My rebuilt engine

[stylussprinter]

It's on the dyno and running in today . Full testing tomorrow and I'm collecting it this Thursday

[Werner Van Loock]

well done, and how does the wallet cope with it?

[stylussprinter]

Not bloody printable , I'm gutted but dying to get it back home.

[stylussprinter]

Not ' quite ' as terrifying as I'd imagined . Total rebuild , all new seals , ARP's top and bottom and gasket set . Three new pulleys and two belts . Deducted head work already spent on old head/ hoping to reclaim it at some point , not charged for 16 new valves that would have gone into the old head . Plus sold me the complete second hand head including some line boring for £600. Above listed parts , work and dyno test at £3267.92 so £3867.92 in total . The head Ive now got would have been £2500 complete as new . Power is virtually the same just 6 bhp at the top end which isn't available to me at 7800 rpm rev cut . Still have concerns over thermal shock at start and warm up with my water rail and so does Paul . I'll be drilling a much bigger hole in the thermostat to attempt to emulate the Dunnell water system.

[norma]

ok Rob - worried now (!) are you talking about the raceline water rail? is there an issue with hot then sudden rush of cold water? I do notice that the rad cap often blows a bit of water if i give it over 3k of revs before the thermo has fully opened!

[stylussprinter]

I don't have an issue with overflow . I have a non sprung water cap on the waterrail then the six mill pipe exit goes to a header tank on the bulkhead. That has the sprung pressure cap on plus there's a small overflow under the cap. The issue is never known until something happens like mine so you end up looking for causes. The FORD system is Dunnell's recomended . The stat opens when set to but while it's warming there's a half inch flow around the system by passing the stat . This way the water is half warm in the engine before the stat opens full bore. On top of that it's cylinders 1 and2 that get the fresh cold water first , hence my number 2 having a crack. Not much gets said about it because most people fitting a waterail don't tune to 240bhp nor do they race or sprint. After this tuning level the area between the exhaust ports is very thin and gets very hot just before the stat opens . He told me about this potential problem years ago but I ignored it assuming it was sales jealousy over Raceline parts but today got the full tech explanation. He hasn't had cracked heads with engines using either his or Ford water systems ---- so there you are ? I intend taking a halfway measure apart from using no antifreeze , just water wetter and water --- that is to drill a 6 mm hole to widen the existing hole there is in my stat where the one way valve was . I removed the valve when putting the stat in at build but drilling it out will allow more flow before the stat opens. Granted it's not half inch but it goes someway in the direction. Also on the dyno the oil pressure shows a wobble , flicking about a bit and he doesn't get this on his sumps. His look less glamorous and are half the price so I think I should have listened in the first place in 1998. Don't think it's a problem in a road car at less head tuning level .

[Sook]

Rob, if you're looking for a really gucci solution this might be something to look at!

http://www.kenlowe.co.uk/pre-heaters/cars/index.html

They do off car race versions so I presume they'd run of a 12v/240v inverter.

[norma]

food for thought Rob - thanks.
Will probably join you in the 6mm hole thru stat thing just to be on the safe side....
Oh and I need to contact you re the arb.
I'll send you some pics of the front suspension area so you know which setup i have.
Thanks
Alex

[stylussprinter]

OK Alex , I need a photo looking directly down over the cam belt cover and inboard rockers . That will give me a view of your front lower chassis area and anything strapped to it. What front and rear spring lbs do you run ?

[stylussprinter]

I put my ' stat ' in a pan of water and heated it, to see when it opens and shuts. I put a Ford double stage stat in with it from the Ford plastic thermo to compare . The stat from my waterail opened well before boiling point and very wide . Once taken out of the water it closed but took much longer than the Ford stat. The Ford stat opened just after boiling but not as wide and closed very quickly once out of the water . The reason I checked is that I noticed a figure 119 stamped onto the top so was worried that it was the temp indicator because the Ford stat had it's temp open and shut stamped in the same place. Regarding me enlarging the hole to 6mm , I decided not to drill it to avoid using a vice . I just filed it out with a chainsaw file then washed it out so it's closer to 7 mm.

[norma]

just done the same thing! stat opened well below 100, but as soon as I pulled it out of the water, it closed pretty quick (less than a minute to fully closed). I've just drilled 3x5mm holes in my stat - maybe excessive!?
I'll email you the other info..

[norma]

i've emailed your landscaping@ email address - hope its still valid!?

[stylussprinter]

just done the same thing! stat opened well below 100, but as soon as I pulled it out of the water, it closed pretty quick (less than a minute to fully closed). I've just drilled 3x5mm holes in my stat - maybe excessive!?
I'll email you the other info..

Well in theory your three holes may emulate the FORD system better than my one 7mm hole . The Ford bypass before the stat opens is half an inch / 13mm . I'd be interested to know as our bhp is similar , how long it takes to reach operating temp ticking over from start-up. 92 degrees is optimum . I run mine with the bonnet up to avoid warping the thin f/glass if just running in the shed. Perhaps you could run yours with bonnet up too You would logically expect mine to warm quicker but if Dunnell is right then yours will reach temp quicker -- a good test for us both

[stylussprinter]

She's almost back in now , just the exhaust manifold and system to fit then the air horns and box plus pipe and filter. All electrics refitted , apart from the battery, water temp sensor plus ECU which are in the way when bolting up the exhaust . Then it's off to collect some Redline 30wt and water wetter before I can hear it run again Haven't drained the brake fluid for two seasons so really ought to do that while the cylinders are easy to get at

[stylussprinter]

Anyone with a Zetec engine , using a waterail and tuned exhaust manifold as I have ---------- take note Not every head has it's bolt holes for the manifold or thermostat (or both) in the exact same position I had the manifold , complete with loctited bolts , on and off twice before realising the bolt hole lobes were not getting high enough to line up with the threaded manifold holes in the head Finally , I modified the lobes to suit but had a real struggle with bolting up . Cleaning the bolts of loctite was hard but even harder in the head threads. My manifold has two of it's four pipes sleaved for easy fitting when the front was not a flip hingeing one . This made me assume it was me being awkward rather than any problem. Hence three times before I twigged. Quite amazing though that Zetec heads aren't totally identical So a two hour job turned into a five hour job