4k GT86 Gets a Rocket Bunny Kit & LS3 V8 Swap!
Discussion
Ben Lowden said:
Fantastic news! I think we'll have to turn the PH25 event into something with live action for 2024 so people can hear this in action as well as seeing it.
Oh dear! So i can blow up my Diff attempting a skid infront of a crowd? 
I look forward to it! 
(if it even survives that long!)But in all seriousness i'm really looking forward to the PH25 event!
The first big outing for the car is tomorrow! Driving all the way up from Brighton-ish way to Warwick for a car show on Sunday at the British Motor museum! (Tucked at the museum if anyone here is going to be there but might be a bit Stance-y for the usual PH crowd) If you do spot me there feel free to come over, mention you've seen it on PH and be prepared to get shown every last detail of the car while I talk your ear off until you look for an excuse to politely leave!
Edited by Samjeev on Friday 31st March 19:37
Samjeev said:
Oh dear! So i can blow up my Diff attempting a skid infront of a crowd? I look forward to it! (if it even survives that long!)
But in all seriousness i'm really looking forward to the PH25 event!
The first big outing for the car is tomorrow! Driving all the way up from Brighton-ish way to Warwick for a car show on Sunday at the British Motor museum! (Tucked at the museum if anyone here is going to be there but might be a bit Stance-y for the usual PH crowd) If you do spot me there feel free to come over, mention you've seen it on PH and be prepared to get shown every last detail of the car while I talk your ear off until you look for an excuse to politely leave!
If you have any troubles while you're up there, give me a shout. I know a few fairly well qualified engineers in the area with tools and ramps. I'm also good pals with the GBG crew. I look forward to it! (if it even survives that long!)But in all seriousness i'm really looking forward to the PH25 event!
The first big outing for the car is tomorrow! Driving all the way up from Brighton-ish way to Warwick for a car show on Sunday at the British Motor museum! (Tucked at the museum if anyone here is going to be there but might be a bit Stance-y for the usual PH crowd) If you do spot me there feel free to come over, mention you've seen it on PH and be prepared to get shown every last detail of the car while I talk your ear off until you look for an excuse to politely leave!
Edited by Samjeev on Friday 31st March 19:37
ridds said:
Samjeev said:
Oh dear! So i can blow up my Diff attempting a skid infront of a crowd? I look forward to it! (if it even survives that long!)
But in all seriousness i'm really looking forward to the PH25 event!
The first big outing for the car is tomorrow! Driving all the way up from Brighton-ish way to Warwick for a car show on Sunday at the British Motor museum! (Tucked at the museum if anyone here is going to be there but might be a bit Stance-y for the usual PH crowd) If you do spot me there feel free to come over, mention you've seen it on PH and be prepared to get shown every last detail of the car while I talk your ear off until you look for an excuse to politely leave!
If you have any troubles while you're up there, give me a shout. I know a few fairly well qualified engineers in the area with tools and ramps. I'm also good pals with the GBG crew. I look forward to it! (if it even survives that long!)But in all seriousness i'm really looking forward to the PH25 event!
The first big outing for the car is tomorrow! Driving all the way up from Brighton-ish way to Warwick for a car show on Sunday at the British Motor museum! (Tucked at the museum if anyone here is going to be there but might be a bit Stance-y for the usual PH crowd) If you do spot me there feel free to come over, mention you've seen it on PH and be prepared to get shown every last detail of the car while I talk your ear off until you look for an excuse to politely leave!
Edited by Samjeev on Friday 31st March 19:37
Only got as far as Cobham when I believe one of my coil pack harnesses died leaving me on 4 cylinders.. got the car recovered home in the end. Not particularly how I wanted to blow a few hundred quid over the weekend..
I'm learning a bit of a hard lesson the more and more issues I have in that... everything aimed at these yank motors which is "aftermarket" can better be described as "Utter s
t".Which is a bitter pill to swallow when alot of the aftermarket bits are often more expensive than their OEM counterparts.
Right so where were we..
Ah yeah.. tried to go to a car show, ended in misery and an expensive bill getting the car recovered home.. Fun!
Understandably I didn't quite feel like doing a major project thread update until I had something fun to write about otherwise it would've been a post filled with angst and rambling.. (Moreso than usual atleast!)
So With regards to what let me down, it was unfortunately some dodgy connectors. I'm not sure if this is Gm's fault, Holley's fault or Haltech's fault, as essentially it was the connection where the Haltech Harness meets the Holley Coil pack harness but both design their harnesses with Connectors that GM use on their OEM harness.
A few people told me they were "known" to fail but I hadn't read waves of reports of it but honestly given my luck the past 6 months I wouldn't put it past me to be the one unlucky sod that has it fail.
When the connection failed it took all 4 Coil packs out of action so must've been the main 12v feed or ground, etc but of course limping the car to Cobham meant the injectors were still firing and flooded the plugs with fuel so even when getting it home I couldn't fix it without swapping/cleaning the spark plugs.
With that confirmed I bought some Deustch connectors and got choppy!
Ended off a job well done with a little noise clip of the car, honestly a bit disappointing with the microphone quality on my phone but you'll just have to hear it in person, trust me!
And just in time as well as this weekend past I attempted take#2 on going to a car show! this time Japfest. Once again heading up towards the same part of the country and staying with Friends in Warwick, this was the mission agenda:
One small issue with the car (I believe, but don't wish to test it on the road) is that it struggles a bit under half a tank of fuel... oh and did I also mention I get about.. 13-15mpg on average? So needless to stay I had to stop off at both Cobham and Oxford services on the way, just to keep it topped up, thankfully it did indeed make it to Cobham this time and beyond without any issues!
And finally I arrived without any issues (apart from the growing fuel bill on my credit card!) so it was time to give the car a much needed wash ready for the show the next day.
And then on Sunday I attended my first Japfest, getting in was a bit of a nightmare for me and everyone behind me I imagine as the car doesn't really do "Crawling" in traffic particularly well currently without making me look like a knob revving it for no reason! :Laugh: but eventually we got in and I was in their "japfest select" section, a fancy name for the show and shine.
Didn't come home with any awards but that's not something I really care too much about (I just like being parked in a nice area most of the time :P ) but the bit that really made my day.. or my weekend... or practically my whole year up until this point and has really made the last 6 months of grief and issues worth it was seeing peoples reactions to the car, the engine, the swap, chatting away to people about the process and the work that's gone in to it, and finally the crowds that would suddenly flock over when I even so much as just started it up! :Laugh: big angry V8 noises aren't a familiar noise at a Japanese car show afterall!
Ah yeah.. tried to go to a car show, ended in misery and an expensive bill getting the car recovered home.. Fun!
Understandably I didn't quite feel like doing a major project thread update until I had something fun to write about otherwise it would've been a post filled with angst and rambling.. (Moreso than usual atleast!)
So With regards to what let me down, it was unfortunately some dodgy connectors. I'm not sure if this is Gm's fault, Holley's fault or Haltech's fault, as essentially it was the connection where the Haltech Harness meets the Holley Coil pack harness but both design their harnesses with Connectors that GM use on their OEM harness.
A few people told me they were "known" to fail but I hadn't read waves of reports of it but honestly given my luck the past 6 months I wouldn't put it past me to be the one unlucky sod that has it fail.
When the connection failed it took all 4 Coil packs out of action so must've been the main 12v feed or ground, etc but of course limping the car to Cobham meant the injectors were still firing and flooded the plugs with fuel so even when getting it home I couldn't fix it without swapping/cleaning the spark plugs.
With that confirmed I bought some Deustch connectors and got choppy!
Ended off a job well done with a little noise clip of the car, honestly a bit disappointing with the microphone quality on my phone but you'll just have to hear it in person, trust me!
And just in time as well as this weekend past I attempted take#2 on going to a car show! this time Japfest. Once again heading up towards the same part of the country and staying with Friends in Warwick, this was the mission agenda:
One small issue with the car (I believe, but don't wish to test it on the road) is that it struggles a bit under half a tank of fuel... oh and did I also mention I get about.. 13-15mpg on average? So needless to stay I had to stop off at both Cobham and Oxford services on the way, just to keep it topped up, thankfully it did indeed make it to Cobham this time and beyond without any issues!
And finally I arrived without any issues (apart from the growing fuel bill on my credit card!) so it was time to give the car a much needed wash ready for the show the next day.
And then on Sunday I attended my first Japfest, getting in was a bit of a nightmare for me and everyone behind me I imagine as the car doesn't really do "Crawling" in traffic particularly well currently without making me look like a knob revving it for no reason! :Laugh: but eventually we got in and I was in their "japfest select" section, a fancy name for the show and shine.
Didn't come home with any awards but that's not something I really care too much about (I just like being parked in a nice area most of the time :P ) but the bit that really made my day.. or my weekend... or practically my whole year up until this point and has really made the last 6 months of grief and issues worth it was seeing peoples reactions to the car, the engine, the swap, chatting away to people about the process and the work that's gone in to it, and finally the crowds that would suddenly flock over when I even so much as just started it up! :Laugh: big angry V8 noises aren't a familiar noise at a Japanese car show afterall!
DodgyGeezer said:
just a thought if you're not adverse to getting a garage involved... there's one based in Limpsfield near Oxted in Surrey, (TJ Motors) he's pretty much the go to guy for 5th Gen Camaros both standard and (VERY) modded.
Oh haha i'm not, the car's actually booked in to be tuned on Wednesday the 26th at Protuner in Coventry! i've just been waiting for the date to come around and there's no reason I couldn't really drive the car around on the base map until then to run the engine in and so on.Looking forward to it! should've finished my last post with that bit of info
Samjeev said:
DodgyGeezer said:
just a thought if you're not adverse to getting a garage involved... there's one based in Limpsfield near Oxted in Surrey, (TJ Motors) he's pretty much the go to guy for 5th Gen Camaros both standard and (VERY) modded.
Oh haha i'm not, the car's actually booked in to be tuned on Wednesday the 26th at Protuner in Coventry! i've just been waiting for the date to come around and there's no reason I couldn't really drive the car around on the base map until then to run the engine in and so on.Looking forward to it! should've finished my last post with that bit of info
Well here we are once again..
You can probably tell by that tone that this isn't the nice happily-ever-after conclusion I was looking for with this story and unfortunately it instead ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. I'd love to say I was milking it for content but that would imply there was any money to be made off this madness which would really help, trust me!
Anyway once again, buckle up and brace yourself. I don't take responsibility for any emotional whiplash this post may cause. Reader discretion is advised!
So following my last post I had finally taken the 86 on it's first successful long-trip up to Silverstone for Japfest, met a bunch of people, chatted about the car for hours and generally had a great time. The next steps were to do its first oil change since the engine "refresh" and take it to be tuned!
I dumped out the run-in Oil I had been using for the first 350-400 miles and chucked in some fresh fully synth stuff to run it properly on.
The change went well, there was a bit of fuzz on the magnetic sump plug but nothing I was overly worried about, afterall it's just had fresh new bearings, new piston rings and the engine block itself was by no means clinically spotless inside when I put it back together so overly this is just the sump plug also catchign a few bits of crud that have circulated about!
The forbidden dark chocolate milkshake didn't look too bad either, a slight shimmer but again, nothing alarming
With all that said and done the car even gained some oil pressure with the new load of 5w-40 flowing through it, bumping right up to 54psi at cold which is nice!
After that it was my birthday week and a little Pistonheads Reader's Cars collab ensued when I visited SturdyHSV with his Aussie Possie
After which the car was dropped off to be tuned in Coventry and unfortunately this is wear it starts to go down hill, gradually at first... then very rapidly.
Just for reminder's sake the engine is *basically* a stock LS3 with a Spicy cam installed, supporting valve-springs and a general refresh having been carried out with gaskets, head studs, rod bearings & Piston rings installed. It's by no means a built motor but pretty much *any* LS3 should be able to achieve a power figure beginning with the number 4... or so I thought.
Upon health checking the engine the tuner had spotted that the compression was mostly satisfactory, and even really good on one bank however with less stellar compression on Cylinder 7, overall the numbers were something like this (in bar):
1: 15.1
2: 13.9
3: 15.3
4: 13.7
5: 15.4
6: 13.9
7: 13.4 (The "bad" one)
8: 13.3
Overall you can see that Bank 1 (the odd cylinders) is quite consistant with the exception of Cyl7 (which he had carried out a lead down to confirm it was losing compression through the bottom end) and Bank 2 (The even Cylinders) very consistant throughout.
The fact that Banks 1 and 2 were off from each other didn't concern him as the cylinders within those banks were quite consistant with each other. He did show concern in regards to Cylinder 7 however considering I wasn't looking to set record power figures and was by no means going to tear down the engine to resolve it I advised to crack on and i'd monitor in the long run whether that compression continued to drop and drop as time went on!
Unfortunately however, the engine made some rather lackluster figures for an LS3, as mentioned above it should be quite simple for and LS3 (even my phony LS3) to make atleast 400hp however the figures were as follows:
Torque = 334.3ftlb @4981rpm
Power = 359.8hp @6063rpm (at the hubs - 10-12% drivetrain loss for T56 gearbox)
Of course these numbers aren't particularly stellar but.. having said that the car ran beautifully afterwards! The Low end bucking issues were partially fixed (there's no true resolution without going for ITB's or another similar Intake solution) and a number of other issues like a high end lean trip, returning to idle when coming to a stop and so on were all resolved, and I had the nice lumpy idle that i'd always wanted with this Cam!
Unfortunately this is where things take a further downwars spiral at a rate of knots.
On the morning of pickup engine Oil pressure was considerably low! around 15psi at idle and not increasing much when driving either! I perhaps should've taken this as a sign to get it recovered home here but I foolishly decided to press on, assuming I could nurse the car home keeping it under 2000rpm all the way but, just 70 miles after leaving disaster struck..
It began knocking about a mile before the M40 Oxford services, unfortunately having never experienced anything like this myself I wasn't quick to shut the car down and what was initially an infrequent knocking developed in to as you can hear, a very frequent full blown bottom end knocking.
Unfortunately not my finest hour and honestly, quite a heartbreaking conclusion to the whole saga. After spending a year carrying out the engine swap, not to mention the copious costs involved and the past 6 months battling numerous, tumultuous and frustrating issues it all came to an end like this, I was distraught.
Once again SturdyHSV came to the rescue with a few tools to help diagnosed that Yes, it is indeed fked and more importantly with a Strong Whiskey to help sooth my pain (afterall, I wouldn't be driving home!) and i'm still thankful for it! it would've been a very long time alone to get caught up in that sorrowful headspace otherwise.
On that evening I finally got the car recovered home by 1am (thankfully this time with breakdown cover) where it will likely rest atleast for a few weeks.
Obviously there's a few questions to come out of this such as:
What Failed?
What Caused the Failure?
What Caused the low Oil pressure?
etc etc..
And eventually I might find answers to a few of these but for now i'll probably not touch a spanner on the car for a few weeks If i can help myself, as I should probably take a break from it, not to mention that right now I don't immediately have the funds nor space to fix it or do something as drastic as take the engine out of the car although I am exploring options, atleast for the latter of those issues.
I'll have to cancel plans and hotels to attend a bunch of car events and shows with one of those potentially being the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary
Unless I can fix it in time but I don't think that's a realistic nor healthy goal to rush towards given my track record so far.
In hindsight there were perhaps a few warning signs, even on the way up to Japfest I had noticed a slightly tapping noise from inside the car, it wasn't audible from the engine bay and so I chalked it down to being just a bit of vibration against the firewall or break booster now that things have heated up, loosened up a bit and so on such as engine mounts but ohwell, knowing these thing doesn't change the results.
Obviously the plan will be (when I get round to it) to initially take off the heads in situ which should hopefully allow me to take the engine out without having to pull the gearbox with it. Fingers crossed the damage to the block & cylinder walls is minimal and the block can atleast be re-used with a bit of machine work and a rebore.
To try and finish off with a positive spin on the whole thing, if the above does turn out to be true and the block is re-usable with just a toast rotating assembly i'll potentially look to install a stroker kit for more displacement, more bald eagles, and more power.
You can probably tell by that tone that this isn't the nice happily-ever-after conclusion I was looking for with this story and unfortunately it instead ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. I'd love to say I was milking it for content but that would imply there was any money to be made off this madness which would really help, trust me!
Anyway once again, buckle up and brace yourself. I don't take responsibility for any emotional whiplash this post may cause. Reader discretion is advised!
So following my last post I had finally taken the 86 on it's first successful long-trip up to Silverstone for Japfest, met a bunch of people, chatted about the car for hours and generally had a great time. The next steps were to do its first oil change since the engine "refresh" and take it to be tuned!
I dumped out the run-in Oil I had been using for the first 350-400 miles and chucked in some fresh fully synth stuff to run it properly on.
The change went well, there was a bit of fuzz on the magnetic sump plug but nothing I was overly worried about, afterall it's just had fresh new bearings, new piston rings and the engine block itself was by no means clinically spotless inside when I put it back together so overly this is just the sump plug also catchign a few bits of crud that have circulated about!
The forbidden dark chocolate milkshake didn't look too bad either, a slight shimmer but again, nothing alarming
With all that said and done the car even gained some oil pressure with the new load of 5w-40 flowing through it, bumping right up to 54psi at cold which is nice!
After that it was my birthday week and a little Pistonheads Reader's Cars collab ensued when I visited SturdyHSV with his Aussie Possie
After which the car was dropped off to be tuned in Coventry and unfortunately this is wear it starts to go down hill, gradually at first... then very rapidly.
Just for reminder's sake the engine is *basically* a stock LS3 with a Spicy cam installed, supporting valve-springs and a general refresh having been carried out with gaskets, head studs, rod bearings & Piston rings installed. It's by no means a built motor but pretty much *any* LS3 should be able to achieve a power figure beginning with the number 4... or so I thought.
Upon health checking the engine the tuner had spotted that the compression was mostly satisfactory, and even really good on one bank however with less stellar compression on Cylinder 7, overall the numbers were something like this (in bar):
1: 15.1
2: 13.9
3: 15.3
4: 13.7
5: 15.4
6: 13.9
7: 13.4 (The "bad" one)
8: 13.3
Overall you can see that Bank 1 (the odd cylinders) is quite consistant with the exception of Cyl7 (which he had carried out a lead down to confirm it was losing compression through the bottom end) and Bank 2 (The even Cylinders) very consistant throughout.
The fact that Banks 1 and 2 were off from each other didn't concern him as the cylinders within those banks were quite consistant with each other. He did show concern in regards to Cylinder 7 however considering I wasn't looking to set record power figures and was by no means going to tear down the engine to resolve it I advised to crack on and i'd monitor in the long run whether that compression continued to drop and drop as time went on!
Unfortunately however, the engine made some rather lackluster figures for an LS3, as mentioned above it should be quite simple for and LS3 (even my phony LS3) to make atleast 400hp however the figures were as follows:
Torque = 334.3ftlb @4981rpm
Power = 359.8hp @6063rpm (at the hubs - 10-12% drivetrain loss for T56 gearbox)
Of course these numbers aren't particularly stellar but.. having said that the car ran beautifully afterwards! The Low end bucking issues were partially fixed (there's no true resolution without going for ITB's or another similar Intake solution) and a number of other issues like a high end lean trip, returning to idle when coming to a stop and so on were all resolved, and I had the nice lumpy idle that i'd always wanted with this Cam!
Unfortunately this is where things take a further downwars spiral at a rate of knots.
On the morning of pickup engine Oil pressure was considerably low! around 15psi at idle and not increasing much when driving either! I perhaps should've taken this as a sign to get it recovered home here but I foolishly decided to press on, assuming I could nurse the car home keeping it under 2000rpm all the way but, just 70 miles after leaving disaster struck..
It began knocking about a mile before the M40 Oxford services, unfortunately having never experienced anything like this myself I wasn't quick to shut the car down and what was initially an infrequent knocking developed in to as you can hear, a very frequent full blown bottom end knocking.
Unfortunately not my finest hour and honestly, quite a heartbreaking conclusion to the whole saga. After spending a year carrying out the engine swap, not to mention the copious costs involved and the past 6 months battling numerous, tumultuous and frustrating issues it all came to an end like this, I was distraught.
Once again SturdyHSV came to the rescue with a few tools to help diagnosed that Yes, it is indeed f
ked and more importantly with a Strong Whiskey to help sooth my pain (afterall, I wouldn't be driving home!) and i'm still thankful for it! it would've been a very long time alone to get caught up in that sorrowful headspace otherwise.On that evening I finally got the car recovered home by 1am (thankfully this time with breakdown cover) where it will likely rest atleast for a few weeks.
Obviously there's a few questions to come out of this such as:
What Failed?
What Caused the Failure?
What Caused the low Oil pressure?
etc etc..
And eventually I might find answers to a few of these but for now i'll probably not touch a spanner on the car for a few weeks If i can help myself, as I should probably take a break from it, not to mention that right now I don't immediately have the funds nor space to fix it or do something as drastic as take the engine out of the car although I am exploring options, atleast for the latter of those issues.
I'll have to cancel plans and hotels to attend a bunch of car events and shows with one of those potentially being the Pistonheads 25th Anniversary
Unless I can fix it in time but I don't think that's a realistic nor healthy goal to rush towards given my track record so far.In hindsight there were perhaps a few warning signs, even on the way up to Japfest I had noticed a slightly tapping noise from inside the car, it wasn't audible from the engine bay and so I chalked it down to being just a bit of vibration against the firewall or break booster now that things have heated up, loosened up a bit and so on such as engine mounts but ohwell, knowing these thing doesn't change the results.
Obviously the plan will be (when I get round to it) to initially take off the heads in situ which should hopefully allow me to take the engine out without having to pull the gearbox with it. Fingers crossed the damage to the block & cylinder walls is minimal and the block can atleast be re-used with a bit of machine work and a rebore.
To try and finish off with a positive spin on the whole thing, if the above does turn out to be true and the block is re-usable with just a toast rotating assembly i'll potentially look to install a stroker kit for more displacement, more bald eagles, and more power.
I have been similar in terms of luck with projects. The best advice I can give is to down tools, walk away and regroup once you've focused on yourself for a bit.
I am the one who ends up with the faults nobody else does that I end up chasing, on the supposedly reliable components.
I am the one who ends up with the faults nobody else does that I end up chasing, on the supposedly reliable components.
Edited by tvrfan007 on Thursday 11th May 10:17
Cheers all!
I do really need to stop exclaiming how bad my luck is lately as it always seems to 1-up itself and shock me that one bit further! Perhaps I wronged someone in a past life or maybe it was that ladder I walked under 12 months ago..
Anyway as has been said i'm going to take a few weeks off spannering on the car, i'll probably start off by looking for somewhere new to store/work on it as my parent's driveway in a sleepy little village is no place to properly remove and then rebuild an engine!
I'd really like to do some other improvements while the engine's out once again like finally fit the Air conditioning parts I have as well as try and source a solution for a smaller brake booster as the current one is just too large and comes in to contact with the valve cover but i'm not sure what options there are out there for that.
Hopefully (and i really REALLY don't want to Jinx it) this should be the last time the engine ever has to come out the car as i'll leave no stone left unturned when it comes to "finalising" the install. Atleast the limited running it had proved and highlighted a few areas for improvement such as various clearances, extra heat management and sound deadening for example!
I'll keep you posted with any updates but could be a while yet!
I do really need to stop exclaiming how bad my luck is lately as it always seems to 1-up itself and shock me that one bit further! Perhaps I wronged someone in a past life or maybe it was that ladder I walked under 12 months ago..
Anyway as has been said i'm going to take a few weeks off spannering on the car, i'll probably start off by looking for somewhere new to store/work on it as my parent's driveway in a sleepy little village is no place to properly remove and then rebuild an engine!
I'd really like to do some other improvements while the engine's out once again like finally fit the Air conditioning parts I have as well as try and source a solution for a smaller brake booster as the current one is just too large and comes in to contact with the valve cover but i'm not sure what options there are out there for that.
Hopefully (and i really REALLY don't want to Jinx it) this should be the last time the engine ever has to come out the car as i'll leave no stone left unturned when it comes to "finalising" the install. Atleast the limited running it had proved and highlighted a few areas for improvement such as various clearances, extra heat management and sound deadening for example!
I'll keep you posted with any updates but could be a while yet!
Time to blow the cobwebs off his old tome..
I haven't really been working on the car much since the engine went, as you can imagine it was quite a blow mentally that I just preferred to leave for a while as I turned my attention to other things over the summer.
I did however have to move the car, of course I previously lost the unit I used to store and work on the car in and there was no way I was going to pull the engine out on my parent's driveway.
Thankfully through word of mouth I got put in touch with a local farmer who was willing to rent out a space in one of his barns for me. It's hardly the most clean or dust-free environment nor the most secure but it's cheap, within walking distance of my flat and off the beaten path.
I actually had help moving the 86 to it's new home at the end of may, moved a few tools and setup a basic workbench and it really was starting to look like a proper barnfind!
As i said, hardly glamorours but beggers can't be choosers, its a decent spot to keep the car dry, turn a spanner once in a while and eventually swing an engine crane around.
It then sat there for a couple of months until recently when I decided to finally start cracking on with it. With no real plan on when I want it back on the road (although aiming to order bits and try and save some money via black friday sales in the states sounds sensible).
Taking things slow and steady however I eventually got the front end back apart and on the most recent bank holiday got a hand to pull the engine out, thankfully it was relatively easy and do-able in the barn which means it should be able to go back together.. hopefully!
Brand new clutch anyone?
And that's how it sits for now. I've not bothered taking the sump off yet or the heads off to investigate exactly what happened but I did take the opportunity to inspect the cam lobes from the Valley as I was a bit worried my cam would be toast. They look.. "used" but hardly toast, i'll ofcourse inspect it far more closely when I can to see if there's any deep scratches in the lobes or the bearings
Perhaps a bit of a cliffhanger ending for some seeing as i didn't actually crack open the engine properly but it's very much a case of trying to find the motivation at times so that'll do for now
Having had plenty of time to think about it, about what might have gone wrong, etc here's my guestimate and thoughts on where i'll go with it..
I'm guessing that one of the rod bearings spun, likely rod #7 near the brake booster. This might've happened due to me incorrectly torqing the rod bolts or the fact I re-used them (despite researching that it was okay to do so) was a bad move. Either way the rod bearing spun causing the low Oil pressure and the knocking sound is the rod rattling around against the crank journal after it finally disintegrated away.
Although it might be easy enough to re-grind the crank, fit a new rod with an oversized bearing etc I want to make it a bit more "Special" now that i'm in this position and I think my current plan would be to over-bore the cylinders, and get a stroker kit taking the engine out to 6.8L
The engine needs some machine work anyway as I feel the head/block mating surface isn't flat as it was also consuming coolant (evidenced by the rusty water pump inlet). When the time comes to have it machined and re-built I may even look to have an engine builder put together short-block/rotating assembly as really at that point i'd want it to be perfect rather than just "okay" as was the goal for my previous rebuild.
While thats all happening i'll also sort out a few small issues such as the gearbox oil leak and perhaps converting to manual brakes as that brake booster is just way too big and in the way making spark plug changes or compression tests on that cylinder #7 impossible.
I haven't really been working on the car much since the engine went, as you can imagine it was quite a blow mentally that I just preferred to leave for a while as I turned my attention to other things over the summer.
I did however have to move the car, of course I previously lost the unit I used to store and work on the car in and there was no way I was going to pull the engine out on my parent's driveway.
Thankfully through word of mouth I got put in touch with a local farmer who was willing to rent out a space in one of his barns for me. It's hardly the most clean or dust-free environment nor the most secure but it's cheap, within walking distance of my flat and off the beaten path.
I actually had help moving the 86 to it's new home at the end of may, moved a few tools and setup a basic workbench and it really was starting to look like a proper barnfind!
As i said, hardly glamorours but beggers can't be choosers, its a decent spot to keep the car dry, turn a spanner once in a while and eventually swing an engine crane around.
It then sat there for a couple of months until recently when I decided to finally start cracking on with it. With no real plan on when I want it back on the road (although aiming to order bits and try and save some money via black friday sales in the states sounds sensible).
Taking things slow and steady however I eventually got the front end back apart and on the most recent bank holiday got a hand to pull the engine out, thankfully it was relatively easy and do-able in the barn which means it should be able to go back together.. hopefully!
Brand new clutch anyone?
And that's how it sits for now. I've not bothered taking the sump off yet or the heads off to investigate exactly what happened but I did take the opportunity to inspect the cam lobes from the Valley as I was a bit worried my cam would be toast. They look.. "used" but hardly toast, i'll ofcourse inspect it far more closely when I can to see if there's any deep scratches in the lobes or the bearings
Perhaps a bit of a cliffhanger ending for some seeing as i didn't actually crack open the engine properly but it's very much a case of trying to find the motivation at times so that'll do for now
Having had plenty of time to think about it, about what might have gone wrong, etc here's my guestimate and thoughts on where i'll go with it..
I'm guessing that one of the rod bearings spun, likely rod #7 near the brake booster. This might've happened due to me incorrectly torqing the rod bolts or the fact I re-used them (despite researching that it was okay to do so) was a bad move. Either way the rod bearing spun causing the low Oil pressure and the knocking sound is the rod rattling around against the crank journal after it finally disintegrated away.
Although it might be easy enough to re-grind the crank, fit a new rod with an oversized bearing etc I want to make it a bit more "Special" now that i'm in this position and I think my current plan would be to over-bore the cylinders, and get a stroker kit taking the engine out to 6.8L
The engine needs some machine work anyway as I feel the head/block mating surface isn't flat as it was also consuming coolant (evidenced by the rusty water pump inlet). When the time comes to have it machined and re-built I may even look to have an engine builder put together short-block/rotating assembly as really at that point i'd want it to be perfect rather than just "okay" as was the goal for my previous rebuild.
While thats all happening i'll also sort out a few small issues such as the gearbox oil leak and perhaps converting to manual brakes as that brake booster is just way too big and in the way making spark plug changes or compression tests on that cylinder #7 impossible.
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