BlownCorona Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Excuse the messy interior. Porche seats are going back in and I'm trying to track down a classic style centre console. I was going to go for a race inspired interior with bucked seats ect, but turns out that makes it horrid to drive. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share Posted March 2, 2019 Continuing through my checklist to get it cert ready, scored a half day on Friday so spend the afternoon at work fixing everything (or so i thought) first problem was that the handbrake cable went straight through the driveshaft hoop. so i made the spreader bar that the cable loops around and goes off to the two wheels slightly wider. and reshaped the driveshaft hoop a little. this also stopped the exhaust hitting the hoop. bonus. i also replaced a bunch of exhaust gaskets and its sealed up good now. but compared to the crown it sounds like shit, so that will require attention futher down the line, i might even put a massive muffler on and shut it up, letting the supercharger noise be the main sound. with all that done i was please and in the frame of mind that that car should be able to be booked in for cert, im not sure on the brakes. the datsun 1200 master cylinder has made the pedal feel not solid like a race car now. its a bit spongy which i expected. but it still doesnt stop very well. now im not sure if it really doesn't stop very well. or it doesn't stop very well compared to the recently sold Audi S4 i was dailying, which i fitted 325mm brakes to, and would probably throw you through the windshield. so i think ill send it for cert and if the cert man isnt happy ill figure out something then anyway i gave the wheels a rotate, and noticed the front brakes were dragging, im 99% sure the new master cylinder, although sold to me as a disk/drum unit probably has the drum brake one way valve things in both front and rear, so ill have to remove that and re bleed the brakes. no pictures cause i got into too much of a roll... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 9, 2019 Author Share Posted March 9, 2019 The suspected residual valve that shouldn't be there. This valve helps hold positive pressure on drum brake slave cylinders. But is not required for disk brakes and causes slight pressure to stay on. Have removed and even though they need bleeding, can tell its fixed the issue 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 Well i spoke too soon. im currently trying to bleed up the brakes, which in itself is going horribly. but the problem with the wheels binding up with pressure from the brake system not releasing when you let off the pedal is still there. Does anyone have any ideas why this would be happening? its a brand new master cyl, and when i crack the brake lines the wheels immediately go back to rolling very freely, takes a pump or two and they are back to dragging, but not locked on like the brakes were pressed. im really sick of working on this car, all i want to do is drive it and these endless boring jobs with non stop problems is really hammering my motivation. couple with only getting about an hour a week to do anything on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Proper clearance on the brake pushrod? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 im pretty sure it does. its all custom made so could be fucked up. but when wound right in to give as much clearance you have to press the pedal nearly to the floor before you feel anything engage in the cylinder. theres a possibility that its still not enough clearance though. im just not sure how to tell for sure without pulling the rod out, shortening it, and possibly finding out that its now too short and im back at square one. its several hours work to get the master in and out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 24, 2019 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 the more i think about it, the more that seems wrong, the cylinder should be doing work the moment the piston starts to move yeah? maybe its a clearance problem after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted March 30, 2019 Author Share Posted March 30, 2019 MUCH more success today! shortened up the brake pushrod and made some changes to how its retained. to further shorten up its length inside the master cylinder. bled all four wheels and it just seemed to go right today. pedal felt great. just how id hoped it would with the particular valving id choosen. the car doesn't have a booster due to space issues. but i didn't want a rock hard pedal like a race car. the valving i chose gave more mechanical advantage over the slave cylinders at the "cost" of longer and a bit spongier pedal throw. which is also exactly what i wanted. the car brakes just as good if not better than the original boosted brakes with incredible control over the brake pressure. you can lock the rear brakes up with moderate pressure, which isnt actually a good thing, however the fuel tank is dead empty and i limped back to the garage ending up on 19psi of fuel pressure, so itll probably stop doing that with a bit of weight, otherwise a simple 2 port bias valve will sort it right out! it feels like the fronts would lock up if you really stood on it harder than you probably ever would which is about right. very very happy as this has been one extremely long headache and im over the moon to have it finally working how i wanted it. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted April 11, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 11, 2019 Certs booked - 6th of May. Are you meant to feel this nervous? it should be fine, its not a massive list of mods and its not making huge power. anxious and excited at the same time, this has been a long time coming. nearly 10 years of ownership, i initially bought this car as something to learn on. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 2 days untill cert. Took it into work today to give it a good cleaning and degrease the engine. Blown head gasket, its pumping its coolant out the overflow tank. Rang Ian and cancelled the cert, he was really good about it, even at such late notice, I think he knew it was a genuine blindside and not me being slack. So gutted, so very gutted. This will now mean plans I had for the future to rebuild the engine and add intercooler ect will now need to be brought forward. Which takes time I don't have. Hopeing to atleast use the anger to pull the motor out this weekend. 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 still angry got stuck in engine is ready to pull once i get my crane back fuck this car. atleast the new engine will actually make power/not surprised this has happend this engine came out of a paddock what initially started as a suspicion the gasket had failed, due to some weird pressurization going on in the radiator, was then confirmed today when it started hemorrhaging out the overflow tank, and on closer inspection there now looks to be water in the oil, so i expect a full blown gasket failure it what i will find. aleast i know this car like the back of my hand and can get the engine out super quick, but thats the cheap part..... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted May 4, 2019 Author Share Posted May 4, 2019 this mornings effort. getting on a major roll. will start engine dissasembly tonight once the kids are in bed and the wife has gone to work. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted May 4, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 4, 2019 Tonights effort. engine fully disassembled, except the head. everything looks good, its clearly had coolant in the oil. the bearings are fairly worn, but the surfaces look primo. im piking the wear on the bearings has been from the water. Nothing very obvious on the head gasket though other than being quite brittle and shitty. its had a rebuild before so that could be a contributor now onto cleaning and sourcing new parts. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted June 20, 2019 Author Share Posted June 20, 2019 finally got around to cleaning some things for a measure up and a parts order. the engine is all stock sizing wise. however when i cleaned the oil from the bores i discovered they really wernt that flash. cyl 1 & 2 are pretty okay, some staining which would come out with a hone. but cyl 3 & 4 have some fairly deep corrosion when the pistons/rings sat, from when this engine was sitting in a field for years. Cyl 1 Seems i didnt photograph Cyl 2, looks much like 1 Cyl 3 (the worst) Cyl 4 quite gutted, always seems like nothing ever goes smoothly on this car, theres always something. perhaps this post should be in the depression thread cause not very much has gone well in the past wee while. i haven't got the gear at home to measure how deep the corrosion is. but can borrow it from work. its looking like my options now are to try and find a new second hand good block, or if its not too deep, bore it 1mm over and use the 89.5mm forged pistons that are available. this will add over $1500 to the bill and probably 6 months of saving up if not more. im surprised to find this since it ran awesome, and the compression was great, even when i suspected an issue and checked it very recently. please give educated opinions here. including options for perhaps yet another engine swap, although that will most likely cost more and i can personally think of any an engine id rather see in the car. 4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted September 23, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 23, 2019 Back in the game! a literal bootload of 18rg parts just turned up at work. purchased from a mates mates father up north. highlights include; a mint block, that has been professionally honedand surfaced. nearly all rebuild parts. a couple of really clean heads and a partly complete dismantled but complete one. the early "230" head has port work. but ill most likley use the very clean and resurfaced "270" efi head as they had bigger ports anyway and are much stronger with a lower compression, they just had wimpy cams, so the 230 cams may find there way in there too. a slightly lighted flywheel, which will probably be ideal for a street car. once the crown is shipped off to panel in the next week or so, ill hook into building this engine. i need to do alot of measuring and thinking about what combo of parts to run though. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlownCorona Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Struggling to find a way to keep the compression low, this block has been decked a fair amount. Building a nice N/A motor is an option but I'd really like to keep the supercharger. Any ideas? A really thick mls gasket is close to 500 bucks before shipping... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted April 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 21, 2021 its been a while. given that i bought the supercharged crown, i was starting to think that perhaps id like to have a turbo car in the garage, so i listed the supercharger kit for sale and it turns out matteybean on here bought it and has fitted it to hit RT104 and done a real nice job of finishing it off. real glad i get to see it finished off. now turbo 18rgs are pretty common and never wanting to do the smart or easy thing decided i really like the look of aftermarket twin high mount turbo rb26 engines. so decided this is the style id go for. twin IHI VF32s the secondary turbo from the 2000cc twin turbo legacy, in theory should be suitable. and are dirt cheap and look pretty nice to boot. spent a few days piecing together a manifold which took a fair bit of thinking to fit everything in, i still need to add the wastage but will need to test fit into the engine bay to see where i can put it. (the front turbo does sit straight but is not bolted down tight) 24 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted April 24, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 24, 2021 Super rough mockup with some not very pretty parts, but I'm extremely excited for how this is shaping up! 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted September 24, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 24, 2023 Well i guess this marks the start of actually building this engine. Received my block back from kennally cams who gave it a quick tidy up. Not wanting to have the clean and bare block deteriorate i immediately set to coating it this weekend. Ended up settling on the the POR15 product system after reading favorable reviews. i degreased the parts i will paint and applied their metal prep (phosphoric acid + Zinc phosphate active ingredients) - meant to etch the metal and leave a zinc phosphate coating. Maintaining a wet surface for around 40 minutes before flushing and drying Infront of a heater untill bone dry. Next up was the 'Rust preventative coating' - this step was possibly not required for me but seemed recommended as a good anchor for the top coat. this coating is a moisture cured polyurethane, temp resistant and non porus coating. brushed on and left to tack off before topcoat. Finally two coats of the engine enamel. this and the above coating were also warmed up Infront of a heater to provide a better self leveling flow. First coat of topcoat black was brushed on later afternoon saturday, and the second coat went on sunday morning ensuring the first layer was properly touch dry, but not anywhere near close the 24hour recoat limit. Im very happy with the result. the above image looks wet but in reality it touch dry and had been for hours. I have a nice metalic gold for the head and front timing cover + some alloy prep. I will be having the pulleys, sump and pressed steel cover plates gold zinc plated. while not the intention, i am going for what will be a JPS looking colourway on the engine. Now that i have the block back, i can take some final measurements for the valve reliefs to be cut, then the bottom end will be balanced before final assembly. 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post BlownCorona Posted November 3, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2023 a bunch more progress on the engine build. mostly related to preparing the various parts i've collected and making them fit where they sometimes wern't meant to. First up, have the 20r pistons machined to accommodate the valves. ill find out this weekend if they are correct. The still need the fresh edges broken but i am very happy with the job done by Proturn Engineering here in Christchurch. Then i set about fitting the auxilary bearings, turned up a couple of press tools to pull them into place. took my time but went trouble free. Shaft dummy fitted and smooth as butter the crank too. Still need tidy up the edges on the painted parts. Then, now that the bottom end is all but ready, and i'm going to have the whole lot balanced, i needed to finally fit up the trigger wheel i made like 4 years ago. I parted off the unused front pulley and turned a spigot from its remains. with a matching cut on the trigger. once i look up if position is important ill tap mounting threads in the meat under the remaining pulley. Ill need to think about making a cam angle sensor because i want to run proper sequential fuel and ignition, i think ill just cut up a dizzy and make something nice and low profile. Getting close to actually assembling for good which is very exciting. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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