Build Thread 1978 Mercury Cyclone. The pig is in the pen.
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My Christmas cavalcade started this morning.
The Wife went to get her mother on Thursday, and brought her back on Friday. Unbeknownst to me, The M.I.L. had purchased a larger TV to replace the 37" unit she bought from Sams several years ago. That left her with a spare TV she had no place to put....so she brought it with her when she came up. That left us with the dilemma of what to do with the thing...I couldn't help but wonder "what better place to put it than in the Monster lair?"
Everybody agreed. (I have to clamp the cable nice and straight...)
Since I had to wait for the rings,...and considering that they would have to be drop shipped directly from Total Seal, that left me w/ nothing much to do but piddle...I wanted to relocate the water pump,...but there simply isn't a better place than where I originally hung it,...so it's gotta go back.
The Vacuum log is different, I'll be able to move that to the frame rail, and that'll free up some of the jug-phck that dangles under the intake manifold should I ever have to remove the intake again.
But,....I'm seriously considering making a new intake manifold.....purely as a change up...Think of a GT40 kinda vibe w/a 6 banger twist. The smallest of common plenums, w/ individual equal length runners snaking in a bundle to each respective port.. Again nothing more than butt-talk, the intake has proven itself to work more than satisfactorily....but I'm thinking about it nonetheless.
The cooling hoses are a pain in the ass...3 holes on the side of the engine, and one in front where the water pump used to be...one additional "tap" dedicated to feeding the heater core, with the return from the heater dumping straight back into the radiator top hose. ( wanna bet that there's something wrong with this routing, and that is why the stupid engine will never get hot once its moving through the air?) I.....am gonna have to give this concept waay more thought..
The A2W intercooler is history....no reason to keep it whatsoever. It simply offers no safety margin now that the tune has been altered to allow for the water meth....Boost will be up above 10 psi,...and the A2W ic offers nothing in the way of adding octane like the new system does...bottom line...the box, and the lines that run from front to back, are gone.
I'll repurpose the 2.5 gal aluminum cell as the new reservoir for the windshield washer fluid/boost juice..
I've gotta clean the engine block, and get it ready for it's rebuild...I'm gonna paint it satin black if I can get the wrinkle-paint off of it...I'll try some aircraft stripper..The weather has to improve first..
I cut the side cover plate into two pieces...There was a top thin plate that bolted to the thick plate that widens the deck. That thinner part was welded to the thick plate that is the engine side cover I welded them together thinking that I was adding integrity back to the gaping set of holes that I drilled into the block side.....*whew*
The process of getting the cover plate off was a mega bitch because of this,..and more importantly, is why I fractured the seal on the deck plate when I tried to seperate it from the block.
Now nuts and bolts by themselves bolster that side plate that widens the deck,....
and the cover plate is simply that,.....a cover plate.
It was all going along so southern like.......real slow, and casual.. Kinda like "I'll get to it when I get to it", cause aint nothin gonna happen till the rings get here sometime in January..
But the rings showed up today......SURPRISE!!!
Merry Christmas!!!
They arrived via UPS on the last day that they deliver before Christmas,...Just in time to make things merry and bright.
Now,....it's on like Donkey Kong....
I can actually consider putting the whole mess back together...and back into the bay.
And that means that I've got 12 rings that need filing
...
With this medieval looking axe sharpener thingy..
I figure that I'll practice on my old rings before I subject the new ones to any grindage....God I hope I don't phck these things up.
I know I'll talk to some of you here tomorrow, but for those that I don't....Merry Christmas
The Wife went to get her mother on Thursday, and brought her back on Friday. Unbeknownst to me, The M.I.L. had purchased a larger TV to replace the 37" unit she bought from Sams several years ago. That left her with a spare TV she had no place to put....so she brought it with her when she came up. That left us with the dilemma of what to do with the thing...I couldn't help but wonder "what better place to put it than in the Monster lair?"
Everybody agreed. (I have to clamp the cable nice and straight...)
Since I had to wait for the rings,...and considering that they would have to be drop shipped directly from Total Seal, that left me w/ nothing much to do but piddle...I wanted to relocate the water pump,...but there simply isn't a better place than where I originally hung it,...so it's gotta go back.
The Vacuum log is different, I'll be able to move that to the frame rail, and that'll free up some of the jug-phck that dangles under the intake manifold should I ever have to remove the intake again.
But,....I'm seriously considering making a new intake manifold.....purely as a change up...Think of a GT40 kinda vibe w/a 6 banger twist. The smallest of common plenums, w/ individual equal length runners snaking in a bundle to each respective port.. Again nothing more than butt-talk, the intake has proven itself to work more than satisfactorily....but I'm thinking about it nonetheless.
The cooling hoses are a pain in the ass...3 holes on the side of the engine, and one in front where the water pump used to be...one additional "tap" dedicated to feeding the heater core, with the return from the heater dumping straight back into the radiator top hose. ( wanna bet that there's something wrong with this routing, and that is why the stupid engine will never get hot once its moving through the air?) I.....am gonna have to give this concept waay more thought..
The A2W intercooler is history....no reason to keep it whatsoever. It simply offers no safety margin now that the tune has been altered to allow for the water meth....Boost will be up above 10 psi,...and the A2W ic offers nothing in the way of adding octane like the new system does...bottom line...the box, and the lines that run from front to back, are gone.
I'll repurpose the 2.5 gal aluminum cell as the new reservoir for the windshield washer fluid/boost juice..
I've gotta clean the engine block, and get it ready for it's rebuild...I'm gonna paint it satin black if I can get the wrinkle-paint off of it...I'll try some aircraft stripper..The weather has to improve first..
I cut the side cover plate into two pieces...There was a top thin plate that bolted to the thick plate that widens the deck. That thinner part was welded to the thick plate that is the engine side cover I welded them together thinking that I was adding integrity back to the gaping set of holes that I drilled into the block side.....*whew*
The process of getting the cover plate off was a mega bitch because of this,..and more importantly, is why I fractured the seal on the deck plate when I tried to seperate it from the block.
Now nuts and bolts by themselves bolster that side plate that widens the deck,....
and the cover plate is simply that,.....a cover plate.
It was all going along so southern like.......real slow, and casual.. Kinda like "I'll get to it when I get to it", cause aint nothin gonna happen till the rings get here sometime in January..
But the rings showed up today......SURPRISE!!!
Merry Christmas!!!They arrived via UPS on the last day that they deliver before Christmas,...Just in time to make things merry and bright.
Now,....it's on like Donkey Kong....
I can actually consider putting the whole mess back together...and back into the bay.
And that means that I've got 12 rings that need filing
...With this medieval looking axe sharpener thingy..
I figure that I'll practice on my old rings before I subject the new ones to any grindage....God I hope I don't phck these things up.
I know I'll talk to some of you here tomorrow, but for those that I don't....Merry Christmas
Hot diggity! The UPS delivered a box of crap from RockAuto today. I was shocked how quickly it all showed up. I am off all next week so maybe some work on the 85 can be done...in between the wife's PLANS.
Got the rings!
Not to try to influence you, but I think a GT40 inspired intake would be as cool as you could get. I like your old one though, but all those tubes strung out there would be very nice.
Not to try to influence you, but I think a GT40 inspired intake would be as cool as you could get. I like your old one though, but all those tubes strung out there would be very nice.
My Christmas cavalcade started this morning.
The Wife went to get her mother on Thursday, and brought her back on Friday. Unbeknownst to me, The M.I.L. had purchased a larger TV to replace the 37" unit she bought from Sams several years ago. That left her with a spare TV she had no place to put....so she brought it with her when she came up. That left us with the dilemma of what to do with the thing...I couldn't help but wonder "what better place to put it than in the Monster lair?"
Everybody agreed. (I have to clamp the cable nice and straight...)
Since I had to wait for the rings,...and considering that they would have to be drop shipped directly from Total Seal, that left me w/ nothing much to do but piddle...I wanted to relocate the water pump,...but there simply isn't a better place than where I originally hung it,...so it's gotta go back.
The Vacuum log is different, I'll be able to move that to the frame rail, and that'll free up some of the jug-phck that dangles under the intake manifold should I ever have to remove the intake again.
But,....I'm seriously considering making a new intake manifold.....purely as a change up...Think of a GT40 kinda vibe w/a 6 banger twist. The smallest of common plenums, w/ individual equal length runners snaking in a bundle to each respective port.. Again nothing more than butt-talk, the intake has proven itself to work more than satisfactorily....but I'm thinking about it nonetheless.
The cooling hoses are a pain in the ass...3 holes on the side of the engine, and one in front where the water pump used to be...one additional "tap" dedicated to feeding the heater core, with the return from the heater dumping straight back into the radiator top hose. ( wanna bet that there's something wrong with this routing, and that is why the stupid engine will never get hot once its moving through the air?) I.....am gonna have to give this concept waay more thought..
The A2W intercooler is history....no reason to keep it whatsoever. It simply offers no safety margin now that the tune has been altered to allow for the water meth....Boost will be up above 10 psi,...and the A2W ic offers nothing in the way of adding octane like the new system does...bottom line...the box, and the lines that run from front to back, are gone.
I'll repurpose the 2.5 gal aluminum cell as the new reservoir for the windshield washer fluid/boost juice..
I've gotta clean the engine block, and get it ready for it's rebuild...I'm gonna paint it satin black if I can get the wrinkle-paint off of it...I'll try some aircraft stripper..The weather has to improve first..
I cut the side cover plate into two pieces...There was a top thin plate that bolted to the thick plate that widens the deck. That thinner part was welded to the thick plate that is the engine side cover I welded them together thinking that I was adding integrity back to the gaping set of holes that I drilled into the block side.....*whew*
The process of getting the cover plate off was a mega bitch because of this,..and more importantly, is why I fractured the seal on the deck plate when I tried to seperate it from the block.
Now nuts and bolts by themselves bolster that side plate that widens the deck,....
and the cover plate is simply that,.....a cover plate.
It was all going along so southern like.......real slow, and casual.. Kinda like "I'll get to it when I get to it", cause aint nothin gonna happen till the rings get here sometime in January..
But the rings showed up today......SURPRISE!!!
They arrived via UPS on the last day that they deliver before Christmas,...Just in time to make things merry and bright.
Now,....it's on like Donkey Kong....
I can actually consider putting the whole mess back together...and back into the bay.
And that means that I've got 12 rings that need filing
With this medieval looking axe sharpener thingy..
I figure that I'll practice on my old rings before I subject the new ones to any grindage....God I hope I don't phck these things up.
I know I'll talk to some of you here tomorrow, but for those that I don't....Merry Christmas
When you say GT40 intake, do you mean the tubular style? As you are aware, I happen to think that is a bitchin style. I'd love to see your take on it.
Yeah,..it'd be like a equal length shorty header.....only with 6 primary tubes attached to the intake side of the head.
The only thing that jumps to mind about this so far is that Mike finds the ring filing as the daunting portion.
Of all of the things... lol
I mean, I caught the back story to that ( at least partially ) but 'ring filing' < 'most other parts of this build'.
I will be looking for "Ring Filing 101" materials in this thread.
Technical Index kind of stuff.
Of all of the things... lol
I mean, I caught the back story to that ( at least partially ) but 'ring filing' < 'most other parts of this build'.
I will be looking for "Ring Filing 101" materials in this thread.
Technical Index kind of stuff.
The only thing that jumps to mind about this so far is that Mike finds the ring filing as the daunting portion.
Of all of the things... lol
I mean, I caught the back story to that ( at least partially ) but 'ring filing' < 'most other parts of this build'.
I will be looking for "Ring Filing 101" materials in this thread.
It seems simple enough....And maybe you've never done it, but I'm gonna say it isn't as easy as it sounds. You insert the ring in the bore, and check it...." Hmmm.....008". You put the thing on that wheelie do, and crank it.....re check......019"...But now It's not square,...the gap tapers,...now you have a gap wider at the back than the front...you try to correct that by filing some more. You install it again,.check it. Not quite there...you want .025..a few more cranks...031" WTF?!!!
The second ring is straight ductile iron,..it files like it's made out of butter. Stuff comes off that ring so fast you best make sure the ends are square..cause you aren't gonna get a second chance to square it..
That's what happened to me I think,..the rings got cocked-eyed, and the gap started getting wonky...in a lot of cases it didn't, but when it did,..the gaps got too big from trying to fix it.
I'm not implying that it doesn't doesn't require a certain degree of time and attention. It's just that there's no lack of those things anywhere in this project. It's just a funny thing to get caught up on considering the level of this build.
- Mar 2, 2015
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I always used a regular metal file to file ring ends. Faster isn't always better. Always worked great for me.
I must've been on another crack binge...I'm not implying that it doesn't doesn't require a certain degree of time and attention. It's just that there's no lack of those things anywhere in this project. It's just a funny thing to get caught up on considering the level of this build.
Cause there are the first 4 top rings...one hour of total time invested...every single one of them, perfectly filed tight .022.
I now know that it was my inexperience, and my impatience with the process that earned me the sloppy end result. I also didn't think about the unwanted "side effects" of too much ring end gap.
Not gonna be the problem this time..
I'll gap all six top rings, and label them, then repeat the process for the second rings. I'll clean everything and put this dude back together this week.
I must've been on another crack binge...
Cause there are the first 4 top rings...one hour of total time invested...every single one of them, perfectly filed tight .022.
I now know that it was my inexperience, and my impatience with the process that earned me the sloppy end result. I also didn't think about the unwanted "side effects" of too much ring end gap.
Not gonna be the problem this time..
I'll gap all six top rings, and label them, then repeat the process for the second rings. I'll clean everything and put this dude back together this week.
Welcome to the ranks of AMG class engine craftsmen...
"All AMG engines - with the exception of the "43" M276 3.0 L V6 Bi-Turbo engine - are hand built using a "one man, one engine" philosophy at the current AMG plant in Affalterbach, Germany. To signify this, each AMG engine builder stamps the engines they produce with an engraved plaque depicting their signature. According to Mercedes-Benz, there are only about 50 AMG engine builders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-AMG
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Awesome. I see you got the rings pretty much done, but I was going to join the choir singing the song, Oh how can you can a half Aussie/American six cylinder, hand make an bitchin intake and want to make an even more bitchin one, but can't file rings with a ring filer?
That's ok, today I used a 351W block as a sheet metal brake. You can read about it on the other place where I have my build thread. It has about 5 days of work spread out over 5 or 6 years!
That's ok, today I used a 351W block as a sheet metal brake. You can read about it on the other place where I have my build thread. It has about 5 days of work spread out over 5 or 6 years!
AMG....YEAH, RIGHT. As a German car nut, I'm sorta with you, but how about the FoMoCo 7 pound piston pull through rule, and Fords reverse engineered Quality Control Process?
Ford, after the disaster of the Q code tunnel 302 Port head engine building stuff up of 1968, Ford rolled out the full QC engine process in Australia under the 1969 to 1972 GTHO Falcons. You take a US import Canadain or US engine, and pull it apart, and then rebuild it with your good pistons and rings to a higher spec to win 500 and 620 mile 6 hour road races.
Later on, starting with the Synergy 5000 engines, in came the same process again from 1998 to 2016, for every improved performance Explorer based OHV or Modular OHC 4 cam engine. .
See this
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJvUrgJla5k
Plateau honed.
At Ford, Quality is Job No 1....but the engineers and Demmings QA process also worked out just how little they had to do to get the 290 to 470 horsepower engines through the 300 hour Wide Open Throttle test....it may have been build down to a price, but the enginering was GOOOD!
Uhhhh...I think you missed his point there Dean...he wasn't giving credit to AMG as much as he was comparing me to the standard factory versus individual process of building an engine by hand...
So, I don't think it matters wheter it's an Aussie, A German, or an American,....."built by hand", is still built by hand.
Ok just to show how "in touch" the wife is with me.....
Check out this cool assed picture .....
So....she goes into the basement..clearly after I've removed the valve cover after I've decided to do the engine change out..
( So,......in the last few days)
And snaps a pic of the front end of the monster with her iPhone ...then sends it to a company that transfers it to canvas..
And it looks like it was done by a pro. It's so cool.
The "lump under the moving blanket"....
Beats the lounge chair that was there before.......
And from my M.I.L.......Who has only known me for,.....ohhhhhhh 32 years .....
She told me I should send it back,.......I told her that I'd keep it, and vandalize the hell out of it. I'm thinkin' that I'll spray bomb the word "sucks" right across the bow tie .........just what the Dr. Ordered....
Check out this cool assed picture .....
So....she goes into the basement..clearly after I've removed the valve cover after I've decided to do the engine change out..
( So,......in the last few days)
And snaps a pic of the front end of the monster with her iPhone ...then sends it to a company that transfers it to canvas..
And it looks like it was done by a pro. It's so cool.
The "lump under the moving blanket"....
Beats the lounge chair that was there before.......
And from my M.I.L.......Who has only known me for,.....ohhhhhhh 32 years .....
She told me I should send it back,.......I told her that I'd keep it, and vandalize the hell out of it. I'm thinkin' that I'll spray bomb the word "sucks" right across the bow tie .........just what the Dr. Ordered....
Most probably.
Ring fitting is Job 1...sometimes redone time and time again. My natural father dad did it three times to his wives.
Nice relatives. One is attuned to you, the other has thrown a conrod in the Mutual Concord of understanding. Malfunction Indicator Lamps shouldn't say the C word. Damn it!
I'm more concerned about your lack of proper thinking on the cleaning process. How dare you or anyone else dirty a turbo with a sink.
Hint. Make sure you put some more dish drops as a dispersion agent when washing up the Borg Warner turbo and throttle body. WD40, rinse, repeat. No lather in this blather.....
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