Figure I would update this for folks not viewing the bounce house. To summarize, since this car was first run on the dyno, it's burned oil like crazy. I've been adding oil all along the way and aside from that, the engine has taken a beating with almost 20lbs of boost. I don't drive this car easy and it's been to three rentals and a street night or two. After the last Racewars, I bought a leak down tester and with help from Sweetbmxrider, determined that I'm seeing some significant leakage past the rings.
Deciding to put my pride aside and tired of filling the engine with oil, I decided to have the engine rebuilt by Ellwein Racing Engines. I've know about Karl Ellwein for a while and loved viewing his meticulous rebuilds posted on his site. Some Pals and I removed the engine and drove it down to Maryland. Karl wasted no time tearing everything down. At first glance, it appeared maybe fuel wash was the culprit. Everything else looked really good.
Time passed and when the block made it to the machine shop, it was determined that my cylinders were not only under bored but also slightly oval. I guess the rings couldn't seat too well..... Suffice to say, I'm not too pleased with the shop who previously machined my block.
I decided to upgrade a few things while doing the rebuild. These include:
- Slightly more aggressive cam from LE
- NSA Comp Ultra Pro rockers and ARP 7/16 studs
- ARP main cap studs
- UMI Road Race K-Member, upper and lower tubular A arms
- LT4 Valve Covers
- Mighty Mouse Catch Can
Build Page: http://www.ellweinengines.com/ERE48/ERE48.htm
Pic Link: http://s176.photobucket.com/user/bmd.../The%20Rebuild
Sister anticipating her brothers meltdown
Just a little off
So much more room for activities
Progress from this past weekend.
Made some good progress today. Matt stopped over to plumb the multitude of items that require vacuum/boost reference. Overall I'm rather pleased with how this will all turn out. We could had tried to hide things a bit but I preferred accessibility. You will see the new fittings on the intake and the block mounted by the drivers strut tower. Thanks Pal!
I replaced all of the coil bracket bolts with stainless hardware. The bottom ones for the coil standoffs got some loctite and the tops nothing. Sometimes the standoff bolts would loosen so in this configuration, they shouldn't.
The fuel rails needed some cherry so they got a little love. Top pic is a half and half shot. Bottom is the full deal.
Next, the freshly powdercoated accessory bracket was installed and so was the water pump. Plug wires were also installed. I will need to remake these since the LT4 covers are significantly shorter than the Cantons.
Mounted the F1A and steering pump back in along with a few other items I've been meaning to mess with. It's getting crowded quick but the pile of parts is shrinking. I need to order some fittings tomorrow and need to figure out where to put the catch can.
