Lee's Garage

[MikeITB]

i bumped into a few people i knew bizarrely enough, was a bloody good gig, wasn’t stifling hot either so didn’t even get sun burnt! am knackered though, so have a day sat on my arse watching sport planned!!

Oh dear, would have been better getting sunburnt, lol.

Nice to see some more speedy progress Lee, look forward to seeing it come together.

[lee303]

righty, so with saturday fast approaching and an appointment with vibrationfree, i thought i best do my last dry build on the engine
first thing was to mod the pistons to suit the crank stroke, they were originally designed for a shorter stroke, and although they don't actually hit the rod, it was close enough for me to want some breathing room
did this to the first set too, takes a bit of a steady hand to use a die grinder and a burr on a brand new omega slipper! lmao


so, that done, gave them a good clean, then stuck the crank shells back in with loads of lube followed by the crank

then assembled one rod and piston with the big end bearings too

and installed it using my uber cool tapered ring compressor

turns over lovely and smooth, and the deck height is perfect

so, then packed it all up ready to drop off saturday, then its just wait for it to get back, and build it!!

so, that done, i got one with more gearbox for willays' astra, we had a start on tuesday, and i left it like this

all we needed now was a decent mainshaft that wasn't worn to buggery, oh look…there’s one!

lol, pesky gears in the way though, soon saw to them…

then i set to building the new gearset up with the other gearsets gears, or something, my brain hurts….i shut my eyes and i just see synchros and drive hubs....


left it at that, just need to make this lot resemble some selectors

then stick it back in the car, it will live again on saturday

[alistairolsen]

what were you doing to the box that made it worth not shelling out another £50 for a low mileage box?

[lee303]

nothing in particular, the mainshaft had worn really badly around the bearing surface but it was hard to find another f13 cr believe it or not, especially with the 4.18 or a removable pinion, so the easiest, and cheapest as i don’t charge labour lmao, option was to find an gearbox with the removable pinion and rebuild the gears form the cr cluster onto that, bit of a long winded route, but its done now...

[Fast-as-u-can]

so, that done, gave them a good clean, then stuck the crank shells back in with loads of lube followed by the crank

Hi Mate.

Lee is ZIP WAX the best lube for the bearings now-a-days

How long until its back on track......We need to do brands soon!

[lee303]

hi tony!
yes mate, it leaves a streak free finish too!! lmao

and back on track? erm, asap, but maybe 6 weeks tbh, brands is calling, lol!

[Benn]

Good work dude, eek at taking a die grinder to a new piston...

[spanishfly]

Let me know about brands coupe wants some fun!

[lee303]

yeah mate, you know you’ll be on the list!!

engine is at the balancers, and the astra drove away from the garage today, so its all good, he reckons i can have the engine back next week, so will probably try to grab it friday, as its billing on the weekend and much as i do want to build my engine, i also want to go to that lmao

[spanishfly]

Man sur esome enthusiasm, i've actually lost interest in the nova. I kinda blame it on a good world cup run and a friend over from Spain lmao

[lee303]

its been nice having a couple of weeks where i couldn’t actually do much car wise, like today is just about food and sunshine for me, but i will be pining for it after billing i think...

[spanishfly]

Yeah mate! Has been real nice!

[Rick Draper]

Do you still need a oil pump Lee?

[lee303]

currently yes, depending on what titan say about the size of their internals, i might repair mine, but if one comes up at a good price i will be interested...

[Rick Draper]

Area six jrwc 4x4 fiesta (urban myth) **engine update 4/7/10** - Page 10 - PassionFord
Might be worth asking that lad as he is moving over to a different brand of pump.

[lee303]

ah cheers rick, have pm’d him, nice one!!

[Rick Draper]

Just PM'd you with the PM he has sent me on PF. Will leave it with you.

[lee303]

so, in readiness for hopefully building an engine e this saturday morning, i got th least few bits out the way, namely re shimming the head, well, 7 of them anyway, they had all worn to give around .1mm or less extra clearance, so small beans really, but worth doing while it was off imo

fiddly little buggers!
so that done i removed the sump scraper tray so i could clean it out properly, glad i did!

much nicer now though, need some decent sealant to refit the scraper with though as the bolts go right through the sump

so, like i say, hopefully can collect the bottom end friday and build it saturday before nipping off to billing, fingers crossed!!

[lee303]

righty, so a quick stop at the garage saturday on the way to billing, not to build the engine sadly as its not back from the balancers yet, but matts new gearbox for the v8 had turned up, looks nice…


so with that being here, he wanted to get his engine out, and have a go at bolting it up and stuff, so that meant removing the front end!!

was a lot easier than expected tbh, the frame has held up brilliantly



also finished cleaning my sump, was quite surprised how much metal was in the gauze filters, juts shows how well they work!


now you can see why the oil cooler is bin fodder after an engine failure like mine, as you cant really effectively clean them out

anyway, then went to billing, enjoyed the sun and some alcohol, and also bought these


kevlar wings! but standard width, which i haven't been able to find before, so quite chuffed with that, another thing to do along with the engine now!!

[William]

nice feet m8

[lee303]

xx

[eggman]

what do the wings weigh?? thay look like there lighter than fag reek!!

[lee303]

havent weighed them yet, but they don’t weigh much, wont be a massive saving as the metal ones aren’t exactly heavy, but every little helps...

[TigraTurbo]

where those filters are off Lee?

[lee303]

they sit before the scavenge outlets in the dry sump pan, you can see in the pic one lying next to it and one fitted to the gauze, they screw into each end of the sump pan, very effective as it turns out!!