Fiddle Frigging, Spirolox and Danny Bee

The Butcher was a man that practiced the art of garage fiddle-frigging. His first engine build was coming along nicely. Slowly the shopping list of parts and tools began to arrive. As with all things metal, there were a few curves in the road. I have a ton of little stories for you on the engine rebuild and hardware updates.

Last time I spoke to Jody the machinist, the block was basically done and being sent out for balancing. I expect to hear back from Graves late this week or early next week. One small snag that caught me off guard, was a piston. Jody called and said that I had one bad rod and one piston with a deformed skirt. The rod would have to be cut to the point that it would shrink the length, so it was better to grab a new one. The piston needed replacing. I called Tim at Coast and ordered the parts. CHP UPS'd the parts overnight. I went running down to Grave's Automotive and proudly handed Jody the piston. Jody spoke wisely "that's not the right piston".
"Yes it is!" said the Butcher.
Jody produced a micrometer to prove that his eagle like eyes has spotted that this piston did not match the diameter of the others. "You see this is 4.030 and your engine is 4.040." Said Jody.
"Huh?" said the Butcher.

It turns out that I do not even have a 383. I have been pouting in my beer since that day. I have a 384.6. Jody, Tim and I were all a little surprised. I called Tim and we swapped out the pistons. I'm still going to refer to my engine as a 383 though =)

When I removed my rocker arms, I noticed that 1/4 of them were sticky. They did not pivot as smoothly as the rest. I could see that the 'C' clamp was grinding into the aluminum on these units. I assumed that the oil starvation had damaged the needle bearings, and I was ready to replace them. Armed with my new spring C clip remover, I began surgery. As soon as the clip was removed, the unit began to pivot freely. "What's up with that?" the butcher thought to himself. I then thought that it probably wasn't the needle bearings. I Quincy medical examined the unit closely. The pivot bar was not even in the rocker housing. It was too far to one side! At this point in time, I wish I owned a hydraulic press. I could of used it 10x during the cobra build. I decided to substitute the vise with big washers, in an attempt to press the unit into correct alignment. Here is the washer sitting on the cylinder. Notice the gap. Cranking the vise, I could hear the unit pop into place. Yipppee! It was magically fixed! I did the same procedure on all the other units. I'm still not sure if this was caused during manufacturing, or because of travel during use. I will check the rockers periodically, and if it occurs again, I will then invest in a set of Crane's. I tend to think this will have solved the issue.

I had an old blown piston from my first engine that I keep around the shop to perform experiments on. I decided to try and remove the spirolox retaining rings. I heard these were both hard to get out and hard to install. These retaining rings are used on free floating pins, while other pistons have heated and pressed in pins. The Butcher wanted to test his spirolox dexterity. I found that a pic and small screwdriver worked well on removal. I finished up with the needle nose. There are two retaining rings in each side. These will then go into the trash. I practiced putting them back in and it was kinda tricky but fun. I see in Smokey's book that he much prefers True Arc C clips. I wonder why these are not used as much today. More research is needed since that would be far easier than spirolox. McMaster carries a wide range of spirolox, but I was unable to find my exact size. I had gone this far, I was now determined to remove the pin on this old piston...just for the heck of it. It was jammed....serious Butcher tools would be necessary. I only got it to here and gave up. That piston had hit the head and that pin was damn stuck. Got the rod off. The reason I wanted to practice retaining ring removal and insertion is because I want to size the gap between my rods and so I have asked for my pistons and rods separate, back from the machine shop and so I can now enjoy the fun of piecing them together =)

Jorge the machinist called today and let me know a few parts were ready. He also had news that my Tremec bushing was not going to work. You may recall that I ordered a new bushing to repair the nose of my transmission. The driveshaft snout is right around 1.5" in diameter or 1.4965 to be exact. Well the bushing is smaller than this. Even when not pressed in the container. I called Swarr Auto and talked to Eric the transmission lad. He measured a unit there and the snout was the same as mine. He was out of bearings so we could not check their ID. He has new ones on order. I will now call Tremec as well and get the exact dimensions of the parts needed and go from there. Jorge said be could cut the bearing down but he felt it would remove 10/1000ths and this was too much.

My clutch engages near the floor. I want to raise it. I decided it would be a simple procedure of spinning the TOB out a few rotations. Currently it is out 12 spins. I began spinning. 13...plop. The unit fell on the floor. I need a longer piston portion. The funny thing is that I actually had the longer sleeve sitting in my garage for 2 years, but could never figure out what it was. It was one of those parts on the list of things to order, but me and Richard and Scott were all scratching our heads trying to find out where it went. I had tossed the long sleeve in the trash 6 months ago...hee hee haa. I know certainly know where it would go. If you want more travel on your Tilton TOB, give them a call and double check - I believe you will want part # 362-620L where the L is the piston for longer travel. I moved the bearing face to the new unit and installed the rubber holding ring which is pressed down from the top to hold the two pieces together.

More on my ported heads in a moment. First I want to babble about valve springs. This is a fun new subject to me and I once again have opinions that my ruffle a few hot rodder's feathers. Each cam grind has a recommended valve spring. The cam companies websites usually tell you which one to use. For my cam, Crane calls for springs #99893. I bought a set of these and shipped them to my head guy and he talked me out of them. I am now installing these myself since I have done some additional research and formed new opinions on the subject. The springs on my heads were the following triple coil units

Trickflow R springs
Springs: 1.560 in. O.D. single with damper
205 lbs. at 2.070 in. installed height
290 lbs. at 1.200 in.
500 lbs. per inch spring rate
0.720 in. max valve lift

Crane 99893
Springs: 1.560 in. O.D.
145 lbs. at 1.812 in. installed height
364 lbs. at 1.252 in.
391 lbs. per inch spring rate

You are saying to yourself "Butcher! why not just use those damn fine and manly man beefy TrickFlow R springs?!". This is the exact same thing that Brian at TEA said to me "those R springs are better".

Well now I don't see that as the case. I find the strong spring game is very similar to the high volume oil pump game. There are a couple reasons not to over spring and here is a quote from crane's site

<valve springs>

Engine builders should select a valve spring that has sufficient tension to perform at maximum RPM (plus a bit of "cushion" for over-rev protection), but without excessive spring tension that can cause friction-related horsepower loss or premature cam lobe and lifter wear.

</valve springs>

The last thing the Butcher wants is the evil friction related horsepower reduction! This is why I am removing the R springs and putting the exact springs on. Let me show you just how different these springs are. My cam card calls for 145lbs at 1.812". This is a little tricky to measure since you have to use the retainer and you can really press on the area where the measurement is made from. I did a double check by measuring my springs without a retainer and they came in slightly less than 145, and then with a retainer, they came is slightly higher since I am pressing on the whole top. Using my nifty vise spring measuring gauge, here is the 99893 springs at 1.812 and they are 175lbs. Now how can those groovy Trickflow R springs rob HP from my engine? I will tell you how. Here they are at a whopping 370lbs. They require over twice the effort to compress. On a 14:1 race engine with a .700 lift cam, those springs are necessary, but on my cam, they are overkill.

Too much oil pressure is not a good thing. Too much spring rate is not a good thing. Match your springs to your cam is the rule the Butcher follows. I have always been cranky at that one little crossover thermostat housing to waterpump hose. I decided I was going to Aeroquip it. Jorge found me the perfect fitting for my housing and now I can just screw on the hose. I wish the big radiator hose was this easy.

In "Secrets Of a 740HP Winston Cup Engine" Don Terill makes an interesting point that caught my attention. I might give this a try in the future. He states "how about riblet porting techniques. I use this on every set of heads I do. Grooves running in the direction of the flow were first developed by 3M for sailboat racing."

When thinking about this, I find it sounds a lot like Extrude Hone. That process polishes away material in the direction of airflow since it is a river of abrasive putty. On a side note, here is a way I thought of for creating your own extrude hone machine =) Why not take a concrete pump, the ones they use to move cement long distances, and have a machinist make a fitting shaped like a carb base. Then mix a sand and gravel slurry and pump away with the manifold connected to the heads....a poor man's extrude hone machine!

What Terill describes is taking 50 grit sandpaper, changing it frequently, and sanding intake and heads in the direction of airflow. I believe you are trying to smooth the surface, and at the same time, create microscopic channels in the direction of currents. This just makes logical sense to me. Here is a picture looking down an Edelbrock intake and the inner surfaces are rough, not smooth. Now check out the scratchinesslooking up the runner. This has to effect air flow slightly. Some people smooth the inside of these things to a mirror like finish...I think that is incorrect but I forget the reasons as once explained to my by Richard Hudgins. It is better to have channels. I plan to give this a try. I would love to see a before and after. I might bug the lads down at Westech and see what it would cost to run the manifold through the airbench, before and after. I am curious. One more thought on this. My heads came back from Brian at TotalEngineAirflow and man...they do outstanding CNC head work. One thing I noticed is that CNC machines work back and forth and they are smooth, but they leave a thousands of grooves across the air path. Again, I tend to believe that the air would rather be traveling in grooves going with it, rather than perpendicular to it. I believe this is what Terill and Extrude Hone have both discovered. Extrude hone as a rule of thumb ads 15%-20% increased flow. My guess is that the sandpaper method would add 5%. One is $1500 and one is $1.50 =)

TEA 205CC TF HEADS
I was excited to get my heads back this week. TEA flowbenches every pair they send out and here are the final numbers

.100 68.2 57.0
.200 147.6 109.5
.300 226.9 157.2
.400 271.7 194.6
.500 301.9 228.1
.550 311.7 237.1
.600 320.2 243.1

SHIMS AND VALVES
I'll have to admit that I dig my new spring height micrometer. At first I couldn't figure out how to use it. They I guessed that you add the retainer and clips and then measure. From this point you can then shim. I had never taken heads apart before and I didn't know how to get down to the shims. I started prying around with the screw driver and off popped this item I have now learned is called the valve stem seal. You can see a brass shim under that. Now for my cam and springs, I will put enough shims to the spring when the spring mic is taught listing the valve, that measurement is 1.812" and the valve is closed. With my initial test, it will take (4) 030 shims or about 120/1000th. You basically want the springs all even. In the Erson cam tutorial, they suggest shimming a spring back to standard if they have lost 25lbs or more. This Crane tutorial explains how shims will effect total tension. In the example, if a spring has a rate of 391#/inch, then an 030 shim would increase the tension .030 x 91 = 11.73lbs. A simpler way to do it is to place your springs in a spring gauge (like the vice gauge) and compress them until they were to spec (145lbs in my case), and take a measurement, and then shim to that height. I checked my springs and they are all very close to even in strength. Here is one more valve spring tutorial that explains things well.

The Danny Bee belt drive calmly awaits its installation. I noticed there was not much clearance from the gear to the waterpump. I called Danny Bee and they said that it is primarily made for electric pumps and with a regular pump, a spacer kit can be used. I ordered the spacer which is made huge so you can machine it down. I think Danny builds parts from the Butcher school of aluminum. This seems like overkill so I may get young Jorge to just cut off the end tubes since that is all I really need. Here is an example of a simple chevy spacer. Ever wonder what it looks like inside a water pump? Me too! So I cracked it open. This is $150? Seems kind of dull.

I regretted the decision to buy those seats since day one. Finally I got the bug and marched around town with the glowing red seats in the back of the pickup, looking for an upholsterer I could bond with. I ended up going with Larry at Upland Auto Trim. Jorge the machinist recommend him and their shops are minutes apart. I tried one other place and the guy hemmed and hawed and gave me a good price, but said "3 months". Larry was twice as expensive. I always believe you get what you pay for. In business...Price, Quality, Speed...choose any two. Larry was pure quality and speed. The seats were ready in 3 days and I am very pleased.

I think that about brings us up to date. I am really enjoying the engine learning. I am fiddling around and not in a rush. I hope to be at the dyno in 60-90 days. I still need my cam which is a few weeks off and I have to reorder a bunch of gasket which were ordered but never arrived.