Ron, how long did it take to check/adjust the valves. Also if you have a chance still hoping to see your dyno sheet.
Tracking a SPF
- Thread starter Boxerman
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Ron, how long did it take to check/adjust the valves. Also if you have a chance still hoping to see your dyno sheet.
Sean,
I posted my dyno sheet earlier in this thread, is it not showing up for everyone else (I see it)?
As for the the valves, I ended up having to go buy oil to do the oil change at the same time. I took care of that Saturday evening with the intent of making the change and adjusting the valves after warming up the car. I had so much fun "warming up the car"
that I ended up not having time to do the oil change / valve adjustment. I'll do it this weekend, as I'll have a week of vacation to take care of some of my other projects.
I posted my dyno sheet earlier in this thread, is it not showing up for everyone else (I see it)?
As for the the valves, I ended up having to go buy oil to do the oil change at the same time. I took care of that Saturday evening with the intent of making the change and adjusting the valves after warming up the car. I had so much fun "warming up the car"
that I ended up not having time to do the oil change / valve adjustment. I'll do it this weekend, as I'll have a week of vacation to take care of some of my other projects.Chris Duncan
Supporter
Do an SPF with an aluminum block 302, hydraulic, shoot for 400whp, you don't need any more. This will make the car less tail happy with the lesser weight in the back. It will also keep the drivetrain from breaking. I would go EFI with TWM T'bodies. They are more trouble initially but once dialed in they stay tuned unlike carbs.
The SPF is torsionally rigid with the monocoque chassis. Go with 17's and bigger brakes.
The suspension is not as good as current tech but it's close enough. The aero is probably the biggest drawback but not really a factor until about 150mph or so. It can be helped with a front splitter. Also look at the aero of the radiator nostril, I believe on the SPF it is lacking.
The GT40 is lower to the ground than most moderns and with the power to weight ratio, you will be well within the hunt no problem.
You may not quite meet your maintenance requirements but hyd lifters and EFI will bring you closer. It probably depends how well the initial set up is performed and if all top quality parts are used.
The SPF is torsionally rigid with the monocoque chassis. Go with 17's and bigger brakes.
The suspension is not as good as current tech but it's close enough. The aero is probably the biggest drawback but not really a factor until about 150mph or so. It can be helped with a front splitter. Also look at the aero of the radiator nostril, I believe on the SPF it is lacking.
The GT40 is lower to the ground than most moderns and with the power to weight ratio, you will be well within the hunt no problem.
You may not quite meet your maintenance requirements but hyd lifters and EFI will bring you closer. It probably depends how well the initial set up is performed and if all top quality parts are used.
I am doing an aluminum block 302 based motor. Will do solid roller cam with shaft rockers. Doing a 4 barrel carb because its simple to setup, apparently works great and the 7k saved on injection will be added to a long long list of lightweight, strong balanced internals.
Have thought of hydraulics, but that keeps me below 500hp maybe costs 50hp with my planed setup, which is a number that is some type of mental target. Plus with shorter gearing for track its nice to be able to dip into the 7ks redline when needed. Maybe though its not that important and I will do hydraulics. I think the decidng factor is going to be the hassle of setting valve lash, some say its dead easy an hour or so of work, other say its a total pain.
The aero I agree is not so important at track speeds, plus on the other end of the spectrum, I dont really like driving downfirce cars.
The chassis I know is stiff, but was wondering how well the suspension si dynamicaly. Given the number of surviving Gt40s from the 60's I assume at the very least its predictable.
Have thought of hydraulics, but that keeps me below 500hp maybe costs 50hp with my planed setup, which is a number that is some type of mental target. Plus with shorter gearing for track its nice to be able to dip into the 7ks redline when needed. Maybe though its not that important and I will do hydraulics. I think the decidng factor is going to be the hassle of setting valve lash, some say its dead easy an hour or so of work, other say its a total pain.
The aero I agree is not so important at track speeds, plus on the other end of the spectrum, I dont really like driving downfirce cars.
The chassis I know is stiff, but was wondering how well the suspension si dynamicaly. Given the number of surviving Gt40s from the 60's I assume at the very least its predictable.
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Sean,
I see you're seriously considering solid lifters, but are still a little concerned about how long it takes to set the lash.
I'll let you know how long it takes me when I tackle that job next week. I've done it lots of times on P-cars, so I can't claim total ignorance. As I see it, warm up the motor, take out the seats (just lift 'em up), take off the firewall (8 bolts?), and put your socket on the crank. Remove valve covers, and rotate crank enough to find out which set of valves are closed. Use the exhaust-open intake-close method to identify and adjust the intake and exhaust valves, respectively. Follow the firing order around the engine while repeating the process. Put everything back on.
Really, it shouldn't be difficult. A bit of a pain to have to get in and out of the cab to turn the motor, but that's just an irritation. The porsches are quicker 'cause the crank is right there at the back of the motor. Just reach in with the hood up, crank on your wrench, slide back under the motor and check the valves.
You're right about going with a single 4-barrel carb. Simpler set up, cheaper horsepower (at least without a lot of tuning), and money saved for other areas. I really only went with webers for historical accuracy and "bling."
I see you're seriously considering solid lifters, but are still a little concerned about how long it takes to set the lash.
I'll let you know how long it takes me when I tackle that job next week. I've done it lots of times on P-cars, so I can't claim total ignorance. As I see it, warm up the motor, take out the seats (just lift 'em up), take off the firewall (8 bolts?), and put your socket on the crank. Remove valve covers, and rotate crank enough to find out which set of valves are closed. Use the exhaust-open intake-close method to identify and adjust the intake and exhaust valves, respectively. Follow the firing order around the engine while repeating the process. Put everything back on.
Really, it shouldn't be difficult. A bit of a pain to have to get in and out of the cab to turn the motor, but that's just an irritation. The porsches are quicker 'cause the crank is right there at the back of the motor. Just reach in with the hood up, crank on your wrench, slide back under the motor and check the valves.
You're right about going with a single 4-barrel carb. Simpler set up, cheaper horsepower (at least without a lot of tuning), and money saved for other areas. I really only went with webers for historical accuracy and "bling."
And not, strictly speaking, a necessary one.
You can unplug the trigger wire from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid, and use a remote starter. Most are pushbutton-style which I find a bit fumbly; I much prefer the pistol-grip style, such as this:
Pistol-grip Remote Starter
FWIW, I was working on an engine while a friend was 'helping' me with one of these things. I told him 'hold on a second' which he heard as 'hit it again', and the result was me taking a trip to the emergency room. So from now on, I keep the thing in my hand and let my friend watch! :laugh:
Man, you guys make life hard for yourselves. Whip off the rocker covers, remove the spark plugs , put it in top gear, once you have TDC fireing position on #1 you can roll the car fwd on the shop floor to rotate the motor 1/4 turn at a time, Sean I told you in an earlier post how to establish the correct cold lash setting with an alloy block ( can use same method to establish cold settings with iron block or any combo in any car), then you dont even have to warm up the motor, amazing how much easier it is with cold engine, should be all done in less than an hour for the first time, do it say once a month to get the process into your head, then once it becomes second nature 45 minutes should be all it takes. Oh and another +, you can do it all by yourself without any other 'helpers' to confuse the process
Jac,
Wish I knew what the cold lash was, but my builder (and I assume cam supplier) only supplied "hot" settings.
No room to roll my car in my current garrage. Well, until I clean the thing up, anyway.
PS, I have a remote starter, but I don't like to use them to bump the motor. Hard on the machinery, and I always overshoot and end up having to do it by hand. To each his own.
Wish I knew what the cold lash was, but my builder (and I assume cam supplier) only supplied "hot" settings.
No room to roll my car in my current garrage. Well, until I clean the thing up, anyway.
PS, I have a remote starter, but I don't like to use them to bump the motor. Hard on the machinery, and I always overshoot and end up having to do it by hand. To each his own.
Simple, check/set your hot lash on say #1 cyl, allow the engine to cool overnight & check the 'now cold' lash of #1 in the morning. This is now the lash settings for cold setting from now on.
With the car in top gear one revolution of the rear tire with a ~4 to 1 R&P will give 4 crankshaft revolutions- you only need two crank revolutions to set the whole eight cylinders- or half a tire revolution--- surely you can sweep that 6 feet in front of the car
or in a worst case scenario put the car in & out of gear between cyl/lash checks & roll it back each time..Time for a bit of Kiwi enginuity Ron, never to late to change might even free up a bit of time for a Speights mate...once you have set ALL the lash!PS, I hate anything electrical, so remote starters are out, this process also works with car up on jack stands as long as you have a mate to help turn the other wheel forward with you....
How did the valve lash go?
OK,
For those waiting for me to report back....
It took a total of 1 hour 25 minutes from start to finish.
That includes everything from taking out the tools, and identifying which ones were needed, to checking every valve, adjusting two exhaust valves (this alone easily took 15 minutes), and buttoning everything back up. I did this at a leisurely pace, and I'm sure that I could do it in less than an hour now without trying.
What I'm not including in that number is the amount time it took me to figure out the conversion from a hot lash number to a cold lash number...Basically, I got it hot, measured all the valves on one bank, let them cool, and measured again. I found pretty good reproducibility between valves, so am comfortable with my conclusions.
One shortcut I did take, was to bump the motor around using the starter. I tried shifting the car into 5th, and just rolling it, but I couldn't budge it (at least not with the plugs in, and I didn't want to pull all of them, too).
So, an hour every few thousand miles doesn't sound too bad. I'll probably check them every time I change the oil...seems like a reasonable interval.
And there ya have it. Now back to football.
For those waiting for me to report back....
It took a total of 1 hour 25 minutes from start to finish.
That includes everything from taking out the tools, and identifying which ones were needed, to checking every valve, adjusting two exhaust valves (this alone easily took 15 minutes), and buttoning everything back up. I did this at a leisurely pace, and I'm sure that I could do it in less than an hour now without trying.
What I'm not including in that number is the amount time it took me to figure out the conversion from a hot lash number to a cold lash number...Basically, I got it hot, measured all the valves on one bank, let them cool, and measured again. I found pretty good reproducibility between valves, so am comfortable with my conclusions.
One shortcut I did take, was to bump the motor around using the starter. I tried shifting the car into 5th, and just rolling it, but I couldn't budge it (at least not with the plugs in, and I didn't want to pull all of them, too).
So, an hour every few thousand miles doesn't sound too bad. I'll probably check them every time I change the oil...seems like a reasonable interval.
And there ya have it. Now back to football.
One thing I should clarify here was Rons comment that his engine builder/ cam supplier had not given him a cold lash setting. The cam supplier cannot do this simply because the parts used in the engine build will determine what this setting will be, eg if you have an alloy block or heads the cold lash will be tighter than a motor built with iron block & heads or different again if its an iron block with alloy heads, also rocker arm ratio, pushrod length & geometry also have an influence...... But at the end of it all if you set & check the hot lash setting to the cam manufacturers specs with the motor HOT, then allow the motor to cool overnight & check the COLD lash setting in the morning that will be your COLD lash setting for as long as you run that particular cam combination in your engine, ..... PLEASE, when your cobber down the road asks for YOUR lash settings to try on his car get him to read this thread or post and apply the same process to his car as its unlikely that he will be running the same combination.
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