cscott67 said:
Robert,
I saw a post about you having an accident and just wanted to check and see if you were ok. Sincerely, Scott
Greetings Scott, Thank you for your concern. My car was out of commission for 5 weeks instead of the 4 weeks that were originally estimated. The engine and trans were removed at the Fullerton shop, and the engine transported to a custom performance engine shop in Santa Fe Springs, California. Excellent family owned business.
They were amazingly good to work with. I discussed my desires for my engine, and they made them all happen.
The engine was completely disassembled, washed cleaned, each part inspected, etc. The same cam was reinstalled, but it was installed in a position that was 4 to 6 degrees different than how it was originally installed. I was told this would produce a more progressive result with both the sound and performance. It did accomplish both to my satisfaction.
Another larger accomplishment was to increase the engine compression ratio from its original 10.5:1 up to 11:1. This boosted h.p. too and enhanced the performance sounds of the engine. The boost was accomplished by installing new higher dished racing pistons and new rings. Nothing was mechanically wrong with the original pistons or rings. This performance shop also recommended a greater quench (area) distance and thus that was calculated into the new piston install.
Note: The quench area also runs cooler than the rest of the chamber/piston. These lower temperatures are where the "quench" comes from. When properly designed, the quench areas can have a tremendous effect on the quality of combustion, and allow higher compression ratios, and due to this they are considered "artificial octane" by scientific types. The bottom line is "properly designed, quench is good".
Upon inspection of the valve springs it was determined that there was some spring binding in progress. They recommended a spring upgrade and that was also accomplished.
A better high volume performance oil pump was installed and this allowed us to use the external oil cooler that was originally installed near the rear of the car, while maintaining proper oil pressure. Originally, we disconnected the external oil cooler and ran a filter in the more typical engine location to enable proper oil pressure. I learned in this process that there are high volume low pressure oil pumps and low pressure high volume oil pumps.
One of the most productive engine projects we were able to accomplish was to correctly port the intake manifold with the head intake. This added h.p., and eliminated a small very annoying noise caused by what I would describe as very tiny hardly audible ticking (miniture backfiring through the eight air cleaners) and only between 2000 and 2200 rpm. It never really caused engine problems but the fix for that eluded all of us for months (until now) including the ECU tuner.
I was unable to endure another flywheel dyno tune because the ECU and harness were both installed in my vehicle and unavailable, and the dyno company did not have the same ECU, or any ECU for my engine and 8-stack.
I do believe we met the original goal of 750 h.p., even though the first flywheel dyno result was 690 h.p. But, it really doesn't matter that much what it is. It is sporting a newer badder tude, and that's just fine with me.
All the other internal original engine parts were reused, and the engine runs really well.
During this time, I also had two hinges made and installed for the front clamshell hatch. They were slightly brushed billet aluminum and match the Talbot side mirrors and front canards.
The engine was installed and the car was running on Saturday, June 22. However, I was ill most all that week with flu and have not had time to take photos or videos of my car. I hope to accomplish that soon.
I'm fine. Still work full-time. Still old and ornery.
Thanks, Robert
