Engine swap (part two)

Busy few days.

The engine mounts were cut out.
Nice to see some of the original colour. It will return to that colour one day.
Steering bar replaced. Awkward to fit.

 Trial hanging of the engine.

Will the engine go in with gearbox as well?

Annie wont be impressed with the state of the carpet!

Lots of things get in the way.
A few extra dents and chipped paint.

The oil filter was still on in this pic.. it gets in the way.
The remote filter will be fitted shortly.

Ready for takeoff captain...

Its not in the right place yet but it doesn't look so big now it's in.

I need to cut the transmission tunnel at the gear lever end to be able to push the engine back further.

Then the mounting position can be finalised.

And then pull out the engine again.. :-(

Engine removal - the change begins.

Engine swap part 1 (of many)

Sad to decommission the sunbeam but it's time to remove the old engine.

Deadline to have it all on the road again is June 2017.
But hopefully earlier.

We are going to the Laon Classic June 3rd in France.

No pressure yet.. (But many overseas jobs on the horizon)







It took all after noon to get the engine out.
Maybe not the best idea to leave the gearbox behind.
But the auto box looks big and heavy.

Not very much space in the engine bay to get at most of the bolts. And of course I forgot one so the engine would only move so far before it got stuck.

Had to take the water pump off as well to move it forward enough.

BW Auto gearbox next to come out.



Engine bay doesn't look to be big enough!

Adding a heater to the Alpine

Its still sunny so I'm reluctant to take the Sunbeam off the road and remove the engine at the moment so I thought I would trial fit the heater and fan.

It's quite hard to believe that a UK spec car didn't have a heater fitted as standard.

This rubber tube was fitted in lieu of the fan.

It took me some time to realise where the heater should go and how to access it.

Underneath the bonnet catch.
I've now fitted the heater element.








With all the wires and mods under the dash over the years it was a bit awkward to squeeze in the fan unit complete.

I had to disassemble the bracket and remove the motor from the snail housing and fit each item in turn.

I should have cleaned up the bracket first.
This was supposed to be a temporary trial fit but it might stay.. except I now need to source or make the last bit of hose to join the fan to the ducting.

And connect the electrics.

And the hoses to the screen demisters





And a nice time to test the engine again... yayyy it still runs...

Type 9 Hydraulic Clutch conversion

The plan was to follow the US design and use a Wilwood pull slave cylinder.
But, the type 9 gearbox has the clutch lever on the opposite side so the Wilwood pull cylinder gets in the way of the offset oil filter.

It wouldn't be a problem if the oil cooler (oil/water heat exchanger) wasn't leaking. So, unless I replace it or try a remote oil cooler sandwich plate I need a backup plan.

I had a search on the web and found a few tried and tested solutions. pistonheads was the version I decided to copy. It seems its also used on the TVRs .

 A design was made in cardboard and then drawn in CAD for the laser cutting.

A landrover slave was "found" in the garage.
The bore may be too big.

The template was bashed into shape.

A few flaws in the design meant a little cutting and adjustment was required at the pointy end.

It looks like it might work..  I haven't welded the seams yet.

Also it may get in the way of the sunbeam body.

Next time I have a few spare days I'll finish it off and test it with the master cylinder.

Note the Capri headers. Rusty and sawn off. These are available off the shelf - but look like they will definitely be in the way.




Update

 The slave cylinder works ok but the combination with Wilwood master and landrover slave doesn't match well. So I fitted a landrover master as well.
A few shims were made to be able to adjust the master position and still be able to adjust the clevis.

The clevis itself was hard to find

Starting the V6 - attempt number two

Having seen a rather large flame jump out of the carburetor I suspect I may have the timing a bit off.

The timing light showed I was about 180 degrees off. Easily fixed except the engine stopped sparking after that.

Lack of spark was traced to the coil negative lead wire. The old Ford Capri wiring loom had given up. Judging by the state of the copper inside it might be worth a proper rewire in the end.

Once sparking again the timing was adjusted and a squirt of "Easy Start" applied. It seemed to work!

I wired up the Huco suction fuel pump with a separate switch and switched it on.

I have installed a fuel return hose and there is a small constant dribble out of the return hose. Hopefully this will help prevent the summer embarrassment of a vapour lock in the fuel filter which "lovely sunbeam" suffers from these sunny days.

With fuel in the carb and a dash of "easy start" - away she went... Hurrah...

Best I hurry up and fit the Radiator!

Starting the V6 - attempt number one.

A selection of fan-belts were ordered and the size chosen was SPA1120.
It clears the thermostat housing on the inner pulley and allows the alternator to sit just out of the way of the rocker cover so it might be removable. I've ordered another belt for the outer pulley... will they match?

Still deciding how best to modify the Thermostat housing.

Engine and gearbox filled with oil,
Pressure gauge jury rigged.
Oil pump primed with the electric drill and long socket.
Coil, fuel pump and Duraspark unit bolted to plank on top of gearbox. Dead gash...

Starter motor runs OK with spark plugs out.
With plugs in - the jump leads burnt out very quick so proper battery leads were sourced.

I seem to have a spark some of the time.but it looks like I'm 180 degrees out.

Maybe it'll start tomorrow,

Engine meets gearbox and trial fit to subframe

 It was very hard to remove all the suspension parts from the subframe. A lot of WD40 and  time. Also a realisation some nuts were captive hence wouldnt turn anyway.

An option is to rebuild this subframe and fit the whole unit.

For the moment I will use it as a test bench.


The original engine mounts were removed. My old 4" grinder didn't quite have the reach once the discs were worn a little.

 The engine was removed from the stand and the flywheel and clutch was fitted.

Alignment of the clutch plate and gearbox was difficult at first as the clutch plate seemed not to fit the gearbox shaft.

But with the gearbox balanced on the hoist alignment became easier.

With the engine and gearbox angled for a horizontal carburetor platform the fan and crank pulley just miss the subframe.

The fan can be set back another 5mm giving more forward adjustment of the engine if necessary. The current engine mount is approximate and final position will be determined in the car.


Also the thermostat housing outlet needs to be modified to point forwards to clear the subframe.
http://v6alpine.blogspot.co.uk/p/v6-joses-conversion-kit-kit-components.html
And it looks like I will need to modify the modified radiator. The bottom hose coupling looks to be a bit too low.

Capel Classic car and bike show

No proper work done for a while (busy)

But got back home in time for the local show.



It rained quite hard on the way there but the day cleared up nicely and there was good turn out.




The way the windows misted up in the rain is probably a good hint to install the heater and fan that have been in the cupboard for a while.

Le Mans classic 2016

Lovely Sunbeam managed to make it to Le Mans and back in one piece.
The engine is starting to sound a bit noisey so the V6 may be required soon!.

minor tasks, brake pads and carb

The Sunbeam can pull to the left when braking.
I checked the pads and they were quite thin so bought some new ones and fitted them.

The RH inboard pad was the least worn and it seemed the piston may have been stuck.

A test drive showed not much improvement.
Will need to look into the brake caliper status before the engine goes in.

Test fitted the Weber 38DGMS carb and 9" filter.

Subframe mods and alloys

I bought a subrame - complete with everything except the steering box and wheels.

VERY rusty but the subframe itself looks in better condition than mine.

Also all the parts fitted are the maintenance free type from series 4 onwards.

I might refurbish this one complete to install on the series 3 with all new bushes and springs.

The upper wishbones are proving difficult to release!

The original engine mounts need to be cut off and the new engine mounts welded in place only once the engine has been test fitted in situ.



The lovely sunbeam came with a set of alloy wheels.
I don't like the look of them but having realised that some vibration I was experiencing at 60-70 mph was caused by a flat spot on a rear tyre, I fitted them to test.

The handling has been transformed. Straight line is more stable, steering is much lighter. Wish I'd done it before. I would prefer a set of minilites. So will get some for next year.

Radiator mod

Before













After


Home again and the spare radiator has been delivered from Hereford Radiators.

It has been up-rated to 3 row core and the inlet and outlet ports have been swapped over for the cologne V6.






November 2017

Recently had the thermostat cover modified.
This now puts the water a bit too close to the radiator.

So I've started to modify the radiator again

Rotated the bottom hose 180 degrees and angled back a bit.

Now a Ford Capri bottom hose will fit with a few mods.

Lasercut Fan fittings and alternator bracket.

The viscous fan still seems to work but as it is a bit bulky and also as I have a water pump without the viscous thread I designed a Fan mod kit as per  This Link    and also the alternator adjuster bar.
Sent design to be laser cut.

laser cut results... Simple..

Now I have so many things I want to design and cut!

• Engine lifting eyes
• Electric fuel pump Bracket
• Thermostat spacer..

and when fitted...
The little ring aligns the water pump pulley


The Alternator bracket looks Ok, Once in the engine bay I can adjust the overall length (if required) by the addition of extra bolt hole at the engine end.

and with fan fitted...

I have run out of bolts...

At the moment the fan just skims the steering pump pulley so I either need a two row pulley or trim off the third pulley in Russell's lathe.

The Fan offset will be determined once engine is installed, to ensure it is close to the radiator but with the engine as far forward as possible.

And of course - how does it fit with the radiator - is it too big.. too small..

and then the thermostat housing also needs to be considered, it's pointing down so will clash with the crossmember.


Just noticed - the fan belt on the first pulley row will foul the thermostat housing, the second pulley row is Ok.  Fan update here


just sent radiator away for modification
refering to http://v6alpine.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page_7.html


note for info - cooling flow route http://www.capripower.co.uk/boardold/lofiversion/index.php?t1858.html

Alternator bracket test

Alternator brackets fitted - as per design.
The brackets swap the alternator from the original lower (uk) drivers side to high on the passenger side. This is to avoid the brake servo.

Water pumps are hard to get right. So many versions,  There are different impellors some will not fit on the engine plate, then there are the various pulley options, viscous, threaded or un-threaded.

Here is how the Alternator bracket fits with my Ford Capri 70A Alternator (0120 469 571).
The kit was designed for the US version alternator probably with mounting points at 180 degrees apart.
Best plan is to modify or make a new adjuster bar that is a straight bar,  Easily done.


Water pump pulley is hard to align due to no shoulder on the pump, So I need a new bush to take up where the viscous fan would have fitted.



Also need a new thermostat housing to modify it to miss the front crossmember as this one is a bit corroded.

Any colour so long as it is black..

I might have to redo the crackle black rocker covers.

Must remember to do the valve clearances tomorrow
ref: http://v6alpine.blogspot.co.uk/p/valve-adjustment.html

Cam gear endfloat "fix"

 Russell made me ring to add to the camshaft gear wheel.

The plan was to make it flush with the end of the cam gear shaft.

It is now bonded to the gear and the endfloat when measured on the engine is 0.05mm (with some of the float taken up with the lube) The tolerances are 0.02mm to 0.1mm.

I think its a Quaife gear but I can't find an adjustable version "on line" so don't know why the shaft is not right.
We tried to fit it in a combination of ways and this mod is the only solution that seemed to be right.

The previous owner had to grind down the bumps for the water pump bolts as they would contact the cam gear adjuster bolts. 3 of the bumps were ground down enough to break through.

minor repair attempted.

camshaft endfloat

While I was trying to determine the cam spec - I had noticed that there seemed to be excessive endfloat.

The thrust plate would not hold the cam in place and the only thing stopping the cam gear from grinding into the block was the camshaft end bearing core plug.

Eventually it was noticed that the cam gear shaft was the same diameter as the chamfered spacer.
The cam gear was removed (for the first time) and it was then possible to see the evidence that the original cam gear had a much larger diameter shaft.

If I reversed the cam gear on the cam then I was able to prove I would have the correct amount of endfloat.

As I haven't removed the gear or thrust plate until now - I haven't lost or misplaced anything. Note the Chamfered spacer is on the wrong way round in the photo.

I will try to make a bush to fit or find a suitable thrust washer.

camshaft identified

The left cylinder head was installed.
(note the bigger valves!)

The rocker assembly ultrasonically cleaned and fitted.

With the valve gaps set - then the difference in measurements relative to valve versus cam follower becomes more obvious.

It now looks more like the cam is a fast road piper cam.

The cam was set to full lift on the inlet of piston 1 by measuring start and finish point of the dwell angle (12 degrees) and setting the crank angle to halfway in between.

The cam is then disconnected from the sprocket and the crank set to 112 degrees ATDC,
The cam then reconnected and new yellow alignment dots added (will drill later)

Monitoring the valve and crank angle now shows a close approximation to the fast road cam spec 24-68 68-24







references
http://www.pipercams.co.uk/pipercams/www/tech_camshaft_installation.php
http://www.pipercams.co.uk/pipercams/www/tech.php

What cam is it!

I don't know what the camshaft is, I suspect a fast road cam.

It has a "P" and number 401 and 112.
I hope it means Piper cam
0.401" lift & 112 degrees inlet full lift.
But probably wrong.

I started by measuring the camshaft with the dial guage on the cam followers.

I got a 60 degree overlap and 173 degree duration.

I set the camshaft to be in the middle of the overlap at TDC






Then checked the timing again against the crank.
Measurements then didn't seem quite so obvious.

I began to worry I had a full race cam.
Thought best to install the cylinder head and measure on the rockers.

Tomorrow... maybe.

bottom end rebuild part one

                              Hurrah! the bearings have arrived.

Time now to install the crankshaft.

Note the areas where the crank has been smoothed.
Is this the result of damage being repaired or balancing?
There doesn't appear to be any other damage to the casing or bearing caps.

I used lubriplate on all the surfaces and storage oil as a coating.

Pistons were next to be installed.
Honing marks were still visible on the bores, so it hadn't been run for long before it was abandoned.

I might find out why later when I try to start it.



Now I'm stuck again as the camshaft sprocket doesn't have any markings on it. and I failed to notice when I pulled it apart. The camshaft is non standard. maybe a fast Piper road cam. Markings on the end are P 401 / 112. I will measure it tomorrow and attempt to set the timing from theory.