A Project Is Brewing...

[Captain Obvious]

I think someone had been mixing parts before you got the carbs/intake combo. The carbs are definitely 72. I can tell because of the water passageways at the bottom of the face that mates with the intake manifolds. Only round top year they did that.

 

And the N33 manifolds are from 73 which originally had flat top carbs on it. 74 used N36 intake manifolds.

 

So I'm guessing that someone had a 73 car with flat top on it and they pulled them off to install some 72 round top carbs instead. Then at some later date, the whole intake tract got pulled off and sold.

[rossiz]

been hankering to get things put back together but thwarted by a slowdown at the machine shop (not their fault) and then my back went out (again) so i've been out of commission for the last 5 days... hoping to have the head done and all balanced parts back by the end of the week and with any luck my back will be good enough to be able to start working again.

 

the slowdown at the shop comes from me changing up the work a bit - started off having them lighten my stock flywheel, then went and bought a 2+2 clutch/flywheel setup and they're gonna shave that one as well. then i added the head shave & surface work, so they got a little out of sequence and some other jobs slipped in. that's how it goes though... stopped by today and saw the head in the milling machine getting cut to hit ~9.75:1 CR. they had to deck the top a few thou' to get it flat but otherwise it all looks pretty good.

 

in the meantime i got the su carbs installed on the current motor and she runs nicely - so i should at least be in the ballpark when i do the swap.

 

 

 

these little goodies arrived - will be part of my fuel system revision:

[240260280z]

hmmm......filter king eh?   I tried a filter queen but its sucked.

[rossiz]

picked up all the parts from the machine shop today:

• head - surfaced flat on top (.003" to remove slight frown) and gasket face cleaned up, shaved .060" to bump cr
• crank - balanced, polished
• piston/rodd assemblies - balanced
• 240mm flywheel lightened & balanced
• pressure plate balanced

so now the build starts... with the help of my sons (when i can get them) to lift the heavy bits for me as my back heals up.

 

[madkaw]

Oughta be a runner!

[rossiz]

after a couple weeks worth of chiropractic appointments i'm finally getting to the point where i can actually work on the motor...

last night i got the crank & mains in - today i'm shooting for pistons & button up the bottom end 

 

[rossiz]

AAAARHGH!! 

 

all set up to install pistons - installed all the oil control sets and went to gap the comps and discovered they sent me the wrong ring set!! it's a .5mm overbore (.020) set, which actually puts overlap at the ring ends vs. a gap....

 

soooo frustrated, as i've had these !@#$% rings for a month and now i'm dead in the water. 

 

does anyone know how much you can safely file off rings? could i file these down in a ring gap file till they are the right gap and use them?

[S30Driver]

Patience ...

I wouldn't do it, the ring radius is different, just wait and get the correct size.

[rossiz]

yes... patience. 

MSA are making it right - overnighting a new set, morning delivery at no cost to me.

 

covered up the bottom end for now and built the head today instead. got it all done - cold lash set.

[madkaw]

You could have used a .010 set and filed them. That's about the limit, don't ask me how I know that.

Glad they are sending the right ones

[rossiz]

finally making progress!

 

MSA were great, got a new set of NPR rings to me by 10:30 am so i was able to get the pistons assembled and installed. bottom end done, head on, timing chain installed. i was pleased to see that the slack side chain guide was able to pick up all the chain play even with the head shaved .060 and no tower shims. the cam gear is set at the #1 position and is about 2 degrees advanced with this setup - i figure i'll leave it as is unless there's a compelling reason to get it dead on with an eccentric. i've advanced cams 5 degrees with good success on ducati twins - not sure how the L6 responds to this...

 

spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning up the valve cover - it ain't show quality, but definitely nicer than it started out. a PO had the bright idea to put a clear coat on it, which was partially peeled and yellowed (looked like spar varnish) and was a major pita to get off - an hour with the wire wheel.

 

for the build i bought a little $50 bench-top parts washer and made an aluminum shelf on the exterior of the garage to keep the fumes outside. it works great for cleaning things up as i go - i give 'em a scrub, dry 'em off then hit 'em with WD40 to stave off flash rust. filled it up w/kerosene which works well as a solvent, very low odor and doesn't evaporate too quickly. parts come out looking brand new and it feels great to build the motor without all that old sludge, grit & baked-on oil all over everything.

 

tomorrow i hope to finish up with the front cover, water pump, oil pump, dizzy, alternator & motor mounts. then i need to replace the seals & gaskets on the 5-speed, give it a clean-up, install the flywheel & clutch and join it to the engine. pics from the last couple days below:

 

pistons all ready to go

 

bottom end done

 

head installed

 

cam chain installed

 

my lil' parts washer

 

valve cover transformation

before:

 

after solvent wash:

 

after wire wheel:

 

polished:

 

[Patcon]

I like your parts washer setup. Good idea. I have the larger free standing one, but I like the idea of the counter on either side and the ability to build it to the desired height.