500!. oh well....
Once again thanks for the support, i kind of knew it wasnt going to be plain sailing and to a certain degree, things have progressed a lot better than i had originally prepared myself for.

see ya on the streets (eventually!)

In qld if you have it noted on the rego that the speedo was replaced and zerod from 240000 k it's aceptable
you should enquire

[atec77]

Originally Posted by ZcAmbo

One of the main problems as mentioned is every state is different IE in qld they are cracking down on fibreglass cars there are no T buckets allowed to be registered in qld until further notice as they are trying to outlaw them for saftey reasons.

As far as insurance cover goes as i also do bus inspections when i have issued a certificate i am liable not only the company so if that bus crashes the company who holds the licence and the tester who signed the paper work and liable to be sued charged or whichever that is why im very carefull on what i test ive told people kindly to take there cars away as i was not happy with some of the work and to take it to another shop but at the same time you still have to treat the person with commen manners too.

Fibre glass cars can still be rego'd in Qld but so much work has to be done and alloy body is cheaper , I was talking to new rego t owner a couple of weeks ago and he had to add so much metal to his fibre t body it was nuts

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Updates coming soon people, hang in there!

[MEANXBCOUPE]

Well, is been a while and not much has happened. The block and rotating assembly have been sent out for machine work and a lot of fiddly custom parts have being either, made, re-made or modified to suit.

First was the water pump as previously shown, no probs there.

My next dilemma was to track down a clutch, so I could get the rotating assembly balanced at Westend performance. Although not strictly needed ( all clutches are supposed to be neutrally balanced) Sam at westend recommended I have a clutch for him to check. The problem started when I tried to track one down with out spending silly money, I have noticed that if you mention that the car/motor is supercharged, a 50% to 75% surcharge applies!
As mentioned, I thought it might be possible, depending on budget, to put a TKO600 five speed behind the new motor but whist looking around, I found myself looking closer at the T56 Magnum 6speed more and more.
This swap requires a different clutch as the Magnum version has a 26 spline input shaft as opposed to the 10 spline Ford top loader one. It soon became apparent that a gearbox had to be chosen due to needing a clutch now.
After a week or so of mucking around with different suppliers, I made the decision to put a T56 Magnum six speed in, so I brought a McLeod RST twin plate- good for 800 hp, it is actually a corvette one, as it has the correct spline count and is a multi fit housing that drilled for ford flywheel applications too!

About this time all the stuff was sent to Westend for the block to be machined and rotating assembly balanced and I got to thinking about up rating the fuel system.
I have run a single Holley blue, dead head system in a lot of my cars without much issue over the years, so budget in mind, I purchased a second Holley blue pump for a total of 220 GPH fuel volume, when added to the existing fuel pump.
Keeping in mind possible future upgrades a Aeromotive bypass style fuel pressure regulator was substituted for the dead head Holley regulator. It came with a second spring to convert it to an EFI regulator, up to 60 psi at a later date. Being a bypass style reg, This of course dictated a return line to the tank and mods to the fuel tank for the return.
The line is made of 5/8” stainless steel with weld on AN fittings either for the flexible sections. The tank got 2 -10 AN aluminum weld-ons, one for the return and one for expansion at a later date.
So the fuel tank got drained and came out. I flushed it with water 2 or 3 times in preparation for welding on the fittings. All went well there and the tank was flushed again to remove any alloy left in the tank from drilling holes for the fittings. Tank got reinstalled.
I must mention that a couple of weeks later, I broke down close to home with zero fuel pressure (at this point only one pump was installed). No fuses blown, but no pump running. After a tow home I took the bottom of the fuel pump off for a look-see and found the pump seized with a bit of alloy from the tank stuck in the vanes of the pump. A 35 micron filter has now being installed before each pump to compliment the large single unit before the regulator!

Work has slowly progressed on the new manifold, dictated by the AFD heads and I also wanted a better design. This will be custom made to suit my motor. Photos to follow.
Engine is due back from Westend tomorrow, ready for a quick mock up to order the last of the parts, ie push rods, rings ect. It will also allow me to finish off the manifold.
Cheers.

[Jallopy]

This just keeps getting better and better
I love a car that has been modified. That T56 Magnum will be the icing on the cake.

[MEANXBCOUPE]

not my usual style, but i'll dump some photos on you with little text.


this is the tank out of the car. and the two -10 weld on bungs. one for return. the other for future upgrades.



Same shot. note the grass from flushing the tank before welding. I welded the bungs on the tank, then drilled through the tank. Easier than trying to line up with holes pre drilled.



This is the new oil pump pick up, dictated buy the custom alloy sump


Same thing, see the mount from the girdle. All made from billet alloy 6061 grade. 150 micron stainless mesh as a pre filter.



tremec T56 Magnum. With the tko 600 behind it.



With belhousing attached ( will suit 11' clutch clevo/windsor left or right hand starter motor, 2 or 3 bolt.

Next time will be shots of the manifold as i make it.

Cheers