More Engine stuff (exciting, eh?)

I know I normally get on here and post about how I'm almost done with my engine build, but it never seems to be any closer than it was the last time I posted about it. So without saying that I'm either closer or further away, I'll give a little bit of an update of where I'm at.

The head was a pretty big sticking point for me initially. I really wanted to put in either a Massive Ultimate CNC head, or the trick FocusSport Cosworth head. However, that takes a lot of scratch and seeing as I just don't have time to take up a second job to pay for the hobby, I figured I'd do my own headwork. I don't really want to get a lot of money tied up in this homebrew head, since I'm still considering a head in the distant future, so I don't want to be overly attached to the head I'm doing now.

I busted out the handy Dremel tool (if you don't own one of these, you need to stop reading this and procure one before living another minute) and started grinding away. I was pretty conservative with the cutting that I did, mostly focusing on taking some metal out of the top of the intake ports and cleaning up some of the casting imperfections. The other area that I really focused on was in the bowls where the CNC machine had cut the valve seats and transition to casting. I was considering putting a set of oversized valves into the head as well. Oversizing the valves helps provide a little additional flow at lower valve lifts (which improves torque and therefore streetability). However, a set of oversized valves is nearly $300, which went contrary to my plan to build a budget head. I did pick up a set of high lift springs and retainers from LCR. Having a top end that can handle high RPMs is definitely going to be important on this car, so I wasn't about to risk floating a valve on the stock springs (especially considering the low piston-valve clearances we're going to be working with). At this point, I pretty much realized that I was as far as I could go with the head, so I decided to take it to my machinist. Its currently at the shop, awaiting being milled 0.020" (which should bump compression up about 1/2 a point..ie ~11.2:1, I'm guessing that is going to be right on the edge of requiring race gas, but should be able to make good power with Premium). I'm still waiting for the springs and retainers to show up; as soon as they do, they're going to the shop as well for final assembly. I was lamenting to the machinist that it was so hard to re-assemble the top end because the keepers kept moving around and would lock the retainers in place. He showed me his mill and a little tool that he can put into the chuck, which compresses the springs. Then he can just reach in and pop the keepers in and release the tension on the spring. Apparently its even a piece of cake on the big block race heads that have springs rated greater than 500 lbs/in. I knew I needed an arbor press!

The other part of the build where I'm working on keeping costs down is with accessories. I didn't actually budget for a new starter, power steering pump, or alternator, so I'm hoping to spend as little as possible on them. I was certain that FRPP had an inexpensive Zetec starter listed in their catalog, but apparently that was several years ago and they are no longer carrying that sort of stuff. New accessories like that are more of a luxury than a necessity. It'd be nice to know I wasn't going to have to worry about replacing them for a few years, but I think I'm going to transfer the ones off of the engine that's currently in the car. They've still got quite a bit of life in them, so we'll keep them running. I do have a spare alternator that I decided that I would tear into and see if it was something that I could rebuild. Its the alternator that was on the engine I got from the salvage yard and it scratches something fierce when you turn it by hand. This afternoon I decided to really rip into it and see what was scratching. For once, the 1/2" impact gun that I bought came in handy. Its almost too large for my compressor to spin, but it must have some sort of clutch in it, because I wound it up, let off the trigger (which stopped the socket), put it on the pulley nut and goosed it. Sure enough, it spun that nut right off! I had screwed around with it for a good 45 minutes with a breaker bar and a screwdriver, trying to get it loose. As soon as I got into the guts of the alternator, I could see that everything was pretty rusty (hence the scratching which resulted from the finger poles rubbing against the stator). The bearings looked good on the outside, but inside were rusty and just looked bad. Its currently torn apart on my garage bench. I need to decide if its going to be worth trying to rebuild, or whether to just toss it. I polished up the back plate with my Dremel and the wire brush bit. It gave it a really cool futuristic look with the patina brushed away in places. I'll take a picture and post it at some point.

I have no real time frame for wrapping this project up. Ask Rachel, I keep getting sidetracked and work on something that I wasn't initially planning on. The exciting thing is that all I really need to pick up are a set of ARP headstuds and I can have an assembled long block. That's really going to be the big accomplishment, because at the moment, I have the block covered with a plastic bag to prevent dirt and stuff from getting into the cylinders. Once I get the head on, I should be good to leave it on the stand and enjoy it as artwork (or something like that).

Fortunately, I've been working on collecting fuel components as the build has gone along, so I have an FSVT fuel rail and injectors (which are slightly larger than the regular Zetec) and an SVT MAF and housing (which is calibrated to work with the larger injectors). The thing that I'm not entirely certain on is tuning the car. Unfortunately cars don't have carbs in them anymore (is it really that unfortunate?), so its not a matter of sitting down with a screwdriver and fiddling with the needle valve to get the car to run right. Now there are about a thousand spark and fuel timing tables that need to be altered to work with cold starts, warm starts, closed loop and open loop operation. Fortunately, the Zetec uses a surprisingly powerful ECU which actually has adaptive learning, so only a few tables need to be altered and it can figure out how to populate the rest. Part of me is thinking it would be really cool to learn how to do all of this myself, but I don't know if I have the time to learn it all and buying the software (to tune in on the street) is about as expensive as hiring a professional to dyno tune it. I'll have to see. If I come up with a new daily driver, there's a good likelihood I'll go for it and try to tune it myself. Otherwise, I'm going to see about putting in a call to McNews Automotive in Dillsburg, Pennsylvannia. Ray is the closest tuner with a large amount of Zetec tuning experience and from what I've seen, he's going to tune it the way I want it (to work well, not necessarily to make the biggest numbers).

I'm really starting to get excited about this build again. I've been excited the whole way through, but there have been a few months lately when I've wondered if it was ever going to get finished. It looks like it might finally, and possibly by the end of June, I'll be installing it. Once I get the head back, I'll try to photograph some of the work I've done lately and put up a photo post.