sand_man

Here are some pictures of the dry assembly (mock-up) of my engine. Neil Harvey of Performance Developments handled ALL of the machine work for me and the list is extensive. These pictures were taken by him at his shop. I sent him my disassembled long block and told him to make it right. There wasn't enough money left in my budget to have him (or anyone else) do the final assembly of the long block, so I thought I'd at least compromise and have Neil handle the valve to piston clearance check. This also enabled him to get a final compression ratio measurement (7.3:1) and to ensure that the major parts would all line up properly. I was confident that there would be plenty of clearance (I was planning on doing this critical check myself), but in case there was a problem, it saved me the potential delays in having to ship the parts back to him to have the clearances machined. EVERYTHING has been measured and documented. The parts should be shipping this week, then I can start the final assembly.





Valve seats being dressed:

Second spark plug hole being done:


Valve guide being done:

srf506

Wow, great job! I'm envious of people with the time and facilities to do this.

sand_man

Yeah, me too! The man (Neil) is an artist. The guy doesn't mess around. Everything is black and white: if there's no need for it, he doesn't do it and won't try to sell it...if it's not right, he simply won't proceed!

Kevin

Are you having any head porting done?

sand_man

In a word, NO. The list of "while you're in there's" was really getting caried away. I had to stop some place. I think Neil has done some "clean-up" work as it were, but nothing crazy. Yeah, Yeah, I know it would have only cost a little bit to do it now, but all of those "little bits" add up fast! In the end, it's a street engine...

Kevin

I think that while the heads were at Neil's you should consider opening them up to 36-38mm.. The reason is if you ever want to go to EFI, you have the larger ports..

sand_man

That's a good point! I know I've said that I'm planning on keeping CIS for a while, but then again, I'm reminded of a famous tabloid headline: "Bigfoot Had My Baby"...in short, me keeping CIS is as likely as the headline! Before you know it, I'll be playing around with EFI options. Maybe I'll just ask Neil what would be involved.

Chet 930

I believe you would need 40mm ports if you use the Carrera manifold for EFI. 36-38mm should be fine for the stock manifold. I have mine at 37mm using the stock piece which worked out just right for my 3.0 liter. Should be interesting to see what the EFI does.

im4duke

Nice pics sand_man.

What are you doing for valves and springs? Reuse or replace?

nathanUK '81 930 G50

No boat tailing ?

sand_man

Thanks! As for valves, springs, retainers, etc. - it's all stock. I really wanted the Ti retainers and race springs, but Neil said that unless this was a track engine that would see VERY high RPMs for extended periods, it would just be a waste of $$$. He tested and measured everything in the valve train. Aside from some rocker shafts that were worn badly (and have been replaced with new ones), everything was re-ground, re-built, machined, etc.

sand_man

No. If were building Stephen Kaspar's "Monster" of course it would be done. Honestly, the law of diminshing returns quickly applies to these engines. It just wasn't required for my purposes.

Rob S

Sand Man,

Very nice.

Neil was very helpful during my engine machining and assembly phase. He has a great deal of experience, a capable shop, and is very willing to share his advice. I bought his cylinder-to-head sealing rings (that he's developed) and he did the machining of the cylinders and heads to accept them. Here's a picture of the pair of rings installed one of my heads. I also got some very nice stainless steel exhaust studs and some special hat-shaped head washers he has made. These washers reportely reduce the potential for head stud torque loss which can occur through localized deformation of the head in the vicinity of the head nut. They require a small counterbore in the head to work properly.

Rob

E-man930

Man!
I'm impressed. So you decided to machine a groove in the heads I see...
What head studs did you end up using..? ARP or Supertec?
Keep this thread going with pics please!
E-man930

PorschePhD

Looks great! Love the pics.

Eman, those are ARPs.